Busy Sunday

This was another full day. Dick had to work today, but Destiny and I went to Anthony and Lori's church. She's been there many times over the years and loves it there. The message this morning by Pastor Mackenzie both challenged me and touched me very deeply. I was a teary-eyed mess for some reason.

Here's Destiny, ready for church with her Webkinz kaola bear.

After church I took the turkey out of the oven, put the other four dishes into the oven, and then around 2:30 we feasted on all the goodness. I took a platter of it all to Dick at work, then Destiny and I went to the library to get a new book on CD to listen to in the car. We got Anne of Green Gables, whom she has never heard of yet. She thinks it will be boring, but she'll change her mind. I read that entire series to my kids and they were never bored with her!

When we got home there was a ton of clean-up to do, as well as things to prepare for the deer hunters. We were glad for Destiny to play with Austin while we adults were busy. He was making his funniest talking sound when I took this picture, and we were just cracking up. We must get it recorded.

Anthony hadn't gone hunting the past couple of years, so he was having trouble finding all his stuff. He made a quick trip to Walmart to get some camaflouge outerwear. As soon as he got home he put everything right into the washer, because "he didn't want the deer to smell Walmart." A little while later, when looking for something else, he went up through the trap door into the attic. Upon his return he said he is now the proud owner of two complete sets of camaflouge outerwear. He should have looked in the attic before going to Walmart! And certainly before he put the new ones into the washer!!!

Dick got home from work around 5:30 and was chomping at the bit to leave for the hunting cabin. He had already gotten all his stuff together yesterday. I got all their food together, along with instructions for Anthony on how to assemble the breakfast casserole for Tuesday's breakfast. I was glad to get them out the door and to finish up all the rest of the clean up. Lori and I are not cooking anything for a few days. There are plenty of leftovers, and we're sick of the mess.

We had a nice quiet evening here at home - just what I needed. I plan to take Destiny home tomorrow after Lori gets home from work. I just hope and pray the weather won't give me any trouble.

I lost my brain in Walmart!!

Lori and I had decided that we would like to have our own Thanksgiving feast tomorrow, plus I had also promised Destiny we would bake cookies today, so first thing this morning I had to organize my brain by - what else? Making a list, of course! In fact, not one list, but three lists. A list of the food I would make for our meal tomorrow, plus the meal I would need to make for Dick and Anthony to take along to the hunting cabin tomorrow evening. A list of all that I needed to do today. And a list of the groceries I would need to buy.

Destiny and I hurried to Walmart to get everything, first of all going to the craft department to buy some paint she needed for her paint-by-number picture. Feeling all happy that they had what we were looking for, we headed over to the grocery side. But alas, where was my big piece of white printer paper that contained all three of my lists? I definitely had picked it up from the front passenger seat when we had gotten out of the car.

We hurried back to the craft department, but there was no big, white paper. I went out to the car to look, but it was not there. We went to the service desk, but no one had turned in my all-important paper. SO, it was back to square one. I totally felt like I had lost my brain somewhere in that store. And I was very, very annoyed.

Destiny was a great help to me in remembering things we needed, and we did pretty well.

Once home, we started the cookies, again setting up shop in the laundry since Austin was taking a nap and we didn't want to disturb him. Nothing like freshly baked Tollhouse cookies.

We were preparing food all the rest of the day - baked corn, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, corn bread stuffing made from freshly baked corn bread, cranberry applesauce, and pumpkin pies. Early tomorrow morning I will put the turkey in the oven for slow roasting until we get home from church.

My feet were so tired till we were finished. I still had to hem up a pair of pants for Destiny, so I propped my feet up while I did that, and Destiny gave me a foot rub with Vicks Vaporub! Wow, that felt wonderful.

My camera kept shutting off as soon as I turned it on today - even though I just put new batteries in it yesterday. I surely hope I can figure out the problem, because a new camera is definitely not in the budget. At least I can take pictures with my cell phone.

Plenty of warmth on the inside

The weather was raw and bitter outside today, but there was plenty of warm activity inside the house.  For one thing there was lots of warm affection from Austin toward Destiny.  You would think he'd never seen a girl before, the way he just could not stop looking at her and grabbing at her, hahaha!  It was so cute.  It's just so interesting  how babies are so drawn to other children.  

The big activity I had planned with Destiny for today was making applesauce.  We set up shop in the laundry, and she was a great help.

She helped me wash and cut up the apples for cooking.

When they were soft we put them into the hopper of our applesauce maker.

Then Destiny turned and turned the crank.

The good warm applesauce came out through the seive and into the dishpan.

And the peels, seeds, and stems came out the end of the seive into another pan.

Ummmmm.  Nothing like warm, freshly made applesauce with some cinnamon on top!  I use ripe yellow delicous apples and no sugar is needed.

More pictures of Austin vying for Destiny's attention!

This evening we played several rounds of Dominoes.  I love that game - it reminds me of my Dad.  He was one shrewd Dominoes player!

Dick worked a long day, but he was still good for some story reading so I could work on updating this blog. 

Our Thanksgiving Day

Thanksgiving morning Dick and I got up bright and early and hit the road for Dick's parents' house near Manheim in Lancaster County.  We arrived shortly after 9 AM.  Dick's brother Bob, his wife Doris, and daughter Judi had arrived there the day before from their home in Northern Minnesota.  The men left right away to go sight in their hunting rifles, while we women talked and did meal prep.  Not nearly all of Dick's family was there, since some had other plans, but we and Anthony, Lori, and Austin were there, as well as Dick's brother Steve and his wife Faye, their daughter Krista and her husband Pete and their two children, Natalia and Adam. Doris's 93-year-old mother was also there from her home at a nearby retirement community.

When we all sat down for the family-style meal, we followed our tradition of saying grace, then singing together, "I'm So Glad I'm a Part of the Family of God."

 

There's always lots of loud talking and joking at a table full of Stauffers, and I usually find myself wishing I could sit at both ends of the table simultaneously, because I hate to miss anything!

During the afternoon we just hung out, played with the children, talked, napped, the guys went out to Grandpa's shop to play a game he invented, and we were just happy to be together.

 

 

Four Stauffer men.  There are actually five brothers in Dick's family, but two weren't there, so I stuck Anthony in this picture, since he looks like  he'd be their younger brother.

We left late in the afternoon and drove to Reading to pick up Destiny.  On our way back to State College, we stopped at a UniMart in Harrisburg where Frank was working second shift, so Destiny could get to see her daddy on Thanksgiving Day.

Between Harrisburg and State College we drove in horrible wind and rain, and our defroster was malfunctioning, so it was not a fun ride. We were very glad to be back home.  Destiny had not been here since I moved up, so she was just delighted to be here.

Picture of the day

There was a time that Dick and his brother Steve would sit with their children on their laps. Now they sit with their grandchildren on their laps.

Good times

Dick had off work today, so we had some good times together with Austin. After lunch we took him for a really long walk. When we got back Dick settled on the love seat with him to watch one of his videos till I got his bottle ready. Dick said, "Go get your camera." I said, "Do you know how many pictures I have posted of him watching a video? People are going to think we let him watch videos all the time." Dick said, "But this time it's with me." (The real truth is, we are very guarded about his video time - once a day, and sometimes, not even that often.) You really do need to click on this picture and look at his adorable expression.

After supper Anthony was holding him and Lori went over to them to give them a hug. I said, "Oh, group hug! Let me get a picture!" I whipped out my cell phone, and just as I snapped it, Austin decided, "ENOUGH ALREADY!!!"

Tomorrow morning we'll be traveling to Lancaster County for a Thanksgiving meal at Dick's parents. Later in the day we'll go to Reading to pick up Destiny and then bring her back to State College for her long-awaited visit here.

Learning to stand and sit back down!

Austin has been practicing pulling himself up - in his crib, at the kitchen drawers, at the planters (yikes!), the kitchen chairs, anything he can reach and hang onto. However, the one place he hadn't mastered yet was the Pack and Play. Because it has mesh sides, there is nothing to hang onto, and he could never reach the top of it. Until today. One minute he was sitting in there playing, and the next time I looked over, this is what I saw.

He was very pleased with himself, and quite interested in that stereo system.

Now he needs to refine the art of sitting down when he's tired of standing up. He's working on it, but this afternoon he must have forgotten how. He was in his crib for his nap, but was standing up, talking to the door, then going to the other end of the crib pulling at the curtain, having a great time. Until he was tired and couldn't figure out how to sit down. Oh, he cried. So I finally went in and picked him up, and he was asleep the minute his head hit my shoulder!

This evening I went to the hair salon I went to last weekend and described the things about my haircut that I don't like. The girl who did my hair wasn't there this evening. The manager sat me down and took a nice long time fixing it for me. And she didn't charge me a dime. I will definitely be asking for her the next time I go there.

While I was at the mall I went to a few stores. Wow, there were some awesome discounts at children's clothing stores - Gap Kids and Gymboree. Destiny has been wearing a coat that is several sizes too small for her. At Gap Kids I got a really cute pink down coat, regularly priced at $68, but 50% off, and I had a $25 gift card from a friend at church, which brought the price down to $9!!!! Oh, I do love a good deal!

Pictures from the "Zimwit" gathering.

As I was writing my previous post on Friday afternoon, I had no idea that thousands of Penn State students were getting ready to hit the road for home for Thanksgiving break.  Just a few miles from home I found out!!  It took an hour and twenty minutes to go the first fifteen miles! I didn't even have have a book-on-CD rented for myself, because I didn't expect to have to travel alone.  As usual, I went to Reading first and picked up a very excited Destiny, then headed to our Lititz house.  It was 10:30 PM when we finally got there ( I had left State College at 5!)  

Look at the cheerful sight that greeted me - the flowers that Sam and Jenn had given me for my birthday two weeks ago, looking as fresh as new.  Apparently cut flowers thrive in a cold environment!

Destiny wasn't feeling very well (slight fever, a cold, a bit of stomach virus), so we just hung out at the house most of the day Saturday.  Later in the afternoon we went to my favorite country store, then I took her to spend the evening with Frank and her younger brother J'von.  I am so disappointed I didn't take a picture of the three of them together. 

After I dropped her off I went to the community hall at Gretna Springs for the first "Zimwit" get together since my dad's death.  There was way too much good food and even more fun.  

 

 

Step brother Carl directed some fun games, all of which had an element of surprise.

 

Step brother Roy proved that it's possible to sit on a folding chair, get up and go around it, and sit down on it again, all without ever letting your feet touch the floor!

 

Step brother Lester had everyone yelling and laughing as he showed cards from the Mad Gab game.  

 

It was a great evening together, and we already have our next get together planned.  It's just too bad that it took Dad's illness to draw the two sides of this family together.  Dad would have so enjoyed being part of an evening of fun like we had. 

On Sunday morning I led worship at church, then Destiny and I went to Subway for lunch.  I saw several of my former students there, which was really special. 

I took a nap in the afternoon while Destiny watched a movie.  Then it was time to head back to Reading.  Before I took her to her mom's house, we went to a different part of the city to visit some of Destiny's relatives that she doesn't know very well - Frank's biological mother and sister and some cousins.  Again, I did not take any pictures, and I am so disappointed!  They exclaimed over and over how much Destiny looks like Frank.

This morning I had an easy drive back to State College, but my night was short, so I'm fading fast this evening.  I must get plenty of rest to keep up with a certain little man who is becoming more energetic and curious and daring every single day!! 

Going it alone this time

I'm sad that I will be going to Lancaster County without Dick this weekend.  He could not get off work tomorrow unless he would have just not showed up.  But we don't operate that way.  At least there's not rain or freezing weather in the forecast, so I'll be okay.

I'm just so sad that he will be missing the family gathering tomorrow evening.

Sun in the house

Our "sunshine" sporting his new Sponge Bob pajamas!

This will be Dick's regular weekend off, which means we plan to go to Lancaster County. Dick just found out yesterday that he's been scheduled to work on Saturday. And we have a very fun evening planned on Saturday with the "Zimwits" - my stepmother's children (the Zimmermans) and we local Witmers. Dick was told today that if he can find someone to work for him on Saturday, he can have off. There's one guy who has been sick and missed a few days this week, so Dick is hoping (and I am praying!) that he may be interested in getting an extra day of work in. Oh, I hope he does. If not, I guess we'll be driving separately, which I hate. The only good thing would be that I would love to bring my filing cabinet up here, and Dick could bring it in the Explorer if he has to drive. We shall see.

This was a very rainly, gloomy day. We really have been too spoiled by all the warm, sunny days. It just makes such a difference when the sun shines. At least there's sun in the house!

Future pianist?

Look at those fingers go! Just like Mozart, he's too short and has to sit on someone's lap to play, haha! (And yes, I am aware that it was the foot pedals of a pipe organ that Mozart needed help with.)

I snapped this yesterday morning when Dick was getting ready to go outside to finish up the leaves. I don't know..... I think he'd have trouble getting through security, don't you???

Dick also had off work today. He's getting deer fever, so he hiked up a nearby mountain. It was a beautiful day for that.

A view from the top.

Believe me, he's a tired puppy tonight.