Candle light service

I just love candlelight Christmas services! They are so beautiful, calming, quiet, reflective!

I had Elise sitting with me, and I got to take some pictures. Oh, these are not real candles, but battery operated ones. 

Yes, she had a dirty face, but she was just so cute!

Blessings!

School is officially done for this year!

Next week we will have Home Ec, and do our Christmas baking. Lots of yummy goodies planned!  But, I am having problems finding round pretzels, as well as, smaller bags of Hershey kisses, Rolos, and M & Ms. 

This afternoon, we went to downtown Minneapolis, to Macy's, to see their 8th floor animated display. We are now stuck in traffic. 

Here are the fellas at the entrance. 

Here they are inside. 

This is in the city center mall. 

Parking for 1 hour and 1 minute was $11!!  $9 for the first hour, $2 the next 20 minutes. I don't know why people shop there!

Blessings!

Gearing up for Christmas

We have been shopping, and trying to figure out what to get some people.  The easiest, of course, are the little people. They are usually content with just the box!  

I have been making some Christmas gifts. I'll post some photos later, as some relatives would see it in here. 

Matthew and I made Egg Nog Donuts, in the Baby Cake Donut maker, then glazed them with an egg nog glaze. YUM!!  

Here they are:

Along with my donut helper:

Blessings!

I. Do. Not. Like. Knitting.

I much prefer crocheting over knitting. I can make a crocheted dishcloth in a couple hours. Knitting?  Much longer. Granted , I am new to knitting, and still learning, but it is a lot longer process. And, if you make a mistake?  Crocheting is a lot easier to fix. 

Here is my latest knitting project. I am almost half done. Woo hoo. (Read that with a lot of sarcasm)

 I do have to admit, I really like the looks of this stitch, though, and I don't think you can get this stitch crocheted. 

I'm also experimenting with making a homemade butterscotch root beer. I am enjoying the flops. 

Blessings!

Jon's misfortune

I forgot to write and tell about Jon. His black Grand Am has been having problems. Tranny was slipping, etc.  so, he bought a car. We did not know it had a salvaged title. He got a huge run around. He went to get the title transferred to his name. They said he had to get it inspected first. So, he called to get it inspected. They said they couldn't inspect it until he got the title transferred.  He finally got the title transferred, and an inspection date set up--2 weeks later!  The inspection date was set for October 24th, and he could not drive the new car until it was inspected.  On the morning of the 21st, this happened:

Yep--he hit a HUGE buck!!  That's the hard way to get your deer!  Anyway--we are grateful to God for keeping him safe!!  The buck landed on the hood, and very well could have gone through the windshield.  So, what to do until he can drive the new car?  Well, his dad took him to work one day, and then some friends from church loaned him a car.

Then, day of inspection--everything on the new car passed (safety, emissions, etc.)--except for a little hole in the trunk.  So, the man told him to get some silicone and seal it up.  Rick took it to a body shop, and they did seal it for free, but it shrunk.  Then, Jon used some clear silicone, but was worried they would use a flashlight again, and it would shine through the clear silicone.  Then, we used the black truck bed liner stuff I bought for the Living Last Supper guard helmets.  That worked!

Today was the 2nd inspection.  It did pass, but the guy wasn't happy the truck bed liner was still kind of tacky.  Whew!  Jon can drive his car now!  And then!  He ran out of gas!  The gas gauge said he had 3/4 of a tank of gas.  Rick ran him some gas, and he is up and running now.  PTL!!

Blessings!

Book Review - "Fatal Tide" by Lis Wiehl

Fatal Tide by Lis Wiehl is the third book in the East Salem trilogy.  It starts out very fast paced, and I couldn't put the book down!  It picks up right where book two left off.  Reese, a 17 year old boy, is in the car with 2 men, trying to get him to safety, when their car is attacked by demons.  Reese is the only survivor.

Tommy and Dani are trying to figure out the mystery, and who/what is the dead body in Tommy's pond, and who killed him?  And will they be able to stop the plot to contaminate the world's water supplies?  And what really is going on at St. Adrian's Academy?

This story has a lot of mystery and intrigue, and yet, a bit of a love story, as you are anxiously waiting to see if Tommy will ever get a chance to ask Dani to marry him.  You bite your nails, as Quinn and Cassandra go undercover, to try to help Tommy and Dani solve the mysteries.

I have mixed feelings about this book.  Yes, I love the mystery and intrigue.  But, some things were just too hard for me to grasp--as in being able to shoot and kill demons, and that demons would show up blue, on an infra red scope.  I loved the old Frank Peretti's books, as they would really open your eyes to see that we need to pray--and that when the saints began to pray, the angels would be strengthened, and be able to defeat the demons.  In this book--they don't pray to defeat the demons, but shoot them with guns, in a real battle, and not supernaturally.  What does Corinthians say about our weapons?  They aren't carnal (or physical).  I also didn't like the "twinspeak" in the book--where twins can see and speak to each other, even thousands of miles apart.

I received a complimentary copy of the book,  Fatal Tide, from BookSneeze and Thomas Nelson, for my honest review. 

Busy Days

Well, our lives have been busy, and full!  Let's see if I can remember all we've been doing.

The girls all moved out of our house to an apartment on September 1st.  Let's just say our home is now quiet.  :)  and peaceful.  So, we are adjusting to just me as the queen bee, and all the boys. 

School is moving nicely along.  We are having a fun year so far.  We've made an explosive volcano, and some other fun projects.  The boys are also learning to navigate around the kitchen.  It's always nice to have men who can cook.  If they ever move out, and are batching it, they will need to be able to feed themselves--otherwise the cost of eating out is expensive!  So, they have made some meals, and had people over. 

My dad had back surgery again, and is doing so well!!  He said this is the best he's felt in a long time, and the best he's doing after any of the other back surgeries.

I am learning how to knit!  I have knit one dishcloth, and am working on another one.  Knitting goes WAY slower than crocheting!!  But, I am just learning.  My first one isn't the greatest, but this one looks like it will be square.  I am also crocheting towel toppers, and trying to come up with my own design for the crochet part.  I did find some patterns, but they seemed too short, and I like the one I am doing.

Blessings!