Spring

"In the Spring, I have counted 136 different kinds of weather inside of 24 hours." Mark Twain


Saturday we were in winter hats and coats....

Wednesday the sun is shining brightly and it's nearing 80 degrees!

I think I'll take more Wednesdays please!

Beauty

As you come into Garnavillo you see a sign that says "Gem of the Prairie".  Some would wonder what makes it a "gem"?  There aren't any beautiful tourist attractions....?  As you pass through town you may not see any "gems" but if you follow a gravel road out of town past a few hog farms and through a few corn fields you come to this....

The pond is a place of peace, fun, fellowship, swimming, boating, volleyball and don't forget the occasional whiff of "money"

Contest

We shipped our recycled notepads off to Mexico to the lucky winners of our first contest: Shelley and family. We are going to have another contest when we reach 15 followers, so tell your friends and neighbors! :)

How to make rolled cookies -by Mia and Owen

Mia will demonstrate first:

Carefully pick up each ball of dough and roll it in the sugar.

Be careful as you roll not to get too much of that messy sugar on your fingers.

Take a bite to sample every once in a while...

Owen will demonstrate second:

Pour entire bowl of sugar onto the table to prepare.

What's left of the sugar in the bowl, pour onto first dough ball.

Roll each ball of dough in sugar, smooshing as you go.

Experiment with making a dough snowman....

Make sure to get the dough under your nails and between each finger.

Sample and smell the dough

Continue to sample until dough is taken from you.....

Cookie anyone??

Signs of Spring

It's beginning to look a lot like Sp-ring..... Every-where we go......

Weeds springing up...

Mia and Owen would live outside right now if they could.

Mud on the tires

Bright spring sunshine!

Anyhrous tanks all around....

The excavator and grader are preparing to tear up the highway all summer...

Combines are getting the last of the corn in the fields....

Buds on the Lilac bushes

Mischief up his sleeve

And the BIG tractor is out....

All signs of spring around here.....!!

The case of the ever-changing blog

In case you haven't noticed, my blog design is bound to change as often as my living room. Maybe more frequently as it doesn't involve getting Joe to help with the couch..... :) I'm just figuring this whole thing out and having lots of fun!

Egypt to Canaan

March 13th was our Sunday School treat. All of the kids did a great job, the teachers and their wives made some awesome props complete with an actual falling wall of Jericho, Chariot, Red Sea and serpent on the pole. Everyone played a big part in getting it all ready.

Here is our little Israelite Mia.

Friday night before the treat Mia told me "I don't want all those people there watching me" so I wasn't sure how it would go. When it came to her turn she clearly said her line "There's no water"

Here the Israelites are drinking the bitter water

Moses Brandon

And the Red Sea

Minneapolis Memories

Back in February I had posted Mia and her friends annual Christmas dress photo. I said I was so happy she had a great group of friends to grow up with. I too am so thankful for the group of ladies I have to grow old with!! Not all could make the trip but maybe next year...

Minneapolis '10 was a very memorable trip...

6 of us piled into my van and we headed up to the big city. We spent the day at Mall of America and finished with barbeque at Tony Roma's and See's Chocolate. After a few wrong turns and a few honks, we made it to the Hilton Garden. We checked into our 2 bedroom 4 double bed rooms.........oops, Hotwire doesn't guarantee your rooms, so the 7 of us (Rebekah joined us) had 2 king beds to share. I suddenly had flashbacks to the days the girls would stay with George and Jean in the "big bed". But that was when we were young and did crazy things like stay up all night. After scratching our heads a bit to try and figure out how this was going to work we called the front desk and luckily there was one room left in the hotel and we could get a good nights sleep after all.

Saturday brought Perkins Muffins, Ikea, more Mall of America and a birthday celebration for Becka at Cheesecake Factory. We discussed the book of Leveticus on the drive home :) All in all it was a great time to get to know everyone better, my cheeks still hurt from laughing so much! Looking forward to the next one! Look out New York, here we come!

Parking garage models.....

There were 4 in the bed and the middle one said..... roll over.... roll over....

Becka's Birthday Cheesecake

Side 1 Marie, Marianne, Heather, Jana

Side 2 Andrea, Rebekah, Becky

Shopping Trip 08

Today we leave for our 2010 shopping trip. It will be a fun time to get to know the "girls" alittle better. :) I wonder what adventures await us? There won't be a dull moment that's for sure.

Just after the Starbucks stop the 3 in the back started singing the Chicken Song.....

Ouside Rainforest Café

Their new perch

A few months ago we got a new couch after our previous one went up to George and Jeans for their surprise remodel. After no success in getting the couch in the normal way through the doorway, we removed a window and brought it in through that.

The new couch combined with the window ledge has become Mia and Owen's new car, plane, boat, snowmobile and anything else they need to get somewhere in. Usually they tell me they are going "too fast" I can't take their picture. Luckily I was able to take the next few when they slowed down a little bit. Their most favorite place to go is to the beach. What will they dream up next??

Driver Mia and her passenger Owen

Notice "Josie" (Owen's baby) stuffed in the Cobbler Bench box. I guess it was her carseat.

He can't look, they're going too fast...

He Wears Many Hats

Who couldn't love this little guy?

He's always got a new scheme up his sleeve!

Atleast he's got his hats in the right order....

Amoxicillin (or some other pig medicine)

Bears

Hawkeyes

Hawkeyes!

Probably somewhere under the pile is the Thomas Hat.

Like father, Like son....!

Nursing Home Adventures

Wednesday Marianne and I took Mia, Owen and Olivia to visit Aunt Jeanne in the nursing home. We started out in her room but that only lasted about 5 minutes before the kids (Owen) were checking out her bathroom, pulling interesting looking cords and shooting things with the reacher & grabber tool. So we headed down in the "alligator" (elevator) to see the birds....

After the birds we joined in the exercise....
The water fountain was a good place to wash our hands....

And if you're Owen, take a drink...

And we found the doggie and made ourselves comfortable with him.

Visiting Aunt Jeanne was a fun exhausting adventure :)