Cutting Wood and Picking up Bales...

We have a wood stove at our house. Yes, it is inside. Yes, it is messy. Yes, it saves a TON of money. The saving of money makes the mess worth it to me. Anyway, we spend several weekends in the fall cutting, hauling, and stacking wood. This was from a weekend that Lydia went to help us and then we ended up helping my brother-in-law stack square bales. It was fun to do these not so fun activities as a family.

Lydia all ready to go. Gum and a sucker are all she needs.

She and Daddy

Supervisor Lydia

Gail, hard a work.

Way to go, Daddy!!

Checking out his work.

Hauling to the truck.

She was proud of her piece of wood.

Not a full load, but enough for one day.

This was after we were finished. She loved it on top of the bales. Uncle Tim had her up there saying Mizzou cheers. It was priceless.

MIZ - ZOU - GO TIGERS!!!

She was up there pretty far.

Day of Play at Mimme's House...

The grandchildren on Gail's side of the family always have called her Grandma Mary. I guess either Lydia didn't like that or she just couldn't say it because she has always called her Mimme. If fact, the other kids have started calling her Mimme as well. I think it is sweet. Lydia loves her Mimme and likes to hang out over there. She doesn't care if she is the only one or not (she may prefer to be the only one because she gets a little more spoiled that way). Here are some pictures of her and her a few of her cousins spending time together and having fun.

Here is Lydia with 3 of her cousins on Gail's side: Colin, Jonathan, and Landon.

Nothing sweeter than a bed of wildflowers and a beautiful little girl.

Take time to smell the flowers.

How precious!!

Farm girl

Colin posed this picture to have the 2 milk cans and Lydia's "body guards".

Playing Mommy

Wearing Mommy's shoes .

Walking around in Mommy's shoes is not as easy.

This child LOVES to wash dishes. I didn't let her for a long time, but them I read on a friend's blog about how she let's her children and how it teaches them the importance of helping out. After that I was SOLD. I don't even have to worry about her missing any spots because she'll wash the same dish for about 5 minutes.

Awana

Lydia started Awana this past fall at the Lancaster Christian Church. She loves it!! Gail and are relieved to see her coming out of her shell. She used to be very shy and not really talk to people (even if she knew them). At first I was worried about leaving her there for fear that she freaked out. We talked to her about going and that we wouldn't stay with her. A month of so after she started Gail had to drop her off because I had a late night at work. As soon as they got to the top of the steps she ran off, leaving daddy behind. He was shocked. He couldn't believe that she just walked down there and sat with her little group. So a big THANK YOU to Miss Andrea, Miss Jenn, Miss Shelley, and everyone else who works so hard to put together such a wonderful program!

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Here she is all ready to go with her Cubbie vest and bag.

Tad on the Lazy Side...

I have been a tad on the lazy side when it comes to getting pictures off my camera, posting them on facebook, and blogging about them. My goal this week is to get that done. So, be prepared for a LOT of pics coming soon.

Speeding Through...

I can't believe that today is December 1 already. What happened to November?? Life in our house has been plugging away. I lost my voice at the beginning of the month which makes teaching difficult. I had to stay home that day. That also happened to be the day the Joe "disappeared". The next week Lydia was blessed with pink eye. I was sad to say home, but even more upset that she had to miss Awana. She loves going and spending time with other children, learning about God, and learning her verses. Her daddy and I are very proud of how well she is doing. The rest of the month went by without a hitch. We got the house all decorated, but decided to not put any up outside. Call me a Scrooge, but no one ever sees them and I freeze my toosh off taking them down each year (those that the wind or the dog haven't gotten yet). So, they stayed in the box. Black Friday shopping was fun with Darla. Although after 5:00 a.m. I just couldn't stay awake any longer and fell asleep on the way home. I got everything wrapped and under the tree already. I'm waiting for 3 books and 4 movies to come in the mail that will have to be wrapped, and I still have a gift card to purchase and then I'm COMPLETELY DONE!!!

Until next time...

"Missing" Family Member...

Since my sister, Darla, doesn't really blog, I'm going to tell the story for her...

Yesterday my brother-in-law, Joe, went to work for an 8:00 training meeting which was across the street from the place he works. Darla had talked to him at 7:30 and everything was fine. At 9:30 she found out that he had never made it to work. Thinking the worse (as anyone in this situation would), his employer sent out people to start looking for him and they also reported him missing. Darla called me (I was home sick) and I of course freaked out. I called my dad who came over so we could help look also. I called Gail at work and he left work to start looking. Joe's father left to head to Eddyville to start looking as well as Joe's brother-in-law, Kenny. Joe's mom, Cindy, and sister, Sarah, started calling all the police departments in the counties that he drives through on the way to work. No one had reported any accidents, but they said they would start looking. Joe's brother, Bill, called the hospitals in the areas, but no one could find him. Everyone had been calling his cell phone, but Joe wouldn't answer. At 11:30 Joe called Darla and said that he was fine, and that he had been at work. He had gone straight to the training meeting and not clocked in (not sure if he was to do this or not). When he hadn't clocked in, his car was not in the parking lot, and he wouldn't answer the phone, they assumed that he was not there. It really freaked everyone out, but in the end it all worked out and everyone was safe. I pray that we never that to go through that again.