Baby Mercy, Stitching & Lots of Autumn Activities!

More about this photo later :)

Wow, it has been almost a month since I updated here! I can't believe how fast time seems to be going lately. I think each year goes faster than the last. I must be getting old. :) It's almost Halloween! Then Thanksgiving and Christmas follow so quickly. Christmas this year will be pretty lean here. On top of all the other things that have happened this year with pay cuts etc, Jerry's boss decided he needs to be at work at 3:00pm now instead of 5:00pm. That means he can't do crossing guard in the afternoons so that pay is cut in half again. :( I really can't believe how one thing on top of another keeps happening this year. I'm anxiously awaiting the arrival of 2010. Hopefully things will be better. It started on New Year's Eve and hasn't stopped yet. (if interested you can go back and read blog posts since then)

Along with the bad comes the good. I need to focus more on that so I don't get too down. We have had several miracle like events in the family this year too. One was with my mother-in-law's health. The other is with my baby niece, Mercy. If you have been reading my blog you know she had a rough start. Mercy finally came home on October 11th. She was 3 weeks old.
She had to have a tube inserted in her stomach for feedings and seizure medicine.
Mercy is up to just over 11 pounds now and her mom says the doctors can't believe she is the same baby that was in the NICU. She still has a ways to go but she is starting to suck (not quite well enough for feedings yet),lifting her head and beginning to focus her eyes (before she just scanned her surroundings) She also passed her hearing test. Please continue to pray that she will make a wonderful recovery. :)

I have been doing a bit of stitching lately. Not as much as I would like. I was in a slump for a while but I think I have my mojo back now. :) Those of you that stitch probably know what I'm talking about. These were stitched in September. I didn't have the suggested flosses or buttons so I used the floss I had, some Halloween buttons and made the blue moon from clay.
I also stitched this back in September. I didn't have the suggested flosses or buttons for this either so I just used what I had. I have also been working (still!) on Amy's coffee pic. I WILL finish it, hopefully this week! I also finally found some fabric to finish some pieces into pillows. These pieces were from a Round Robin on one of my Yahoo groups. (I can't remember which group it was. So if you see your piece let me know, or if it's someone you know, tell them to come here and see the result!) These were stitched in 2008. I looked for fabric to finish them then, but couldn't find anything I liked. I found this fabric at Walmart this year. I love how they turned out! I stitched 'Fright Turn', Cherie L. from Utah stitched 'Stop for a Spell', Jana in Massachusetts stitched 'Ghost Crossing', and Kristi in Florida stitched 'Witch Way?'. These designs are from Lizzie*Kate 'Halloween Highway'. (you should be able to click on the photos to enlarge them)

On September 12th Jerry and I went to a Wisconsin Badger football game. This was my first college sporting event. Our seats were 40 rows up but it was a perfect day and we had a lot of fun. The Badgers beat Fresno State 34-31.

On October 3rd we went to Amber & Nate's house for a cookout on their new deck. Nate wasn't there because it was his friend's bachelor party day. Unfortunately it rained all day. :( We still had a cookout, but we'll have to wait till next spring to actually sit on the deck and eat. :p Amy, Louie & Little Louie were also there. Here are a few pics from that day.

Amber's Deck
Amy, Amber, Jerry & Louie
Josh, Little Louie & Maddie
Grillmaster Jerry, even in the rain :)
Little Louie & Maddie (we were watching the Badger game that day too. They beat Minnesota 31-28)
Since we couldn't go outside, we headed to the basement and the guys played pool.

On October 11th we made what has become an annual trip to Skelly's Farm market. This place has the most delicious homemade donuts! They make them there and when you get them they're still warm...yum! This time of year they have pumpkin and apple cider donuts. Add a cup of hot cider and I'm a happy girl. :) We didn't have time this year for the hay ride or the corn mazes (which are really cool!) because Little Louie had cub scouts later that day. Here are a few pics from that day.

Jerry & Little Louie
Little Louie

Amy, Louie & Louie

After the pumpkin farm we headed to an apple orchard and came home with a 22 pound bag of apples! I made an apple desert, applesauce in the crock pot and Emma and Louie made caramel apples. This was our first try making them. I thought it would be fun to have the 2 little kids come over and have a go at it. They had a lot of fun. :)





Hang in there, you're almost to the end! :) On October 18 we went to Devil's Lake State park. It's crazy that we both grew up in Wisconsin and this is the first time we went there. Amy and Amber's families have both been there before. We climbed the hills (mountains?) on one side of the lake. We decided to climb the hardest side because it's the prettiest. Amy and Amber both warned me that it was really hard and I would probably think I was going to have a heart attack. :) They were so right! They also said it would be worth it when we reached the top and they were right about that too! There was one part that was called Devil's Staircase. The steps were really high (not good when you have short legs) and really steep. That was the worst part of the climb. The trail up didn't look very long when you looked ahead and it always looked like we were almost to the top. Then we would get there and there would be more! It was amazing though and from the top you could see for miles.
Jerry and me
Little Louie When we got back down to the bottom we walked along the lake to get back where we started. The rocks were huge! This part of Wisconsin (the Wisconsin Dells area) was carved out by the glaciers during the Ice Age. Louie and Little Louie read a sign that said these big boulders were caused by water getting in the stone of the land. The water froze and broke the rocks apart. Pretty interesting. :) After we left the park, we headed to the town of Merrimac to ride on the ferry. We waited in line for about 45 minutes to an hour. You could get out of your car for about 15 minutes at a time until the ferry came back and the line moved again. There were actually 3 lines of cars. Aboout 15 cars at a time fit on the ferry.
Amy, Louie & Little Louie

My car on the ferry
The sun setting on the Wisconsin River

Ok, I think that's it! If you hung in here to the end, thank you. :) It took me a few hours to get this post done so I hope someone reads it all. :p You can see why I haven't had much time for posting. We've had a very busy fall. It's my favorite time of the year so I like to get out and do things. I do post things a lot on Facebook, but that usually only takes a few minutes at a time. I know there are a lot of people that read my blog that aren't on Facebook. Thanks so much for reading and remember, comments are always appreciated. That way I know you're reading. :) I need to catch up on blog reading too!

This Friday Amy and Amber and possibly my niece Emily will be coming over for a night of pizza and watching 'Sleepy Hollow' with Johnny Depp. It's a girls night so I guess Josh gets banned to his room. Like he ever comes out anyway. :)

{{{{Hugs}}}} Elaine