Auntie Heather Day

Auntie Heather joins us at daycare every Thursday.  She doesn't go into the office that day, she can work wherever she has a computer and a telephone.  Claire and Brody set up their own "work stations" at the dining room table with her.  They each have their own computer and telephone and are ready to take calls and send emails and do other computer work that only they know how to do.  She reads books to them on her break.  And lets Max snuggle against her while she feeds Mara.  And does "seek and find" with them on her break.  (those are books or papers that have hidden items that you seek and find - she is really good at it and they LOVE it)  And settles arguments.  And picks them up if they are sad or crying.  And listens to their stories.  And listens to their songs.  And teaches them new songs.  And encourages them when they are doing projects.  And cleans up after them.  And endless other helpful tasks that make my Thursdays oh so nice.  The kids love her so much and ask me every day if this is the day Auntie Heather is going to come and stay.  I can't tell you how many "Auntie Heather"s I hear in a day when she is there with us.  When she feeds Mara, Claire gets her baby doll, Abby, and feeds her and burps her at the same time - every time.  I wanna get more pictures of her with the kids, but for now, this one of her teaching Mara and Maverick a new toy trick will have to do.  Thanks, Auntie Heather, we are so lucky to have you!

Starring Miss Everleigh

Aunt Bonnie brought Everleigh (beautiful daughter of my nephew, Scott) to visit our daycare on Friday.  Sliding in the freshly fallen snow was in our plan for the day, so Ev joined us.

Brody and Claire were very excited for her to go down first, and she was game, if a little leary.  She did so great.

Papa Jeff catches her, which is part of the deal.  Brody claps.

Trek back up the hill.  She's stylish as always in her fur-lined coat and Uggs.

After this first trip down the hill, she decided to put her mittens on!

It's nice to have someone to carry the sled, right?

Ready for the next trip...  Thanks for joining us, Everleigh.  We sure had fun!  

Farm Fun in the Snow

The whole snow fun cracks Brody up!  He was so brave the whole day!

Who's next?

There goes Claire...

Climbing back up - Claire had so much fun - smiled the whole time!

Wheeee....

Looks like they are running up the hill, which was really impossible!

Max gets his turn...

and again...

that was fun, Papa...

...all smiles!!                                                                                                            

5 Grandkids, all doing something...

Maverick is mobile!  Forget sitting in the bouncy chair watching the big kids play in the snow!  He has learned to turn himself around in it - hello!

You just never know what they are going to think of to do, when you aren't watching.  Claire likes to get into Mara and Maverick's "bubble" for hugs, kisses and love sharing.  Max looks on, not sure how to get in (and possibly out) of the pack and play.

Max didn't nap long enough, so is resting on the couch with a book.

Oh gosh, guess that is pretty funny to Max!

OK, time for a little rest!  Note the awesome "farm" flannel!

Papa comes in to read some stories.  Mara was napping - no, really!

Claire is learning how to make dumpling soup, a Docken family favorite.  She

shredded all the cooked chicken.                                                                        

Daycare Days

Claire gets a turn on the tractor and gives Max a ride.

Not sure why Max finds this so funny - it's his new "cheese" face.

Brody and Claire are doing some repairs on the four wheeler...

...with the Handy Manny tools.  Their work is never done!

Kaija Eckholm, from next door, comes to play 2 afternoons a week (Jaime Clem comes 1 afternoon a week as well).  Here they are playing in the snow.

Maverick watches their outdoor play from the warm sunroom.  Here he has learned to completely turn around in the bouncy chair.  Guess this was his last day in the bouncy chair, right!

When Mara woke up from her nap, Claire decided to join her for some play time.  Max is supplying plenty of toys as needed.  What they don't think of!

A Loving Heart

Claire is mixing up a cake to take to our nephew, Nathan's, house.  Nathan is going through chemotherapy.  We are taking dinner to their family tomorrow night.  I was telling Claire about Nathan and that is why we were baking the cake and dinner.  She told me three different times today how sad she was for Nathan.  I asked her if she wanted to pray for him and she dropped her spoon and folded her tiny hands and prayed, "Dear God, please help Nathan and make him feel better.  Amen."  She wanted to know if he had to have shots and if they hurt him.  She thought for sure that they would like the dinner and cake we were going to take them and that it would make him feel happy.  She added the sprinkles to the frosting on the cake (her idea, I'd never done that on chocolate frosting), thinking that Nathan would really like sprinkles.  She is so little, and yet already has such a loving heart.  I think she will not forget making a cake for someone that is sick so that they would feel better.

Our 2013 Vacation to Siesta Key

I love hunting for shells, for us and for the grandkids.  Each beach we go to has different types of shells.  We hunted this year at Siesta Key Beach (the #1 beach in America), and at Turtle Beach, Florida.  Jeff's shadow is taking this photo of me shelling.

We got dressed up to go to Siesta Key Village.  Our studio is behind me.  It was tiny, but perfect, with a Murphy bed!  Our weather was great, but we were so glad that our studio had heat and air conditioning! 

The sand on our beach was truly amazing, so white and so fine.  It was hard to see when you first walked out to the beach, it was so bright. 

My favorite parts of a vacation on the water are hunting for shells, walking on the beach, and going out into the water to jump the waves.  There are also great shells waiting for you in the deeper water.

Jeff is soaking up some rays.  We slathered on the sunscreen every day, right up until the last day.  What is it about the last day?? 
You can see our resort in the background, the yellow buildings.

Every evening, everyone trekked down to the beach to watch the sunset.  We didn't know that until we got there!  Quite a ritual.  Jeff took lots of pictures of that, but I'll just post a couple.  It was quiet and peaceful to watch.

We also spent quite a bit of time in the shade.  It was so nice to be able to enjoy the warmth and the surf without overdoing the sun.  There was a light breeze most days. 

We had a private beach, only 75 units in our resort, and usually only about 5-10 people sharing our stretch of beach.  We walked down to the public beach (maybe a mile from us), and there were hundreds of people and umbrellas and chairs and blankets and the strong smell of coconut sunscreen.  At sunset, though, lots of folks gathered. 

On our last day we overdid the sun (didn't know it until later that night).    We got dressed up and went out to dinner at Turtles on Turtle Beach, ate yummy shrimp and Key lime pie.  Pardon the self-portrait, but at least we

are both together in this photo!  We ate almost all our meals in our studio.  We solved a lot of world issues during our daily walks and talks,

you're welcome!

Adios Siesta Key!  We enjoyed you!