Home Again

Isabella is back home after her stay at Grandma and Grandpa's. I'm sure glad to have this sweet thing back . . .

It was actually warm enough today (51 degrees!) to go outside for a little while. Since this is the warmest it's been in what seems like a long time, I didn't want to miss the opportunity to capture some pretty fall colors!

Someone's turning 30 . . .

and it's not me! I'll hold on to my twenties as long as I can! :) Monte's birthday is tomorrow, and we have some fun things planned over the next couple days. After an evening of celebrating as a family tomorrow, Isabella is going to see her grandparents for a few days, while Monte and I have several fun dates planned! It's been a long time, since we've had a date.

The cake is a Dairy Queen M & M Blizzard cake! YUM!!!

Keeping Busy

This cold weather has made quite the change in routine around here. Summer was filled with all sorts of things in our day. The days just seemed to fly by, but not anymore! In a couple of weeks Isabella will be getting all sorts of new toys for her 3rd birthday, I'm sure. In the meantime, she appears to have outgrown many of her toys she currently has, so I've been trying to do different activities with her. Although I had no intention of starting those preschool type workbooks with her this young, she absolutely LOVES them, so every morning we sit at her little table and she does a few pages out of those. The other day, after almost two weeks of dreary, rainy, snowy days I was trying to think of something different she could do. I have a box of material scraps, ribbons, crafts, etc. I pulled that out, along with some glue (a purple glue stick of all things - her favorite color!), and she was good to go for a long period of time. I gave her a piece of construction paper, and she did all the rest. I think her first collage turned out good. I think she's going to be in to crafts, just like her mommy. Sometimes I think that girl could sit all day at her little table doing projects.

She's very in to cutting with scissers lately. She always wanted to "help" me whenever I clipped coupons, so I gave in and got her a pair of scissers.

My aunt passed down several "craft" things that she did with my little cousin. A big jewelry making set was one of the things. After the collage, I asked Isabella if she would like to make jewelry for anyone. She said she wanted to make something for her Mama (one of her grandmas). So she picked out all the beads (except for the ones with the letters, of course), and I made the bracelet.

A Fall Day (sort of)

Last Sunday was our nicest day in a while. Even though the temp was in the 30's, at least it wasn't snowing or raining. Monte and Isabella decided to rake all the leaves in the front yard. They were both wearing some winter gear, so it doesn't appear to look too "fallish" to me. Isabella was wearing her legwarmers , and they worked great! She's been wearing them a lot lately, they are now available here if anyone is interested. The pictures aren't the greatest because I took them through the window. Today the sun is shining, and it actually hit 50! That's the warmest it's been in at least a couple of weeks, I think we'll take advantage of it as soon as Isabella wakes up from her nap.

My Feelings About Canning

Each year I seem to can more and more things. I usually can salsa, spaghetti sauce, and tomato sauce every year. This year I decided to really branch out, I canned dill pickles, chokecherry jelly, salsa, spaghetti sauce, peaches, pears, and applesauce. I love to can, I really do, but I can't stand the mess! It really is a lot of work (some things much more than others) but I would have to say for the most part I really enjoy it. It takes a huge amount of time, but what a great and satisfying feeling it is when it's done! I had to take a picture of the pears that I canned because they were the biggest pears I've ever seen, and oh so tasty!

I would have to say that the pears were the easiest thing to can. I decided to use an apple slicer, and then peel each individual slice with one stroke of the knife. I think it saved a lot of time.

The finished product.

What a tasty winter it's going to be!

All Ready for Church - Cold Weather Style

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

That's right, the ground is completely white with snow, and we're expected to get up to 5 more inches tomorrow. Isabella and I were supposed to go with a group of friends yesterday to a pumpkin patch, but it was SO cold, although not as cold as our balmy 17 degrees this morning. I think I'll go hibernate now.

I take a lot of pictures . . .

I know this because Isabella imitates whatever I do a lot of - cooking, cleaning, etc. Today she ran by me on her way to her room, saying that she had to grab her "camera" quick (her camera is some sort of contraption that lights up and plays music that came with our pack 'n play). When I followed her back to the living room, she had set up two babies in chairs. She said they were looking so cute, and needed their picture taken. Of course I had to grab my camera too!

Then she wanted her picture taken.

An unexpected trip home, and a weekend of emotions

My mom called this past Thursday morning to let me know that my great aunt had just passed away. Her funeral was Saturday. She was so special to our family, as she was my grandma's identical twin sister. As my great uncle said to me, "You know how special she was because you have one just like her." - so true! There's nothing like the bond between identical twins, I think. My grandparents were even married in a double ceremony with my great aunt and uncle. They never lived more than a mile apart, they travelled all over together, saw each other every. single. day. and talked on the phone countless times a day. We were all one big family, we celebrated holidays together, my mom has always said they were her second parents, and her cousins were just like brothers and sisters, since they were all raised together. They were just like another set of grandparents to my brother, sister, and I as well. And fittingly, the two couples have their cemetary plots right next to each other, so she was buried by my grandpa. It was so emotional to see my grandpa's grave once again, he is also so greatly missed! So now of the four (my grandparents and great aunt and uncle) there is my grandma and my great uncle remaining. They are filled with such sorrow now, but I can only imagine what JOY they will have when they are back together for eternity! My heart aches for the loss my grandma is feeling, as the pastor said during the funeral as she addressed my grandma, "An identical twin is closer than your own heart."

The next day, we got together again for my sweet, new nephew's baptism. And that day was filled with such happy emotions. Monte and I were honored to be Godparents to this sweet little boy.

A family picture for my parents Christmas card. Our growing family - now up to 6 grandkids.

Just Like Daddy

Last week Monte went outside to change oil in the car, Isabella can't leave his side when he's around, so she was right there with him. I looked out the window to see what she was up to, and this is what I found. She was, of course, changing oil in her car too.