Grant

Just another pretty baby picture of Grant.  Thanks Nancy.  We hope to see him this Saturday!

Halloween idea?!

I think this may be the cutest Halloween costume I have ever seen.  It looks like tights, kitchen gloves, a white feather boa, white cap with red crown.    Absolutely adorable!  Found this on a blog out there in webland somewhere.

Hummingbirds

I have been keeping my eyes peeled for a hummingbird but haven't seen one in the last 3-4 weeks.  Usually they stay til the end of September but they left in early Sept this year.  I wonder if that means anything about our fall or coming winter...I hope not.  The last hummingbird I saw was at the kitchen window.  It was a female and she was VERY plump so I thought it was evident they were getting ready for the big migration.  Little did I know it would be so soon.  These little birds signal spring and the true end of summer for me.  Have a good winter in Costa Rica little guys!

Life is Good!

A perfect sunny fall evening...glass of wine...decorating magazine in my Sky Chair...it doesn't get much better than this!!!

Frogs in Mom's Pond

Afternoon in Cyrus

Chopping corn for silage. That's Dad on the tractor.

Mom's fresh French bread-very tasty!!!  

She sent us home with a loaf!

Mom's canning.

Water Hyacinth

Water Lily

Cute idea

Here's a cute idea I found on the web, embellishing old blocks, aren't they cute?  It would be a good way to use up pretty scrapbook paper and odds and ends of stickers.  I don't happen to have any blocks at the moment but will keep my eyes open.  Pictures from old school books would work great here too.

I got up early this morning.  The lake is fairly calm so we are going to take the boat in as soon as Dan is ready.  It sounds like they need help at the old Bargain Bazaar so after that I will volunteer for a couple of hours and later in the afternoon we are bringing the jet ski to Mom and Dad's for winter storage.   Wednesday evening was absolutely beautiful so I took the kayak out for about an hour.  I need to do that more often-it's so peaceful.

We have 4 weeks of school under our belt and things are settling into a very nice routine.   I can actually get out at a decent time and feel like there is a life outside of school again.  We have a new math program that is web based and it works great with my digital projector in my classroom, the kids really pay attention!  You can post assignments for kids to do at home online or just share their learning with parents.  Most of my students have home computers or can use our public library computers.  Big changes in education!  Have a good weekend.

Belated Bday wishes to Jimmer!

I'm a day late and even though I'm not doing birthday posts this year...Happy Birthday Jim!!!  We think of you every day and we can't wait for the day that my blog reads 0 months til Jimmer returns from Iraq!   Hope you were able to do something fun on your special day like watch the Twins.  It's the 9th inning as I'm writing this on Thursday and a very exciting game.  Dan happens to be there for a Wells Fargo group outing-lucky dog.  He'll be home fairly late or early this morning I guess.  Good night and stay safe!!

Happy Autumn!

It's my favorite season.  Let's cross our fingers for warm days and cool nights and lots of gorgeous color.  Here's to little brown acorns, crisp apples, simmering soups, fall bike rides, birds back at the feeders, football,  red sedum, bazaars, pumpkins, gourds & bittersweet!

New homes down the road

This is the new house that is going up on the lot that was next to Elmer and Jeanne's cabin.  It was always an empty lot because of all the water that remained whenever it rained.  It's usually full of water.  The lot sold two times in the last five years and two residences are just going up on this swampy lot.  So they cut out a ton of trees and got this house going.  
Here's what the lot usually looks like, full of water.  There's more water to the right but the big dirt pile blocks it.  You can see Elmer and Jeanne's old boathouse to the left of this photo.
Here's the location for the second house on the same property just 50 yards or so from the top house, trees removed, half the hill dug out and now they have discovered they can't get the  footings in properly!  This picture makes me very sad because I have the feeling it may stay this way for a long time.  I hope I'm wrong.

Creamy Apple Dip

8 ounces of cream cheese

1/2 cup sour cream

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup ground dry roasted peanuts

1 tsp vanilla

Mix together until smooth.  Add milk or cream for desired consistency.

This was in the paper recently and I think it looks delicious.  The photo is from the web as I have yet to try it.  I usually just do caramel dip but plan to make this soon.

Welcome to the world little Grant!!!!

Lynn and Royce  & Gracie welcome little Grant DeWayne Larson to the world this morning at 7:30 am.  7 pounds- 20 inches long.  He is so beautiful...I can't wait to see him in person.  Congratulations Lynn & Royce!!!!!

A Nice Story

I have a little girl in my classroom whose dad will be deployed to Iraq this week.  This is his second tour in 5 years.  This little girl has 2 younger sisters and her mom was pregnant with baby #4.  Dad has been gone since July and was home for 4 days over the weekend until today before he left for Iraq.  Her mom went into labor yesterday without being induced or anything and had the baby while dad was home!   He had to leave today and returns to Mn next July.  They had an 8 lb  baby girl.  Their second daughter was born while dad was in Iraq the first time.  I'm glad that he was able to be there for this birth.  They're a super nice family.

Pretty photo's

Fall Flowers/Birch

Before all the rain this weekend, I cut some fall flowers and decided to put them in a birch sleeve that I found in the woods behind Royce and Lynn's house.   Originally, I thought it would be a nice candle wrap but like this idea better since it won't catch on fire!  So, after I did this little project, guess what I see in Pottery Barn....birch sleeves selling for $12 & $18!  I plan to use them all winter and think they will look pretty with Christmas decor.   In case you are wondering there is a vase hidden inside the birch sleeve.
I have to keep the arrangement in the bathroom as I'm afraid the cats will knock it over. Here's a close-up, all the flowers are real except for one big fake white mum. The rest of the flowers consist of autumn joy sedum (which is now turning a lovely red) hosta flowers and leaves, hydrangea, wild purple and yellow flowers and one leftover orange mum from a farmers market bouquet that Dan brought home a couple of weeks ago. 

I plant to make another fall bouquet totally out of dried and silks so that I can have it out on the table and put it in another birch wrap.  I love the birch and need to ask Royce to keep an eye out for more of them.  I'm sure he has nothing better to do. :) Baby #2 is due any day!!

Last Jet Ski ride in 2008?

Well, there's a very good chance it was the last, but we made it a good one.  I had Courtney in the back going "Can you do some circles?" Then there's Kelsey in the front saying,"When we go in, can we go back out again? Can you go faster? Can we stay out for a really long ride?"  So we stayed out for a really long time and didn't go back until Kelsey said she was getting cold.  You can see she is the only one who didn't have long sleeves on.  We didn't get wet so that helped.  I told Eric that those girls are a bad influence on the jet ski!!  Jen snapped this photo and I was happy to see it on her blog so I could steal it for mine.  Thanks Jen.

Courtney's Birthday

Courtney, Kelsey and the butterfly cake.  Jen made this cake I believe.

We celebrated Courtney's 8th birthday at the cabin on Saturday.  You can see by the following photo's who was present.  It was a cool day but very calm so we were able to have some fun on the lake even if we had to bundle up.  Dan filled up the boat with riders and Kelsey, Courtney and I went out for a nice long jet ski ride.  We ended the evening with a lovely bonfire.  It sure felt like fall.

Monkey see, monkey do!

Sarah is sporting her new earrings that she got last week at the Bargain Bazaar.  They might look heavy but they're super light.  Darlene, Sarah, Jen and the girls visited the BB this Sat too and found a few goodies.  Courtney found a beach cover up, fuzzy leopard slippers that she is sharing with Kelsey and Sarah found a cute skirt and some very fun red plaid pants.  The BB will be moving in a few weeks.  The new store is looking great!!  Wish I had more time to help now.
Warren and Dan try to evade the bees. Don't they look cute?!  Does it seem that we spend the entire summer avoiding insects?  Biting flies, mosquitos, and now the pesky bees.  They cleared out later in the afternoon when the wind picked up a big.

Courtney's is 8!

Funny girls!

Courtney's Bday 2

A cool calm day for reading and visiting.

Fun with volleyball and badminton

Keeping cozy

The Grillmiester 

A friendly political discussion...

Feed me!

I took this picture from Sarah's blog.  Her pictures are so beautiful.  Venture over there if you haven't checked her out in awhile.  Love the photo of her parents in the sunset and the sailboat.  That sailboat may end up as a header on my blog one of these days.

Mr. Toad

He's about the size of my thumb.  He's as cute as can be and because of him I learned how to use the close-up feature on my camera.  He hangs out on the edge of our kitchen window just above the flower box.  I think he eats the insects that come to the window attracted by the light at night.  He appears to be well fed.  I took this photo last Monday and checked just a few minutes ago tonight (Thursday) and he's in the same spot.  I think he's smiling in the top picture.  I wonder where he'll hibernate this winter.  I'm growing fond of him.

Big Kitty Reigns

She continues to find the highest of places to perch.