Looking Ahead to the 19th!

Happy 80th Birthday to Mom!!!!

We had a party at Mary's house on Sunday, the 14th, as we weren't going to be here for the big event. I meant to get a picture of her opening her gift from all of us kids, but we were too busy with the cell phones. I had called Heather and Mary called Mike so that they could be part of the presenting. Heather had come up with the idea of making a memory photo book, through Snapfish, and it turned out really well. Mom was very pleased with it, and got a little forclempt. (how does one spell that???) Also there, was Aunt Fern, Mom's only other living sibling. She turned 90 in October, so as you can see, we kids have a good chance of being here for a L-O-N-G time yet! (Just a warning to the next generation....)

Mom would really enjoy hearing from any of her family and friends who have time to give her a call on Friday - her actual birthday.

Let's keep that phone busy, all day long!

Time is winding down.....

Well, I have nearly everything packed up for our trip - we fly out tomorrow from Appleton around 11:30 am! Dan is busy down at the farm, trying (with his brothers' help) to install the overhead door on the new addition. That wind has really been whipping through there. We have 1 degree right now, and that is about 13 degrees warmer than it was when we got up this morning, although the windchill is -5. Guess I'm glad that I 'get' to do the packing. I hope they are able to complete the installation, as that would make it quite a bit nicer in the 'infirmary', where the gimpy cows hang out. They have also been moving the 'close' cows in there (that are due to freshen any time) so that the calves aren't born out on the lot. According to my computer records, there are 7 cows due to freshen while we are gone (not counting any heifers that decide it is time), so hope they don't have any trouble with any of them.

We have spoken with Josh several times since they arrived in Brazil (Fri/Sat) and all is going well there. We cannot thank them, and Debora's family, enough for making this trip possible for us. And for the guys and Linda for covering for us while we are gone. I know that is huge, and I really do hope that both Roger and John make plans for their own vacations soon. It is something we all need to do.

We will miss spending the actual Christmas Day with Sam and his family, but will have our own Christmas soon after we get back. We had not planned on seeing Mara and Mike until the baby is born anyway, as they are spending their holiday time off in the Phoenix area, searching out housing for the next couple of years (starting May/June). We hope they all have a wonderful time!

I will not be sending out any Christmas/Holiday greetings until after we return, so let me wish you all a Happy Christmas and a Merry New Year, here and now!

Feliz Natal e Feliz Ano Novo!!

Our Visas are here!!

Our Visas are here!!

Our Visas are here!!

Our Visas are here!!

Our Visas are here!!

(That was the best I could come up with to represent an echo.....)

Happy Birthday to Mary!!!!!!

From your baby sister, Holly!

This was probably the only time we had matching jammies!!

Weren't we too cute? (actually, I look like a boy)

And I wonder why my early memories are in black and white...

OMG! - this picture was taken over 50 years ago!

I think we need to go jammie shopping....

I hope you have a super-wonderful day!

December Dates to Remember....

2 - Ed Mathwig

7 - Mary Mathwig

17 - We leave for Brazil!!!

19 - Alice (Mom) Hansen - 80 years old!!!

22 - Giulia Magalhães (Thomas' cousin) - 1 year!

22 - Nicola & Neusa Costa's 35th Anniversary

23 - Joshua Bacon (31)

25 - Christmas Day!

28 - Thomas Costa Bacon - 1 year!!

28 - Steve Kolb

29 - We return home!

Happy Birthday to Ed - hope you have a good day!

Baby Shower & the rest of the weekend....

Sally & Sam pulled in Tuesday night around 10:00, with Scott rolling in right behind them. They weren't even in the house and Mara and Mike pulled in the dooryard. All of the sudden, we were 5 people and 3 dogs richer than we had been 5 minutes earlier!! Needless to say, nobody was able to wind down very quickly, so we had a good couple-of-hours of visiting and fun watching the ultra-sound DVD that Mara and Mike had made earlier that day. What fun to see shy little RAS, trying to cover his face, first with his hands and arms, and then with his feet, too!

The next day, Wednesday, was baking day! We made lefse (see previous post), cake, cookies and soup! Miraculously, everything got done on schedule.

Thursday, Thanksgiving Day, we did some more cooking and then went to my folks' for dinner. Mary was also there, and we had a wonderful meal (after I dumped about a cup of thickening on Mom's HOT flat-top stove - WHAT A MESS!!!!) and then Mary whopped Mom and me in a game of Scrabble, while Sally, Sam, Mara and Mike went for a walk around Rural. My Dad, Dan and Scott were watching the game on TV. In the evening, after chores, we finished up the baking for Friday's party.

Then Friday morning was a flurry of activity, making sure everything was ready and in place for the Open House Baby Shower. We had a pretty good crowd, even though it was at a time when a lot of folks had to work, and as is often the case, people showed up and pretty much stayed for the entire time. It was good to see friends and family and Baby Syring got lots of nice things for when he gets here in February. Thanks, also, to all those who weren't able to come but called, emailed or sent something! Even though it was billed as a 'no-game' shower, Sally insisted on Mara and Mike doing the "diaper competition". Sally got video of it - short video, as it didn't take Mara very long to whop Mike's butt! She had her teddy bear completely diapered before he found the tabs on the diaper! Did I mention that they were blind-folded?? That was to simulate getting up at 2:00 in the morning, when your eyes aren't quite open, at least not both of them, and having to deal with a crying, WET baby. Oh well, they will know all about that soon enough - 24/7!

As soon as the guests left, Mara and Mike began the miraculous job of packing all of the gifts, their clothes, etc. plus the 2 dogs into their CR-V and headed to Milwaukee. There they caught up with some friends, including little Austin, that Mara did respite care for when they lived in Milwaukee. It sounded like they had good visits. They are driving home in on-again-off-again snow as I write this. I hope they have an uneventful trip.

Scott also headed out Friday afternoon, as he was going back up to their hunting camp for closing weekend. That left us with Sally and Sam through Sunday morning - what fun! Of course, it might have been a bit more fun if Sam and I didn't have colds with runny noses....so then Mama and Grampa had to resort to cold medicine on Saturday night as well. The fun of family get-togethers!

Saturday we had a lazy morning and then went shopping in the afternoon. Our big purchases were winter boots for Sam (yeah!) and casual shoes for Gatfly's trip to Brazil. We are still planning on that, even though the visas have not come through yet. I think the big knot in my back, between my shoulder blades, would go away if the visas were to arrive in the mail....I would say to watch this blog for the announcement that they have come, but I think all you will need to do is stick your head outside and you will hear me whooping it up!!

We had so much fun with Sam here - from Tuesday night until this morning! That's his longest visit yet (Mama, too :)). You get to see all the faces of Sam in that amount of time. Even when he is grumpy, he's cute - looks like Grampa then....We were busy trying to teach him how to wink, and I swear he did it a couple of times! I really did just miss it with the camera. Sometimes he does the double-blink wink, but he has also managed a one-eye wink, too. Not bad for not-quite 17 months! He is also getting very vocal, although not too much of it makes sense to the casual listener yet. I think we are all going to get an ear-full when he does start to talk!

Seeing Mara and Mike this week - with concrete evidence of Baby Syring's existence, we are now more anxious than ever to make his acquaintance! But we will be patient and wait until February. Mara promised that we wouldn't have to wait too long after he was born to meet him, just till she was done with finals (during which his due date falls). Now I just have to figure a way out to bribe the brothers to let us have a couple of days off in February.....(on top of the 12 we are taking in a couple of weeks to go to Brazil!) I guess they both better get busy and plan some time off of their own!!!

It was a wonderful week but I am ever grateful that tomorrow morning is our MONDAY MORNING IN - my favorite!!!!! I get to go and do the Vet's monthly statements, but hey, that's okay, we get to sleep in first!

Hope you all had a wonderful holiday weekend, too!!

Lefse Making, Bacon-style!

We had a good time making lefse on Wednesday. Mike turned out to be a master at rolling it out and cooking it. Needless to say, we let him do the majority of it (and there were 33 sheets, after all the tasting was done...). Actually, if you tried to help out, by checking the lefse on the griddle or anything, you were apt to get your knuckles rapped with the lefse stick! That stick had to be wiped off several times, because it was used for things other than transferring the lefse....
Sam even had a good time goofing around with Auntie Mara and entertaining himself with his toys on the floor.
I will have to get Mary over here sometime soon to help me make another batch, as most of that went home with the kids (what was left over after the shower, that is).

Happy 16th Anniversary Heather and John!!!!

Happy Anniversary, you two!!

All dressed up here for Beth and BJ's wedding this summer. (they clean up good, don't you think??)

Hope you have a great day and a fun weekend!

Stay tuned for pictures from the shower yesterday.....

A First for Me!

Thanks to Mary for inviting me to join her "Wreath-Making Party" this afternoon! I have never done that before (that is why the picture is taken from so far away) and I have a new respect for all those who do it for a job! Actually, it was a lot of fun, as there were 6 of us doing it: Mary, Grace Piechowski, Kathy Dillingham, Linda Kassera and Marge (I didn't catch her last name), and me! Collectively we didn't have much prior experience going into this, but Mary guided us each into creating something we could be (more or less) proud of. I had wanted to get a picture of all of us with our wreaths, but didn't have my camera with and forgot to prompt Mary to do it before I left. Oops. Thanks again, Mary! And for the glass of wine, also, although I think if I had had that earlier it might have gone better! (just kidding.....)

Happy Birthday Connor!!

Thanks to Andrea for forwarding a photo from her mother's camera!

This was taken at Sam's birthday party in July.

Looks like Hailey is related to her Aunt Holly....

Happy 2nd Birthday to Connor John Janssen!!!!

(I still need updated pictures for Sara's kids - not through Kodak!)

I hope he has a really fun day today!!!

Mid-November Visit to Sam (& family)!

We had the opportunity to go and visit Sam and his family this past Sunday. I am really slow on getting the pictures posted - sorry Sally! We took up a load of wood, that Scott and Dan had to cut up. I think they got quite a bit of it done before it got dark. Had to watch the Packer game first, you know! We shared a wonderful meal from the Chinese place in Baldwin (take-out) and we had lots of Sam-time (see photos). We also polished off a pan of brownies - yum!
Their living room has been transformed into a warm, cozy den with the painting they have done. It looks really nice - good job, kids! It was neat as a pin when we arrived, but it didn't take Sam long after waking up, to transform it into 'Sam's Playroom'! Ah, I remember the days well....
Thanks for a wonderful day, to all the Ahos!

November is nearly half over!

I don't know where the first half of this month went, and don't even ask me about October!!

They say that time goes faster as you age - boy, were they right!! I'm not exactly sure how that works, but it really does. Except, of course, if you are in a moment that you don't want to be in. The last couple of days I spent about 6 hours in the dentist's chair. Where was that flying time then?? I was scheduled to have a root canal and crown build-up on a tooth (right next to my big front tooth), and that morning during chores a different tooth (the one 2 teeth away from the front teeth on the other side) really starting panging on me. It was one that was scheduled to have work done on it in the next 6 months or so. Guess what? That tooth got the r/c and crown build-up on Wednesday, with the first tooth getting the same thing done yesterday. The pain I felt in the chair (and later in the evening) was nothing compared to the pain I felt talking with the cashier on my way out of the office. Ouch!!!! I will have the equivalent of a used compact car in those two teeth! And they aren't even pretty teeth to begin with!

Okay - the gripe session is over!

It has been such a joy to be able to share my favorite hobby (weaving) with my sister, Mary! She is such a whiz-bang at it, and has become addicted, to it, just like me (or worse!). She even ordered the next box of warp, which I am waiting to open when she gets here, later this morning. I can't wait to see when colors she finally decided on. I have gotten far more weaving done this fall than I have in a number of years - thanks Mary!

Other than the time spent at the dentist this week, it has been quite a productive one. I got the farm bookwork done :) and have gotten back into a regular exercise routine. It is so easy to get out of the habit, and seems so hard to start up again. Looking at oneself in a full length mirror, sans clothing, can be a real eye-opener - and a real downer, if you don't do something about it! Wish I had Mara here to prod me in the right direction, but I guess I will have to wing it. Those whole-body shapers are beginning to look pretty good to me....

Looks like the temperature is going to sink back down where it belongs this time of year. I am not looking forward to that, either, as I don't handle the cold weather like I used to. (Not now, Heather, I can't think of moving to a warmer clime at this time!) Oh! I need to share a tip with those of you who suffer from cold feet (the physical kind) like I do. This came to me through Scott Aho: his dad recommends using spray anti-perspirant on your feet before putting on your socks. It really works! (and it doesn't hurt to have nice-smelling feet!) My feet get cold because they perspire, and then when they are wet they freeze up. At least it works for me. Now I just have to remember to pick up some more deodorant.....

Happy 6th Birthday to Hailey Janssen!!!!

Sara is very good to share pictures with us, but unfortunately, I am unable to save them from the email. (must be protected or something)

Sorry for the out-of-date photo - add a little maturity to her face and you can see what Hailey looks like now. Shown here giving Fozzie some love, in January of 2007, according to the properties of the photo.

Hope you have a wonderful birthday!!!

An Additional Post for Veterans' Day.....

I'm not sure if this will work or not. My sister, Mary, sent me this video that is fantastic! It is the National Anthem being sung by 5 young sisters, ages 5-9. You will be impressed!

You will have to copy and paste the address to your browser.

61023-National_Anthem_-_Cactus

Happy Veterans' Day to our very own Veteran,

plus all the rest of them, too!!!

We are proud of you, Dad!!!!

Then.....(mid 1940's)

....and now (sort of, this was taken in 2006)

GET OUT THERE AND VOTE!!!!!!

Happy 6th Birthday to Memphis!

Happy Birthday to you, Memphis!!!!

Wow - 6 years old already!!

He is shown here on his first day of kindergarten - fun times!

Happy Anniversary Pat and Gary!

Happy Anniversary to our friends, Pat and Gary Grant!

Hope you have a wonderful day!!!

NOVEMBER DATES

3 - Memphis Schmit - 6 years old

3 - Pat & Gary Grant's Anniversary (4?)

4 - ELECTION DAY - GET OUT AND VOTE!

14 - Hailey Janssen - 6 years old

15 - Shower for Marina's Granddaughter-to-be!

20 - Connor Janssen - 2 years old

22 - John Bacon - 46 years old

27 - Thanksgiving Day

28 - Shower for Baby Syring!

29 - Heather & John Schmit's Anniversary (16)

Two Halloween Birthdays to Celebrate!

Happy Birthday to niece Cariann Mathwig Ramseier!!!!

I hope you have a wonderful day! I can remember the day you were born and taking care of you quite a bit when you were little, so I will never think of you as getting older, as that would make me MUCH older!

Have your family give you a great big hug from us!!

Parabéns, Nicola Costa!!

He is shown here with his two grandchildren, Giulia on the left and Thomas on the right. Giulia was born 6 days before Thomas, on Nicola and Neusa's anniversary.

Nicola is Debora's father and lives in São Paulo, Brazil.

Remodel Project at the Farm

Here are the long-awaited photos of the project down at the farm.
It's been a month or so since it was started. There were some gaps
in my picture-taking, but you can follow the progress. The last
several pictures were taken this afternoon. They are working on
installing the overhead door on the vetting area, as I type this.
After all this, I may have to paint the barn next summer.....

Happy Birthday Beth!

Happy 25th Birthday to Beth (Schmit) Van Engen!
She is John's daughter and lives in Tucson, AZ.
Check out Heather and John's blog for some cute pics of when she was little!
Have a great day Beth!

100 Days to go!

I just checked out M&M's blog and saw that there are 100 days till their due date! That time will pass quickly! (actually, the 100 days AFTER the baby is born will pass much more quickly!)

We are so happy that they will be moving to Phoenix in the late spring. Sometimes you can find pretty good deals to Phoenix, and there are quite a few people out that way to visit now.

Dan has been after me to get more pictures up from his remodel project. I will work on that soon. I have some other loose ends to tie up first, so be patient!

There is a cute video of Sam on the Aho Family Blog - check it out!

We are anxiously waiting for the Germany Bacons to get their phone and internet hooked up. Being out of touch is hard!

Hope everyone is enjoying this fall weather (notice the sarcasm there??). It should be a bit nicer tomorrow. We have been spoiled by our Indian Summer.

Happy Sweet 16 to Nicole!

Happy Birthday Nicole!

Shown here on their Carribean Cruise this past spring.

She will be taking her driver's test sometime in the next week, so be on the lookout for a new driver!

Happy Birthday Big Brother!!!

Happy Birthday Mike!

Bet we couldn't fit in a chair like that anymore!!!

Hope you had a wonderful day, and I know you have something very special coming up in May of '09 - congratulations to Heidi and Paul!!!!

Happy Birthday Heidi!!

Happy 27th Birthday to Heidi (Hansen) Smidansky!!

This picture was part of their Christmas photo, taken up at their cabin, before Steve was born. Reminds me quite a bit of her niece, Julie!

Andy & Ani's Shower, plus...

Andy and Ani Wilson are expecting their daughter on December 20, 2008.

Becky with her sister-in-law - there will be 3 babies between them by May '08!

The shower cake/centerpiece - it was all cupcakes! Very cute, and delicious too!

(they got it at Sam's Club....)

Mary and I went for a walk the other day and ended up by the cabin. The outhouse was usable, but now sports a permanent sky-light! (any port in a storm...) The cabin itself, on the other hand is in a sad state. The door knob had been shot off and the door won't shut anymore.

I had a chance to visit with Ani a bit and she wanted to hear all about how Debora and Josh (and of course, Thomas!) were doing in Germany. She sends greetings to them. They had met here at our house on Labor Day weekend. Baby Evelyn Rebecca got a lot of nice things to help welcome her arrival in December. Ani's family was able to watch the shower via webcam, although they couldn't hear anything. I don't believe they speak much English anyway. She did speak with them on the phone for a bit. Congratulations to them, and we await the good news of a speedy delivery and a healthy, happy baby!

Finally - pictures from last weekend!!

It has taken me a bit to go through the pictures, choose which ones to include and do a bit of editing, but here they are! I had a bit of trouble with Picassa, but it finally all came out okay.
Enjoy - we sure did!!!!!

Haven't heard too much from Germany, except that they are there and trying to catch up on their sleep. Their smaller container should arrive in Germany on Sunday but won't be delivered until later in the week. Then they can take stock of what they have and what Deere can lend them to see if they can go ahead and move into the house. The bigger container will be a while yet.

They were able to get a good deal through Vonnage on a phone system, so once they have internet we will be able to call back and forth on a local number. How cool is that! We will let you all know the number when they are hooked up. I could tell you now, but that way you will be able to use it when I give it to you. You will just have to remember that they are 7 hours ahead of us! We have an extra clock in the living room set to Germany time. It helps to avoid confusion.

I've been busy this past week with weaving/rag prep/warping, plus some language learning. Always something to work on, and if that fails the house can usually use some attention!

Oh - we had a nice lunch with the folks, Heather and John, and Mary at the Chinese place in Waupaca on Thursday. Lots of good food and better conversation (avoided politics, for the most part....). Thanks to Heather for picking up another pair of jeans for me! She is my personal shopper! Also for the very cute 'sisters' frame with a photo taken in Montana. I like it alot! They were here for John's class reunion this weekend and made a longer weekend of it so they could visit family.

Well, my man is home for lunch, so gotta go! Have a great weekend!

Happy Birthday Jordan!

Happy 24th Birthday to Jordan Schmit!!!

Hope you have a great day - but then, I'm sure you know how to "Get 'R Done!"(see Heather's blog....)

Happy 2nd Anniversary to Sally and Scott!!!!

Happy Anniversary you guys!!

Today is a lot like their day 2 years ago - sunny, windy and in the 50's!

May you always be as happy as you look in your wedding pictures!!

[so glad that Scott shared Sally and Sam this weekend - it sure was fun to have those two little boys together again! Next time around, it will be 3 boys!!!]

....and they're off!!

LOOK OUT GERMANY, THE BACONS ARE COMING!!!

We aren't sure if it was a good omen or not, but Josh, Debora and Thomas headed out the driveway this morning at the time Josh said he would like to leave! They are flying out of Appleton to Detroit, then on to Frankfurt, Germany! From there they have to drive about 1-1/2 hours. This time tomorrow they will be waking up in a hotel - not sure if that will be in Zwiebrücken (where Josh will be working) or Bechhofen (where they will be living). They will stay at the hotel until their smaller container arrives - hopefully within 2 weeks. The larger container should get there sometime in November.

Wow. They really are gone. The emptiness that I usually feel in the house when any of the kids leave is even emptier...

The best antidote for that is to get busy! I will work on the tons of pictures we took this past weekend and get a post up soon!!

Presenting......

New US Citizen: Debora!

Of course she passed her test this past Tuesday with flying colors!

It was important for her to get all the paperwork completed before they head to Germany, as she needed to apply for her US passport.

{It all went well, other than the official they dealt with screwing up her name - but that hopefully can be dealt with after they get to Germany.}

Congratulations to Debora - you now know more than the average US citizen! (sad to say....)

We won the lottery!

I know I shouldn´t do that, but it did get your attention!

It does feel like we won the lottery, though, as we will be having Joshua, Debora and Thomas here for one last extended weekend before they fly to Germany. The plan, when we spoke the other night, had them coming here on Saturday and staying until they fly out on Tuesday. That was Tuesday night. Wednesday through today they were supposed to be getting their entire house packed up, by the movers. Some stuff for long-term storage there in Ottumwa, some in a large container to be shipped to Germany in 6-8 weeks, and a smaller container that will travel with them. We haven´t spoken with them since Tuesday, but I am assuming all is going according to plan (hope so!). I imagine they are beat, and looking forward to some down time here on the farm. We´ll do our best!

We are, of course, looking forward to seeing them all again and hearing about Thomas and Debora´s trip to Brazil and Josh´s trip to Germany. There better be some pictures to see, too! And we will be sure to take LOTS ourselves!

Happy 5th Anniversary to Cariann and Rob!

Happy Anniversary to a great couple!!!

A lot has happened in those 5 years - including Elyse and Erik!

They had a beautiful wedding up on the bluffs overlooking the Great Mississippi River. It was a gorgeous day, and Cari arrived at the ceremony atop a beautiful horse, led by her then-husband-to-be, Rob. The stuff Fairytales are made of!

May they live happily ever after!

(Cari is my niece)

Changes are a'comin.....

We talked with Josh last night and he is now back in Iowa - for a week or so! Debora and Thomas are heading home from Brazil tonight so their family will be back together, after three weeks. That's a long time to be apart, but Debora was with her family (Thomas' first trip to Brazil) and Josh was so busy I don't think he knew what direction he was heading! First he had a couple of weeks in Germany to learn the ropes of his new job, and then an intensive week in Cinncinati, OH to learn as much of the German language as he could. Debora was also studying German while she was in Brazil, as there is a language school very close to where her folks are. I don't know if they were able to procure tickets for Germany yet, but as they are purchasing one-way tickets, the cost is astronomical - I think I hear $3200/each, at one point! That is crazy! I hope Deere is picking up that tab! (think so...) Dan still hopes to try and catch up with them before they head out, but I am not sure how that is going to work.

Our little Sam (or rather, Sally and Scott's little Sam) is growing like a weed and learning new things all the time! Check out their blog for some really cute pictures of him riding a motorized motorcyle - hilarious! I love it when his mom says hi on the video and he lets go with both hands to wave at her (he was riding with another older boy, sitting in front of him, so he didn't fall off or anything!). He is also getting real close to talking. He will rattle off a string of gibberish as if he was having a regular conversation. Quite often, with much emphasis! Almost sounds German, but I suppose it could be Finnish (hee, hee). If Grampa gets out of bed today, I think we are going to go and visit Sam and Fam. [It was really cute - Sally just called, and when I answered, Sam said "hi!". He did it a couple of times, but was all done by the time I got the phone by Grampa.]

We had a nice long chat with the birthday girl this week. Sounds like things are going pretty well in Missouri. Toquinho is settling in and getting the dogs trained, by the looks of their blog, and Mara has another cuddle-bug. I'm so glad that is working out for them, everybody seems to be happy with the situation. I think he adjusted to the dogs quicker than he would have adjusted to all the cats we have here (4 of our own). And obviously, he's happy! Mara and Mike have been checking out daycare options. Stay tuned to their blog for info on that. Four more months and there will be another grandson to spoil! What fun! They were going to do some baby-shopping this weekend - for stuff, not babies!

Well, I suppose if we are driving to Baldwin I had better take my bath and get some breakfast going. I hope you all have a wonderful Sunday - it is a cool 30 degrees right now, but should get up into the upper 50's again. Then early this next week we should have some nice temps in the 60's again. Time for window-washing at home, and power-washing in the parlor at the farm.

Have a good one!

OCTOBER Special Days

2 - Mara Bacon Syring (29)

4 - Heather Schmit (45)

4 - Aunt Fern Helbach (90)

9 - Jack (our dog! - 5)

10 - Cariann & Rob Ramseier (5)

14 - Sally & Scott Aho (2!)

14 - Jordan Schmit (24?)

20 - Heidi Hansen Smidansky (27)

25 - Michael Hansen (54)

26 - Nicole Guthu (16) - John's step-daughter

28 - Beth Schmit Van Engen (25?)

28 - Maristela Rovai - friend, through Debora

31 - Cariann Mathwig Ramseier (3?)

31 - Nicola Costa (61) Debora's father

I just noticed when I made up this list that Heather is now the age that Aunt Fern was, when Heather was born, on the same day.

Happy Birthday Baby Sister!!

Happy Birthday to Heather!

This pic was taken during the summer of 1966 (I conveniently cropped me out - the skirt on the right!). Note Heather's snazzy shoes - she had to wear special shoes, and I think these were her favorites. It sure hurt if you were kicked with them! (straight last shoes, with heavy soles)

At this age we still referred to her as the Little Princess.

Look at that long hair!

Hope you and John have a wonderful weekend in Laughlin!!

Isn't she lovely....

Happy 29th Birthday to Mara (Caroline)!
Even though she has dropped the Caroline, and kept Bacon, she gave me permission to use it! :)
The title of this post was a popular song at the time she was born,
and she used it to walk up the aisle when she married Mike.
Have a wonderful day, Mara!!

Happy Birthday to Claudia yesterday!

Feliz aniversário à Claudia!

Você não ficando velha, ficando melhor!

This is Claudia (Debora's sister) with her daughter, Giulia (who is 6 days older than her cousin, Thomas) and her husband, Fred. Looks like they are enjoying a day at the beach!

Debora and Thomas are in São Paulo until Sunday, when they will fly back to Iowa for a week or so. Thomas has already flown more than we have! Then it is on to Germany for several years!

Happy 4th Anniversary to Joshua and Debora!

Four years ago on this day, we were in South Lake Tahoe, CA for the wedding of our son, Joshua, to a beautiful young woman, Debora Costa!

Along with gaining another daughter (she is just like one of our own), we have been introduced to another country and culture, Brazil!

Thanks for everything kids!

We hope you have many, many more wonderful years together, starting with the move to Bechhofen, Germany in about two weeks!

Oh! We can't leave out little Thomas, the first in that generation of our family carrying the last name, Bacon, and our second grandson!

What a joy!

A couple of belated birthdays....

Happy Belated 31st Birthday to Adam Janssen (Sara's husband) on Wednesday!

Hope you had a wonderful day!

Happy 57th Birthday to Michael Onan (Connie's husband) on Friday!

We sort of 'celebrated' on Sunday night for the week's birthdays and anniversary.

Hope you enjoyed your chicken!

...and a bit of catch-up.

Also on Friday, we had our quarterly(?) girls'-day-out. As always, when the four of us get together, we laugh alot and just generally have a good time. Oh, and we usually have a good lunch somewhere, too. They took a chance on Applebee's letting us in (they did!) and we all ate too much - thanks for treating, Linda! But I am getting ahead of myself. I drove this time, to give Connie a break. Also, that way if we got lost it wouldn't be my fault, but the navigator's (who happened to be Linda this time). We must have made a good team, because we made it to Appleton just fine and met up with Alice at Linen 'n Things. Steve had swapped vehicles with her so that she had the Rav4, but he took the GPS out so she had to rely on her good sense of direction. That came into play later, when we were all riding in her vehicle, scoping out shops in Appleton. The one recurring theme of the day seemed to be that Linda wouldn't buy anything and would end up sitting on a bench/chair/or just standing by the door waiting for us to get through the checkout, and I always seemed to be the last one through, so they would ALL be waiting for me. (Especially at Barnes and Noble - I think I could spend a WHOLE day there!) Other than the little 'witch' incident, we all got along just fine. (ha,ha!) With all the Halloween decorations out in force, we were continually finding 'things' for each other....there were plenty of Christmas decorations out, too, but we just couldn't go there! WAY too early! Linda got quite concerned that we were going to be lost and gone forever (and that Tom wouldn't come looking for her) or at least end up in Green Bay, but Alice's aforementioned good sense of direction got us back on track, after a brief interlude. There may have been a few omigodwe'llallbekilled!'s but, thank goodness, we weren't! We live to venture out another day! Possibly we will make it to Door County one of these times - that was the original plan, but time strictures prohibited it this time. Dan just had the movie "The Goonies" on a bit ago, some of that sounded awfully familiar...I don't know if D/C is ready for us...

Happy 30th Anniversary to Linda & Tom Jenner!!

Happy Anniversary, you two - still looking good after all these years!

May they have 30 more great years ahead of them!!

Have a wonderful day!

Tanna shared this picture of Sam - too darn cute!

Our little pumpkin boy!

Thanks for sharing, Tanna!

(And I hope that other picture you sent got destroyed!!!!)

hee, hee, hee....

What's happening at the farm....

I have shown you some preview pictures before of the destruction of the old milkhouse, parlor and holding area. Today the 'big guns' were called in and the high-hoe operator finished what the guys had started. He is still working down there, digging out the concrete and a holding tank that had been under the entrance to the barn. There are a couple of photos where he is shown digging up the manure line from the pump room to the manure pit. That is going to be re-done as it was not engineered very well the first time around. The so-called 'expert' who advised them on how to do it put several elbows in the line, which has caused them no end of trouble ever since, to the point that they had run a line over-ground because the other one got so plugged up. All kinds of fun!
The video on my older camera doesn't download properly, thus the many, many photos to try and share with you the sheer poetry of watching a good hoe operator. No damage was done to the barn proper. (yet...)
In some of the photos you are able to see the "thumb" that is brought up against the digger bucket to grasp debris. Very cool!

The First Annual Bacon Family Reunion!

DONALD BACON FAMILY

This grouping is only a fraction of what it could be (there were 7 grands and 3 great grands missing, plus a couple of out-laws), but those of us who could make it had a great time! L-R: Bert Stone, Andrea Onan Stone (with Wyatt Stone sleeping in the stroller), Connie Bacon Onan with Michael Onan kneeling in front of her, John Bacon, Linda Bacon Jenner with daughter Stephanie Jenner in front of her, Roger Bacon, Daniel Bacon, Sally Bacon Aho, Scott Aho, with Sam and me in front next to Stephanie. Thanks to Tanna for sending this photo! And being quick enough to get it taken while Sam was still trapped in my arms! There was just too much interesting 'stuff' to explore!

MARVIN BACON FAMILY

The hazards of having someone snap a photo for you on your camera, that they are not used to - Mark isn't quite that skinny! L-R: Mark Bacon, Erik Knutson, Willa Bacon, Jim Knutson, Joanne Bacon Knutson (the garden creator), Marvin Bacon with Jacquelin Bacon in the wheel chair, Tanna Bacon behind her, James "Bacco" Bacon with Titus Bacon in front of him, Justin Reese, Sarah Bacon Reese, Stacey Bacon Myers holding Mariah Myers, Makayla Myers in front of them and Jeffery Myers. Phew! That's a lot of people! They are only missing Shandra Bacon, Kendra Knutson Thewis and Peter Thewis, and the latter two had been there earlier and returned later. Oh well.

THE BACON FIRST COUSINS

L-R: James Bacon, Mark Bacon, Roger Bacon, Joanne Bacon Knutson, John Bacon,

Linda Bacon Jenner, Connie Bacon Onan, Daniel Bacon, Jean Nelson Simon,

Judy Rasmussen Schroeder, and Dennis Rasmussen.

There were 11 of the 16 living there, so not a bad turnout at all!

We missed Irene Bacon Milovanovich, Alice Bacon Kolb, Marsha Parse, Darlene Parse and Robert Nelson. (all of whom had good excuses!)

Deceased are: Gary Bacon and Donna Bacon LaVoy.

AUDREY BACON RASMUSSEN FAMILY

A good showing here, only short one in-law! L-R: Byron Schroeder, Aunt Audrey, Gabe Schroeder, Tracy Schroeder Pech, Judy Rasmussen Schroeder, Emma Pech (in front), Michelle Schroeder, Dennis Rasmussen, Kimberly Rasmussen, Amanda Rasmussen, Uncle Eugene.

JANET BACON NELSON FAMILY

Only one of her two kids were able to make it, and only one of Jean's four sons - that would have been a very big group! Next year! L-R: Andy Simon, Julie Simon (holding Trevor), Allison (checking on baby brother, Grant), Aunt Janet, Uncle Dick, Jean Nelson Simon and James Simon.

REUBEN and ALICE'S CHILDREN

We were missing Lavern (in the nursing home) and Donald (deceased), but the other four siblings were there, in great form! As you can see, it is no secret where the cousins got the gift of gab!

L-R: Audrey Bacon Rasmussen (the only one looking at the camera!), Janet Bacon Nelson, Marvin Bacon, and Doris Bacon Parse.

BACON SIBLINGS WITH SPOUSES

L-R: Janet and Dick Nelson; Doris Parse with friend, Walter Radley; Eugene and Audrey Rasmussen; Jacqueline and Marvin Bacon.

I took a couple of shots of this and never did get them all looking the same direction - kind of like working with kids! :)

Finally, some faces to put with the names! I am missing a couple of photos, including our own family! I also didn't get one of Joanne and Jim's clan - not sure how I missed that... Also I know there were lots of pictures snapped throughout the day that showed how much fun was had - pumpkin races, anyone?

It was a beautiful day and we had a really good turnout! There was more than enough wonderful food to eat and good conversation. Thanks to all who were able to make it, and those of you who weren't - you're on the committee for next year! (just kidding, although that idea has merit....)

You can see a little bit in the photos that the flowers were still (even more so?) gorgeous, as they were for Kendra and Peter's wedding in August. It was a regular 'Secret Garden' that the Knutson's created for that event, and allowed us all to gather there for the reunion, when our other plans fell through. In this case, the 'back-up' plan was far superior to the original! Many thanks to the set-up and take-down crew: mainly the Knutson family and our son-in-law, Scott Aho, besides the committee people. Also to the Knutson's for keeping the 'garden' lookng wonderful for our event. It will revert to cornfield again next year - rather like Brigadoon!

We are talking of trying to create a site where the information that Joanne has gathered and the myriad of pictures taken by Jim Knutson, Amanda Rasmussen and Tanna Bacon can be posted. As soon as we have some info on that, we will get the word out! I think Amanda is being assigned that project, although she just headed back to school. We will be patient! It would be great to have a site that any of the family could post to, to keep everyone up to date. Also, there was a beautiful scrapbook put together by Tanna that would be nice to put on line.

We were able to collect plenty of money through the silent auction, sales of other items (thanks to all the donors!) and just plain donations to cover this year's expenses and create a kitty for next year! Thanks! If ANYONE wants to be in on the planning process, please let us know. A HUGE THANK YOU goes out to my fellow conspirators: Tanna Bacon, Judy Schroeder and last, but not least, Joanne Knutson! The only strength we didn't seem to have with that group was someone willing to lead the meeting! Another year we will be sure that point is covered! Volunteers anyone????

Happy Birthday John Schmit!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO JOHN!

(Heather's husband)

Hope you have a great day!

Did Jordan let you win at golf this morning??

Have a piece of birthday cake for us!

Happy Birthday to Connie....

....and a belated birthday to Alice, too!

This is a cropped photo showing the two of them, probably about the time the family moved up to Amherst, as that is the front porch of the farm house in the background.

I hope you have a wonderful day today, Connie!

And that Alice had a great day last Sunday, as well!

Congratulations to Steve and Erin Hansen!

Not only were they married this past weekend, but Steve just found out that he was one of ten firefighters/paramedics chosen out of 2,600 applicants in Las Vegas! He and Erin will be moving there, where she will work as a dental hygienist. We are very happy for them, as this is what they were hoping for.


Note: see the Schmit Family Blog for pictures of my siblings and me with the folks and also with our spouses. Nice pictures, Heather!

Couple more notes on the weekend....

First off - a big thank you to Roger, John and Linda for making it possible for us to be away from the farm for 5 milkings! That is our usual schedule, not theirs and we appreciate the time away!

A big thank you to Linda for watching all of our animals for us, too! I'm sure they all enjoyed the special attention they get from Linda in our absence. Read: "spoiling"!

Dusti was happy to see us, and showed her appreciation on Monday by greeting me at the driveway with a dead chipmunk! Any of you who are familiar with Dusti, know that she ''greets" you with a goose-in-the-butt! Picture me trying to avoid that 'greeting' with her carrying a VERY dead chipmunk in her jaws! We 'danced' all the way to the back door! And it wasn't even the little bugger that was cleaning out our feeders!

More destruction...

The tin is off the roof, and the old milk house is gone. To the left of the photo, you can see the tin stacked neatly on a pallet. Ed Hebblewhite, one of our landlords, came and picked that up yesterday.

Closer shot, can you see the 'wavy' roof line? The gate at the far right of the picture is how the cows used to get down into the vetting area. There are a number of them that have to stop and look out that 'window' as they head out of the parlor. Dan has to be creative when he catches a cow for breeding, or when we move fresh cows/heifers in - and there have been 6 that have freshened since Sunday, I think - including 3 sets of twins!!

Yeah, Dan was inside cutting the nails that held the trusses up....and he wonders why I would rather not be down there when he is doing those kinds of things! Before he headed home, he 'bumped' the building with the skidder/backhoe (I'm not sure which he used) and half of it fell away! I'll have to get some more pictures, I guess! The cats finally got the picture, and are looking elsewhere to set up housekeeping. It's a big place, and there are nooks and crannies everywhere, which will soon be filled with cats! Where Dan is standing in the photo was one of their major haunts.

Montana!

We had a wonderful weekend in Montana! Our weekend started on Friday, as we headed out around noon. After a quick stop in Waupaca for Dan's meds, we turned around and headed to Sally and Scott's at Baldwin. We got there before they got home from work, so we prepared supper. As you can see, we even had time for a couple of pictures in their front yard. After supper, they drove us into St. Paul to get on the plane. It worked quite slick - we had checked in on-line so we went straight to security, as we weren't checking any bags. Other than walking off without one of my bags (!) it went fine. I figured it out before we got too far, and the baggage handlers got a laugh out of it.

We arrived in Belgrade, MT (where the airport is located) around 11:15 pm. We didn't have any trouble finding the car that Mike and Lorrie had dropped off for us (thanks much for the use of your Camry!) and were soon headed towards their house. It was about 10 miles there, but because we weren't able to locate street signs it took us about a half hour to get there. That was fine. We got all of our stuff hauled in and were just making sure we had our bearings in the house when the Paulson family arrived! Paula (Lorrie's sister) and her husband Jeff (Mike's roommate from college) and their three kids: Jake, along with his fiancé, Kathy; Megan and her husband Ryan; and Ben, who is a junior in High School. They live in Ripon, so had a similar flight to ours. After introductions all around and making plans for when we would head out in the morning, we all crashed. I know from experience that Mike and Lorrie are wonderful hosts, but they even do a great job when they are not there! There were all kinds of goodies set out for our breakfast on Saturday morning, and we had a nice leisurely one. The only fly in the ointment was that Kathy (sorry if I am misspelling that!) had an ear infection. They located a clinic that she could get an appointment for mid-morning, so we left them there and headed to Anaconda on our own. We had directions, so it was no problem. As you can see from the myriad of photos, it was a beautiful drive. We had a brief shower as we headed out of Bozeman, then it cleared up and was a beautiful day.

We arrived at the Motel in time to hook up with Mike and family as they were heading to Fairmont Springs to do a little swimming. We hadn't brought our suits, but went along to visit and watch the swimmers. It was fun to meet Stephanie and Julie - what a doll! At 3½ years old she has a great vocabulary and was really quite sharp. I got to know Stephanie better at the dance - wow! What a dancer she is! It was a lot of fun, just watching her! Of course she didn't allow that, so quite often Mary, Heather, Stephanie and I were out there kicking up our heels together! It was fun, but I was glad that our camera was kaput by then, so Dan couldn't take any pictures! Sometime after I took the pictures at the pool the camera overheated or something and was down for the count. I tried new batteries, but that didn't solve the problem. Not sure what happened. It has an auto turn off, so it shouldn't have been a problem of being left on. Josh is sending me the sales slip so I can take it in to Best Buy. Not expecting too much satisfaction, though, as it was purchased in early July. We'll have to see. Luckily our other camera is still usable, although it was hard to go back to it (after I got home, didn't have it with) after having the newer features and better camera.
[Speaking of Josh, he is in Germany right now for a couple of weeks. Then he comes back to go to Cinncinati for his German classes (1 week). Debora and Thomas are in Brazil now, and will return a couple of days after Josh gets home from Ohio. Then her citizenship test, packing up the house and making the move to Germany on October 11th! Wow!] After returning from swimming, we met up with Heather and John, Jordan and Kailea, and Mom and Dad for lunch at a brewery restaurant. Good food, and good fun! Mom, Dan and I walked back from lunch to the motel and stopped to get some batteries to try in the camera. Bought something for Sam, but had to return it later as it wouldn't fit in our suitcase! Oh well. We found a t-shirt for him at the airport that was cute, so we didn't go home empty-handed.

On to the wedding! It was at 5:00pm and WAY up on top of a mountain in a chapel that overlooked a lake (more than one?). It was absolutely gorgeous and there were windows to look out over the scenery while you were supposed to be listening to the pastor! Quite distracting! The ceremony was very nice, with Lorrie (piano), Heidi (cello) and Megan (singing) providing the music. Julie was flower girl and did a great job with the fall leaves that she spread around. Mary got some good pictures. The church was packed FULL - standing room only! We got there early enough to sit, but were unable to save any seats for those arriving later. Sorry! We were able to get some good pictures of my family - sibs and folks - so hope to see those soon.

The dinner and dance was held at a country club outside of Anaconda, and after finally locating it we met up with the rest of the family. The food was wonderful, and there was ample time to sit and visit before the music (live band) started up. Like I mentioned previously, we had a good time - at least the women did! The men located a TV in the basement level that was airing the Badger game! Some of the gals weren't too thrilled with that, but I figured I would have a good time, either way. And I did! (thanks Heather for the loan of some 'comfortable' shoes for the dance! - at least as long as I wore them!)

We left for the motel about 11:30, and I hear the party went on till aroung 2:30. It must have picked up some after we left, or they were just waiting for the "older" folks to get out of the way so they could party! That's fine - we had our fun! Dan and I were up the next morning for a nice walk around town. It was a copper mining area, with lots of history. After that we met up with the rest that were there at our motel for breakfast. Thanks Mike - it was great! Then we headed back for Bozeman and our plane trip home. Other than a few delays, we were up, up and away! Scott, Sally and Sam picked us up at the airport and we stopped for supper (we never really had lunch) at Culvers. Then back to their place to get our car and head for home! We pulled into our driveway at 11:30pm and I was between the sheets at 11:36! Poor Dan - I couldn't even stay awake in the car to keep him company! We made it, though. Thanks hon!

When I get a picture of the wedding couple, I will share it on our blog. Thanks again to all the Montana Folk for a wonderful weekend!!!