My favorite is her reading the book with Skyler. I am certain she is looking at it intently! LOL.

The playground equipment is great.

Yellow is definetly her color, and she has nice long fingers.
Great photos. The only thing missing is you.

The playground equipment looks like fun.

Norma

I like intertwined fingers best of all.

Big brothers rule. I have many years experience to speak authoritatively on the subject. :)

Awww! I like the big brother picture, too. I imagine she'll be glued to his side like that for quite a few years - and imagine how her little face will begin to light up when he enters a room :)

The mother and baby hands are sweet, too.

Saucy

I liked the pictures of big brother reading and the finger shot the best. She certainly does seem to have very long fingers - a pianist in the making....?

Great set of pics Bug. Love big brother reading to his sister. So sweet!

Deanne

*****OK, the latest word is that she will likely be named Ivy (on both sides of the family) but actually be called Scout (as in Harper Lee's work). Stay tuned...*****

Marie, great pictures. She's very sweet and beautiful. I love both names too! Worth the wait :)

What excellent photos! I'll bet a lot of kids will absolutely love the playground! What a great memorial for Reed!

I absolutely loved the movie with Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch and Mary Badham as Scout! great namesake - in the movie she was an intelligent spunky little girl. And Ivy as her "real" name is adorable too!

Thanks Bug!!

What precious photos. I especially like the mommy & me holding fingers. And the one with big brother reading to baby is a keeper for sure. The playground is coming along nicely, too.

Adorable photos! and glad to hear she's been formally given names she can live with, LOL, - I didnt want to see her register for school as peanut.

--cindy

Ivy is OK, but Scout? sounds like a dog's name. And you know how I feel about those. ;)

That must be Indy dog....first time I've seen what a pretty coat he has. DD is looking very happy. So great that she gets up and about very quickly after her pregnancies. Brother and Sister seem to be very focused on that book. [g] Grandpa is getting a good look at her. What a happy, happy expression on Dad's face. It was a great idea to get a photo of hands and fingers. She will be fascinated at how little her hand was one day. Well, hold the presses...[g] Ivy and Scout. I love the name Scout actually and would always think of the Scout in TKAM, which is a good association for me. Very different. Nice to have something to call her. :-) You must be a little miffed to have missed the visit, Gardenbug. Hope for photos of Scout and Grandma in June. :-)

Wonderful pictures, everyone seems to be enjoying the new addition to the family. Ivy is very pretty.

Hi Bug! Great pictures, love the name Ivy... I really like the one where Skyler is reading to her. She looks so intent:)

More work has been done on the playground lately. Lots more to go however. It is very touching to follow along on the progress when you realize that ALL the work is done by volunteers. That includes the back hoe & driver and used equipment! Only $1000 has been spent so far on nails, bolts and a small amount of lumber.

Here are DD's comments:
Here are last weekend's photos. I was so impressed with how delicate and gentle the back-hoe operator was with the machine. He could easily have bent the equipment without noticing - but instead could tap things down by just an inch at a time, and knew where to push on them to bend them the least...

We started with the tire swing. Did you know how far it went underground? It's already in the ground about 5' when this photo was taken:

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And now it's almost in all the way!
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Shall we put the monkey bars here?
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Pushing them in:
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Is that pushed down enough? Is it solid?
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Here is the ladder to a terribly wrecked slide which will go up to the back of the ship - and DH playing around...
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Placing the tree-trunk Ship masts:
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Pushing down the masts (10-15' underground):(Notice the netting laid out on the ground. That will be for climbing on.)
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And here's the (mostly) whole playground. The train didn't fit in the picture, but the camera battery completely died so I couldn't get it!
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Yes, there's still a lot of work to do... grinding off the old paint and bad rust, painting, cutting wood, and building the ship... I think the ship building will actually go quickly once the frame is in because everyone is so excited about it!
...............................................

Tonight we (bug & DH) bought a pirate ship flag, a Jolly Roger, with the skull & crossbones. The skull is wearing a red bandana and doesn't look too terribly frightening. ;) (I wish Chelone could be there and work on the sails....)

How could I forget this last one????

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Ivy looks so content sleeping in mama's arms. She had a hard day working at the fabulous playground I take it. Glad things are coming along so nicely.

Wowie! It's great that work on the playground is finally underway. It must be so exciting for DD and DSIL. I wonder what Skyler thinks of it all. I can't wait to see the ship too. It's wonderful there is such a connection with their community. Baby is getting big! Such a perfect complexion too! I do enjoy all the photos you post, Marie. :-)

I'm always fascinated to watch heavy equipment working - it's such an interesting thing to be able to do such precise work remotely; the operator must have a special imagination to 'feel' what his/her 'hands' are doing. I didn't realize the play equipment went into the ground so deeply!

Ivy looks peacefully tired. Her mommy looks pensive - it must be such a bittersweet project.

What a great bunch of volunteers! It is shaping up nicely. I can understand your awe at the expertise of the operator of the back hoe. He did a great job. I am amazed at the depth of rock free soil that he drove those posts through!
I love that last pic.....

This morning I found 20 packets of bandanas and eye patches at under $1 each. Those went in the same package as the flag and are on their way to Alberta. Maybe DH and Skyler could build a treasure chest to store them in on the ship? Yes Woody, it is bittersweet. I was all teary at the cash register when the lady asked what we were doing with them.

Yes Marian, that back hoe driver is amazing. He did all this work AFTER a whole bunch of other stuff on the property:cut and distributed firewood for 4000 people, dug a ditch along the road, re-contoured a road and put in a culvert, dug out an embankment where the water tanks will be installed on the hill to make a gravity-feed running water system...

DSIL had a lesson on the small mill up there and he can now cut most of the rest of the wood himself for flooring and siding (a bunch of trees were felled for the purpose over the winter). There was a good working crew this weekend, and a friend's mom came up and cooked for everyone which made it even more productive!

As for little Miss Ivy, she grew 2" in the last 2 weeks. When did you last do that? LOL. She now weighs 9lb 6oz, that's an increase of 2lb 3oz in a month. In the wide angle photo above, you can see DSIL carrying her if you look VERY carefully.