Busy as usual

Glad to hear everyone so far had a good Christmas. Rocky and I really enjoyed our time down in Memphis and was sad to see it come to an end. It was a lot of fun to spend time with everyone down south, however Rocky and I cut our trip a little short and came home Sunday afternoon instead of Monday morning. (Rocky and I are also lucky to have had our last day of work be the 23rd, Rocky was home by 11 am that morning and I was off at 2:30 so we didn't have a late trip and don't have to be back until the 5th) So...Rocky and I have been working diligently on some of our remodeling projects. I'll try and remember to take some pictures, it's hard tracking down a camera these days, I left mine in Taylorville on the 14th and so am without it until they deliver it to me on Saturday. The big projects for this week are the laundry room, kitchen, and FINALLY the downstairs bathroom. It's only Tuesday and I think you can already see a huge improvement. It's like a different house, out with the old lady antiques and lace and in with the much newer and shinier! Well it's getting very late (midnight) and I've got to get up early in the morning for my umpteenth trip to Lowes and Wal-Mart for this week and then back to work!!
See most all of you this weekend....

Since I can't sleep anyway...

Woke up (I mean WOKE UP) after dreaming I forgot to order lunch for after a golf tournament and had 60 hungry men at the country club and one hour. In retrospect, guessing I could pull that off. Ah well. Luckily, I too, have a Christmas break so can sleep in.

Santa was good to us too. The kids got their much wished for Wii and a few other wonderful things. Eric's family made it here over the weekend between the snow and ice. The Wii got a workout as the men broke a sweat, developed sore muscles and battled it out- often with Brady kicking their booties.

Brady & I made a quick trip to Quincy to drop off Kenzie for a much anticipated week with Grandpa & Grandma. This is is her first visit "on her own" and she couldn't wait to spend time with them. She is all unpacked & settled into her new room in the back bedroom. She's asked Grandpa if they can make a fruit cake. You'll all have to at least TRY it.

We have several nights of company as Michelle & her family come for dinner tonight and some Carpet One folks join us for New Years Eve. My sisters would be proud at the amount of cooking going on in my kitchen. I am ever so thankful not to be cooking this weekend too!

Happy New Year to each of you and a blessed 2009!

Change Of Plans

Merry Belated Christmas to all and a wish for a wonderful 2009. I too have been busy leading up to Christmas this year and since I hadn't had a chance to post pre-Christmas plans here's what I'm up to in between the 2 holidays. Since I have a wonderful boss who let me off of work for almost 2 full weeks (even though I have to keep my cell with me in case of emergency), I'm spending time with the fam here in Q-town. Christmas was quiet, but very nice. Santa was very good to us this year. It was very interesting to watch Skye opening her presents. I've never seen a dog open it's own presents. Kinda reminds me of a 2 year old! I had planned to spend Saturday afternoon at Bryan & Nikki's catching up with them, but instead spent a lovely rainy drive to Hannibal to pick up Mom & Dad with Bry & Nikki. Wow, was that crazy! Like Nikki said everything was ok and I didn't freak out too badly. Glad Bryan was not working and got the call first. After assuring Grandma that her daughter had all 10 fingers and toes, Mom and Dad spent the evening playing Wii Music (and loving every minute of it). I went to a QHS alumni variety show saluting 2 of my favorite teachers in highschool. I throughly enjoyed it although my friend Steph did not. Got to catch up with some old friends that I have not seen in a long time. Today after my eye doctor apt, we are heading to Mt Pulaski to visit the adopted "Grandchildren", thus the title change of plans. Mom realized that visiting Kathy just didn't fit into the puzzle and it would work best if we visted Gracie and Hope this afternoon. Tomorrow, the Bremmer's arrive, which should be fun. I haven't really seen them much since I went away to college. My plans for the rest of the week is to just relax and spend time with the fam! Looking forward to seeing those that are coming this weekend! To the Midget clan in UT, miss you and thoughts are with you. Hannah, keep me posted if/when you hear from Danyela @ the zoo, I won't be at the zoo for 3 weeks, but will let you know if I hear anything!

Awww Sherry didn't make it...

I was catching up on the blog... sorry so busy around here... but being the good daughter-in-law that I am, I am going to post for Sherry WHY she did not make it to Fairview as she had stated in the last post......

http://www.wgem.com/ - upper right hand side is video w/ Dale being interviewed... atleast at the moment it is. Tee Hee

They got caught in a tornado while driving down on Hwy 61. We went and picked them up, cuz we wanted to see the damage too! You can see that it was part of the roof that hit the car. There's a shingle in the corner and insulation on the grille.

And Christmas Begins

Christmas has officially arrived in Quincy and will stick around for the next week or so as we celebrate with friends and family. Laurie arrived Tuesday evening...the weathermen were wrong about the forecast, her boss said, "Go now, Laurie," and Dad said, "Yes, now while you can..." so a quick trip home to load the car and get Sassy and off she drove. She had only a few bad spots on the drive and not nearly as bad as what her brother got caught in driving his load home from St. Louis. The ice moved farther south and he hit it around Bowling Green. The truck in front of him jackknifed, he was going slow enough he had time to stop...called and told his dad it was so icy he had pulled off and didn't know when or if he would get home that night. He was just about to check in and get a room at the local motel when another trucker gave him the word that the road was now passable, but slow. He was really tired when he got home, though!!

Nikki and Bryan are officially in their home! We made the move on a very cold Saturday. I'll let Nikki fill you in on the details.

Dad fixed a terrific Christmas dinner for my family. Menu consisted of a New York Strip roast, mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing, green beans, applesauce, and French Silk pie....yum!!!! We ate rather late. Mom really wanted to go to church Christmas morning, so Dad, Dale and I went with her and rather than rush home and cook, we decided to eat in the middle of the afternoon. Then my family played with Bryan's new monopoly set....the credit card version...while Mom and Dad watch TV, etc. A quiet but nice evening. Santa was certainly nice this year and gave us a very wonderful Christmas!!!

Tomorrow, Dale and I will drive to Fairview Heights to visit with Kathy Johnson (a dear friend of ours). She's here spending Christmas with her Mom, brother and sons and daughter along with Matt and Michael's families. Christmas is tough on her...Rachel's death is still very much with her, especially since Rachel's last Christmas was the only Christmas that Kathy did not come home for (she and Charlie and Rebekah live in North Dakota). She had planned on an early spring visit with her instead.

Sunday we're hoping to spend a few hours with my former principal and his wife. They're here in Quincy visiting their daughter. Their son, Nathan, is a Sem student who will be preaching at St. James on Sunday. It'll be the first time that we'll all get a chance to hear him.

Monday evening our goddaughters, Sarah and Rachel Bremer will be arriving with their Mom and Dad and brothers for a couple of days. We haven't seen the girls in over a year and are certainly looking forward to their visit!!

Thursday or Friday will find us in Mount Pulaski visiting our "granddaughters", Gracie and Hope. We'll have Christmas with them then.

The Midget family begins arriving on Friday evening and our big Christmas celebration will begin Saturday afternoon. The grandchildren are following the newest tradition and are cooking supper for their grandparents, moms, dads, aunts, and uncles. (We seniors are looking forward to this!!!) We'll gather afterwards to open gifts!! (We usually open gifts at Mom and Dad's and have dinner at my house, but will have to see about the dinner location ...it will depend on the weather as to where we'll eat).

The family heads home on Sunday and everyone returns to work on Monday. Our schedule is full, but I am looking forward to it. Hope everyone had a very nice Christmas. We wish we could have been with you. Miles, rivers, and mountains may separate us physically, but you're all in our thoughts and prayers each day.

Love to you all.

Oh and by the way.....yes, we did finally get the tree up...Christmas Eve just like I thought, we even had time to hang up a wreath!!!!

Christmas Wishes

Hope each of you received your Christmas wish granted today! We had a great day here-it was a hectic week, thus my tardy response to our preholiday plans. David was released on Tuesday, just in time to go with me to the Trans Siberean Orchestra concert that he had given me tickets to for my birthday. WOW-what an awesome show!! I would recommend it to anyone-I have never seen such a spectacular concert.
I had been opening every day since last week which meant being at work by 3:45 am-then running and finishing up baking, shopping, wrapping, etc in the evenings. It was nice to be off both Christmas Eve (my first time off since I started retail I think!) and then also today. All of the kids were here along with David's sister Nancy and her daughter Megan. We had a great day eating, playing games and eating some more!
The big news was that Chris and Sara had their sonogram and found out that they are having a boy!! All is well-looks like he may be pretty good size at this point-Sara is telling him to slow down a little!!
Thank you to everyone for your prayers and phone calls this past few weeks. I know it is not always easy to understand, but your support and love mean everything to me! My family is the biggest blessing that I have!!
Here is to a wonderful 2009!!
Love each of you!!

Uh, I'm still at work

Well, it's 11 on Christmas Eve, I am at work, but only for another half hour or so. Then I am off to KC. I have eaten a lot this week due to work parties, and I was out too late last night at a gift exchange/night out with the girls. :) I like having three day work weeks. That's about it for now! MERRY CHRISTMAS!