We Give Thanks

Of the many wonders that life has offered us the most important to us is our family. We have been blessed beyond our dreams. Love and peace to your family from ours.

Girls Morning Out

This last week was a fun one for me as I went to Carasburg for babysitting duty on Tuesday and stayed until Friday. (It was a busy work week for Cara's mom and dad.) Cara and I filled our days together with plenty of play and cuddle time.

Cara looking so cute in her new coat and hat.

I have never driven Cara in the car--I have always left that up to someone else to do, as I just didn't want the responsibility of dealing with crazy drivers coming at me and my beautiful grand daughter. However, on Wednesday morning I decided that maybe today I would break that rule so that we could go out together for breakfast at one of our favorite breakfast places, Bob Evans, which is close to home.

Yummy whipped cream.

Since it was just the two of us out for the day the photos were taken by me, stretching my arm out in front of us. Think I got some really cute shots.

Cara working on her breakfast.

With breakfast over we decided it was time to head to Walmart, then on to Kohl's to check out toys, Christmas decorations, and the pretty jewelry. With the morning ending it was then time to head for home and catch up on a little rest.

Indian Summer

Today's weather outside was the first reminder of the season that winter was not too far away. We woke up this morning with temperatures in the thirties with the high to be around thirty-nine. Later on in the day I watch as the scattered snow showers, that the weatherman predicted, swirled outside the window. As I watched the beauty of the snow I thought back to one week ago today that the temperatures were in the high seventies. Scott, Emily, and Cara visited us last weekend and we were all wanting to spend some time outside. We loaded up the car and headed to a park not far from our house. With grandpa's careful attention of making sure Cara was safe on the playground we all joined having fun in the fun . . .

. . . checking out the slide . . .

. . . grandpa and Cara going down the slide with daddy helping . . .

. . . grandma, Cara, and mommy's turn . . .

. . . as Cara would play on something and grandpa got too far behind she would call to him, "Come on grandpa, come on."

. . . this was a little scary but grandpa made Care feel safe as they went down the slide together. . .

. . . the suspended bridge was fun to jump on . . .

. . . getting a push on the tire swing from grandpa . . .

. . . Cara and mom peeking through the tunnel at grandma and grandpa at the other end . . .

. . . grandpa helping Cara to walk the balance beam.

We all enjoyed our fun day at the park. We also knew that this was probably one of the last nice days of the season and hated to leave. I am sure we will have a winter filled with getting together, playing inside on the cold days, and maybe even playing outside on a snowy day. I know over this winter I will be thinking of warmer weather that will greet us in the spring and be ready to hit the park again.

Houston We Have A Problem!

Now everyone has done something that they knew they shouldn't be doing but has gone ahead anyway. Well, I am no exception to this. With Indian summer still hanging on I decided that I would finish up with the last of the mowing for the season. I took my husband's pride and joy of the yard equipment and mowed out in the flat pasture where it was nice and safe. When I finished with that I decided that I would trim around the pond. Yes, this is one of those times when you question yourself but go ahead anyway, besides I was being extra careful. As I am on this huge mower I now am thinking to myself that maybe this isn't the proper equipment to use to trim with but instead of quitting I decided that I would be extra careful. Not long after I talked myself into continuing I soon got into a little, how shall I say it, a situation. Even though I was going slowly when I tried to go to the right I went to the left and when I tried to go forward I went backward. Lucky for me those little trees stopped the mower and me.



Knowing I was stuck I walked back to the house having a conversation in my mind with myself about how this really could have been far worse then it was. I had a machine stuck on the dike of our pond but with good luck on my side I was walking back to the house to find my sweet husband and figure out how I was going to tell him what I had just done.



You know you have a wonderful husband when you greet him with a "when you change your clothes I need a little help from you. Oh, and by the way please don't lecture me because I already have done that to myself." We have been married for almost forty-two years, I was five when we got married so do the math, so he knows me better than I know myself sometimes and asked where is it? I told him the good news is that it wasn't in the pond and if you counted the wheels up in the air as being on the dike then it was at the back of the dike of our pond.

We walked hand and hand out to Zeter, that is our mower's name, and when he saw the mower he never said one word about where I had left it or how it got there in the first place.

He went back to our pole barn and brought in reinforcements, another tractor and rope, to help in the rescue of Zeter.





Mission accomplished! Free at last, free at last! Thanks sweet husband for undoing my mistake and best yet still not even mentioning once about what I had done.

I want Cyndi and Scott to know that this isn't as bad as it looks, OK maybe it is, but I was going really slow and this was a slow motion situation. Also, I want you to know that I have learned from this and promise not to mow close to the pond ever again.

Ciao America-Ciao Italy

Four years ago today my family all put on a brave face as we took Cyndi and her cats to Chicago International Airport where she would soon leave her country and start a new life in Italy.


This was one of the most hardest moments of my life as I watched her walk down the concourse to board her plane. She was moving so far away and how much I would miss her and all of the moments that we could no longer share by only having a two and a half hour car drive. No longer would we have the surprise visits, meeting at favorite restaurants, pizza night, going to the dollar movies all day long, in other words just spending the time together. My best girlfriend was moving so far away . . .


. . . but as I watched her leave us I knew in my heart that she was making the best decision of her life. When she doubted this move I was the one encouraging her to follow her heart and go where it took her . . .


. . . she was heading to a new country to start a new life with a wonderful man that stole her heart. Danilo is one in a million and was in love with our daughter and she in love with him, this move was right . . .


2007
. . . as our children married our family grew, we now have four children and one beautiful grand daughter, Scott and Emily's child. The miles may be between our houses but that does not interfere with our hearts. The love for our family grows stronger with each passing day . . .


Together in Florence, Italy 2008
. . . we cannot have the surprise visits with each other because of the large pond of water between us but planned visits have been a twice a year event . . .


Outside the Coliseum in Rome.
. . . trips between the USA and Italy are not as frequent as we all would like but we jam a lot of catching up on things when we all get together . . .


. . . celebrating my birthday in Venice, one of my favorite places to be . . .


. . . the piazza in Milan before heading out to view The Last Supper . . .


. . . smiles of victory having climbed the stairs to the top of the duo mo in Florence, I chose to shop in the markets that morning . . .


. . . of course, many fine places for great food and the finest wines. Even though we are here and you are there we toast you to many more years of happiness and more fun visits. Happy move across the big pond! We are already looking forward to the next scheduled visit. See you soon!!

Yeah Hot Cocoa

Scott and Cara enjoying the hot cocoa.

When Scott's family visited a week ago he asked if I could make hot cocoa for breakfast one day. This is something that my mother made for me and my children and I on occasion would serve it too. I don't quite have the magic touch that my mom did as her cocoa was by far much better than mine. Still it wasn't too bad though. After the hot cocoa is made the next item on the menu is toast with peanut butter spread on it. Best for last and that is to start dunking the toast into the cocoa and eating. Yummy, better than peanut butter cups. This was the first time I made cocoa for Cara and she joined right in on the tasty breakfast.

Tasting pretty good!
Yes, she likes it.

Yeah hot chocolate and grandma!! We will have to do this when Cara's Aunt Cyndi visits us next time.

Emily also enjoyed the tasty breakfast, I took a photo of the three of them but it didn't turn out.

This receipe is especially enjoyable on a snowy day.