He’s a man of many talents. And he makes delicious bread.

~~Rhonda

~~Rhonda

I wish I had more pictures to share, but my computer is down and I’m posting this from DH’s computer, so only have access to photos from my flickr pages.

My mother’s family. My mom is the one on the right.

My parents in high school.

Dad and Mom’s wedding day, 1951.

My family. Mom and Dad. Jonathan, Genny, me, Mary, Paula, Margaret, Andy.

We thank God for His promises.

When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” 1 Corinthians 15:54

~~Rhonda

“Pink’s my favorite!”

“I like blue.”

Sprinkles on toast are good, too. I said “smile” so she did.

On to haircuts. She kept repeating, “I don’t like a haircut. I don’t like a haircut.” But she sat still and did a great job.

Sister did well, too.

Then we cleaned up.

When haircuts were done, we got down to business. Time to hang the snowflakes in the kitchen! Twelve foot ceilings give us room to suspend three to four foot mirrored garlands with large snowflakes suspended from them. It’s always a hit with our guests.

It was fun to do this with the twins this year. And they LOVE to help! Everything is a big adventure for them. Every time we open another box of decorations, they say “Is this Christmas!?”

Twin2 was fascinated by the mirrored garland and kept trying to see herself in the little mirrors. Don’t you love her hat?

Pa’s little helper.

Mission accomplished!

It’s wonderful to have our son’s family nearby. It’s still odd to hear his voice calling “Mom?” when he pops in to say hi while in town on an errand. There’s a split second when I don’t remember he lives here now! And having the grands over for bits of every day life is great! It adds a lot of joy to our life!

~~Rhonda

In January, we savored a week of lovely weather in Florida, while home was hit with an ice storm. We were glad to get reports from friends that all was well at our house, though we did lose a redbud tree due to ice damage.

In April, we visited our older son and his family. We had a great time. The twins took up with us as though we lived next door and not half way across the country.

We celebrated our granddaughter’s thirteenth birthday while we were there.

During April and May, we watched seven baby foxes grow and play in our back yard. The parents decided our garage made a good den. The little ones were really cute, though they chewed on everything in sight! We’re hoping they won’t revisit the garage next spring! Once was fun, but also enough of a good thing.

In June, we rescued a tiny kitten after finding her on the back porch. She was skinny and dehydrated, but perked up quickly. After a week or so, she was looking much better. She has fit in well and we’re glad Amy is now part of the family.

Our older son and family came for a visit in July. While here, they asked us about the possibility of their moving to the family farm. That was easy! Yes!

When our oldest daughter returned home from her summer job in New York, she brought Cedar with her. Cedar is an orange kitten about the same age as Amy. It’s been all fun and games since. They have a great time chasing each other and wrestling. Their antics keep us laughing.

In September, our younger son was offered a great job opportunity with Woot.com, and he and his wife moved to Seattle, WA. We miss having them nearby. My thanks to them for the use of this great picture.

On the other hand, our older son told us his wife had a job with Whole Foods in St. Louis, and they planned to move to Illinois! In October, they moved to the family farm and now live only fourteen miles away. Which meant we were able to celebrate the twins’ fourth birthday with them.

It’s been an exciting fall for us! With frequent visits from the grands, we get help in the kitchen…

…help in the garden…

…and help with Christmas decorating! Not to mention all the other perks!

We look forward to more fun, visits and overnights with our three granddaughters!

We thank God for His goodness and grace throughout the past year and look forward to what He has for us in the coming year. Have a wonderful Christmas!

~~Rhonda and all

After the candles were placed on the cakes, they kept saying, “We need fire! We need fire!”

Have you ever seen anyone cut her ice cream with a knife? Had to have bite-sized pieces, you know.

Fun presents…jump ropes, coloring books, story books, and cookie and brownie play sets.

“It’s for baking!”

We had a great time. The day had been long for me. I was tired today, was having some trouble with pain in my right leg and right arm, and felt a bit over-whelmed by a few things. But my girls worked hard to make things come together. And it was all worth it in the end. We had so much fun. The twins are a hoot! Their excitement is very entertaining, and they make us laugh by the funny things they say. Laughter is the best medicine, right? It was a happy ending to a less than stellar day.

~~Rhonda

This afternoon we’ll see how that goes when she, et al, move into their new home and stay the night.

~~Ma

The bright yellow gold of the hickory tree was beautiful against the blue sky.

DH raked enough leaves to pad the wagon and we took the twins for a ride through the tiny woods and around the yard.

The crepe myrtles are so pretty this time of year. These shrubs and small trees are worth the garden space. They bloom late in the summer season for a long period of time and add wonderful autumn color.

A few autumn violets poked their faces above the rough end-of-summer plants under the apple trees.

The violets weren’t the only spring and early summer flowers blooming. The hydrangeas had a few stragglers, too.

The girls had fun. They climbed the mulberry tree…

and tried to catch butterflies on the asters.

When they got tired of riding in the wagon, they got out and walked for a while.

The Southern Oak behind the house has turned a bright gold this week.

The dogwood near the fenced garden is a particularly gorgeous red.

The beauty of God’s creation is always amazing, even in the waning season of autumn. And now, added to that blessing of beauty in the garden, we have the blessing of our son and his family living nearby. There is always something to be grateful for!

~~Rhonda

These grapes were particularly good. The girls finished them off in record time.

Sometimes the TV is a nice babysitter. A snack of Pa’s good homemade rolls and a nice Richard Scarry story equals quiet in the house. :-}

For a while anyway…

~~Rhonda

Photo by DD#3.

Photo by DD#3.

Photo by DD#3.

Photo by DD#3.

Indoor play is fun, too. Twin1 likes the little brown chair I used as a child. She sits in it at every meal and plays with it between!

Twin2 has the bread dough under control. She thought punching it down was more fun than forming the rolls.

I did a little reconstruction on some of the rolls before they went into the oven, but most of them baked “as is.”

The teddy roll was too hot to eat…so she blew and blew and blew…

They were very good about sharing the teddy roll. No complaints and lots of “I’m sharing!” was announced.

Their parents are due tomorrow evening with the moving truck. Twin2 keeps stating, “I don’t want to go back to my house. I want to stay at Pa’s house!” We’ll see how she feels about it after reuniting with her Mama after six weeks of being apart!

~~Rhonda / ~~Ma