Low-Key Thanksgiving

We have kept ourselves busy from Halloween to Thanksgiving. Mostly the normal things like running to the store and taking Audrey to school but also with other things I rather not have to deal with. Yes, it’s that time of year. Where sickness enters your home and doesn’t want to leave. It all started with Nathan one night spiking a fever. It went away the next day but two days after that I had it. It felt like the flu without all the nasty trips to the bathroom. Then soon past but not before I could tell that Audrey was fighting something off. Before I knew it she was barking like a seal, croup. How far away can you stay when your cooped up in the house. Not far enough because she passed it to her brother. Nate’s fever got up to 103.8F and lasted almost 12 hours. If it hadn’t broken in the morning I would be in the ER with him. The worst of it was that the kids were sick for Thanksgiving. Nate was finally at the age to enjoy a real turkey meal but he didn’t want to eat. I had Audrey home for a 1 1/2 weeks between the vacation days and sick days and I needed a break. Couldn’t wait for school on Monday but Sunday night mom just wasn’t feeling right. I had a fever of 101F and woke up the next morning tired. I took Audrey to school. Later that day I started a headache and soon a cough followed. That cough lasted 4 days non-stop. Finally went to the doctor since I was sure I had an ear infection now. Little did I know that my coughing was due to bronchitis and the doc confirmed an ear infection. Today the kids are better and I’m feeling good but can’t hear since both my ears are plugged up.

Audrey did get her letter from Santa and she was really excited. I don’t think that she wanted to show me how excited she was. She’s at a funny point where she doesn’t want to express her full emotions but I knew it made her happy. Enjoy the pictures to follow and the video of Audrey.

I was trying to get a nice picture of the kids. They were not cooperating. I got a nice one of Audrey and the ugly cry from Nate. He didn’t want his picture taken with his sister.

T-day table setting and Nate playing with the door. It squeaked!

Matt and Audrey doing a book puzzle

Nate’s new head light gear. He thought it was cool for 5 minutes.

Trick or Treat--- give me something good to eat!

We’ve been doing a count down to Halloween. I mean Audrey has been counting down. It started at about 20 days prior. Everyday, “Mom is it Halloween yet?” After the 5th time I think I told her she wouldn’t go if she asked me again. That squashed it for awhile. Then the day of Halloween at 8am I got the question again, “Mom, is it time to get my costume on and go trick or treating?” Torture, I hate being asked the same question over and over again. I only know that when Christmas nears closer (it’s almost here) that I will get the never ending questions. Just yesterday she sat down to prepare her letter to Santa. “Mom, how do you spell…..?” Really?

I am excited for her to get her letter from Santa. I decided that this year only, I was going to pay the money and have a professional looking letter sent to Audrey from Santa. It gets mailed out after Thanksgiving. I’m sure she will pee her pants with excitement. I really need to get off the Christmas subject.

Halloween was fun this year! We always have dinner over at my in-laws. Audrey walks to their neighbors and up and down their street. Then we pack up and head back to our place. Matt is already there handing out candy. I thought for sure that Audrey would make it around our whole sub. We have roughly 70 houses (so my husband says). About half way through she was half asleep. I guess all that anticipation wiped her out. But they both made out with candy. Matt’s sister substituted for Nathan. I had him so bundled up because it was so cold.

I was however bummed. I will learn to definitely take pictures right away. Wednesday, we carved our pumpkins. I was going to take pictures on Halloween but discovered that morning that someone stole one of our Jack-o-lanterns. I can only hope that someone was that hard up that they needed it to put a smile on their kids face. It’s the only thing that can make me overlook the distraught that was on Audrey’s face when she realized that it was gone. At least they didn’t take the one that she carved.

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Matt and Nate Nate petting the kitty!

Audrey as a witch (hat is purple on chair). Great-Grandpa & Grandma Hanson (Matt’s grandparents)

Grandpa’s yummy cake Audrey’s ready to go

Nate as a pumpkin Oh, this pumpkin glows!

What to do with all your apples!

Okay, I’m posting an apple recipe I got from my father-in-law, the king of desserts. This uses a small amount of apples, so if you have a lot like I do, make applesauce.

Apple Bars (a cake)

Mix (don’t beat, just stir till smooth)

1 ¾ c. sugar

1 c. salad oil (I use canola oil)

3 eggs

½ tsp. salt

2 c. flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. cinnamon (I like to use 2 tsp)

1 tsp vanilla

4 large-6small apples; peeled, cored and sliced

Combine all ingredients except apples and stir till smooth.

Then stir in your apples. Pour batter into a greased 9”x13” pan.

Bake at 350^oF about 50 minutes. Check with toothpick for doneness. Cut when cooled into bars.

Optional: dust cooled cake with powdered sugar and serve

With whipped cream.

If anyone makes this, let me know how you liked it. Happy baking!

Greenfield Village

Friday, I took the kiddos to Greenfield Village. We met up with their cousins for one last rendezvous before they headed back to Arizona. We had a great time and wore ourselves out. Mainly due to the 85 degree weather and the humidity. The kids loved the carousel and Nate got his first ride. Afterwards, we waited for every ones second ride and Nate started dancing to the music. Adorable, even more so if I actually had my camera in hand instead it was in the stroller. So this morning while he watched Imagination Movers on Disney, I got the dancing on video. I also have been slacking in keeping up with the pictures of my garden. I'm pretty much waiting for harvest time as the veggies are growing and needing to ripen. But, I did pull one of my beets and boy are they big. My first beet measured about 4 inches in length. That's about the size of your fist. Can't wait to taste it. Also, I took a crack at making a pie from scratch. It came out really yummy! It was a blueberry & nectarine pie and I even made the pretty lattice work for the crust. Shhh! Don't tell but the little play-doh wheel from my daughter's play-doh set worked great for that.

This is the Roundhouse and then Audrey got to move, by hand, the turn-table
which weighed 42 tons.

Audrey wanted to do the horse ride but I had to much gear and a stroller. Next time we will. My nephew, Conner, who will be 7 next month got up at the Thomas Edison presentation and read a newspaper article about him. He did a wonderful job and reads at a 3rd/4th grade level.

Barber shop quartet and Audrey on the carousel.

Nate and I on the carousel. Audrey with the statue of Henry Ford.

The Entrance.

Nate Dancing

4TH of JULY VACATION

I've had my mom in town from Iowa since the end of May. I've enjoyed having her her and her filling in as a babysitter. I've also had several occassions to be kid free, YEAH!! So, we all had one last trip up North to Torch Lake for the 4th of July Family reunion. Everyone who came included my mom and dad, her sister and mother, my brother, his wife and 3 sons, myself and my 2 kids. Matt had to work all weekend and didn't get to come. We also had a visit from my great-aunt Bonnie but was disappointed that my cousins with their spouses and kids couldn't make it. My cousins son, Joshua is only 4 day older than Nate and I really wanted to get them together. Maybe next year.

We left Thursday morning for a 5 hour drive in hopes of making only one stop. However, my dad had to stop to see a car for sale and my mom stopped to pick up some fruit and veggies. I did get to see one of our friends that works across the road from the fruit market. That was nice. So, the kids were ready to run around and Audrey just wanted to see her cousins. It has been 3 years since our last get-together. My brother lives in Arizona. We had some dinner and then headed into Alden, the town where our house is at for their evening stroll. It was nice but nothing like it was 13 years ago when I was up there last. The economy has had a tremendous effect on the tourism. But we will always be there since it was where my grandmother was born and raised.

Friday, we had a slow start but got out around noon for some fishing. The weather was cold and windy and we didn't catch anything. After and hour we gave up, headed to the car to warm up and took a drive. We went to Brownwood. A small set of shops that have honey, jams, old-fashioned candy and a gift shop. They also have a toy store for the kids that was always over-flowing with toys and kids. Neither was happening this time and the small selection of toys made me cry for what the place use to be. We headed back to the house so we could get ready and go to Aunt Kathy's for dinner. She has a house 15 minutes from my parents on Grand Traverse Bay.

Saturday, the 4th of July, Audrey went with her cousins and grandpa to Charlevoix. She enjoyed the tall ships and eating whitefish (her choice). I stayed back with Nate for some peace and quiet. Later we had a BBQ and the kids went swimming in Torch Lake. The kids enjoyed snaps and sparklers and the big fireworks down at the lake.

Sunday, we traveled into Traverse City for their Cherry Festival. We watched the air show down at the bay and then wandered through the vendors. I found a lady who makes peanut-butter in different flavors and can't wait to go online to see all she offers. Too many people at the booth to see all they had. The rest of Sunday was relaxing and I started to pack everything up so we could leave Monday. Which happened to be the most excitement. The washer broke on the last load with water still in it. We had to ring everything out and then my dad and brother moved the washer outside. There they dumped the water that then flooded back into the house. Oops, maybe they forgot about the small grade that went into the house. Geez, I just want to get home!! But we finally made it on the road by noon. There's no place like home!! :)

Springs Here, Time to Garden

I was thinking that I needed something fun to put in my blog each week (or so) and gardening is it. I always put a garden in every year. So I will post a picture(s) with each blog. So far I have gotten all the weeds pulled and the soil treated for planting. I'm looking to get my plants next weekend and hopefully between rainfall get everything planted. I have until May 19th to get it all set. I'm going up north for Memorial Day. I hope that there are others that garden and will share what they like to grow. I think this can be fun.


While mom does all the hard work, my children are lying around on the couch. Aren't they cute all cuddled up. You can see I am having quite the extreme in children size. Audrey is continuing with her swimming lessons and is advancing quite nicely. She wasn't ready for the next class but I think she will be there soon. I'm looking into getting her signed-up for soccer. She has told me she wants to play soccer. I just hope it goes better than karate.

Sunday, we had a nice family day. We took a ride to "the Farm" as I like to call it. Great grandma and grandpa have quite a bit of property and lots of animals. Audrey gets to ride her 4 wheeler with her dad and Bentley, our dog, like to run after them. He found some rabbits to chase when they went through the woods. I hung back with Nate, maybe in a couple of years he'll be ready.
Nate has continued his walking. He now is practicing holding objects and walking and gaining speed. It won't be long before I'll be chasing my little munchkin. The other cut thing Nate does now is tackle our cat. He waits till he get close enough to him and then throws his body on top of the cat and pins him down. It's hilarious!!

Here's Jag. He was too busy watching birds to face the camera.

Here's Bentley.

Here are 2 pictures from my cherry tree last year. This year as it bloom we got a huge T-storm come by and the delicate petals were blown away:(