Knit animals for new babies

You know, my knitting never gets it's fair share of "air time" on my blog.  For some reason, since I started quilting, the knitting has fallen off the radar.  But, that doesn't mean I haven't been making things!  In fact, the announcement that Ryan's friend Christine, from college, was having TWIN BOYS really kicked me into high gear! 

I knew it would be a stretch to try and get two quilts out the door before the babies came, but knit animals, those I could do!  Aren't these two little guys sweet?  I sort of forgot how fun these guys were to knit.  Joey bought me a book of knit animal patterns LONG ago!  Like, maybe before Abby was born?  Anyways, they are fun because they are made up of lots of small pieces.  I could usually knit a piece or two a night so it feel like you are making progress and they come together pretty quickly.

But - I have to say - I will NEVER AGAIN make anything that uses "loopy stitch".  That's the stitch that made the lion's mane.  It's adorable, and totally makes the animal.  But it was the biggest pain in the you know what.  I think I gave myself carpel tunnel trying to get that dang thing done!

A Tree for Ellyn

Mother's Day this year was a little harder than we all expected - but we're so thankful we had all of these special people around to help make it a little easier.  We planted this beautiful flowering tree facing the lake in Ellyn's memory.  This way she'll always be there, watching over us, making sure we're all safe and happy.

To say that she was missed on this day, is an understatement.  She will never be forgotten.

Easter 2019

Easter was late this year and I"m so glad it was finally nice out!!!  This is the first time the Easter bunny has been able to do the egg hunt outside!  Like, first time in SIX years!  (I know because it's Abby's sixth Easter).  It was sunny, and warm and Grammy even got these sweet girls Easter dresses and little bonnets to wear for church.  Be still my heart!

I mean, come on!  Look at that good looking family!

We had such a nice Easter weekend at home!  We cut a load of wood, ate a delicious ham and mom made the fanciest drinks from Proseco and strained strawberry pulp?  Is that what you call it?  I don't know, but whatever it is, it was dang good! 

Oh, and I almost forgot.  We left Freeport early afternoon on Sunday to head home and move all of the furniture out of two bedrooms and pull up the old carpet.  We had new carpet coming the following morning so we had plenty to do to get ready for them.  About 30 minutes after we pulled into the driveway Mom and Dad followed...they drove over to help!  It sure was a much appreciated (and much needed) Easter surprise!

1 Family x 12 (May)

While we keep getting tiny hints that summer is right around the corner, it sure didn't feel like it last weekend at the lake.  It was cold and rainy for Mother's Day, but it didn't stop us from having a good time.  I have another post coming up about it, but that tree behind us...we planed it for Ellyn this past weekend.  Now she can always be with us at the lake.  Making sure everyone has beds, that there's enough food and that a responsible adult takes away the boat keys after dinner time.

Dad's Retirement Party

I can't believe we actually pulled it off!!  Just over a month ago Joey and I successfully planned and hosted a surprise retirement party for my dad.  In fact, it was a surprise for BOTH my Mom and Dad.  It was honestly SO. MUCH. FUN!  I've never planned a surprise party before and I think I might have had more fun than Dad in doing so.

My dad officially retired on April 3rd and I knew we just couldn't let us pass us by without a true celebration.  About a month before it dawned on me that I could probably plan a party and I quickly called Joey to see if she'd willing to help.  After a few quick calls and texts we were all set!  All I needed to do was find the prefect venue (I already had one in mind), get the invites out and then wait for the big day to arrive.

Penny and Nate at Wishful were the most wonderful and gracious hosts for us.  They opened a few hours early, just for our crew, so we had the whole place to ourselves (you know, the 50 of us!).  I managed to sneak out of the house early on Saturday morning (under the guise of taking the dogs to the vet).  I grabbed the cake and balloons and quickly tossed decorations up before rushing home to grab my wood cutting clothes and head out to help Ryan and my Dad all to make it look legit.

The best part was, my Dad thought it was HIS idea to go to Wishful that day.  See, I figured I needed to explain why we were heading to Wishful hours before they opened, right when we should be wood cutting.  Our normal routine is to cut for 4-6 hours in the morning on Saturday and then, in the afternoon, relax at home or head to Wishful for a drink or two.  But, we wanted to get Dad there at 11am.  So, I asked Penny to be a co-conspirator. 

About a week before the event I asked Penny if she could invite my parents to a special "by invitation only" Customer Appreciation event at the brewery.  Figuring my parents wouldn't be able to pass up an event like that, Penny hit send on the email and I waited for over 24 hours nervously hoping they'd take the bait before I got a call from Dad saying we had a little side event we'd need to go to on Saturday morning.  I knew we had him at that point! 

Back to the day of the party.  So, after getting the decorations up I rushed out to cut wood so that I could nudge Dad out of the woods and into the truck in time for the big surprise.  Not as easy as it seemed!  Dad kept saying "It's ok if we're a little late"....Nope!  Not Ok!  The whole thing is for you!  But he didn't know that.  So, we jumped into the truck and headed over.  Honestly, it couldn't have worked out better.  The fake customer appreciation event explained the cars in the parking lot and as we pulled in Dad even said "oh, Ron and Carol are here already", totally not even noticing Joey's car that would have tipped him off immediately.

As Dad walked into the brewery it took him probably a full minute to realize he knew every single person in the bar.  I think it wasn't until he saw Tom and Carolyn from Minneapolis that he realized something was up.  At one point he said to me "My brain was going, I know you, I know you, I know you...wait...what customers DON'T I know here??" and then it started to sink in.  I can replay those moments in my head like they were yesterday.  It was honestly so much fun for me.  There was so much love and so much laughter.  It was amazing.

If there was just one thing I wished would have gone differently it's that Mom and the kids would have arrived all at the same time us us.  The way it worked out, they were about 5 minutes behind us, so Mom got her own personal surprise as she walked in and started to process it just like Dad did.  "Wait, everyone I know is here...what's going on" kind of thoughts were going through her head. 

It was honestly a day I'll never forget and I know Dad says the same thing.  I remember standing at my wedding looking around and realizing all of these people stopped everything else in their lives for that day to be here with me.  As I looked around at this party I had those same thoughts!  Tom and Carolyn came down from Minneapolis, Aunt Peggy from Milwaukee, Bart and Andy from southern Illinois, Joey and Andy from Iowa, Jamie and Zach from Burlington, Justin and Karen from the Quad Cities and so many friends from close by.  People re-arranged their day and their weekend to help celebrate my Dad and this once in a lifetime event. 

Once Wishful opened for their normal business hours it got crowded fast so I'm so thankful we had a location pre-planned for Party #2.  George Hively, a good friend of my parents has a piece of property just a few miles down the road from Wishful.  So we packed up the party and went there to continue the festivities.  I'd asked anyone willing to bring some food to pass and we had beer/water/pop/juice.  George even got out us Ranger so there were Ranger rides for all (mostly the kids). 

All in all, it was seriously so much fun!  But, I have to say, I was sure relieved when we walked into the bar and I could stop all. the. lies!  So many lies.  I had to explain away why Peggy was coming down, and why I thought we needed 8 lbs of brisket for dinner that night.  I had to explain away why we were going to Wishful in the middle of wood cutting and why I needed to run into town that morning.  It turned out to be so. many. little. lies and man am I glad that part is over.  And!  We didn't even slip up once.  Mom and Dad said they had NO IDEA...not even an inkling that we had anything other than a normal weekend at home planned.  So, I'll call this one a success!

Funniest part is, now anytime we're home Dad is suspicious of any plans we make.  "Why do you want to go to Generations at 3 today?"  HAHAHAHA!  You never know when the next surprise party might hit!