Happy Thanksgiving!

We spent a quiet time at home yesterday. The kids went on an adventure with Mark in the grove while Sarah and I napped. Then, Anna & I cooked dinner for the family. I made a roasted chicken and chipped potatoes while she made cheese scones. Here she is cutting the scones before baking. Here she is taking the scones off the pan.

Today Anna & Jonah will each make an apple pie to take to Mark's family' Thanksgiving tomorrow.

I think they liked my chicken.

This just can't be true, but it is.

We just took a barn cat to the vet. Never did I think I would do such a thing. Kids obviously cause havoc in the brain. Fluffy is sick, and we just couldn't let Anna's second kitten die without doing something. It didn't seem like the right message to send. So, now she gets to administer antibiotics 2x per day.

The kids got to look in the microscrope to see the ear mites. That was pretty cool. Jonah tracked his first rabbit to its burrow. I panicked when I saw Sarah trailing the boys heading out toward the grove. They were so focused on the rabbit that I'm not sure they even knew she was outside. All was good, though. They found the burrow in the pasture, so I had a visual the entire time. Eli asked me to take this picture. Some day this will be a working schoolroom with wonderful shelving from Ikea. Dreams.......

Goings on

Sarah is resourceful and climbing crazy. She is standing on top of two gallon water bottles while pulling papers out of the bag. What a stinker! Anna and her new kitten, Fluffy.

Sarah reading. Guess she thinks she is in kindergarten. Must be an identify crisis.

We have wildlife. We caught a shrew in the morning (in the house, yuck!) and found this guy eating cat food in the evening.

In Loving Memory

We lost our most beloved, Hosa. She joined our family a few weeks ago and immediately became passionately loved by my beautiful daughter. Anna and Hosa spent hours playing together every day, and Anna loved taking care of little Hosa. Hosa is survived by two sisters, Climby (Eli's kitten) and Moses (Jonah's kitten) and an adopted aunt, Goldy (the stray cat). Last night Anna & I had a girl's night in Willmar. We had a wonderful time together sharing laughs and the sadness in her heart. Anna had asked for a locket (she remembered that Aunt Judy has one) so she can put a picture of Hosa in it. Very sweet. We are hoping that Grandma G can locate a new kitten for Anna. We even bought the new kitten toys last night, so I hope Grandma is successful!

The transformation of yet another room

can you see the washer in it's new spot back by the toilet? Can you see the toilet? Can you see how much space we have to get into the room? Isn't it amazing? Our mud/laundry room is now usable. Hip! Hip! Hooray! for Mark

My apple pie lover. I'm back to trying to emulate Betty Crocker. Last night Anna & I made a homemade apple pie. We even made the crust from scratch. It seems like a hassel, but it is super easy with my wonderful food processor.

I must say that I couldn't be Betty Crocker without a fabulous cookbook my mom gave me a couple years ago. It's called the New Best Recipe by Cook's Illustrated Magazine. Cook's Illustrated is the Consumer Reports of cooking.

My sweetheart playing in her room by herself. Her room is tiny - not even 9x9 - but we squeezed in her crib, a toddler bed, small dresser, and some toddler toys.

He didn't want to do it, but

it has to go. Mark's big project for this weekend is tearing out the shower in our laundry/mud room. Here are the best shots of it as is. As you can tell, the room is ugly. But, that's not the problem.

The washer fits in, just barely. It has to be about a foot from the wall otherwise the hoses flood the floor with water. It was a tight fit before we had to pull it out, now we can just barely squeeze between it and the sink. The shower is on the other side of the brown wall by the washer. The dryer is tucked into a corner on the other side of the sink. I can't open the dryer door all the way, but at least it's not in the middle of the room.

Hidden along the far wall is a toilet with a box on top. The toilet is difficult to get to if I have any laundry or laundry baskets in the room. Obviously, the box on top doesn't help. Since I deemed it unusable as is, I decided to use it as a storage spot.

Mark won't be doing any remodeling this weekend. He's just hoping to get the shower out so we can work in it. With a little more room, maybe we can rotate the washer so it isn't in the middle of the room. The shower is old and gross, so it's not a loss. I had wanted it out anyway, so I'm pleased. :)

You missed it

Mark gave his first radio address. He was the speaker at our Veteran's Day celebration. He gave a speech in front of a few hundred people and students, and he was broadcast on our local radio station throughout the county. He's getting more and more famous every day. His speech was FAB-U-LOUS. He even made me cry at the end. After it was all over he was told, "Well, the good news is you made a great speech. The bad news is that you'll be the Veteran's Day speaker until you leave."

Anna & Jonah are having a wonderful morning today. They are joining their public school classes in riding school buses to a neighboring town, watching a play, returning on the bus, eating lunch at the school, and having fun at recess. I think they'll be tired when they get home.

I found the checkers game in a box yesterday, and you can guess what the latest craze is.

These two are playing together more and more. Here Sarah is wearing many beloved headbands.

I'm baaaaaack!

I'm back after a long break. We moved last weekend, and things seem to be together enough for me to grab a couple minutes for computer time. We spent this past weekend in the Cities on Mark's reserve weekend. The kids were awed by the big buildings, congestion, and huge Mall of America. Eli & Jonah were spellbound by LegoLand while Anna was overwhelmed by the American Girl store. I was reminded of why I hate shopping with the kids and how much work these four are to tote around outside of our friendly little town. I had the pleasure of physically restraining a disobedient Eli in two stores (complete with screaming and body thrashing). That kid is so wonderful, but he is also so stubborn, strong-willed, and strong. Here are a couple of pics from the past few weeks. The kids were playing superhero with our play silks. Oh, how I love those play silks. Anna was Honeybear, Jonah was Sky Blue, Eli was Green Grass, and Sarah was Little Miss Strawberry. The superheros are working together to save the world.

Sarah thinks she's a big kid sitting on a stool at the counter with a glass bowl.

Mark's parents came over for the big Vikings vs Packers football game. They brought Vikings outfits for all of us. Don't we look awesome and very purple?

The only Halloween pic I have. Anna was a 70's girl, Jonah & Eli were soldiers with swords and armor, and Sarah was a pumpkin. Halloween was a bust this year. Since 95% of the streets in town are tore up, muddy, and full of hazards, we didn't have any Trick or Treating. We went to a thing at the elementary gym, but it really wasn't any fun. We dearly missed Trick or Treating in Texas.