Yes I'm Still Alive

Hello! - Wow it's been a few months since I've posted.  Life got busy and sadly I didn't take time to post.  Never fear lots of pictures are about to appear as we play "catch-up" on what's been happening in my life.

May was one activity packed month.

We celebrated my oldest brother's 60th birthday May 6th (No pictures though, :o( as I didn't take my camera with me.)  He had us over for BBQ which we tried to eat outside but the weather didn't cooperate and it rained us back inside.

Sunday May 8th was Mother's Day.  Hubby gave me this beautiful hanging planter:

and Greta/Coleen gave me a lovely bouquet of flowers.Mike and Coleen fixed dinner (as Greta had to work until after 5:00) Here's a picture of them working on the Fried Chicken together.

Of course I can't leave out my own mom so here she is planting the flowers that I gave her.  (She hates her picture taken so it's rare when I actually get one of her).

The next weekend was the annual Hot Air Balloon Stampede here in Walla Walla but again the weather was really nasty so the only day they launched balloons was on Friday and I did not get any pictures nor did we go out to any of the event activities.

May 20 was my hubby Mike's birthday.  Coleen made him a Maccaroni Motorcycle Masterpiece for his gift.  Here they are together with the picture of her masterpiece.

The next day was the Open House at the Vet Clinic where we take our pets.  Our Pug, Cricket was the May "Pet of the Month" so we spent the morning showing her off at the event.  They had Pony Rides for the kids, a scavenger hunt, bunnies, kittens, goats, etc...there.  So the next pictures were taken at that event.

First up Cricket meets Buddy who is another 3-legged pug.  He's missing his right hind leg and she's missing her right front leg.  They sure looked cute checking each other out.

On one of the horses they painted the skeleton of what a horse looks like.  It was kinda freaky but yet, cool looking at the same time.  Coleen love this horse and spent the better part of the day petting it.

They had the cutest little goats there and I just had to get a picture of Cricket checking them out.  She didn't even bark at them which was good.

We tried to get Grandpa to let us bring this sweet little Kitten home with us.  He said, No but if it would have been me I would have said, YES!

Coleen tried roping and then got roped herself.

We didn't do anything special over the Memorial Day weekend.  The weather was cold and rainy so we just stayed home and did stuff around the house.  My mom & I did take flowers out to the cemetery but we ended up having to buy most of the flowers as are had barely started growing much less blooming at the time.

Coleen had her end of the School picnic on May 25th and since mommy was working Grandma got to go in her place.  We had a super fun time.  Here's a picture of the two of us together at the picnic.

So that's it for May.  Come back later to catch the June activities.

New Arrival

The family just got larger....Introducing Lukas Michael Krause

Parents:  Erick and Elaine Krause
Date of Birth 1-6-11
Weight 8 lbs. 10 oz.
Length 21 inches.

So far we have not had a chance to meet the little guy in person but isn't he adorable!

Grandpa Mike is quite pleased about that middle name.

Remembering

Henry Peter Antes
May 27, 1920-January 4, 1998

My DAD - This photo was taken a few years before he passed away but I really like it because he had that wonderful smile on his face and that "twinkle" in his eye and that is how I remember my dad best.

He loved life and always enjoyed a good joke.
Fishing was his passion and you could almost always bet that as soon as fishing season opened he would be at the lake or up fly fishing on one of the mountain streams.  He also hunted for many years.  He enjoyed bowling, model trains, stamp collecting and much more.  He loved the family cats, a good bowl of ice cream every night before bed, he loved his family and worked hard to provide for them.

It's been 13 years now since he's been gone but I still think of him often and miss him a lot (I was his "little girl" till the day he died).  I know he's in Heaven now with his Savior but sometimes it would just be nice to hear his voice again and just sit down and chat for awhile.

Love you always dad!

HAPPY NEW YEAR

The "Gang" (Ida, Mike, Greta, Granny (aka my mom) and Coleen.

Fireworks - We bought a few this year and Coleen sure enjoyed them.  Maybe a few more next time.

Spent the evening eating a lot of food (Hot Wings, Meatballs, Potato Salad, Cheeses, Meats, Shrimp, Veggies, Nuts, Pigs in a Blanket and Ice Cream.

Watched Movies: (Shrek the Final Chapter and How to Train Your Dragon) - Both cute and fun.

Set off the Fireworks outside in the FREEZING cold. Had a Champagne & Ginger Ale Toast and then headed off to bed around 1:00 am.  - Not a bad start to the New Year.

New Years Day...Watched the Rose Parade, Ate left overs from the night before.  Helped take down the outside lights/decorations.  Watched another movie, (The Backup Plan) - Okay but not spectacularly entertaining either.

Day 2 or today...Went to church,  Fixed Nacho's (the last of the junk food) as we are planning on losing weight this year.  Took down the Christmas tree and put away the Nativity set. The rest of the decorations get put away this week.  Hubby shoved the couch into my big toe and bruised it pretty good. OUCH!!!

Watched Iron Chef and The Worst Cooks in America (Oh my gosh it's hard to believe that some people cook that badly.)

That's it for now.  I hope to post more regularly this year and sometimes it will be just general "chit chat" but it's a good way to keep track of what happens through out the year so I'll give it a good go and hopefully not "bore" you to death.

Sweet Coleen, and a little bit of Nature

I didn't want Fall to come and go without showing you the "Annual" trip to the Pumpkin Patch photo.  This is my favorite of all the pictures that I took.  Isn't that outfit Fun! (Grandma) got it for her.  She even wore it to school the other day even though Halloween has come and gone.

These next photos are pictures of a little Squirrel that I've been feeding lately.  The first one shows the squirrel eating from a Sunflower plant that the back neighbors grew this summer.  The next photo is (maybe the same squirrel) with some peanuts that I've been leaving out.  Check out how many peanuts it was trying to stuff in it's mouth!

Hubby made me a feeder which we put out on the fence today.  So far I have not been able to get pictures of the squirrel in the feeder but I did get one of our "Squirrely" cats in the feeder before we put it outside!

Lastly I want to share Coleen's School picture because we just think it's so CUTE!

Back again this week with a few other photo's I'd like to share.

A Day at the Fair

elcome! - Today I'm sharing photo's from the Fair.  Normally I don't attend the local Fair but since Greta had to work on Friday and it was "Kids Day" at the Fair Grandma had the pleasure of taking Coleen to the Fair.  We were there 4 hours and some of it in the HOT sun.  Don't know who's feet hurt more by the time we got home but I'm thinking it was Grandma's hands down.  We had fun though and that's what counts.  Later she spent another 3-4 hours that night there with her mom.

She only wanted to go on 1 ride but that didn't last long once she discovered how much fun she was having. 

Enjoy these fun photo's.

First up we have, "Flying High" as she enjoys an Airplane Ride.

How's this for, "Biker Chick!"

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Heading Down the Slide - You should have seen the look on her face her first trip down.  She actually went on this one more then once!

This is the Slide from the House of Mirrors - She loved this one and went through it 3 times.

Her favorite ride, The Dragon Roller coaster.

She got to have her picture taken with the Fair Court or the "Cowgirls" as she calls them.  She was excited about that.

Next to a very large Stuffed Tiger. 

"Yo, there Goes Elvis!" This is Roy Dodd who obviously does Elvis Impersonations.  I wanted to go listen and get a picture.  Coleen not so much.  In fact she said,  "I don't want to go listen to Alvin" - Guess she had him mixed up with the Chipmunks!

See ya later this week with some other Fair Related stuff.

Vegetarian Cats

One HOT July afternoon (check out those Thunder Clouds) a group of kids and instructors got together for a friendly game of soccer - Well not exactly full blown soccer but they were kicking soccer balls so that counts. 

The plan was for the instructors to be cats and the kids were mice guarding their cheese, (aka - the soccer ball) and if the cats woke up you had to get your cheese away from them as quickly as you could.  Sounds pretty simple right?  Well not if you are Coleen who had to pipe up with,  "Don't cats eat mice?"!  Good thing the teachers were on their toes as they explained to her that they were, "Vegetarian Cats!"  Never a dull moment when Coleen is around for sure.  Can you believe those kids played for an hour in temperatures close to 100 degrees.  Ah to be young again and able to withstand the heat.  Grandma sat in what shade there was and drank ice water but I was more then happy when it was time to return home to a nice air conditioned house.

Memorial Day Weekend Trip to the Mountains

Memorial Day Weekend 2010   It's become a bit of a "tradition" to head up to my brother Russell's property on Memorial Day weekend.  Last year they started building a cabin and this year it's mostly completed. Some work still to do inside but it's liveable and quite nice actually.

This is one of the views from his property.  In the next photo you can see my hubby, Mike, my mom, my niece (Shelby) and her son Andrew and our granddaughter, Coleen.  There were others there of course but I am only posting this photo (not that I'm trying to leave anyone out) but this post would be so long if I included all the photo's so we'll leave it at this one.

Some of the Wild Flowers growing on the property.    Some of the Wildlife as well.

Grandpa and Coleen enjoying the dirt under the cabin.   My great-nephew, Andrew and his tractor.

We had some really good food and the weather wasn't to bad (it didn't rain) although it was cold up there.  Some went mushroom hunting (I missed out on that but did find one mushroom close to the cabin), some watched movies inside the cabin, some visited by the fire outside, some played with toys, dogs, some took pictures (that would be me) and some rested and relaxed.

Later on the way home we spotted some unusual cows (?) by the side of the road.  Mike stopped and as usual I took pictures.  We think they may actually be, Yaks but since we didn't stop to ask the owners we're just guessing.  Aren't they strange looking though.

Flowers of Remembrance

May 27th                               Here is a photo of my dad's flowers for what would have been his 90th birthday this year.                                       Coleen wanted to take her Great-Grandpa a flower too so she picked a piece of clover and I put it into the vase along with the other flowers.

She was so sweet while we were there.  Even though she never knew her Great-Grandpa we've shown her pictures and have talked to her about him and she knows he's in Heaven with Jesus now.  Just before we got ready to leave she asked if she could say a prayer.  I told her that would be fine so she went over to the grave and knelt down, folded her hands and prayed, "Dear Lord Jesus,  Thank you for this day.  Please take good care of Great-Grandpa in heaven, Amen." 

 Let me tell you it brought tears to my eyes and my moms.  What a child like faith she has.  I hope she never loses that faith.  We could all learn from her.

Here are the Memorial Day bouquets we took out this morning in spite of it being another drizzly, rainy day.  From L-R, Bouquets for my Grandma Ida, Grandma Pauline (I'm named after both Grandmother's), My Dad, and my Aunt Sadie who was one of my dad's sisters and helped raise him.

May they Rest in Peace and may their memories be ever present in the lives of those who knew them. 

May in Review

Wow can you believe it almost June already! -  It's been a "different" spring here this year.  Not much for sunshine (insert sad face) and plenty of rain (another sad face) but all in all it hasn't been that bad.  I just long for a little more sunshine.  Still the flowers have managed to bloom and grow quite nicely.  This was my mom's Lilac tree in bloom in late April, early May.  Isn't it gorgeous.

My Azalea's were divine this year.  This is my orange one and right next to it is a yellow one (equally as bright).  I think they are just breathtaking when they bloom. 

The Roses are just starting to bloom now and look fabulous.  This one is called,

"Scentimental" and it  does have a wonderful fragrance.

Every May for the last 36 years we've had an annual Hot Air Balloon Stampede here in Walla Walla.  In recent years they started holding the event Mother's Day weekend so there's always a lot going on in town that week.  The balloons are launched from different areas the first day and some of them float right over our houses.  Here is a picture of one that I caught right between my mom's house and her next door neighbor on the other side (we live next door as well but across the driveway).

What Mother's Day would be complete without a photo with MOM! - My mom hates having her picture taken so this one is a keeper as we actually got her to laugh. (Notice kitty in window...that's our cat, Dottie).

Hubby celebrated a birthday (56) this month as well.  Here he is opening a present from Coleen...don't you love the look on her face as she's waiting for him to open the present.

Here is Coleen learning to make, Meatloaf!  She really enjoyed mixing up that gooey mixture.  Even funnier is when she told everyone that she made the meatloaf all by herself!

My Mother-in-law came down and spent 2 weeks with us this month (I told you it's been a busy month) and this is a photo taken just before she left on Sunday.  Poor Coleen was heart broken that Great-Grandma was going home so she was crying and this is the best photo I could get of her.

Finishing off we had our first Strawberry Shortcake of the year last night with strawberries picked from my very own strawberry patch!  Our cat Snickers wanted to check them out before I cut them up.  Don't they look delicious!

Well that's it for this installment of the Krause House...till next time.  Have a safe and Happy Memorial Day weekend. 

Thanks for dropping by.