Black Bean Fun

Not having a sandbox yet, we have broken out a bag of black beans for Maggie to play with. She has played with these for hours. Nice (and cheap!) indoor fun!

Maggie in the Mountains

For Mother's Day this year, Mark took Maggie up to the mountains, and I got to have a day to myself. I know Mark really loves going to the mountains, and found this trip even better getting to spend the time with Maggie.

Happy Spring!

So, I would say, "Happy Easter!," since these pictures were taken on Easter, but it's really almost Memorial Day now, so, well...whatever. :) Maggie had a good Easter, we were supposed to spend the day with Matt, Tara, Camden and Tara's folks, but they all got sick, so we were invited to go to Scott and Jesse's house. We had a good time with them and Maggie got to help Regan and Cade search for Easter eggs. She gave up after about 90 seconds, and decided to go swing instead. Maybe next year.

Here she was doing a little reading before we going to church that morning.

Multnomah Falls

On our way back from Portland, we stopped at Multnomah Falls. There is a beautiful waterfall that you can hike up to. With Maggie in the stroller, we didn't think we would make it up the winding trail. Maybe next time.

Portland Zoo

In March, Maggie and I visited Mark in Vancouver, WA while he was taking some classes for work. At the end of his training we drove to Oregon and went to the Portland Zoo. We had a good time. It was the first time that Maggie could interact with the animals. However, as you can see in the second picture, she enjoyed her Oreo in the car more than petting the goats.

Gangsta Maggie

Just had to put this one in here. Mark had a fun time getting Maggie in this "gangsta" outfit. Now she just needs a little bling-bling. :)

First Hospital Stay

Poor little Maggie came down with an awful case of MRSA Staph in February and had to spend several nights in the hospital. The whole thing was very traumatic, but we had some really terrific nurses and doctors taking care of her. Of course, I think a community of friends and family praying for her helped speed up the recovery a bit, too! Since the first bout, she has had the infection twice again. Because we are familiar with what it looks like now, we are able to take care of it right away and get her on antibiotics. After the third time, they treated me with a different antibiotic to see if I am a carrier. Hopefully, she will not get it again.

This is a picture of Maggie and Mark when she had started to feel better. She saw her shoes and just had to have them on. We thought they really completed the outfit.

House

So, it's been awhile since many of our friends and family have heard from us, so we thought a few updates would be in order. We bought a house in January. It is a duplex in the country, which was once a small firehouse. Yes, it is a duplex, so that makes Mark and I landlords. So far, (Praise God!) we haven't had any major financial problems with the rental house. Before we moved in, the owner replaced all of the carpet and the vinyl in the bathroom in our house. Eventually I would like to update the flooring in the kitchen. Our portion of the house has been a rental for a very long time, so there is quite a bit of work to do still. The yard is our current project. Not a leaf had been raked before we moved in, so, after the snow melted and the leaves were raked, we had a real look at our yard. Yikes. The grass definitely needs an overhaul. We are working on overseeding it, but the goatheads and dandilions are giving the seedlings a run for the money. We recently made a little flower bed in the front of the yard. We planted a couple of butterfly bushes, a Rose of Sharon bush, some Asiatic Lillies and (my personal favorite) Gerbera Daisies. We'll see if we can keep any of those things alive before investing any more money into the landscaping. :)

This is a picture of Maggie "surveying" the property.