Waiting for a Miracle

Many years ago my son, Christopher, met a girl at school named Lauren.  

He insisted that she was just a friend for a while. 

 Then he admitted that she was, in fact, his girlfriend.

I actually liked her. 

 I told a family member that is was such a shame that she was his first love. 

They usually don't work out which was really too bad because they would have beautiful kids.

But then, they got engaged.  

I was lucky enough to go with him when he chose this beautiful ring. 

Luckily the jewelry store also gave out free kleenex because it made me cry a little bit.

They had a beautiful wedding, of which,

 I have no pictures on this computer of so we are going to fast forward a bit.

After a while God decided it was time for them to be parents.

So, ready or not here she comes.

On Friday December 20th she went in to begin her induction.

So they got settled in and the waiting began.

And more waiting.  

Yes, Chris really is in there.

Here are the Grandma's waiting.  

And yes, Kennedy will call us each a different name.

Here is some more of the waiting

We were pretty laid back.

Cousin Mason and Jarrod were waiting.

Jarrod was so excited.  

We know because he told us many MANY times.  He said

 " I'm so excited!  I'm going to be her cousin but kind of like an uncle. 

 I"m going to be her cuncle. I'm so excited!"

Here is the full fledged Uncle. Aaron and his pretty girlfriend. 

And after waiting and waiting and waiting. 

She was finally there.

And my blue eyed boy turned into a Daddy.

And I cried.  She is perfect.  And just look at that hair.

Mommy kisses are the best!

I am pretty sure she stole Granny's heart before she was even born.

She fits in perfectly  as one of my girls.  

Hope I can get them all together someday.

Gram just can't take her eyes off of her.

Just how can you not love that sweet thing!

Mad Scientist

After searching Pinterest for a simple crafty Christmas gift idea

 I decided lip gloss/balm would be perfect for the freezing winter months. 

I looked and looked but I just couldn't find one with the perfect formula.

So, crazy me, decided to create my own.

So I gathered my ingredients through out the state of Wisconsin.

(I also added some Vitamin E but I forgot to include it in the picture)

I measured out the ingredients and heated them up like this

The end product was this plus a few other flavor/scents like candy cane, butter rum and strawberry.

Looks simple enough huh.

Well it wasn't all really that pretty.  Here are a few pictures of the process.

This is a mix that I actually ended up throwing in the trash.  

The colorant(a.k.a cheap lipstick) I used just wouldn't mix and it was settled in the bottom of the jar.

Here is one of my many spills.  

And let me tell ya, oils and wax are not easy to clean up!

And as with most of my crafty experiments, 

when I was done I questioned whether is was high quality enough to give as gifts.  

As, usual I decided "negative".

The First One.

For years and years, every November my kids and Superman would plan on hunting deer. 

Were they using a gun or a bow?

Who would hunt where? Who got the stands? Who would hunt first?  

Who would get the biggest deer, first deer or the most deer?

 Did everyone have a gun, their license, some hunter orange to wear. 

I just sat back and listened to the planning.  

Preparing myself for the mass of hunting attire that would take over my living room.

Once or twice one of them would ask "You wanna go?"

"No thanks, If I go who would be here to cook for all of you mighty hunters?"

That was my job.  To fill their bellys with good warm food.  

I loved sitting back and listening to them tell their stories.

Stories of how cold, or hot they were.  Of seeing not one single deer. 

Or seeing them when they were just out of range.

 And of course the play by play stories of when they got one.

They were always so proud.  Not only was it a sport but they were providing meat for the year.

Meat to make delicious meals.  Fried tenderloin, jerky, 

deer chili, stew and of course burgers all summer long.

The children are now all grown and on their own so that makes Superman and I emptynesters. 

After several conversations about hunting I decided to venture out and take a try at it.

Here are a few photos of my first season of deer hunting.

A couple weeks before the season started, we went to the firing range and practiced with the guns.

I shot the 243 that the kids used to hunt with.  My 4 shots are the bunch to the right of the bulls eye.  

Dang it, I just couldn't get it in the middle.

When we got ready to head out this was the temperature.  

The wind was blowing and the wind chill was below 0.  BRRRRR!

Here were are getting ready to head out the door into the darkness.

I had so many layers on I felt the the Michelin man in blaze orange walking through the woods.

And after sitting in the blind for an hour and thirty minutes I took a shot at this buck.  Yes I know it is not massive.  Which explains why I actually hit it when I shot.  You see I am guessing since it has a little rack it must have a little brain too because when Superman pointed him out to me I got all kinds of excited.  Superman calmly moved out of his chair and opened the window for me. I quickly moved to the chair in front of the window and decided I wouldn't be able to hold the gun steady from that angle.  I dropped to my knees on the floor and when I did I knocked the chair over. Oh crap I thought but the deer just looked over at us and then kept looking for things to eat. Not very bright I guess. I looked through the scope and couldn't find him.  I looked over my gun and he was still standing there.  I looked back through the scope and there he was.  It all happened so fast. I may have shut my eyes when I pulled the trigger so I was sure I missed him.  "Oh crap" I said as I sat back in the chair and then I hear Superman say "He's down!"

I couldn't believe it!  I did hit him.  So yes it does have a little rack but that will be food in the freezer.

Superman gutted him out in the field and then we pulled him back to the house.

We loaded him in the truck and went to the local convenience store to tag him in.

When we got home we left him in the truck and went in for a while.  The temperature only warmed 2 degrees over the next couple of hours and I asked him how was he going to get the meat off if it was frozen.  He said I thought you were going to do it since you are the mighty hunter.  

'No" I said "I am the mighty hunter, not the mighty butcher"

Gene and the baby sister

As you know I have been waiting for my first granddaughter to be born.  The plan was for me to make a dashing drive when the Mama goes into labor and watch Gene while the big event was happening. As it turned out, she decided to show up a little later than everyone expected her to and I had driven from Wisconsin to Missouri on Thursday evening with Superman with the expectation of doing some gutter work over the weekend.  In the wee hours of Friday she decided to start her trip into the big world.  Around 5:45 am Superman tapped me on the shoulder and said "Marie Etta is checked into the hospital". After a few calls and texts from Superman and the Daddy, we decided I would drive up to Illinois that morning and then back to Missouri no later than Sunday morning to pick up Superman and head back to Wisconsin.  So, yes, it was a lot of driving and I was excited. We don't get to see Gene much and I was looking forward to some bonding time. 

Here is how it went.

"Hmmmm I dont know about this Gramma thing"

"Gramma, I'm awake!"

 "Let me out"

"This is my sisters room.  I like this rocking chair"

 "I can go down the stairs like a big boy"

"Here Gramma. Make me breakfast"

"I will look at me while you cook"

"I like to eat. Not that berry though.  I just carried it around for a while
then I left it on the couch and Gramma sat on it later.  Oops!"

"And play cars"

"Watch me while I jump off this mountain"

"Sliding is fun"

"See those flowers?  I picked them once"

'I can draw with my chalk'

"All this playing makes me thirsty"

"I think this Gramma thing is okay after all"

And finally I got to meet Moxie

BRRRR!

 So, it has been raining off and on here all day.  I think it made it into the 70's today 

but now it is low 60's damp and cool.

I looked out one window and there were dark clouds and rain.

Out another window I see the bright sunshine on the top of a few trees.

That only means one thing here in Wisconsin for me.

Frost bite.

Seriously!  I grabbed my camera and the key to the 4 wheeler and ran out the door.

I drove up our drive and saw a glimpse of a rainbow.

I hit the gravel road and took off.  I was going almost 30mph.

(Which is fast on a wheeler for me)

I was afraid I would miss the show but

I had to stop and take a picture of these does that were 

staring at the crazy woman speeding up the road.

 

Then I turned the wheeler around and AHHHHHH

There it is.

Isn't it beautiful!

I know that 60 degrees sounds warm but

my fingers were freezing.

July 4th Weekend

The weekend following the 4th of July was a busy one.  We had lots of guests.

Here is our house waiting for people to arrive.

On the morning of the 4th it was quiet in our house which made me 

wonder where the little boys went.

I went searching and found Levi.

"Levi! What are you doing?"

"Webi yook at pickers gwamma"

Here is part of the crowd. Chris does not look very happy.  Must have been the gnats.

Here is my goofy Sister in law.  I told her I was going to post this and she didnt say no.

And my kids taught me that if I didnt say no, it meant yes. :)

Here are two of the boys loving their poppers.

I can still hear Mason giggling.

Levi was pretty happy about his too.

However, he wasnt very excited about a bath in the sink.

This was the youngest guest.  

Arriving around December 24th.

It was hard for me not to pat him/her but I had self control.  This time.

Visiting was tiring.  Or maybe it was the driving to get here.

Here is the decorated area.

Those red white and blue 

M&M's came all the way from Colorado.

Thanks to my daughter.

Here are one of the treats I made.  

I was only going to make enough for the kids.

It's a good thing I made extras.  They were a hit.

I made this too.  It was delicious. And gone.

The next day there was work to be done.

Chris and Marcus worked on replacing the upper part of our roof.

They were waiting.

As Superman was cutting the metal.

The little boys were watching the big boys.

And yes, the big boys made me nervous.  

I tried not to watch much.

 The green roof will be history soon.

Stayed tuned  for changes later.