happy birthday Grandma B

May 31 will always be my Grandma B--Margaret Lucille Houselog Blomgren's birthday.  Here is a snippet from her obituary on "findagrave.com"

Margaret L. Blomgren was born on May 31, 1905 in Grant County, Wisc. to Henry and Lena (Demuth) Houselog. When she was five years old the family moved to a farm near Hatfield where she attended school for eight years and then attended Pipestone High School and also one year of normal training at Pipestone. Margaret taught school for six years east of Hatfield and later substituted at Elkton. On June 16, 1930, she married Clarence Blomgren at Woodstock and they lived on a farm near Pipestone until 1937 when they moved to a farm northeast of Elkton. Clarence preceded her in death on March 15, 1970 and she moved into Elkton in December 1970. She entered Riverview Manor in October of 1994.

Grandma B is the lone female in the back row a rose between four thorns

glad to see after the fact

I have no idea how close to camp this photo was taken, but I'm glad I didn't know Anders and Brad were this close to the three little bears...Momma on top and babies on lower branches.

wind in our hair

Spent a lovely weekend "up north" at Bud and Betty's.  Yesterday, Anders and Kate got a chance to drive the boat around the lake.  They were permitted to drive at low speeds, but when Brad got behind the wheel, we were able to let our hair loose and let it get snarly.  Humid, overcast day, but great memories were made!

morels and asparagus

today we are spending time with Brent, Molly, Siri, Ivan and Grandpa Bud up at the lake.  The kids decided to ask the next door neighbors to play in their treehouse.  As Siri departed from the treehouse, I spied the first of seven morels.  Mrs. McPheeter told us to help ourselves and we found a total of seven morels. 

Earlier today, Brad found some wild asparagus...love wild foods!

home gardens of May

 

 

cold frame with lettuce--brocolli and cabbage in pots

This morning I was out for my five miler and noticed how vegetation has exploded!  Fields are starting to grow, the first alfalfa cutting has happened, leaves on the trees are almost full sized.  Here are some photos of our backyard gardens...they are only going to get bigger--YUM!

climbing beans emerging

tomatoes/carrots in three forward boxes, cucumbers by the teepee looking apparatus and asparagus next to the cucumbers

raspberry bushes flourishing compost in the corral like structure

oodles of impatiens

petunia row and my new hydrangea near the egress window cover

group photos from Boundary Waters 2011

Anders, Riah, Austin, Garth front row Jerry, man, Brad and Riah's Dad back row

3 generations, Jerry, Austin and Garth

Riah, Anders and Brad

the boys--Riah, Austin and Anders

timber!

3 boys in a camp with trees and an axe

pulling together

concentrated effort

felled tree

graduation day

This evening we will be attending Katie's Preschool Graduation and Picnic.  She has been looking forward to this evening all school year as she will get to see all of her student teachers from throughout the year.  The class also has been working on some music to make the Mommy's tear up.  I am going to be sneaking over to spy on her in a few minutes as this opportunity to visit will be over very soon as she will be enjoying her final day of class on Thursday.

Thank you Mrs. Kaiser, Ms. Sheila and everyone for a fabulous year of learning and growing.

with Mrs. Sheila and Ms. Jaquie

with buddy Kenny in cap

taking the graduation walk to get diploma

ready to take on the University

little man standing

On Thursday, May 19th, 2011, Kathryn, Osten and I attended our first High School Girls Soccer game.  Kathryn's dear friend, Kenny invited her to go with him, his Mom and friend Kieran at 5pm and then Osten and I joined them after work.  What a fun event!  We were able to cheer on a young woman who has been working with the kids in preschool, Miranda Kaiser and support a cancer kicking event!

While sitting on a blanket and toddling around, young Osten pulled himself up on my knee and let go--he stood there for a few seconds with a HUGE mushy grin on his face.  HEART WARMING and exciting.

crazy weather

We had some crazy weather this weekend!  Yesterday the day started out with overcast skies.  As we were listening to MN Teen Challenge in church, the skies opened and we were dumped on with rain.  We proceeded to walk home, drive to Perkins with Liana and Ryan, eat dinner with Mom & Dad (great to be together!) and drive Kate to Ian's Fifth Birthday party at The Crossings swimming pool and gather back at home to finish our Osten celebration at home.

Mom and Dad, Liana and Ryan left our home at about 3:00pm--Brad, Osten and I all fell asleep.  I woke at about 3:45 pm to go out for an eight miler.  It was extremely humid/windy/still/sunny/cloudy during my run.  Seemed like a teenaged girl and her mood.  Found out while driving with Sarah to the movie Bridesmaids that there had been a tornado in Minneapolis while I was out for my run!  After the girls night movie (Angie, Sarah, Michelle Johnson, Kim and I) and much laughter, Sarah and I drove home and it poured on us once again.

cleanup after Minneapolis tornado 5/22/11 (scitimes.com)

Hopefully today will be a non-dramatic weather day!

first birthday

I will be updating this post throughout the day, but Osten John is a year old today!  He woke with a bright shiny smile, but is currently down for his morning nap.  Brad is making bread, Kathryn is helping, Anders is playing DS and I am going to get some weekend cleaning done. 

Osten's birthday cake is thawing and we are going to be celebrating with Grandma and Grandpa Blomgren today!  What thrills and chills!

update:  Anders, Kate, Pete Noreen, Alex Samargia and I drove through a torrential downpour to a skating birthday party for Braedon Harer today.  Anders did great on the ice and learned so much from Braedon's Dad--working with hockey stick and puck.  Anders was outfitted with skates, helmet, gloves and helmet.  Thanks so much for everything Harer's!  Katie had tons of fun skating with friend, Gracie.  They are going to have lots of fun in Kindergarten together.  

Back to River Falls and then to Hudson (the place of Osten's birth) to celebrate Osten's day with the Blomgrens--Grandma and Grandpa B, Liana and Ryan.  We ate pizza in the party room at the Quality Inn with approximately 20 ten-year old girls and their families who were in town for the soccer tournament in River Falls.  Noise levels were very high, but Osten took it all in stride. 

Back to the room for cake (loved the Chip/Osten cake Grandma Betty) and presents.  We are so blessed with loving family!  Osten received a Gopher's hat, blue bibs, Twins sweatshirt, 2 puppy books, lime green and navy polo shirt, tub of vehicles, nesting birds, bird book, 3 piece luggage and Dr. Seuss birthday book

Photo of Osten just a few hours old--I was still in recovery and got to bond with this sweet baby boy just minutes after this photo was captured