NOT MOVING, YET

Here's the latest update--------Ron and I went north last week fully intending to become Washingtonians. We took a last walk through on the house in Camas . But in the end the whole deal did not work out. My faith tells me this is best in the end. The house is quite large and the taxes are huge too. We are having many mixed feelings over all this. But God willing we will figure something out yet.

So now we are now back in Ashland regrouping. We keep talking about several different options. Keeping our current home seems most sensible at the moment. We looked at condos close to the kids in Portland. Buying a condo would enable us keep our Ashland house. We have even discussed doing a house swap with a Portland home for a couple of months a year. We could also rent a place in Portland when we want to be there. With the property values down as they are now it probably is not the best time to sell. Besides we like the improvements we have made here and it is a delightful place to live.

Of course, I miss the kids already and we have only been home one day. Decisions, decisions, decisions. I can only pray that we make the right ones.

GOODBYE PORTLAND AND BABIES

Well, as the old saying goes, "All good things must come to an end." Ron and I returned to Ashland yesterday. I thought I'd include a few photos of the kids.
We have Rick and May laughing it up with Nico. I got some last minute shots of Anthony and Alice before we left. On this trip we stayed with Rick and May so I have more photos of them. Ron and Amy are pretty much busy every moment of every day. Their life has few free times, as you can imagine.
They did buy a new house and are moving in a week or so. I am so happy for them. I believe they have purchased their dream house. It is so very beautiful.

PORTLAND FOR MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND

Am I excited to be here once again to visit my sweet grandchildren (and children, of course)! Ron and I drove north on Wednesday.
I arrived in time to feed Nico some of his sweet potatoes. We all went to visit Alice and Anthony. These three are so cute together and apart, too for sure. Nico is growing, but Alice and Anthony are doing their best to catch up.
That's Nico and Anthony together in the second photo. Then Poppi holding Anthony, Nana holding Alice and a rare photo of Alice with Nico. It seems we have previously always taken the boys together(not on purpose). How much fun they all are!

SPRING GIRLS' WEEKEND

This girls' weekend was spent in my very own hometown of Ashland. Mary Burch arrived on Thursday afternoon. Carol and Mary Schaub drove in on Friday afternoon. We checked in to our B&B, The Ashland Tudor House. Then we came back to my house for wine and pizza. From there it was on to the B&B and staying up late into the night talking and catching up on each other's lives. On Saturday we strolled downtown Ashland and shopped. On Saturday evening we went to the Ashland Cabaret Theater to see "Altar Boyz". It was excellent and especially fun for us Catholic girls. After breakfast on Sunday the California girls drove back south. Mary flew home on Sunday afternoon. It is always a special blessing to be able to spend the weekend with such treasured friends.

IT WASN'T ALL WORK

Every night the McComb family would skype Mumsie and Papa to say goodnight. One night Matt gave his whole family a ride on his back and this was after a long day's work. Their last evening in Ashland we went to dinner at Senior Sam's. My girlfriend, Mary, had flown in from Gig Harbor, Washington for our semi-annual girls' weekend and joined us at Senior Sam's Thursday night.

EVERYONE WORKS

Well we had quite a remolding thing going on here the last ten days. Everyone rolled up their sleeves and pitched in. Angela and Mason even helped make pizza and Ron learned to grout.

IN REMEMBRANCE OF ANGELA

This Mother's Day is also Angie's birthday. So it seemed a good time to set up a special little space to honor her today which would be her 31st birthday. I love you, my darling daughter and I always will. I miss you and think of you every single day.

LIGHTING BY MATT

Just wanted everyone to see our wonderful lighting that Matt put in (twelve recessed lights). He also pulled out the cabinet separating the dining room from the kitchen. We resurfaced the ceiling and hopefully improved our home. The two pendant lights are really cool and we have needed them for 31 years to light up our counter top. Thank God for Matt. He is multi-talented.
The last photo is Friday pizza and beautiful flowers sent to me from Amy and Ron for Mother's Day. Life is good.

CINQO DE MAYO

Here we are on Cinqo de Mayo celebrating with Matt, Melissa, Angela and Mason. Our guests arrived after an all night drive. The real reason they have come is so that Matt can help us do some remodeling so we can sell our house. However, it is a special day so we decided to celebrate too.

Angela and I made chocolate chip cookies. Also, Melissa reached Candi by skyping and everyone was able to see each other and to visit a while. Angela got a special kick out of chatting with Kailyn and Kyle. It was really fun for all.

This evening we had Mexican casserole and margaritas. Tomorrow the real work begins.

A special note------Today would be my Mom and Dad's 64th anniversary. I thank God for the beautiful closeness for which they are responsible that allows us all to enjoy these wonderful times.