Night Skiing

Friday night we enjoyed the candlelight ski on the Red Cedar State Trail in Menomonie, Wisconsin. Candles are placed on/in the Ice Wall. It is amazing. If you do not ski, you can still get out and enjoy this site. They have hiking and snowshoeing too.

Perkinstown, USA

Perkinstown, USA - A great place to visit during all seasons. We recently went snow tubing with my sister and her husband. It is fast and fun. The best part is going back up. You ride your tube up holding a big rope! It is a challenge at first, but you get the hang of it. All this winter activity will make you sleep well! Perkinstown is located in the Chequamegon National Forest, near Medford, Wisconsin.

Atticus and Sam excited to give this a try.

Uncle Josh and Aunt Clover

Here we go!

We are going fast!!

Yikes, will we hit the bales?

That was close, just a few inches away from the bales! Let's go again!

Pecan Pie Anyone?

It seems I have been posting a lot of sweets. Cookies, ice cream and now pie! But this pie is special.

Happy Birthday, Jeremy! My sweetheart!

Now we are both the same age. I am older for few weeks! Oh, yes I am reminded :-) of that.

Peanut Butter Butter Cup?

Not sure how to go about naming my new ice cream. I made Peanut Butter Peanut Butter Cup ice cream on Friday for my sisters birthday. It is wonderful! Peanut Butter ice cream batter with chunks of Peanut Butter Cups swirled around. Yum. I am glad I left her the batch. I love making ice cream, but I have to give it away or have a party to go to with it or my waist line will be in big trouble! :-)

Peanut Butter - Butter Cup Ice Cream 

Walter the Snowman

Walter the Snowman

This is the best we can do for a snowman this winter. 

Walter is short and skinny, but full of Winter Cheer!

Have a great weekend!

Nut Refrigerator Cookies

Baby it is Cold outside! Let's bake and warm things up.

Nut Refrigerator Cookies
1 cup butter
2 cups brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
4 cups flour
1/2 t. soda
1 t. baking powder
1 cup nuts
Cream butter, sugar, vanilla, eggs, flour, soda, baking powder and mix in nuts. Form into rolls. Wrap in wax paper. Chill - cut thin and bake 325 degrees for 12 min. 

Cutting the slices to be placed in the oven.

Finished product! Enjoy!

 

Goodbye Kmart

Rice Lake Kmart is going out of business. The boys insisted we go say goodbye. We walked into Rice Lake Kmart for the last time. My two boys make me smile everyday, but sometimes they really make me lol! Like this one...while in Kmart Sam says"Well, it was fun coming here to pick out birthday presents for our friends. See Ya Kmart, it was good knowing ya!" Yes, we did find some great birthday gifts at Kmart. Jeremy and I wonder what will happen to the building? What it will be used for. Rice Lake already has an empty WalMart building (Rice Lake got a Super WalMart) and an empty County Market building. Mmmm, just makes one wonder. 

Disco in Ukraine

We are getting ready for the Disco! A Disco  in Ukraine is like a party here in the States. We painted faces, dressed up, handed out glow sticks, balloons and candy!

Dasha....left on the door step of the Shelter when she was a baby.

Our team...2 adults and 8 teens from California...me from Wisconsin. Vasa...the young man in the front row...a Ukrainian who helped us, and our 2 translators, Ira and Natasha.

Me, busy painting precious faces!

Having fun with balloons!

Dustin and Lulu helping making something fun for a little girl.

More face painting...I sat in this position for over two hours!!

Natasha and Ira our translators and Dasha.

Fruit, Candy and Soda...party food.

Big Smiles! We had fun!

Sunday School Lesson

I teach the 5th and 6th grade Sunday School at our Church. This past weeks lesson was An Attitude of Respect. My students were asked how can you show respect to....Family, Friends, Classmates, Police, Teachers, Your Pastor and President/Governor. They did a great job answering and had good ideas for when it is hard to be respectful. But the best answer of the day...and coming from kids it is in all honesty.

How can we show respect to our President and Governor?  To not be unemployed! I loved it! I hope you do too.

Have a great day!

Baked Oatmeal

Do you need a new idea for breakfast?

We tried Baked Oatmeal, and it was a hit. Let us know what you think.

Baked Oatmeal

Gather the following

1/2 cup oil

3/4 cup sugar

2 eggs

3 cups dry oatmeal

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup milk

cinnamon

In a large bowl, stir together oil, sugar, eggs, oatmeal, baking powder and salt. Add milk to mixture and mix well. Pour mixture into greased 9x9 inch glass pan. Sprinkle with cinnamon to taste. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until brown.

Dish up and add fruit. Yummy! We added blueberries and peaches.

Enjoy! 

Friends

Today I have been thinking about friends. We have been blessed to have many great friends. It is fun during the Christmas season to receive Christmas cards and Christmas letters from friends you do not see very often, but always hear from during Christmas. It is also fun to think about how a certain friend has helped you or just sat and listened to you vent out about a bad day. I recently had one of those!! I am so blessed to have special people in my life that help me along. I thank God for each one!

Friends are the greatest of God's gifts. John cautions us to love our friends and treat them as children of God. Take time to tell your friend what he means to you!

The above photo is of our friend Bobby Jean. She lives in Montana. We do not get to see her as often as we would like. But the visits we do have are blessings! She is a great story teller and will be sure to make you smile!

To all of our friends....I am sending a big Hug to you!

God Bless!   Happy Monday!!

Tin Can Luminaries

The Christmas decorations are coming down and the house may need a little light. I have a fun craft to fill that need. Tin Can Luminaries, they are easy and fun. Our boys loved doing them.

You'll need:

clean empty tin cans

pattern of what you want to draw

permanent marker

hammer and large nail

craft wire

spray paint - your choice of color

tealight candles

Trace your pattern on to the can

Fill your cans with water and freeze. Must be completely frozen.

Remove from freezer and punch dotted lines along designs using a hammer and nail. If hanging the lanterns are desired, punch 2 holes in the rim of the can on opposite sides. Let ice melt and completely dry.

Spray paint can and add handle. Insert the wire into the holes along the rim. Twist the ends to secure.

Place candle in each tin.

Enjoy, on a winters night.

 

 

The boys loved the hammer and nail step to the project. It was a lot of fun.

Please Snow!

I know some of you would like to hit me for saying, Please Snow! But I can not stand this weather! I am dreaming of skiing. I look out at our ski rack and say to myself, soon, we will be skiing soon! We have to be skiing soon! (We just put our ski's outside last week, hoping it would bring snow) My boys are begging for snow. They have been praying for snow! They are saying winter is NO fun without snow! Help! Maybe a vacation to the Michigan's Upper Peninsula will help? The UP will have snow, right? We are having a mild winter...it is amazing to have the temperatures we are. Most people are very happy about the weather. It is just the strange folks like me, who are complaining. Just teasing! But, I would like snow!

 

Favorite Decorations

We will have our tree up till the weekend. I always miss the decorations when we take them down. It is never as fun taking down as it is putting up! I have to think of a creative way to change that! Any ideas?  Wanted to share with you a couple of my favorite decorations.

On our America tree! God Bless America!

Happy Campers. I just love this little camper. It has a back window too. It is decorated with a wreath.

Celebrate!

2012

 We celebrated the coming of 2012 a bit early. We did our firecrackers and sparklers at 9:00pm! Snow was just starting to fall!! It was a beautiful evening! We move into 2012, a time for new ideas, to work towards dreams and change habits. 

Happy 2012 and best to you as we start fresh in a New Year! Reach High!

Atticus wondering how the snow will respond to the sparkler! It is so much fun to be a curious boy!

Happy 2012! Thank you for reading my blog in 2011! I hope to continue to inspire you in 2012! Happy New Year!!