The Big Bang To End November

 To finish this supposedly "quiet month" as I always call it, we went out with a big bang with a week of celebrating and cooking, and eating, and did I mention celebrating?  First, our oldest kiddo Jackie had a milestone birthday.  He turned 50!  Seriously? How did that happen so fast?  I remember when I turned 50 and I thought for sure it was only a few years ago. Certainly not 22 years ago!  He was very adamant that there be no surprise parties and frankly he wanted no parties.  But his daughter, Summer, asked if they could please have a party for him.  He can't say no to his sweet kids so celebrate we did.  And we did it here.  Knowing I was also hosting Thanksgiving it was a bit busy!  Jackie was supposed to be born at the end of January but thought Thanksgiving week was better!  Weighing in at only 2lbs, 10oz 50 years ago, it was truly a blessing he wasn't born with cerebral palsy or any other problems that could have occurred. There wasn't the technology then that we have now for preemies. We even had to cut cloth diapers to fit! No pampers that small back then.  His first hospital pic was taken about a month after he was born. I thought he was adorable but he was super tiny!

 

But he grew up super cute too!

Wearing his vintage 1974 hat!  Happy birthday Jack III....yep, he's the third Jack!  After this gathering, everyone returned on Thursday for turkey day!

John (Lexi's boyfriend), and sister, Rae.

Jack, Phil, Jackie, and Jonathan, (Driana's hubby) eating pie later in the day.  In the background is Driana, also eating pie but she's eating for two! Yep, come Spring we'll be Great YaYa and Great PawPaw!  I didn't take any more pics and I really need to up my photo taking duties! We did have lots more family here.  Around 16 total so I'll try and do better at Christmas!  To finish up the week our boys came by yesterday and spent the morning helping Jack get wood in and get the wood burning furnace up and running.  

The city delivers a big dump truck load if you want, for a reasonable price.  Not going into the woods to cut our own is good.  But still, it's a lot of work with splitting, stacking, hauling, and stacking and splitting some more! You can't see it here, but the barn has stacked wood all around it on the sides that get sun.  We leave the north side open.  Anyway, many hands made quick work and they did great! I made them lunch, and we had fun as well as using up calories gained on Thursday!  So now I'm getting all the fall and Thanksgiving decor put away and the Christmas stuff will be next.  Whew! Busy time of year but I'm truly thankful for so many blessings.  My family, friends, blog buddies, and pets too!  Speaking of pets, today Annabelle went with us to ring the Salvation Army bell again this year. 

With her Santa "Paws" sweater on she was ready for the task! She received many pets from folks and this year we brought her stroller so she could get off the cold floor during the hour we were there.  The comments from people were "Spoiled"?  Yeppers, she is!  Bye Bye November!  This year has sure flown!

A Little Farewell

 I just wanted to post a little note about our granddog, Happy.  He joined the family 11yrs ago as 2yr old rescue of our granddaughter, Summer.  She took good care of that little dude but he started having some health issues this year.  Sadly, he passed away on Sunday.  My son, Jack, was also one of Happy's people that he loved.  Happy was one of our constant paw brigade at all our family gatherings.  I always joked we had the small, Happy, the medium, any of our rescues at the time...Chubs, Arnold, and now Annabelle, and the extra large, Kip! 

Summer and Happy on one of her birthdays.

Happy and Summer last November on a shopping day with us. So long little Happy.  You will be missed this year at the holiday gatherings.  We're having a little farewell ceremony for him on Tuesday as everyone will be here to celebrate our son Jack's 50th birthday.  Since Happy was such a big part of Jack's life too, he didn't mind doing that on his birthday.  Say hi to all our paw pals at the rainbow bridge.... Ferris, Eddy, Chubs, and Arnold.  We miss them all.

Home Again, Home Again

Midge and I made it back to Chicago last Friday.  Once back to her home ground we put together the things needed for her charity event on Sunday.  It was a pancake breakfast at her Church after Sunday Mass.    For a $5 donation folks got pancakes, bacon, sausage, scrambled eggs and a fresh fruit cup.  Orange juice and coffee too.  Plus, everyone was encouraged to donate canned goods or dry goods for the food pantry. All the money received was also being donated.  My sister's company donated all the food that we made plus lots of canned goods.  We served around 90 people, and everyone seemed to enjoy the food! Not sure I want to eat or see bacon or sausage again for a while! 

 We set the room up with the colors of fall.

This table was set up to receive the donations of food.  It was a lot of work, but you felt good knowing that food would be provided for people in need.  These are tough times for families, and the shelters and food pantries really appreciate donations.  Once everything was done on Sunday we went back to the house for some R&R.  I don't know about where you live, but the weather was turning more Christmas than fall!   A big snowstorm was heading into the Chicago area.  I was scheduled to head back home yesterday and was a bit worried about the snow.

We woke up to this on Sunday with more on the way.  I watched the weather channel closely, but Monday morning came and the worst of it had passed.  I decided to go home and prayed the roads would be good.  They were a little dicey at the Indiana border but after that it was clear sailing all the way back home.  So, I was happy to have the time to be a help on that project but also very happy to be home.  Annabelle and Jack seemed happy to see me back too!  The cold is still hanging on today but a slow warm up is coming and by the end of the week we'll be in the high 50's.  That will feel like a heat wave!  Now on to preparing for Thanksgiving in a few weeks.  Not sure how many we'll have for dinner that day but on Tuesday before Thanksgiving Day, my oldest son will be 50!  Yikes!  We're going to celebrate with him and his family on the 25th.  It will be crazy to do two celebrations in the week but that's a big milestone birthday.  I'll blog more about our son Jack in a few weeks.  I hope all is well in your neck of the woods and you have a wonderful week!

It's "NO" vember

 I read that it's NOvember and we should say NO to whatever doesn't bring us joy.  Like cleaning? Like dieting? Like people who make up crazy things like NOvember?  Well, my fave month of October came and went in a big orange flash.  It was full of beautiful weather.

The colors on these trees are amazing and this photo doesn't do it justice.

The barn is red and the trees are complimenting it!

Orange as the sun goes down. The dry weather was broken up with some rain, thankfully, and a mix of mild as well as chilly days.  The kiddos here in Ashland had trick or treat on the Thursday before Halloween.  It did rain and was pretty chilly.  Many of the little burbs around here changed the trick or treat to November1st but the kids here are tough, I guess.  Of course, some folks were not happy, but the kids didn't seem to mind!  After my Halloween trip to Chicago, Midge and I headed back to Ohio and she was able to spend the week with us. We didn't do anything really crazy but we did enjoy just hanging out together and visiting some shops around town.  We took some nice walks with Annabelle and hiked through the Creepy Woods enjoying the crunch of the leaves, the colors of the trees and peace and quiet of the day.  However, one bad thing happened after those hikes.  Midge got a tick on her neck! It was pretty embedded, but we did get it out.  I really hope no problems happen because of it. It's been a bad year for ticks and I feel awful that she had to experience it.  This morning we took off early and headed back to Chicago so she could be home for an event at her Church on Sunday.  I'm helping her with that and then I'll head for home on Monday.  That's the day our area is supposed to get our first snowfall.  Figures, I'll be driving in that!  No good deed goes unpunished!  I'm still enjoying being with her though so no worries.  I do miss Jack and Annabelle as they stayed home.  So that's about it for the first week of our November.  One thing I failed to mention last week.  Midge and I didn't just dress up for some Halloween fun.  We also took a pic for the Sunday Today Show for their Mug shots segment.

We don't know if we'll make the cut for the show but maybe if you watch it this Sunday you'll see us in all our glory! Ha!  Wish us luck! Have a good weekend everyone.