Halloween at the PD...

One hot Granny!




Charlie's Angels

Happy Belated Birthday to Jocelyn!

This post is the only part that is belated. We celebrated Jocelyn's 7th birthday on Saturday, with a party at our new house. We played games with classmates new and old, family and friends. After a little running around in our new yard, games, cake, ice cream and presents, followed by more running around, the friends and classmates were picked up by their parents, and the family was left to BBQ dinner.

A great time was had by all. Jocelyn is enjoying all the Hannah Montana items she received for her new room, and the toys she will be able to play with there. Pictures will follow as soon as I can get them up.

Happy 7th Birthday Sweety!

A quote from Claire...

We have been working on getting the old house ready to put on the market, cleaning, painting, redoing the walkway, putting the hand rail on the back deck..... After filling the trailer with another load for the new house, I headed home with Claire and Jocelyn. If you had been lucky enough to witness our conversation in the car yesterday, this is what you would have heard.

Claire: Mommy....Mooommmmyyyy
Me: Yes, Honey?
Claire: Gwink?
Me: I'll get you a drink when we get home. Okay?
Claire: Kay.
Claire: Mommy
Me: Yes, Honey?
Claire: Gwink?
Me: I'll get you a drink when we get home. Okay?
Claire: Kay.
Claire: Mommy...Mommy!
Me: Yes, Honey?
Claire: Gwink! Gwink!!
Me: I know your thirst, I'll get you a drink when we get home. Okay?
Claire: Okay.
Claire: Mommy
Me: Yes, Honey?
Claire: Gwink?
Me: I'll get you a drink when we get home. Okay?
Claire: Kay.
Claire: Mommy....Mooommmmyyyy (the long drawn out dramatic version)
Me: Yes, Honey?
Claire: Gwink!
Me: I'll get you a drink when we get home. Okay?
Claire: Kay.
Claire: Mommy
Me: Yes, Honey?
Claire: Gwink?
Me: I'll get you a drink when we get home. Okay?
Claire: Kay.
Claire: Mommy...Mommy!
Me: Yes, Honey?
Claire: Gwink! Gwink!!
Me: I know your thirst, I'll get you a drink when we get home. Okay?
Claire: Kay.

(This continued for the whole 10 minutes it took us to get home.) As we happened to be borrowing my brother-in-laws car, I could watch Claire in the baby mirror over the rear view mirror. Claire had a very serious look on her face during the whole conversation, intent on not letting me forget just how thirsty she was. I, however, could not keep the grin off my face as I made eyes at Jocelyn in the baby mirror. Jocelyn was trying not to laugh at me, and at Claire and her serious endeavor.

And now, the headstones...

When you move into a new place, and know it was lived in by many before you got there, you might expect to find 'treasures' in and around the house. When we found the cd's and and the folding knife on the top shelf of the birdhouse room (the walls are institutional brown, and there is a wallpaper border at the top with birdhouses), I was not too surprised. We knew the house had been a foster home for boys and the knife explained the strange marks in the ceiling of that room. I was also not too surprised to find the prescription bottle that still contained pills. I was a little surprised at what we found in the HVAC vents; a b-ball hat, two baseballs, a 'Happy Meal' toy and assorted garbage. (That was all in one vent!) Then there was the vent full of cigarette butts and ash in the master bedroom. YUCK! I thought we had found most of the treasures; the mixer, cutting board and sippy cups still in the kitchen cabinets. Then we started watering the thirsty yard... What would you think if you moved into a home once used as a group home for 'wayward' boys, and found these...

The first one shown above, was broken into two pieces with the piece on the right being found upside down near the hose spicket and the larger piece being about 7 yards away under the master bedroom deck, also upside down. Cam found the smaller piece while using the hose, and at first thought it was a stepping stone, but then it was just to perfect. He turned it over and found the name 'Rose' inside a heart. After that grim discovery, he began to take a closer look at the other stepping stones in the area and located the top stone in the next picture.

I had a better picture of it, but can't seem to locate it. The smaller headstone is very detailed and for a 3 month old infant, Brianna Arlene V*****, born September 16, 1994, and passed away in December of 1994. (That one was a little to close for comfort for me.) Cam contacted the local cemeteries to see if any were missing these headstones. We are still waiting to hear back from a couple.

A few days later, my Mom and I were walking through the backyard discussing ideas for the landscape. While looking under the back deck, I located the larger piece of the headstone in the first photo. Cam came out and removed it from under the deck and turned it over to confirm it went with 'Rose'. Once again, he contacted the local cemeteries, this time with the last name for the larger stone. While he was in on the phone, my Mom and I continued to look around the back yard. I began to take a closer look at the step in to the large shed. It just seemed to perfect; nice crisp edges and corners... I dusted off the corner, and could tell by touch that it was NOT cement.

Cam came back out and I helped him maneuver it out from under the lip of the shed. It was definitely another headstone! This time we had found one that would have sat up on a base with a curved top. We muscled it over to check the other side. Thankfully there was no engraving or anything on either side. That is when we began to suspect if maybe one of the old residents of the house was a stone engraver. We have still not received an answer from two of the local cemeteries. I pray the headstones we have found in our yard are 'mistakes' and not stolen from someones loved ones.
....................................................................

No, it's not a ghost...


The last two pictures are just for fun. While I was trying to take a picture for the blog, one of our boy cats thought it would be fun to walk in front of me...twice.