Miracles Happen Everyday

Our family has been blessed with an abundance of happy healthy babies. In April we welcomed little AJ , he shook things up a bit. During moms pregnancy they were able to see he would be born with gastrosesis, part of his intestines outside of his body.  I am still amazed at the miracles that happen at American Family Childrens Hospital. With in two days of being born, needing to be #resuscitated his abdominal opening was closed and he was on the road to recovery. The dark mass in the bottom corner of the top picture is his intestines in what they call a silo.

He was born on April 19th and is going home today. No tubes, monitors or problems. He is now just like every other baby, but has a special belly button, custom made.

During his almost 6 week stay we were fortunate enough to stay at #Ronald Mc Donald House in Madison, because of the kindness shown to us there I am running a special in my Etsy shop, for each hat purchase I will donate two dollars to the Madison House.  Another way you can help locally is to save all your #pulltabs and drop them off at your RMH. They are turned into cash to help make families stays there just a little bit better.

They Grow So Fast

It seems like only yesterday I became a Grandma. Very exciting, and I had a good teacher......my Gram was the best.  Now #1 Grandson will soon turn 26, where does the time go. He is the Dad to two wonderful boys with another one due in a few weeks.

My third Grandchild Elizabeth gave me yet another adorable great Grandson in January.

Number 5 grandchild Christina blessed with the latest Great Grandson 

Before September  will will have one more Great  Grandson  and our first Great Granddaughter.   How exciting.

Last summer at our analysis summer birthday bash we took a group photo for my Mom in Florida who is a huge Cubs fan, this time we will have 3 new babies in it .

Here is my gang, we were only mixing one Granddaughter. 

They keep me busy and very happy, especially when I get those calls to make them something. Like a monkey hat or a kindergarten show.  CARSEN will be adorable, Ps I had to dye shorts and thirty brown and make a tail to match.

I love being a Great Gramma even more than Gramma, who knew that was possible.

Coming Up For Air

I have been away from my blog for far too long.  Let me see if I can get you caught up. My great grandson JJ has aspergers, we are all learning with him. My niece who lives with us has been diagnosed with ADHD.
  A little over two years ago my Mom was diagnosed with COLON CANCER, I was terrified.  The months of chemo were met with a good outlook and lots of positive vibes.  Just 6 months later, we found out the cancer was back and now in the colon, liver and lungs.  The emotion hit you all at the same time. Fear, anger, and constant worry for what would come next.  We recieved a call in August,  that my husbands younger brother was very ill, he wanted me to come. I had no idea those few wekks would be his last. COPD and emphazema would take him from us. In early November we found that my sister in law was also in the final stages of cancer. So much senseless pain.  With news of a new Grandbaby es coming in 2015, Mom faced the chemo again. After a few session she was too weak and I'll to continue.  About this same time my sister in law lost her battle. We were numb.
     December brought us all together for our annual Family  Christmas  party, although Mom had been in an assisted living home since right before Thanksgiving,  she came. Exhausted from the hour long car ride, she wanted to be sure to see everyone, including her older sister from Florida.  The visit was heart breaking to watch. We all thought the worst but we're afraid to speak it out loud. W posed for the 5 generation photo and she hugged her little guys as much as she could.

January brought my 4th Great Grandson Jacob, another blessing!

My granddaughter Elizabeth and her baby Jacob. Luckily Mom got to see photos and ooh and ah over this little one.

February had us fooled, Mom was having no pain and seemed to be eating and doing well, until I got the phone call to come. She had taken a turn and was unresponsive. I was terrified. I have two sisters who were far away in Tulsa, there was no time to come and honestly I am glad only I had to witness the end. One moment Mom was there and the next she had slipped quietly away. She had never asked for pain meds. 

Our next family battle would be awaiting the birth of the next great grandson,  he would need medical care because og gastoschisis.  Two doctors visits per week, many ultrasounds and non stress tests later and he arrived 4 weeks early.

Aiden with my Grandaughter, his Mom Christina.  We were warned there would be months ahead of him for recovery, yet in about a week he has come so far.

I think that has you about caught up.  We are awaiting the birth of 2 more great grand babies in June nd August. We are truly blessed.

My Gram used to tell us , God never gives us more than we can handle, and that God always has a plan. Are we stronger as a family?  I would say yes, did each child learn from watching Mom, yes, they learned o show love and compassion.  I am so proud of all of them.

Life in general

In one of my last posts I had stated I was going to get organized.  Laughable,  me , not now and maybe never.  I have many reason or as my daughter says excuses.  I am the oldest daughter to my Mom who is battling cancer and lives nearby. ( about 1 1/2 hours away)  My sisters live in Tulsa so that is about 15 hours away. I have 5 grown kids, 11 grandkids and 3 great grandsons. I am a control freak, or so I have been told and try to oversee their problems whenever I can. Right now my Mom is in the hospital with an UTI and JJ one of the great grandsons is in the process of being tested for Aspergers and has SPD. I also just found out my Granddaughter will be having her first baby in January. I am raising a 6 year old niece who has ODD and have a hubby who we are driving crazy. With all this I crochet to keep sane and make some extra spending money as I can always find something one of them might need or want. All that said the announcement of a new baby had me wanting to make teddy bears. What color I was not sure so I tried my hand at these two and then did get them listed on etsy.

I have also started to get my Christmas list going. I can crochet in the car on our long rides to and from Montello.  Yes, I worry alot, but would not change any of them one bit.   I am truly blessed.

Just Like Gram

Grwoing up whenever we needed a gift for the crossing guard or a friend...Gram was there with the perfect something that she had made. Hankies in a thank you card the perfect baby sweater set for the friends new baby and so on over the years. Gram has since passed away but now I find I AM Gram.  My Granddaughter Elizabeth has once again put in an order for a friends baby gift.

camo booties, owl hat, sweater with owl button and a 12 point star blanket.

It is nice for a change to do little boy items but I will be more than ready to get back to pinks and fun colors after all this.
I have to admit that now I know how my Gran felt when people admired the work she did and saw the littlea gifts on the kids in our lives. Customers often send me photos from photo shoots and I love it.

Organizing My Time

This has been a whirl wind year. We have moved and went from a household of eight to ten depending on the day to just a couple with the occasional overnight guests. That all took some getting used to. Then once again I felt that it was up to me to step up and help out a family member, so we brought Tabitha my niece up from Tennessee to stay. She is five. Now I am back to getting someone off to school, reading bedtime stories and making sure there are freeze pops in the freezer for her new group of friends. All of this plus taking online college classes and running Grammas Gifts. Busy yes, but loving it. I think we all have a purpose and when my Gram was ill and I went to care for her, I thought she had trained me for this, then my Mom came up from Tulsa after my Brothers death and I stepped up to make sure she was set up and alright. We checked up on my Uncle until he passed and now a little visitor. I think this is my purpose, to make sure the others are all taken care of, and I am good with it.

This is Tabitha, and she loves to model hats, how wonderful!

With the new house came yard work and we were starting from a blank slate so for Mother's Day the family came together with gifts of plants and did some gardening for me.

Liz in the grey sweatshirt is our nursing student and is helping Tabitha get toiknow all the family members

Samantha in the black jacket should feel right at home, as a kid she was always picking up bugs and frogs and like today WORMS!

JJ would like to stop gardening and take the worms fishing!

The shop has stayed fairly busy and I added a few new items to the inventory

Luau anyone?

A knotted pixie hat

and a few more cute photo props or shower gifts

Busy Days

I always thought as the kids grew and I got slightly older I would be less busy and have more ME time. So far, I haven't found that. About two weeks ago we had a litter of puppies, seven healthy little fur balls. Amazing, but I get up at night when one crawls away from Mom and cries, not once but several times a night. Like getting up for those night time feedings all over again.

With my Etsy shop, orders and classes I am taking online my life is pretty full.  Grandkids, kids, pets and did I mention my Grandaughter who is in college to be a nurse brought us her dog to VISIT.  Daisy is a good dog, but as my husband says another dog!

Today we are getting the two little guys for the weekend. I love having them here, I was raised in a house where my Gram lived with us . I need that hands on, as much as some of the kids fight this tooth and nail. Like has been said many times "It takes a village to raise a child"  and I agree. Now with all this going on we also have my Mom recovery from colon surgery and has just started chemo last week. STRESS should be my middle name, so to cope and not go on a never ending eating spree I crochet. I also have discovered Facebook and am trying to use that wonderful tool to help share my shop and keep in touch.
I added a few new patterns for this spring and am busy working on those adorable drivers caps. While watching Marie on the Halllmark channel today I saw one of the young models come out in a drivers cap. The trend for all well dressed little dudes this spring.

This is my go to pattern for spring, I know have made some longer pants and will add them to other listing for yet another look.  

Now with the boys coming I get to do some baking, as hubby and I do not need it ourselves. I have raised another group of boys who thinks Grammas cookie jar should always be full. I found this recipe and breakfast should be quite tasty and different. 

Oatmeal Cookie Pancakes

Ingredients

• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 cup quick cooking oats
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 3 tbs brown sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1 egg
• 1 1/4 cup milk (use coconut milk for dairy free, this is what I used)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup raisins (plus more for garnish)

Instructions

1. In a bowl add the flour, oats, salt, brown sugar, baking powder, brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg, mix until well combined. Make a well in the dry ingredients, add the milk, egg and vanilla, stir until just combined. Add the raisins and stir.
2. Heat a griddle or skillet over medium heat, coat with cooking spray.
3. Drop about 1/4 cup of batter on the hot griddle. Cook until dry on the edges and bubbles start to form in the center. Flip and cook on the other side until cooked through, about 2 more minutes.
4. 
   

(Yield: 6-8 pancakes)

So hug your family , stay warm and try some of these pancakes!

I don't Do Well With Changes

For as long as I can remember I do not take change well. I realize that as life goes on things must change, but that doesn't make it any easier for me to adjust to. So much has happened since my last post I am at a loss as to where I should start.

    Probably the biggest change is last week we lost our favorite UNCLE. Uncle Eddie was , perfect. Kind, sweet and as good a guy as you will ever find. The perfect son, brother and uncle. In the past seven years since my Gram has passed away he has been with us for holidays to keep the family going. He is probably best remembered for the line of kids waiting to kiss him goodbye before he left. Some of us got in line more than once, he never minded that! I am handling this much better than I thought because he is with my Gram now and both can chat the days away. In heaven I bet he's bowling again. I will think of thunder in a whole new way from now on. The saddest part is the little ones in the family did not have nearly enough time to get to know him. He will be greatly missed at our house.
   Luckily for me I have a wonderful friend who is more like a sister, Jean for the Teapot Quilt Cottage and Garden Center in Montello. In good times and those awful times she is always there to lend a shoulder and help talk me through the tears.
    I started taking college courses online!  Will I run off and get a career? Maybe, if not I will still show the kids if Gramma can do it so can YOU.
   We are getting ready for a move.  That means packing and unpacking. I did mention I hate change and this will surely add to the stress in the house. On a good not the kids will be out of school and can help. Can help, should help!

  I have also added some new items to the shop and hopefully after catching up on orders can get a few more done.

A holiday weekend ahead with a birthday party and BBQ ( speaking of BBQ, here is a great take along salad recipe from Pioneer Woman ), two small boys 2 puppies, 3 kittens 2 dogs and a cat, it should be a piece of cake! Have a safe weekend!

Spring Forward

Spring Forward, that is this Sunday. Set your clocks ahead and get ready for added daylight and bright sunny spring. That is also my new life plan  Spring Forward. Don't look back. Make steps in the right direction.
I have started doing just that. How can you get anywhere unless you have a plan and set a goal.

My spring goal is to learn to shop more wisely, use coupons and save money. All this sounds like a good idea but I plan on stepping things up because I have a HUGE goal. For some time now I have wanted to go to Ireland. This always seemed like something other people do. Then, I checked some prices and looked in to travel and I think with some good planning, setting money aside and putting me on my list of priorities this can be accomplished. The plan is doable so to make it just a little grander I looked farther and would love to be able to trace my family tree back through Ireland to Paisley Scotland. More research, some emails and this is not such a far retched plan.
                                                               Now, to put it to work.
First, a big cost in our house are groceries. For that I am going to need some help. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Operation-40K  I found just what I need . Someone who made a plan, followed through and got more than she had hoped for. Groceries and the everyday shopping needed to run a home, smarter, cheaper and learn to also help out the local food bank at the same time! Amazing yet very doable!  Family, step back and watch me shop!

Next the electric usage and utilities bills are going to reexamined and changes made. Gas usuage for the car is also on my list of things needing to go on a diet!
All those need cutting but on the flip side to revamp and build up the Etsy shop to help it feed the Ireland Pot of Gold. My shop has come a long way and I am just now opening new avenues of sales for my newborn hats and some of the bath items. Much work to be done , but I enjoy the crocheting and learning from other shop owners some of the ins and outs to get noticed.
All this is made possible with the help of my little guys who every other week keep me on my toes and a constant reminder of what is really important.
Then, I do have to stop and say, It is MY TURN......I want this trip and I will make it happen!
Join me on this adventure and follow along as I learn more about coupons and saving money and share themlinks and info. Some good recipes, shopping and laughs along the way.

The Holidays Are Over

              Yes, I must say I did do the happy dance this morning as the kids returned to school.  The two little giuys are back with their Mom for her week and there was silence! It has been a hectic couple of weeks.
         Let me explain. On December 13th my Mother flew in from Florida to stay a week and be at our home for a Holiday gathering. For the first time in 6 years since my Gram passed we were all going to try and get together. This is a big undertaking since I am in Wisconsin, many relatives are in the Chicago area, I have a brother in Indiana , a sister in Ohio a couple in Tulsa etc.   I had done my prep work so the food was  a breeze, shopped early had a to do list and help from those in the house. I even fit in lunch with my good friend Jean from the Teapot Quilt Cottage in Montello.   The big day came, Saturday December 17th, ( for my Mom, there was a light dusting of snow ) my husband drove down to Watertown to pick up my Uncle and kids started to arrive. My daughter Diane and her 5 kids came the night before from Chicago to not need to leave to early or rush. You never know what the weather might bring up here. Not only all those relatives we knew and missed but after more than 35 years to be reunited with my Moms sister, who had been adopted. What a nice Christmas gift.

Mom (Dorothy)  Aunt Charlotte Mom ( Lillian ) Aunt Barb and in the front everyones favorite Uncle Eddie
My Grandfathers 5 children together in one photo.
Now, I have to say I was awful at taking photos and hope someone shares theirs with me. I was busy warming pierogi and making sure everyone was finding everything and lacked the camera on hand.

Her are two of my daughters helping with the food. The nesco behind them contains a favorite party recipe . We call it Italian Beef coming from Chicago. Something not easily found up here.  Pioneer Woman calls it drip beef and here is her link. 

Try it, it is amazing http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2010/02/drip-beef-two-ways/

This is Becky who is 5 and has just had her one year anniversary being diabetic. I did not bake cookies and had to make many calls to her Mom, Diane to see just what she could eat. 

This is our baby Isabella, who just turned one and is the quickest little person I know!

Here are my two favorite little men. JJ and Carsen

Elizabeth who is off on her own with boyfriend Dakota and in nursing school in Fond Lac

Mike, always ready to pose

Rosie, a big help to her Mom

Chrissy, one of the in house teens 

Sergio, who we call Jr.

Uncle Eddie admiring Beckys red bird hat

Aunt Barb

cousin Natalie

daughter Diane with Bella

Tommy the quiet funny guy

cousins, husband, boyfriends and kids. It was wonderful to catch up! This was the best gift of the year!

Our 5 generation photo

back row: my daughter Patrice, me, Big Joe my grandson who is holding little Joe and I have Carsen

Everyone had a good time and it just did not seem long enough to chat. Hopefully we can do this again next year and with more notice those relatives who could not make it can find their way here! 

So, with all that behind us and some quiet I did get a little work done and added a few new items to the Etsy shop, here is a preview

they can all be found at 

http://www.etsy.com/shop/GrammasGifts?ref=si_shop