A Gardening Theme Birthday

Happy Birthday to Kyla! 24 today.....Kyla began her day exciting........the razor guy and his wife show up to pick up the experimental razors that she was supposed to try. So Kyla's morning was spent answering questions about the effectiveness, etc. of the razors. But hey, anything for research!

The evening was spent at at our house for dinner and of course her choice for dessert was strawberry shortcake. Gram and Grandad came and Kyla received some nice gifts. She now has a new bird bath from us, a gift certificate for Grays Garden Center from Brian, some cool new plant holders from Jill, Kyla's all time favorite movie, Forest Gump, on DVD from Kelli and a new story wheel for her necklace from Jed. Gram and Grandad gave her some money to buy herself something of her choice and Gram gave her some special emerald earrings that she lent Kyla on her wedding day. Grandad, of course followed tradition and out came the big bag of peppermint patties.

Emma decided that the Cinderella movie was what she needed to watch and she made Uncle Brian watch it with her (pay back for all the football and basketball games we all have to suffer through). We could tell that secretly Brian loved Cinderella.

Cinderella

Kyla and Emma delivered flowers to the graduate school yesterday for May Day. Kelli took Kyla and Emma to see Cinderella at Thurston High School this evening. Emmy loved watching and trying to participate in the play....trying to dance when the actors danced and clapping long after everyone else had stopped. Intermission came and because it was past her bed time, they took her home. So now Cinderella is the big thing in Emma's world....when are Kyla and Jed going to get a pet mouse (named Gus, Gus of course)? Maybe that is something Grandma and Grandad should look into for them......isn't life fabulous being a grandparent?

Update

Last Friday the nurse from Dr. Chang's office called and said to plan on the week of May 13th to come to San Francisco for the biopsy. So on Monday Kyla had another MRI and federal expressed it to Chang to make sure that nothing had changed since her last one the end of March. She will also have her blood work done here and a report faxed to Dr. Chang in the next week or so. The human subjects committee in SF are meeting on May 10th to approve the protocol for the next 3 patients (Kyla is one of them) so unless something unexpected happens.......she will go then. We will try to update if anything changes.

Kyla and Jed after much hard work finished filling the raised beds with garden soil so now they are ready to plant. Of course nothing is ever simple when Jed is all set to work.....first after trying to move the pickup and trailer closer to the beds, the pickup just spun out in the grass because of the weight, bald tires and wet grass. So they fill up the wheelbarrow with a huge mound of soil and Jed picks it up to push and the tire (which has become flat) falls off the rim. So he unhooks the trailer, hops in the pickup and off he goes to borrow Grandad and Gram's wheelbarrow and another shovel. But the project is finished for now....still have planting and walkways to finish......some day!

Uncle Mike's Birthday Party

Kyla, Jed and Emma attend a family birthday party for Uncle Mike who is how old? (er we won't tell but you should have seen the smoke coming from that cake!). Delpha and Max fixed a great dinner and Emma had lots of fun playing with her cousins, Greyson and Braedyn....especially chasing down poor Braedyn trying to kiss him. As she tells it, "He likes me!"

A good evening with great family.

Lunch With Aunt Judy and Uncle Don

Aunt Judy and Uncle Don took Kyla, Jed, Emma, Brian and cousins Wayne and Kate to lunch at Marie Calendars. Kyla really enjoyed seeing some of her family from Baker. She and Brian plan on a trip this summer to Baker after she recuperates from surgery to visit.

Emma took Kate around wearing her out. Thank you to Judy, Don, Wayne and Kate for brightening up Kyla's day.

Chef Wade BBQ's with Assistance (in theory) from Future Queen of England, Jill

Chef Wade on the job

Wade BBQ'd dinner for the whole family while Queen Jill lay on the couch as her slaves, Kelli and Erica, fanned her with a giant palm leaf and fed her grapes. Wade passes the test......great chicken and sausages! Kyla and Jed brought a yummy macaroni salad and rice crispy treats. Brian brought a pumpkin pie and rolls (we know you slaved over that pie, Brian....especially the label with Safeway on it). Wade's brother, Matt and his wife, Jo, were there along with Erica, Kelli's friend. Actually to Jill's credit, she helped pay for the food and she marinated the chicken. We are just teasing you Jill!

Emma wore Matt out playing ball. Matt is soon to become a daddy so he is getting a good taste of what life will become (see the pictures on the photo album page.) The dinner was a hit and now we expect more! Thank you Wade and Jill!

Joe Reports on Afternoon with Emma David

Sheri and I had a great afternoon with Emma recently. After taking her mother to lunch at El Torrero's the three of us went up the McKenzie River to stop at Leaburg Lake to feed the ducks. Since all we could find were geese we fed them lots of cracked corn that we had purchased at the Walterville Feed Store. It was lots of fun and Sheri and I learned how fast a 2 year old can move when there is water to get into! We then went over and visited the ODF&W fish hatchery and fed some "big fish" that Emma said her Grampa would like to catch!

We return home to take care of nap time......and after Joe had his nap (nobody else did!) it was time to return home. Several days later I have recovered from sore muscles and crossed eyes from trying to keep up with a 2 year old. It was a lot of fun for Sheri and Joe both!

Thank you Emma!

PS..... Did you know when you spell check for Grampa it gives you a choice of 'Grump' and 'Grumpier'!