The score is now Three and Two !!!

Not the Packer's score, silly, the GRANDBABY SCORE!

Erin and Mark have now found out their little bundle of joy in April will be a boy!   Same with Dan and Heather.... the next two grandbabies due in April will both be boys.  So they will have one of each, a girl and a boy in their families.   Add in Jameson as the oldest ringleader of the group from our third daughter Heather and Jesse, and will have a Family Circus around here!

The winter will go by fast and new babies will be here in the spring.  So nice to be preggers over the winter, like I was with Heather who was born in March.  Compared to my being preggers with Erin who was born in the middle of summer, one of the hottest most humid months in Wisconsin in 1983... ewwwww.

Also, today is our little granddaughter Allegra's SECOND BIRTHDAY!!!  

Wow that time sure went fast!   We will be at her birthday party tomorrow to give her some kisses and hugs and presents!  They are having a Hot Dog Bar for the meal and I am bringing my specialty, Calico Beans-- here is the recipe:

**warning** I am a dumper kind of cook, not a precise recipe person!!!
first brown up some ground beef, bout half a pound, and chopped onion, and drain. 
then fry up about 4 strips of bacon, and cut or break into small pieces
now dump that and all this into a crock pot:

1 can kidney beans
1 can baked beans 
1 can butter beans
a big squirt of ketchup
1/2 cup brown sugar
dollop of molasses
squirt of steak sauce
double squirt of BBQ sauce (we like Sweet Baby Rays) 

season to taste
let it go a few hours on the slow cooker 
yummmmmmmmm
some folks add grape jelly...
some folks add mustard... 
some folks add vinegar...

Well, my Christmas shopping is done and now the wrapping has begun. Erin stocked me up with paper and tissue from her stash yesterday, so I didn't even have to buy any more.  She watches for the good clearances at her chain of stores after the holidays last year and stocks up then.  Call her my Middle Man of Deals! haha

We are cold here this morning (about 18 degrees!)   and due for more snow this weekend.  I am cranking away on socks as fast as I can.  I have custom orders to fill, plus I am replenishing the stock in the Estores as fast as I can to keep up with the holiday shopping demand.

We did take a little break last night for our favorite dinner out at a little tiny restaurant in Oconto Falls. It's called The Penguin Again.  

Link:  http://thepenguinagain.com/index.html   

It had been called The Penguin years ago, and some other owners had it for a while.  The original owners bought it back so the new name became The Penguin Again, because that is what everyone was calling it anyhow.  We went there with my weaving friend Linda from Tennessee and fellow RV bloggers Sam and Donna here when they came to visit,   blog post from that day    We feasted on BBQ ribs for me and tenderloin tips for Steve.  I order a full serving and take the rest home for lunch today.  Steve ordered a full serving of the tenderloin tips with the same idea in mind.  But somehow he cleaned his platter!   Now I have to protect my leftovers so he don't swipe those for HIS lunch!   LOL

While we were there at the restaurant, we used their fast WIFI signal to catch up on some UTubes that have been posted of the grandkids.  I am limited to 5GB of bandwidth while at home, so if we want to do something large, we stop there for a meal and use their WIFI.  Heather shot these videos of the silly grandkids at our Thanksgiving gathering.      If you would like to look, here are the links:

and this one is about a special book my sister, the librarian, found one day.  

It's called "Press Here" by Herve Tullet.

ISBN-10: 0811879542  or ISBN-13: 978-0811879545  

This book is so much fun that I bought a copy for each of the families, so the kids know the book by heart and are just soooo excited to have it read to them and interact with the imagination of what the "dots" are doing from page to page.... notice Jameson saying "OH MY" over and over,  and Allegra screeching "THE DOTS"  and Chelsea flopping backwards in joy and exuberance at the page turning surprises.....   Yup, and that is me, in all my Granmuddah Glory!

Well, enough blogging, back to the sock machine and get more done...

Basking in the afterglow of Mother’s Day…

 

As I am here, sipping coffee this morning, I am glowing in the love and joy of a great Mother’s Day.   I am truly blessed with delightful children and grandchildren!

 

I was fortunate in having both of our daughters to come over yesterday morning with their guys and children.

 

Mark, Erin and Chelsea                              Heather, Jesse and Jameson 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now, you all know I am a weaver, right?  … and I have the table loom set up in my livingroom right now.  So when all the kids came yesterday for Mother’s Day, little Jameson had to show his mommy how good he can weave!   Remember, he is only 21 months old.  And totally FASCINATED by anything that moves, turns, opens, closes, etc.  All weekend while we had him here, he keeps going to the loom, touching the beam and asking me  “NOW ?  NOW ? NOW ?”   So we wheeled the loom over to my chair, set him on my lap, and let him go at it.   Hahahaha   Yesterday he wove THREE times!   What a doll and makes my heart go Pitter Pat to see him weave.

(in the old days, the Men were the weavers, and the Women just prepared the fibers… a loom was a tool like a rake or shovel or plow, just like Men were the tailors too)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For a nice lunch on Mother’s Day, my darling Steve grilled out brats and burgers (chopped sirloin extra lean for him)    and the girls each brought something too….

Mommy Erin made tuna noodle salad (which she HATES putting in peas, celery and onions but did so for ME)     and Mommy Heather made a strawberry cheesecake!

I whipped up a pot of calico beans… which Jesse took the leftovers home.  Poor Heather!

It was a great day with big kiddo hugs and lovely presents.  I was spoiled rotten...  besides the big fuchsia plant that Steveio got me on the weekend---

Erin’s family gave me a bag of coffee beans and a cute stainless steel mug that she slid in pics of Chelsea between the inner and outer layers.  I can add and change pics of all the grandkids in it.   I can smile each time I raise the mug to my lips.

Heather’s family gave me a big basket of about 12-15 different lotions and bath products which I sorely needed.  I was getting low!   They are cherry blossom scented and the basket will make a great knitting basket for by my chair.  

Dan’s family sent me a card with a new photo of Allegra to add to my collage.   (we are later going to their house after our kids head out to their spouse’s mothers in the afternoon)

 

I gave both of our girls and our daughter in law each silver heart shaped lockets with pics inside of their babies....   made ‘em all cry!    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Steveio cleaned up after our meal and we pigged out on the cheesecake for dessert.  After leftovers were packed up for them to take home, hugs and goodbyes…  and then time for a little nap for us!   I seem to be coming down with a little cold, so I needed a nap.

Later we hopped in the car and drove to Green Bay to see our son Dan and his wife Heather and little Allegra....   I got in lots of hugs there too and we brought along the some nice clothes we found at a good rummage sale in Beloit for Allegra...   they were appreciated and will work right for sizes for her.   Some were even brand new with tags.

(and I forgot to take along the camera!  So here is a photo of them from Xmas)

 

Then we did an Aldis grocery store run…   it was just gonna be 2 bags of the boneless skinless chicken breasts, but ended up coming out $94.00 later and a trunk full of groceries!   How does that happen?  AND Steveio bought another small propane grill!  I think that is seven grills now that he owns.   I might have to do a blog post on just that?

Steveio needed a few things from Home Depot and still had a gift card to use up from Dan and Heather for his birthday.   So once we got him outta there, then we hit Menards store too.   Lo and behold their hanging floral bags (those heavy green bags that have annuals planted in them that you water and let hang.  I wanted four bags again for each corner of my gazebo like last year.   So that finished up the Mother’s Day treats and flower shopping too.  Now we just need to buy tomato plants, perhaps next week and get them in.  It’s too cold to put anything out yet, so we hung the flower bags in the garage till later this week.

After we got home, we snuggled up to watch a movie of Tom Selleck’s, called Jesse Stone.  We like that series he has done, and this show ended with a good cliffhanger to keep us tuned for when he films the next one.  A nice footrub with my new lotions by my personal masseuse was the perfect ending to a  great Mother’s Day weekend! 

 

We tried to have flowers delivered to Steve’s mom, but found out they LEFT for the weekend in their fifth-wheel!  Good for them!  She is battling cancer and going through chemo.  They decided to load up the fifth wheel and go camping up to Door County.  More power to them, and the flowers can get re-delivered later today when they get home.  Though the weather was kinda yucky for camping, glad they got out and about a bit.

My mom, as I type this,  is now winging her way north from Florida to Michigan, and might stop here in Wisconsin on the way through tomorrow.  Depends what time of the day or night they get into this neck of the woods.  With Lowell being a retired truck driver, he is used to hopping behind the wheel and going gangbusters zoomzoomzoom till they hit home in Michigan.  Once they get up there and get settled in, we will send up a basket of flowers for her too.

 

Today, Monday, the wee one Chelsea dear came over at 6 am with her Daddy .. as her Mommy had to leave at 4 am to get up to a store way in the Northwoods for an 8am inventory.....  so Chelsea came here all changed, fed and dressed in clothes, when i was expecting jammies, diaper change and needing a bottle right away... instead he had it all done.  What a Good Daddy!

 

I am getting a bug in my craw to go camping this weekend.  We have Allegra’s baptism on Sunday, but thinking that if the new shocks come for the motorhome this week, we can get out on the road Friday night and perhaps camp near Green Bay at Bayshore park.  Then on Sunday we can go from the campground to the baptism, and later to the city park where the kids rented a pavilion at Green Isle park for a picnic.   They invited 50 folks to share in their little girl’s special day.  I am making fruit salad and it would be nice to have good weather so we can be outdoors. 

 

We noticed a rumbling in the Saturn car yesterday on way home from Green Bay.  After we got home, Steveio diagnosed the noise as an idler pulley was loose and missing a bolt.  He found the bolt laying in a pan underneath, and put it back in, but the pulley is still bad and needs replacing.  So that is on the agenda for tonight if he can get the part today.   Always something!  arggghhhhh   but it’s an older car and needs a few tender touches now and then.   Keep it going for 3 more years and we will be happy to give it to one of the kids later when we go full time.

Well, time to refill the coffee cup here and get a move on with the day.  Little Chelsea is napping right now, so I can get some stuff done.   Later gators!

We got babies for Mother's Day weekend.... and Motorhome shock repair

Bit of Grandchildren stuff first-----

Ohhhh we got a little Chelsea Beetle Bug Baby here this morning. Steve and I found her a little bumblebee Halloween costume over the weekend and here she is, checking it out....  (her nursery room theme is bumblebees) 

 

I guess it passed "inspection"   after all, what little girl doesn't want to have some fairy wings? 

Then later today little Jameson will be coming over for the weekend.   His mommy is hostessing a karaoke show both tonight and tomorrow night in Green Bay and his daddy will help her with set up and tear down.  So the little lad is coming here to hang out.   We will take him again to the Piggly Wiggly grocery store with the cool shopping carts that are like little trucks!  These are photos from the last time we went:

 

 

Then next weekend we will have little Allegra's baptism....  so will get some more pics of our other little princess.   Here is one her mom shared:

What a little Hollywood Doll! She is out for a ride in the stroller we got her.  How cute is this? 

Can you believe it, we are due for SNOW tonight????  They said 2-4 inches, and it will melt fast tomorrow.  But the temps dropped drastically here and we had to kick on the furnace this morning.  The house was really chilly and the winds are blowing.   That is why we don't plant the tomatoes or hang out any flower baskets yet.  We could very well wake up to white stuff all over them! 

Now on the motorhome front.  Last weekend we noticed a bit of rattling underneath on some bumps, signalling a bad shock.  We have a very nice ride with the special Safari suspension called Torsilastic ...  Velvetride which is really a rubber design by BF Goodrich.  It rides along so smooth, we really don't feet much road problems, but heard the rattling on the rough parts by DePere on hwy 41.  So Steve pulled off the front shocks, and sure enough, one is bad.  So that is our next project, ordering replacements today and will be put on before we go camping again. 

We had a great five days in our rig while down in Beloit/Shopiere... the solar panels worked wonderfully and we were fully charged back up before noon each day, even with partial shade here and there on some of the panels, and some days were cloudy or raining.   Love having the Trimetric gauge to see what we are using, or how far down we are draining the four 6volt batteries.   

We can be "extravagant"  with this power usage now, and keep the router and two laptops going all the time.  And of course some tv, dvd and lights in the evening too.   It was so warm, we never ran the heater either.  But we don't use the big LP furnace with the blower, we have the Wave 8 Catalytic heater instead.  It doesn't use any power at all, just runs off propane with no blower.  But like I said, we didn't even need that this past weekend. 

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

So hope all you mothers out there have a wonderful Mother's Day ... and for everyone else, go HUG your mom!  If you can't hug your own mom, find another one to hug.  Moms love HUGS!