Trick or treat

 Oh those were the days....

Halloween 1991

Brianna 6,  Gavin 7 mo.  Brice 5

We loved dressing the kids up for trick or treating

I miss those days, it was wild around here, crazy with anticipation 

We had so many little ones in our cul-de-sac...

It was one big party

I dont have any little ones around anymore but the our youngest is still living with us,

 he's not little anymore 

but he's here, 

so I cherish every year I can still get him to carve a pumpkin.....

...and pose for me  :)

Thanks Gavin 

You make your mama happy!

 Gavin 20

sneak peak

Let the renovation begin.....

I'm happy to say we have officially begun the task. 

see previous post

Friday I spent a better part of the day organizing, sorting photo's,

 and going through all my "stamping" stuff. 

By evening the floor was cleared 

It was beginning to show some promise  :)

and then...

The wallpaper border from HE - -

It just didn't want to come off

after lots of soaking and scraping and sweat it was a done deal.

Never again will I apply wallpaper to any wall in my house

NEVER.

Mural of colors

Pretty much everyday I get to drive by this.... 

Several years ago, Rochester put this wall up as a sound barrier
 for the new 6 lane highway

 I thought it was nice but at that time it was quite bare.

Then they planted what looked like spindly little twigs at the foot of the wall

It was hard to imagine what it would eventually look like

Each little scrawny twig eventually grew into these beautiful displays of art 

each it's own color and shape.

It makes for a scenic trip to town.

Da boyz

My oldest boy and daughter-in-love came home last weekend for a visit

It's a busy month for them with 2 birthdays and an Anniversary,

so it had been awhile since we last had them here.

Brice and his dad did the "guy" thing.... 

worked on the car and got the chain saw out to cut up some logs. 

 My two grown up boys hung out in the driveway shooting hoops.

about the only way I can get a picture of them is without them knowing it,

hence the picture taken from the front upstairs window

This is what older cousins are all about....shooting guns

My nephew Sam was in town visiting the grandparents, when he heard his older boy cousin was home he really really wanted to come over.  Brice is 12 years older than Sam but they have a lot of common interests. It's fun to see them interact.  

Oh boys.... they're all about guns, fast cars, skateboards
and what ever else makes a mom just a little nervous.

Encourage me please

We'll try this again. Last time I tried posting this 

the photo's didn't show up because of my storage space issue.

At least we've started talking about it.....

 Several months ago I did a post about this room.

and still haven't done anything about it.

It's my daughter's old room...

which still has the same horrific paint job and border

as it was when she left to be married 5 yrs ago.

(note the sweet sponge painting)

It's become the "junk room" full of accumulations of pictures, frames,

baby toys and a crib for the grandchildren

and whatever else I decide to throw in there.

The shelf needs to come down.

Stuff needs to packed away till I decide what I want to do with it.

I got tons of rubber stamping stuff, pictures & frames...just lots of stuff

The crib needs to go as well.

My poor granddaughter is terrified to sleep in this clutter,

 can you blame her.

Here's what we're thinking...

New paint (the pathetic border comes down)

Big shelf down, crib out.

Carpet is already new.

Remove all the clutter.

All that's left is a clean slate.

Since little Audrey is getting close to sleeping in a "big girl" bed (she's 2 1/2) we think we will either get a futon, or a little platform bed (something that doesn't take up too much space) , We will paint with a neutral color and maybe frame a few of my photo's for the wall. I bought my sister's "Pack & Play" (for any future grand babies that may come along),  instead of having that big ole crib in there.

The "pack & play" can be put up and taken down with ease, so I think that's a better option.

Now the hard part.... getting started

any thoughts or ideas are appreciated

Encourage me please  :)

Update on the blogger picture issue

It's not really and issue or in need of a fix

It's real folks.... 

Not the end of the world, just an inconvienance

For all my blogger friends who also love to post photos (like myself)

 it took me almost 7 years to get to the 1 GB of free storage space
that google gives you, 

so  dont panic....that's alot of pics. 

It wont break the bank either, it's just $5.00 a year for 20 GB
which is way more than you'd probably need in a lifetime.
Sadly you do have to renew the $5.00 every year even though you
would never run out of space from the year before....that's just how it goes.

Bottom line...

I love to blog, it's $5.00 and I can handle that.

Hoping tomorrow I'll be up and running with photo's included  :)

Really????

Apparently I have reach my limit of "free" photo storage space on my blog. I hope to get this squared away this week. Until them It'll only be words for me, and right now my words are only frustrated words. I'm also frustrated with face book, today I no longer can view video's that people post....grrrrrrrr

Happy Anniversary

Five years ago on this very day, these two said,

"I do"

an amazing couple

Our girl Brianna and her awesome husband Chris

Happy 5th anniversary you two

We love you both

Enjoy your day  :)

All in a days work

A few weeks ago, "my guy" decided to get busy on a project that was way overdue.

Trimmin' the tree out front.

 Our big tree had a lot of dead branches throughout

and it was way overgrown.

So Rick got out his trusty branch cutter

 and down came the first big dead branch

 followed by many more, eventually the whole yard was full of branches 

 It was a full days work, Gavin even chipped in 

Not sure what to think about a chain saw in his hands....yikes

I starteed...and kept a burning fire going all day long,

 so much of what Rick cut out was dry old dead stuff and It burned real good. 

The fire went from about noon till 9:00 pm.

The picture doesn't really do it justice, but it looked so much better 

after Rick was done with it.

Then there were the branches that weren't dead

we piled the bigger logs on the ground and Rick made a platform 

for the smaller branches which should be good for burning next summer.

Good to have this job done... hopefully a healthier tree next year.

Happy Anniversary

Two years ago on this very day these two said,

 "I do"

An amazing couple.....

Our boy Brice and his beautiful bride Jennifer

Happy 2nd Anniversary you two 

We love you both
 Enjoy your day!  

Hole in one

My guy started golfing when he was just a boy.

He's always loved the sport but didn't get too serious about it 

until our kids were all grown up

 Rick works hard at his game and 

has become quite the "seasoned" golfer.

Today while playing with his golf buddy Kerry he finally...

after 40ish years...

got a hole in one at the 

Mississippi National golf links in Red wing

It's a championship course...not an easy play

It happened on a 183 yd. PAR 3

Congratulations Rick

your very proud wife

Retro park

Several months ago I blogged about this park in West Concord, MN. 

 It's the town were my mom went to High school, and in this town 

we used to have family reunions every summer.

The park would be filled with cousins and second cousins.

I remember it being so fun 

The park still has a lot of the same play things... very retro

and I remember playing on them when I was a little girl.

Today I took my daughter and granddaughter to play at the park (with me)

 Same metal, painted horses

 Audrey took one look at this one and said,

"It's a chicken" 

Brianna and I decided it's an owl, but a strange looking one. 

She loves to climb

 can you tell....love that smile

 It wasn't really that long ago that I was pushing her on a swing in the park.

We loved to play on this crazy merry-go-round.

Audrey loved it as well (grandma just got dizzy)

So happy

 Packed a lunch for the park. 

Notice Audrey chomping on an apple, she loves apples.

So carefree and happy to be playing at the park with mommy and Grandma.

I love days like today.

Happy Birthday boys

25 years ago today I gave Rick the ultimate Birthday gift....

I didn't even have to go shopping

The gift weighed 10 lb 14 oz

No postage was required

I think I remember saying something like this.

" Happy birthday Honey, you've got a boy"

 Someone to share your birthday with....

Rick and his birthday present

 (First son Brice)

Happy Birthday you two

 Love you both

Yesterday mom and I did our annual road trip to gaze at the fall colors.

 Some times we see some pretty sites and sometimes we miss it all

 but we always have a good time

 We found this great little place north of Wabasha

Wood working, crafts, paintings, lots of artsy stuff.

I didn't buy anything but I got lots of neat ideas

*

We ended up in Winona, had lunch at Jeffersons then headed up to 

Garvin heights to look over the lakes and WSU campus

Beautiful as usual

Mom wanted to stop at this little bakery downtown on broadway.

 That's one big sign... mom looks so little next to it.

The colors never cease to amaze me!

Thanks for hanging out with me mom, we'll do it again next year.

Our last day on the north shore.

 This morning we took our time leaving... 

we sat out and read on the deck, and 

hung out by the lake enjoying it's majestic beauty.

Checkout was at 11:00, so off we went.

Gooseberry Falls

We stopped at Gooseberry Falls to check it out and 

 stretch our legs

From Duluth we went off the beaten path to avoid the construction on 35W 

 Here's one of the sites we saw on Co Rd 23.

It's the St. Louis River, the trees in the background we so pretty.

Fun fact: The St. Louis River drains into Lake Superior.

This mornings Sunrise, 

and we didn't even have to get out of bed to see it. 

Now we are home and I'm missing the sweet sound of the waves crashing into the rocks.

Is it too early to start making plans for next year.