Thirty years ago....

Happy Birthday Adam! It's hard to believe that you are a grown man with a family and career. May God richly bless you today!

Keeping a sense of humor...

It's important in Minnesota to keep a sense of humor - and not get tooo crabby over the sudden weather changes... Last week felt like spring; lawns were raked, new spring flower flags were hung, gardens were rototilled...

tulips grew taller with the promise of pretty blooms...

and even the grass turned nice and green!

So, what happened after that? 15 inches of snow!

(but we missed the big storm since we were in Minneapolis!)

Someone's getting tired...

Opps! Something doesn't look right here... hubby rehung the shelf for me but..

He must have not noticed the heart shape is upside down - or that in order to hang things on pegs, you would need them below the shelf, not above it!

Making progress..

This may not look like progress to you but it is too me! The walls are painted and the french doors will be installed to the river room next.

The airlock (entry) has a new look...

Another look at the color. It's called "cayenne".

Good bye slider...

Another change in the mix.... no more "step over" the threshold...

Dining room paint color

Here is a look at the dining room wall painted. The lower color is the present color of the foyer and will go up the wall here by the staircase (which is not painted in this picture). It will also be the color of the entire living room.

Maybe you can tell more from this picture. It's hard to capture colors in a picture sometimes.

Picture frame update

I have this very nice picture frame, perfect for seven. So, since I have, presently, seven grandchildren, I try to keep their updated photos in it. Here is the newly updated pictures in the frame. (I just got new pictures of Timothy, Luke, Hannah and Josiah and also a new one of Sean Patrick. The ones of Brooklyn and Preston are fairly recent as well.)

HOWEVER, come the end of June, I will have to find an eight-opening picture frame when John & Sara's little one arrives! I can't wait!

(I took this photograph outside to try to avoid reflection but as you can see there since is some reflection. Sorry!)

Wallwik wonder!

Okay, just in case you need a great product - here is one that works exactly as stated! It's called "wallwik" and is wonderful removing wallpaper. I should have started with it but at least I had it for the big living room project. It is a series of 6 sheets of fabric that are soaked in a solution. You then lay the wet fabric on the wallpaper - it stays there just fine. Keep it moist (spray bottle) during the 20 minutes it is on the wall.

I'm smoothing it down.

This is a close-up of what it looks like.

Take the fabric layer off and put it back in the solution to use again. (you can re-use them again and again.)

And then pull of the wallpaper! Believe me, without this product, I would have been working that wallpaper off in teeny little shreds, piece by miserable piece.

This product is amazing! And I'm ALL DONE removing wallpaper! Yippee!

More channels, more TV, more channel surfing..

Did I mention that just recently we upgraded to digital television - our provider just put in a fiber-optic cable to our neighborhood and offered it. More channels! Tons more! Great picture too, by the way.

Wally spends his evenings watching RFD-TV - the "farm" channel. Lots of cattle auctions. Lots of horses.

I have found my channel - HGTV - the "Home and Garden Network" - oh, so much fun. House hunting, decorating tips, re-decorating tips, landscaping, etc. etc.

Good thing we have two streams of digital television coming into our house. One for the guy, one for the girl.

:)

Too much HGTV?

Help, I can't stop!!

Dining room....

A few cute pictures..

I took this cute picture of Preston on Sunday - the sunlight just adds so much, doesn't it?

I like his expression. So sweet.

Touchdown!

This would be the end of the HIT basketball weekend - I think the sons were a bit tired!

We had to get a picture of the girls as well.

Grandma! You again? What's up with that camera in my face?

Tile project photos

I know a few of you have asked how the finished tile project turned out. Here are a few pictures to show you.

The tile also goes into the powder room and into the mudroom. I didn't post a picture of the mudroom but it looks much the same as this.

This pattern, in the center of the foyer, was designed by Wally, who laid all the tile. It looks great.

No turning back...

No turning back from this job now! I have been thinking about removing this stripped wallpaper for a few years but it is not a fun project... however, when it dawned on me that it has been on this wall for more then 20 years... and then I remembered that I had ALSO had the same pattern on the wall in our home in Canada.... well, it just might be time to sadly say goodbye to it. I always loved it but it's time, it's time. Not to mention that Wally's 50th class reunion is soon to enjoy some fellowship at our home like they did in 2003, 1998,1993 and 1988 - and each picture of his class at our home has this wallpaper in the background!

Visiting grandchildren!

Wally and I had fun in Wisconsin visiting our 4 grandchildren there - we were celebrating 3 of their birthdays. It is such fun to see how they change as they grow up! Here is Josiah showing off how big he is getting!

Josiah is now SEVEN MONTHS.

Hannah loved her new dolly and dolly stroller from us. She is such a little mother! Don't you just love all this PINK???

Hannah is now TWO.

Luke was showing his athletic ability - and Adam was showing off his strength. :)

Luke is now THREE.

I'm not sure what Timothy and grandpa were doing here - just what were they up to? You can see the new tent we bought the boys - along with cute sleeping bags that they slept in both nights we were there. (not in the tent.)

Timothy is now FIVE!

I just love love love reading children's books to my grandchildren. Happily, they like it too!

Grandma is now SIXTY!

Yes, spring is really coming!!

Yes, it's true - spring does exist and we expect it will eventually arrive in Minnesota! Here we are in Branson enjoying blossoms, sunshine and outdoor walks! (Meanwhile, it was snowing in Minnesota... we sure timed that right!!)

This is a view of the trees in blossom - and the building our condo was in. It was a very nice place. There were quite a few buildings just like ours on the property.

This picture is specifically for my brother John! Here I am in front of the RFD TV building. There were just opening that day and starting to assemble their collection of old tractors. We came back in the evening to attend a concert by country singer Penny Gilley - we had front row seats right on the aisle and when she came off the stage to shake hands she came right to us to shake our hands. If only my brother John had been with us at that time!!

Vacation again

Hi folks, Candis is on vacation for a week. We're going to Branson so it will be quiet here for a while. See ya when we get back! Happy Easter.

Happy Sean Patrick Day!

Today we celebrate our Irish grandbaby Sean Patrick - it's good to branch out from our Scandinanvian roots, eh? Actually, today Sean Patrick is 3 months and since it is also St. Patrick's day, I thought he could headline this post. Isn't he growing? And check out his cousin next...

Here is Josiah at 6 1/2 months! He is a delightful baby; contented and smiling most of the time. What a honey!

Sean is catching up on Josiah - here is the latest comparison picture. Now compare it to the end of December in the next picture...

Big difference as Sean Patrick was only a few weeks old and Josiah was 3 months. This time next year they will be great little buddies and probably quite close in size.

The birthday girl

Today is Meghan's birthday! We had dinner at our home along with Meghan's Mom, Dad, sister Julia, brother Patrick and her Aunt, Uncle and 3 cousins. It was great fun! Julia and Brooklyn had the big task of putting ALL those candles on the cake!

And Brooklyn & Preston helped mommy blow out her candles. (That's Meghan's brother Patrick holding Preston.)

I couldn't resist showing a picture of the checkerboard cake that I made. It was such fun to take out that first piece and have it both chocolate and vanilla! I told Brooklyn & Julia that I just couldn't remember what kind of cake I baked - was it chocolate or was it vanilla?? They were guessing, but they didn't guess checkerboard! I have a checkerboard cake pan set; it is sort of a messy thing to make; and I have to admit, though I was pleased with how the cake looked, the cake itself (from scratch, mind you!) was way too dry. Bummer. But the icing was delicious! yum ! And a good scoop of vanilla ice cream offset the dry cake... hopefully... At any rate, Happy Birthday, Meghan!

Seven happy grandkids...

Okay, okay, here's a reality check... not ALL of my picture-taking efforts are welcomed by the grandkiddies... but I did think the opportunity to get a picture of Wally and me with the seven grandkiddies would be a good idea. They didn't necessarily agree, however.

Ah, such happy, smiling grandchildren. I actually love this picture. It totally makes me crack up each time I see it!

Ah yes, this is better. But not as funny, right?