A Day In The Life Of A One Year Old

On her birthday as seen through the eyes of her Grandma and Grandma's camera.
I got this hat at school and wore it all day long.The official birthday cake
Hummmm, what is this, it sure looks interesting.
I will try it but I am not sure....
What the heck got on my fingers. Don't you know I don't like funny feeling stuff on my fingers.
I'm not even sure that I like how it tastes!
OK Daddy if you say so I will try it again...
Well maybe it's not so bad
And if you think it looks so danged good Momma you eat it!
Look what he did to me Grandma. Why did he smear that junk all over my face?
Phew finally the best part of the day, opening presents!
I got books
Things that talk to me (so I don't have to listen to you all of the time Momma and Daddy)
Things to bounce on
Things to drive around...you just wait it wont be long and I will be driving a REAL car.
Things to crawl in
And my very own house. You can come in but if you do YOU have to do the dishes
And at the end of the day mommy and I sit down to read a book. Hey it was mommy's birthday too!

Thinking About Christmas Shopping?

Maybe I can help. My newest projects just may be for someone on your list.
My double fold billfold is great for a small purse or to carry in your pocket (it's not bad for a large purse either). This idea taken from a purchased pattern and I 'tweaked it' to make it my own design. The billfolds are made out of cotton material with an interfacing to help keep their shape.

Open it up to find a colorful interior with a safety flap to keep your items in place
Lift the safety flap and find colorful pockets for your cards and bills
A less colorful design for the fella on your list made from a more durable weight fabric. No fancy button closure here. This one closes with velcro. The picture on this wallet is especially for the friend that I made it for. A picture is an option that I would consider adding if you wanted.

The inside has the same convent pockets.The checkbook wallet with optional card and bill holders. This is my own original design I am proud to say.
The outside is decorated with lace and a button. The actual closure is a magnetic snap. The outside and some inside material is a heavier weight broadcloth material.

Inside this wallet are pockets for your checkbook as well as cards and bills.Checkbook cover without the additional pockets. Lace, button and magnetic snap closure.

The double fold billfolds are $8 a piece or two for $15. The checkbook wallets are $10 a piece or two for $19. The items above have been sold. If one of these would fit your needs shoot me an email or put a comment on the blog. Shipping is not included in the price sorry!

Labor Day Weekend

Brought fabulous weather, lots of work completed, good food, family and fun.
Len, Kel and Julia were up or the weekend. Len helped David with the shed while Kelly and I played with Julia :) Since all the work was completed in one day we had a day to play and here are the pictures to prove it.

Who needs toys When you have items like post it notes to pull apart?
Her little legs aren't quite long enough to move herself on this little trike so daddy pushed her while she drug her feet across that hard blacktop!
Sitting by the campfire. Julia loves a good campfire Jan.....
Hummm what is daddy drinking? Oh daddy you just wait a few years. I will be the first to laugh out loud when you are pulling the hair out of your head wondering what to do....
Daddy's girl, in this shot anyway.
We did get out on the water as it was a great day. This was Julia's first boat ride and after getting over the uncomfortableness of that damned life preserver....it was so padded that I think she was afraid to move in it,
She finally relaxed and enjoyed her ride.
Yup that's my baby girl.
Grandma had to cut a nice big sunflower for her to play with. She loves flowers.
And sitting on her daddy's old trike in Grandma's garden.Oh and Peeko. Julia is Peeko's new best friend. She was holding a stick when Peeko decided she certainly must want to play with him. He took the stick out of her hand and ran with it. Julia crawled after him (yes across that rough black top time and time again) got the stick and then Peeko would chase her.
Dirty dirty dirty our little girl did get dirty.
Len and Kel shared this story with us and I think you all will find it entertaining as well. At 'school' (daycare) they are helping to teach Julia words. One of the words that they first worked on with her was cow. When they would say it to her they would of course pronunciate (is that a word Jan?) the heck out of it saying coooooowwwwwwwww. The next morning Len and Kel said the first thing that they heard coming out of Julia's room...before hearing her move around or anything was....'cooooooowwwwww'. It was like she opened her eyes and immediately said cow. I thought it was hilarious but of course she is my grand baby.

Pop was able to spend a few days with us as well coming up Sunday and leaving Tuesday. I was reminded of my childhood because I had to find him the Jerry Lewis telethon on TV. He and mom would watch that crazy thing from beginning to end and this was before the days of more than one TV in the house so I suffered through it as well. No wonder I was a party girl.
And later on as he was watching the Twins I looked over only to see his eyes closed. I was reminded of again when I was a kid...mom would take that opportunity to 'attempt' to change the channel only to have dad wake up saying...'Hey I was watching that-I was just resting my eyes!' I wanted to get a picture of him resting his eyes but I didn't want to interrupt the slumber.

Next week down to Nicollet we go to celebrate Julia and Kelly's birthdays.

A Day At The Park

Abigail's party was held at a park in Waseca much to Julia's enjoyment. I am sure that she spied the swings etc in this picture!Weeeeeeee. Here she is swinging away. Aint life grand.
Daddy helped her climb up the side of the jungle gym.
However she wold have preferred to go it alone. Independent little sole she is.....and it is really hard to say exactly which parent she got that trait from :)
And then down the slide. Get a load of that hair.
Crawling trough the tunnel.
And Grandma tried it too. Julia seemed to be a bit more agile than I.
When the fun was done and we came home I canned a batch of apple butter with apples picked from Len and Kel's tree.
Today we are anxiously waiting for Len, Kel and Julia to come for a few days. While Len and David will be buys working on the shed, Kel, Julia and I will have fun I am sure.

Family, Birthdays and Baptisim

My Uncle Roger turned 75 this month and Etta threw him a sort of surprise party. Roger knew that a few of us were going to help him celebrate but he had no clue how many of 'us' there were going to be.
I am betting that this was Roger's favorite card.
The Kastens crew. MaryEtta, Roger, my cousins Shelly and Sharon. Dan, Shelly's husband. Jessica and Jenna Sharon's girls. Krystin (in the blue shirt and beautiful curly hair) Shelly and Dan's girl (missing is Ryan their boy) and Erin who is my cousin Dean's daughter. Dean passed quite a few years back.
Happy Birthday Uncle Roger and many many more.

Ryan, Jen and Abigail flew in to Minnesota to spend time with family and celebrate Abigail's first birthday as well as have her baptised. Ry came straight from the airport to the northland and Jen and Abs headed to Waseca to prepare for the upcoming events. It was nice to have Ry here as he hasn't been since we first purchased the property. He and David got out on the lakes (no fish were boated), we yapped a lot, took a walk or two and just enjoyed his company.
David and I took Ry and the dogs for a walk to the Butterfly Gardens and Bog walk near Longville. The wild raspberries were still ripe much to Ryan's enjoyment.
Father and Son enjoying each other's company.Ryan's time with us was much too short. He and Jen are hoping to spend more time next year.

Baptism
Ryan, Abigail and Jen and her Godparents Rachel and Jen's brother...oh Jen I forgot your brother's name!
Parents, grandparents and great grandparents.
Rachel, Melvin, Dezbah and Abigail
The two littlest cousins meeting for the first time. Abigail was born September 5th and Julia on the 23rd.Abigail's first birthday cake. This young lady did it up right smearing frosting just as one should on their very first birthday.

Jen opening Abbey's many presents. Enjoy it Jen as I bet Abs will be opening her own come...well Christmas perhaps.
While down south we again stayed at the Leonard campground. This was the sunrise on the morning that we had to leave for home.