A Trip back in time

Kristen in pioneer finery

The girls walking through the quarry

An old log cabin

Root cellar or sod house

The town

Covered bridge

watching a gentlemen make wooden kitchen tools.  HeHe spent a lot of time explaining nad showing how he carved, whittled the tools

The girls looking out the window of the covered bridge

The church

Kristen learning to weave

cooking over an open fire

dutch oven with the hot ashes below and on the lid. 

One of the demonstrators, showing Kristen all of the layers that were worn.

Kristen in front of the waterfall

We live close to a place called Heritage Canyon.  It is an old quarry where they used to dynomite for limestone or something similiar.  Several years ago a couple bought the abandon quarry and started turning it into an old time village.  Every year they have a fall festival where the cabins, school, church, and different stores are open with American Crafters in several of the buildings.  They are dressed in the period clothing and crafts.  Always a fun day walking through the canyon, with the smell of smoke in the air.  Kristen really got interested in the old crafts and way of life this year.  So much so, that she wants to join the American Crafters associate and begin participating.

Easter

Easter morning starts really early in our house. First up is Kurt at 2:30 so that he can get ready and go to church. He likes to be in charge of the Easter Breakfast and several other things at his church. Next up was me at 4:30 so that I could get Sarah up. Her ride was coming at 5:30 am so that she could finish helping with Easter breakfast. Finally Kristen was awakened around 5:00 am so that she had time to look for her Easter stuff and get ready before we left around 6:30. After church we went down to my Mom's in Bettendorf. My sister and her family plus my brother were already there. The girls had fun showing off their dresses. Kristen and Grace almost had the same dress. After lunch the little girls enjoyed some special playing time with their cousins. It was so cute to hear Grace yelling at Kristen to come outside because I want to play with you. Finally home and early bed for all of us. Hope your Easter was just as nice.

Unexpected rest

Tonight was the annual Mardi Gras parade in Clinton. Sarah was supposed to march in the parade with the high school band. Due to the extreme cold temperatures (around freezing) and white stuff seen in the sky, they cancelled the bands. Instead of standing outside for about 1 1/2 hours wrapped in blankets and hoping that Kristen and I don't freeze, all 3 of us had the pleasure of having a night off. I had cancelled Kristen's piano lesson because of the parade and the dance studio always cancells class on this night. It was so nice to stay home tonight. We were able to make and enjoy supper together. At least the 3 girls. Kurt still had a volleyball match. After supper, Sarah worked on her homework, Kristen read and practiced her Awana and I was able to get a good start on Kristen's halloween outfit. Hoping to finish the top tomorrow night and get started on the bottom part of the outfit. It was so nice to have this time together tonight. We all felt like we were able to accomplish something and still felt rested. Now that football season is almost over, and Sarah is done with Cheerleading we should be enjoying a few more of these nights.

Little cousins

Today was the Holst Family picnic. While not near as many attend as when I was little, there were still a few extra kids for the girls. Of course my cousin Kevin brought his family. My girls love to spend time with their little cousins and it seemed that a certain one almost two year old wants to keep Kristen around. Kristen is just the right age for giving in to this almost 2 year old. Sarah also had a chance to meet up with a couple of 3rd cousins. One is just a few months older, but is a grade ahead of her in school. She enjoyed talking with them and playing card games. It always nice to connect with family, even if you don't see them much.

Needed: One safe place for all

It is a good idea for everyone living in the midwest to have a safe place to go to when strong storms threaten, especially it seems this year. In the past we have used Kurt's comic book room as this safe place. It is a small room in the basement that stores all of Kurts comics and on Thursday night, we discovered that there is just enough space for the six of us to inhabit. However the area is a bit cramped. Kristen is small enough that she was able to curl up in a small area and then put a ton of blankets and stuffed animals on top of her. Kurt was able to have his computer set up so that he could track the storms as they headed towards us and Sarah and I had just enough room to stand up in. Kitty choose to join us also, normally the cats aren't allowed in this room and we were all in this room plus allowing him in. I am sure that he just knew something bad could happen as he stayed in a small area to protect himself. Sox on the other hand is young and adventuresome and didn't want to come in with us at first, but finally decided that there was a good reason to be in this little room. After about 35 minutes the warning was lifted and we started to head back upstairs at 10:30 pm. Just as we made it up the steps the sirens went off again and we were under another warning for 45 minutes. Thankfully by watching the radar we were able to determine that we should be out of harms way and allowed the girls to come back up around 10:45 pm. Kristen was so scared that she wasn't going to go back to her room and even being invited to share Sarah's loft bed didn't help. So of course Kurt told her she could sleep between us. Sarah then brought her sleeping bag into our room and we had a grand old family campout in the bedroom. Even the cats got in on the act with Kitty climbing into Sarah's sleeping bag for the night. Needless to say I think the only ones who ended up with enough sleep were the cats.

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Girls Night

Kurt left today for South Dakota and a conference. He won't be home until Sunday night. The girls have been waiting for this night as it has become a tradition on the first night that Dad is gone to have a girls night. We traditionally order Chinese from Yen Chings, yummy, watch a movie or two and have a picnic on the living room floor. Tonight was no exception. The girls have been given gift cards for movie rentals so instead of watching one of our movies, we rented five movies for 2.00 and good for 5 nights. Wow. Kristen wanted Matilada. This is a very cute movie about a little girl who has horrible parents and her teacher. I would recommend this movie to all. After Kristen's movie Sarah wanted to watch Sky High. Have seen this movie a lot lately on the Disney Channel. It is a good show, but I am getting a little tired of watching it. We all love having these quiet nights at home with just the three of us. Okay, maybe it is the five of us as the cats both like to join us for these quiet times.

Shopping today

Since it is almost Easter it was necessary to take the family shopping. Kurt and Sarah had gift certificates from Kohls left over from Christmas. Kurt was looking for a new pair of pants and a nice dress shirt (pink) Sarah was looking for a dress (not by choice, but because I told her she had to get two new dresses this spring.) Kohl's had tons of junior clothes on clearance. We were lucky enough to find a nice black/gray/and white dress for only 7.60. Sarah actually claims to like the dress. She also found a pink, white, and black skirt with a pink top that she likes. This outfit was a 60 dollar outfit on sale for only 32.00. I love it when I can get a good deal on clothes. Her gift certificate then picked up some of the cost. She will wear the pink skirt and top for Easter and the Black and white dress for Confirmation. What luck to find dressy clothes that dad and I like plus that Sarah likes and says she will wear. Time will tell. Kurt was able to find a new pair of dress slacks but not the top he was looking for. All that is available right now is long sleeve and he doesn't like long sleeve shirts. We will continue to look for a new shirt for him. Next we had promised Kristen a pair of sneakers. Her's had gotten so horrible, the velcro was actually worn off of the straps. I buy her shoes at Payless Shoes. I can't see spending a ton of money for shoes that she will either ruin or outgrow in a couple of months. I found a pair of shoes for only 16.00, at first glance she didn't like them, until she saw the brand name "Hannah Montana" then she was in love and had to have them. Thankfully they were the cheapest pair in her size. I then went to Fashion Bug where they were having a buy one get one for a 1.00. I love that sale, especially when everything that I buy is on clearance except for one item. I ended up with 2 tops, 1 dressy blouse, 1 skirt, 1 pair of cords, and 1 pair of linen type lightweight pants for spring and summer. Total for all 6 pieces was only 60.00, yeah 10 dollars a piece. Now that is a good deal in my opinion. So now we all have something nice and new to wear for Easter services this Sunday. I will post pictures of everyone in their new outfits in a few days.

Family Day

Dan just bought a new house and moved in, so he had the family over for a meal and to see the new home. He has a very nice house, but I am not sure what a bachelor needs 4 bedrooms for? It was nice to see the rest of the family and let the kids play for a while.

Lazy Sundays

Today has been great. After attending church we were all able to come home for the rest of the day. No one had to go anywhere. It is not often that we have a day so relaxing and peaceful. Since we had daylight savings time change, it gave us a chance to catch up on some sleep for a few. Sarah had to babysit until 1:30, so she really needed the rest. We have been laying around the house, watching an old movie on Disney channel and then some of their new shows,plus I have been able to get a little scrapping done. I am currently in the middle of a puzzle swap. I have one piece of puzzle from 12 different puzzles and will be decorating them according to the recipient's chosen theme. This has been fun and also a challenge of sorts. I have had to think about topics that I normally wouldn't do. Some of the people will put their puzzles together and others are going to use the pieces as embellishment on a scrapbook page.
We need to find a way to simplify our lives so that we can enjoy more relaxing days as a family.

Saturday

wow, what a busy day doing a whole bunch of nothing. Kristen and I had a Mommy and Me Scrapbooking class from 12-2 today. Originally that was all that was planned. Well Sarah is selling fruit for band so we decided to stop at my Mom's house to see if she wanted to buy any fruit. Of course with the next winter storm supposed to start around midnight I needed to get some more salt for the ice. I had just bought a bag 2 weeks ago, but Sarah used the entire bag to "help" her shovel the driveway with the last snow. So we ended up leaving around 9:00 this morning and ran to the post office so I could mail my composition swap book, then to Clinton Feed and Grain to see my SIL and purchase a 40 pound bag of salt. This had better last for a long time Sarah. I then let Sarah drive from the North end of Clinton all the way to my Mom's house in Bettendorf. This is the farthest she has ever driven. It was nice to see my Mom and talk with both her and my brother for a bit. Dan has finally bought a house and will be moving in about 2 weeks. Not bad, it only took him about 10 months to find a house since he retired last May from the Air Force. He showed us pictures of the house, boy is it big. Not sure what a single guy is going to do in a house that big. After talking to Mom for a bit we left for our scrapbooking class. We then got a bit to eat at Mongolian Grill, a very good place to eat, but one we will never go to with Daddy. Then of course we ran to the mall. Needed to pick up a gift for Kurt's sisters birthday and of course no trip to the mall would be complete without a stop at the Disney Store and Barnes and Nobles. The Disney store was having a 60% off of clearance. I was able to get Kristen a pair of pants and then a capri and top outfit all with Tink on them for only 15. I love deals like this. At Barnes and Nobles, I bought Kristen the book The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder. I already own 2 copies of the book, but of course Sarah packed them away when she (in her mind) outgrew the books and now I can't find them. I wanted Kristen to read this book, so that she would know that are winter could be MUCH worse. Finally we are on our way home, but need to make a quick stop at Walmart for more milk (I wish I owned a dairy cow), some dressing that Sarah needs to take to Church for a fundraiser and some fried chicken for a quick supper. We ended up running into a few different friends and took forever to leave. When we get home there is a phone call from one of Sarah's friends. Sarah returns the call and the next thing I know is that the girl is coming over to spend the night. So much for my nice quiet day almost. Of course if the storm that is predicted hits, the next couple of days could be really quiet.

How do you spend a day off

After lunch today we put in some Christmas movies and the girls had a blast playing with items from the Family night basket while I worked on a little scrapbooking. We then had a light supper and a rousing game of UNO. We played 4 rounds. Kurt won once, I won once, and Sarah won once. The final round ended in a draw. We used up the cards in the draw pile 5 times. We finally called the game so that Kristen could get to bed. The pictures are of everyone playing today or whatever we choose to do for the day. Kurt and I were trying to remember, but we believe that this may be the first time in a couple of years, where no one has left home at all during the day. All in all, I think that this was a great way to have a relaxing and non stress ful day during a very busy season.

Snow er I mean Ice Day

Today was a rare day. No one had to go to school do to the ice, even Kurt got to stay home and that is a rarity. The girls and I spent the morning making Christmas Cookies. Yummy, I guess Santa will have plenty of cookies this year at our house (if the Cookie Monster doesn't eat them first) Normally I am lucky to get one batch of cookies done by Christmas so that there are some to put out for Santa. Today we made Andes Mint cookies, Spritz cookies, and Pecan Tassies. Since we are done by lunch now we get to play this afternoon. In October I won a family game basket in a silent auction. I have been saving this for the first snow day, so this afternoon, we are planning on a mean game of UNO and putting together a Star Wars puzzle.