October.....

October is here and I just want to knowWHERE did the summer go??  It flew by way to quickly!  I certainly didn't get all the outside projects done that I had good intentions of doing!

I have once again been on the road a lot lately!  We had a fall family gathering deep in Southern Illinois at my sister's place!  I was determined if at all possible I would get my mother there..  Mom has been in a Nursing Home since last fall and had not been out yet.  My mother was the best mom there could ever had been, she had five children, all of my mother's life the love of God, her husband and her family which she absolutely adored is all that ever mattered to her.  So how could we possibly have a family gathering and she not attend?  I didn't think I could live with myself if I didn't try and I had some rough days trying to decide what to do, but through much prayer and tears I knew it was the right thing to do!  If something had happened while we were there that caused her life to end, she would of at least have died being happy, and besides a wise man (Gary) always said "It is never wrong to do the right thing"!

My Mom was a stay at home Mom, I always knew where my she was.... she was either cleaning, cooking or sewing and caring for her family in some way!  No matter where we lived my mother had the knack of decorating and making our home look nice!  There were always cookies in the cookie jar after school and a bountiful meal awaiting us for supper!

We went to the Nursing Home on Friday evening and visited with her for a couple of hours, she always loves looking at pictures on my IPAD and is always curious about it!  I did take Mom to the family outing and Mark and I were able to get her in and out of my car without much trouble at all  God is Good!... Mom was so happy, on the way to my sisters both of my girls talked to her on the speaker phone and she just kept telling them how beautiful it was outside.  Mom so enjoyed the day and seeing all five of her children and their spouses, and a few grandchildren that were able to make it!  So what if she didn't remember the next day, oh what joy she had for the afternoon!  I hope to be able to start getting her out even if just for a ride in the country when I go down to see her!

Back row Shanda & John, Me (yes I look a little windblown)  Jim, Pat & Dave
Front row:  Jean & Dennis, Mom, Mark, Donna

My favorite picture is of my sweet niece Kim holding Mom's hand!

We drove seven hours down on Friday and came back home on Saturday evening!  Then on Monday morning I headed to Spencer, IA to help out at Mike and Jill's house!  They have a 4 1/2 year old and a new baby and what new mother can't use some help?  I enjoyed being there and getting to love on Caitlyn and Christian!  Poor Christian is confused as to what to call me!  So I pretty much answer to anything!  Aunt Nana, Grandma Nancy, Grandma Nana!  One day a while back when he was visiting at our house he said "Aunt Nancy you married my Grandpa didn't you?"  I still laugh at that one!  I took my Cricut machine with me and cut out some letters for the kids rooms, do you think I remembered to take pictures? Of course not!  Maybe next time I will remember!

I have a lot of stuff to catch up on this week!

Hope you are enjoying the awesome colors that are all around!!

Nancy

Fall is Here!

It seems like it was just summer yesterday!  It was, wasn't it?  I do love the FALL, I love the briskness of the cool evening air!   I love a wiener roast, apple cider, Pumpkins and yes that includes Pumpkin Pie!  Of course my favorite is the colors of the leaves as they turn!  I actually love something about each of the seasons!  I always think of God as the Great Artist, Wonderful Creator of all the beauty around us in each of the seasons.  BUT the FALL is my favorite of all!  Don't get me wrong, I love how in the Spring everything comes back to life, and how in the Summer the flowers are so beautiful, and then of course the FALL, and you know what follows FALL?  Winter and I love a good snow storm!  Call me crazy I can handle it!  Maybe part of the reason I love the FALL is Gary and I were married in October!  So each FALL we had something to celebrate!  I still love the FALL and the wonderful memories I have!

I stayed home today, I cleaned the downstairs pretty good, got out my fall decorations, spruced things up a bit.  I have been gone so much, I have been trying to get caught up on the laundry today!  I was gone last week to play "Super Nana" to three of my grandchildren while their parents were gone!  I so enjoyed my time with them!!  Nope, don't even have a picture of that to post!  I was toooooo busy!  One of the things I like to do for my kids is if I am at their house for whatever reason, I like to give them a hand at doing something! Whether it be just doing the dishes, or doing some laundry...  it is just something I like to do.  Who wouldn't like to come home to everything done up!  (I sure do!)   

Mark and I started a project a few weeks back!  We (I) found the plans on Knock off Woods for a Kitchen Island,  now mind you I didn't exactly have a large space in which to put one so we cut the pattern down the dimension are 36 inches long X 18 inches wide and counter top height and the two of us got busy and made it!  I just now got around to taking some pictures of the finished product!  I also took some pictures of my fall decorations I put out today!  So If you are bored with pictures sorry!  

I hope you all are enjoying this beautiful FALL weather too!

Nancy

Yes, I need to put a candle in this!

Welcome Little One!

All Life is precious but there is just something so very special about a new baby...  This week we had a new life added to our ever growing family!  Caitlyn Grace was born to Mark's oldest son Michael and his wife Jill!  We drove up the day she was born... Jill had a C-Section scheduled for Friday but as you can see this baby had a mind of her own and arrived a couple of days early weighing in at 7 pounds and 8 ounces.  This is Mark's second grandchild but first granddaughter!  To say the least he is quite proud of this little beauty.  She went a couple of days without a name so we are just learning to say her name!  

So bare with me as I once again show off a precious grandchild!  While she is not mine biologically I am still proud of her and will love her just like the rest of them!  It is hard when a new life is born not to think of our loved ones that are not here!  I have with each of my grandchildren that have been born gotten teary knowing just how proud their Papa Gary would of been so as I looked at little Caitlyn and I couldn't help but think how proud her Grandma Robbin would be having her very first granddaughter so I felt quite guilty even having my picture taken with her....  ( sorry it is so hard to explain, guess you would have to be me to understand!)

She certainly is a precious gift from God!

Caitlyn's is our 8th grandchild together.  Number 9 will be here in January!

Without further ado here is little Miss Caitlyn Grace!

To give credit where credit is due the music on the video is Eva Cassidy singing What a Wonderful World and the the pictures are mine!

One of my favorite pictures is with the hands of four generations and how she is grabbing her great grandmother's finger!  How very precious is that?  Girls have not happened very often in this family line... I believe Megan (Mark's daughter) was the first girl in 5 generations!

Hope you enjoy the video!

Nancy

Thursday is here.....

I was really trying to be better about blogging, ummm maybe next week I will have more to post! :)  

Finally the new roof is on the apartment!  We had to take out the sunlights in the back entry :~( due too leaking....  the front entry roof was also redone!  Now maybe I can do some landscaping especially since it is getting a little cooler!

Mark and I are working on a little construction project I will soon be posting about....

Had some visitors here yesterday!  Bill and Cindy Kemna came to visit and it was so nice to see them!  

I have not started an Etsy Shop yet have decided not to launch it until after Spoon River!  Jala and I have been planning for some time to have a booth there at the "Barn"  so I have been saving my crafting stuff for Spoon!

Here is a glimpse of some of the headbands I have done for "Spoon".....

Just put another shelf for some egg baskets full of yarn....  Amber if you are reading this I have one for you!

LOVE IT when this room is CLEAN!!!

SERIOUSLY someone has a BAG PROBLEM!!!!!

Hope this finds your week going great!  

Once again a Labor Day that I will not make it to the festivities in Palestine.... NEXT YEAR it is on the AGENDA!!!   

Hope you have an awesome fun filled, safe.... Labor Day Weekend!!

Nancy

Excuses, Excuses

Excuses?  You want them I have them!  

Where have I been?  What have I been doing?  Well last week was the week of guests here at this old house and we love having guests, hint hint!  All of Mark's kids were here at some point last week, no special occasion, a college break for three in Grad School, and a business trip for another!  So lots of cooking and visiting was done throughout the week...  

If you have followed me for long you have followed all the house remodeling... well we still are not FINISHED!   

We still need to: 

Finish the stairway

The Stairs come down into the Kitchen and into the Front Room, We just need the time to get this project completed!  Really just a couple of days should take care of this project!

Then there is the woodwork (picture below) that needs finished AND the radiators that need painted and put back together!   The radiators should be a quick project and the woodwork well, we need to hire someone to just come and do that Mark is a perfectionist and it would take forever!  SOON!  I am being really patient  trying to be patient!  I am so not a patient person when it comes to projects around the house!!!

This past year we have worked so hard trying to get this all completed.... and have come so far!  We really don't have that much more to do on the two main levels of the house!

The BASEMENT is on my list... We have really gotten all the big items out of there and now just need to spend a weekend cleaning it up and organizing it better!

The THIRD FLOOR is another project... to start with Mark and I just have STUFF we need to go through and get rid of !  We may actually need another dumpster for that project!  Megan went through a ton of stuff when she was home and took a car load to the Goodwill!  We just need to DO IT!  If we ever decide to move from this place it will be a nightmare with everything we have up there!

The ROOM IN BETWEEN (between the apartment and the house) we need to gut the pantry and REDO that whole room which is out there!  BUT we also need to get the flooring all pulled up so we can lay the new flooring and paint the room!

OK, So we still have a lot to do... when I get discouraged I just sit back and admire everything we have already done!

I had been planning to head to Jala's this morning but it was storming so bad I didn't want to leave!  Ahh the sun is actually shining right this second!

Since it has been a rainy day here (the power was off for several hours this morning) and I am home for a change which is kind of nice, I should really tackle a project!  Sounds good doesn't it?  

Think I will play in my craft room today instead.  If I do anything remotely exciting (make something cool) I will post it!

Have a Terrific Tuesday!

Nancy  

Catching Up!

We rely on technology and when it fails us, we are lost!  Or at least I am!  My computer is still sick in the Computer Hospital with little hope of restoration unless I can come up with the original disks that came with it.... hmmmmm I have moved and there is a lot of water under the bridge since that purchase.  So I went out and bought a new one, and at the moment I think it is a good fit!  See Dude in the chair in front of it?  How dare he think he might use my computer!!

Last week I visited in Robinson with Amber and her family!  There is simply never enough time!   The little ones are never ready for me to leave!  We celebrated Amber's birthday while I was there and it certainly doesn't seem possible that Abigail is off to Kindergarden at the end of this week!

 We also drove to Southern Illinois to see my mother in the Nursing Home and you can imagine how thrilled she was to see all of these faces!!!  Makes me sad that I cannot see her more!

Mom and I

Sick Computer

So sorry for the absense of posting on this blog.... my computer was attacked with worms, viruses and trojans.  It is still in the hands of the "Geek Squad"!  While initially they told me it would be finished in 48 hours it has now been 12 days!  For the money I gave them up front, "oh yes, they convinced me I needed a 2 year service plan which included a 2 year virus protection" and then an addtitional external drive for all of my pictures.  The latter I knew I needed to get!  My virus protection was not up to snuff which resulted in the attack on my computer!  So as soon as I get my computer back I will resume blogging as usual!

Nancy