A song to my ear

The other night I was helping my son and he just stopped and said, "Mom, I love you more than anything!" My heart melted. Oh how thankful I am that God gave me my sweet son.

It's been too long...

Boy, how did this much time pass by since my last blog? So sorry. I believe once I began Facebook my blog went to the side. I found FB to be addicting for about a month or so. It is a great way to catch up with people you haven't seen or spoken to in forever.

Tonight our family watched the original Jerry Lewis "The Nutty Professor." It fits perfectly with my son's humor. Great slapstick comedy! Our family laughed pretty hard several times.

Thanksgiving is just around the corner. It seems as if we just had Thanksgiving yesterday and here it is again. I always think of my mother's stuffing and noodles during this time. She has the best dressing! My mother-in-law makes an amazing turkey, (perfect every time) so we are looking forward to that! My father-in-law always makes the greatest pies, incredible crust! Yum! I plan to make a Blueberry Cinnamon Swirl breakfast dish, Creamy Rice Pudding, Banana Bread, and an old family recipe Date Cookies. The key word is plan. I bought all the ingredients today anyway.

My sister Vicki makes these wonderful Buttermilk Pancakes. I'm making those for supper tomorrow night. I figured if I bought buttermilk for one recipe, I'll use the rest up with the other.

I have been busy, nonstop, since school began. I go a million miles a minute in the classroom. I help students who need guidance in their day to be successful. You never know what interesting moment will greet you from second to second. It's exhausting but also very rewarding.

My son comes home with a lot more homework these days too. I just love this stage of life he's in. He's asking great questions all the time. He's asked about time beginning, ending, how small is the smallest small, where does the universe end? He said he couldn't think on those things too long or he'd go nuts. He said he has to trust that God has it all figured out and that will be just fine.

My dear sweet husband is greeting every new interesting situation at work with class. He has such an amazing way about him and I am thankful for all he is.

Well, off to get my darling son to bed. He has a big test tomorrow in Geography.
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

There's No Place Like Home

It was so hard leaving my parents and sisters to head back up north. I thought I'd live on a farm all my life. I'm a farm girl at heart.

When it was time for dinner, mom would send me out to the garden and get things like sweet corn, onions, tomatoes, and more. I'd shuck the corn and cut the roots from the baby onions and place them in cold water for Dad to eat at dinner. Dad would come home for dinner (lunch) and supper. Mom always had the most amazing meals fixed to feed the whole crew. Dinner was always at noon. Dad and a farm hand or two would eat and have to get back to the fields. We'd always fill jugs full of water and ice so the guys had something cool to drink in the fields. On some occasions the guys had to keep working, the rain was coming, the crop needed to get in, and we'd take dinner to the field. Mom always made sure the men were fed well.

Dad always checked the prices of hogs, corn, beans, etc... He'd faithfully check the weather ban. He could tell when it was time to push through the night and when he could come home for the day. It all depended on the weather.

One thing my Dad always made sure of, he never worked on Sundays. We faithfully went to church Sunday morning, evening, and Wednesday nights. My parents were active members in the church. I do not know at what age they began teaching Sunday school, but they both still teach to this day. Every morning my Dad would be in his den with his Bible open, studying in God's word. Every Saturday Mom would be preparing her Sunday morning lesson.

How blessed our family was growing up on a farm and having Christian parents!

The Last Hurrah

At the end of our summer, before school started, we decided to go for one more hurrah. It’s been ages since we went to an amusement park. We decided to try out Michigan Great Adventures. The drive was pretty decent and it was easy to get to. It was kind of in the middle of a field. Cedar Point owns it.

It had an amusement park and a water park. I was shocked when my son was so brave and he rode a water ride that went strait down a huge hill in a boat. I am a Farris Wheel kind of gal.

We had the most fun in the water park area. They had 3 wave pools that acted like the ocean. I actually went down a water ride that was an enclosed dark tube, riding on an inner tube, and as I whooshed this way and that, I screamed my head off. I do not like the feeling of my stomach dropping. My son was bursting out laughing as he watched me fly out of the tube screaming. Okay, I did look funny!

The next coolest part of the trip was staying at the Hilton. We got the most amazing price savings deal through hotwire.com. I love my geek husband! The hotel was even better just knowing we saved a ton of money! On our bed the 4 pillows were down-filled, the comforter was down-filled, well … everything was wonderful!

I guess Phil and I loved watching our little swimming pro get the confidence to swim across a true depth swimming pool. All the pools he had swam in before were only 5 feet deep. Luke asked Phil to touch the bottom of the pool so he could see how deep it really was. Phil was hilarious. He was too buoyant, he couldn’t sink. Leave it up to ole lead bottom mom and I showed him the depth of the pool. We laughed at dad floating for a long, long time. We thought he was just joking at 1st, but we lost it laughing when we realized he really couldn’t sink. It was great!

I have no photos to share, forgot the camera at home. Trust me when I say, It was a great quick weekend hurrah!

Pokagon State Park

This summer we went to Pokagon State Park over our 15Th wedding anniversary. We have revisited the park each summer. It has become a family favorite destination. We always stay in the newest part of the hotel but they also offer cabins, and camping sites.

They have horse trail riding, boats, nature walks, swimming, and bike riding, just to name a few. We have a tradition of renting a paddle boat and seeing the lake as we paddle. The boys tell me I can sit back and relax as they chauffeur me around the lake. This usually means Luke and Phil get us out and Phil and I get us back in : )

We do not have cable TV at home, due to our dear sweet son has the hardest time leaving Cartoon Network! The hotel has cable, so he is never in a hurry to leave the room in the morning and is always ready for bed in the evenings!

While we were there, for our anniversary, my sweet husband gave me an afternoon at the spa. I was completely relaxed! I gave Phil the complete collection of all the seasons, movie, interviews, and etc... of the M.A.S.H. TV series. He has wanted that for years, and I mean years. I found the complete series at Target 11 months earlier. I wrapped it up, and hid it, so he couldn't find it, and I wouldn't be tempted to give it to him early! Since our trip, we found out we have a 3rd fan of M.A.S.H. in our house, Luke!

At Christmas time Grandma and Grandpa gave Luke the game "Are You Smarter Than a 5Th Grader." We went to the hotel's library and played the game one evening. Not a one of us was smarter than a 5Th grader! We are as smart as 4Th graders though. Luke, in a voice filled with laughter, said, "I haven't been a 5Th grader yet, what's your excuse?"

We always put together puzzles while we are there. It's fun to begin a puzzle and you leave it on a table in the big gathering room. The next day when come back, others have worked on your puzzle too. You just pick up where they left off.

Luke has slowly become comfortable with swimming. With his Aspergers, he has to try things at his own pace. He was a quite a young man filled with confidence this time around. He used to do one cannon ball after another, now he is willing to try swimming. If there were a category in the Olympics for floating, he would have taken gold!

While we were there, my family sent us a striking arrangement of flowers and had a Congratulations announcement put up on the daily board. They made another wonderful memory for us. We couldn't have asked for any more gorgeous weather for our anniversary trip!

We traveled back home to my parents over the weekend. It was a quick stay due to my father-in-law being in the hospital. It was just wonderful just being home, back on the farm.

Day 4

The 4th day of our trip we went to Bull Run. The First Battle of Bull Run, also known as the First Battle of Manassass, was the first major land battle of the American Civil War. It was fought on July 21, 1861.

Later that day we swam in the pool and then had a cook out. We were all pretty happy just chilling and eating grilled hamburgers, hotdogs, potato salad, watermelon, chips, and strawberry pretzel salad, Yumm! Yum!

Washington Day 3

We had a lot of fun touring on a bus from monument to monument and getting off and on the bus when we felt like it. Our feet and legs needed to see hope/relief from the prior’s day walking in the heat.

We thought Union Station was impressive. We ate at a great pizza place there. The architecture was just beautiful, just like all of Washington D.C. They had a replica of the Liberty Bell, minus the crack in it.

We saw a great deal of monuments but decided to see Lincoln memorial, the Vietnam Vet. Memorial Wall, the Korean Vet Memorial, the WWII Memorial, and had fun with the Washington Monument. When we got to the WWII Memorial there were a ton of people there with their feet in the water getting relief from the heat. We followed suit and felt like we were in heaven. The cool water couldn't of come at a better time.

We weren’t able to visit the White House this trip, but we at least viewed it from afar. Phil and I saw it back in college and someday want our son to see it too. Security was everywhere in Washington. It takes a bit of getting used to seeing men with really big guns.

That night we took Christi and Hunter out to eat for her birthday. If you ever get a chance to eat at Sweetwater Tavern, you must! It was by far one of the best meals I’ve ever had. Yum!