Autumn

I liked this saying about autumn:

Snowy Glazed Apple Squares

I made these last night for dessert tonight. They turned out really good with the Autumn Beauty apples we got at the orchard yesterday. Dan & LaVonne came for a bike ride on the bike trail this afternoon. Afterwards we had these after sloppy joes, veggie pizza, chips/crackers & cheese. It was great to get outside, ride and have a yummy meal and dessert with company! Thanks for coming & for bringing the veggie pizza, chips & drinks! **I figured out how to just post the image of the recipe card. I used print screen & pasted it into ThumbsPlus and cropped it! Great!

Lemon Breaded Pork Chops

We had this for dinner today. Just wanted to try out this Smilebox for making my recipe cards for my most used recipes. I have piles of 4x6 photo paper I can put them on and laminate. Smilebox is fun to make recipe cards in but I don't really like that it "plays"- I'd like to just post it was a picture but it doesn't look like there's a way to do that. Kinda fun.

Click to play | Make your own Smilebox

Congratulations Maggie!

Maggie has had quite a week. Monday her company closed and she lost her job. On Friday she already has a new job! This is where she's working: http://www.fcdadson.com/ starting Monday. Good luck Maggie!

PJ Day Today

Today was PJ day at day care. All the kids ask for this special day! The moms like this day too because it makes getting ready faster! Brett woke up with summer jammies on and it was cool in the house so he put on this cozy sleeper. After lunch it was warmer and he changed into his race care jammies. Tonight Daddy said "time to get your jammies on!" and Brett thought that was funny since he already had some on!

Comic book before breakfast

My six Friday morning kids. Outside under the tree after our fire drill.

Anniversary slideshow

I came across this again today-it's the 40th anniversary slide show we made for Brent & Mavis last year. Many hours of scanning pictures, picking music & setting the timing! It turned out to be a nice keepsake for the whole family. I enjoy watching it every once in a while. I can't upload it here but here's a link: 40th Anniversary I'll have to see if I can get the Hesebeck family one that we made for Grandma's 90th Birthday uploaded. I think our only copy is on CD now.

Back from Convention

and thrown right into Monday..... On the way home I found out my first day care kid was coming at 5:30 am so the day started early. (I need to practice "I'm sorry, that isn't going to work for me...." My licensed hours are 6am-6pm) Still, it's my quietest day of the week. Brett finally decided he was hungry and ate a lot of grilled cheese and tomato soup for lunch! He insisted he wasn't tired but got into bed quite willinging anyway. He was glad to see his toys again after being gone at Grandma's and convention. We had a wonderful convention though it always goes so fast. It seemed like the enemy wanted to tell me on the way home "that nothing's changed" but we feel we were after our days at Marion. Here's a few pictures we took there:

G & G Smith, Hodgemans, Mom & Dad, Ransoms, K & M Hesebeck

Mom & Dad H

Ransom's

Brett Avery Grandpa & Grandma Smith

Happy Birthday Maggie! Brett & Keith playing catch

New Friends - Trevor & Brett

Handsome Little Man

My little man came home with a new haircut today! I always love it short like that. One of our "old" day care mom's cuts Damon & Brett's hair and she does a great job. It always looks nice even when it gets long. Damon takes care of setting up the appointments and getting Brett there. I like that Daddy is in charge of it! Most days I can't leave the house anyway due to work...

This is what 4 looks like

Brett and Mommy sometimes get silly before bedtime and this time we took some pictures. Here's just a few.

Today's the Day!

Today Brett is officially 5 years old! His birthday seemed to go on & on this year with the party last weekend and again today with his day care friends.

I made cupcakes and he got some presents from his friends. He is very excited to have received Rusty the train! He also got a neat dinosaur book with a CD, a new Thomas Leap Pad book and Terri, my assistant/sub, stopped by with some card games and a rocket set. We ordered pizza for lunch.

Brett also got several special phone calls. First Auntie Karla called all the way from Mexico! He was so excited to hear her on the phone. Too bad she couldn't see his big eyes and smile. Tonight Uncle Keith and Auntie Maggie called to say Happy Birthday. Keifer got Brewers tickets for his birthday-too bad they lost! Then while we were out shopping, Grandpa H. called. Pretty special day! Tonight Damon wanted to surprise him by going to Brett's favorite restaurant, Red Robin. And he got him the Thomas Birthday train set. Daddy is totally spoiling him!! Afterwards we found Brett some new play shoes and Damon some spiffy new clothes for meeting/convention. I found a great new purse on sale! Fun night!

Cupcakes with friends

Cupcakes! Letting Mommy taste his chocolate shake at Red Robin (note that he never let go!) Thomas Birthday Celebration set

Happy Birthday Uncle Keith!

Remember this day? It was Sunday, September 15, 2002. Brett was one day old and Uncle Keith just turned 24. Pretty special to share a birthday with Keith! After Brett was born Damon & I called most of our family to share the news and no one was answering!! Then Grandma H. answered and then Keith & Maggie. I think Julie was at work so we told Uncle Bryce first. Grandma & Grandpa R. were on their way to convention and we had to leave a message on their cell phone. When I called Keith I said "Happy Birthday. I didn't send a card or get you a present but how about a nephew?" I guess he was okay with that! Good thing cause we couldn't return him!

Tree

I was noticing today how beautiful our tree in the backyard is. It's grown so much this year! I believe we planted this tree 3 years ago. The first one died so we replaced it & although it wasn't shaped as nice as the original, it's really taken off. It has a ton of berries on it! Earlier this spring, Brett and the other kids picked most of them within reach off.....

Driving with Spirit

Brett was driving his Jeep this weekend and took Spirit for a ride. Of course she had to sit on his lap-she likes to sit on the driver's lap in a real car. It was so cute! They love to play together.

Swinging High!

Here's a great picture of Brett swinging really high on Sunday. Grandma was giving him pushes and this was about as high as he could go! She looks a little worried in the background but he was loving it!

Brett's 5th Birthday Party

We celebrated Brett's 5th birthday on Saturday. Mommy made a baseball cake & Daddy got him the Thomas the Tank Sodor's Lumber Yard set. Grandma Hesebeck, Grandpa and Grandma Ransom, Jon & Shanda & Spirit, Bryce & Julie & Kyle & Kira came for the party. Grandpa and Grandma Ransom, Jon & Shanda & Spirit stayed for the weekend. We had broccoli cheese soup, hamburger soup and sandwiches & chocolate cake with Grandma's GREAT frosting! Brett had a great birthday party and has really been enjoying his presents. Thank you everyone! More pictures here: Birthday Party Pictures

End of Summer Pictures

Taken on Sunday, September 2nd, at Hanson's.

Labor Day Weekend

I'm a little behind in updating for Labor Day weekend but it was noteworthy so I'll add it now. Friday night we went to the Walworth county fair and I've already written about that below. Saturday we had a nice day at home, working on things around here. Damon started building storage shelves in the basement for all the day care toys. It's great! There's still some organizing to do after I get more bins. Whatever doesn't fit on the shelves needs to go!

Sunday night we went to Al & Elaine's for a potluck. The guys cooked hotdogs over the fire. Lots of great food! I made deviled eggs, macaroni tuna salad, BLT Bites and Chocolate Peanut Butter Rice Crispy Bars.

Cooking the hotdogs.

Leah, Sam, Laura, Brett, Derek

Monday we went to Bryce & Julie's to watch the Labor Day parade in Randolph. It goes right in front of their house. We got to see Kyle marching in the parade. A beautiful day with good company (Mom & Dad, Keith & Maggie, Jerry & Bev & Hodgemans of course!) & more great food!

Waiting for the parade to start!

Kyle playing in the parade.

Walworth County Fair

Last night we went to the fair. We usually go to the Rock County fair since it's so close, but we missed it this year. It's kinda small anyway. We ate at Culver's before going to Elkhorn. We parked in the Gateway technical college parking lot and rode the shuttle over to the fairgrounds. That was great! So much better than trying to find parking, paying for parking and walking blocks to get there. The shuttle was a school bus so Brett was thrilled! It was his first ride on a bus and he loved every minute of it. First we went on the ferris wheel. Brett didn't think he wanted to go on it but changed his mind after we got there. After we got on, Damon & I thought, this isn't as fun as we remembered! Not romantic, it makes you feel sick! We walked around and got taffy and cotton candy. Damon bought a cream puff. We stopped and listened to the Beach Boys for a little while, but there was no place to sit so we moved on. The place was packed for the show! Lots of people were walking around singing along with the music. We're glad we went and Brett really enjoyed it, but I guess it's not as fun as we remember it was as kids. Maybe it has something to do with $18 to get in, $12 for 3 of us to ride the ferris wheel, $3 for cotton candy, $4 for a cream puff, $2 for another little ride, $5 for taffy. Yep, lots of fun!

First bus ride

Riding the shuttle to the fairgrounds

Brett thought he should have this! Ferris Wheel Brett & Damon on the ferris wheel Jeep Ride Cotton candy! Listening to the Beach Boys