An end to another year!

Can you believe it 2008 is almost over. Seems like the time goes by faster every year. As I look back on this year I realize how truly blessed I am. I have a partner that lets me stay home. I have three wonderful daughters, a stepdaughter and stepson, and a bunch of the most beautiful grandchildren a Gramma could ask for.

Christmas at Andy's. 12/13/2008

Here's wishing you all a very safe and blessed New Year. May 2009 bring you great new memories to share with friends and family.

Two Spideys!!!

Evan and Jabin got new reversible Spider man suits for Christmas. They stayed here last Friday while Andy ran some errands. Can you guess who is who? They were trying to trick Grandpa.

Evan & Jabin

Here they are with their puppet theater. They also got some cute little finger puppets to go with it. I might have to figure those out. Kinda puttsy looking.

We also watched their new movie they got for Christmas "Alvin and the Chipmunks". That was really a cute movie. I remember when the Chipmunks came out when I was a kid!!

Next week Amaya will be here for the week while her Mom is on her vacation to New Mexico. Amaya is bringing her sewing machine so we can sew. I think I will also have Cole one day so they can play. Hopefully the weather won't be too cold for them to go out and play. Sounds like more snow coming. That's OK. We have hardly any left after it being so warm and the rain on Friday night. Now we have ice everywhere. Gramma will be busy next week trying to keep Amaya occupied.

Amanda came home with me on Sunday from the sleepover. Today we will figure out how she will get home to Rochester. It's nice that she can come and visit for a few days. We don't get to see her that often.

Sleep-over/Birthday Party

On Saturday we had a mom/kid sleep over at my sister Sue's house in Eau Claire. And since it was my birthday that day we celebrated that too. My niece Kari and her two girls Elsie and Alma, Tina , Nicci, Amaya, Amanda, Andy, Evan, Jabin, and of course me. We all took over the hause on Saturday afternoon. Our plan was to order pizza and hang out. Well Sue had a ton of food. Vegie tray, meat and cheese, chips and dip, Andy went and got cheese cake, ice cream, pumpkin bars, and brownies. No pizza needed. Of course there were "beverages" for everyone.

Sue, Amanda and Kari

Kari we did have glasses!

The kids played downstairs. They watched movies and pretty much trashed the place. But they sure had fun.

Amaya, Evan, Jabin, Elsie and Alma

The big girls hung out upstairs and watched movies. We watched some chic flics!!

Sue made pancakes for breakfast on Sunday. After the kids were all fed we let them go out sliding for ahwile. They were not out too long it was kind of cold. We then all got packed up to go home. What a great time. Thanks Sue for having us.

We went to Micheals after that and did a little shopping. We stopped at McDonalds on our way home also.

Jabin, Amaya, Evan

Got home and hit the couch. I was tired. I got this wonderful digital camera from the girls for my birthday. I just love it.

A note to Tina: Here is the "gift"!!! Cute ha!

A visit with my "95" year young Aunt

My Dad's sister Mabel

Today I went to visit my Aunt Mabel at the local nursing home. They had a Christmas Tea. We sang carols, there were cute skits put on by the activity group, and we had yummy treats. My cousin Annette call and asked if I wanted to go. We had a very nice visit.

My Aunt is the oldest living from my Dad's family. I also have Uncle Carl who is in a nursing home close to his son Bob. There were five children in the family.

Tomorrow morning I am going to bring her to church services. It will be nice to be able to do that for her. She never married and so she has no children. My cousin visits her every day. She couldn't make the service so I said I would go.

I hope everyone has a Blessed Christmas.

Christmas with the Grandkids

Even though the temps were well below zero, we had Christmas with our kids yesterday. I decided on lasagna, salad and garlic bread. That was easy! Normally I would have my counters overflowing with crock pots and all sorts of goodies. It worked out perfect. There were only a couple of pieces of lasagna left. Thanks Andy for the lasagna, I will settle up with you later. After supper of course the little ones were anxious for presents. I had gone to the Dollar Tree in Eau Claire and got stuff like glue sticks, stickers, tape, colored paper, etc.. I tell you that was a big hit. Amaya loved her easel!! Jabin was so excited over the free monkey calander I had picked up and his monkey puppet he loved it. Evan painted up the little wooden car that came with markers I found in the $ bin at Micheals.

Jabin with his "Monkey"

Grandpa playing "Go Fish" with Parker and Amaya.

Cole was watching.

Andy gave me this adorable sheep.

Created by none other that Tina.

LOVE IT!!!!!

It was a good day. Getting together with family is the greatest gift of all.

HOMEMADE CHRISTMAS

I decided today to make some Christmas gifts for Amaya, Evan and Jabin. Amaya loves to paint and draw like her big sister Nicci, so I thought that I would make her an easel. The boys are getting a puppet theater from their Mom and Dad so I made them puppets. Amaya's Easel

Wipe Board and Cork Board on the back

Puppet for the boys

I might make some people puppets yet. I found the pattern at www.puppetpub.com. They have free downloads of the patterns.

Gotta go burgers in the pan.

Gramma's overnight with the "Boys"

Monday afternoon I went to Andy's house to spend the night with Evan and Jabin. Andy and Greg went to the Tonic Sol Fa concert and out to dinner. I was there in time to get the boys of the bus. We had a snack and I snuggled on the couch for awhile with Evan and a blanket. He said he was cold. It was very cold outside. wind chills were thirty below zero. I asked them what we should have for supper. "Butter noodles" said Jabin. "Noodles and Parmesan cheese" said Evan. We had some corn dogs too.

"Jabin & Evan eating supper"
"Jabin"

"Evan taking a bite of his corn dog"

He eats the outside first and then the hot dog!
"Vinnie the Volcano hats they made at school.
The volcano goes whoosh!!! And starts with "V".

While I was watching the news on Channel 5 they say that "Charlie Brown was on at 7pm that night . They were so excited. So on went the jammies. They kept watching the clock to see when it was time. After the show was done they had to of course go and do some art work for awhile. Eight thirty was bedtime so this time Gramma had to lay down with Jabin since last time I layed with Evan. Jabin fell asleep and Evan wanted me to snuggle by him for awhile so I did. Soon I had two sleeping boys.

"Jabin with his "holes in his jammies."
He said Gramma can sew them!!! Think they are beyond repair.

Tuesday morning up and off to school. I went out about 8:30 to start my car to go home and I got nothing. So here I am stranded at Andy's . (Darn!) We made some friendship tea, I read a book she gave me. The book is called "The Christmas Box" by Richard Paul Evans (http://www.richardpaulevans.com/). What a wonderful story. Put a whole new perspective on Christmas. I am not a book person but this is a very easy to read book and took me about an hour and a half to read. I would recommend it to all.

Tina and Dave stopped by and Dave tried to jump start the car but no luck. He put the battery charger on for me. Greg got home and tried it around five thirty and still nothing. He did notice that the charger was set on two amps. He switched it to six. Two more trys and still nothing. I called home for Ted to come and get me. He got there a little after seven. Wouldn't you know when Greg tried it then it started right up. Oh well that's the way it goes. So I finally did get home around eight o'clock. Evan and Jabin wanted me to stay. They said they would miss me. Good thing I had a nice warm place to be with car problems! Thanks Andy for putting up with me so long. And thanks to the guys for helping me out.

Retz Family Get Together

Yesterday we had a great day at Andy's house. We ate, laughed & cried. A lot of reminiscing. Spending the day with loved ones is great for making new memories. Some of us made cookies. The kids made gingerbread houses on paper plates. They played and had a great time with their cousins. Sliding fun was had by big and little kids!

Amanda, Andy, Tina and Nicci laughing over something!

"Sisters"

My gift ! Some cool kitchen towels, hot pad and dish cloths for the holidays.

I got Kari's gift. Thanks so much. Love 'em.

It's so great to have family.

Gingerbread Houses

I started out the day today leaving the house at 6:30 am. Needed to get chicken wings for tomorrow. From there I went to Andy's and rode withe her to pick up Tina. We then traveled to Barron to go the Country Cupboard. They get everything in bulk then package it up in bags and cute little plastic containers. There is every baking ingredient you can imagine. I especially love the chai tea and cappacino mixes. I am having some chai while I am writing this. We then checked out a couple other places.

After dropping Tina at home. Andy and I went to help Evan & Jabin with their gingerbread houses at school. That was a great time. Haven't done that since my kids were little. I was Evan's helper.

Evan frosting his house. Evan putting on the trims. The finished product.

When he was done he told me to take a picture so I could put it on my blog. How cute is that!

The Proud Bakers

What a great day. Spending it with your loved ones.

Meet Margaret!

May I introduce Margaret. She is a hand did doll my o so crafty daughter Tina made me for Christmas. I got her today. I went to Tina's and we made lefsa at Mardell's house (Dave's Mom). They rolled and I cooked. It went pretty fast with three of us working on it. Sure was yummy, especially right of the griddle with lotza butter! Back to Margaret. She's named after my Mom and her dress and pantaloons are made from a quilt top Tina found that my Mom never finished. She has a little hand did tag necklace that says Margaret and is holding a heart that says " I Love U". I put her in the little laundry basket I have had since I was two or three. The bedding is my old pillow case also. Hand embroidered by my Mom. Thanks Tina so much. I just love her. I love hand did thoughtful gifts. Better than money can buy. Tomorrow I go and help Evan and Jabin at school with gingerbread houses. I'm going for lunch too. Hope it's something good!

The Stockings are done by Gramma with care!

I got the stockings done. Jabin's is made from an old sweatshirt, Evan's from old sweatpants, Amaya's from scraps of felt from the thrift store and buttons from Great Gramma's button box. Here are the finished products. Had to be kind of creative on the monkey and Clifford. Sure hope they like them. What are Gramma's for, but to make grandkids happy.

Slab wood snowmen

I made these cute snowmen out of some slab wood I had left over from this summer. Painted them a buttermilk white, sewed up some hats and scarves, painted the face and hot glued on the hats and scarves. I am donating them to a benefit for a young girl that has cancer. I used to work with her mom and her sister passed away a few years ago from cancer also. It gives me such pleasure to give things away that I make especially when it is for a good cause.

I have a big pot of split pea soup cooking today. This weather makes me hungry for a good soup. The temp this morning is 5 degrees. BRRRRR!!!! More snow forecasted for today. I am going to sew up some Christmas stockings for Evan , Jabin and Amaya today. Not sure what will be on them yet I just know a red one for Jabin and a blue one for Evan. I'll post the pictures when I am done.

Keep warm!!!

White Christmas

Well it looks like we will have a white Christmas here. We got a couple more inches of snow last night.

We went to Milwaukee over the weekend to visit with some dear friends of ours. They always have a fish fry in December. We stayed at their home Friday and Saturday. On Sunday we visited at my sister Carla's house. Had lunch and watched the game. Went and got a motel room and got to sit in the whirlpool. Carla brought Alex over to swim with Ted in the evening. Returned home Monday afternoon. It's a good thing we came home it snowed alot in that part of the state. We would have had to drive back in that. YUK!

Today we are going to do some Christmas shopping. I haven't started that yet. Saturday my family is getting together at Andy's house with whoever can make it. Carla is coming up from Waukesha so we thought it would be a good day to get together. We are planning a cookie baking day with the kids. That should be interesting with seven little one under the age of six. We are going to do just a girl gift exchange this year. I better get busy and think of something crafty to make.

Merry Christmas to everyone.

Charlie Brown Tree

I made this cute little Charlie Brown tree this morning. I had seen one at the store for $20 and thought how easy that would be to make. Went out in the yard and got a branch and with brown florist tape wrapped it and added the pine branches while wrapping. Went and got a scrap of wood out of the scrap box and drilled a hole in it the size of the branch a little hot glue in the hole to hold it in place. I added a couple ornaments from the craft supply and I had my version of the tree. So for basically free I had my own Charlie Brown tree.

Last night Jabin had to call me and tell me he had a loose tooth. So I got busy to make him a little tooth bag for under his pillow. Of course I had to make Evan one too. Amaya is so crafty she sewed her own. She's take after her mother.

That's it for today. Have a great one.

Happy December!

Well here it is December 1st. Only 25 days until Christmas. I have not even started my shopping yet. Yesterday was Thanksgiving dinner at my sister's. What a great time and good food. The kids had fun playing together. I did manage to eat some real food. Amanda came home with us and spent the night. She is going with me to the dentist today. Need to get some adjustments made.

I took this picture of my tree. I didn't turn on the lights, but I have all gold lights on it. All the ornaments are hand did by me. I ended up just putting up the artificial one that I had in the closet. Didn't feel like tramping in the woods for a real one.

Have a wonderful week.