Modeling Debut

Garrett had his first 'modeling' job today. He got a call from his agent last week that the Step2 Toy Company had called and wanted him for their Lookout Tree House photo shoot. His agent, Stephanie, said it was the first time she submitted him to a client and she got a call back the same day. :) "A good sign" she said...I thought... "uh oh". ha!
We arrived at the studio this morning. The studio, which was in a warehouse in downtown Cleveland on some strange looking street with no visible signs of life inside/outside. Well, we made it in safely and we were shown to Garrett's dressing room {dressing room ha!} and then we were brought into the room {giant space} where the treehouse was~ surrounded by huge light boxes and lots of expensive equipment. {I did have a passing thought that I better warn them how clumsy Garrett might be but I didn't} We made it through the shoot safe and sound. He did great and they seemed to get the shots they wanted. They told us that we would most likely see him on the website and/or the box of the toy itself. :) If I see it first, I will let you know!
p.s. I got a call this afternoon and Step2 asked for him to come back on Wednesday for another toy. I guess he did OK. They already asked us back. heehee

Horses

Elmer

Today Garrett and I went out to visit my friend, Diann, at her horse stables on the west side of Cleveland. She has invited me to come out a bunch of times and today was the perfect day for it~ sunny and around 70 degrees. :)
This was Garrett's first time being around so many horses (about 40 of them) and the first thing he notices...the kitty! He warmed up to the horses after a little nervousness wore off. He liked feeding them carrots...well he took them out of the bag, handed them to me, and said, "You do it Mama"! OK.
Diann's horses were beautiful. Elmer and Strawberry. Elmer is a big guy! She said he weighs about 1100 lbs and Strawberry is petite at 800 lbs. Wouldn't that be nice! Petite at 800 lbs! It was a lot of fun and I think Garrett really liked it too. She wants us to come back another day and she told Garrett he could ride them! And boy did he talk about that the whole ride home. And he kept saying, "Diann nice Mama. Diann nice".

ElmerStrawberry

Birthdays Spring and Projects

Sunday was Brian's 34th birthday! We celebrated with a giant cupcake cake and presents and shopping for his big present...a new bike! It was lots of fun trying to find one that he liked and one that Garrett agreed that his seat would fit nicely on the back of. "They" came to a decision and we picked it up yesterday at Costco-- of all places! Brian had a nice birthday with lots of cake,(presents), and love too!

Spring seems to be springing up here in Cleveland this past week. We have been out in the warm air riding bikes and watching the flowers popping up. Even Steve, the cat, has been out L-O-V-I-N-G the warm sun. It's fun to run into people we haven't seen all winter because we almost literally hibernate here because it's so cold and dreary from November to April. And nice to see people starting to work on their yards to get ready for Spring and Summer. Here are a few photos of Spring!

One more thing I have been working on... I have a few people in my family who sometimes have a hard time doing things on their computer. We live about 700 miles away from each other and it would be nice if they would be able to share photos with us since they all now have 1. digital cameras and 2. computers! So-- it finally hit me this last visit with my parents...when my Mom brought her camera and memory card (with no cords or card reader) and asked me to download them and clear her card for her...um, we don't have the same camera so it was kind of hard to do.

So-- I decided to make my Mom and Dad instruction cards on how to upload, download, save, AND send to Walmart the photos that they would like! I am also in the process of making some for my sister Stacey too! She always tells me she has taken a bunch of photos of her kids and things she is doing around the house but she doesn't know how to email them. Don't worry Stace, they are coming soon!!!

All I did was take 4x4 chip board (left over from Christmas 2006) and decorated them and clipped them together with an O-ring. What do ya think? :)

Aunt Andrea

Today is the one year anniversary of my Aunt Andrea's passing from this life into her eternal life in Heaven. She was an amazing woman of strength and courage. She battled breast cancer for 8 years strong. She never wanted you to ask how she was, instead she wanted to know how you were and what you were doing. And when you did ask how she was, she always said Great with a smile on her face even with painful blisters on her feet from the chemo she was taking or pain in her back from one drug or another. She always wanted people not to view her as sick but rather just to see her as living. Living her life to the fullest. She walked 5+ miles a day, traveled and enjoyed her time to the fullest. It is an example we should all value and live by, enjoy each and every moment of every day. Thank God for every sweet minute you can with those you love. I love you Aunt Andrea and hold you close in my heart every day.

Progress is being made

The bathroom is still under construction but it has come a LONG way in the short time since we started re-doing it. If you recall...black was the main color of it before we started. Well now it is a calm warm tone of tans and browns and creams. We completely changed the style going from {what must have been to the other people who owned the house} Asian/Modern??? to what I believe is a better match of the bungalow style of home it is. It is not complete yet, as we ran out of the new wallpaper with only about 2feet to go, but we are getting close! It is functional! The toilet and sink are both working! Yahoo! A little creative saw work in the cabinet and it works! :) Old houses...you have to l-o-v-e them. Please send a long any comments or suggestions or anything you have to share. We'd love to hear!

Oh and since I have a whole bunch of cute photos of Mimi and Papa's visit, I thought I would put a couple more from Easter. An Easter snowman made with love with Mimi. Garrett had so much fun making the snowman with my Mom. He kept running back in the house to get more items ie: asparagus for arms, carrotts for the nose and anything else they needed. We watched this poor guy melt away for two weeks but Garrett told him he would see him next winter...it was so cute when he did.