I've Been Working On The Railroad

Well, Eli just keeps getting better and better in his Bronco!  He goes so fast now...it's great!
If he loves the song he's listening to, he just runs.  Polly Wolly Doodle is still a fave, but the best last week was I've Been Working on the Railroad.  He hated that song forever...and now it makes him do this:

I'll never get sick of pictures of him smiling.  I waited a long time for them!

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I'm going to go pick blueberries again this week.  Meeting a couple girlfriends on Wednesday evening.  Gotta re-stock as I sent most of my stash to my sister, via my niece when she went home.

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Today is my first day at home, alone, with Eli in 10 days!

It was soooo nice having my niece here last week.  Made the days not so lonely.

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My hubby has a three day weekend for the holiday - and our caregiver is available on Friday!  So after his early morning dump run to beat the crowds...we are having another date day!  :)

We haven't decided what we want to do though.  The weather is supposed to be almost 100 this weekend.

Wish we could go swimming somewhere!

We might hike to Umptanum Falls again, and actually go around and down to the bottom of the waterfall and have a picnic. 

We'll see. 

But, I'm sure I'll post about it afterwards! :)

Weekend Wrap-up

My niece Amelia was here visiting all last week.  It was wonderful!
She spent time playing with my scrapbooking stuff - and made some really cute crafts!  We watched movies....namely, Twilight, which I just wasn't sure if I'd like, so I wanted to see it with her because she's read the books and I wanted all the back story info, you know?  Vampire movies need a tutorial in my opinion!  LOL!  Turns out it was a very sweet love story....and I would have absolutely been hooked when I was younger!  I wouldn't mind reading the books.....but they are really thick!  No time for that around here!

Unfortunately, Eli's caregiver was sick all week.  The big plans we had...to visit all the different cultural things around our town...turned into quiet days at home....but she's the easiest company to have around and was happy to just read books when I needed to do housework, or put Eli down for naps and bedtime.

The week in Re-cap:

1. We picked blueberries - 12 lbs total
2. We went to Costco - and she bought three history books.
3. We went to the Feed Store - and she bought Peacock Feathers.
4. We made brownies...and ate the whole pan.
5. She created a scrapbook page using a beautiful picture of her sister Joey at Magone Lake.
6. She made one mini accordian album and decorated a mint tin to put it in.
7. We went shopping at Craft Warehouse - she bought a small sketchbook for her purse - she loved it!
8. We went to lunch at Red Robin - service was slow but the flavored lemonades were delish!
9. Then, we went to the Yakima Valley Museum.  Great art exhibit was on display and she got to see an original painting by one of her favorite artists:  Hung Liu 
10. We went scrapbooking at the monthly crop that I go to and she worked on an 8x8 album I gave her - we visited, ate, crafted, and went home at 10 so she could get a good night's sleep for her 5 hour drive the next morning.

I feel so blessed!  I'm so thankful for my family!

Future Special Olympics Sprinter???

 Check this out!

Future Special Olympics Sprinter? from Amy Berkheimer on Vimeo.


Yeah - that's MY baby!

On Blueberry Hill

Last night after Eli fell asleep, like this, (while I was dressing him after his bath)

My niece Amelia, who is here visiting me this week, and I went here:

BLUEBERRY HILL

The guy said, "Pick anywhere you want, and eat as much as you can while you're picking."

The sun was going down, there was a slight breeze, and it was just beautiful weather for harvest!

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Of course we had to take the infamous self-portrait.

Amelia - picking away...

Did you know this is how Blueberries grew?

I didn't.

They were VERY easy to pick! No thorns! :)

and here is our bounty:

12 lbs of Blueberries = $20.50

Picking with my niece, making this memory = Priceless!

Helicopter, Helicopter, Over My Head....

As you've seen in a previous post, we have a HUGE Maple tree in our backyard.  In the early Spring helicopters grow on it....and then start falling off in late Spring, as the leaves come on.

Remember playing with them when you were a kid?  Heck, they're fun as adults!!  We've been having a blast with them!  You can take a handful and throw them in the air....and it puts on quite a show!

But, we've learned two things:

A)  They self propagate!

Little seedlings start wherever they land in dirt and can get a little water!  We've had them in all our flower barrels.  I finally decided to start saving some, and see how big I can get them.  I gotta be able to find somebody I know who wants a Maple tree start for free, right? :)

I've even thought of becoming a Maple Tree Grower.

LOL!

AND....

B)  They are a bit of a nuisance!

One day Lonnie decided to see if the gutters needed cleaning out....and look what he found!

HELLO HELICOPTERS!

So, with our handy dandy leaf blower, in reverse mode, he vacuumed them out of the gutters! :)

Every season brings something to clean up with all these trees we have.  Good thing we love nature!

...and playing with helicopters...

Our Day In Pictures...

THIRD TIME'S A CHARM!

I'm so excited to report that Eli can FINALLY sit in his Racing Stroller that we bought when I was pregnant!

It was never a successful venture in the past...but thanks to his Ativan....his calmer body was able to enjoy a stroll around the pasture!  And a jog around the parking area we have! :)

Here he is at 3 months old:

He did OK here.  I think he started crying and I was still new to the whole CP world....so we didn't try it again.....Until....

 February 2008 (age 2 1/2). 

I had all kinds of blankets rolled and tucked everywhere.  It was a nightmare!  This was the heyday of him hating to sit.  Without the proper support and restraints like in his carseat it was a total bust!  I wanted to sell the stroller after this!

We actually had someone want to buy it a few months ago....and Lon just didn't want to give up trying him in it someday.  I'm so glad we kept it!  It's a much smoother ride than his adaptive stroller!  He can enjoy outside with me now while I water plants and stuff! :)

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Went to our fence line and visited Mr. Llama today.

He was in the mood for some posing!  What a character!

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Tonight Eli fell asleep at 5 pm.

Ugh.

I tried to wake him by rolling him onto his back.

Do you think it worked?

He finally woke up at 5:55 (when I was quietly talking to the video camera while taping him!)  Then, he didn't go back to sleep until 7:00 pm.  So, that's a good thing.  I didn't want to wake up at 4 in the morning tomorrow.  He's already back to waking around 5:00 am.  I don't want a repeat of last Fall/Winter's 4 am wakings.  His early Spring sleeping schedule of sleeping in until 5:45 or 6:00 was bliss!

...

Now, here is a sight not usually seen in our house:

When I rolled Eli over and could tell he was really asleep and like a wet noodle I positioned his legs this way to trigger some stretches in his hip joints thanks to gravity!

This is as far as his legs will open this way!  His hips don't have great range of motion unfortunately.

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WHO LOVES TOMATOES?

I do!  I do!

Just look what I found on my plant today:

I love seeing God's creation grow.  I love sharing in His miracles!

Can you believe this little plant that I planted in May

Now looks like this!!

We swear it's a magic barrel!

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And finally - here are the Wave Petunias I planted in May:

And what they look like today:

FABULOUS, Don't ya think??

VIDEO - Eli's Bronco Ridin'

Finally got myself an account at Vimeo and uploaded some video.  Watch out!  I might overload you!  LOL!

Here is a video of Eli riding his Bronco.  He's practically "running" in it these days! :)

Eli's Bronco Run from Amy Berkheimer on Vimeo.


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Here is more Bronco riding....and lots of laughter!  The "song of the day" was Polly Wolly Doodle!

Eli loves to Bronco Ride from Amy Berkheimer on Vimeo.

Amelia - My Niece -The College Graduate!

My niece Amelia graduated from Eastern Oregon University last weekend.  She earned a degree of

Bachelor of Science in Art with a History Minor.

(These two photos were kindly stolen from my sister, Shiela, Amelia's Mom.)

I wasn't able to go away for the [whole] weekend, because I couldn't get a motel room with a kitchen.

Taking Eli out of town is hard enough, but to be in a motel is even harder.  Without a kitchen - not doable!

Amelia has a beautiful little apartment....that was full of her immediate family.  We would have been totally welcome to stay there - but with Eli's funky schedule (goes to bed at 6:30 at night and wakes up at 5:00 in the morning) I hate to inflict that on people in such close quarters, you know?

But I was able to make a day trip down to La Grande for the party!

Me.

On a road trip.

By myself.

Just me and the CD changer.

Yeah, baby!

6 hours of music and singing - and NO ELMO!!!

I gave myself a sore throat singing so much.

It was great!

My dear hubby stayed home with Eli and they had a great day and evening together!

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Here is Amelia posing with the beautiful cake her sister Montana made for her grad party.

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Amelia and Me:

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Here is my other niece, Montana, with her husband Doctor (he's from Ghana, Africa) and me and Amelia.

I had to take advantage of this photo op, because they now live near Salt Lake City, UT, and who knows when I'll see them again!

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I hadn't met Doctor before.  It was such a blessing to meet him.  He is a very tender spirit.

I liked him immediately.  I'm so happy my niece is married to such a nice man. 

And here is their precious 16 month old son Anongba, my great nephew I haven't seen since he was 3 weeks old!  So cute - but so not interested in me....a stranger.  boo hoo.

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Anongba and Barkley the dog

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Me and my sister Shiela.

It's a tradition.

We always have to take a cheesy self portrait whenever we see each other!

:)

I feel very blessed to have such an awesome family.  I'm so happy I was able to celebrate with them!

6 hour drive = $55.00

3 1/2 hour visit = Priceless!

Mr. Cool

Welcome to the World, Baby Asher

Introducing my new GREAT Nephew:

Asher Indra Lee

born on 6-10-09

10:24 am

6 lbs. and 13.4 oz

19 " long

 

Proud Parents:

Adam and Sami

 

I now have four great nephews! 
(5 actually, but one is in heaven.)

What's up with boys in our family?
.
Can we think pink for a while?

Somebody's gotta have another and give us a girl!

Anyone?

:)

We sure do make some pretty baby's in our family!

Big Moons and Big Grins

I started some pumpkins and gourds from seeds in mid May.
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I planted these little starts in my garden spot on May 30th.

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Hot dog! 10 days later it looks like this!

This is called a "Big Moon Pumpkin". The package says you can grow pumpkins up to 200 pounds with this plant! I'll be sure to keep you posted if I end up with a Fair Entry Worthy pumpkin! :)

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On Tuesday, Eli had a good ol' time in his Bronco again.

The song of the day was "10 in a Bed (Roll Over)" from his Little People CD.

Could Baby Horses BE Any Cuter?

The neighbor's horse gave birth to this beauty on Monday 6/1/09.

He doesn't have a name yet, but he sure is a cutie!

These pictures were taken Saturday morning, 6/6/09, as they were hanging out right by our fence.

I just love his coloring!

We had a yard sale this day, in our neighborhood, and he was THE HIT of the day!

Everyone kept asking, "How old is the baby?" and "He's adorable!"

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I just love living in the country!

Great Quote by a Great Man

Special Tomato Time

Have I told you lately how AWESOME my son is?

Well, he is!

Here he is hanging out in his Special Tomato Seat, while I make his Dad a salad for dinner.

He hung out with me for about 20 minutes.

It was great!

I just love bringing him into other rooms of the house, so he can experience life in general.

Unfortunately, he gets a congested when upright.

We aren't sure why this is happening.

But its consistantly a problem in his stroller, Bronco, Special Tomato, Stander, and carseat.

It's really a bummer.

He just can't manage his saliva very well, and gets cruddy in his throat.

Reflux gets the blame for most of his issues.

Wish we knew what it really was....

Did You Know...??

....that what you see above ground is SMALLER than what is below the surface?

This tree in our back yard is over 40 feet tall.

The root ball is even bigger.

Unbelievable!

"Our God is an awesome God,

He reigns from heaven above.

With wisdom, power, and love,

Our God is an awesome God."