Happy ChristmaSteve!

When we got married I pictured our first Christmas together to be full of NEW traditions since I wouldn't be home with my family. I was looking forward to starting new traditions with my husband that were so WONDERFUL that we would actually make them a tradition. You know, watching Christmas movies, backing cookies and making gingerbread houses, sitting by the fire, and drinking perfect hot cocoa.

Well, I guess last year's traditions weren't so wonderful because I can't really remember what we did! All I remember is waking up the morning of Christmas Eve meaning to tell Steve "Merry Christmas Eve." At 5AM it came out, "Happy ChristmaSteve."

So, there's our wonderful tradition.

Today, we will visit family and friends, and tell them, "Happy ChristmaSteve!"

That's What Friends (or the mothers of friends) are For

Thursday, I got a package in the mail...a little package...that made me very happy!

Thank you, Pammy. :) I will have to make sure baby Rausch gets a colts burp rag thanks to you. :) (uh, it will be a "fancy" burp rag...you know, for "show"...no Indy baby would really spit up on the Colts)

Pumpkin Carving

Our garden gave us a LOT of gourds and pumpkins. We have about 10 in our front yard. Steve has been dying to carve them for a while, but we haven't found the time. Last night, we started the carving before it was too late.

Steve gets pretty serious about the carving. Triangle eyes and a half moon mouth just won't do in our house.

The first is a wildcat, our school mascot. It is now in my classroom scaring the first graders.

Then there's the cyclops. Everyone needs a cyclops pumpkin, right?

Apparently, everyone HAS to carve a pumpkin each fall so I had to carve something. I decided on a more girly pumpkin with a W and spirals....created by a drill!

3 down...7 more to go....

I would have never thought...

...I would have a giant dog.

(who now weighs 108 lbs.)

...I would have a garden full of pumpkins and gourds.

(notice the recently painted doors)

...I would live in the country...with trees galore.

(thank goodness for leaf blowers)

...I would have TIME to write a post while teaching first grade!

It's amazing! I have time and energy to blog. Teaching first grade is great, but my (naughty) class wears me out. I must say, it's getting MUCH easier, and now that I have been away for 4 days, I kind of miss the little boogers.

My school closed for 3 days because of the swine flu. Around here, pretty much 1/2 of the people you know have it or have had it. Luckily, Steve and I have not been sick...yet so I am just enjoying the time off. It really makes me miss summer.

As I said, first grade is going well. Conferences are soon. I dread the long hours, but I am looking forward to sharing successes with some parents and having some pretty serious, much needed, talks with others.

Last weekend we had a wedding in Indy for one of Steve's fraternity brothers and then a shower for Karla. I hope Karla posts her pictures (or Pammy's) because I forgot my camera.

Here are some more pics of Moose. I don't think he'll ever be one of those GIANT danes....but he sure does seem giant to me.

(haha....good thing he's still scared of me..well, a little scared)

(he's certainly taller than me)

(Moose thinks it's great that we put all of these new balls in the yard for him to play with.)

*This post is for Pammy! Thanks for pushing me to blog. :)

Why I Haven't Blogged in Four Weeks

1. Summer is over...
2. ...I am back to work.
3. I am now teaching FIRST GRADE.
4. I'm too tired. (Why? See #3)
5. I'd rather read what other people wrote on their blogs.
6. I haven't stepped foot in my craft room since school started.

All excuses aside...life is great...and one day I will get back to blogging. Until then, wish me luck in first grade (I am going to need it) and enjoy other people's blogs. :)

New Creations

Here's some new stuff I made one day while Steve was killing bees.

Veggies

This year, we helped Steve's mom in her garden. I guess you could say it's "our garden," but, let's face it, she does MOST of the work.

We have so many vegetables in our garden including TONS of tomatoes....check out the big one above!

Sooo, I have frozen about 20 bags each of broccoli and green beans. I have also frozen peppers and snow peas as well as homemade salsa and tomato sauce.

We also picked blueberries and strawberries and bought a bunch of peaches to freeze.
We have even dried a bunch of tomatoes in the dehydrator to make "sun-dried" tomatoes. They are awesome!

My freezer is packed! I am a little more excited for winter knowing that I will have all of this great (and free) stuff in my freezer.

Fun With Moose

Moose has learned that when the tv turns off, it's time for him to go to his crate so he hides.

It's not easy for him to hide. See his tail and a paw?

When I see this I think, Maybe he could sleep here all night instead of being in his crate. Nahh, I am not going to risk it. He's bigger than me! He could eat my house!

Why did the turkey cross the road?

I don't know, but I sure wish they would stop. They seem to know when you are in a hurry and take their time crossing.

What's buzzing in my craft room?

Bees! Not bee printed fabric or cute little glass bead bees....real bees!

A week or so ago Steve noticed some bees had made our house their home...on the outside by a hose. When he patched up the hole, they invited their little buzzing selves in! Right into my craft room!

Sometimes, there are as many as 30 buzzing around the window. We quickly spray/swat/vacuum them up, but they keep coming back. I'm pretty sure we have killed hundreds of bees by now.


Recently, Steve tore all of the old "seal" out and sealed the window again.
We thought that was the trick! Nope! They came right back the following day. Now, Steve's plan is to just keep vacuuming. Will it ever end? I sure hope so, but until then, I am taking a break from crafting.

First Grade!

I found out yesterday that I will be teaching first grade this year! I'm really excited...and a bit nervous. First grade is a big jump from fourth grade. Wish me luck.

Craft Room Creations

Last week, I tackled my first two bags.

The first one is very simple. I'm not sure what I will use it for, but I am sure I will find some purpose.

My second is much better. I even made pockets for the inside! I think it will be my school bag.

Last Friday, I went to Frankenmuth with Steve's mom and grandma. I picked up some more fabric and beads. I can't wait to use them!

Another Project

It seems like we have one project after another in our new (to us) house. When we moved in, we had an oven, but no stove. We purchased the stainless/black one below, but kept the built-in (and never used it) because we needed the microwave. Well, a couple of weeks ago the microwave (that never kept time) finally bit the dust. That was good and bad. Good...we can finally do something with the ugly built-ins because we have no use for them. Bad...another project!

Saturday morning it was raining cats and dogs so we decided it would be a good day to tackle this project. First, we had to take the ugly built ins out.

Then, Steve sanded, painted, and made shelves for the hole.

Now, all I have to do is find a great stainless/black microwave to replace the bright white cheapo.

Now, I am just asking myself, Why didn't we do this earlier?

Finally!

Yesterday was the first day of summer in Michigan if you ask me. All summer it has been a springy 78 degrees...tops. I can't complain too much because we haven't even had to turn our AC on. Saturday night we finally turned it on because the temp was supposed to reach 92. Yes!

Moose got to have his first popsicle....

immediately followed by his second popsicle. Hey! He's a big dog!

Dear Grandma,

Please send more toys. Today is a very rainy day and I am so bored because I have to stay inside. I have NOTHING to play with!

Love,

Moose

P.S.-Could you PLEASE tell that Woodz guy to stop bugging me. I am trying to sleep.

Straight From the New Craft Room

A baby gift for baby Harlan (due any minute)

Containing:

A bib made with Steve's old jeans and backed with a cloth diaper. This was my first pearl snap. I just love it!

And some burp rags made from the rest of the diapers.

I also made a doll for another new baby. She still needs a face, but I am too scared to mess it up.

Handy Hubby...Part 2

What will he think of next? Well, I thought of it this time.

You might remember my craft room from previous posts. It looked more like a tiny room with a couch and a closet full of craft supplies.

Not anymore! We moved my craft room down to the basement where there was a finished room full of Steve's hunting stuff. Well, the hunting stuff was moved to the closet and garage to make room for this crafting wonderland.

If you look real close you can see animal figurines on the top shelf toward the right. That's what's left of the hunting room. Steve says it adds a much needed manly touch to the room.

The best thing is, this room was pretty inexpensive to create since Steve used a lot of scrap wood and did it all himself. The table top is an old bowling alley. :)

I also have a radio and tv down there, and Moose loves to sleep under the table. It doesn't get much better than that. :)

Handy Hubby

While getting his masters at University of Illinois, my darling, beer loving husband managed to go to the bar every week to try a new beer and get a new glass. Isn't that what every masters student does?

Actually, the glasses are pretty neat, and they look great in our tv/game/shuffleboard room. Especially since they are on the custom shelf my handy hubby made.

What will he think of next?

Moose Turned One!

Moose turned one at the end of last month. I don't think he realizes that because he still acts like a puppy. According to the great dane growth chart, Danes still gain 30 pounds after they turn one. Whew!

For his birthday, Moose got a banana waffle with peanut butter for breakfast and a cool collar.

When we got Moose, I wanted him to have a red collar. He did...until he grew out of the "small" collar. That didn't take long.

Steve always wanted him to have a leather collar. Now that we know he's not going to grow too much more, we got him the fancy leather collar with his name/address/phone number on it.

I don't mind it, but I like the red one best. The leather one makes him look mean. Steve says he just looks "tough."

Here is what Moose has done all summer long. Doesn't he look mean? Tough?

Update

I put "blog" on my to-do list today to make sure I did it. Actually, it was on there yesterday, but I just crossed it off. I have tons of random pictures to share so get ready. Really, we have been pretty busy with fun "summer" stuff, but I rarely take pictures.

Last month, we took Moose down to the river for his first summer visit to KY. He LOVES rides. Steve doesn't let him in the truck unless it's absolutely necessary. If he is allowed, I have to cover the truck in sheets. Moose doesn't mind. He actually likes looking like he's going into surgery.

We also went tubing.

I miss the river so much. Somehow, Steve and I persuaded each other that we NEEDed a kayak. After finding a great sale, we purchased one. A friend of ours has another that we borrow nearly every weekend. Luckily, there are a lot of "rivers" (they are pretty small, if you ask me) and lakes here to kayak on. During our first adventure, we saw blue herron, sandhill cranes, turtles, minnows, a snake, ducks, swans, swanlings (?), and a dead deer (ew). We bought the cheapo without a padded seat, so I made a pad for it. I haven't tried it out yet, but I am sure it's better than the towel I had been using.

Last week while my mom , aunt, Betsy, Owen, and Karla were here we looked out the kitchen window to see 13 turkeys! They were fun to watch. Steve was at work so I had to take this picture to prove it to him.

I'm trying out the "post options" to see if I can create more posts for the future without having to put "blog" on my to-do list every day. Check back tomorrow to see if it works. :)