Start 'um When They're Young

Apparently, you're never too young to mow the lawn at our house. Of course, both boys were more than pleased to be able to help daddy work. Now the only trick is to try and keep them this eager to help...hmmm....any tips?

Sweet Conversations

Levin's quote of the day (speaking to Philip), " No, I'm blessed, I sneezed".

Through the River Jordan and Safe on Heaven's Shores

We received word this evening, that Jason's Grandpa Van Gilder went home to be with the Lord. (The boy's Great Grandfather) Though we knew his time was drawing near, we were rather surprised since at last report he seemed to be remaining stable.

This is the first of Jason's Grandparents to pass away, and what a blessing that is for him to have known his Grandpa for so many years! We are comforted knowing that Grandpa Van is now up in Heaven with our Lord, where there is no more pain or suffering.

The above picture was taken last April and is the most recent photo with all the Van Gilder sons together. Probably the last four generational photo of Van Gilder boys for some time to come.

Walking On the Beach

Yesterday marked the lowest tide of the summer, so we again this year, headed out to Jason's boss's house. The Vander Pol's were able to join us, along with a coworker of Jason's and his family. The weather was perfect, and though it did not seem like we saw as many interesting creatures as last year, we all had fun-most of the time. Levin was not to thrilled to be walking around in ankle deep water, where rather large crabs could be seen lurking about. Philip on the other hand may have been too young to notice.





Aside from being able to comb the muddy beach, we were also able to enjoy the beautifully landsaped yard of Jason's boss's house, whose wife is a master gardener. She had just completed her second photo shoot in two days, where many pictures were taken of her yard, which will later appear in a few gardening magazines next year at this time. Very inspring.

Father's Day

I remade a favorite old t-shirt of Jason's, because I had pretty much forbidden the wearing of it any longer, and knew how much he really loved it.

As a family, we all pooled our money together to buy great grandpa B. a yard swing. The pictures do not show how happy he was.

Task for this week

Potty Training....that is all that I have to say about that, other than that we began later last week, and so far not terrible. We/I, am determined to stick this out.

On another note, I will have pictures to share from Father's Day, so stay tuned. I think I need to first finish putting the house back together before I spend more time on this here blog.

Today's Projects.......

......included, among the other normal daily tasks, assembling and decorating the cake below, for some of Jason's relatives, who are celebrating fifty years of marriage.



Congratulations on 50 years of wedded bliss.