12-7-2017 Corn Husks

Ah, the joys of living in Iowa...

11-6-2017 Brrr....

Time to break out the hats and mittens and coats!!!

11-5-2017 Wowza!

What a difference a day makes!

Yesterday...64*F

today..5*F...

11-4-2017 KEP in the Wild

Love my Fisherman's KEP!

12-3-2017 New Trees

GDs 'helped' Papa build some new lighted trees

for our front yard

for the Christmas season...

12-2-2017 Hat Aleyssa

GD #2 wanted an all pink hat...

so I whipped up

Hat_Aleyssa.

Still need to find a cute button for the bow.

12-1-2017 KEP #2 Progress

11-30-2017 30 Years of Quilts

During my 30 years living in Missouri

I had collected 1-3 beautiful "work of art" quilts each year

at the Festival of Sharing Quilt Auction

at the Missouri State Fairgrounds,

with all proceeds going to mission work.

Today I made arrangements to donate

the beautiful quilts in my collection

to be auctioned off yet again

to raise money for mission work here in the QC.

(These are just 4 of the many quilts.)

They have come full circle.

Time for someone else to enjoy them!

11-29-2017 Spices

Today I decided it was time to clean out my spices cabinet,

keeping only what is fresh and used frequently.

Here is the 'before'...

....and here is the 'afters'...

...did the same with herbs and flavoring extracts...

The old spices were all put in a bowl,

mixed together, 

and sprinkled around the house foundation

and entry ways to discourage critters and bugs

from trying to come in

as the surrounding fields are harvested

and the weather gets cold.

11-28-2017 Chalking Windows

GDs spent some time decorating my 

back deck door windows

with liquid chalk.

I love how festive the windows look now!

11-27-2017 Parks

So glad the weather was nice enough

that we could go play at 3 different

outdoor parks with the grandchildren!

Fossil~Critter Park...

Rocketship park...

and on the Mississippi River...

11-26-2017 Presents!

Another tradition...

a pix of the cousins together

before opening presents.

Say "cheese!"

Granddaughter J did a great job

reading everyone's names on the packages

and handing them out!

Thanks!

And of course,

they had just as much fun

playing with the wrapping paper

as they did with their new toys!

Kids will be kids!

11-25-2017 Trim the Tree!

The 3 year olds decorated the bottom of Oma's tree...

The 5 year olds decorated the top of Oma's tree...

Oma and Opa have the prettiest Christmas tree in town!!!

Now we are ready for some presents!

11-24-2017 Christmas Lemon Crackers

One of our Christmas traditions

is letting the children make and decorate

Lemon Crackers.

They all had so much fun,

and I will be cleaning sprinkles off the floor

for the next month!

Grandson~age 5

Grandson~age 3

Granddaughter~age 3

Granddaughter~age5

Oma does the frosting,

they do the decorating...

Thanks for all your 'help', dear ones.  :*)

Mmmm...Christmas cookies are done...

time to trim the tree!

11-23-2017 Grands Helping Oma Make Pumpkin Pie

11-22-2017 Helium Trampoline Park

Today, DD and Son-I-L treated everyone from Chicago

to some jumping time at the

Helium Trampoline Park.

Youngest grandson (age 3)loved the foam pit...

Oldest Granddaughter (age 5) loved the rock climbing walls!

11-21-2017 Pumpkin Pies

...are in the oven!