Orchids and Anders (for Joyce)

So this post started out just as a picture of the following orchid for Joyce. This orchid is in the guest room that Joyce slept in the week she took care of Anders.  It opened a few days after she left and she was hoping to see it. So here it is Joyce.

But then all of a sudden I found myself taking pictures of all of my orchids are currently in bloom.

And here is what I go through during the winter when I water them.  It takes about 15 gallons of water (I use old fish tank water) and I have about 3 tubs worth of orchids - bathtub that is.  Some of the orchids are not in pots, but are on bark instead and they have to be soaked.  Notice the bathroom floor (the baseboard tile is done too, but it is black glass, so you might not be able to see it). 

In the summer I just haul them all outside and use the rain barrels to water them or if it is raining I get them out for rain (that is my favorite way to water them).  Here they are back in their places.  In the dining room in the Wardian case that Will built for me a few years ago.  Ever since we moved the orchids to this, they bloom a lot more.   Thanks Will! 

In the living room window seat.  Notice the stained woodwork - thanks Dad!

In the guest bedroom.

I'm not sure how many orchids I have - something around 30 or so and I just added 2 more orchids to the collection. This first one is in Anders' room - I've been wanting to get him an orchid for quite a while.

This next one is very fragrant - kind of vanilla-like (which, by the way, is also an orchid). I got this one because I want Anders to enjoy smelling it. Not all orchids are fragrant, in fact I think I have only 3 that are.

Ok, here is Anders. We are doing some of our yoga moves - they make him smile and almost laugh (I'm not sure if it is laughing or not - his whole body kind of gets in to it and he makes this kind of breathy laughing sound). I'm looking forward to full belly laughs from him.  Ok and for the record, I don't dress like crap all the time now.  We just keep getting shots of me in hanging-out-at-home clothes.  

And here is Anders after his work out. 

Thanksgiving in the Woods

The last time we were up at the cabin Will discovered that the old foundation that our shed was temporary sitting on is very close to collapsing.  Some of you know that Will built this shed with the intention of moving it up the hill on our property some day - the shed is actually designed to be moved.  I just asked Will why we didn't just build it where we want it, and he says because the ground isn't level, but I think it is because we had our huge burn piles in that spot (I'm sure there is a blog post with the burn piles somewhere on this blog).  Anyway, we are pretty sure that the combination of the weight of the shed and all the stuff we have in it along with the several feet of snow that will likely fall this winter would lead to the final demise of that foundation.  So, we went back up to the lake over the holiday to move the shed.  Here is the shed - this photo was taken from the warmth of the cabin.

This will be the last time we drive in to the cabin as the road isn't plowed in the winter.  Since we can barely make it up our road in the summer with our VWs, we rented a big truck to both get us in and out of the property and to pull the shed.   Before moving it, Will had to empty it out - it is amazing how much stuff we had inside of this shed, which is the same size as the cabin 8x12'.  Will had to empty it by himself, because Anders wasn't interested in sleeping, so I was babysitting (although one of my employees informed me today that it isn't babysitting when it is your own kid). 

Ok, here are a few shots of the great shed drag.  It went very well, but we couldn't put it exactly where we wanted to because the ground isn't level there (still) and we need to build some sort of foundation for under the shed this next summer.  

Here is what the shed was sitting on.

As you can see there is snow up in northern MN.  We had about 2 inches when we arrived and I suspect it snowed another 2 or so before we left to come home.  The fresh snow was very pretty on the trees.  

And on the Hardy Boys boat...

And on our steps...

And on Will's wall.

Here is how we got water for the few days we were up there.  At the end of that path on the ice is a hole, which I dropped the lens cap to Will's camera in right after taking these pictures.  Luckily it floated.  

Here is our lovely Thanksgiving dinner.  Will had chicken and I had soup.  We both had mashed potatoes and wine and for dessert had some tasty Oreos.  

Anders, Lucy and I spent a lot of time hanging out inside.  I got out a bit during the cat naps Anders took.  Anders noticed his hand and could be found staring at it, while giving a black power salute.  He also seems to have discovered his ears and finally seemed to notice Lucy, who made him smile a lot.  I have no pictures to prove any of this stuff.

  

I knitted a baby hat and this hat for my mom (I like the pattern so much, I need to make one for myself).  

We have a few tightly packed groves of spruce trees, so we cut our own Christmas tree while we were up there. 

 

Notice my lovely outfit.

I chose a Charlie Brown tree - they are so packed in there that one side has barely any branches.  Oh well, that will be perfect for against the wall! 

Will went ice skating and made this cool pattern on the ice.

Finally, we ended our trip with a visit with OB, Kathleen, Hazel, Cy and 3-week-old baby Graham.  We are hoping that Graham and Anders will have lots of fun together growing up.  The baby hat was for Graham, but I didn't take a picture of it.  These are a couple of great pictures - Graham seems to be busting some moves, I think he will be well known for his dancing. 

The various hats of Anders the inscrutable.

Aaaahhhhh.....

The picture below sums up how we all feel right now.  We've had almost 3 months straight of non-stop guests.  And while we loved having everyone here and we appreciated all the help, we are looking forward to being the guests and not the hosts at least until after the holidays.   

This morning Rob and Carrie and Eleanor had the honor of being our last guests for a while.  They were here for a quick weekend visit and the routing of the University of Minnesota by the Hawkeye football team.  Other appropriate words would be:  shellacing, decimation, destruction, trouncing, trashing, etc.  Go Hawks!  Will and Rob went to the game while Carrie and I stayed home with the kids - next year Carrie and I are going to the game while Will and Rob stay home.  For those of you who don't follow Hawkeye football, the final score was 55-0.  Carrie and I did get to go to The Crafty Planet - a fun yarn and fabric store in NE Minneapolis.  We did not come home empty handed.   It was really fun to see how many new words Eleanor uses.  

My mom also left this morning after an exhausting (both physically and mentally) week of cleaning up her parents' house with her siblings.  It was amazing to see how much stuff my grandparents saved.  After working all week long, my mom and aunt and uncles had an estate sale to try to unload all of the stuff that nobody in the family wanted.  They had a very successful sale.  Anders and I went to the sale for a few hours yesterday.  It was kind of strange to see a bunch of strangers walking through that house.  It is also really strange to think about the fact that this house will no longer be a house that I will visit.  I'm sure that my mom and her siblings have even stronger feelings about this - it makes me kind of sad for them.  

Just a quick rundown of the last couple of weeks: after Joyce left (there she is saying goodbye to Anders), Jean came to help us out for a week.  Anders and Jean spent lots of time collecting lovely leaves, like these.  

I just finished my 3rd week of being back at work - it is going pretty well.  And Will started his first of 6 weeks home with Anders.  That seems to be going pretty well too.  Anders is sleeping longer chunks of time at night - around 4 hours or so at a time starting around 6:30 or 7 pm.  He is sleeping the majority of the night in his bassinet, but we are still trying to find the perfect combination of sleeping attire for him - he seems to get sweaty a lot of the time, but then other times he is cold.

I'm trying to run in the mornings and am taking him to yoga once a week - here he is with his new maraca.  

Anders went out with the Sawbill Babes last Saturday - he was so excited to hang out with them that he stayed awake the whole time and then conked out on the way home.  

Winter has arrived in Minnesota...

And we had a visitor in the backyard the day that Will and Joyce left to get Joyce back to Iowa.  The light was pretty bad, so we really were not able to identify this hawk, but it was cool anyway.  

Finally, we received a really wonderful gift put together by Carrie and Betsy.  A Book for Anders is something that many of you participated in - it is full all kinds of advice, songs and memories from people we love very much.  It definitely made me very teary-eyed as I opened the package.  Thank you so much Betsy and Carrie for such a thoughtful gift and thank you to everyone else for your contributions - we love this book.  

Lucy loves it too.

Anders also loves his new monkey outfit from his Aunt Jan, Uncle Mike and cousins Russell, Matthew and Sam.

Will finished the bathroom.  The floor has been done for a few weeks, but he just finished the base tiles.  

What we haven't done: caught up on our thank you notes (sorry), finished Anders' room (we are close), finished Anders' fish tank (we are close there too), finished a book (well, Will has, but I am no longer the super reader I used to be), any knitting (just buying yarn), caught up on cleaning the house. 

2 Month Appointment

Anders went to the doctor this afternoon for his 2 month appointment.  He is now 23 inches long and weighs in at 11 lbs.  He is in the 50th percentile for both measurements - slightly under for weight.  They are very pleased with him - he is tracking right on his curve for growth, which is good.  He had to get some shots, but did just fine and has a clean bill of health.  Now he is sleeping.

I'm still walking on air from yesterday.  I was just telling Joyce that this is the first time in a very, very long time - maybe ever in fact, that I am proud and feel good about America.  For the last several years I have been embarrassed and have sort of joked about moving to Canada, but today I feel proud.