Additions to the Family...

You thought that I meant Andy and I...you were wrong. :) My dear sister is pregnant with her second child and they found out what they are going to have last Friday.

They are having a little

GIRL!!!

Dear CarrieAnn will be joining our extended family in May. Since, I was sure that Rebecca was having little girl when I first found out they were pregnant I bought a gift for CarrieAnn. This last weekend I got to pick up the gift and it is adorable! I was talking to Rebecca soon after and told her I had picked up CarrieAnn's gift and she said, "Your getting a gift for the unborn" and I said, Yep! Can't wait to see her in it. YEAH for Girls! Love making things for Lennell and now CarrieAnn.

New Jobs

Andy graduated with his Bachelor of Accounting degree in March of 2010. He has been searching for a job but as the market is right now it has been a hard time. Thankfully, he continues to work for Sam's Club where he is the grocery team lead. Last fall he also took the H&R tax course to do taxes for H&R Block for the tax season. He was already preparing to work the tax season this next year as well but God had other plans. He was called for an interview with Wolter and Raak an accounting firm in Rochester, St. Charles, and Winona MN. He interview last Friday and received the call yesterday that he had gotten the job. Currently, this is a seasonal job but I am praying that God will make a way to open the doors for this to become a full time job. Praise God for New Opportunities!

Absolutely Giddy!

Does anyone else get absolutely giddy getting ready to go home! I DO!!! I have about 2 days before We can pack up our car and head home. Gather all of my work together and take the long road home. My parents had a large snow storm earlier this week so we are praying for good road for travel. Thankfully, God has always gotten us where we need to go and I have absolute faith that we will this year as well. We have a little over a week to spend with family. My dad, mom, sister and 2 boys, brother, and younger sister and her little family. A time to play games, chat late into the night, snacking on good food and great dinners!!! What more could you ask for them great family time!

In the middle of the week, we will also be taking a short trip to Texas to visit Andy's side of the family. It will also revolve around chatting, games and family. On the way back to Kansas, we will stop to see my dear Aunt Linda that has been battling cancer. She has been doing well and I can only hope that she continues to do well. She also has a sweet family that she is close to.

Christmas is upon us and it is a great time to remember the true reason for the season. God Bless!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Better late then Never

My Christmas shopping is usually done before the month of December even descends upon me. I like to get it done thru the year...but not this year. I had planned Christmas party for work, shopping for gifts and such but as Mimi deteriorated and calls were being made that she was not doing well time kinda stopped waiting for "the phone call". I canceled my Christmas party, had no shopping done, had not even put one Christmas decoration up in my house. I can guarantee that this is not normal behavior. After, spending a long weekend with my family over Thanksgiving I came back with grand ideas of making everyones Christmas gifts thanks to Pintrest. Here is the list of gifts to make:

Lennell: Quiet Book
Curtis and Isaiah: Marshmallow guns
Kye: Initial t-shirt and reversible cape
Ellie: Initial t-shirt and tutu with wings
Ladies stocking gifts: Glass block Christmas saying

Oh, I also decided that I need to cook every kind of Christmas goodies I had ever heard of that included...
White chocolate with toasted almonds pretzels
Turtles
PB Cups
PB sandwich cookies
Carlson Bon-Bons
Eggrolls
and possibly creamy peppermint patties

I am also picking up summer sausage, cheese and crackers.

And that should wrap up my Homemade Christmas!!! I hope every one likes their gifts because I did enjoy making every single one of them.

A great BIG thanks to my wonderful husband for making dinner and keeping the dishes and laundry done at night so that I could work on projects.

I will post pictures after I have given them as not to ruin the surprise of each gift.

Thankful for Family!

The gift of family is an amazing thing. The memories and legacy are a lasting thing even after a loved one is gone. Over the Thanksgiving weekend, my family laid to rest my wonderful grandmother Mimi. She had graced us with her present for 90+ years and she put in a good long fight but she was just to weak in the end. I will miss her dearly but in the end I would not wish any more suffering upon her. Mimi was known by Mimi by most of the town and loved by all who knew her. She left behind a host of people with memories that will last a life time. This Christmas, the family will still get together those that are around to celebrate like we have always done. I hope that it is a great time of remembering all of the great time we spent getting together and creating more lasting memories.

Halloween

This year we had a costume party for a co-workers 30th Birthday. Andy really wanted to go as Mayhem from Allstate commercials. So, I went as Flo from Progressive commercials. We had a lot of fun putting our costumes together and at the party.

Andy holding Lennell up to the cut out of the sign at the Apple Orchard.

Andy and Lennell Playing with a Barrel of Monkeys Sunday morning.

Lennell and I picking out pumpkins at the pumpkin patch.

Andy has Lennell caught between his legs. Her face is Priceless!

Fall

The first weekend in October I took a girls weekend trip with a couple of friends from work. We stayed in Duluth but we went to Split Lake Light house, Gooseberry Falls and Canal Park. We got to see the fall colors, the water and shop a little. It was a great weekend, a little cool in the morning but warmed up nicely in the afternoon.

On our way to Split Lake Light house, we stopped at Betty's Pies. DELICIOUS! I came home and told Andy that he would have loved it. Food was great but the pie was delicious.

Also this week, we received our announcement of a new little bundle of joy for our family. My sister is due with her next one. We are excited!

How cute is this big sister telling family the great news!

Tonight, is the book signing for May Connealy. She is an amazing author and I am taking 2 books. One for Rebecca and one for me. This weekend, Andy and I also plan to get the yard cleaned up and ready for fall, the car waxed, the hot tub cleaned out and a couple of other projects around the house.

I would also like to make cowboy candy...I will let you know how it turns out.

Here is to a great fall weekend!

A little update...

I have gotten behind. Here is what has been going on in our lives.

August
~Andy and I put up corn with some friends from work. It is wonderful to pull out something in the middle of winter that tastes so good.
~Rebecca, Lennell and I took a trip to Manhattan to help move in our "little" brother to his first place off campus. We both cleaned out our kitchens and took him things we did not need. We also baked up a ton of goodies for him and his new room mates. We also got to spend some time with the parents and they got to see how adorable Lennell was.
~Andy and I celebrated our 7th Anniversary. We took a day trip to Still water, MN to go to antique shopping. It was a neat little town on the river. We then went out to eat at Red Lobster for dinner that night. Here's to many more Babe!
~I bought 2 boxes of peaches from the Rochester Youth for Christ. So, Andy and I put up peaches for later use. I also made peach vanilla bean jam.
~We went to GreekFest in Rochester and enjoyed great food and dessert.
~At the end of the month my dad had a little health scare so Andy took me home to check things out. We got to spend a couple of days with my parents, sister and her two boys that we don't see often enough.
~Isaiah also wanted us to pick him up from school one day. After we picked him up we went home and made pico de galo (He really likes this) for dinner that night after watching Curtis play football. 1st game of the season and he did great.

September
~The first weekend we had a Sisk Family Reunion. My sisters and I put together a family cook book and it turned out great! We got to see lots of family and spend time with cousins. Yeah for Family!
~Andy played in the Sam's Club Soft ball tournament. He has played every year since moving here.
~I started AWANA again. I have a group of about 6-5th and 6th grade girls.
~We celebrated a first birthday for a friends little girl.
~We took a quick trip to Ames to see Lennell crawling. Get your running shoes on Rebecca, she is a mover.
~Andy went with a friend to Men at the Cross mini conference in Rochester.
~We took our 4th time in Kid City at church. We have the 4/5 year olds. I feel like we have more and more each time.
~The movie COURAGEOUS come out on the 30th and Andy and I have a date night planned.


That about wraps up the last two months. We are feeling fall in the air. The days are getting shorter, the air is cooler, the leaves are changing. It is time for apples, pumpkins, and all things fall. YEAH! Andy made Molasses cookies the other night and they are the perfect fall cookie.

Chula Vista in Wisconsin Dells!

This last weekend we (me, the hubby, sister, brother-n-law, and adorable niece) took a mini vacation to Chula Vista Resort in Wisconsin Dells. WONDERFUL! We had a room with a full kitchen and was right across the street from the water park. We left Thursday morning and got to Wisconsin Dells early afternoon. We ate a quick bite and picked up milk and lunch meat. Then we checked in, got settled in out room, and put on our swimsuits and went to explore the water parks.

Andy showing Lennell and Philip where our room is.
We went straight to the pool. The boys tested out the slides and the girls splashed in the pool.

After Lennell had played in the pool for a long time she was hungry and tired. I gave her a bottle and she was down for a little nap.

We went back to our room to get supper on and watch a movie for the night. Lennell just laid on her pillow too tired to do anything. We made a great supper and watched Toy Story 3 before going to bed for another day at the water park.

Birthday Celebration of a Friend

This last weekend we (my husband and I) went to a celebration of a good friend. His party was a theme on "CAPES" like super hero's. Earlier in the week he was discussing what his cape should look like and several of us came up with ideas. Then I suggested--how about you let me make your cape for the party and he said, "sure". I wanted to include all of your ideas for his cape which included, the colors blue and red, glitter, and fur. I had a fun time putting this together and this is the final product.

As you can see, it has fur at the top as well as the bottom not shown. Glitter puff paint around the S and crown and is read and blue. He really enjoyed his cape and had a great party to kick off his 40's.

The rest of the weekend was much slower due to some extreme heat in Minnesota. Although, I grew up in hot weather I am not liking the heat this week. Hopefully, this weekend bring better temperatures for some great outlet shopping I have planned with my sister!

Today, I begin blogging about the lives of 2 people living in Minnesota. One a Kansas farm girl and the other a Texas native. A little over 4 years ago we moved up here for job opportunities. Leaving family and friends behind. Thankfully my sister, brother-n-law and precious niece live close, that we can get in family fixes when needed.

We have spent some holidays by ourselves, with friends and occasionally with family when we can make it. We love where we live, the work that we do, our friends but it does make getting home a little more challenging.

In June, I was able to make a 24 hour trip home for the weekend. It would have been the first time all original 8 cousins were home at the same time in a long time. We have spread out to Texas, Kansas, Iowa, Minnesota, and Lithuania. We had a great get together at my aunts. Just like the old days, lots of food, swimming, and great family time. We even got a great photo with Mimi and all of her grand kids. That day is one to remember!

Our next get together with family will be a trip to the Dells in Wisconsin and then a family reunion back in Kansas. Otherwise, our lives a hardly what you would call exciting.