Happy Birthday to our DIL, Janel!! (and my Gramma)..

Today is our older son's wife, our daughter in law, Janel's birthday. We took over pizza and yummy carrot cake cheese cake to celebrate at their house!

It was a fun time! Toooo much pizza and cheesecake, but ohhh was it ever DEEELICIOUS!



While we were there, John showed us his prized pumpkins he and the boys are growing... he's hoping to get one that weighs more than 500 lbs! It's a competition between himself and a few friends too, so that makes it even more fun!



They are growing pretty good so far... John has limited them to 3 ...but man are the VINES huge and all over the yard!





Not to be outdone...Jake showed me the giant cabbage plant he is growing in a planter on the front porch (he's hoping to win a $1,000 scholarship thru school for this - hope he gets it!!)... he also showed us his collection of toads... ewwww to the toads!!

Anyway...good times with our kids!! ...HAPPY BIRTHDAY JANEL... and many more!! Love you!! xoxox

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Today is also the anniversary of my Grandma's birthday, she died many years ago... but here's a photo from when she was a child that I have always loved... I have it hanging in my bedroom.... Happy Birthday Gramma!! xoxoxo

Grandson Friday!! On the eve of destruction... and ART!

What do you do with 3 grandsons on what looks like it may be a rainy day?

DESTROY SOMETHING and then MAKE ART out of it, that's what!

I was telling the grandsons how, when their Uncle Kaine was little, he liked to take apart old telephones and things just to see all the cool parts inside it.



They started feeling destructively constructive themselves, and so we set out to a couple of rummage sales to find something we could de-construct.... and then later, put back together in a new, interesting way! So, here are their finished masterpieces... and following are photos of how they got that way.





WAIT!! Take out the screws first before smashing it! *L*


Whoaaaa....look what's inside these things....





The guts of the things smashed... and the remains after the art is made...(still a lot more good stuff to use, guys!!) *L*






And the finished pieces on easels, ready for them to share. They said they wanted to give them to their mom, Janel, tomorrow for her birthday.

What budding artist grandsons I have!! And what fun it was for us all! xoxox

The Shack.... great book!!

A friend, Pat, lent me a book to read about 3 weeks ago or more... finally got around to starting it, and I could hardly put it down! But I had to so I could finish the doing the August Newsletter, but as soon as it was transmitted I finished the rest of the book.

I highly recommend it, but don't want to give some of it away, so check it out for yourself! here's a link online ... TheShackBook.com



Besides so many great things to ponder in the book, some of the things mentioned are making me re-think how I may be using my conjoined Trinity assemblage I have started working on...hmmmmm.....*S*

“Good friends are like stars.... You don't always see them, but you know they are always there.”

One of our long time GREAT friends, who I haven't seen in years, but John has, came to visit us over the weekend.
Bruce was down from upnorth (Siren, WI), for a family reunion, and stayed overnight with us. John usually goes to Siren a couple of times a year, for deer hunting, and then for a winter weekend usually in February. I haven't gone up with him for years however, so it was great to see Bruce again.

LOOOONG ago, before John and I were married, John and Bruce (and another friend of theirs) shared an apartment for a few months. Since that time we've been friends. When Bruce lived down here, we were often at his place or they were at ours.
Ahhhh, memories....



We went out to Tubby's while Bruce was here (thanks for treating, Bruce!!), then stopped over at some friends, Bill and Judy's where we finished off their wine supply..*L*.. and talked about old times (They used to live in the apartment downstairs in the same house). What a great circle of friends we have!

It was waaaay too short of a visit, Bruce left this morning, heading out in his spiffy bright yellow jeep! I should have taken some photos! Dang!
Anyway... Old friends are the BEST! TRULY!!
P.S. Bruce... you left your yellow shirt here ...I'll have to mail it, or you could come back down again to get it soon!

Tomato Tree - One Month Old

Thanks to the very warm, sunny weather and lots of rain (and my mom watering while we were gone), my tomato tree is doing GREAT!!

Here it is after planting it just one month ago.


And here are some of the yummy tomatoes - Mister T helped guard them while I ran inside to get the salt shaker...*G* Yummmmmmmmmmm

My Family Camping Ends... John's Family Reunion Begins

All good things must end.... *sigh* ... We packed up everything and headed toward home after a great long weekend with my side of the family..what a WONDERFUL WEEKEND!
We made reservations for next year already too!





We headed south, and stopped in Madison at the Karstetter Family Reunion. It was nice seeing everyone again. We usually only see each other at this reunion, or, unfortunately, at a funeral. It was good seeing those who were there, but sad to hear of the ill health of some who couldn't be there.

Here are a few photos from the Family Reunion Picnic.





We had a pot-luck lunch, a ticket drawing for items that everyone brought to donate, some fun items, some odd items. The kids all played together, and the adults all talked and reminisced.





God bless all the dear relatives, praying for those in ill health, and hoping we see each other for good times again soon~!





Oh, and by the way.... "NOOOO, that is NOT my ticket number Vickie!!!" heh heh... (family reunion joke) *G*

Saturday of Camping...it's a "Do Your Own Thing" Day...And MooseJaw for Dinner!

When we go to Hayward for our annual family camping trip, Saturday is usually do your own thing day. The families can go off on their own, or the guys go off and fish or the girls go off and shop or rummage sale. But since we are in the Dells area, things are a bit different. John, Kasey and I decided to stay at the campground in the AM and swim and relax. Others went to some waterparks, some went downtown to explore the stores, some went other places.

We were all to meet up at Moosejaw, a micro brewery and great restaurant in the Dells for dinner together.




We decided, after swimming, to take $20 each and head to the casino. We figured we'd only last there about 15 minutes with just $20, but we were there over an hour and a half...*L* All in all, we ended up coming out (collectively) with $40 more than we went in with. We had a drink at the bar there too and I even came home with a cool glass that lights up in 3 different colors! Pretty cool!! *L*

But Kasey was pretty much a loser there... as John indicated in this photo outside..*L* But it was a fun time non-the-less.



Since we started out so late, by the time we came out of the casino it was time to head to MooseJaw for dinner. While we waited for tables for 40, we ordered a sampler of the many types of beer they offer there, and everyone had fun sampling each one.








When we were seated, everyone had to put on their moose antlers and of course be photographed! Hey, it's tradition, dontcha know?!! *L*











The food was delicious!! We celebrated Hannah's BF Noah's birthday too!
We all had a great time!

And of course, we HAD to have a few sister photos along the way too!

Showcase Winner at ArtSlant...

I have some photos over at the ArtSlant, Chicago site and enter their showcase contests at times... I recently entered one of my older assemblages, "School Daze" there and received this in an email...

DEAR SHOWCASE ARTIST:

Congratulations! You have been selected as a Showcase Winner in Round #4 of the 2010 Showcase competition cycle!

The ArtSlant Curatorial Team is very pleased to welcome you into our special group of winning artists. Showcase Winners have been designated as promising artists by our team of professional art watchers.


THANK YOU ARTSLANT!!

If you visit my link to my profile, click on the "awards" button to see more.

Friday Nite Dinner at the Campground - Tacos!

After getting back from Devil's Lake, it was Pelnar's turn to host us all for dinner... build your own tacos!! Yummmm!!









Kids, nieces, nephews, grandkids... they now outnumber us adults!! *L*





Someone likes to use frosting for more than edible reasons.. my goofy sis, Peggy..*L*

And Uncle Matthew (our nephew) with his niece (my great-niece) Hailey...all one big happy family!! Thank you for our family!! Fun times!