Rett is now 2 years old...he's into cows and Bob the Tomato. Jen made a cow cake for him; was really cute. Beth, Craig, Cale & Colby were able to come down to celebrate yesterday at Grandma Nancy's and Papa Bob's house. Mommy & Daddy were really glad to get some new Veggie Tales videos; the two they had were being repeated often!

Cale will be two next April but is quite the climber. Colby is the "princess" and has lots of dolls to prove it.

Christmas will be really a lot of fun this year. I finished my shopping today and now need to start wrapping. John and I have both had our Christmas parties at work, I helped with the Minier Christmas parade, our worship choir and drama team put on our Christmas cantata yesterday, looking forward to another Christmas party this Saturday, Christmas brunch at church Sunday (homemade sausage gravy with lots of good egg casseroles, etc.) and then we start getting together with family. Miss you Dan and Lisa, Matt & Miles; wish you could be here!!!

Cakes AND Cows

This is truly a cakes and cows post...the pink cake was Sara's and the orange,pink & green flowered cake was John's cousin.

Now as for the cow picture, that's John and our neighbor, Amy, delivering the bull to the "girls". If you look closely, the bull is in the livestock trailer. It's John's tradition to let the bull "back in" after the cows have had their calves. And since the cows are across the road this summer, Delmar (that's the bull's name; nobody else gets a name on the farm except the dog) was delivered via the livestock trailer.

Amy had heard John talk about "his tradition" so she wanted to be a part of it (she's an "old farm girl/wife"). Anyway, they let the bull out and he starts walking towards the others, stops, bellars a little, and the whole herd came running to meet him.

As I started to walk away, I turned around one last time, and there's the bull already "making a pass" at one of his ladies (if you get my drift!).

The only other news from the farm is the squirrels keep digging up my flowers. During last fall, they had planted walnuts in my planters. I know this because I found them when I planted my new spring flowers. I threw the walnuts out but, of course, the squirrels don't know this and they're looking for them.

My friend Janet gave me some cayenne pepper to put in my flower boxes so we'll see if that keeps them out. Then my Mom told me to put rocks in the boxes too; then the squirrels wouldn't bother them. We'll see!

Happy 4th of July

Just wanted to share some photos of the grandbabies. Rett is in the "dog house" with a friend and his dog playing! Cale and Colby were here for lunch today. Cale loved his Grandma Jo's chocolate chocolate-chip cookies!! And Colby was just being silly!

Keeping busy...

Wedding cakes, anniversaries, birthdays, Father's Day...been celebrating forever it seems. But celebrating is better than being sad, right? So here's to more celebrating, more time with the grandkids, etc., etc., etc.

Little Vacation

Well, here's just a couple of pictures from our little trip out east. The flower garden was in the Phipps Conservatory in Pittsburgh. The covered bridge was the last one we visited out of eight that day. Went antiquing...didn't buy anything but it's fun to look. Did shop at a Sur La Table store in Pittsburgh and found a 4" round cake pan so I had to buy two of those.

Celebrated Mother's Day with my brother Tim and his family, Mom & Dad, Jen & Brit & Rett, and my brother Rick and his wife Ann.

John planted alfalfa seed across the road yesterday and managed to work on the oats field. It just won't quit raining long enough to get anything done except mow the yard. Thank goodness the sump pump is still able to run; I don't think it's quit running since the first of March.

Random thoughts...

Cale was a year old yesterday...what a year it has been. I've been retired from State Farm for a year, Rett is 16 months old, and Colby is 3 years old. We've been in our new house now for almost 6 1/2 years. It's time to paint the inside walls and will be getting some tiling done in the kitchen and our bathroom (this will be a project all year long...the painting part!).


The rest of my days are filled with working 2 1/2 days a week, having lunch and keeping up with girlfriends, keeping up with my parents, wedding cakes, birthday cakes, graduation cakes, lots of projects at church including mentoring, singing, sewing, & cooking.

Going to Lincoln Christian College Women's Conference this Wednesday; it's always an inspirational day. Going to Beth's on Friday to attend her May Day Pageant at the high school. Not sure what to expect but I'll let you know later.

Really looking forward to getting away for four days the first week in May.

Easter 2009

We had a fun Easter as you can tell...Grandma put on her first Easter egg hunt. Cale wasn't really feeling good but he picked up a few eggs. We had an awesome church service Sunday morning, then we had family for dinner and celebrated John's and my Dad's birthdays. Then the egg hunt. Fun as had by all!!

April Update...

Well, it's April 6th and we had snow overnight...just hope it didn't damage the flowers coming up.

Since we took a picture of Cale and John in their "trooper hats", we had to take a picture of Rett and John.

We've been busy in March...the girls and their families have been here on the weekends. I did another wedding cake at the end of March. This one had real roses on it and I really liked how it turned out. I got to go to the Gaither concert on the 13th with a friend who got tickets for Christmas. Her husband couldn't go and I got to use his ticket!

Been to baby showers, bridal showers, attended the Mennonite Relief Sale Pancake breakfast, and finished up our taxes; 2008 was a good year and we get to give the government more money! And this past weekend, Jennifer did her first wedding cake; she did a really good job.

This month, I've got cakes for a 100th birthday, an 80th birthday, and a 1st birthday -- that one belongs to grandson Cale.

Trying to plan a little vacation getaway with my friend Ellen; we're looking at the first part of May and we're thinking of heading east to do some antiquing; and we enjoy searching for covered bridges. You wouldn't believe how many are still in existance in the United States.

It's March...

This is our little princess!! I remember when Colby was born and Beth specifically told me that we were not to start calling her this. But, as you can see, Colby loves the Disney princesses! She had on her princess pj's and then proceeded to put on her princess costume. She slept in these outfits last Tuesday night and when she got up for breakfast Wednesday morning, she had to put on her tiara and her "high heels" to eat her breakfast. Was able to snap this picture before I left to come home. Craig made it back safely from all his business trips (Puerto Rico, Germany, and South America) and I know Beth was really glad to have him back home.

Cale, despite a very runny nose, was "walking and crawling" like crazy. He's not walking across the room but along things; he has no fear...he'll lunge for anything he wants. Is this a pre-requsite for a football player???

Little Everett IS walking; he's a quick one...maybe a quarterback???

When I opened the front door this morning to let the light in, discovered a visitor...a black and white dog. He did have dog tags; his name was Boots and we were able to take him back home this morning. He got scared during the storm last night; really nice dog but I don't think Tiggy would have taken too kindly to him (we managed to keep them from seeing each other!).

I am keeping very busy with lots of projects, babysitting, and keeping an eye on my Mom & Dad. Dad has regressed a little after his knee replacement. He is having to wear a knee brace; I'm not sure what this all means but will find out here soon when I go to Minier to check on them this morning.

Here's hoping that March will be nice to us this year...not much snow or damaging weather...so we can start cleaning up the yard!!!

Trooper Hats

John and Cale are sporting the same look these days! How do you like their hats???

Beth & family were here today for dinner before heading back home to all that snow. Mom and Dad were able to join us for dinner. Dad's doing pretty good with his recent knee replacement surgery. Lots of things to do this week...the biggest thing is doing the wedding cake for Chad & Lori who are getting married Saturday...I worked with both of their Moms at State Farm so this is a first for me. Then I leave for Beth's house and stay with her for a little while and help her out while Craig is away on business. And the big news from Jennifer's house is that Rett is walking.

I'm working on my third set of banners for church...this time from scratch. I'm also working on a T-shirt quilt for Jen. I thought I'd get it done this winter but now I'm thinking I'll be lucky if I get it done by the end of the year.

We're also hoping for an early spring...everyone is tired of this snow and COLD!! Hurry Spring!!!!!!

Happy New Year...

We had a good Christmas and we babysat for Rett on New Years Eve. And yes, Grandma fell asleep on the couch at 8:00 but that was a good thing because Mr. Rett got up after 11:00 and then was up for good at 4:00 am. We just put him in bed with us and he "laid there" until 6:00 am.

These are some of my favorite pictures from the holidays especially the "couch" picture where Colby has her arms around the boys.

We celebrated with my twin nieces, Sarah and Amanda. They graduated from WIU on December 20th. Their Mom and Dad had a open house for them yesterday (1/4/09). They are very talented artists and love music. Amanda is continuing her education at ISU this next semester and Sarah will be returning to WIU to get a teachers certificate.

John is gone delivering a farm implement to Minnesota today. That gives me the day to start putting holiday stuff away and rearrange the shelves again. My pantry is a mess and so is the basement. Be safe out there and be warm!