Sally

This is a picture of my niece Brooklynn with her brother Jayce on their new pony they got a couple months ago. The pony's name used to be Ghost but Brooklynn changed her name to Sally. Every time I see this picture I smile, so I thought I would share it with you all.

Hope you have a great THANKSGIVING! Praying all of you travelers have safe trips and everyone has some family or friend time together. We are celebrating this year at our home with my side of the family. I am very excited to see everyone!!

Monday's News

This weekend I went shopping in Rapid with my sister-in-law Tara and her baby Jayce. We had a great time! Our plan was to be home before dark... However, I pulled into my driveway at 10:30p.m. on Saturday night. I got a lot of Christmas shopping done and even splurged and bought some decor for my living room. I have been looking at a couple of pictures at Kohl's every time I am there and I finally broke down and bought them. :-)

On Sunday we headed to Chadron and bought groceries. Then I spent the afternoon cleaning and getting some stuff put up for Thanksgiving. We hit some awesome deals at Hobby Lobby on Saturday so I played "Martha Stewart" for a couple hours and gave it my best shot to decorate. I don't know how many times I was tempted to call neighbor Deb and ask for her help....I probably would have if she wasn't visiting her new grandbaby. (Congrats Deb!!) I had this great idea in my mind when I was buying stuff but when I got home and tried to put it all together, it was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be. Anyways, I had fun with it and am now ready for Thanksgiving to be held at my house this year.

My parents, all my siblings and their families will be joining us for Thanksgiving this year. I cannot wait to see everyone!! It's not very often all five of us kids can be together. I will have to take a lot of pictures!

This morning was a little different in our house. Josh started his first day as an employee for the State of Nebraska. We have been hoping and praying since June that the railroad would call everyone back but we all know how that has gone. So Josh has put in applications since then and we finally lucked out when he got the call for this job with a start date. After six months of him being home or around to help out at the drop of a hat, it will take some getting used to him being gone during the days. He was excited to start this new job and I am happy for him. :-)

Hope you all have a great week and don't have to work a lot. I have three days and then four off. I will enjoy it immensely! I wonder what kind of good deals are out there for Black Friday...

*Hunting*

Josh has been out hunting for the perfect deer the past few days. Kaitlin has went with him in the past and was a little bummed when he was going out without her with friends to hunt. Yesterday Josh went out with a friend in the morning and then came home at lunchtime. He waited to go back out after Kaitlin got out of school. Luck was on their side. Josh shot a 5x5 and Kaitlin thought it was the best thing ever! In her eyes as an eleven-year-old, she thought it was the "perfect" deer. :) Josh's mom and her friend came over last night and helped Josh and Kaitlin cut up deer meat. It went late into the night before they were finished. It was nice to see Kaitlin that excited!

We got some good news this past week as well. Josh has accepted a position with the State of Nebraska Dept. of Roads. He will begin his new job next Monday, November 23rd. The hours are great (until it snows) and we are looking forward to the employment. Unfortunately the railroad still has hundreds or people laid off so Josh was fortunate to receive this job with such few job opportunities out there.

WORDLESS WeDnEsDaY

Nursing Home Halloween

Kylah thought Jim Stolldorf was quite funny...the other trick-or-treaters didn't. Four generations: Susie, Nick, Josh and Rudy, Carter.
The kids with Great Grandma Susie.

Hula Girl, Optimus Prime, Devil

Maggie Mae...aka Devil Pup.

I took the kids to the nursing home during Halloween this year to see their great Grandma Susie. We stopped in a few other rooms on the way down the hall and had a fun time seeing some familiar faces and also meeting new ones too. The kids really liked this one lady in particular. She talked for a long time with them and then gave them each a hug when we left her room. It is kind of a magical feeling to see how loving my kids were with people who probably don't have a lot of family around. I know it was worth the smiles we received to have stopped in to visit everyone. After visiting them, we went to Grandma Susie's room for a treat and to visit her for a bit. Of course we got some pictures taken and we all enjoyed talking to her.

Our Newest Family Member

Goofy sleeping upside down. In his hammock.
Close-up

Alayna holding Goofy.

Carter and Kylah enjoying their new pet.

We have a new family member, or pet I guess I should say. His name is Goofy. He is a 3 year-old little boy ferret. He moved into our home on Halloween this year. The kids' papa got him and asked if we would like to have him. I went to PetSmart on Saturday and bought him a new cage to be in during daycare hours. Here is a few pictures.