New Years Eve

Entertaining Tillie

New Years Eve Dinner-The Cornfield Cafe

2011 Christmas memories

Thank you so much for being together at the Holidays

Baking..count down to Christmas

Yeaaaah!!  Kristin called this morning and they will be coming Wednesday, they plan to leave Idaho today.
Preview of  baking, we'll have more to do this afternoon.

December sunset, fire, and lake

                                                      Stirring the fire

December 11th-42 degrees out

It was somewhat spring like today, the sun was bright and warm, we have no snow, and the lake is a beautiful blue color

The ice is at least 8 inches thick, and fish houses are starting to appear on the ice.

Turning 20

Tonight I met Will and Jason for Jason's birthday supper. His 2 favorite places are the Pizza Ranch or Subway. Pizza Ranch didn't have a buffet tonight, and Jason had a concert he needed to be at within an hour....so we went to Subway. He thought it was just fine.  Happy 20th Birthday Jason

Skates

I am not sure if... 20  or so years ago I thought ahead to 2011 as the year I would sort through our worldly possessions. But since I hadn't done this yearly, or even every few years the major task waited until this year.

We saved and boxed enough stuff for years to come and what we saved for the 'kids' is safely tucked away in the 'attic' above the stable. I was glad to bring the skates to the lake just in case one of the girls would want to skate this Christmas.

We have skates in all sizes, but I'm not sure if any of them will fit anyone....it's fun to think about skating behind the house, the pond, and occasionally on the river. These were happy skates for several years and they now have a place in the new attic...sorry-I just couldn't get rid of them 

  

Sunday

 Sunday lunch-followed by Caramel apple pie -  Elizabeth's marathon baking day resulted in several desserts and pastry s. We were the lucky recipients!

Lunch time  4:00

Piano Music

Thanksgiving 2011

Turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, dressing, sweet potatoes, red cabbage, broccoli salad, cole slaw, buns, lefsa, carrots, pickles, olives, pumpkin pie, pecan pie, chocolate revel bars, pecan pie bars, pumpkin muffins, coffee, sparkling white grape juice and sweetened homemade whipped cream for the pies.

Fun visiting with Roger and Ardis, Sheila and Charlie, Elizabeth, and the rest of us.

1 Day to Thanksgiving 2011

Just finishing the rolls, so I tried a new recipe to add a little color to the thanksgiving table....Red Cabbage

Tomorrow I will know if it's worthy to be on the successful recipe blog??

Gramma looked concerned and quizzical when she ask me if I had ever had Thanksgiving before??
The kitchen was somewhat of a mess at the time.

2 Days = Thanksgiving

Groceries, cleaning, and baking-we're almost ready. The turkey is thawing in a cooler, we finished grocery shopping this afternoon, and the lower level is cleaned.

Chocolate Revel bars, Pecan bars, Pie crusts for 4 pies, 2 for Thanksgiving, and 2 for Christmas (Frozen)

All while enjoying Celtic Thunder  

Over the River and......

through the woods..............................................

Thanksgiving preparation is starting............................at our house

Pre-Thanksgiving snow

Snow covered the ground and frozen lake - the first time this fall.
Since we can't weed the garden, mow the lawn, golf, or ride horse... we had to find other things to do.....

Found some beautiful yarn and convinced
Grandma she needed a scarf for her dress coat....

Laura making 'The best ever chocolate chip cookies'-

Exercise + Icing + Rush

Birthday

A beautiful November day with plenty of sun. We had a woodpecker and blue jay at the bird feeders this morning.




At 4 :00 Tea time Grandma had birthday cake-angel food cake, strawberries, and whipped cream.






Dinner at the Speak Easy

Transition

The leaves transitioned from green to gold and now are gone, leaving the landscape with various shades of gray.

It has been 7 months since Grandma came to live with us, and all in all it's gone quite well.

We've visited relatives, took in a couple of days of 2 conventions, and traveled for snacks at McDonald's, Subway, and the Cornfield cafe. We checked on things at the farm many times, and shopped in Fargo on an occasion or two.

With the change of weather, we may be at home more, and with the oncoming winter-I'm sure our traveling will cease at least for part of the time, anyway.

It's a good thing we observe 'tea time' at 4:00 as it breaks up the day, word search and cross word puzzles along with looking at pictures provide activities that can take hours. We wait for the Forum and Gazette as reading the news is a great addition to the week as well.



So with the time change we'll turn on the lights early in the evening-maybe find a game we all can play, and look forward to visits from ' the girls' who will hopefully fill the house with music and fun. We can't wait for the Holidays!

Welcome Spring

Grandma enjoys a good nap on the livingroom couch after a morning of baking bread and bars

Looking good,

Laura called and suggested I bring some when I come next week....

Getting chocolate revel bars ready for the oven

Not alway easy to do

Out of the oven just in time for 'afternoon lunch'

But, Grandma is napping-we'll save some for later