Catch Up Time!

Okay, we haven't blogged for a LONG time! I've had several people tell me in the last few months that they miss it though so I will try to do a few more posts than in the last year!

Probably the same where you live, but the news this week is the bitter cold! We've had quite a few days now where it hasn't reached 0 degrees F. My father-in-law keeps a thermometer in the valley behind our house and one morning it said 59 below!!! That happened one other time in my memory. It's been tough on the cows, and the water pipes to the cows. Poor Arthur is pretty busy keeping them with fresh drinking water.  

Backing up to Christmas, I had fun making a special pillow for each of the older grandchildren with my new Cricut machine.

The Christmas highlight was having Nate and Hosanna come up for a whole week with their adorable little Ruth. By the way, Hosanna is expecting again!

In January our nephew Josh, who has been on this blog a lot over the years, and Priscilla's friend Jessica got married! What a beautiful wedding with two of the sweetest people!!! I can't wait to see what God has planned for their lives.

It doesn't matter how cold it is, Arthur keeps on working, and anyone else he can get to help. Last week, he got a bunch of firewood with Eli and some grandsons. I hear their going out again today. Brrr! And I'm freezing in the house!

For Valentine's Day I made everyone in the family a hot chocolate bomb. They were so fun to make even if it took me a long time. I'd like to perfect them a little and then maybe sell some at the maze.

Speaking of the maze, this is the first 2021 project for the maze getting worked on in our kitchen. I also had the fun of attending a virtual agritourism conference. Getting together, even if its online, with a bunch of other maze owners is so much fun. Everyone shares their ideas and what works for them. They share pictures and farm video clips. Plus there were lots of workshops.  My brain is "amazed" at all the things we could do! My family wasn't so enthusiastic!

At our church we've been having a ping pong tournament. Pretty much everyone is in it from young children to us older ones. It has been so much fun watching people play that we don't normally see play. 

So that's about it for now. A quick catch up on the last few months. Again, I will try to do better. I actually like blogging way better than facebook because I like to write more than people read. I hope you all stay warm, and count your blessings from God, and name them one by one!

 

4th of July / Shower / Blessings

Here it is, our "Lumberjack" parade float! I really thought Paul Bunyan, made by Eli, was pretty cute! Babe, the ox, not so much. It doesn't matter what I can draw, I cannot draw an oxen for anything! Finally Arthur made it after many attempts on my part, and then I ruined the face because I can't draw an oxen's face either! Josh amazed everyone by walking behind, juggling.

And then the fabulous maze crew passed out ad cards! More than any other year! See the silly face on Babe? I tried, really I did. Maybe I can fix it before the Roseau parade!

We had a 4th of July picnic at Arthur's parent's place with lots of great food and fellowship! 

On Saturday, Hosanna's sisters gave her a bridal shower at our church. Priscilla did a couple of games, including a "How we do you know Nate and Hosanna" and wedding emoji one. Naomi, Aimee, and Miriam made a salad bar and ice cream and brownie dessert. Karen and Rebekah decorated, and it was very pretty!  Grandma Krahn did a devotional. And everyone brought such nice gifts. As soon as Hosanna got home she unpacked everything and took pictures to show Nate and then repacked everything, really tight, to make sure there is room for everything! Arthur is bringing all of Hosanna's stuff down to Ohio later this month, with Hosanna of course! And the big day is August 3rd!!!

This is the front of the ad cards the maze staff passed out. If you live anywhere close, we'd love to have you come out! Oh, this really isn't the card we passed out! (Just noticed by previewing this post) The ad cards we passed out had 2019 instead of 2018 on it!

This is the back side of the card. To be honest, I really struggle with announcing all the things we're doing before we are even ready! It's just a little scary!  But God is faithful and somehow it always gets done.

Speaking of God being faithful, Arthur was working on the concession stand and we needed to get some flooring and a small freezer. We didn't have the budget to get them right away. Anyway, the next day, Arthur was mowing lawns with Aaron and heard someone call for him. He looked up and it was "Spud" who had just taken out some linoleum from a house he was remodeling and wondered if Arthur could use the old one. Yes! Then he kept mowing and saw a small freezer, the perfect size we were looking for, in a guy's yard for sale! God is so faithful!

 Then we decided a couple days later that we really needed some money. Remember we got rid of the dairy cows? Well, we haven't had a regular check since then and haven't had any problems because, again, God is faithful! Well, the same day we decided we needed to find some money, expecting that we should ship a couple cows, three different people who owed Arthur money showed up and gave him some. We hadn't expected any of it anytime soon! God just delights in doing this kind of thing! 

I think more than anything, God was using these blessings to confirm that we are suppose to be doing the maze this year. Our prayer was, that if we weren't suppose to do it, that God would not fund it. Our plan was to plow ahead until God stopped us, which I kinda thought He might! But no, He has confirmed to us again and again, we're on the right track.  So thankful!

One last thing, as a mother, Monday's are always hard after busy Sundays. I don't know if I'm alone in this opinion or not, but my wisdom for today is, "Schedule easy things on Monday!" That's why I'm blogging today. That's why I go through emails. That's why I do all those no-brainer things on Monday! That's why when the kids were young, instead of making Friday's school easy, we made Monday easy!  Just thought you might like the wisdom from this quickly-getting-older lady!:)

Have a great week everyone!

This and That!

February is going so fast! Backing up just a bit, Priscilla had fun decorating Valentine cookies this year. Usually the older girls made them so this was her first try at decorating with tips.

Arthur has been working with the grandsons on skating a little this winter and to help them learn the game of hockey, he has been playing road hockey with them. The cousins have so much fun together!

We are milking a couple of cows for us and the rest of the family. We've had a lot extra lately so Hosanna tried her hand at making butter using our butter mold from Lehmans. Well, she used the blender to make it, but used the mold to shape it! Plus a lot more!

Hosanna also thought she'd try her hand at making Colby cheese. Here she's waxing it for the long wait to see how it turns out! The recipe says to wait a month before eating. A long month! Aimee and Isaac have been keeping us supplied in mozzarella cheese as well from the fresh milk.

When the granddaughters come over they always want a tea party. 

The younger grandchildren playing together.

Arthur and the older grandsons on the wood pile and a tree that fell over.

Did I mention that I drew the 2019 maze design the other day?! That's always a Whoo Hoo! moment for me, and a start to maze prep!

I was looking at the great amount of snow we have this year, and thinking what a miracle God preforms every spring. The frozen trees get leaves. The frozen flower roots come to life and make new flowers. Even the frozen bugs come back to life! Pretty amazing!!

Have a wonderful day and enjoy the weather wherever you're at that God sends your way!

Christmas 2018!

It's been a really busy Christmas this year! We started off with Christmas on my side of the family and had a family picture taken since we were only missing one person. We had brunch together and then just visited, played games, etc.

The yearly sister photo before the Christmas Eve program. Such beautiful ladies with beautiful hearts!

Nate and Hosanna! Nate came up for a week to visit his sweetheart!

Jubilee and Jeriah ready for the Christmas Eve program.

Gideon.

Daniel with Esther M. in an angelic poise!

Amos was Gabriel.

Priscilla enjoyed singing in the choir.

Isaac played the part of Herod. It was such a good program with a great message. A big thank you to the J. family for organizing it!

Yesterday we had our family Christmas. Samuel is wearing Cilla's hat and looks so adorable!

The gift mess!

We gave the kids matching pjs. Some of them didn't make it on the picture but it was hard enough getting this many to smile and look at the camera! Still, they were adorable!!

Samuel all dressed up for the Christmas Eve program. He was enjoying showing everyone his tie.

Arthur spent the evening holding the newest little one, Martha!

So it has been a busy and good Christmas. I love spending time with family and seeing the excitement on the kids faces as they get together with cousins. Brings me way back to my childhood and how excited we were to see our cousins at Christmas!

We still have Arthur's family get-together yet next week. Meanwhile it was, is, my birthday today so I have had a great day just relaxing and enjoying the season before its back to regular life next week! Despite the busyness and stress of the season, I am so thankful for the freedom to celebrate Christ's birth. Have a great weekend everyone!

Easter /Maze

Before Easter, we did the old familiar "egg carton tulips" with some of the grandsons. Remember making those?

Spring just isn't coming very fast and Priscilla just couldn't wait for a roasted marshmallow! Actually, Arthur was burning some brush and it just looked like a good thing to do!

The girls and I made some small Easter baskets for the grandkids and we thought they turned out pretty cute. 

Easter morning we all came downstairs dressed in pink so we had a picture taken. We had a great breakfast at church followed by a great message about the Resurrection of our Savior! I love Easter! I love the hymns we sing and I enjoy messages about the cross and empty tomb. I love the reminder about why and how much we have to be thankful for!

I also love Easter dresses! I remember as a girl my mom would always sew us girls new Easter dresses which made the day even more special. Then we went over to our grandparents for Easter dinner either here or up in Winnipeg. Grandma Giesbrecht would hide Easter eggs all over the house and made even the adults looks for them! Then we would sing some Easter hymns and eat, and eat! 

We had our children, my parents and an aunt and uncle over for dinner. That's a lot of people so we used both the kitchen table, dinning room table, and set up two in the living room.

Miriam holding little Grace.

The kids loved the little baskets. Heidi would "crack" the eggs before opening them!

And then there was naptime!

Meanwhile, work on maze things progresses. These are some sticky note books to sell in the Granary. So fun and quick to make!

And these are the mini sticky note books. These were so fast to make and just adorable!
Yesterday I also, finally, sat down and started making the maze design. I had been putting it off because I just wasn't sure what to make since its our tenth year and I thought it should be special. Well, I'm not sure its that special, but it turned out nice even though it looks like the hardest one we will have ever cut. Not necessarily the hardest to go through, but hardest to cut because of all the curves. Straight lines are so much nicer! 

Well, I need to get going! Have a wonderful day in the Lord and remember that we can celebrate Easter every day!!
  
Up from the grave He arose!

Easter and Bathroom Re-do!

We had my family at our house this year for Easter. I was a too busy to take a lot of pictures but I got a few. My sister Kim brought these adorable "nests" for all the kids, as well as Cherries in the Snow and a Caramel Apple Dessert. Mmmm! This was after we had a very nice service at church this morning celebrating the Resurrection of our Lord!

After a big meal, you need to sit back and relax!

This is my Uncle Norman holding his great, great niece Heidi.

Backing up a bit, our project for January / February was to redo our downstairs bathroom. And how badly it was needed! Well, we didn't get it started until early April and then we really had to hurry to get it usable by Easter. This is a before picture. There were actually mirrored doors over this tiny closet.  Cracked mirrored doors! In layers, there was lath and plaster, wallpaper, foam, old linoleum, and some paneling.  I know this will grieve a lot of you, but I suggested Arthur put the sheet rock over all the layers. For some reason I love knowing the history of the house is buried for future re-doers to find! On the top left you can see where there was probably a light at one time. We always wondered what the switch was for in the kitchen, and now we know!  It's a plug in now!
We had a lot of problems with pipes breaking, plumbing leaks, wiring challenges, unsquare walls, etc.

And this is how it looks after we got done. I didn't have time to stain the shelves. I kinda like them like this. Anyway, I don't have time to change them for now so it will have to do. The things that were in the closet now are stored in the baskets. Spray paint make the toilet holder and towel rod match the dark woodwork. The paint is called Canterbury Cream. I wanted to do a tile floor but it just didn't happen this time.

And this is the rest of the bathroom. Arthur cut the mirror down and added a frame. I also spray painted the light fixture. We couldn't fit sheetrock behind the toilet so we put milkhouse board behind the toilet and sink area. There are still a few little things we need to do, but I'm just happy that it looks so much better than before! I'm thankful for a handy husband as well!

When we moved into this house about 26 years ago, this little corner off the kitchen was the laundry area. We moved the laundry upstairs, best thing we ever did in this house, and made the little bathroom with supplies we could afford at the time. It was really nice for little ones who struggled to make it to the bathroom fast enough as it's the only bathroom downstairs. 

Don't you just love the cute little chicks on the shelf?! Yes, Priscilla, that's your mug I used!

And the big metal flower came from Hobby Lobby.

I really wanted to get rid of the old pocket door which was a thin hollow core door. I found an old house door in the garage from years ago and it worked just right for the bathroom. A little paint and it looks as good as ever.  Someday I'll stain and varnish the other side because it doesn't look too good right now.

Well, I hope you all had a wonderful weekend remembering the victory we have in Jesus! Just remember, we can, and should be celebrating it every day!! Have a good one!