The Headleys House: July 2018

8 Lives

My Lightning Bug has only 8 lives left.

It is true what they say about cats having 9 lives.

He got in a fight last week and got a nick on his nose and a gash on his neck...that we didn't see.

He was so overwhelmed with infection that his RBC's dropped making him extremely anemic.

Monday morning he was laying in front of the garage door...where he NEVER lays....not moving. I picked him up and he was barely responsive.

So Daphne and I took him to the vet where they gave him a shot of antibiotics and an anti-inflammatory. This cat was laying on the table like he was dead.

We thought for sure that he was going to die.

I was having a hard time thinking that my sweet boy wasn't going to make it.

We took him home to watch him closely and within 4 hours, he started to perk up. The next morning he was back to his old self. He has been hanging out a little closer to home too. I think it's to get extra hugs...because he loves us.

He's one luck kitty!

Stitch

The other attribute of Jared....aside from being a dirt boy is that he

frequently injures himself requiring stitches. Most days, rather than saying, be careful....I just say....don't bleed!

I was cleaning out the garage when I got a phone call that he was in the Urgent Care down the street to get stitches. My Dad happened to just stop by so he dropped me off there just in case.

My Dad wanted to see it even though he gets queasy over blood. In fact he has nicknamed Jared, Stitch! When he dropped me off, he drove past our house and jokingly told everyone that Jared was crying like a baby....NOT! He has a pretty high pain tolerance. In fact, he got the bleeding to stop and then went back to work. Because....time is money! He wouldn't want to lose money over lost time! Sigh.....

Oh, this gash on his leg came from a plate of glass that fell out of a hundred year old window that they were removing from a house that they were demolishing.

Now his leg looks like Frankenstein!

Dirt Boy

Jared has always been my dirt boy.

He was the only child I knew who could take a bath, go to bed clean and wake up with dirt on his face. How? I have no idea.

I do know how he gets dirty now....his worse days are the days he pours concrete all day.

Those are the days he walks in the door with open arms and says,

Mom....want a hug?

Summer Arts Camp

I decided this year to offer a Summer Arts Camp rather than just art classes this summer.

It was a HUGE success!

Enrollment was full in May and I had to turn away three kids. I felt bad but was excited that there was an interest. We had 4, 13 year olds, 4, 7 year olds and 4 10-12 year olds. I loved that the older kids were helping the younger kids at times. It was a really fun week with an awesome group of kids.

I even silkscreened my own Arts camp t-shirts!

A few of the kids do art with me during the school year and the rest were brand new.

We did 9 different projects, some taking more than one day to complete!

I had canvas' drying with joint compound under the seats in our van.

My lovely assistants. Victoria was my guinea pig.

If she showed interest in a project, it got put on the list.

So I developed it completely around what she wanted to do for Arts Camp.

Daphne came with us every day and helped hand out supplies or help the little kids if they needed.

We used all sorts of mediums on projects that took multiple days and hours to complete. I was so relieved to have scheduled our time. We had time for everything with very little down time.

Victoria's owl is the one with one big eye and one little eye!

They all turned out so cute. I like how they are all different and portray their own individual style.

We will definately do this again next year. I already have three parents wanting me to reserve spots for their kids for next year!

Daphne

I rarely get a picture of Daphne.

Mostly because she is busy, off on her own.

Most often when I see Daphne, she has a kitty.

In this case, she is holding Thunder because Thunder wants to take a nap. She will always seek out someone to hold her while she takes her little cat nap.

I have no idea why but it has taken me three summers to get hollyhocks to grow.

I see them everywhere and for some reason I just couldn't get them to take.

These hollyhocks come from the seeds of our dear friends the Dart's in Arizona.

I collected the seeds before we moved so that we could plant them and always feel like they are close.

I love the colors. They are all pastel and beautiful.

Bear Lake

Sometimes words can't describe a place or a moment in time.

We had a family reunion with my sister and her family.

I didn't get a single photo.

I am so disappointed but sometimes you just have to remember the moment without a photo.

I have noticed that the older I get the more I "forget" to take a picture to capture an event.

This past week is one of those times where I just blew it.

I didn't capture anything on paper,

Just memories......

Lazy Summer Day

4th of July

We went to the Lewiston Parade this year.

We watched it from a friends front yard and had a wonderful breakfast!

We made it to Malad just before dark to watch an awesome firework show with Kathy and Troy!

Kathy's house is beautiful at sunset!

Daphne took all these beautiful photos.

Fifi and Pumpkin had to get in on the action

Goat Walking

Kaleb and Victoria got the idea to walk the goats around the block while they were trimming hooves.

Lizzy is looking a little fat, so a walk will do her some good.

Jasper is waiting....and waiting.....and waiting.....

for his billy goats!

They said the boys were a little harder to walk. And when they were coming back, Jacks started to run because he knew home was near and wanted to go home, dragging Victoria behind him.

I love it when my kids find things to do that are outside and with the animals.

New Fire RIng

We cut out grass and made a new fire ring.

I wanted it to make us feel like we were camping in our own back yard!

Now we need to build three more adirondack chairs.

Kaleb and Victoria shoveled pea gravel to put under our chairs and around the ring.

I'm so glad we have kids who are willing to work hard.

Our first Cherries!

Our first cherries of the season!

They tasted good too!

Show Off!

Kaleb is demonstrating how strong the framing is.

And Dirty!

Yuck!

Future Laundry/Mud Room

Someone had the brillant idea to extend the wall in the laundry room that was once a Butler's Pantry in the old days..and move the garage door to make a mud/laundry room. We need a place to hang coats, gloves, scarfs, hats...a place to put boots so they aren't freezing cold when you go to put them on. Jared closed up the old door, extended the wall, rerouted electrical outlets and switches...you name it, he did it. We are planning to stack our washer/dryer. I managed to plaster the walls this past week. It is looking awesome and such a better use of the space.

Jasper

Jasper is an awesome dog.

He just turned one year old and has been a wonderful addition to our family. Though we do still worry if he starts to lick the floor. He has chewed the wood floor in multiple places because he got carried away with finding a sliver of wood sticking up. We aren't ready to refinish the floor yet, so hopefully we can hold him off and divert any of his attention away from the floor.

We hold our breath often and provide him with quite a few chewy toys that he can't destroy in the first 5 minutes.

He loves it when we water the lawn, the flowers....

He obviously isn't bothered by the sprinklers.

Every time I get the hose out to water a plant, I have to tell him to wait until I'm done watering. And then we play a game with the jet stream where he tries his best to catch it, sometimes getting a mouthful of water. He will jump 6 feet into the air to catch a stream of water!