JELLO

Well, here is the story...I was making a dessert for the extension students who are staying for gym night tomorrow, and I was left with this nifty jello box...so...it ended up as a neat little notebook for Brooke. She wants to use it to write out her verses that she has to memorize at school. Kinda fun, but I'm afraid everything in the cupboard is going to come out of its box...

Look What's Here!

We recently had a bunch of snow dumped on us, but a few warm days later and look what we have!! I am looking forward to some color!! I bought a bunch of flower seeds the other day and am hoping to have lots of flowers this summer - what with a rehearsal dinner here and all :)

My online store!

I am in the process of getting some of my craft items online. I found a real easy way of doing that on Etsy. So, we'll see how it goes. Slowly but surely I hope to have more things on and possibly a blog set up for my craft things that I can sell from as well. So check it out at www.cranberrycottage.etsy.com

You can never have too many LEGOS!!

This is our living room floor - RIGHT NOW!!! Yes, I have two children in college and my youngest is 16. Unfortunately, he has been inspired as of late by Lego movies on You Tube. So, out came the Legos - mainly Lego people. If he gets anywhere with a movie, I'll have to figure out how to post Videos!! So, to you young moms who feel like you're always picking up toys around the house...I have no advice!! (Except when you think they are old enough to get rid of the Legos, think again.)

WACS

We spent the weekend at Maranatha Baptist Bible College for the Wisconsin Association of Christian Schools (WACS) State Basketball tournament. The girls took cuts and came home on Thursday so that they could go with us. Their normally 1 hour ride took them 2 1/2 hours. The roads were horrible and getting worse as they went. Praise the Lord they made it safely and we arrived at Maranatha Friday afternoon - the roads were good for the most part, but horrible in Watertown. Our guys were moved up from class B to class A this year, so we really didn't know how they'd do, but they stepped up and ended the tournament in second place. They played hard and worked together, ending the season 18-5. Our fans were AWESOME and never let up. Now...12 weeks of cracking down on the school work and we can wrap up this year!!!

The "tunnel"

Twin City Eagles

Brooke, Brennan & Bethany

Winter is Here

We finally have a decent amount of snow around here. Not that I'm particularly fond of snow, but my uncle gave us a snowmobile, and Brennan and Scott have been able to enjoy that a little bit. Church was even cancelled on Sunday, and that was really strange. The day was long, but kind of peaceful.
This weekend is the WACS State Basketball Tournament in Watertown. I'm looking forward to that. The girls are taking cuts and coming with us, so it should be a fun time. Hopefully the boys do well, but they ended the season 17-4, so whatever, it was a good year.

FINALLY!!!!!!

Well, we are up and running again. Now I feel like I have a lot of catching up to do...blogs to read, stuff to order for the wedding, I hear there is a big snow storm coming and have yet to catch any weather reports (better do that first).

Off-line

I'm at the library and am checking up on everyting from the last week or so. Our computer is doing crazy things and I haven't been able to get online for awhile. I spent 2 hours on the phone with a technician and so far...nothing.

Back to Normal

Things are getting back to "normal" around here, whatever that is. The girls went back to school this afternoon. Christmas break was long!!! But it was good to have them home. We got lots done and it seemed like Bethany's wedding was only weeks instead of months away, but we wanted to focus on it and get as much done as possible before she went back to school. It's hard to keep on a good school schedule with Brennan, though, when the girls are here. But now it's just school, basketball and church activities. Well, theoretically, anyway...

This is for Christina...

Well, I suppose there may be others too, but she asked...

A Quick Trip to MN

We spent a quick 3 days in Minnesota this past week. Bethany was in her friend's wedding. (Klarissa Snow - a roommate from her freshman year). We were able to stay with Jason & Beth Stamper, and had a good time. Beth is a wonderful wife, mom, homemaker, cook, decorator, etc., etc. (Jason is wonderful, too!!) It was neat to be able to see them in their home, with their kids. The hard part of having extension students is knowing they are only temporary, but what a blessing to see them serving the Lord elsewhere.

Jonas Stamper

Brooke with Ella Stamper

Bethany with Amy Brumbaugh

Bethany with Klarissa

It's Official!!

Joe suprised Bethany on Christmas morning, she thought he was still in Michigan. This is Joe getting into the box, which was the first present

Bethany opened.
Later on Christmas night, we went to Marinette and Joe and Bethany went down by the waterfront in Menomonee and he proposed there. (She said yes, by the way!!) They are planning a July 14th wedding.

Rain

Joe sent me this picture of Bethany today. I LOVE IT!!!! And yes, it rained here yesterday and all night last night...in December...in Wisconsin. What's up with that?

Aaarrrgghhhh!!!

The other night we got home late from a basketball game and apparently my camera was on the seat and fell in the driveway when I got out. So...is it too obvious to state that the next morning when Scott left, it got RUN OVER!!! So, I will do what Beth does and ask for help from the masses...what should we replace it with? Something CHEAP, but what is the best we can do for cheap? (Perhaps Abram would have some insight here?) Anyway...all that to say, no picture of our tree that I just put up. (Oh, and Beth, sorry...no help here for grandparent gift ideas (unless they like soap!!!))

Sixteen!!

Today Brennan turns 16!! I just wanted to share a few pictures of him...I know he'll be thrilled!! Happy Birthday, Brennan!

Brennan & Brooke (Nov. 1990)

Bethany, Brennan & Brooke (1991)
Wakeboarding during a camping trip this summer
This spring in Florida
This is a picture that Brennan took of himself in our church parking lot.

Update

Well, it's been awhile since I've posted. So, here's the update...
We had a great time at the basketball tournament at Northland a week and a half ago. The team didn't do too well, 1 win, 2 losses...but, it's a young team and they know what they need to work on. Here's a pic of Brennan warming up.

It was good to see Mark & Jen while we were there. (And our girls team was glad that their girls team was there, too!!) I couldn't find them when it was time to leave, so "Bye, it was good to see you!!"
Thanksgiving day was spent eating dinner with my sister, Cheryl, and her family. My mom came up from Green Bay. Then we went to Scott's sister's house for dessert. We had two of Brooke's friends from Northland with us for the weekend. Kevin, from Canada, and Greg, from Guam. We went shopping in Appleton the day after Thanksgiving, but didn't make it to all the early morning sales. We were lucky to get out of here by 10 a.m.!! We had a good time and found some good deals (mainly at Goodwill). On Saturday I had my final Craft Show for the season. It was a great show!!! So, now it's back to the normal routine.

My sister Cheryl, husband Eric and their kids - Bobbi (& husband Aaron), Andrew & Dawn.

This is us!!

The Weekend

This weekend did not end up being what I had intended, but, oh well. I was supposed to be in a craft show and the kids were supposed to go to a hockey game in Green Bay. It ended up that the roads were nasty, so no hockey game, and then we had a funeral, so no craft show. But it was a good weekend, church was good and we learned about serving each other. It was a good message.

Joe and his brother, Peter were here for the weekend, and for some reason Joe ended up doing jobs with rubber gloves - weird. First he worked on our laptop that died...and he didn't want to get shocked. Then, for some off the wall reason he died Brooke's hair. Bethany spent lots of time working on her paper for Corinthians. Brennan & Peter just wrestled and did all sorts of crazy stuff with my exercise ball. (Sorry, no pictures of that!)

Lots of stuff...

It's been a busy week or so. Just lots of stuff - nothing too exciting. Brennan finished Driver's Ed this week, so we are so thrilled that we don't need to be running him there any more. On Tuesday (Brooke's and my birthday) we went up to Northland and saw the play "Papa". Brooke did makeup for the play. It was pretty good. This week I'm just doing lots and lots of soap, candles, etc. getting ready for a few shows. There's a big Teen outing tomorrow night, (hockey game in Green Bay), so we'll probably have some college kids staying here for a night or two. Also, a funeral on Sat...
Next week we'll be at Northland for 3 days for a basketball tournament. I'm looking forward to that, it's always fun. Mark & Jen will be there, so it will be neat to see them. Anyway...this is normal life (as opposed to Ladies Conferences and weekends in Door County!)
Here's a pic of the girls from the last Artist series. Brooke's date is just a friend :)

Here are some pics!!

Cheryl - The Living Room
View from our balcony (on the calm day)
Westwood Shores (our room - far right, 2nd floor)
Sturgeon Bay - looking out towards Green Bay (the bay not the town)
Sunset on the not calm, but not windy night :)

Door County Weekend

I had a wonderful time in Sturgeon Bay with my sisters for 4 days and 3 nights. We didn't keep to much of a schedule - just did some relaxing, reading and a little shopping. The condo was right on the bay and had a wonderful view. There were severe wind warnings one night, so the wind really whipped across the bay and the whitecaps were neat to watch. I've been trying to get some pictures up, but so far...no luck. I'm not sure what the problem is. I'll try once more and then again later if it's still not working.