My Dad!

I love having house guests!

I especially love when my Dad gets to come visit!

I just saw him in Michigan back in October, but we were fortunate enough to get him to come up just before Christmas to spend a few days with us.

It was nice because he finally got to see the table he helped Bud start, finished.

My Dad wanted to make chocolate covered Peanut Butter Balls, which if any of you know I've made a version including crushed pretzels before.

I excluded the pretzel part and we got started.

 Unfortunately, the peanut butter dough was melting in Dad's hands when he attempted to roll it into balls.

We had to stop and put our dough back in the freezer so that it was easier to work with.

 Then came the fun of dipping each frozen peanut butter ball into the chocolate.

We had to work fast, because the peanut butter balls were thawing and the toothpicks didn't want to stay intact!

 We finished them though, chilled them again, and enjoyed the RICH peanut butter, chocolate flavor.

Bitsy enjoyed having her Grandpa here.

Especially, when she got a shot at playing with his sunglasses!

 "Sunglasses are cool, Mom"!

 Dad's visit was short, but filled with fun.

We wrapped a few presents together.

We got away to see "Rise of the Guardians" one night.

My new favorite Christmas movie!

Dad helped me run errands and pick out a couple gifts for Bud this year.

I forgot to mention he brought his 100lb chocolate lab named "What" with him.

What got a long with Cappy & Pup and more importantly Bitsy.

She loves dogs!

I am definitely a Daddy's girl and I relish each and ever time we get to spend together.

Bitsy seemed to enjoy it too ;) 

I hope you had a Blessed Weekend!

What We Did-Michigan Part 2 & a Winner!

Good Morning Everyone!

Now back to what we do here on Wednesdays...

What We Did....Michigan Continued.....
Last week I told you about how Bitsy got to meet her Great Grandparents for the first time.
Well there were some other firsts and some seconds...and well let me just introduce you to more of the family!

My Dad was fortunate enough to get to come visit at the same time we were there.
We squeezed in some good father/daughter/granddaughter time!

My Dad holding on to Bitsy!

She was in an awesome mood and had a cracker...all she needed was some CHEESE!

...or at least a raspberry!

Seeing my Dad play with Bitsy melts my heart.

It reminds me of how he played with us as kids.

There was one night at my grandparents house when he crawled around behind Bitsy tossing a water bottle.

As soon as she'd get close he'd knock it further away and she would just giggle and laugh and laugh and giggle.

One reason my Dad came to Michigan when we were there was because he was adopting his sisters Chocolate lab.

Bitsy has 2 second cousins who are 2 and 9 months and the Chocolate lab was a big boy who inadvertently ran the kiddos over.

My Dad swooped in to take the pup back with him, to be a MANLY dog.

My Aunt took full advantage of having so many manly men around for sure!

See...her husband just had surgery on his ankle so he was resting...and she needed fencing put up so the horses could safely go out to pasture.

In comes my Grandpa, Dad, and husband to save the day. 

Grandma, Bitsy, and I did some shopping nearby and stopped by to see how the guys were doing on the fence.

Honestly, they rocked it!

We also stopped by so Bitsy could see the animals.

She thought the Moo-ing was funny...

I couldn't get over how cute this little one was!

On the left is a draft pony, then a mule/donkey?, and then Dudley...the horse my Aunt brought home from her 17 years in Australia...he's a beast and he only likes her.

Bitsy was amazed by all the sights and sounds.

So as you can see Michigan isn't just our quiet get away place...

it's our family place.

My Dad, Bitsy, and I relaxing on the back porch at my Grandparents.

Bitsy and her Great-Aunt.

I think they took Bitsy's shirt to heart!

My Aunt & I.

Crazy that we are both Mom's of little ones at the same time!

So many little ones to love.

My Dad, Myself, Bud, Bitsy, and My Grandpa.

Bitsy and her Great-Grandpa!

He's surrounded by granddaughters now days and he's loving every minute of it.

Bitsy and her Great-Grandma.

Pretty sure she likes her too!

CHEESE!

Bitsy and her Great-Grandparents.

It's a lot of work to hold that 27lb baby!

Bitsy was getting tired...if you can't tell.

My Grandpa and I.

I'm the first and obviously the oldest grandchild.

And of course I had to get another picture of my Dad and I.

Sweet moments like this are what our 9 days in Michigan were all focused around.

Nothing fancy.

Just time together.

3 Generations of girls....too bad my Aunt wasn't in this picture, we would have had all 4 generations!

It was a wonderful trip that left us refreshed and renewed...

...okay maybe it left one of us exhausted.

She slept the entire way to the airport.

We felt so blessed to get to spend so much time up in Michigan with family.

It was a comfortable, low maintenance, slow paced, vacation.

I'm thinking it would be lovely to have another 9 day get away post holidays, but that's not in the cards.

Is anyone else running around like a crazy person these days?

I love it to a point, but I am definitely happy when the New Year arrives and the pace slows down again.

Enjoy the season and remember why we celebrate!

I hope you all have a Blessed Friday!

What We Did Wednesday-Michigan Part 1

I think everyone needs a place they can visit that is totally relaxing.

Not a luxury vacation spot.

Rather, a family spot, where life is simpler.  

For us that is my grandparents home in Michigan.

For my birthday this year (a few weeks back...) my grandparents flew Bud, Bitsy, and myself out to visit for 9 whole days!

It was there first time meeting their great granddaughter.

She's their only great grandchild

The first full day we were there was a beautiful and balmy 70º.

We took the opportunity to stow away to Grand Rapids and enjoy the outdoors and one of the museums there.

Part of the museum is set up just like old Grand Rapids used to look.

They encourage touching and being interactive.

There are even people in some of the stores and business that show what they used to do.

Including an old printing press where the volunteer was making actual book marks for the museum!

It was pretty interesting to see how calculated each plate must be and how they did multi colored items.

The feature exhibit was all about beer.

This was one man's collection of beer cans from all around the world and from varies time periods.

I thought this was interesting.

It showed where each beer stems from.

One of the best parts of the museum is by far the carousel.

It's the same carousel I've ridden since I was a child.

We were fortunate to be the only ones on it!

Grandma snapped a quick family photo of us.

I think Bitsy liked it ;)

(pssst....someone told me that the giraffe appears to be photo bombing this picture!)

She got to ride the horse that went up and down.

The lights and music had her attention 100%...okay maybe 90% since we did get a few pictures.

Daddy was holding Bitsy tight....

Uh....Dad....make sure she doesn't lick the horse.

Ewww!

Crazy child!

I had to get a picture on that giraffe, he was my favorite.

When on vacation many people sleep in.

Not me.

I'm not wired for it.

The good part about that though is that it meant I got to steal away for an hour or so with my Grandma each morning.

She would make us lattes with her fancy coffee machine and we would sit and chat.

Some mornings it was light hearted conversation, others were deep and more serious.

I walked away from each one with a wonderful appreciation of who my Grandma is.

This is the view from my Grandparents back porch.

The first days we were there the leaves were full of colorful trees.

Towards the end of our vacation the leaves had all fallen off.

No matter where we lived growing up, and we lived a lot of places being military, this was and always will be home.

It's the only place that has remained constant in my life.

This is the view from the pond up towards my grandparent's home.

I love this land.

I love this home.

Our time there was a wonderful time of rest and relaxation.

One day during Bitsy's nap....Bud may have been napping too....I stowed away to snap a few pictures...and to sit on the dock of the pond and revel in the calm quietness.

Below are a few pictures of the turkey's my Aunt is keeping in my grandparents coop.

These ladies were funny.

We would practice our turkey calls on them and they would gobble right back as though we were carrying on a wonderful conversation.

Bitsy thought they were funny.

Heck, I thought they were funny too...

and honestly I thought they were kinda cute.

One afternoon there was a fox hanging out by the shed.

I went out and stalked him.

This was the closest and best shot I could capture of him.

In all the years I've been to my grandparents I've seen deer and wild turkey, but never a fox.

Another wonderful thing about vacation is that you get to do special things.

Special things like allowing your daughter to have her 1st taste of ice cream....

...so everyone can see her reaction.

Even she's not sure what she thinks.
But it was fun to try.
We bought ice cream cones just for this.
Since our child refuses to be fed from a spoon/fork/utensil of any kind...we had to give her a way to do it herself.
Let me tell you, my family didn't believe me that went straight from milk to solids.
Not solids like pureed food either...solids like food she can pick up and put in her mouth on her own.
They got a kick out of it though.

I'll be back next week to show you some of the family.
Where is your get away spot?
How often do you get to stow away to said location?
I try to get to my grandparents ever couple years.

I hope you had a Blessed Wednesday!

P.S. I'll be posting a special giveaway next!

Belated Halloween Happiness!

Come on guys/gals...

Seriously!

Where has the time gone.

It's already been 2 weeks since Halloween and I haven't even shared pictures of our pumpkins or my ADORABLE Bitsy!

(I know I'm a biased parent, but seriously...you can't tell me she isn't the cutest, especially once you see these pictures!)

If you follow me on Instagram than you were inundated with pictures of me and her being silly!

After having the luxury and joy of picking our own pumpkins, Bud & I patiently waited for the day when we could carve them out.

Too soon and you risk the chance that they will wilt or worse MOLD before Halloween!

So, Sunday afternoon, 3 days before Halloween, during Bitsy's nap we set out to carve our pumpkins.

 I carved a Mama Pumpkin....

....and a Baby Pumpkin.

While Bud carved a Daddy Pumpkin.

He is really good about cleaning out his pumpkin and making the wall so thin that carving is a breeze!

When we were done we set our pumpkin family out on the front porch.

I added a bow to the Baby Pumpkin just so everyone would know it was a little girl ;) 

Unfortunately, Bud works nights on this current schedule so he wasn't going to be home for Halloween.

Also since we had moved and gone on an extended vacation all in the month of October I didn't have time to sew Bitsy's costume.

Fortunately, I had a hand me down costume that JUST fit her, but it did involve a little face make-up.

 Do you know how hard it is to paint a 1 year old's face?

**notice the cracker bribe she is holding.**

 Each time the brush hit her cheek she wanted to look at it.

This took about 20 takes to get it right!

 Luckily giving her a cute lil nose was easy!

Look at her, she melts my heart!

Next it was my turn!

Bitsy is pretty tall for her age so I knew this costume wouldn't be long enough.

I added some tights underneath and figured it was as good as gold!

Plus I knew it would help keep her warmer while we handed out candy.

We did not go trick-or-treating ourselves this year.

I kind of felt that if she couldn't walk she shouldn't trick or treat.

That's just my logic.

Oh and we didn't need all that candy in the house ;) 

She was SO confused by the mittens on her hands.

Normally she pulls any and everything off her head, but I think the mittens were a perfect distraction.

 Trick-or-Treating started in our neighborhood at 6 and was set to go until 8 pm.

We set up our station and patiently waited for the parade of costumed cuties.

Okay well I was patient.

Bitsy was not digging waiting at all.

But once the people started coming Bitsy shined.

She waved and said, "Hi" to each and everyone!

She wasn't scared by anyone which was something I was curious to see.

Unfortunately, we ran out of candy an hour into the night so we were forced to close up shop.

We hopped next door to meet our other neighbor and ask her to snap a picture of us.
It was a wonderful night to be out.
Cool, but not cold, and only a slight occasional breeze.
All-in-all I was happy to be done handing out candy, Bitsy was already 30 minutes past bedtime when we went in.
So a quick wash of the face, change into PJs, bottle and a story and she was in bed in 15 minutes flat.
Next year when she can walk I think we will spend the 1st hour trick-or-treating and the second hour handing out candy.
It's hard to believe that last year I was carrying around this Lil Mermaid...

My oh my how much changes in just a year.

I hope you all had wonderful Halloweens!
When did you first bring your little ones trick-or-treating?

Have a Blessed Wednesday!