Ready for Christmas

Ta da! Ready for Christmas...

A few days after Thanksgiving, Jon and the girls set out to find a tree for us. I was busy unpacking boxes of Christmas decorations so was glad when they didn't return right away, but after awhile I started to worry... why weren't they back yet? Where was our tree?

As it turned out, Jon had driven all the way to Cornell for a tree (only a 45 minute drive, but still!). We live near a big tree farm, so it seemed odd he would drive so far. But Jon explained that nice trees like this can be had for only $10 in Cornell (as compared with $30-$40 in the Eau Claire area). Plus they were able to stop in and have a nice meal at his sister Ann's house and visit with Grandma Jane awhile.

Well worth a trip to Cornell!

We had a quiet Thanksgiving at home this year, just us and the kids. Jonathan and Jack came over for dinner (Lindsay had to work). It was a nice relaxing time.

We bought a "new" used piano recently, and the kids (even Jack!) have been having fun with it. Michael can play a few lines from the Pink Panther theme and Emma has her own musical specialty now she learned from a friend (I'll attach a clip of her playing it at the end of this blog).

We were told the kids' music teacher at school gives piano lessons for a reasonable price, so we'll probably look into that after she gets back from maternity leave.

Meanwhile the piano provides me with a new surface for decorating! Look how quickly my Christmas village found a home on top of it.

Jon got three deer during hunting season this year. No big trophy bucks, but plenty of fresh venison that will provide us with a year's worth of roasts, steak, summer sausage, ring bologna, garlic sticks, and hot dogs!

Last week Jon hurt his back at work. It was pretty painful and a different kind of pain than he's had before with his back. We were pretty worried because he could hardly walk, let alone sit... but after visiting a couple of different doctors and having x-rays taken, they determined that his injury was muscular (a pulled or torn muscle) rather than skeletal, which is good... it's something he will recover from eventually. Meanwhile he's on painkillers and is on light duty at work. He surprised us by coming home a couple of days ago for a quick visit... it was good to see him walking around and acting pretty normal, thanks to the medicine he's on. He sounded pretty rough when it first happened!

I'll close by warning the out-of-staters who'll be visiting us soon (Bragg Family South and David, I mean you!) that it DOES feel like December around here now. Evening temperatures have been hovering below the 0 degree mark and there's a fair amount of snow.

So dress warm!!! We can't wait to see you and the rest of the family soon.

Halloween

Happy Fall, everyone!

Here's my 11 year-old daughter, Emma, at the computer. Her birthday was November 3rd, and to her dismay we celebrated quietly at home (though she did get to have a sleep-over with friends this weekend).

We've been "busy" with school and the kids' basketball practices and games. Jon's work has kept him close enough to home that he's able to come home most nights, which has been nice. Tiring for him, though, since it means his 12 hour work days are lengthened by a 2 hour round trip commute.

But he's been able to see the kids play basketball occasionally, so that's been fun. Michael's time in football seems to have helped his basketball skills; he's more confident this year and tries to make baskets when the ball is passed to him. It helps that he's one of the taller boys on the team this year.

My sister Laurie came for a 2-day visit in October. It was nice having her around... we drank lots of coffee and gossipped shamelessly... probably about some of you who are reading this (kidding!).

No I'm not.

As planned, we did a little crafting together with Emma. I (unintentionally) made Jack an extremely skinny Christmas stocking, which we agreed would be perfect for giving him spaghetti, cigarettes, pipecleaners or pencils.

Laurie dressed up as a cat (of course-!) for a neighbor's Halloween party we took her to. Our neighbors have kids that are Michael and Emma's age, and they also have a cool house in the woods and the energy to deck it all out for Halloween. They had a spooky trail (lined along the way with costumed parents popping out behind trees), a fog machine, a spooky soundtrack, lots of scary snacks, a lighted trampoline, and even a zip-line for kids to go plunging boldly into the darkness. (Michael was one of the first to try it and ended up with a bloody nose, but that's another story).

All in all, it was the perfect party for middle-schoolers... I could hardly drag Michael away when it came time to go home. Emma was at a slumber party that night, but she would have loved it too.

Jack and Jonathan came over to Colfax to trick-or-treat with us on Halloween. Jack was an adorable, ferocious little tiger. Jonathan alternated between pushing him in a stroller and carrying him house to house.

It was fun seeing him and Leila together; Leila calls him "Jacky" and he's becoming her little buddy.

Every now and then I'm struck by the novelty of having a child and grandchild so close in age...

I'm also pleased and amazed at the maturity and total embrace of fatherhood I see now in Jonathan. Though, as David put it once, "he's always been kind of fatherly." As a little boy he was Susan and David's protector... now he packs diaper bags, mixes bottles, and holds Jack till he's not scared anymore (it takes Jack awhile to get used to a new place).


Well, to close, here's a picture of Dad and Leila by one of Jon's tractors. Mom and Dad came over for a visit about a week ago to celebrate Emma's birthday.

Hopefully you won't have to wait so long for my next blog :). Have a great Thanksgiving!

Homecoming, Seth's Bear, Luke and Kelsey in the Sky with Diamonds

It's a beautiful fall day today; thought I'd start this blog out with a picture of our finished roof! Jon got the new shingles on and finished tearing down the greenhouse before he had to go back to work last week.

He was home for over a month. During that time he was around to help me with the garden (we had a wonderful harvest this year). We also finished firewood and got things done around the yard.

Jon helped our neighbor fix the dam for her pond, which was a big project. He also helped her fix a manure spreader.

He was here for a big chunk of Michael's football season, which was a major help to me... not to mention important to Michael and enjoyable for Jon.

Jonathan and Jack met us at one of Michael's football games in Mondovi. Another nice thing about Jon's time off was spending so much time with baby Jack... including a few overnights that he stayed with us.

Last weekend we met Jonathan and Jack at Grandma Jane's house, to watch the Packer game. Jack was feeling a little under the weather, but he was still happy and a good boy.

The kids loved Grandma Jane's spaghetti pie and vegetable pizza. We also can't get over how good her garlic dip is. I've tried to duplicate it but have never been able to make it as good and creamy as hers.

A few weeks ago Jon bought an old sewing machine for Emma, and we brought it along so Grandma Jane could show her how it worked (unfortunately that's not something I can help Emma with).


Something was jammed, though, so they couldn't run the machine that day, but the following week Jon took it in to a repair shop. Luckily it was a real easy fix; the repair man didn't even charge Jon. He told him it was a "real good machine" (yea-!; Jon got the machine for $15 at a yard sale).

We stopped at the cemetary in Cornell to see Grandpa Bud's bench. Here are all three kids sitting on it. I like this picture because it kind of looks like Leila's saluting in it.

While in Cornell we got to hear about the bear Seth shot.

Seth is less than a year older than Michael. He's Jon's brother Mark's grandson. Seth and Mark have spent a lot of time in the woods together, hunting.


Mark and Ryan (Jessica's boyfriend) had taken Seth bear-hunting. Earlier in the day they had all seen a large bear, but didn't get a good shot at it. Later that day they had another chance. Seth and Ryan were in a tree stand when Seth spotted a different, smaller bear coming by. He shot it in the shoulder area before it ran off.

Mark rejoined the crew and they looked for the bear for about an hour before they found it, dead, in the thick underbrush-- about 30 yards away from where Seth had shot it. It was a 240 pound bear, and Mark said he'll probably have it shoulder mounted.

(I hope I got the details of the story right; it was over a week ago that I heard them... let me know if I'm wrong on any point and I'll make a correction).

Friday night Michael went to his first school dance, on Homecoming night. He was supposed to ask a girl to wear his football jersey to the dance, but wore it himself instead (I think most of the 7th grade boys were too shy to actually ask girls).

I asked him if he danced with any girls. "No, but I danced in front of them." He added, "And I think they liked what they saw."

That's m' boy.

Emma (pictured at left in a shirt she designed) went to the Homecoming game, too. Her and about fifty other kids participated in a cheerleading "camp" that practiced that day after school, then performed during half-time for the Homecoming audience.

She did great and had a good time.

Jon has the pictures on his phone, so unfortunately I don't have any pictures of Emma performing that night or the previous week, when she had another big moment in the spotlight-- her, Jon, and Makayla (a neighbor girl) went to a performance of the Harlem Ambassadors.

The Ambassadors are like the Globetrotters, doing basketball tricks and playing against hapless locals (in this case, three Colfax teachers) but also giving the kids pep talks and a positive social message.

Emma's name was drawn in a raffle, so she and a few others were called down onto the basketball court. They were then coached on how to perform a victory strut, which Emma carried out with great enthusiasm and little to no shyness. She won a basketball with all the players' signatures on it.

We went to Rhinelander this weekend to visit the folks and enjoy the fall color. My sister Laurie and brother Bob were there as well. We watched the Badger game with them, thinking as we did about John, Jim, and Laurie's husband Mark, who all had tickets to the game and were watching the big victory in person.

And now, to close my blog, a story of beautiful romance...

Yesterday afternoon, on a hot air balloon ride, Luke got down on bended knee and proposed to Kelsey.

Luke is one of Jon's sister Sally's sons, so our nephew. He's been dating Kelsey for several years (she's the one who made the cake and cupcakes for David's graduation party).

Kelsey is one of five sisters, and her sister Georgia was the reason for the balloon ride (and present when Luke proposed). Georgia has diabetes, and a family friend had wanted to treat her to a balloon ride. Luke and Kelsey were invited along. Before the ride Luke asked Georgia if she would mind if he used the trip as an opportunity to propose. She didn't mind at all, so when Kelsey got on the balloon she had no idea what was coming (but her sisters did).

I don't know all the details, but apparently she said yes (see ring, at right).

Don't you love happy endings?

Back to School...

Well, after letting a month and a half go by without updating this blog, I better hurry up and post our "back to school" edition.

All three kids are waking up early and strapping on their backpacks... including 3 year-old Leila. She started preschool this year, so rides the school bus with Michael and Emma.

I miss my baby, but she's doing great. Both the teacher and bus driver said after the first day that she was "all smiles". Not including the bus ride, she's only at school 3 hours a day, but it's four days a week. I'm very proud of my little school girl (and her big brother and sister, watching over her as they do).

Michael started 7th grade-- and football-- this year. It's been amazing to see his hard work and commitment. They practice for two hours nearly every day after school, and he puts in a good effort while he's there. The coach has him playing defensive end and left guard. They've had a couple of scrimmages with other schools so far, and Jon's been there watching him play and helping coach.

Jon took a few weeks off from work for some much needed rest & family time... which of course he's spent mostly on work around the house. Right now he's outside on our roof, pounding nails. Our shingles were badly damaged after several years of shoveling off snow and chopping ice dams, so Jon has made it a priority to better insulate our attic and re-shingle the roof. Hopefully there's no rain before the shingles are back on... I asked Jon what would happen if it did rain now, and he said "bad stuff."

I didn't blog in August, but we did a few fun things. One day we joined Phil and Jill at their cottage on the lake for some inner-tubing and pontooning...

We went to a music festival in Somerset to watch our nephew Adam (Phil and Jill's son) perform with his band, Solid Gold.

At left, Jon and Adam.

We took a day trip to the Wisconsin/Minnesota border and visited some beautiful state parks in the St. Croix area.

We hiked and let the kids do some impromptu rock-climbing. We window-shopped and even made an actual purchase... (see my new hutch, below).

The hutch cost only $140, which I thought was a good deal for something so functional and nice-looking. I am able to store most of my canned fruit and veggies in the bottom section, with my glass collectibles finally out of boxes and on the top. AND there are cookbooks in the middle section. See how usefull?? I say that's $140 well spent :).

Our grandson, Jack, stayed overnight last week. Jonathan and Lindsay's work hours are such that one or the other of them is usually home with him, though Lindsay's grandma has filled in as caregiver, when needed. But every other weekend both Jonathan and Lindsay have to work nights, so Jack will come over here and stay with us.

He is more shy than he used to be, but after awhile warms up and wins everyone over with his big smiles. He LOVES to watch his Aunt Leila and her shennanigans. He sits unsupported and crawls; he pulls himself up to standing. He takes a few steps (with help).

To close, I'll post a picture of the memorial bench that marks the grave of my father-in-law. It was finished recently; Jon has sat in it and thinks it's very comfortable.

Busy Summer-- Kids Visit, Bayer Family Reunion

It's been a busy summer, so I've been neglecting this blog-- but so many good pictures to post-! I'll try and keep the comments brief so I can get these important photos out to the public (ha ha).

One fun happening was a visit from an old highschool friend and her family. I hadn't seen Shannon Nichols (now Coleman) since 1988, when her and her family moved to Alabama.

Shannon has been married to Mike for about 20 years now. They have three children-- Morgan, Hannah, and Steven. As you can see, all have beautiful red hair. Mike is a fire fighter and emergency responder, as well as a real nice guy.

It was fun having Shannon's kids meet my kids. Shannon's kids are a bit older, but Leila warmed up to them pretty fast. She was very impressed with the big girls' jewelry and purses.

We missed yesterday's Hurlburt family reunion, but in June made it to the Ellis family reunion (that's Grandma Jane's side of the family). Here's Jane and her sister Dorothy looking over auction items with Emma. We donated the basket of canned goods and fresh produce that Emma's looking through here.

This is Marshall Ruegger, who is married to another of Jane's sisters (Pat). It's a small world... a few years ago we figured out that Marshall used to work with my mother before she was married, when she still worked at the DNR. She left her job after meeting and marrying Dad, but Marshall (and Dad) ended up retiring from the DNR after many years of service.

Another big event in June was David coming over for a two-week visit. I didn't realize it until he got here, but this was David's first time meeting Jack!

The kids had a great time playing with David. We made a couple of trips to Cornell to visit family, went to the beach and the mall, and celebrated 4th of July together.

Once, while in Cornell, we had a chance to walk through nephew Luke Meyer's house. Luke is Jon's sister Sally's son. A year or so ago he bought this landmark house just a few blocks from Grandma Jane's.


I have always been curious about this house. It's enormous, for one thing, with at least a 3 acre yard, and was mysteriously unoccupied during the year we lived in Cornell. I had been told that "back in the day" it was elaborately furnished, with a $40,000 kitchen re-model, a room with leopard-spotted walls, and many other exotic decorating twists.


The house is definitely unusual. Lots of built-in cupboards. A room with what looked like egg cartons on the ceiling (for acoustics?). And then this carpeted room... walls, ceilings, and railing banisters-- all carpeted. Here's David climbing a carpeted "fire pole" with metal hooks on it for climbing. Not many homes have one of those...

We had a heat wave and some really sticky days. Just before the hottest day a package arrived in the mail for the kids, from Aunt Ann... a slip-n'slide. Perfect-! We wasted no time setting it up. Our neighbor girl, Makayla, got to try it out too.

One day we met Jonathan, Jack, and Grandma Jane for a picnic at Brunet Island Park. Emma and Leila went swimming while the rest of us sat in the shade and talked.

Jack and Jonathan hanging out... I think Lindsay was studying for a test that day.

Here's Jack getting his feet wet... he was okay with the water but didn't care much for the sun. Jonathan was a good dad, though, and quickly took him back to the shade.

Emma started the 4th of July by making these holiday pancakes. Nice, huh?

We watched the fireworks from the backyard of Phil and Jill's cottage on Lake Holcombe. It was a relaxing good time-- sitting in lawn chairs, facing the water, enjoying their shady beach and cool drinks.

Many of the young adults hung out on a pontoon as well as a large raft tied off-shore. Little kids swam by the dock. At one point, just before dark, Adam took his young cousins out for a boat ride. They came back starry-eyed, talking about the lighted lanterns they had seen floating above them in the air (a nearby restaurant releases them on the 4th).

Our hosts, Phil and Jill, are at left (Phil in the yellow t-shirt, Jill with yellow viser. Their son Jacob is behind them).

Jonathan and Lindsay came over with Jack for awhile. Here they're feeding him supper.








Jon missed out on this event because he was called to do storm damage in Minnesota. Not long after returning home from that, he was called out again to do storm damage in Chicago. He's back now on a 6-day vacation, though.

Right: Michael at a football camp in Menomonie.

Susan and Jay came over Wednesday morning and left just today (Sunday). Thursday we went with them to a food tasting at Fanny Hill-- they plan to have a wedding reception there next June, and had to make their menu selections. Everything was delicious... their guests are in for a treat :).


Leila had a blast playing with Susan and Jay's pets... puppy Olive and 7 year-old dog Hazel. This kitten is from our "outside cat's" last litter (mama cat's fixed now, so no more babies). Leila called the kitten, who is named Iggy, her "best friend" and played with him every chance she got.

Yesterday Susan and Jay came with us to Tomahawk, for the Bayer family reunion. The Bayers are my mom's family, and my cousin Mitch and his wife hosted a first-ever get together at their home.

Here's Mom and Dad at the reunion, with their six grandchildren... my kids Michael, Emma, and Leila, and my brother Don's kids Kenny, Beth, and Stephen.


Right: Leila and Steven in the play house in Mitch and Mary's backyard.




Left: Uncle Don and Uncle Dave, my mom's two brothers.

Right: my brothers Don and Bob.








Volleyball at the reunion. Susan and Jay are there somewhere; can you spot them?

Beth and Leila throwing rocks in the pond.
Hopefully the fish were able to duck.








Cousin Christi's son blowing bubbles; Leila with cousin Jerod's youngest; Steven at center; cousin Jenny's little boy Jude in the forefront.

I feel like I'm rushing through these photos; sorry for that. The Bayer family reunion was a really good time... very cool to see cousins we hadn't seen in years, and to hear people talk about the old days. Uncle Don's been doing geneology, and it was interesting seeing the family tree he'd worked out.

Despite the distance, we didn't stay overnight. Susan and Jay had to leave the following day, and we wanted to be home to celebrate Jon's birthday.

Today was Jon's birthday (49-!). We spent it with Susan, Jay, Jonathan, Lindsay, and Jack. We missed David, but Jon was happy to have most of his kids around him.





I'm pretty sure Susan had a good time during her visit. We saw Harry Potter with her and I know she liked that. And for some reason she seems pretty taken with that little guy Jack.

Whew, what a blog! Done for now. Happy summer, everyone!