Jethro's World

Emily has joined Noah in the karate ranks...

Posted by Jeff at 5:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I know, I'm a little late in getting this posted, but here is the official Halloween 2011 post...

Belle from Beauty and the Beast, and Commander Cody from Star Wars: The Clone Wars.

Maybe I'll get Thanksgiving photos posted by Christmas...

Posted by Jeff at 10:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So far Spring has brought us fairly cool weather. We did have a nice day or two last week, and I was able to get my lawn mowed, but other than that it has been a little damp.

Saturday was especially wet, with almost an inch of rain in about 16 hours. Steph and Em decided to take Murphy for a walk in the rain, and upon returning Steph declared that it was Clam Chowder weather -- so she began searching through her cookbooks. She recently received the McCormick & Schmicks Seafood Restaurant Cookbook as a gift, and was eager to try out a new recipe.

The recipe for New England Clam Chowder seemed most appealing, so we decided to give it a try, with one exception... we would do half crab and half clams, as I am more a fan of 'seafood' chowder than just 'clam' chowder -- is it wrong to change a recipe before you try it? :-) We were a little worried about the kids' reactions, but figured they would like the bacon, potatoes, carrots and celery. We told them about the seafood after they ate it.

Steph cooked up the soup for Saturday's supper, and served french bread with butter -- it was absolutely delicious. Noah, our adventurous eater, dug right in and declared that the soup was worthy of receiving 100 thumbs up and 100 stars. He ate a bowl and a half, and had three pieces of bread to go with it. Emily, who takes after my childhood eating tendencies, thought the bread was great, but wouldn't try the soup. We decided she would go hungry if she wasn't going to try it, because that was some darn good soup, and I wasn't about to fix her something else!

A little later, Steph frosted a chocolate cake (requested by the kids), and it was time for dessert. Emily said she was hungry, and wanted a piece... but we told her she had to eat her soup first. That was all the motivation she needed, and after the first bite, she decided that it was delicious, and that it made her tummy feel better. She ate all of her soup and then had chocolate cake.

Yesterday we had leftovers for Sunday lunch. Noah had leftover soup, and again ate a generous portion. This time he declared that the soup gets 199 stars! :-)

Posted by Jeff at 10:12 AM | Permalink

There are a ton of different apps (short for 'applications') that can be downloaded to the iPod Touch or iPhone. Some are useful, some help pass the time, and some are just kind of fun. Noah & Emily especially like the app called Koi Pond:

I will never, ever, put in a real water feature on my property, but I thought it might be kind of fun to have one on my iPod. :-) With Koi Pond, the screen is filled with what you see in the image above, with full, realistic animation -- the fish even respond when you 'dip' your finger in the water. If you shake the iPod, it 'feeds' the fish -- little pellets appear in the bottom of the pond, and the fish eat them as they go by.

There are also sounds that can be added -- rain & thunder, birds, rushing water, frogs, and crickets. The other night when I was having trouble getting to sleep (because I have a cold and can't use my CPAP), I turned on the rain to help put lull me off into la-la-land.

If the kids see me on the couch with my iPod, I can pretty much count on them climbing on my lap and asking to play 'the fish game' -- it's not a bad way to spend time with my little rug-rats. :-)

Posted by Jeff at 9:36 AM | Permalink

Christmas and New Years have passed, so I suppose it's time to put up a new entry. When I can't come up with a creative entry, I usually resort to kid pictures... and this time is no different. The following photos were taken by Ruth Swartzendruber during our Fall photo shoot... click on images to enlarge.

Noah, clinging to a log.

Emily, striking a pose amongst the leaves.

:-)

Posted by Jeff at 8:33 AM | Permalink

Denise's comment on the Sept. 3rd entry reminded me of this...

I take Noah to school on Tuesdays & Wednesdays because Steph works those days. Last Tuesday, the first day of driving Noah to school, I walked him to the front doors of the school. I had intended to walk him to to his classroom, but before I could follow him through the blue double doors, he said, "I can take it from here, Papa".

It's great that he's so independent, but it's also kind of sad to think that he could be at this point in life already. :-(

Posted by Jeff at 11:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Click for larger images...

My silly blue-eyed girl. :-)

Noah and Em sharing the blue chair... a very rare occurrence.

Emily relaxing in the back yard.

Posted by Jeff at 9:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

OK, so these are actually from March... but who's counting? =D

Emily with one of her babies.

Noah decided that Dorothy the Fish was 1-year-old on March 24th. :-)

Posted by Jeff at 9:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

...except for the umbrellas. :-)

Sometimes they just need to get some fresh air.


And what do you do when the rain stops?


You don your shades!

Posted by Jeff at 6:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I guess it's time to put up something different, eh? :-) How's about a shot of the kids playing in the leaves -- from a week or two ago when we had lots of sunshine. (Click to enlarge)

Poor Noah squints in the bright sunshine while Em has a little fun.

Posted by Jeff at 4:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Click on image for a larger view.

Posted by Jeff at 4:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

My mind is mush. I can't even think of a real title for this entry. I've been so busy the last three weeks that it is all a blur. We've done lots worth blogging about, but all I can muster right now is another picture of my kids... and the fish we're watching for the summer...

Posted by Jeff at 9:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Just south of Woodburn sits one of the neatest little retail nurseries you'll ever find, Bauman Farms. We've made a few trips there in the last couple weeks to get some fresh Oregon strawberries... yum!

Here are some quick pics from one of our visits...

Posted by Jeff at 5:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Some anonymous Canadian reader thinks I should post more pictures of the grandchildren... so, here ya go! :-D

Noah with the butterfly house he (and Steph) made at Home Depot.


Em enjoying the warm Spring teaser we had.


A preview of Summer?


Wagon rides were quite popular for a few days there... :-)


Did I mention that Little Miss Pig Pen loves it outside?

Is that what you wanted Grandma Sandy? :-)

Posted by Jeff at 6:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)