Christmas Eve...we measured the snow on the deck table to see how much we've gotten

about 17 inches. Fun fun fun. It sounds like we are in for our fourth winter storm this weekend, but it may bring more rain with some higher temps. Not such a good thing when it freezes again.

This is yesterday, December 27, we had a fog, which brought what they call hoarfrost. The Rochester, MN news station asked for pictures, so I submitted the next three. This was the first one that showed up on their newscast at 5 pm.

This one didn't show on the newscast, but I still like it!

This one was quite popular and showed up on the 5 pm and 6 pm newscasts! I received lots of phone calls, emails, and texts about this one. One person even told me that they have used this for their desktop wallpaper. Someone told me I should enter this in the county fair next summer too.
Christmas was good, busy, but lots of fun, I will share more about that later, nothing planned tonight and I have LOTS of pictures to play with! Having fun with my trial version of Elements 9 and waiting for my copy to come in, but it's backordered and won't be in until the end of the month! Ahhhh!

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and a wonderful day today!

So I finally got my photo prints made yesterday! C loved it so it made all that worthwhile! We did get some cookie baking in too, now I'm waiting for a phone call to go back and finish up what we didn't get done.

It's snowing....again. They say we could end up with another 5-7 inches. It's getting depressing! We are running out of places to put it all...and I have heard of towns, some bigger cities even that have already used up their snow removal budget for the season. This is crazy! My Dad said that we are in for another big storm next week too. Joy.

I finished my house cleaning today and I've gotten a bunch of laundry done. Feeling pretty productive! And I got the official phone call that I don't have to do the church's newsletter for January! Soooo much less stress on me now! Feeling like I can get alot more done now too! I have alot of past things to type just to keep on file and hopefully this will enable me to get most or all of that done....that is until I get the new copy of Elements and then I know I will be all about the pictures!

I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Christmas vacation!

K and I ran to Wal Mart last night (about a 20 min drive) because I wanted to get one of my pictures printed for a friend and the boys Mom told me that one of the local stores that do photo prints aren't able to do 8 x 10s now so we thought we could get a couple 8 x 10s printed and do some other last minute shopping. We got there, headed back to the photo machines only to find that they were closed. We missed them by about five or ten minutes! We did need a few other things so the whole trip wasn't a wash, but I was sure frustrated! Oh well, if that's the only thing that goes wrong this Christmas!

I take that back, C called and said that she has to work the whole day today not just the morning like she had planned and it sounds like she is watching the boys tonight so their Mom and Dad can go out to celebrate one of Mom's brother's birthdays. But still...if that's all that goes wrong!

Anyway....we slept in this morning and I cleaned the house. After lunch I did some online shopping with the gift certificates from the boys and their parents. Rebecca Jo...I did order Elements 9!!! I'm playing with the trial download version now and I LOVE the updates! The copy I ordered is on backorder, along with my copy of The Blind Side, but my copy of Fireproof and Veggie Tales A Silly Little Thing Called Love should be here soon!

We need to run into town and put a couple checks in the bank and try to get those pictures printed. They may be 5 x 7s instead of the 8 x 10s we'll have to see. Otherwise we're just hanging around and enjoying the day off together.

Hope you are all having a great day and a very Merry Christmas!

First of all...I owe Rebecca Jo a HUGE apology! I received a wonderful package from her a few days ago and I thanked her privately but I HAVE to show you all the BEAUTIFUL hand knit lovelies she sent me! Thank you thank you thank you Rebecca Jo! I was so surprised, excited, and thrilled to get your package and the lovely note you sent along with them! I still haven't been able to use them...they are decorating my kitchen for Christmas right now! Thank you so much Rebecca Jo!

This is the sidewalk leading up to our front door. The piles on the end by the road are a bit taller after I threw the snow that the plow blocked the end of the sidewalk in with while I was shoveling, but you can tell we have alot of snow! It is the snowiest December on record in Rochester, MN, about an hour from us, and I wonder if it isn't a record for us as well. I'll have to get K out there and get a picture of him standing on the sidewalk to give you a better perspective.

These are the bushes I took pictures of when it first started snowing right out in the front of the house. Now just piles of snow.
I am SO behind with Christmas coming so quickly! We haven't even put up the tree! C and I have done just enough baking for the cookies for the Christmas program Sunday night and we just finished shopping and wrapping the gifts!

Thankfully our church secretary is home from helping her Dad in Texas and she will be taking back her jobs so that means alot less work for me next week with the church's newsletter and hopefully I'm able to catch up on some other things around the house and be better at blogging more often!

Today is my last day of work before Christmas, and it's only my Bug and I. Nice quiet easy day! He's watching some Tom and Jerry while I get a bit of work and blogging done! We exchanged gifts with the daycare families and I received a wonderful gift from Bug, T man, and Mr. L and I am thinking about upgrading to Photoshop Elements 9. I downloaded the trial version to see the differences between 7 (that I have now) and 9 and so far I am loving it! I didn't want to upgrade just to upgrade and have the newest thing you know what I mean, but there seem to be some nice new features!

The cough is getting better, but I still have coughing fits if I laugh too hard....which of course seems to mean that K has to be in quite a mood and making me laugh even more than normal....to which he aplolgizes when it does happen but makes us both laugh even harder. Lovely cycle lol!

Well Bug is finished and wants to build with some blocks so must run for now! Big hugs to you all, hope you have a wonderful day!

Blah more snow! They let out of school three hours early today and have already cancelled school for tomorrow! I am so SICK OF SNOW!

We had our church Christmas program last night. Each family was invited to participcate with a song, poem, reading, etc. I was so busy I wasn't going to do anything but PM asked me to do a reading that he had recently done at a nursing home service. I was so nervous, but I think it turned out well.

The "lovely" cold is still hanging in there. Now I only have coughing fits when I laugh....which tends to be quite often. Blah!

Hope you all had a great weekend and I'll take some more pictures tomorrow to show you the new "fun" stuff outside.

This one is actually a couple weeks old but it's one of my favorites...a bald eagle in a tree just outside of town in our first light snow

Snowing on Saturday

It's piling up on our steps and railing

and on the bushes out front

Later on Saturday

and on the mailbox

another view of the bushes out front a little later with more snow

the neighbor's suburban late Saturday afternoon

snow, snow, snow

the neighbor is snowblowing his balcony! He did this at least two or three times on Saturday

looking out to the neighbor's house across the street

plowing out Sunday morning - looking out the front door towards the street

the table on the deck out back - they say we got 9.5 inches!

icicles on the side of the house

looking from the garage to the deck as we were leaving to take some pictures

piles next to a driveway at a house just down the road

such a pretty Christmasy scene

there is supposed to be a road here...it hadn't been plowed as of noon on Sunday

looking down our road

blowing snow on a road near us

a field on the edge of town

oved the icicles hanging there and their all kind of bowed

the main highway through town heading towards our church

the church parking lot...that's our Pastor's office

the main highway heading home

the main highway again

someone hit the street sign in their snow removal

more snow

love this snowman!

beautiful

a road near a local park

blowing snow at the backside of the park

We survived the Blizzard of 2010! They say that we got 9 and a half inches and that's more than enough for me! I shouldn't complain since I have heard that some places in more Northern Minnesota have gotten 20 inches or more!

I took a bunch of pictures that I will try to post tomorrow. It's been a couple of late nights and I'm going to be prepared for Little Miss a bit earlier in the morning...she may not make it at all since they live in the country but I'mg going to be ready, and posting pictures seems to take so long! A couple of them even made it to a local tv station's facebook album of pictures of the storm!

Madrigal was postponed from Saturday night to Sunday at 11:30, we cancelled church figuring it was safer for all involved and that our parking lot wouldn't be plowed anyway so it wasn't going to be a problem, but then they postponed it again until tomorrow night! It sounds like this is the first time they have ever had to rechedule!

Hope you all had more fun this weekend!

So there was no basketball for us last night. We found out that our friends' son was not even going to dress, the coach is still sitting him out because he went to Brazil over Thanksgiving to be in a wedding...meanwhile a group of boys who were in trouble and are on probation for something like six months are now dressing and playing. We didn't get season tickets this year so K said he was not going to pay to watch C sit on the bench not even dressed. I did some of my typing work instead.

We are excited for Awana store tonight! I'm not going to lead my group tonight, I'll be taking pictures of the kids shopping and helping out where I can....hopefully anyway, I haven't heard that they have gotten a sub for my group for sure yet. And then after the kids are done the leaders can shop! It's a pretty good deal...one Awana share equals a quarter! I do some of my own Christmas shopping there some years and from what I have seen of this year's store I will be doing some tonight too!

I think my cold has come back a bit. Thankfully not as bad as it was before, but I start coughing and it's hard to stop, especially in the morning. And my throat gets so sore from the coughing. I broke down and bought some cough syrup at Alco last night. It's helping some, but when I get outside and breathe in that cold air it triggers the coughing all over again.

Well, Little Miss is running amok and she's rather cranky while doing that so I better run. Hope you all had a great day!

Weekends are going to be very busy in December and this last weekend was no exception! I was typing most of the evening Friday to go over PowerPoint Saturday morning after the men's breakfast. Well, with the snow and a few other things going on the men's breakfast was cancelled so we met a half hour later than we would have and got PowerPoint finished up and went home with enough time to eat lunch and then it was off to see a local kids theater group's play of The Velveteen Rabbit. They did a great job! Afterwards I still had to finish up my Sunday School lesson and a little retyping for Sunday and before I knew it it was after 11 and time to go to bed!

We had to be to church a little early on Sunday to make some copies for my Sunday School class and also set up a table in the back of the auditorium since my class was moved for the day because Awana store was being set up. We had one more hymn to finish up to be put on screen as well. After the Morning Worship Service we had choir practice, ran home to pick up the dogs, and then it was off to my parents house for lunch. We stayed and visited for a bit and dropped the dogs back at home and back to church to work on the Awana store. We worked for about three hours and headed back hom for a bit before the Evening Service. I think I caught a ten minute or so nap....the Evening Service was shorter and we came home and I was in bed by about 8:30...partly because I was so cold and we have an electric blanket on the bed!

K took the day off today and hung out with me and the Little Miss, which she LOVED! She had a really good day even with her teething! She was a bit off schedule and took a 10:00 nap instead of an afternoon nap and she was trying to go to sleep around 5 before Grandma came to get her. I kept her awake, she wasn't very happy, but she did perk up when she saw Grandma.

Tomorrow is a ballgame, Wednesday is Awana and Worship Team practice, and Saturday is Madrigal! The church's Christmas program is coming up too! And C and I are trying to find a time to fit our yearly Christmas baking in! Anyone have some extra time they want to share with me haha!

Hope you all had a more relaxing weekend and a great day today!

Well, it looks like winter and the Christmas season may be arriving....they say we could get six inches of snow Friday night into Saturday. Just because I know it's coming doesn't mean I have to be happy about it lol!

I think Little Miss is teething again. She hasn't been as fussy this time, but she is definately clingy! She is quite "helpful" when I am trying to type or get something written! She's had some good days in between, she helped me bake brownies the other day and she was quite proud of herself!

We had a good turnout for Awana last night. The kids were very energetic, but they were very well behaved! I love my group of girls this year! We have laughed and had a good time while they are working on their sections...for the first time in a couple years it has been like this....it's been a struggle trying to get kids to behave and follow rules and to get their sections passed. I am so thankful for a good year so far!

I've almost finished editing the proofs for our friend's senior pictures and I finally finished editing the school picture shots for her two sisters and her brother! I have the pictures from the Patriotic Banquet to edit and get on a cd, some of my brother's wedding reception to edit and post on facebook for him, and get some pictures I have of our Pastor and his wife to change out some of the pictures on our church's website and I will be finished with my big photo projects!

Well, guess I don't know a whole lot more so I'm going to run. Hope you have a great day!

Wow! I can't believe it's December already! It is going to be a busy month! We already have tickets for a local community theater play of the Velveteen Rabbit for this weekend, C and I are going to Madrigal at the High School (the High School Choir serves a midevil times type meal complete with costumes...for the kids...and entertainment. They even have a boar's head!) We have our church's family Christmas program, and C and I have to do our yearly Christmas baking! Lots of fun!

It's supersize night at Awana tonight! I have my supersize item picked out, but K still has to choose his. I can't wait to see what the kids have chosen!

It's snowing a bit again today. Nothing really amounting to much but the snowflakes are in the air. Little Miss is a bit confused and keeps looking at me and asking "Raining?" I'll tell her it's snowing but in five minutes or so we're having the same conversation all over again!

Well, it's back to work with my typing (PM and C were away for a couple weeks so I had a bit of a vacation too!) so I'd better get busy and get to work so I won't be rushing with the play this weekend!

Have a great day!

Wow, I really got lost didn't I?! Obviously I didn't do so well with NaBloPoMo, I think I did make it farther than I did last year, but unlike last year I want to try to keep blogging...maybe not every day, but at least a few times a week and keep up with you all. It has been alot of fun "reconnecting" with some of you!

We had a very quiet Thanksgiving this year. We went to my parents house for a bit and then to some of our "adopted" grandparents for a few hours in the afternoon. PM and C and their family were out of town and we were all missing them...we usually all get together at either their house or A and A's place and they were all gone. It was quite strange!

We didn't get up very early and head out, but we did take advantage of some Black Friday shopping. K got a printer for PM's office that he had been watching. I bought a few Christmas gifts.

Last night after researching some settings we went out on a drive taking some pictures of Christmas lights decorating some houses and the courthouse here in town. Quite odd considering it was pouring rain! I think we did get some nice shots though. I can't wait to go again and get some shots with snow on the ground! I'll share some of the pictures I did get soon.

It is snowing a bit today. It's not really amounting to much, just a dusting but you can see it in the air and just a bit on the ground. I've pulled out the Christmas music too. It's beggining to feel like the Christmas season!

Here I was doing so well and then I realized that I missed writing yesterday! Well, I guess it is farther than I got last year, so that's something. But I really had hopes of finishing out NaBloPoMo with a post for every day!

Anyway...yesterday was my Friday so I slept in this morning. After a shower and checking email A called and we were off to work on a little surprise project for some friends. While we were working I got a text message that they were letting school out at 1:15 due to weather. At the time we couldn't see why, but as the afternoon went on we understood. It started raining and because it was only about 32 degrees it started freezing and the wind picked up a bit too.

Thankfully we have no where to go tonight, and only across town tomorrow so it doesn't effect us too much, but hopefully those who do have to travel are safe!

I found the cutest etsy shop today! This lady makes what she calls Lens Pets. She takes new hair scrunchies and uses felt and buttons and makes little animals and other creatures to put around the lens of your camera so the little kiddos have something to look at rather than just saying smile for the camera! She can add jingle bells, squeakers, or a music button too! K looked at them and said they were cute, but he thought I could make my own cheaper....hers are around $15. Well, we had to run some errands this afternoon and we picked up some scrunchies, pom poms, and some craft foam for me to try to make my own. Mine are a bit different than hers, but they will work....and so far I've made two for about the price of one of hers...and I still have ten scrunchies and lots of foam left to make more. I've made an airplane and I'm in the middle of a penguin.

Otherwise my day was pretty uneventful. Hope you are able to relax and enjoy Thanksgiving with family and friends tomorrow! Anyone going shopping bright and early on Friday?

Ahhhhh! It was definately one of those days today and I am SO glad it's over! Little Miss slept for all of a half an hour total today and was cranky. But of course she was as happy as a clam when K got home.

A called and was called into work so I had to pick up the three boys after school, K was supposed to be off work at 2:30 and it would be no problem. But of course that didn't happen and I had to call the school and ask if they could go to the after school program for a half hour until K got off work and I could get there. They were very kind about it and I got them and Little Miss was very excited to see them and they all played very well but it was very LOUD! Bug sang quite a few songs for us, at the top of his lungs of course.

One funny moment, Bug and Tman were jumping on top of L and pretending to fight with him...boys games you know...and Little Miss stopped, her jaw dropped and she started yelling and almost crying. She thought they were really hurting her L! She was very happy to see that he was ok and gave him a big hug!

Well, going to run and try to get to bed at a decent hour tonight. Hope you all had a better day than I did!

It was a foggy, drizzly, cold day today. Thankfully no snow, but they say we could get some freezing rain tomorrow. Ick!

Sunday School and church went well this morning, choir sang two specials this morning and then we came home and made Shake and Bake chicken breasts, potatoes, and brownies for lunch and baked a frozen pie for the Pie fellowship after the Praise and Thanksgiving service tonight. As the pie was baking I sat down to watch some You Tube videos and I put my head down on my desk and the next thing I know I'm looking up and a half hour has passed, I had fallen asleep!

The Praise and Thanksgiving Service went very well and some of us were a little teary after some of the peoples praises and thanks when the congregation was offered the chance to share! Lots of yummy pie afterwards and now I'm ready to go upstairs and curl up with my nice warm comforter!

Sooo hope you all enjoyed your weekend and you were able to relax a bit....but now I'm off to bed! Hugs!

Oh! I almost missed it! It's been a busy day... we slept in a bit, I got a couple phone calls and answered questions about tomorrow's church services,my parents stopped in and wanted me to look up some websites to order checks and check out some used car dearlers in the area, we watched the wedding in Brazil online and had a little "adventure" with A and A, and got our regular work done at church.

I still have to bake a pie for the pie fellowship after our Praise and Thanksgiving Service tomorrow night and of course I still have lots of pictures to edit...I am working on those though, slowly but surely!

I did get the house cleaned but with everything else going on I didn't get any laundry done, or as much typing or picture editing as I'd hoped. Oh well, there's always tomorrow!

Hope you all had a good day and were able to relax some!

Hugs!

I realized yesterday that I didn't share the apple dip recipe with you like I had planned! Blond moment! Anyway...here it is: 8oz cream cheese, 1/2 cup sugar, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1tsp vanilla Beat with an electric mixer and you're done! Easy peasy lemon squeezy as the kids have been saying haha!

K took another half day off work this afternoon and picked up Chinese for lunch. Beef chow mein with fried rice, crab rangoon, and egg drop soup! Yummy!!

We ran to Alco because we saw that something we had seen and were thinking of using as a photography prop went on sale.

So this guy came home with us! I have quite a few ideas on how to use him! My first thought; how adorable would a baby look snuggled up in his lap?! And a toddler running around him and playing and posing with him?! So sweet! He would do a bit of double duty too. We have a supersize night coming up soon in Awana and he'll come with me as my supersize item.

Then I was off to a friends in a neighboring town to do some more card making. K drove and he went to Wal Mart and got a haircut and a few other necessities we can't get in town.

This is a bit of what we did...the cards with the flowers were made with napkins! Crazy but they turned out so cute! The little snowman with the Do you hear what I hear may be a few of my Christmas cards sent to a few special people this year. Coloring them in takes forever! And then I still have to cut them out and glue them on the cards! Like I don't have enough to do with my "free time" right?! But they are so cute! Someone gave me a little container of this fluffy looking powdery stuff which when I glue it on the lamb, the bunny's tail, and the little pom pom of the snowman's hat makes them look fuzzy and fluffy!

Well, I suppose I'd better get back to work, I have a bit of typing to do for our Praise and Thanksgiving Service Sunday night and four more of the card fronts that I've already stamped to color in...and most likely I'll stamp and color more. And I have to get up tomorrow and get the house cleaned and a few things straightened up so we can watch our friend's wedding in Brazil online!

Hope you all had a great day and you'll be able to relax and enjoy the weekend!

Today was my busy day with kiddos. I picked up Bug and his two brothers after school and we made apple dip and I sliced some apples and had snack and then they actually kept themselves busy reading and looking at books. They all did really well, even if Little Miss only had a 45 minute nap!

K surprised me and took the afternoon off work! Little Miss was very happy to see him, hence her short nap! She was in a very good mood for such a short nap, until Mommy came to get her, then she screamed and ran in the other direction! I walked them out to the car and she stopped crying, but started again once Mommy put her in the car and I could hear her calling my name. Little pickle!

I'm off again tomorrow. I have lots to do, laundry and house cleaning of course, but some fun pictures to edit yet and a little bit of typing. I may even get to do a little more stamping and card making in the afternoon!

A friend of ours is getting married this weekend in Brazil. His Mom grew up in our church and they are missionaries in Brazil. We just found out that we will be able to watch the wedding online. We're excited to watch and see the differences in a Brazilain wedding!

Well, I guess I don't have much more...I'll share some more pictures with you soon!

Big hugs!

I haven't shared any pictures in a while so I thought I would share some of my favorites...

A cloth paper doll a friend was cutting out at the Ladies Day Away

What I was working on...a little, not much progress made....at the Ladies Day Away

A 1930s sewing machine one of the ladies brought to the Ladies Day Away. She uses it quite often from the sounds of it. I loved the pattern on the side and took a few shots while she was laying out her quilt.

A 1930s sewing machine one of the ladies brought to the Ladies Day Away. She uses it quite often from the sounds of it. I loved the paatern on the side of the machine and got a few shots while she was laying her quilt out. Hubby brought out the spray bottle and I had fun shooting the spider out in our bushes...straight out of the camera

This spider was out in our bushes I had alot of fun shooting him straight out of the camera

Fall sunset out my front door straight out of the camera. I know there's alot going on with the tree branches but I LOVED the color! Straight out of the camera

Mom and Dad at the family photo shoot...Bug looked and said eeeww edited color and lighting

Boys running off some energy at the family photo shoot edited color
and lighting

One of my favorites from the family photo shoots they were turning around to walk towards me and Mom and Dad just naturally looked down at the kiddos edited color and lighting

One from the family photo shoot...edited the color and lighting a bit

Leaves in the lake

Looking downstream at the new trout run at our local lake

The new trout run at our local lake

Hubby and I on one of our photo drives :)

Peek a boo with my little boo

Summer sunset straight out of the camera

Summer sunset over a field near our house straight out of the camera

Summer sunset near our house straight out of the camera

Summer sunset straight out of the camera

Summer sunset over the cornfield straight out of the camera

Snow on the deck the other morning...thankfully it wasn't much and melted quickly!

Fabric paper dolls a friend was cutting out at the Ladies Day Away