Spring has Sprung...........or has it??? One very small sign that it is at least trying to make an appearance.

I probably should have put this post together yesterday as my mood was different. Oh well, today is the day and the mood is the mood, so read on. We live in a pretty crazy world these days and everyone has there ways of coping. For me the pictures that follow speak volumes!!!!

Jesse, Amy, Lukas, and Sarah came over for a visit on Sunday. There is a bright spot after all!!! It did not matter how we tried...Lukas was fascinated with anything near the ceiling. He arched his back and no matter what position you tried he would not bend. WOW! what an awesome ceiling fan!

Even when his loving Grandpa took him on a tour of the windows.

Grandpa even tried to help Aunt Sarah straighten him out to no avail.


Two of the most special people in my world. My sweet Sarah and her favorite nephew. My Sweet grandson and my favorite daughter!!!

Lukas is figuring out the whole hand thing. You can give (OK, force open his fingers and place) items in his hand and he will hold on to them.

Here are a couple of videos of Lukas the weightlifter. We were surprised to see how long he held on to his rattles and he seemed to be aware that when he moved his hands they made noise.






Here is my sweet son with his wonderful son. My wonderful son with his sweet son.


What a incredible family!! My special son with his loving wife and son. My loving son and daughter-in-law and there special son.

If you question how you put some of the angst of the world behind you......view the following picture......ENOUGH SAID!!!

Owl update!!

So yesterday I got brave and decided to try and upload some pictures to my face book page all by myself. I know a real daring move , if I do say so myself. So, while going through the files I came across some of the pictures from last year. Since the camera in the box is not working I thought I could share what was happening at the same period of time last year. All of the following were taken in march 2008. This particular picture was actually taken from the window of the jeep as I was going out the driveway. Hootie sat there the whole time and I was maybe 30 feet away.

A few days later I found Blowfish in the tree just across the driveway. The strange thing is that the last couple years while she is in the nest, he sits near keeping watch . This year I have not seen him around in the trees as often. We definitely hear them both but, he is usually far away. I am not sure if this is because there are so many D@(* crows around and he is trying to draw them away from the box. We have also seen the hawks flying overhead. They are both predators to the owlets and when they are around he will not go to the nest.


I remember this night very clearly. We were sitting in the living room and they were really chattering up a storm outside. They call it monkey chatter and is can get VERY loud. I ran to the deck door and they were both in the tree side by side. It is the first time in the 3 years we have followed them , that we have seen them together in the same shot. They were a lot closer when we first saw them and I will let your minds take it from there!!



A little background info for those who haven't followed the owl saga. They are a pair of Barred Owls we named Hootie and Blowfish. They mate for life and pretty much stay around the same area. In the winter they will occasionally use the nest box for shelter or for storing food. When we first hooked up the camera in the box it was empty. One day in January I turned on the camera and dinner was waiting!!. This was in the box for weeks before one of them came and (sorry about this) would sit on it ,thaw it a little, and have a snack.


Another day there was a visitor to the box. Brave little thing, as very often they turn into dinner themselves. The chipmunk in the box was snack food for many days and it was very surprising to us to watch, what can I say. Most of my friends find it gross but, I find it fascinating to watch and listen to the goings on in the box.


This was a picture from very late in the evening. Blowfish will hoot from the woods and Hootie will coo from the nest . Usually within a few minutes he would come with food. I was surprised last year how little she left the nest even before we saw eggs. I am hoping that is what is happening now.

Here you can see that she has a vole for lunch. You can also see feathers in the nest. Last year I felt bad that I have a bird feeder on the deck and then you look in the box and they have turned into dinner. But, that is nature. They usually eat voles, mice, red squirrels, birds, and last year we saw snakes and frogs.

She spends many hours preening and scratching around in the box. She starts at the base of the feathers and chews her way up to the very tip. I will include a video of that at a later date.....Have to keep you coming back ya know.

Again , while looking through the pictures I remember quit plainly these next 2 pics. I was watching the camera on the TV and saw Hootie sitting in the nest box opening. I ran to the kitchen window in hopes she would still be there.

She was!!!
I was able to get a picture of her. Hey, what can I say I am an excitable girl!!! Maybe not everyone would get so excited that they saw both the inside and the outside of an owl in it's nest at the same time!!! I am weird that way.

I mentioned that she scratches around in the box ALOT! In the fall we have to clean out the box and put new wood chips in. She then spends most of her time chewing them into smaller pieces and scratching them into just the right spot. You have seen the pictures of her claws so you can imagine the sound that makes. Dave was a little concerned she would claw through the bottom of the box.

I will look through some more shots and video and do another post soon. Hope you enjoyed this one.

A day in the life!!

It was a beautiful spring day...on Saturday....Sunday not as nice!!! I know it is still March, what can you expect. There are signs that it is coming. The crocus in the side yard are trying to make an appearance. Jesse and Amy said they have a lot in bloom at there house.

Sunday the family met up at Sarah's...The plan...lunch, male bonding on a bike ride, women bonding on a walk and dinner. All things were accomplished although it was not as warm as predicted, but still fun was had by all. We took the Wii to Sarah's and as you can see Sarah was able to whip her dad is a game of bowling. That is her happy dance!!

Lukas showed up in his special sweater made with love by Aunt Sarah's BFFL Renee. It kept him warm and toasty during our walk. Thank you Renee......Grandma is waiting for her slippers!!!!

Before we headed out the women decided to abuse the baby for a few minutes.....Not quite ready for the bumbo chair yet!!! He looked so cute but, so uncomfortable, someday soon it will work out.

Lukas was more than content to lay and stretch out on the floor. He was kicking up a storm. We decided he ran a 5k and biked up Alpe d'Huez, in the almost 2 hours he laid there.

It all went down hill from there.

Hello everyone...Lukas here, I am taking over a few minutes for grandma as I feel I can tell the story better than she can. I felt I had done my part by rolling over on command, but for mom, aunt Sarah and grandma that just wasn't enough. For some reason they had forgotten to be ready with the cameras. I tried to put on my best face and and continue on but, I was getting a little frustrated. Being the trooper I am I gave it my best shot. The following video is proof of that.

As if the whole rolling over thing wasn't good enough mom decided that I should take a little walk for the camera. Now I want you to note the laughter in the background!! Tells you what I was dealing with. I must apologize in advance for the ending on this video. They were just working me too hard and it was right after lunch.

Finally....After all the performing I was allowed a little rest...no wait, now they want me to smile. That was OK though because I got some Aunt Sarah smooching in the process. All in all it was a good time. Grandma commented that I was really starting to build up those leg muscles for the 2034 tour. I want you to know that I really love everyone and I did enjoy myself !!??!!

I will turn this back over to grandma again thanks for listening.

I would like to thank Lukas for his input.

It was getting a little chili so we put on the new onesie that Amy found. It was just too cute for words. Grandpa said he needed one of these, but with fat, bald and ignorant on it. His words not mine!!!

One last note on the owls. She is most defiantly in the nest. He will hoot from the woods and she will coo back from the nest. I sit patiently when I hear this in hopes of catching him bringing food to the nest, no luck so far. I have not been at all happy with the number of d@&* crows that are hanging around the box. I swear it is two times as many as last year.

OUCH!!!

Sooner or later it was bound to happen!!! This is what happens when you forget you have a bike on top of the car and try to pull into your garage!!!

Amy picked Jesse up at work and home they went. A few seconds of distraction and disaster can strike!!! The House not too bad!!

Car on the other hand!!

Yes, it did a bit of damage to the roof!!! It gouged, dented and generally crunched it.

The bike was damaged also and I will include a picture of that later. Just what they needed at this time. I told Amy that at least she didn't have someone running at her waving there arms screaming stop when it happened. We won't say who may have done that!!!! At least it is all fixable, just costly and a little disconcerting.

SMILES!!!

During our visit with Lukas, Amy and Jesse a friend of Amy's who is a photographer stopped by. She took some pics of Lukas and when she left we decided to try our hand at it. Lukas looking very GQ in his little man shirt and jeans.

It was a really beautiful day...I would say spring day, but it's technically not spring yet, so..... Anyway Dave and Jesse went for a bike ride and Amy, Lukas and I took a long walk. When we returned the boys had to talk bikes together.

It is never too early to start the training for the 2034 Tour de France.


Here is a little video of Amy and I getting Lukas to pose for his pictures.

I had to include these pictures......... Here he is telling us a really funny story!!

Amy got this series of pictures the other day, and is he not the cutest little fellow!!!!

The last picture is the now the wallpaper on my computer. I would like to leave the computer on all day so I can look over and see him whenever I want. I wish it had happened while we were there but, it didn't....Lukas rolled over front to back. I would have LOVED to have been there to video it. Way to go Lukas!!!!

On the owl front...we hear them outside on occasion. The snow is now melted and we checked the last connection to the box camera. No problem there that we could see so it must be at the box. I keep promising that I will get Dave to hook up the dvd so I can review last years videos, in order to see what they were up to at the same time. I will get on that. Here are a couple of images from the box last year. You can see they store some xtra meals.

And here Hootie is getting a little sun through the box opening. I will get more of these together. Thanks for waiting.

6 Weeks!!

Little Lukas was 6 weeks old yesterday.Wow, that is so hard to believe!! I searched the archives and as close as I can get, here he is from week to week. It was very heartwarming to go through all the pictures I have....(there are only a few:) He just continues to get cuter and cuter. Everyday we are happier and happier to have him with us Day 1

Week 1




Week 2




Week 3

Week 4

Week 5

Week 6

AHHHHH! Who can believe it!!

Happy 6 Weeks, Jesse, Amy and Little Lukas

We Love you!!

2 Part Post

We all headed down for a Lukas visit on Sunday. We decided to bring the fixins for breakfast and make it a early visit.....anyone remember the time change??? We woke up started to get ready and remembered we had lost and hour. We were hoping the rest of the family remembered so when we showed up they were not still asleep. Sarah had forgotten, but Jesse, Amy, and Lukas were prepared. Right away Lukas wanted his grandma. So of course I obliged. He seems to be saying.....Ok this is the lady with the camera and she is probably going to take a million photos.....save me!!!

While we were preparing and eating breakfast Lukas decided to make up the hour of sleep he lost.

You can just spend all your time looking at this little face.

A happy Aunt Sarah with a sleeping Lukas.

Here is Lukas sporting his new outfit sent to him by his Swedish Aunt Annika and Uncle Orjan. He really liked it and he looked so cute in it. Annika lived with grandpa Dave and his family for a year back in high school. We were happy to reconnect with her a couple years ago and look forward to seeing her again soon. Thank you !


Lukas likes to look in the mirror, and following his toys.

He was so happy to have company. It is sooooo cute to see his little personality forming....Happy boy!

Here is a short video of our happy little guy. He really likes his mommy's voice.



Last night the little ladies man spent the evening with his great grandma Stark, great aunt Janet and Nancy and his great cousins, grandma and Sarah. We had a really nice time. Many had not met Lukas yet and I know he was a big hit.


Amy had to make the rounds to the ends of the table so everyone could say their hello's.

Here is Lukas with Auntie Janet....and she threatened me about putting her picture on the blog.....not sure what part of WHATEVER she didn't understand.

Blog part # 2

Jesse and Amy have a Wii and much fun was had by all. Here you can see Dave really got into the game. I am pretty sure this is him bowling!! It was worth a lot of laughs.

Sarah and Jesse boxing. Just so you know She whooped him....way to go Sar!!

Here is a short video of Dave and Jesse playing tennis. I am not sure who was enjoying it most, the boys or Sarah. I have a couple more that are very funny and I will include them in another entry.

As you can see it trashed Dave. Both he and Sarah said that the next day they could actually feel that they had a little workout. They bowled, boxed, golfed and played tennis.

We had a really nice time all around. Spending family time is always very special.

On another note we see the owls on and off now. I really miss not having the camera in the box, because I could always see what was going on. I will continue to monitor and send a owl update ASAP.