Maria's Fashion Statement

We have plenty to praise God for; a growing family.

When the "Snow" is on the Punkin

(Anyone else wake up to some white stuff this morning?)

James Whitcomb Riley. 1853–1916 (A Hoosier born poet)

"When the Frost is on the Punkin"

WHEN the frost is on the punkin and the fodder's in the shock,
And you hear the kyouck and gobble of the struttin' turkey-cock,
And the clackin' of the guineys, and the cluckin' of the hens,
And the rooster's hallylooyer as he tiptoes on the fence;
O, it's then the time a feller is a-feelin' at his best,
With the risin' sun to greet him from a night of peaceful rest,
As he leaves the house, bareheaded, and goes out to feed the stock,
When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder's in the shock.

They's something kindo' harty-like about the atmusfere
When the heat of summer's over and the coolin' fall is here—
Of course we miss the flowers, and the blossoms on the trees,
And the mumble of the hummin'-birds and buzzin' of the bees;
But the air's so appetizin'; and the landscape through the haze
Of a crisp and sunny morning of the airly autumn days
Is a pictur' that no painter has the colorin' to mock—
When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder's in the shock.

The husky, rusty russel of the tossels of the corn,
And the raspin' of the tangled leaves as golden as the morn;
The stubble in the furries—kindo' lonesome-like, but still
A-preachin' sermuns to us of the barns they growed to fill;

The strawstack in the medder, and the reaper in the shed;
The hosses in theyr stalls below—the clover overhead!—
O, it sets my hart a-clickin' like the tickin' of a clock,
When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder's in the shock.

Then your apples all is gethered, and the ones a feller keeps
Is poured around the cellar-floor in red and yaller heaps;
And your cider-makin's over, and your wimmern-folks is through
With theyr mince and apple-butter, and theyr souse and sausage too!...
I don't know how to tell it—but ef such a thing could be
As the angels wantin' boardin', and they'd call around on me—
I'd want to 'commodate 'em—all the whole-indurin' flock—
When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder's in the shock.

*Now if someone could just tell me what some of these words mean! Guess you had to live in the 1800's for them to be common English.

We have plenty to praise God for; warm coats, hats and mittens to bundle up in.

fluffy fun

Maria loves her new poncho, courtesy of grandma's craftiness. Thanks grandma.

We have plenty to praise God for; a crafty grandma.

dress up girl

Maria loves to put on hats, so when she saw this hat I found for cousin Trey she had to try it on.

We have plenty to praise God for; dress up time.

His Promise

At about 8:30 this morning we were blessed with this beautiful site out the window for just a few minutes.

We have plenty to praise God for; his covenant promise.

anyone for a spot of tea?

Maria likes to anything we do, so when we had tea for breakfast she had to try some. It's pretty funny seeing her add milk to her tea in the video and then mix it up. She is definitely a copycat.

We have plenty to praise God for; tea on chilly mornings.

enjoying fall

Maria loves to go across the street to the school playground. So we took her over and enjoyed the nice cool weather and the sun. She loved it that another kid came she could follow around. She especially likes to go down the slides.

We have plenty to praise God for; a great playground so close.

Anchors Aweigh

She was just to darn cute in the sailor get-up to not take her picture. I am sure her Navy veteran uncle, grandpa, and great grandpa would be impressed by the outfit! She posed so nicely too...after like 12 other shots where she was 2 feet from the camera!

We have plenty to praise God for; our freedoms

P.S. The U.S. Navy traces its origins back to 13 October 1775, the date the Continental Congress ordered the construction of ships for the fledgling U.S. Navy. (Guess we were about a week too late to celebrate their anniversary!)

Dressing up for fall

Maria liked the $12 one!

Time to get decorated for fall. So Maria helped me pick out some pumpkins at a local patch. She really just enjoyed throwing the gourds down on the ground. But we did get some nice looking ones all for just $10.

We have plenty to praise God for; beautiful fall decorations, handmade by Him.

just like daddy

Well, some say Maria looks just like her daddy, but I just can't see the resemblence can you?

More than a century

Can you imagine turning 101 years old? Well, Nana (Larry's grandmother) is today.

Happy Birthday Nana!

Maria and Joshua had a blast making pictures for Nana. They soon figured out painting themselves was just as fun as the paper, and Joshua enjoyed tasting the paint, don't worry it was non-toxic!

Joshua enjoyed the Chinese food!

We were able to celebrate with her on Saturday in Carmel. She is her normal self with a few bumps and bruises, due to a fall last week, that has her in the nursing care side of the housing she lives in for at least a couple more days. It is wonderful to be able to allow Maria to get to know her, and make some fun memories with her.

We have plenty to praise God for; a healthy 101 year old Nana.

Think about what the world was like 101 years ago?

• The average life expectancy in the U.S. was 47 years.
• Only 14 percent of the homes in the U.S. had a bathtub.
• Only 8 percent of the homes had a telephone.
• A three minute call from Denver to New York cost eleven dollars.
• There were only 8,000 cars in the U.S., and only 144 miles of paved roads.
• The maximum speed limit in most cities was 10 mph.
• Alabama, Mississippi, Iowa and Tennessee were each more populated than California.
• With a mere 1.4 million people, California was only the 21st most populous state in the union.
• The tallest structure in the world was the Eiffel Tower.
• The average wage in the U.S. was .22 cents per hour.
• The average U.S. worker made between $200. and $400. per year.
• A competent accountant could expect to earn $2,000. per year, a dentist, $2,500 per year, a Veterinarian between $1,500. and $4,000. per year, and a mechanical engineer about $5,000. per year.
• More than 95 percent of all births took place at home.
• Ninety percent of all U.S. doctors had no college education, instead they attended a so-called medical schools, many of which were condemned in the press and by the government as "substandard."
• Sugar cost four cents a pound.
• Eggs were fourteen cents a dozen.
• Coffee was fifteen cents a pound.
• Most women only washed their hair once a month, and used borax or egg yolks for shampoo.
• Canada passed a law that prohibited poor people from entering into their country for any reason.
• Five leading causes of death in the U.S. were

1. Pneumonia
2. Tuberculosis
3. Diarrhea
4. Heart Disease
5. Stroke

• The American flag had 45 stars. Arizona, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Hawaii and Alaska hadn't been admitted to the union yet.
• The population of Las Vegas, Nevada was only 30!
• Crossword puzzles, canned beer and ice tea had not been invented yet.
• There was no Mother's or Father's day.
• Two out of every ten adults could not read or write.
• Only six percent of all Americans had graduated from high school.
• Marijuana, heroin and morphine were all available over the counter at local corner drugstores.
• Back then the pharmacist said, "Heroin clears the complexion, gives buoyancy to the mind and regulated the stomach and bowels and is, in fact a perfect guardian to health."
• Eighteen percent of households in the U.S. had at least one full time servant or domestic help.
• There were about 230 reported murders in the entire U.S

Ah, the good old days!

Belated Birthday Wishes

Michele(6) and me (7 mo.)
Ryan(3 days old) and me (10) (our dog Patches looks on)

Well, I did get a phone call to my sister and brother on their respective birthdays, Saturday and Sunday, but wanted to post a flashback photo of them to celebrate their special days. They are great siblings and I am blessed to have both of them. Oh, and even though their birthdays are just a day apart they are 15 years apart!

We have plenty to praise God for; siblings.

fun mail

I am sure you enjoy getting most mail about as much as I do, but when you get this iPod in the mail, what's not fun about that! Especially when you get it free from a contest you entered on the Cars For Girls website. Can't beat that.

We have plenty to praise God for; free stuff!

for the birds

Yep, I was at it again last night...and after sewing the bottom brown stripe on wrong, and pinning the sleeves on wrong, I called it a night. So I finished the dress while Maria napped today and she models it for you. So my two retired shirts became this dress. Now I need to focus on some summer wear for next year. I realized she doesn't have much in 2T warm weather...so my project list just grew.

She decided she wanted to sit down to pose.


This is a close-up of the felt bird I stitched on to the front to give it a bit of character.


We have plenty to praise God for; naptime to get things done!

So you really think you can dance?

We think we have found their next competitor.

We have plenty to praise God for; our energetic daughter.

artsy fartsy

That's what my sister says I am...well, I guess I would have to plead guilty. Last night I decided to try out a tutorial for swiffer duster covers that I had bookmarked. You make them out of microfiber cloths, and then you can rewash them instead of buying the disposable ones. Then this morning I decided to change a too small t-shirt of mine into a dress for Maria. I was pretty happy with the results. I have a whole pile of things I am going to try to reconstruct.

We have plenty to praise God for; talents He blesses us with.

On Location

My sister and her husband were in Jamaica for the last week, for his son's wedding. So I was on location in Greencastle to watch my nephew, Trey. He is in school so he needed to be there at home. It was a nice getaway for me. The front porch view from the swing...ah, the life!
Maria just adored Trey and had a great time playing with him. Trey gave Maria a ride on the big wheel...she did like it despite her rather bored look.
Trey at football...he is the kid to the right of the coach. Saturday morning we got up pretty early to take Trey to his football game. This is the first year he has been able to tackle. The team lost, but he did have a hand in tackling a guy.
Maria liked the look of Trey's cowboy hat...I even taught her to say YeeHaw!

Maria decided to give Trey a wagon ride...he had already given her one. Slave labor, that's what we decided it was.

We have plenty to praise God for; fun times with cousins!

Destination: Camping

Maria and Joshua chatting by the cooler!
Maria helping Joshua put on a hat...even if he doesn't really want it.
Aunt Emily and cousin Joshua on the teeter-totter.
Maria "helping" fold up the tarp.

Uncle Justin and cousin Joshua on the beach.
Grandma Saunders and Maria
Dunes
Larry, Jessica and Maria
Story Hour with Aunt Emily

Part of the washed away beachEmily with Joshua and Larry with Maria
More Dunes
The parking lot-well, what used to be the parking lot

Lake Michigan- look closely and you can see Chicago across the way.

Maria and Joshua had a ball playing with the cooler, especially the handles.

We took off after church on Sunday to head up to NW Indiana to the Indiana Dunes State Park...unfortunately we encountered a bit of flooding near Valparaiso, so after a couple of detours, we made it. Check out Jen's post with some local pictures and here is her link to pictures of the flooding in Munster area. I even heard about the Munster, Indiana flooding on The Weather Channel yesterday. To make things even crazier one of the parking lots of the State Park, the one by the bathhouse, collapsed due to high water from the Dunes Creek. We met up with Larry's parents, and sister, brother-in-law and nephew. Luckily the rain had mostly stopped. It did sprinkle a few showers on us during the night, but daytime was pretty nice and clear....albeit a bit cold, but we packed many layers for all.

Unfortunately we also dealt with our share of sickness. Maria and I were, and still are getting over a cold we got from a lovely sharing mom and child at the library story hour, gotta love that! To top off the cold, Maria and Larry both caught the flu bug that our nephew had been dealing with recently. So, it made for a long, interesting, messy night in the tent, and one episode on the ride home....needless to say the car seat cover hit the washer soon after we made it home. I thought she was pretty much done with it, but yesterday, the sicko bug made it appearance, ah, parenthood, poop and puke, who knew it would be so glamorous.

We enjoyed campfires, hikes, s'mores, pudgie pies(for all those ex-Girl Scouts who know what those are), and sand...it was everywhere, hence the dunes name! This was our first official family camping trip, and Maria did really well. We broke in our new tent, sleeping mats, and my sleeping bag, all courtesy of Larry's parents, two Christmas's ago.

We have plenty to praise God for; the rains let up and we were able to enjoy some great quality family time.