Tim-Bob, the Mighty Hunter...

Notice you can see the smoke from the firing of the gun. Pretty good camera shot! This is my son trying to test out his gun which had been jamming or something like that. As a mother, I am glad to see he always wears ear protectors. He never did like loud noises even as a little boy. Hated the sound of fireworks. Would put his hands over his ears and run. Even wears these ear protectors when he mows the yard. Good practice to get into.

He passed his POST test and has an interview with our local police department this coming Tuesday. Future policeman. Better never stop me unless it is something really BIG though!

New shelving!

The boy's Poppy  went to Sam's Club and bought me some heavy duty steel shelving for my canned stuff. I love it! Now I can keep track of what I have and what I still need to can. I recommend everyone have some of these handy-dandy shelves! I can see how many tomatoes I have, and there's my pear honey, and my canned ham, and my brisket, and my chicken and my hamburger I canned and the list goes on.

And I have room for my bread machine up on top as well as my toilet paper and paper towels. Great space savers. And they only cost $60.00 each. I got two for the space I needed to fill.

I think everyone should have a pantry area they can put their "stuff" in so you will know what you have. I keep a list on the back of the door of items I need to buy. What I found was I was buying things I already had because I just didn't know where it was. So when I put everything in one place, I found I had been duplicating myself.

I realize not everyone has this much space but clean out a closet and build shelves in it instead of hanging a clothes rack. Works great too!

Our Heron

He (or she) thinks I can't see him.

There's ice on the pond and it was cute to watch it try to walk on the pond.

I guess I wasn't quiet enough. I'll do better next time.

I think Blue Herons are beautiful. Not sure how excited I am about it fishing for fish in the pond I stocked last year though. Guess everything has to eat!

Recovering from the shower...

We had a delightful baby shower today for little Kaden Shiloh Wallace Stinson who will be born on March 13th. He received many wonderful gifts.



We had decorated the table the night before and Mark especially liked putting out the confetti.


His two older brothers helped me host the shower and they were a delight to watch. They showed no jealousy at all over baby brother getting all those presents.


Here's Rachel showing off how big she is and she still has several weeks to go.




Before the shower I set my punch bowl up on the counter and had put the sherbet in to thaw. For some reason the bowl broke shattering glass and punch everywhere. So I grabbed a towel and started mopping the punch that was now running pink down my cabinet doors. So much for mopping the floor late last night. And not another punch bowl was to be found in the house.



So now I'm making punch in a plastic bowl. Notice my expression. I've now went into "I've got to pull this together some way" mode.

Thankfully, my sweet friend Mary had given me a red pedestal bowl for Christmas one year and we made it work.
Here's my grand-daughter Abbey getting some punch out of the red bowl.

Rachel reminded me of her wedding where there was some kind of problem with the cake and the fountain and my friends Jane and Mary wouldn't let me into the reception area so I wouldn't know what was going on. The balloons that we had aired up the night before were all lying on the floor also. Some things are better off not knowing. Anyway, I digress.


My sister and I moved the couch so we would have more room for chairs and even though it had coasters under it, there are now scratch marks on our hardwood floor. So some day we will need to re varnish them. Oh well. Life goes on.
This is my sister Shirley cutting the cake. Cool, calm and always in control of the situation. Couldn't throw a party without her help. And thanks goes to Angie for mopping my floor after we moved the couch. You'd think I would have mopped under the couch!

Sisters! God love them!


How I enjoy getting together with old friends. Many of the girls were Rachel's friends from childhood and it was great watching them talk and enjoy being together with one another.
Remember my motto "faith, family, friends?" Still believe those three things are the most important things in life.




Here we are catching up on each others lives .

This is Rachel's friend Jamie who also is going to have a little girl in May. They are thinking maybe their kids will grow up and get married someday to each other. They have been friends since they were little girls living across the street from each other. Jamie's keeping track of who to send thank you notes to.



Don't you love this belly to belly picture. I did the same picture with one of my best friends when I was pregnant with Rachel many years ago!


And here we are together. Mother and Daughter!


Speaking of friends. These three girls have been inseparable since they were born. Don't you love this picture?

Took the opportunity to snap a all girls family picture. I'm pretty proud of this picture. How sweet is this? My daughter in law Jennifer and her three daughters, Emmy, Katrina and Abbey. What beautiful young ladies!

And here's our friend Linda with her daughter Sarah.

It was a wonderful and very special day. I can hardly wait until March 13 to hold this newest little child in my arms. My 13th grandchild to be born on the 13th. Cool!

Just Call Me Jo The Plumber...

My daughter called me tonight in a frantic needing me to bring a mop to her house. Apparently her dishwasher decided to baptise the rest of the kitchen. And so off I went to do my Jo the Plumber routine.

We first turned off the electricity to the stove and dishwasher and then moved out the stove and mopped up all the water and then pulled out the dishwasher (by the way do you know some of those things are screwed in?)

A plastic tubing had came loose and I am assuming it needed more than just being stuck back in the hole. Like maybe a clamp. So we scooted the dishwasher back into the slot it lives in and will wait till Poppy can fix it for real tomorrow. Of course every good homemaker knows you have to mop the floor since the appliances are out anyway.

Of course my clever daughter grabbed her camera thinking these would be good shots for "the blog!" Now I know why plumbers are skinny or either have helpers that are skinny!

It's The Red Cross Way....

Here's a picture of my grandson Mark. He took his Lego blocks and built a car and is so proud because he found one of the Lego blocks had a Red Cross on it and he made a "Red Cross Mobile". I'm a Red Cross volunteer and he is my number one fan! Notice the expression on his face.

He found his little flashlight that he had left at my house one day and as he picked it up he reminded me that "I might need this flashlight if the lights go out and also a blanket to keep warm with. Remember we are always to be prepared!"

Now how is that for teaching our little ones the Red Cross idea of "being prepared before a disaster happens?"

I thought it was great to hear him say that, but his mother thinks because he is a child, he shouldn't be thinking about things like that. Mothers and Fathers, don't think that for a minute! Teach your children the basics about how to be prepared. Too many children die because they don't know what to do in a disaster, especially a fire.

I have talked to Mark about picking up his toys before he goes to bed because if there was a fire in the middle of the night, his mom and dad would be falling all over the toys in the floor trying to get to him and his little brother. And I've taught him that if the smoke alarm ever goes off (and by the way, set it off sometime so they know what it sounds like) that he is to go outside and stand by the spot his mom and dad have agreed for everyone to meet at. Which for him is out by the Cedar tree.

Children are very smart and learn quickly so take advantage of it. And it could save their life sometime!!!

Soups On!!!

Our son and his family who live in South Carolina made it in for Christmas so I made two crockpots of soup and fixed deli sandwiches and called in the rest of the clan that didn't have to work. Chris and Missy hadn't been back for over a year and a half and it was great having the family together again.

Here's my grand-daughter Abbey. She too loves the color red.

Here's my daugther Rachel who will be having a baby boy in March. Three boys!

Here's Chris and Tim swapping stories.

Chris' wife Missy with some of the grand-kids.

My grand-daughter Ashley in a rare pic where she didn't cover her face when she seen the camera.

My daughter-in-law Jennifer and Missy catching up.

I love this picture of Emmy and Katrina doing some serious eating.

My grand-daughter, Elizabeth opening a present from her dad.

Poppy's oldest son and youngest son. Someday I'm throwing those holey pants away!

Poppy  with oldest son and only daughter.

Chris and his daughter Elizabeth. How fast they grow up!

All twelve of my grand-kids together in a picture for the first time. The next generation!