Now I'm am in full swing with the Salvation Army Kettle Campaign. The Kettle Kickoff was Friday, November 18th and it was a huge success. I had the County Board Supervisor Chairman there, along with the Middle School Band and our "Stuff the Van" campaign. I wish I wouldn't have been such a dope and remembered to take my camera. But alas, I seem to be forgetting it a lot these days. I managed to take it over 300 miles to my Mom's house during deer season, but I did not manage to take any pictures. Sigh.
Anyhow, I think I have some serious back tracking to do, so I will crack open my daytimer and try to recall what the fam-damily has been up to. Let's see.... back in October... oh yeah - Mikey's visit and the Stroede family "Thanksgiving"!
Mike was coming up for the T-Zone deer hunt that weekend so I invited Mikey along as well. It gave us a chance to bond with the little guy. I took Thursday and Friday off, as they arrived on Wednesday night, and it was wonderful. He is absolutely too precious for words. A wonderfully happy boy who charmed our hearts. I will get the pictures on the website soon, I took just a few! :-) He had so much fun playing in my tupperware cabinet and kitchenware drawer, he helped me dust and vacuum and he loved Sadie. Too bad Sadie doesn't like kids. Bath time was a hoot and Mikey was thoroughly spoiled by his Aunt Taylor and Uncle Nick. I'm hoping to get to do it again soon, hopefully when there is lots of snow and we can sled.
For the past several years Joe (Michael's brother) & Beth and kids come up to our house the last weekend in October. It seems to be the only weekend in the whole year when neither of our families have sports/school commitments. So my fabulous sister-in-law Beth dubbed that weekend as "our's", every year, and last year we decided it would be our Thanksgiving with turkey, stuffing, pumpkin pie and the whole nine yards. It's a wonderfully low-key weekend with lots of good conversation, laughs, playing and ... tons of college football. Joe is a SERIOUS fan of football and I never realized just how many games are on in a day. :-O In fact, on Saturday night when we were playing cards in the dining room he pulled it up on the internet to keep track of the scores! It was too funny. But what's more amazing is that he has Taylor and Nick addicted to it now too. Groan. I'm amazed how they STILL put it on the computer on Saturdays so they can track all the games. Taylor doesn't even like football! But I have to admit, it's pretty cool. Technology is amazing. However, Joe and Beth still managed to kick our butt's in '500'. Sigh.
Michael also got a chance to get out deer hunting that weekend with his buddies for T-zone, and on Sunday we all watched the Packers lose. Or was that the game they won? Don't remember but we love our Pack anyway. And how about that new guy Samkan Gado? I LOVE THE NAME! It's sooo much fun to say and I personally think he's adorable. A true definition of an athlete and role model. Bet he won't make it long. OH - did I say that? Shame on me. ANYHOW - we had a wonderful visit once again. Thank you so much for coming Stroede's. That weekend means so much to us every year. It's one we mark on the calendar in January.
Away they went after the game and the next day brought... Halloween! It was most likely Taylor's last so we wanted to do it up right. We had a great time! Fortunately the weather was perfect for Trick or Treating and Taylor and Nick made a haul. Full size candy bars! Tay was a wicked queen and Nick was a hunter. I will get those on soon too.
As for the rest of the weeks/weekends, we worked on getting wood cut. The first weekend we made about 6 trips to the forest to get loads of wood, and then spent the following day cutting it all to length with the chainsaw. Tay and Nick loved that part. Michael has a smaller chainsaw so they each took turns. Again, I have pics. The following weekend was for splitting. We rented a splitter and they loved that even more! So much so that they now want us to do wood every year and sell it to make money. The little mizers think that (continued on next page)
