Plastic Jug Snowman Craft

She is concentrating on that glue

I do not know where this craft originated, however; I saw it on Facebook. The snowmen they featured were made with a plastic gallon milk jug. The first effort making the snowman was with my granddaughter at our daughter’s home in Kentucky while mom and dad had a date night.

My granddaughter was tired and not in a really crafty state of mind so hers was fairly plain. I made a few suggestions, however, it was plain to see she was not in the mood to craft.

Snowman and granddaughter smiles.

After I returned home, I decided to make my own snowman using a plastic milk jug, then I noticed in the recycle bag I had 2 other plastic containers so decided to make a snowman family.

Our Granddaughter's snowman

After assembling my snowmen, I then thought they would make great porch lights. Since I was decorating for Christmas using Christmas tree lights only seemed natural. 

They really do make a nice light on my porch. Try making your own plastic jug snowman, it's a craft anyone can do.

My lighted snowmen

Safely Home from Kentucky

Z acting like the Statue of Liberty

I was in Kentucky east of Louisville this last week for our granddaughter’s grandparent’s day for kindergarten. School was closed on Monday as they had a band of wet heavy snow go through, however, nothing compared to the lake effect snow Buffalo saw.

 

We here in Northern Indiana get the same lake effect snow, however, our area was missed this go round which made me very happy since I had to travel north. I cannot imagine getting that much snow so early and all at once.

Praise Jesus, I made it in record time and home safely on a chilly and extremely windy, however, sunny day. The bummer of it all is, I thought my hip pain was getting better with the Diclofena the doctor prescribed as well as the MSM I took all week. I do not know if it is the cooler temperatures, lack of exercise, diet or setting on my butt for hours on end, or old age, but my first rest stop was quick and painful and has not eased up yet.

Z ready for school in her new coat

Therefore, I am home, attempted to resume my normal schedule this morning by hitting the gym, and only made 3 miles on the Elliptical. It is a start after being off schedule for a week. Prayerfully next week, I will be as good as new.

For now, I am thankful to have made a round trip to Kentucky to see my girls safe.

http://angelgirlpj.blogspot.com/2014/11/my-birthday-and-grandparents-day.html  

http://angelgirlpj.blogspot.com/2014/11/my-granddaughter-happy-and-sad.html

Grandparents Day  

Time with my Girls

I arrived on Friday November 14^th around 2:30. I actually made record time in my travels therefore, I had time to stop to refuel and get a well-needed cup of coffee to re-energize before our grand daughter got home from school.

I stopped at the church where our daughter and cleans and got the key to their home and unpack my truck. I thought I would pull in the garage and hide my truck from our granddaughter to see her reaction when getting off the bus, funny thing as our daughter pulled in, I got the same reaction from her. She wondered if I had gotten lost, stopped along the way etc….

On Saturday, we shopped until I dropped. We did daily shopping needs as well as purchased Christmas gifts. We did stop at Culver’s Restaurant for a bite to eat around 4:30, it was a slightly later than planned lunch but all was good as after we ate we hit 4 more stores.

I think the find of the day was at the peddlers mall where our 6-year old granddaughter found something she has been longing for. She found an old cash register so at our last stop we purchased play money to go in it. She has set up a store where she gives us the money and then we purchase things from her store.

Today mommy had to go to work for a couple of hours as on Friday they were doing something special making her change her plans. Baby girl and I watched the new VHS movie Mulan and then I washed the dishes to try to help a little and she will be home soon therefore I need to make some lunch.

I am enjoying my time with my girls.

Because of Love

Our Grand Daughters 6th Birthday 

Baking Breads and Aw the Smell

Cutie flower girl for Big Brothers Wedding

As I am planning my trip to Kentucky to see my girls for a week, I am making meals for the hubby that he can simply reheat. I have turkey vegetable soup going for tonight. 

I am also baking breads to share with others as well as for the hubby's sandwiches. If it is not easy he will tend to skip meals and that is not good to maintain strength.

I just finished baking pumpkin bread to take on my trip to snack on and take to church tonight to Bible Study for the church ladies.

Homemade Pumpkin Bread Recipe

The next batch of bread to hit the oven is the herb wheat bread that goes with everything, however, makes wonderful sandwiches. With this bread, one will go with me, one stay here and some are going to one of my clients for a family member in need. I love to bake so it simply made sense I would donate some for the cause.

Herb Wheat Bread Recipe

So how are you spending your time on this chilly November day?

Halloween at Dewart Lake

Picture is from 2010

I am here at the cottage and did a big oops, not bringing any candy. At the farm we never get any trick or treaters, therefore, I never gave it a thought to pick up a bag of candy for here, when I picked the the bags for the Light the Night party. 

I miss seeing my grandchildren every day but not getting to see them all dressed up stinks too. 

 

With that said, I hope my boys will be dressed warm as the forecast here is down right cold and ugly.

Outfits from 2013

This is the costumes the baby boys wore in 2013, I didn't get to see them first hand but was glad to see the picture.

The Schwartz's 2013

Last October I was in KY for Grandparents Day and actually saw the baby girl's costume come together. I am uncertain of any of the costumes this year so hoping to see a lot of photographs. 


Please have a safe and wonderful Halloween no matter the weather forecast.

Time Slipping Away

Time is slipping away, not only the summer as school once again resumes next week, but also with my family growing up so quickly.

My baby girl, my granddaughter Zeely will be in Kindergarten next week. I am watching her this last year grow up through pictures. They came up for Easter, I went down in May to attend the preschool graduation and on the 4^th of July we met ½ way in Kokomo to see Dave do his first skydive. I sincerely do not know when I will see them next with the busy schedules everyone has.

Time is slipping away for me, is it for you?

The grandson's and friend watering the garden for basketball cards.

Read the full post on Bubblews

Oh What a Beautiful Day

OK she is naked :)

Setting outside in KY at my daughter's home it is such a beautiful day. It is 77 degrees, sunshine and a wonderful breeze. My 5 1/2-year old granddaughter was splashing in her pool grandpa allowed me to buy, lawn and garden work is being done by my son-n-law and tonight he will cook a trash can turkey. Yum yum. 

I drove down Wednesday morning for the preschool graduation and here it is Saturday afternoon already and I will head home tomorrow morning. 

Our snail finding walk.

I do not appreciate the long drive but it has been so worth it. I love family time and there simply has not been enough of it.

Read More about trash can turkey on Bubblews

Only My Granddaughter

I read my daughters post of Facebook this morning and laughed so hard and out loud. I could picture my granddaughter doing just as she described. I could also imagine my daughters face when she did it. It sounds funny reading it, however, I'm sure Jasmine was totally embarrassed.

 "(Ok, so let me start off by prefacing my actual post with this: Zeely has personal space issues that we've been working on and tends to get too close to a person's face when being silly and animated.)

Preschool teachers down here in Kentucky do a home visit before school starts to meet the kids in their own comfortable environment. Great idea, right? Today was our day, and Zeely was so excited that she
1. couldn't relax long enough to take her usual afternoon nap so was even more worked up than normal by 6 p.m., and
2. apparently felt comfortable enough to jump up on her teacher's lap and, wait for it, accidentally licked her face!

Yep, she sure started off her school career with a bang! Definitely writing this one down in the memory book"

Let's Go!

 

The Kentucky school system won't know what hit them until my smart, yet very ornery and active Zeely Jade makes her entrance.

My First Road Trip

Well it took a lot of thought and prayer as making a long road trip alone posed many fears for me. However, the need to see my girls out weighed my fears.

When I started early on Sunday am the weather forecast was to be foggy and 80% chance of rain. It did sprinkle for maybe 5 minutes but no fog.  The roads were dry and sunshine came out and stayed out the whole trip.

4 hours into my trip south, I stopped at the last chance rest stop before hitting the bridge between Indiana and Kentucky Bridge. 

Since I could not find any Christian music channels on the radio, I decided to make a playlist on my tablet. As I am setting there, a nice older man approached me spreading the word to other drivers that he heard on the CB that there was a delay on the bridge. 

Fear again tried to sneak in as I started to drive; however, I yelled aloud at satan and with Jesus’ help took control of my fear.

Well the delay was miles before the bridge and the traffic was backed up making my trip an hour longer. Therefore, I was so glad I took the time to make my playlist of music. No fears, great music and snacks on the seat beside me made the delay bearable. 

I made it, and the trip was worth it!

Therefore, my advice to anyone who does not like doing things alone, especially long trips, you can do it. Simply be prepared for anything.

 

                                                                                                                         

Exploring Northern-Central Kentucky

Greeted by Baby Girl

Since my husband is on vacation or shut down in the RV business we once again headed south to visit my daughter and family. My 3 1/2-year old granddaughter was counting down the days. Sis said she asked numerous times throughout the day about when we would get there. She came out greeting us with I love you grandma! Aw how it can melt a grandma's heart.

 As it was so hot, we soon decided to cool off in the kiddie pool. Trust me, it was good enough for me, I cooled off. 


Saturday morning we decided to explore KY. We headed to the Swope's Auto Museum in Elizabethtown first. It is an awesome free car museum. If you are planning a vacation this should be on your to do list. Here my husband is looking at the trunk saying his mom has one in the garage much like it. Of course baby girl had a hard time not wanting to touch all the cars however for 3 1/2-years old she did very well. 

Here she is posing with my daughter or her mom. After the museum we headed to historic Bardstown KY. We started with a picnic and proceeded to walk to see the town. We did get warm so stopped to have a cone at Baskin Robbin's. As it was warm, Z's chocolate cone did not last long. She did get quite a bit of chocolate on her face.

Trail guide in tap shoes

Let's go!

Sunday after church, lunch, nap and Nascar race we decided to check out Taylorsville lake. When Z heard we were leaving she was ready to go tap shoes and all.  With her walking stick she points out we were on the red path. Trust me, she was looking for the red to keep us on track. She had one minor incident with the tap shoes putting her on her bum but did not let it stop her. She made a wonderful trail guide.

Walked 1.5 mile red trail and picked pine cones

Monday morning as we were packing up to leave, even though baby girl was reluctant, we stopped to look at the blue Morning Glory she planted from the seeds we purchased for her last trip south. Then I noticed she had grabbed the olive can and that's what she was eating for breakfast. Grandpa was spoiling her, by purchasing them and taking them, knowing she loved them.

She tried to stow away

Well heading home is rough, however, it has to be done. I didn't shed a tear in front of her as she didn't want us to leave or she wanted to go with us, but man my heart was breaking.

Grandpa and Grandma ready to leave!