Happy Birthday Grandpa!!!

We have been blessed in being able to have our Grandpa live with us for the past year, and last week he celebrated his 84th birthday!!!

After a photo shoot outside with me, we headed in for presents, and the all important cake and ice cream!!!

One thing that Grandpa has enjoyed doing to fill his spare time is puzzles. So mother made this puzzle cake for him (chocolate of course). There were four balloons on top each with one of his titles; Grandpa, Dad, George, and Mallam Dogo (Hausa for man of the house). Grandpa was many more things as well, but the one for which we love him most, is that he is a devoted man of God.
~Chs

Summer Ducks

A couple of months ago, we purchased 4 Pekin ducklings, to serve as pond cleaners for the summer, and meat in the fall:)

They were the cutest little ducklings-tiny, fluffy and yellow. But not for long!

They soon became fat, sleek, white ducks.

The other day I took them for a walk from the pond where they live, to visit the garden.

They were a little nervous, and waddled around quacking at the top of their little ducky lungs.

So I returned them to their proper environment, and left them happily swimming on the pond.
~Chs

Framed!

The other day I had some fun with a frame and my camera. Here are some results.

Oh look! A framed flower photo:)

The sweet peas in front are in full bloom, very beautiful, and worthy of framing:)

Oh... then there was Josiah:)

And last but not least, the cutest framed object of the day. Tiny. (credits to this last picture belong to Grace E. Sauve)
~Chs

The Week of Celebration

Last Friday was Mom and Aunt Carmen's Birthday (they being twins), but our celebration started on Tuesday, due to complicated situations that would be a labor to write about and a bore to read. Nevertheless, though Tuesday was the beginning of the parties, it was certainly not the last, and so I will here give you a sampling of pictures from our fun filled week.

Tuesday evening found us in Port Huron for our annual Cathy and Carmen Birthday picnic by the river.


And as usual Mom and Aunt Carmen amused us with their antics as they sang Happy Birthday to each other:)

This year the cake was a German Chocolate one (which by the way did not come from Germany; go look it up:) Messy but rather tasty!! It was a wonderful evening and very cool down by the river.

On Friday (the real Birthday) we went on an adventure, exploration, journey, expedition, or to be plain, a trip.

Though long, the car ride was bearable because of the beautiful scenery that flew by.

After an hour or so our destination was reached. Croswell swinging bridge park.



After a lovely picnic lunch Josiah, Faith, Mother and I headed off on the trails in the woods behind the park.



One of the trails opened up into a beautiful (but steaming hot) meadow, strewn with pretty flowers.

Once we had collected enough flowers we headed back to the park and onward to the bridge!

The Bridge was first built in 1905, it is 139 feet long and consists of 128 planks supported by cables.

When the bridge was first built, (to allow the sugar factory workers easy access across the river) it only had those two cables that supported the planks. Much to our relief, two additional cables acting as handrails, and a fence were added for safety. Some of us still had trouble making it across! :)

We made our way home via one of our favorite bulk food stores, and spent the evening in relaxed enjoyment... With cake of course:) This time a chocolate zucchini one, with mocha frosting!! Thus ran our busy week of celebration!
~Chs

Happy Birthday Mother Ann!!!!

Dearest Mumsie, the happiest of Birthday wishes to you!!!

We all love you so much, and our household would fall apart without you. You have a "Mother's" looking skill, and almost never fail to find any item of which we have despaired. You are willing to take on the dirtiest of jobs, and your perseverance and "do it till it's done" mentality can be exhausting to your not so diligent children.

You willingly undertook the daunting task of teaching each and everyone of your seven little blessings (or trouble makers:) instead of choosing the easier route, and we all thank you for it.
May God bless you this year more than you can imagine, and thank you so much for being our Mumsie!!! :)
~Chs

Fruition of our Labor

Joy is thriving here at the Sauve farm. Our Summer Harvest has begun!! Our lettuce has done surprisingly well despite the heat, and we were particularly jubilant over a Basketball sized head of butter crunch lettuce.

Green Onions now adorn our lunch tables and variates of greens (beet, spinach, and chard) are served for dinner.

Faith had the brilliance to plant our zucchini in succession, (two plants one week, two plants two weeks later, etc.) and we now harvest the rewards of the plan. Just enough Zucchini to be able to cook with abandon, yet not too much forcing us to include it in every meal:)

The other pride and joy of our garden are the Carrots. Though not near time to harvest them, their leafy greens are tall and lush, and when we are forced to thin them, the carrots below are bright and orange though still small. We water each night and weed every morning, yet we know that it is God who makes our garden grow. But, there is still the need to sow and water and weed, and so as in everything, there is a metaphor of the Christian life, if only we would look deep enough.
~Chs
"The LORD will guide you continually,
And satisfy your soul in drought,
And strengthen your bones;
You shall be like a watered garden,
And like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail."
Isaiah 58:11

Fireworks!!

Before the Fourth we drove out with Mr. Reiche and some of the Brysons, to see some fireworks. I dragged my camera along with me, and with some help, was able to catch a few decent photos. So... despite the fact that independence day is officially past, I thought you all might enjoy these fireworks photos.

Red White and Blue.

Finale!!!
~Chs

The Fourth - Part Two

The evening of the fourth brought another of our annual Independence day celebrations. With wonderful food fellowship singing and plenty of games and fun.

Before Supper all the little children flocked to the garden to pick some of our late strawberries. Mmmmm!

Meanwhile some of the guys got together an impromptu game of volleyball.


After we had finish partaking of a sumptuous repast, we started our games with some fun rounds of Water-balloon Volleyball. The grown ups played around the volleyball net, while Faith led the little ones with pillow cases instead of sheets, across the badminton net.

While the children were finishing up their game of water balloon we jumped into a quick round of Parachute, soon joined by the little ones for a romping good time of popcorn and all sorts of fun parachute games.

Ready... Set... Go!!!

Then came my favorite of all the events. Three Legged race!!!

Go Go GO!!!

(Thanks to Timothy Bryson for the three legged race photos, as I of course had to be in it:)

Some people didn't quite start off on the right foot, and as shown in the previous photo, some landed on the wrong one;) But no one was injured and everyone that participated had plenty of laughter and fun.

As the evening wore on we took a break for patriotic dessert before finishing up with one last game: a nature scavenger hunt in our back property.

Our delightful day was wound up with singing and a round of fireworks done by Josiah! Fellowship with the believers is indeed sweet, and we enjoyed lots of it on the fourth.
~Chs