Grandma Mary and Grandma Mary!

Today was a workshop day at school - so I decided to visit the "soon" to be Grandma's for lunch and deliver their bags. What fun! We know Maggie is arriving at "5:10 pm" on Feb. 10th - in Alabama and the other little one is due in April. Both Grandma's "to be" can hardly stand the wait - but as many of us know it is well worth the wait - Grandbabies are special!

Quilting Projects!

I have been busy in my sewing room. I was able to quilt my "four patch posie" on my Aunt Gracie along with two baby quilts! The baby quilts have been delivered as well as the bags! The bags are for two of my school friends that are soon to be grandma's. Ironically they are both name Mary. Grandma's really need to have a special bag just for visiting the grand-babies!

Quick fix!

Jeff & I made a quick trip to the cabin - the weather was not good - so we decided to come home Saturday afternoon. Jeff was able to complete a project that needed to do done before we left! The steps are quit slippery, especially with socks - we have had slips that could have been serious but turned out OK - so anyway we now have some carpet threads. Hopefully this will make the steps safer.

Celebrating Linda G's "60th" Birthday!

On Thursday evening we helped Linda G celebrate her birthday! When I was teaching special ed in the Elk River School District Linda G. was my boss, mentor, & colleague. Really she was the "go to person." If Linda didn't have answer she would find out. Whenever we had an IEP question her most frequent response was "& what is the need of the student." The student was of foremost importance in her eyes! Mary Kay, myself, Linda, & Mary Alice - are pictured here. They are very special people to me!
Happy Birthday Linda!

Linda's retirement quilt!

This the quilt that we made for Linda's retirement in Spring of "08. During my years at Salk - we made several recovery quilts but every once in awhile we made celebration quilts. This is the one we made for Linda G. Here we are - myself, Toby, Laura, Mary Alice, Linda G., Mary Kay, Carol, and Sharyl.

(I also have a quilt in my sewing room that these ladies made for me as well!)

Congrats to Sara and Dan!

Jeff's nephew Dan was married to Sara Ness on Saturday January 16th. It was a beautiful wedding and fun reception! Sara and Dan will be living in Big Lake. They make a great couple!

Natalie & Lauren

A wedding can get long for little ones - but we learned that the next family wedding we will also bring a portable DVD player. The girls, as you can see are very focused watching a video on Aaron's I-pod. Technology at work - notice they each have an ear piece. They sure do know how to share. The wedding was fun for everyone!

Saurkraut time!

Saturday morning Jeff and I canned 10 quarts and 24 pints of kraut. We were a little concern since it had been in the crock since the end of October - but all went well. It will be a great complement to our venison sausage. I think Jeff and I will enjoy more canning once Jeff is home full time. One gets a feeling of satisfaction to see the jars - with so little work and we have a great time sharing it with our family and friends!

Button - button, who has the button?

Danielle & Paul do? Paul's Grandma gave him and Danielle her collection of buttons that also included buttons from her Mom. They were interested in finding out more about them - I happened to hear a book club friend say she needed to leave early to go to a "button meeting." Well my ears perked and I e-mailed Danielle and she responded with "can we invite her over to our house?" --- So Diane (Grandma Nadeau's neighbor), Winnie (one of Jeff's 4 - H leaders from the past) and Kathy (Winnie's daughter from CO) took a close look at a few of the buttons - Danielle & Paul have over 30 ice cream buckets! - and then proceeded to tell them that they have some treasures amongst the 1000's of buttons. Kathy an avid collector along with having a wealth of information to share has continued to stay in touch with Danielle giving her a variety of suggestions. Now Danielle can add to her passions of quilting and scrap-booking - button collecting! Be sure to ask her about the porcelain buttons.

Happy Birthday Noelle!

Happy Birthday Noelle - with babes of your own! We don't count the years only the moments!

Celebrating New Years with Friends

This year Jeff and I offered to host the annual gathering of friends. We played a game called Court Whist - which was fun - except for the round that you could lose 3 pts. each time you said something during the game. Everyone brought an appetizer (should have took a picture of that!) to share. To complete the evening we gather for dessert. This is a new one that I tried - it is Paula Dean's Raspberry and Sherry Trifle. As a group we recalled our party from 2000 - and of course looked at each other and thought "where has the time gone?" We once again vowed to gather again before we celebrate another New Year - but the time flows oh so quickly - but we will gather on that next New Years Eve and feel blessed that we once again have gathered. Happy New Year to all!

New Years cont. --

These are some random photos. I had planned to take some while we were all playing cards but --- I forgot.