The End of 2020 DECEMBER BLOG

Here we go into the month of December! Lots of things to talk about and end the year of 2020! The first day these two beauties were at the feeder.  I think they’re about to fight over that big block of seed..ha..ha!  Don’t they know they should be polite and share?? 😁

The first Sunday of the month, I joined 1,000 other ladies and did a Virtual Event with Susan Branch!   This is my second one I've joined.   She is just an amazing lady. She was talking about her new Christmas book, 'Home for Christmas'! It reminded me of the Christmases I remember. It’s a wonderful book! For those of you who are not familiar with her work, here is a link to her webpage. 

Susan Branch

My daughter, Brenda, sent this to me for Christmas! How many of you are familiar with "junk journals"? I just love them! She took all kinds of scraps, such as junk mail, and made an amazing journal out of it. There are blank pages in there for me to write about my Christmas or put a picture or two in. Whatever I want to do.  I’m anxious to try and make one myself. Maybe for another holiday. 

We've had some really beautiful sunrises this month! And the sunsets have also been spectacular! I love how the sun moves or should I say how the earth moves..if I continue to photograph them we'll notice the difference. 

Christmas came and I stayed home, but had company🤗 Randy and  Vicky came over.  She had made a tin full of candy and cookies! Her fudge was amazing! I got to enjoy that for quite awhile🥰 My granddaughter and her family stopped over too! I got some adorable Christmas ornaments and magnetics for my fridge,  the girls had made! My favorite gifts come from the little ones. ~smile~

Towards the end of the month we did have a couple of snow storms again. But for the most part we had a fair month. I just love all those tracks in the snow. Wish I had been at my window when those little critters came to my feeders! 

And I’ll end the year with my little "Ms. Winter" contemplating whether or not to play with the ornaments on the tree😇 She did wonderful and only knocked one off❤️ 

Bye for now and be safe😷

Visitors in June

The first of June my two granddaughters, Amanda and Ashley flew in to visit me! What a fun week--(plus)...we had. I will be sharing some photos so you can see some of the places we went and things we did!

Ashley started this drawing as soon as she arrived! And finished it the day-day they left!  Soon you will understand why I put "day-day"! She drew something for everyday they were here, I love how she dated every drawing!

Sunday we went out to eat with my son Randy, Vicky and the twins, Eden and Ivy! That was so enjoyable. Everyone got to catch up on what was going on in each other's lives! And the twins got to color!!!

Then the girls and I went to the Queen of Peace, here in the city. It is an amazing place to visit.

The girls are walking up to the statue of 

Immaculate Heart of Mary Queen of Peace. (Constructed of stainless steel and 30 feet tall.)

Have you ever seen something for the first time and are so moved that it brings you to tears?? That is what happened when I walked in this room and saw this sculpture.  Since it is life sized it was almost like being in this room with Jesus and the apostles. Just seeing this sculpture of The Last Supper was very moving for me. (This Life Size sculpture of the Twelve Apostles was carved by Jerry Traufler of LeMars, Iowa. It is made from Pine and Basswood, and was completed in 1993 after 7 years of work.) 

There were so many gorgeous flowers in the gardens as we walked along the way. 

This was the Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes.  So beautiful ! Luckily the sun was shining just enough to light up the stain glass window.

This beautiful gold-tone bronze statue of St. Francis of Assisi stands at the pond near the entrance to the Outdoor Cathedral. As we stood on a bridge Ashley got into just the right position and snapped this photo! It was so moving...

Monday we got out and went to lunch at Table 32! Their Mom and I went there when she was home in March. She must have been impressed as the girls wanted to go there too. The food and service were both absolutely wonderful!

Wednesday we made it to the Farmers Market! It was a treat for me to get down there again. Tom and I used to go every Wednesday and Saturday. We knew all the vendors and absolutely loved it! Being the day and time of the year, there weren't as many vendors or fresh vegetables available. But we did get a few things. The girls got some jellys to take home. 

That evening we went to my monthly potluck! Amanda made a big pan of her famous macaroni and cheese. Ashley made Snicker salad. Have you ever made it? It's with apples and snicker candy bars, Cool Whip and pudding, I believe..there was nothing left of that! Plus the mac and cheese went over really good too. Amanda froze only a couple little servings for me. When I ate the last one the other day, I told her she had to come back and make me some more....ha...ha!

The next afternoon, on Thursday, we went over to see their cousin Lacey and her girls, Lorelei and Maggie. I told them the drive (which was beautiful, by the way) was about a 45 minute one. Ashley laughed and said she drives that to work everyday!! The visit was so enjoyable! A funny thing....Lorelei ordered a root beer float off of the  "childrens menu", when it came...it was huge! When Lacey asked about it, the waitress said you should see the one off the regular menu!! Ha! That is why Ashley drew Lorelai with her BIG float!

The next afternoon we went to visit the kids aunt and uncle. They had made a nice lunch for us...and just being with them was so memorable ..for everyone.

Then Saturday came...the day of doom- for me. They were flying out in the afternoon. Ashley and Amanda made lunch for everyone. Their cousins Lacey and Wendy along with the girls. Randy and Vicky took them to the airport. Ashley said I wish we could stay another week, we are having such a good time. And oh, how I wished for that too.. well.....sometimes a persons wishes do come true...lol They left for the airport about 2:30 and were back here by 5 pm. Their flight to Chicago was cancelled due to weather ! So I got them one more night...smile...I loved it! Sunday they left the house  again at 1:30 to go to Dallas...to make a long story short...they got home in Atlanta at 4:30 Monday morning...ugggg (again due to weather!) Those poor girls... I still miss them and their Mom everyday, and hate that they live so far away. But we defiantly had a great time!!! 

Can you believe tomorrow is the last day of July? Where did the summer go? "Winter" is yawning and stretching...she's ready for bed, as am I.. I hope you enjoyed this adventurous week with me.

Blessings and good night...or good morning wherever you are.

A Look Back on April and More

This was a look out my office window. This poor little squirrel had to work really hard to get that food! Ha Ha

My grandson John, comes over and fills my feeders. He's so thoughtful and the birds and wildlife in my yard love him! Ha! Especially that squirrel...lol

I forgot to post this picture last night...here are the twins (John's girls)! They had come over to see their Aunt Brenda when she was here too!

We had such a terrible winter, finally after 3 months we had a nice day! So my friend Diana took me out to lunch for my belated birthday!! smile  We had a nice visit and fun! And of course great food!

This is Pastor Martha on Good Friday. The service was very meaningful. Several of the ladies who come for Bible Study on Friday did some of the readings.

Easter Sunday was in April too. Here are the greats, their moms and their great grandma (whose house we were at!) They were having their Easter egg hunt! Boy, were they having fun! The temperature was 81 degrees..so it was a perfect to be sitting and eating outside at the picnic table!!

Here is the design of this years MS Walk t-shirts. My granddaughter Ashley, drew the design, cut out the stamp,then after tie dying the shirts she stamped them. So much work but she says she loves doing it 🤗 Oh yes, then she mailed them up here from Georgia! (This is kind of a play on the Beatles song Come together right now..etc...)

We were so bummed, as the day was cold (51 degrees) and terribly windy along with rain. I wasn't sure I would get out in that weather, but then I heard it got moved inside so I wanted to go to support the co-ordinator. Who by the way is amazing!! We are so blessed to have her doing this. We only ended up with 6 of our team members that got out. (People did go out and walked a very short distance. Two on my team did it!) Way to go Jeff & Jean!!! $32,600 was raised of which I raised about $2,100. Always a great cause!

This picture is from the Sioux City Public Museum of Riverview

I wanted to share something with you since it's close to the 4th of July!. I saw in my mother's diary this entry . Mom's diary: July 4, 1936: Has been the hottest day in the history of Sioux City 111 degrees there. We went down in the basement in the afternoon. Saw Betty T.  Elaine, Cecil, Melvin and I went to Riverview tonight. Saw auto races. Rode on the Thriller. I was scared almost lifeless. But I wasn't alone Cecil got plenty scared. I rode the 'Tilt a Wheel' was fun. Had "cream" pop and "Root Beer".

Isn't it fun to step back in time with actual writings and photos? You can not only read about it but see it!

Of course I have to share with you a picture of Winter taking a nap this afternoon.😄

I had a nice weekend, yesterday my son Randy and his wife Vicky came over for a visit. I always love that! Today, I went to church, then over for fellowship. That was wonderful! I hope your day was joyful and a happy one! 

Bye for now.... 

Merry Christmas Everyone!

 Here is my grandson playing and singing Silent Night last evening. What a beautiful memory he made for me. (I hope it shows up. First time I’ve tried to link a video on my blog. If not here is the link https://youtu.be/S26verCUMEc

Today I gathered my greats around me for a photo op!!! First is sweet Maggie, then beautiful Lorelai, & adorable Eden and Ivy!!!

 

This was so cute! Maggie heard Eden refer to Randy as Papa! So she said to Eden -“is he your Papa too????” LOL It was so funny!!!

It was really foggy today. So glad we didn’t have to travel very far!! Lorelai and Maggie’s dad was telling us this morning they were at their cabin along the river and it was so foggy they couldn’t see the river. So he told them that the river had disappeared. (Later when the fog lifted) he said “look, the rivers back!!! It’s magic!!” We love those babies don’t we???

I hope you all had a wonderful day, as we thanked Our Father for the birth of his Son. 

Good night!!!

Bye for now...