Life on the farm

Well it’s time to take down the inside decorations and that means also the tree. It was hard to think that it’s time to do this because today was a dreary day outside with all the rain going on. 

But even though our tree really never dropped any needles, I was ready to have it go outside for it’s new purpose now as a hiding spot for the bunnies in the back yard. And as much as I like having it up, it’s just as nice having it taken down to put the room back in order. I usually plan on having the outside lights on until Three Kings Day and this year that date is January 6th. I think most everyone turns their lights out way before this, but oh well, I guess I’ll keep them wondering how long we’re going to leave them on 🙂 

We really had a great Christmas this year once again. From the first weekend of December with St. Nicolas Day with my whole family which means around 55 to 60 people, to having our kids here to enjoy our own Christmas together. Now to be honest this week some of the meals were just thrown togetherbut I don’t think anyone cared too much about that. We even had some New York bagels expressed delivered from… New York, for a breakfast sandwich one of the mornings to homemade noodles for beef soup one night.

We made some bath fizzys and lotion to head back with the kids and I’m not going to say who won the annual Card Game ….but I’m thinking you can guess who was the WINNER! BAM! 

So with the Holidays over and taking the kids to the airport for their trip backit’s time again for the 5 day work weeks. But I’m thinking it’ll be May real soon and William & Jude’s wedding will be here before we know it.  It’s going to be a really fun Spring!! 

I know that everyone always says where does the time go, but honestly how can William be graduating already from college? I mean it was just yesterday when we were making trips back and forth to our local high school for one thing or another and now he has a college cap and gown hanging on his bedroom closet door!

We ended up driving up the night before his graduation because the first ceremony was starting early in the morning and we didn’t want to be late because of the weather. And man oh man that was a good call! We took the truck because we weren’t sure how our gravel roads would be when we got back home and when we were leaving for Ames that night we had already about 10 inches of new snow at our farm. But as we were driving the weather was a little warmer going south and then for the life of us we couldn’t keep the windshield clean of ice. The heater was cranked as high as it goes and it was so hot in the cab I was literally worried about the eggs that we were bringing with us. But you had to keep it so hot to try to keep the ice at least somewhat off the bottom of the windshield so you could see when you were driving. So when we finally got to the kids, we were glad that we didn’t have to try that drive early in the morning tomorrow and all we had to do that night was to kick back and hang out.

The photo below is one of the Jumbotron at the stadium while we were waiting for the second ceremony to start. We got there pretty early because the weather was still terrible outside and that meant we had a lot of time to kill. It’s a picture that I put out on Twitter of William that the college picked up and put on the Jumbotron. Now ours wasn’t the only one that they posted, and we did pick a nice picture to submit.  

But with that said, you know the feeling that you get when you’re either watching your kid in a musical, sports, or a concert? Well it’s the same feeling that I felt while waiting for them to call his name at graduation. You try not to look too anxious, but inside you’re just busting at the seams. And guess what? When I looked around I was sure that I wasn’t the only one feeling that way. There was a lot of proud parents and friends there that I know also were pretty excited. 

Once the ceremony had started and all the graduates walked on stage for their diplomas, they all took out their streamer horns and shot them off at once. It was VERY cool! The first picture is just when the first streamers were flying – William is in this picture but it’s hard to see him. We were literally straight across from him during the ceremony.  

This picture is one of when the streamers were almost gone and the end of the program. 

It was such a great weekend and I couldn’t be more proud!  I am very excited for him to start his next adventure in his life and I know that he’ll do well.

Congratulations William!!!

As we said Good Bye to the Pacifica, we knew that she was a good car and it was time. 

We all agreed that this was one of the best cars that we’ve had – and let me tell you that we did have a lot of cars these past 30+ years. 

See this is the first (and probably will be the only) car that we had special ordered back on 5/12/2005. And it came at a perfect time. We hardly had the car a month and took it on a family trip up for a week touring Michigan and the surrounding states up north. It was the beginning of a great relationship.

Now if you don’t believe that your car is in a relationship with you, well I beg to argue. 

Our cars not only take our kids back and forth to their school practices, they are ready to haul them to the early school classes, vacations, it also would go to and from the airports for family vacations or pick someone up that needed a ride. It hauled tons of friends of our kids for overnight birthday parties, was always filled with some type of band instrument, went to a lot of college performances, was expected to go through a snow storm from Chicago when all plows were pulled off the road, made it through one of the worst ice storms when our parents were with us going to Pella for a concert, headed to and from work … and that’s just some of the things!  

So when it’s time to put her ‘down’ it’s never a good thing. Even though last summer we were really excited when it turned 200,000 on 5/7/2015 almost 10 years to the day that we bought her, we knew this summer when the transmission was slipping we had to do something. Now if it was up to me, I would like to have her repaired, but then we’d have a car with 261,889 miles that I’m guessing probably needed more work. 

And when we were leaving the junk yard and they were going to use the fork lift to move it to the strip down area –  I just couldn’t look back . What a good car and we’ll miss her. 

Now normally the day after Christmas isn’t too exciting right? Well that’s not the case in our house. Right now the Christmas tree is lit in the living room, the village is all decorated on top of the cupboards in the kitchen, and the oven is on waiting for the pumpkin roll and ham to be put in.

So what’s so great about the day after Christmas in our house? Well it’s the day that we are going to celebrate Christmas with the kids.

After Skyping with the kids last night to confirm their travels plans from New YorkDaryl left very early this morning for Minneapolis early to pick them up at the airport. I was so glad that our gravel roads improved overnight. They were the worst that either one of us ever saw last night! We were worried with all the slush and snow on the road that we wouldn’t make it home. Whew! We did, but it wasn’t fun – just saying! 

And right now the house is pretty quiet because the kids are still sleeping. And for me? Well the chores are done outside, and I’m fussing around the house to get it ready for the day. 

And the plan for our day is to chill out in the morning, open presents in the afternoon, and then watch The Christmas Carol tonight and play some games. 

This year was the year of change for us. See it was only Daryl and I home on Christmas Eve which literally was the first time in 30 years! Crazy right? Well we weren’t sure what our game plan was, so we went to Christmas mass at our church, wrapped presents, and then headed over to Ma’s to meet up with my brothers and their families for a quick get together. On Christmas day my sister was hosting a ‘Whoever can make it’ dinner at her house and it turned out really nice and I think we all ate wayyyy too much!  So you can say we’re figuring out this next stop pretty well!  🙂

But today – today is when all the kids are home and we get to celebrate Christmas.

It’s the year of BIG gifts it looks like!

So I hope you have a Merry Christmas with your families, either if you’ve already had it or if it’s still yet to come!  Bonnie

It was an early morning when everything finally was ready for the party today. Just an FYI – when your turkey package says that it’s takes an average of 3 to 4 hours to cook take note the ‘average time’. I have no idea how long one of the two turkeys took to cook, but I was sure glad that that little pop up thing finally gave in. I didn’t want to serve uncooked turkey and possibly make 55 to 60 people sick, but I have to confess I was thinking pretty bad things about these two turkeys in the early morning hours today! 

Now let the party begin! The room is ready

And now the special guest has arrived. See our family celebrates St. Nicolas day and it’s a great tradition if you ask me. As you’ve probably have noticed over the years, having traditions are really important to me. Now granted sometimes they change and have to adapt to different situations, but still they can be a tradition. For our family we celebrate St. Nicolas Day which is really on December 5th/6th but have changed to having it on a weekend when everyone can make it.

So with around 55 to 60 people in the Roadhouse we had a great party! First was St. Nicolas and all the kids gathered around to share with him their wish list for Christmas. Then it was time to eat and with TONS of good food for dinner.  I’m just saying that everyone in our family really knows how to cook. Good for us right?

After everyone’s belly was full it was time for gifts. Everyone brings a gift to share and once your number is called you can either pick a gift or steal a gift. It usually gets pretty loud in there and by this time you can’t even hear the kids in the back playing games and air hockey. There is so much laughing and joking it’s so much fun! 

Well the day had to come to an end and now with all the guests gone, Daryl and I had to head out to the neighbors for a card party. Man I’m thinking that I’m going to be tired tomorrow. And as we are just leaving I take a quick look at the farm and think to myself, What a great day!