Ballet Recital

 Mom was up early and not so tired today.  I only saw her in the morning, the rest of the day was pretty busy.  I didn't realize until this evening but my phone accidently got stuck on airplane mode yesterday so missed lots of calls and texts.  We had called off Berean but I never got the notice. I planned on going anyway to get the Bibles out today. The only others that came were Benj and Marvin and they came to work on the computer program.

When I got home Valiant needed a new bale. We are going through a lot less hay this year so far. The horses at Middle Grove are still grazing and we only have 8 horses here. Anna picked me up at 4:50 pm and we met a lot of the family at a Mexican restaurant in Morton.

We enjoyed the meal and were served in plenty of time to finish before needing to head to the ballet recital for Elisabet, Zion and Eden.  We arrived about 45 minutes early and got front row seats for this.  Below Zion is showing one of her moves while Elisabet, Israel, Stephanie and David are coming down the stairs.

Iris, Taegan and Kensley sat on the front row with me.

The room started to fill up when the rest of our group got there. Even Rebekah and Brian's family came. 

We enjoyed their program. I took a video of their dance and posted it on my facebook page. Eden is the youngest dancer by far and is the last little girl. Elisabet is next to her and Zion is next to Elisabeth.  They are dancing to a Christmas song which sings about Jesus being born and that is blocked in some countries. It just can't be shared here but is really cute so if you would like to watch click HERE.

After the recital they all got a flower and posed for a picture.

Rhoda brought a light up rose for each of them and someone else gave each girl a boquet.

We all enjoyed watching and had a fun evening together. 

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Mom's Manger Scene

 Mom was still sleeping at 7:00 am and she had gone to bed at 7:30 pm the night before.  She had a tough time today. She spent most of today resting. I went down to the Peoria post office and there were only13 letters and less than 20 studies for Berean so that was called off tomorrow. Marvin and Ben will be working at the office updating the computers and I'll process those 13 letters so the Bibles get out this week.  On the way home I stopped at Kroger to pick up a few things for tonight's celebration. Ruth posted the video below yesterday of mom and Aunt Jinnie laughing at and with each other. 

Joan brought over the manger scene mom painted when I was a little girl. Each year this was put up in the living room at Pleasant Home and that continued until we moved here then Joan put it up at her house for the next few years.  This year we decided it needs to be put up at mom's house.

Molly had to check it out.  She was wondering why straw was inside the house.  Even Studly came over to check it out. 

Each family brought lots of goodies and came to sing Christmas Carols worshiping the baby Jesus.

Rachel and Dan played their guitars for this.

While I was at mom's today Anna brought the girls over to our house and they cleaned the entire upstairs as a surprise! They did a wonderful job. THANKS so much girls!

Good Memories

 Another Sunday and another gift from our Lord of the blessing to be able to go to church and spend the day worshipping and fellowshipping with our wonderful church family. Gregg Rumbold had the morning service. Kathy Huthmann served lunch even though she couldn't come. You see Kathy had Covid and is in quarantine so her friends did all the work and lunch was great. Thanks Kathy!  Craig Stickling had the afternoon service reading Hebrews 11.  After church everyone came except David and Stephanie's family and Sarah, River and Zion. Nolan picked up pizza and wings for our dinner. When the kids arrived they were put to work making our dessert. Decorating pretzel rings with white chocolate and sprinkles all working at the table.

Once those were cooling on the porch Abe helped clean the sprinkles and bits of candy bark off the dish.

The table was cleaned off and supper was served. After supper the markers and papers were brought out the 9 grandchildren went to work making beautiful pictures to hang on the fridge.

This evening grandma's table was well used.  A couple pictures showed up on Facebook of old memories. Below are Darcy and Emma admiring a Starling.

They were so gentle with that bird not bothering it at all until it flew away. They really were gentle giants and we really do miss them.  This is the first time in maybe 40  years that we don't have a dog. The other picture that showed up is of Rhoda and Emily at a PRC Show. Rhoda was riding Indy and Emily was riding Jenis. 

Fun times and good memories.

Flashlight Fun

 It wasn't as cold this morning. I headed over to Joan's as the sun was just breaking the horizon and lighting the Eastern sky pure gold. The dogs were taken care of then I headed over to mom's to cook breakfast. We had a good morning at mom's house practicing walking and laughing at dumb mistakes. Rachel came at 2:00 pm and finished the Christmas decorations at mom's.

My house work really needed to be done, a couple loads of laundry a sink full of dishes and the kitchen floor to scrub. That all got done before needing to head back over to Joan's to put the dogs away.  The day was so nice they were left outside for most of the day.

Ben and Taunya along with Sarah and Nolan dropped their kids off to play while they went to Scapecci's for dinner. We had a lot of fun playing with the flashlights.

Today was a good day.

Really COLD

The weather outside was frightful this morning 18 degrees and windy. Of course that meant working on water that is getting water to the horses but before heading out the pot of boiled turkey carcass was brought inside to warm up a bit. The golf cart had a flat tire which made it harder to get things done quickly.  I needed to walk to the very front of the new barn to grab the extension cord, haul that back and plug it into the breeding shed. Of course it wasn't long enough which meant getting another extension cord from the indoor arena but that also wasn't long enough. Mark found a small section with a 3 way plug that worked. The hair dryer was brought out, plugged in and placed inside Valiant's waterer and turned on.  The heater inside that waterer was also plugged in and the waterer wrapped.  While that was defrosting the far paddock waterer was checked. The weanlings were in the far paddock and I was really pleased to see that one working. The middle paddock was frozen as was Ribbon's paddock where Evan has been staying for the last few days.  Once I got Valiant's waterer unfrozen and working it had warmed up a bit into the 20s. Mark drove to the Casey's in Hanna City picked up diesel fuel for the tractor and skid steer to get them ready for the winter. The tractor was started and let warm up a bit before moving a round bale in Evan's paddock. He was moved back into his own paddock which had a working waterer.  Another bale was put in the middle paddock so the weanlings have plenty of hay.  The cabin horses were fed and their waterer checked. Thankfully that is working well. By this time I was pretty frozen so went inside to finish the turkey soup. I took a bowl over to mom's and found Ruth and Karin busy decorating her house for Christmas.  They needed more Christmas lights and I had extra so ran home to get some only to get a message that the Hospice service was on the way to pick up the Hoyer machine and drop off a new wheel chair for mom. I took the golf cart back over to mom's to take the Christmas lights over and let them know to have the machines ready.  Mom wanted to play Mexican train so the 4 of us played while Aunt Jinnie worked on her needle point.  Mom did very well and is improving on that. When the truck came to drop off the wheel chair and pick up the Hospice machines I started stringing lights on mom's deck. That was another cold job. I didn't wear gloves as I was trying to go fast and gloves were hindering the progress but by the time I was done my fingers were frozen.  I took the picture below after dark. 

At 1:30 the 3 dogs at Joan's house needed to be let out of the garage. Joan's family went to Bluffton to have Thanksgiving with Bill and Bethany.  Diesel came when called, Kabur came when called but Leo ran away.

The other two were locked back in the garage but when I walked over to Leo he growled at me. That meant I had to grab him by the back of his neck and flip him upside down all the while yelling at him as he was trying to bite my hand. He gave up and when I let him up he practically dragged me back to the garage as I wouldn't let go of his collar.  Should have brought treats and planned on that for the next trip over at 8:30 pm.  Since it was too cold to work any longer outside and I didn't want to work inside (there are dishes to do from the soup making) I decided to search for a place to stay for our Sceggel vacation. I found a place, sent it to the kids, they all approved so booked it. We will be going to Table Rock Lake the first week of August 2022. At 8: 30 I took a hot dog over to Joan's house, let the 3 dogs out and this time they were all glad to come back. In fact I think I'm now Leo's best friend! 

Thankful For Thanksgiving

 What a blessing today was. The turkey was stuffed and put in the oven to roast at 6:00 am. It was above freezing but the forecast was dropping temperatures and that turned out to be true. By tonight the temps are already is 24 degrees and dropping. Oh well I only have to work on one waterer and move in 2 bales tomorrow.  We arrived at church about the same time as Karin arrived with mom and Aunt Jinnie. Today she drove mom's car and mom used the small wheel chair as today was just one service.  David Obergfel had the Thanksgiving message. After church I had to quickly put the rest of the stuffing and the sweet potato casserole in the oven with the turkey and had to up the temp of the oven to 350 to get everything done by 12:30 pm. The meal was at Joan's and was supposed to start at 1:00 pm. We made it over with the food at 1:03 pm and thankfully were not the last to arrive.  You see in this family if you aren't 15 minutes early you are considered late. We really did have a feast. SO many wonderful dishes to try and plenty of everything. Below are a few pictures during the afternoon.

There was a variety of pies. We had pumpkin, pecan, key lime, apple, French silk, chocolate, and peanut butter pie. Each and everyone was delicious. Below Joan is cutting pies.

It really was hard to choose after that huge meal so some of us took a little slice of each. Sarah, Joan and Faith sung a song about mom and Aunt Jinnie. This is kind of a tradition and each time we all laugh. They aren't quite that old! 

After the meal we played ping pong. Aunt Jinnie was quite the player. 

The kids had so much fun playing in the castle and little Eden was one of the princesses.

We played round table then Carbols. This is a game of strategy a little like Parcheesi, played with a Parcheesi board and Rook cards. We only had around 40 for our Thanksgiving but were still missing the family in Gulf Shores. Diane reported they had around 60 there.  Molly and Gabe took Nancy home for me so I was the very last one to leave Joan's house as I had to wait until the game was over.  The food was cleaned up and once home the turkey carcass was set to boiling in the big pot, the dishes done here. I make a lot of dishes when cooking, so the dish washer was filled the the rest washed by hand. Before heading to bed the big pot of boiling turkey carcass was taken outside by Mark to cool. We really had a wonderful fun filled family time and I am thankful.

The Work the Day Before

 It was above freezing this morning THANKFULLY! No frozen waterers to worry about. I headed over to mom's first then after the walk took the golf cart over to Joan's to get the turkey. After the walk the two stallions and all of the weanlings were de-wormed with Quest plus.  Valiant was mad about the taste. I gave him some grain in his bucket but he kept grabbing a bite then trying to spit it out because of the taste of the wormer. He would run over to the other gate and glare.

The taste of the wormer  didn't seem to bother Evan at all, he stuck his head in the bucket and chowed down.

I was really pleased with the weanlings, each was haltered outside the fence and the de-wormer given. None of them fought it. Such good babies. They were glad for the grain after. 

Today was Maria Graham's visitation and funeral and Joan and I drove together for that. Maria had quite a life and even wrote a book. Her daughter Maria has been taking care of her and will really miss her.  It was only a few weeks ago when they came here to visit mom after mom got out of the hospital.  After dropping Joan off I drove to Sam's to pick up a few last minute items along with a few things for Rhoda. My next stop was Walmart as Aunt Jinnie needed fresh cranberries and lemon jello to make the cranberry salad for the Thanksgiving meal. When I got back home Mark was already here hard at work splitting wood with Mackenson.

He and Mackenson filled the trailer then hooked the trailer up to the skid steer and took it over to Joan's for Gabe. 

While Mark was taking the trailer over Mackenson was cleaning up the yard.

We sure are thankful for his help.

Our wood shed is full to the brim and we even have a pile outside which will need to be tarped.

I spent most of the day inside baking and cooking.  The pumpkin pies were baked first then as soon as they were done the sweet potatoes were put in. The chocolate pies were made next and once those were in the fridge the stuffing started. The turkey will be stuffed tomorrow morning then roasted while we are at church.   After supper the kitchen was cleaned up and a load of laundry started. Now I'm ready to rest.  Funny how we spend 2 days of cooking for this one meal and that meal will be eaten in about 20 minutes.  Ruth and Karin practiced with mom and stairs today to see if she would be able to go up the 3 stairs at Rachel's house for their annual putting up the manger scene Christmas party.  Joan is hosting Thanksgiving tomorrow and she has a ramp going down to her basement where we will be eating so tomorrow won't be a problem.  A very nice update came from the lady that bought Soul's colt by Evan 3 years ago. She writes: I'm so proud of Gideon Thor!!! He was a saint in his first parade! There were veteran parade horses showing themselves and he was perfect!!!!

IF anyone wants his FULL sibling Soul's 2021 filly by Evan is still available ONLY she will be white instead of black when older. She looks black now but is going to gray slowly but by the time she is in her teens should be pure white! Can you imagine how beautiful she will end up?

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Julie

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Julie