November in Texas 11/30/09

For the last couple of weeks, I've been meaning to take a walk to get pictures of the trees changing colors.  Yesterday (Sunday, Nov 29) I finally went.   We have a hiking trail that goes very close to our house, so Todd and I headed down that early yesterday afternoon.  I was disappointed when we got to the trees (as I thought I might be) because most of the leaves have already fallen off.  But here are a few of the pictures I took:








Earlier this year we were in a severe drought, but mid-September we started getting a lot of rain.  Upriver from the trail is Lake Georgetown, and they have been letting a lot of water out.  Because of this, we couldn't go very far on our walk.  Here is the reason:






For those not familiar with Texas, this is the cactus you see everywhere:


 We can also go the other way on the hiking trail, that would take us to the Georgetown Country Club.  There is a sidewalk there, too, that was covered with water, so couldn't go far that way, either.  We could have taken our shoes off and walked through the water, but it was kind of chilly and I had new Nike tennis shoes on and my hands full with camera so we decided not to.  Next year I need to go as soon as I think about it instead of waiting so long.  

Anyway, I'm only scheduled for 16 hours of work this week, so I'll be able to sew a lot.  I got the third memory quilt done this last weekend and have started on #4, hoping I can get them all done before Christmas.  You can check out my other blog to read about them and see pictures.

Have a wonderful week!!!!  And thanks for taking the time to read my blog!

Thanksgiving in Texas 2009 11/27/09

Yesterday was Thanksgiving.  We had Tab and Sam and their families over for lunch.  I made the traditional Turkey and stuffing, along with sweet potato casserole, jello salad and green bean salad.  The girls brought pies for dessert and dinner rolls.  It was a great meal and we enjoyed the time together.  It was also the beginning of this year's holidays without Todd's mom and grandmother.  This year will be different and difficult for everyone, I'm sure.  Todd and I are planning to head to his dad's for Christmas this year so we stayed home for Thanksgiving.

After lunch, Sam, Tab and I sat down to look at some old pictures, and Todd went outside with the kids.  He and Alyssa were playing catch, so I ran out to snap some pictures. (The weather was so nice!)


Alyssa is getting so big!  She'll be 7 next February!


Angel and Tyler were outside goofing around, too.
They are getting big, too!  Angel has a birthday in a couple weeks!

Halloween 2009 11/1/09

Halloween was fun this year! Tab and Sam brought their families over to go Trick-0r-Treating in our neighborhood. We live on a HUGE block, so we just went around it and went home. But I snapped a few pictures before we went out.

Tyler was an Army Guy


Angel was GI Joe


Alyssa was Sharpay from High School Musical


These are the pumpkins that Todd and I carved last weekend.


On Friday, Tab and I went to help out at Alyssa's Halloween Party at school. There were lots of parents there, so I took a few minutes to snap a few pictures.
This is Alyssa and her friend, Riley.


They played a game that they had to roll a pumpkin with a spoon to the basket.


Then we went back into the classroom - Alyssa was distracted by me taking a picture.


First they decorated pumpkins to take home.


Then bobbed for apples (with no water), then dipped them in caramel and chocolate chips or coconut.






Then they had a snack.

Someone took some of the vegetables and arranged them like a skeleton - it was really neat!

And this is where she sits all day at school.


We didn't have many trick-or-treaters, so I guess Todd and I will have to eat the Snickers that I bought.... lol

Pumpkins and Dom's Birthday! 10/27/09

We decided to have the kids over to carve pumpkins for Halloween, and to celebrate our new step-grandson's birthday that was on the 21st. Not much went on, so I'll post pictures for your enjoyment!

First step was to clean out the pumpkins. The kids had lots of fun with that!






Next, the kids picked what they wanted carved and the adults did the carving.


I didn't get too many pictures of that, but here are the finished projects!




We decided to have pizza delivered for supper.


Then we had cake and ice cream and watched Dom open his presents.








We all had a good time.

This week I'm starting to look for a job, again. There's not much out there! I did get a call from Alpine Access tonight. They have another opening, but the hours would be 10am to 6:30 pm, Monday through Saturday with either Tuesday or Thursday off. Training wouldn't start until Nov 21, we'd have off Thanksgiving and the day after, but wouldn't know about Christmas off until about a week before. Todd's not excited about it since I'd work most of the day on Saturday (he only works every other Saturday during the winter). And I think we'll need to go to see his Dad for Christmas this year - it will be a tough one since Nel and Grandma Rena are both gone now. I told them I'd get back to them in the next day or so, but will probably tell them I've decided not to take it.

Tomorrow (Wednesday) I'm meeting a friend for lunch, so that will be nice to catch up with her and to catch her up on all that's gone on with us in the last month.

Onto better news..... Pictures from Tab and Brian's WEDDING!

Wednesday, October 14, 2009 our oldest was married. We were in Illinois for Grandma Rena's funeral so we couldn't attend, but we did get to see pictures. I asked Tab if I could post them on my blog so other family members (who aren't on Facebook) can see them.

The new, happy family


Ty and Sam


Angel and Alyssa


The kids.....


During the ceremony - they were married by the same person who married Sam and Jason


And just because she's SOOOO ADORABLE!!!!!......

Home again.....

We got home around 8:30 pm on Friday. Todd went to work on Saturday (they only work in the mornings on Saturday). I got most of the laundry done yesterday, so today we went to get groceries and ran a couple of other errands. We do still need to go get me a new cell phone - mine's been acting up since we were in Falls City.

It was a quick trip to Pleasant Hill IL. We left home at 7:00 pm on Tuesday and arrive there at 12:15 pm Wednesday afternoon. The family visitation was Wednesday night and there were a lot of people who came - people who had known her for a long time and a couple of the workers from the nursing home came (she had only been there since April of this year). Todd got to see a few people he hadn't seen for a long time - a couple gentlemen who used to farm the family farm outside of Pleasant Hill (one of their sons now farms it). There were also a lot of the Red Hat ladies who came. Kay, the lady who helped Grandma for years was there, also. I had spent some time with them when I was at Grandma's in early September, and Todd and I also went out for supper with them and Grandma on October 3, when we went to get her to take her to Falls City for Nel's funeral. Kay and her husband Gordon were very close with Grandma and I think Kay will probably be helping Larry with things for a while to come. Poor Kay will have to find something to occupy her time now that Grandma is gone. They used to talk many times a day and Kay had not been able to see Grandma since we had gone out to eat on the 3rd. They were on a trip when Grandma got back to Pleasant Hill and she hadn't made it to Pittsfield to see her yet. Kay was who the nursing home called Tuesday morning when they were getting ready to take Grandma to the emergency room. She was also the one the Dr. told that Grandma passed away. :( Apparently Grandma started feeling bad during breakfast Tuesday morning, and later told the nurses at the home that she thought she should go to the emergency room. The Dr. said when she arrived, her blood pressure was very low and they couldn't get a pulse. Rena had told us MANY times while we were in Falls City that she didn't like being in the nursing home. One good thing is that her last week of life was spent with family - both at the funeral for Nel, but also at the wedding of Josh and Ruth. I'm sure the trip was very hard on her.

So anyway, here are some pictures of our trip to Pleasant Hill. (You can also look back at this post to see some pictures from my trip there early in September of this year.)





This is Larry's favorite picture of his parents


The rose in this picture is from Gus - Kay and Gordon's little dog who LOVED Rena (and the feeling was mutual)


Rena and McKenna - taken last Christmas in Falls City


These pictures were of her adventures with the "Red Hat Mamas"


Flowers from the "Red Hat Mamas"


The Red Hat ladies all wore their Red Hats to the funeral


This is the view from Grandma's dining room window - it looks down on the church where her funeral was. Kate commented how odd it was that we could see the house so well from the church - especially when her casket was being moved from the church to the hearse.


She was buried next to Homer, who died January 24, 1997 (just a few months before I met Todd). At least they are together now. This was the third time I had been to the cemetery in the last 6 weeks, she took me up there during my trip and then we stopped with Todd when we went to get her before Nel's funeral.




Her funeral was very nice. The pastor who left their church years ago came back from Tulsa OK. He had also done Homer's funeral. He had some really nice things to say about her. He said that he always knew you're not supposed to have favorites in the ministry, but she was one of his. He also said she always told him that anything he had to say he could say in 15 or 20 minutes. lol He also told a few funny stories about both Homer and Rena. He had a hard time getting through it without breaking down. When he read her obituary (which can be seen here),
we all broke down when he got to the part about her being preceded in death by her daughter-in-law, Nelda Godwin. The current pastor of her church also spoke and said at the beginning of his part "What's better than one Baptist minister speaking at a funeral? TWO !!!!" He said he could just see Rena rolling her eyes at that. LOL He also read this poem - "The Dash".

After the family visitation on Wednesday, Megan, Kate, Cynthia (my sister-in-law) and I went through Rena's jewelry. She had some of them marked if they were received for special occasions. I brought a few things home and decided to wear one of Rena's necklace to the funeral and Todd wore one of Homer's tie-tacks.

While we were gone on Wednesday, Tab and Brian were married at the Justice of the Peace (the same one who married Sam and Jason). I was sad to miss it, but Tab and Sam's dad was here from Pennsylvania so at least he was there. They both have pictures on their Facebook pages and I haven't tried to get any of them so I can post them here. Maybe tomorrow I'll see if I can figure it out.

Anyway, Todd and I are going to try to relax for the rest of the day. It's pretty nice outside, so we're going to go sit in the backyard. Todd said he had a hard time yesterday - on his way home from work he told himself "I should call Mom", but then realized he can't do that anymore. We both have been having short spurts of sadness, but hopefully they will come fewer and further between as time goes on.