A Snowstorm Blows In

We got walloped with a winter storm yesterday. Am I grateful that all my kids left for home on Friday! This storm was heavy duty and even closed the bridge over the Wabash for several hours due to ice and stuck cars.

 Soon it was deep enough to cover our front walk so you couldn't tell where it ended and the lawn began.

Footprints, human and doggy, filled in quickly, too.

It didn't help that the snow was coupled with strong winds.

I braved the storm a couple of times to measure the depth of the snow but quit after we hit 8 inches.

It was a heavy, wet snow so, despite the winds, the drifting wasn't too bad.

Our front door and walk are pretty sheltered from the wind, but even there the snow was accumulating.

Rural roads are tough to clear when there is heavy snow and winds. This is the road in front of Leslie's farm.

Fresh Pepper tracks next to her earlier ones that are nearly covered over.

Florida Boi Tammo did not want to go out into the storm, but finally, he had to. And he discovered that the snow was fun to play in.

It helped that Pepper had brought a toy out. I'd missed that she had one in her mouth until after she was out in the yard. Of course, she dropped it in the snow and it disappeared.

Tammo had known she'd taken it out and was looking for it as he bounced around. I'm so glad I caught part of his glee on film!

Temperatures briefly rose during the night so we had a little melting but then an arctic front came through. Temperatures are plummeting and the high winds have returned.

The melted snow has frozen and there is a lot of ice everywhere.

Remembering Craig's falls and head injuries the past two years, this year I gifted him with a shoveling service. It was a good gift - that snow was so heavy, there is ice, high winds...  No runs to the ER this year! (Well, at least not due to shoveling snow.)

Church is closed today as a result of the slick roads. We will stay safe and snug here at home with the dogs for company. I have begun decorating for Christmas and may even do some baking.

More on all that tomorrow. Stay 'tooned!

More Thanksgiving Day

When you have a big family gathering, you have to get creative with space. 

Like using our spa tub to store pies and other food as needed. (The tub is cleaned before we do that.)

And when it is cold outside but still above freezing, cans of coke and bottles of water can be stored on the front porch. (Two coolers are kept on the back porch for other items, too.)

Our bedroom is on the main floor and becomes the general repository for things we don't have room for/won't be needing that day. Coats, hats, and purses are piled on the bed.

Because tables for eating will be set up in the living room, the coffee table is moved into the bedroom and put under the gift wrapping station.

Every nook and cranny, every open space fills up.

The dog beds are piled princess-and-the-pea style, and gifts for an early gift exchange are stashed. (Pepper has been known to climb into the top bed. It's hers, after all!)

A spread of cheeseballs and other nibbles is set out so hungry people can have a little something while they wait for dinner. (We work on those all day long.)

Tables are set (one in the dining room, three in the living room)

and this year I had some fun placemats from Sarah that I thought kids and adults alike would enjoy.

The kitchen is busy with people clowning around putting the finishing touches on their dishes and the kitchen table is soon covered with our Thanksgiving feast.

We all gather in the kitchen for instructions (usually, "Grab a plate, fill it up, and find a seat!")

and then someone offers a prayer expressing thanks for being together and the good food we have.

The kitchen empties out fairly quickly despite the number of people eating. (We had 21 this year.)

People come in and out to get a drink or for seconds (or thirds, depending on your appetite) for the next half hour or so.

When the grands give their approval, you know the food is REALLY good.

Not only are the kids cousins, but they are good friends, too. They get along really well.

This year I cried uncle - too many plates and glasses and too much time spent washing them after dinner. (Although EVERYONE pitches in to wash and dry.) So, I went with paper products. It made a huge difference.

When dinner is mostly cleared away, we play Dirty Santa (pics to come) and then it's time for dessert.

Andrew has a talent for making pies and this year he made two lemon meringue pies for the family. Leslie brought two pumpkin pies, Kyle and I made two cherry pies, Eric brought a carrot cake - we were not lacking for desserts!

Susie wearing a dala horse shirt - she's ready for BreyerFest!

I had popped into the bedroom to lie down for a few minutes, and Mila followed me in to show me the sweater I'd given her.

For the rest of the day, we just enjoy being together. We continue to eat,

we play games in both big and small groups, 

we watch football and catch up on social media,

we let the dogs nap on us and by us,

and some of us absolutely crash and are able to sleep despite the noise of a family gathering!

What a day! I am blessed.

Thanksgiving Day 2025

 It's Friday and everybody is heading home today. Which is a good thing because we are under a Winter Storm Warning beginning late tonight. Heavy snow, arctic cold, blowing winds...

Go, kids go! 

Thanksgiving Day was absolutely wonderful, although we were sad to be missing Lisa who is very, very sick with Influenza A. My brother, Steve, and his wife Cindie are both ill, too, so three much loved people weren't with us. We packed up plates of food for them all and took them over late afternoon so at least they got some food, and Lisa joined us via FaceTime for Dirty Santa.

Here are some pictures from dinner.

Jenny, Eric, Kyle, Rick, Leslie, Craig, and Curt.

A shot of the living room where my sewing table became a dinner table.

Vanessa, Julie, Titan, Mila, Kate (behind Andrew), Andrew, and Jessica. 

Ian and Cambria. (With a hopeful Gus.)

Susie, Lukas, Emily, and Cole.

Kate with all the desserts. So many to choose from! Why not try a piece of each!

Blog reader fastapp said she hoped I'd show a picture of the cherry pie filling - here it is!

There were just two pieces of cherry pie left but they had to be thrown out. While cleaning up, a glass by them got broken and shards ended up on the pie.

That wasn't the only breakage we had. Vanessa's drink dispenser suddenly cracked while in use and a big piece came off the side.

She had lifted the top to add ice, and when she put the top back on it, the side broke. Luckily it was above the liquid line so we didn't have a big mess to clean up. We don't know why that happened, but think maybe it got too cold.

One last pic for today - Lukas came to dinner wearing his first Feast shirt. He wears it to school, he wears it to church, I should not have been surprised that it made an appearance at Thanksgiving dinner!

Needless to say, Leslie, Rick, and I were all smiles when he walked in the door.

More to come, but not today. Too much to do to get everyone on the road or to the airport.

Stay 'tooned!

Thanksgiving 2025: We Have Pie

Yesterday the first thing on my to-do list was to make two cherry pies. A family favorite, the recipe from my Grandma Honeywell has been used in our family since 1955.

It can be a bear to make. Most scratch pies are, but they and this pie are worth it. However, I was feeling weak and tired and was rolling around with my walker. Honestly, I was not sure how I would get those pies made.

Enter Kyle.

"Need any help?" he asked. Boy howdy, I was so relieved I thought I might cry then and there.

What began with just a few requests to get the pie plates down from the cupboard and open the cans of cherries so I could make the filling soon turned into a joint pie baking effort.

It was so much fun. It was also so helpful. 

Making scratch pie dough is a messy process.

The first pie was ready to go into the oven in far less time than usual.

And the second one was put together just as quickly. We vented the pies with my Grandma Honeywell's signature design and popped them into the oven.

A half hour later we had two beautiful cherry pies ready for Thanksgiving dinner.

We also made a memory together, one that I will always cherish. Thanks, Kyle. I don't think I could've made those pies this year without your help. xo

Here's a step by step blog post with the recipe and how to make the pie. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to you all! 

I am thankful to have gotten to know so many of you through the Horsiemama blog and hope that wherever you are, you are warm, safe, and content.

Thanksgiving, 1971. Me on Amy with our dog Chuck, and my Grandma and Grandpa Honeywell.

There may be a bonus post coming soon if I can finish it before I need to go downstairs and get busy in the kitchen.

Stay 'tooned!

 

Several Things

 Second Post of the Day

This isn't a mish mosh or hodge podge post, but it does skip around several topics. Stay with me, okay? LOL

Wait! Isn't that Them??

First, some background information. Our church is updating its hymnal for the first time since the 1980s and has invited composers to submit music. 

Angie Killian, the composer Titan and Cambria sing for, has had several submissions accepted and released by the church.  Remember the "cow song" - the one they recorded up in the mountains with a herd of curious cattle as an audience?

We sang Anytime, Anywhere in our congregation just a few weeks ago. 

A lot of music directors use videos of the new children's songs to help the kids learn the new songs. And last Sunday, Ian, Mila, and Lukie's Sunday School used the Born to Bring Us Joy video to prepare the kids to sing in church for Christmas.

Since Cambria and Titan were in town, they were attending Sunday School with Ian, Mila, and Lukie. And apparently as that video was playing, a ripple of recognition went through the group of kids as they began recognizing Titan and Cambria.

I wasn't there but I hear it was pretty funny. (And maybe a little disconcerting for Titan and Cambria!)

Uncle! Uncle!!

I love to watch my kids be parents and aunts and uncles. (And now they are all great aunts and great uncles since the birth of sweet Elsie May!)

Uncle Curt and Titan discovered that they had matching tee shirts!

Attacks on the uncles are pretty common by little "cling-ons" (😉) who like to ambush and jump on them.

Those "cling-ons" may even get a short ride before being deposited on a soft chair.

And It's Not Even Coming from Amazon!

And I thought I was having problems with Amazon. Take a look at this puzzling tracking information I got from an Etsy order.

December 31? What gives? Needless to say, I am keeping a very close eye on this order.

Happy Tammo, Happy Kyle

Ever since Kyle arrived, Tammo has been glued to his side.

Apparently, being Kyle's "lap dog" stems back to when Tammo was a puppy. It is so good to see them both so happy to be together again.

(Hmmm, maybe I should've called a spade a spade and have titled this post a mish mosh or hodge podge after all!) 

Off to bake two cherry pies while the oven is still available. Stay 'tooned!