Merry Christmas friends!

Connor has been asking me to have a Christmas party with his little friends for a few weeks now. So Saturday, we did just that. It wasn't anything too formal, just the kids and some games and fun. Above, they were playing a cute game using The Gingerbread Man story. You wrap up inexpensive books and have the kids sit with them. Someone reads the story. Every time the word "ran" is said, the kids pass their present to the person on the right. It was a lot of fun.

Ice, ice baby....

This is what the street in front of my house looked like at 10 a.m. this morning. And no, that's not water. It's ice. Solid ice. We didn't even know there was this kind of ice until we decided to leave for church. Then we turned on the TV and saw all the accidents and the weather issues going on around us. Needless to say, we didn't go anywhere. And I was very happy it cleared up in time to take Isaak to the airport this evening. It would have created quite a problem if it had not. I say bring on the snow. I'd much rather deal with snow than this kind of mess!

Making himself at home

As you can tell from the photo, Zorro (aka--feral kitty) is making himself quite at home in my house. He's not supposed to be on the couch.....but then again, he's not supposed to do a lot of things he does and gets away with because I'm a sucker for a cute, furry face.


His new thing is to be wherever I am. It was cute the first couple of days, but now it has become hazardous to my health. I have tripped over him repeatedly, which could end badly for him if I were to actually fall on him. He weighs 10 pounds. I weight 118.


He also has been rather excited to realize he's allowed in bed with me. My other cat knows if the old quilt is on the bed, he is allowed up on it, too. Zorro just knows that my other cat is on the bed, so he figures he'll come up, too. It would be OK if he didn't think my feet were shifty and needed to die. The first time it happened, it was 4 a.m. and I was awakened from a sound sleep by something pummeling my feet. That something turned out to be Zorro. He pretty much does it every night now and doesn't stop until he feels my feet have been sufficiently killed. :)


All in all, it's been fun having him inside. I'm glad I was able to finally rescue him from the outside world. Heaven knows on days like today, when it's windy and cold outside, he'd have been miserable out there.

Bambi and Thumper really do exist!

These photos were sent to me from my mother-in-law. I think they speak for themselves!

Winter in Minnesota.....

Isaak took a 4-hour hike around the St. Paul area the other day, and sent me this photo from his cell phone. Daytime highs there have been about 15, with the nighttime lows dipping below zero for the last week. This weekend, the high is to be in the negative digits. He got to experience his first blizzard there last night, and said it wasn't fun driving home from work in it. Keep him in your prayers, as I have a feeling it's going to be a rough winter there.

Deck the halls, the walls and the yard.....

Today, Connor and I (along with my mom and dad) put up the Christmas tree. We also put up some decorations outside, including lighted reindeer and a smaller lit tree-like wreath on the bannister. I couldn't get a nice shot of all that lit up, so I didn't bother trying.

It was a lot of work and now I'm tired. I'm hoping my formerly-feral kitty Zorro doesn't decide to climb the tree. I know my other cat, Gabe, won't, as we've had him 6 years and he just lays under it and sleeps. Zorro is the one I'm worried about. But I've already warned him that if he crashes it, he has to fix it again. He looked worried. :)

Thanks mom and dad for all your help!

My dad's buck!

My dad got a really nice 10-point buck yesterday during the first day of deer season. He was so proud, too, because last year, he had a harder time getting a deer and ended up with a doe. He got it on my uncle's farm. We're looking forward to eating some deer meat the way only my mom can cook it! Yum!

If you're hunting, be safe out there! And good luck!