The rest of the week

We didn't do much out of the ordinary the rest of Bob's week off.  Wednesday we listened to church with Grandma and Grandpa Beutel.   

Little Miss keeps growing...  She likes to stand up now with her toys.



And she likes to snuggle with her stuffed animals. 

 One night we ate animal crackers dipped in leftover birthday cake frosting and let her clean out the bowl.  Hehe. 

On Thursday Cecily and I went and got her one year pictures taken.  She was a little bit less cooperative this time, (sticking her tongue out, etc.) but we did get a cute one. She was so happy they let her hold this flower... haha.   

 

If it weren't for the green curtains and Dad's hair.... she looks so much like I did, it's uncanny!  

1985ish

2012

On Friday I dragged Bob to Menards to get supplies for my latest project.  Here's the before picture; plain white wall with beige switch plates.  The house was freshly painted white when we bought it, which is great except that they painted the baseboards and the walls with flat paint.  Flat paint is so awful to keep clean and it's not meant for trim.    Anyway, this wall already had lots of marks on it.

Bob's a pretty good sport.  He doesn't really enjoy these sorts of projects, but he does them for me anyway.  *grin*  I've got a keeper.
 

 Cecily approves.   

I'm working on painting (quite difficult with a curious little girl) right now and hopefully it'll be done soon and I can take some "after" pictures! 
 
The pork chop fry was Saturday evening, inside because of the rain.  I made party potatoes with real potatoes and I was a little bit proud of myself.  My parents were in town on Sunday for a potluck so they came over for "lunch call" after church.   

Anyway.  We had a good week.  I think Cecily and I are going to be a little lonely this week...  haha.  Blessings.

Wildlife Prairie Park

So, since Bob is home all this week we decided to do something fun today .  He picked Wildlife Prairie Park since neither of us has been there in ages.  It was a great day to go, the weather was beautiful and we had the place to ourselves.  Oh, and it was half price admission.

The buffalo are always my favorite animal to see, unfortunately they never came closer than this and the tour that takes you out closer to them wasn't running. 

Little miss likes to be outside and she likes stroller rides and she likes animals so she was pretty happy.  *grin*  They've got some 'pioneer' farm animals for kids to see and pet.  This was the calmest donkey I have ever seen.  Cecily poked its nose repeatedly and it just stood there.    

Then we found Bob's favorite animal... the cougar.

Cecily really wanted to pet the big kitty.  She would have dived over the fence if she could have.
They're so pretty, and so deadly looking.

The bobcat was out walking around too.  I wouldn't want to meet one of them in a dark alley...

Besides the animals, the woods were really pretty to walk through.  I made Bob stop and take a picture by an iconic bear sign. 

We stopped and got a pretzel and cheese for a snack and ended up with free popcorn too because they were about to close up. 
 Little miss riding a bronze frog. 

 Our last stop was the big slide; we got video but no pictures.  Cecily fell asleep on the way home with her stuffed cougar and buffalo clutched in her fists.  Poor tired baby.  hehe. 



I put all the videos in one big long one because I'm sure no one but the Grandma's (and maybe Auntie Shelly) actually want to see it... it's mostly Cecily and the donkey, then the cougar and bobcat, then the slide at the end.



 

Such a fun day.  Blessings.

Discombobulated

This week has just been weird.  Everyday has felt like Saturday.  Or Monday.  Bob was off Tuesday and Wednesday for the visitation and funeral so that didn't help with my confusion. 

Tuesday was a long day.  Little Miss and I went grocery shopping in the morning and then most of the afternoon and evening we spent at Grandpa's visitation.  I took Cecily home halfway through to take a nap, otherwise she was pretty good.  She likes to watch people and she loves flowers... and there were plenty of both.  *grin*  Oh and she walked her longest string of steps there too.  Poor girl, took her first steps in a funeral home. 

Mom and Lena came over Wednesday morning and watched Cecily while we were at the funeral.  It was so much less stressful to not have her at church and the cemetery.  Bob went over to his cousin Sarah's house for the afternoon and little miss and I joined them for supper and the evening.  We let Cecily open her last two birthday presents when we got home.  Hard to believe it's been a year, and I am so not ready for it to be fall again!

Yesterday evening we spent at Rustin and Sharon's because Sprout's still here.  Bob went paint balling with his coworkers today  (and came back with all kinds of nasty welts! ouch. I don't understand the attraction...).  He has to take next week as a layoff week from work because of what boils down to an accounting problem higher up.  So dumb.  But hey, he's going to be home for a week!  Hooray!  Cecily and I are excited.  I have all kinds of projects lined up.  Hehe.

Blessings.

Joy, Sorrow, and a Birthday Party

Saturday evening we picked up pizza and ate supper at the farm... it was Jakey's birthday and there were testimonies in W-ton.  Little Miss got to stay with my cousins while we went to church.  

 

We were there mostly for Mike, my friend Katie's husband.  It was a blessing to be there.  Katie, I kept thinking about the first time I ever heard about Mike- in the car on the way to see Les Mis in St. Louis.  *grin* Pretty sure when you said you met him at a tractor pull we were all a little bit sceptical....  but we were wrong and you've been blessed!    

 

 Bob's parents called Sunday morning to say that Grandpa Koch had died early that morning.  Not unexpected, but still sad news.

 

We still had Cecily's birthday party Sunday evening.  She'll be one year old on Wednesday- craziness.  I'm finding it quite ironic that her first birthday will be spent at a funeral; my great uncle died a few days before mine. 

 

Anyway, cakes!  And decorations!  I found online instructions for both of these.  They didn't turn out exactly like the pictures, of course, but they still looked pretty cool for a first attempt at piping. (Not quite as pretty as Mary's cakes... *grin*) It was a fun project that I started way too late Friday night... I was up until 2am finishing them.  



Ruffles and Roses

I thought Cecily Rose needed roses for her birthday... or maybe more like I needed roses for her birthday.  hehe.  So we got some (at Kroger with a coupon, don't worry, I didn't spend much on them) and I'm pretty sure she would love to destroy/ eat them if she could get to them. 


 

This is a blurry picture of the inside- I'm still so excited how it turned out! 



 



She got all kinds of presents, including tractors,

 

a piggy bank that she kept trying to bite, blocks, 

 

and her very own light up Pooh Bear.

Guests hanging out.

Then it was time for cake.  Little Miss wasn't too impressed with the candle, or being sung to, or everybody staring at her. Oddly enough.

She did manage to make a mess eventually, although I don't think she ate much.

Anyway, it was a good time. 
Blessings.

Raise the Song of Harvest Home!

The only thing I really love about fall is combine rides, so Little Miss and I bummed rides this week. 

I think she liked it.  *grin* 

 

Watching the tractor and wagon out the window.



 
Hi Troy!  Your tractor is the wrong color...

 
"You're going to let mom drive Grandpa?  I want out now!"

 

For the record, it's extremely difficult to take a picture while driving a combine.
 

And also when you're holding a squirmy Cecily apparently... haha.  *sigh* I am so un-photogenic. 

 

Hanna came to play for a little bit on Thursday.  This picture cracks me up, Hanna looks so happy and Cecily looks not so happy.
 

 

Thursday we went to visit Grandpa Koch for a little bit.  Otherwise, it's been a quiet week.  We haven't been doing much except getting ready for Little Miss's first birthday party.  *grin*  She's so excited, I can tell.

Blessings.

Baking and Desserts

So my Grandma and Aunt Pearline are pretty amazing cooks.  And bakers.  On Thursday little miss and I went over to Grandma's to learn how they make their cinnamon rolls and Pearline's bread.  Uncle Andy was over too so not only did I get to watch Grandma, I got to hear how Frieda made her rolls too.  So classic.  

 

 

Little miss wasn't being very friendly and was kind of grumpy...  

 

Somehow we came home with two dozen cinnamon rolls, two loaves of Pearline's bread, a casserole, and a bag of animal crackers.  *grin*  So typical.  Thanks Grandma!
 

I don't know how many times I've put these books back... and the newspapers.  She got stuck in the basket once, which I thought was hilarious.  She was not so impressed.
 

Saturday afternoon we set up the fellowship hall for Matt and Lena's second reception. 
 

Tate and Auntie Shelly entertained little miss.... ok, they worked too. 
 

The centerpieces were fake mercury glass candle holders with sprigs of lavender.

 

And wedding pictures spread around.

 

 

The desserts were fabulous... and there were leftovers so we got to bring some home, hooray! We got to talk to some cool people...  Fred makes me feel so dumb... and I'm jealous that he gets to do experiments at Argonne.  We got to sit with Kaiser's, Nic and Amanda, Blake and Kris, Denver and Sharon... good times.

Sunday we went to W-ton for the first time since Mother's day.  Yes, I know that's pathetic.  And then we ate supper at Bob's parent's because Susan was home.  Hooray for busy weekends.

 

Blessings.

Just call me Annie...

... Oakley, that is.  So, we've seen two chipmunks in our yard all summer.  They killed my zucchini plant and took bites out of my tomatoes.  I finally got fed up with them and put a bunch of D-con down their holes.... and then Bob saw all the holes and decided that they needed to die. 

 

The fat one, blatantly eating my tomato.

 Bob got the skinny one out the window on Sunday...  then I got the fat one out the window on Monday.  *grin* 

Otherwise, it's been quiet around here.  We dropped little miss off at Dale and Meg's on Friday and went out to eat alone for the first time since she was born... yeah... that is kind of pathetic... 

Cecily and I also spent an afternoon at the garden center shopping the end of season sales.  She had a great time riding around on the little wagon.

I've been spraying painting vases and making the house smell like solvents...  woot woot.

And following little miss around and picking up her messes.  *grin*
 

  Blessings.

Labor Day Weekend

So, little miss is a little destructive whirlwind these days....  

 

Exhibit A

Exhibit B

Exhibit C

Fun times.  Thankfully, we don't have a whole lot of "stuff" for her to get into.  Although, I had to move all of my plants out of the sunny windows so they will probably die. 

Last week my mom brought tomatoes over and watched Cecily while I made sauce.  Yum.  I made a mess of my stove, as you can see.  And then one of my jars broke when I put it in the canner so I had to start all over with water and it takes forever to heat up.  *sigh*  Then I burned the bottom layer of sauce in the second kettle.  Not my day for being domestic.

Little miss usually follows me around when I vacuum, but one time she didn't and I found her on the hearth, playing with her toys. 

Anyway, Labor Day not-Camping.  We spent the weekend with our potluck at Rassi's "cabin" instead of camping because of the rain.  Honestly, I was kind of glad we were indoors anyway because Bob's allergies have been awful the last week or so and camping would have exacerbated them.  And Bob is like most men when he isn't feeling well...

We got there right before it started raining, so we did get to make our pizza pies over the fire.  Little miss was a little unsure about it all.

But she warmed up to it and had a great time with all the kids.  The A/C wasn't working very well, so it was a little warm inside.  She was sporting some humidity curls...hehe.

We did not spend the night, so we got there just in time for breakfast in the morning.  The men spent the day trying out Bob's new game.

 

It was kind of a dreary weekend, so I'm glad we got to spend it with good friends. 

Reading with Hanna...

Sunday little miss wore her dress that Auntie Shelly brought back from India.  I tried to get a picture of her, but she would not. sit. still.  Haha. 

We visited Grandpa Koch at the nursing home and we spent the rest of the weekend being lazy. 

This week has been pretty quiet.  I returned my mom's kettle one day and ended up staying and helping her make grape jam.

Blessings.