New Toy For Brielle!

Just ENJOY

Aunt Linda & Brielle

With my sister Linda here from France, she likes to see everyone in their surroundings...like Brielle and Candice in their new apartment. Below we see her giving Brielle a doll from France. Brielle really was all smiles when she saw the new doll.
Great Aunt Linda was also able to feed her.
If I ever get my video to work I will show you what fun they had together. Enjoy photos.

Never Never Give Up - Grand Finale

If it had not been for Ann-Marie staying with us during those few hot days, I may have missed my baby robbins taking flight. The video I have below was a result of Ann-Marie looking out our patio windows and talking to the little robbin who was now perched on the railing of our deck. ( Since I had the sound on during the tapping, you will hear Ann-Marie saying, "How's he doing?" and then Gary picks up the phone and you will hear him saying "Hello"..Sorry for this.)The following day the second robbin I found just sitting below the nest on a bed of nest clippings. All day I would keep an eye on her. (I'm a women so I will refer to the robbin as a her...unless I give her a name like Glenn Close did for the sheep in Sarah - Plain and Tall.)
She just waddled all day long. Sometimes I would find her on the bottom rung of my patio chairs. And then I couldn't find her and was worried that I had missed her leaving me. But then.. I would find her again. Just sitting on my rug. (Because the colors in my rug are a mixture of browns..she blended right in.) Then later I would spot her sitting between two of the railings on my deck.
The interesting thing I did observe was that the mother robbin was still feeding and taking care of her baby. All day long she would bring food and never strayed far from watching every move her baby made.
This went on all day. Finally toward evening I looked out and found the baby robbin following her mother out into the yard. Oh you should have seen how she waddled back and forth. When they finally reached the fence, they both went under it and I saw them no more. I'm not sure when my baby robbin took flight but knowning the watch care of her mother, I'm sure she spread her wings and took flight.
And by the way here is the empty nest. It sort of reminded me of how we as parents come to this same place. But for many of you, it's a long ways off. Just enjoy the video below and rejoice in God our Creator of all things.

Linda in Montana

Well my sister, Linda is in beautiful Montana with her son Alex and daughter-in-law Amanda. They have two great kids...Lorienne Paris and Sebastien and they are expecting their third child.

Linda e-mailed me these wonderful pictures and wanted me to pass they along to everyone. I did mention to Linda that Alex needs to start a blog so we can keep up with his growing family. Enjoy the slide show. As you can see Linda loves being a 'grandmere".

Check out my Slide Show!

First Time For Everything!

I just realized that when I read other people blogs that most of them are young married couples with young children growing up before my eyes. Several are young single people. And then of course there is my daughter, her husband and my beautiful grandrabbits! I on the other hand have been there done that in my life.

My mother Agnes who will be 91 this year and my sisters are in different stages of our life. While visiting my mother at River Bluff she told me..."I"m bored!" "Mom anytime you want to get out, just let me know." was my reply. At first I couldn't understand why my mother who sends birthday and anniversary to ALL her zillions of children, inlaws, outlaws, grandkids and great grandkids and great great grandkid could be bored. She is such a faithful writer!

So for the first time my sister Louise swayed her to let us get a wheelchair to ride in so she could go with us to the CherryVale Mall. So perhaps you can learn somethings from where I am in my stage of life. The Rehfeldts feel so blessed to still have our mother with us. She has a good mind and still is full of humor. Her body may be falling apart (as all of our are too) but we enjoy spending time with her. A great trooper she was to let us drive her around in her new set of wheels.

As always we had fun! She was able to do some shopping with that government stimulus money she received. New shoes, purse etc.... It was great for Mom to see her grandson, Brad. He is a manager for Verizon and works near the food court where we had lunch. It was nice that Tammy and her kids were able to join us.

Some day when I'm long and gone, your mother will be where my mother is now. You have not been there and done that YET! But remember THERE IS ALWAYS A FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING. While you are trying to reason with your children...I'm trying to reason with my mother....and she is probably trying to reason with me. Such is life. We are still learning from each other. Mom you did great on your First wheelchair ride. We ALL LOVE YOU!

In The Beginning

Do you remember your first post? For me it was over a year ago. At the beginning, I thought that I would not have anything to post. At that time I went out in my backyard and began to take photos of those ugly Japanese beetles..they are nasty!!! They were attacking my flowers. They would eat the leaves away and also the beautiful flowers. WELL....

Gary and I have lived in our new home for four years. We have two hydrangea plants.
For the first time there is ONE flower on one of the plants. I know very little when it comes to flowers, and I'm not sure why it took so long to get this one....BUT
Those Japanese beetles are back!!! Every day I go out with my jar of soapy water and put them in my jar. "To The Death" At least there are less than the day before.
I will enjoy my One Hydrangea. It is so big and very beautiful. Despite those ugly beetles.

As you know I did much more postings than I ever thought I would. I just think it's sorta fun to return to my yard a year later and find these nasty, nasty beetles a topic of another post. Perhaps they had visited my blog and enjoyed all that attention I gave them a year ago and just wanted more attention. They however were rude...they left me no comment!

Never Never Give Up! Update 2

Well, Well...I thought that I would be celebrating the birth of one baby robin. SURPRISE !!! It's a boy, It's a girl...maybe it's twins. All that I really know is that there are TWO baby robins! Below you can see the birth of the first arrival and an egg next to the little robin. Notice how much featherless they are.
I tried very hard to not upset Mother Robin. She was so very protected of her babies.

She would keep a watchful eye wherever she roamed.
Boy did her babies want to be feed...all the time.
"Where are you Mom! We are so hungry!"
After being feed they just seem to be so satisfied and just hung their head over their nest to rest.

It has been a joy for me to follow all of this. Each day their little bodies get more feathers on them and they begin to look more like a real robbin should look. One day they will try flying and that nest will once again be empty like it was at the beginning of this story. I don't know if I will be able to see this event, but if I do, You All will see more pictures of my little babies robbins growing up. Enjoy.

Movers And Shakers

Since there are many many people in my immediate family, someone is always moving. My poor mother who keeps up with everyone is always changing someones address in her address book. This Saturday, July 5, it was my neice Candice and my nephew BJ who were the movers and shakers. We loaded up Brielle's bed.
Gary's truck held Candice's bed and dresser.
Ann-Marie was in charge of taking care of Brielle. Of course Brett love to hold her now and then. She seems to be enjoying the attention.

Inside the apartment, the work must begin to start unpacking everything. What fun.
Here's Ann-Marie and Candice in the kitchen. They look like they are having fun.
Then here comes BJ with his STUFF!!
Whos room do you think this is? I know when he shows he's pictures on his blog, it will look neat and clean.

Brielle just took it all in. May they all enjoy their new home (Apartment) It's always nice to have a place of your own. I know that they will love it.

Happy 4th!

After I packed us a lunch and Gary had the bikes mounted on the back of the truck, we headed for Roland Olson Park. Halfway on the trail we stopped at a picnic table to enjoy our lunch. For our dessert, we stopped in Popular Grove for an ice cream cone. Then off towards Harvard. The only problem with riding 15 miles one way.....you have to ride back to the place you started. YES WE RODE 30 miles on the 4th. In the evening, Brett, Al, (Brett's dad) Ann-Maire, Gary and I went to Beloit to see such a beautiful display of fireworks. While waiting for darkness to decend on us, Ann-Marie and I played Skip-Bo. I just want to wish everyone: A

HAPPY
HAPPY
4th
OF
JULY!!!

Mothers & Daughters

Summertime is a great time to have families come and visit. My dear friend Jackie's daughter Katrina and her husband Christian are visiting her here from Richmond, Va. I love mother and daughter get-togethers. We were able to meet for lunch at the Olympic. I loved the interaction of conversation that took place ...catching up with each others lives...the laughter...and of course the great foodSince my sister, Linda is visiting us here from France, we included her in these interactions.
As always there is never enough time to spend trying to catch up with all our life events. BUT IT WAS FUN...we took a mind's eye trip to Berlin, Richmond, VA., Strasbourg, France , Rockford and even Columbia, South American where three Americans after 5 years of hostage were released and also a French-Columbian woman. Not to mention our personal private lives that we touched upon, laughing about various issues (YES IT COULD HAVE BEEN ABOUT SOMEONE 'S HUSBAND AND I'M NOT SAYING WHOSE.) P.S. Keep us posted on people who visit you this summer. P.S. 2 Don't let Linda sit next to you when you are posting.

Never, Never Give Up - Update

Last week my husband make the comment that the bird nest was firmly in place and this time he would not take it down. Since the bird nest is up high, on Monday I quietly put a chair near the nest to stand on to see if perhaps the robin had laid an egg. Sure enough....just look at that beautiful colorful egg. If possible I might be able to show a picture of a baby robin in the future. ENJOY the wonderful things that God allows us to see everyday...like the robin's egg.