A HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY DARLING SWEET CHEEKS

This should have been yesterday's post-

but-alas-Nana is usually a day late

and a dollar (or two) short!

My Little Fairy Princess is Growing Up!

Look how cute!

Let me take you on a short journey

that started NINE YEARS ago..

The angels sang the day you were born.

You were so small when you were born-

You came early and spent 15 days in the NICU.

Nana visited you everyday 

and held you close to her heart.

Then-

When you got home your sisters loved on you

and you grew strong and healthy.

You were a cute toddler-

even when your mom 

thought you were a chicken.

Sometimes you were a hot mess.

And one time at the 

Christmas Tree Farm

a bush jumped out and grabbed you.

Instead of rushing to rescue you 

your mom had the 

presence of mind to take a  picture 

so that we could all laugh!

One day you ran away from your 

pretty princess outfits

and showed up

dressed for a magazine cover

for downtown Green Bay.

We were so proud of you!

You love the Packers!

You love to dance!

And you love school!

And 

WE LOVE YOU!

Happy Birthday, Honey!

I hope I live long enough to see you 

wearing something like this someday!

Even though you told me I can't 

SIT UP FRONT IN THE CHURCH

because I might

ACT UP!

Seriously?  Me?!!!!

Okay- Okay-you have me pegged 

but just remember

THE NUT DOESN'T FALL 

FAR FROM THE 

GRAND-PARENTAL TREE!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Sweet Cheeks!

Lulu Opens For Santa

For the second year in a row my

Little Lulu

opened the Christmas lighting ceremony for

On Broadway 

in downtown west Green Bay.

She sang about 6 or 7 songs solo

and then Santa came on stage

to join the fun.

She did a fantastic job.

(Much better than Nana did on the picture taking).

I am working outside getting my lights up

while we have sunshine.

It is only 16 degrees here by the bay

this morning-

but supposed to go up to 35 degrees today.

A real heat wave, folks!

Have an awesome Sunday

(am I too old to say awesome)

I'll be back in a day or so!

UPDATE on Prayer Request for Carter.

This is an update yesterday

from Sheila @ Note Songs

about her little granddaughter, Carter.

She thanks everyone for their prayers.

It is not over yet,

but this precious little girl is on her

way to recovery.

I am still away for a couple of days

but wanted to update you.

What a wonderful Thanksgiving for them.

They brought her home.

Here is what Shelia had to say:

Dear Ones! I just had to write one more time today about our little Carter. She woke up this morning after her treatment and was playing and doing so well. They dismissed her this afternoon and we've just had Thanksgiving dinner with our family and our precious little Carter. She will have another treatment in a few weeks and we will still need your prayers. She is on some oral meds right now, a steroid, even a blood pressure pill because the steroids seem to make her blood pressure go up. It's not very high but the med is preventative. She really has no limitations on what she can do but will have a salt reduced diet and no processed foods. My daughter and her family eat very healthy so this won't be very hard to do. We cannot put into words how much we appreciate your prayers. These prayers to our God have sustained us and has brought Carter through this very scary time. We know it's not over but prayerfully the worse is over. We prayer you all have had a wonderful Thanksgiving. This has definitely been our best Thanksgiving! We give God all the glory for what He has done for us. Thank you again and I love you.

The COTTAGE JOURNAL & TAKING A BREAK

About a year ago 

I started getting this magazine.

I can thank a school magazine drive.

The school(s) should send me a tax refund

for all the "support" I have given over the years.

Sometimes I get rooked -lol-

but not this time! 

THIS TIME

I got what I paid for....

THIS "Journal" is so beautiful.

Want to take a peek?

Care to sit for a spell on this porch?

Jim Bathie/Yukie McLean

After you sit a spell you can pop in to

an inside porch at 

Home Sweet Home

After sitting a while we will

move right along to

 the home of 

Mark & Nancy Peeples.

Look at this

 light and bright dining retreat.

Katie Wood/Stephanie Melbourne

There are some great kitchens featured, too.

This warm and wonderful kitchen

 belongs to  Cathy & Mike Harris.

Somehow,

I  just knew the magazine would be a winner

with a front cover like this:

and a 

BACK COVER 

that is equally enchanting!.

So, if you happen to pop into a 

Barnes & Noble 

-or any bookstore-

The Cottage Journal

 is worth a second look.

Have a GREAT DAY!!!!

I am over at the VA today
enjoying my time with the vets.

I will be off until after 
Thanksgiving and I will catch up
with all of you then.
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving.
I hope each and every one of you
has somewhere special to spend the holiday
and that it is with someone you love.

As for me-
I am getting my turkey ready!

Happy Birthday, Mama's Boy!

Here you were, minutes after birth.

Look at that head of hair!

Hey!  Even MyHero had hair back then!

You had chubby little cheeks

and loved your rocking horse.

You loved the swimming pool

when we lived in Florida.

You were a funny little guy-

and you were SO sad when we told you

that you were too big for

a sink bath.

One day we turned around

and you were five.

Five?

Five!

At six you loved playing ball.

And although you played soccer

for ELEVEN years.

(yes I was a soccer Mom

I never missed a match)

I could not find a single

picture of you in one of

your soccer uniforms.

You were a rabbit

BY CHOICE

for so many years that I lost track

of how many bunny costumes I made.

The years flew by.

You grew up into a fine young man.

We were over the moon

when you married

the girl we all love.

And..as your sisters had

children you became a

wonderful Uncle..

because you still have a lot of

'KID' in you.

But the biggest blessing 

in your life

(besides marrying your sweet wife)

is that you have a precious

little son of your own.

And HE loves his Nana!

Yes!He!Does!

You do special things like

hang up lights on the house

to delight your little boy!

It lights up the whole neighborhood---

I think there might be a law against that..

And you tenderly wash the boyo's hair..

Things like that make you an

amazing dad.

You are a good son, too,

and a great husband.

Not sure how you got to be

SO OLD cuz that makes ME

REALLY OLD...lol

Anyway-

Happy Birthday, Ryan!

Love you to the moon and back!

ps.  the check is in the mail....

PRAYER REQUEST FOR LITTLE CARTER- Granddaughter of Shelia @ Note Songs

You know me and my heart for

GRANDCHILDREN!

This precious little girl, Carter,

needs all the prayers she can get.

She is VERY SICK and they

don't know what is wrong with her yet.

This is an older picture but the only one

I found on Shelia's blog

Note Songs

She is hospitalized and,

as you can imagine, 

her family is sitting there on pins and needles

trying to pray her well.

Shelia is beside herself and I know the feeling well.

As a grandparent you just feel 

TOTALLY HELPLESS.

So, let's HELP by sending up prayers

and/or good wishes and blessings.

Thanks so much.

The link to Shelia's blog is HERE.

She will continue to give updates on

Carter HERE.

GET STUFFED!!!!!!

I love it.

In some areas of the country they call it

STUFFING.

In other areas of the country they call it

DRESSING.

At my house we call it

one of

Nana's Make-You-Fat Foods.

Whatever you call it,

each family has their

own special secret recipe,
often guarded by a
 bulldog of  a mother-in-law 
wonderful cook.

Well, I don't have many secrets so

I am gonna share my own

recipe with you.

Why get fat alone when

you can share the 

fat with a few good friends, right?

With this recipe I 

do all the messy work the 

day before.  

The morning of Thanksgiving

I just have to get up,
mix the ingredients together. 

and stuff that baby...

or in our case...

that FAT BOY.
Not such a good picture---sorry.

He weighed in at almost 

THIRTY POUNDS...

Uh-Huh!

And here is what got stuffed 

up his -ahem- behind.

(and in the place where

his poor neck used to be)

So...the day before

I chop about 1-1/2 cups celery.

I cut up a huge onion.

I quarter my own and peel the

quarters- so much easier 

to get the skins off that way,

if you've never tried it-
you might want to give it a go.

Then I put the celery and the onion in a 
microwave safe bowl with 
1/4 cup BUTTER

and nuke microwave them for

about 6 minutes...more or less..

till they are softened.

While they are getting nuked

I brown one pound of sausage

in a pan. 

Have you ever used a potato

masher to smash up your meat?

It is the best thing ever...

but it has to be a wire one like

this to work.  

I do all my ground meat this way.

Then I chop up a can of

Water Chestnuts and a can

of Mushrooms.

When the meat is browned and

the celery/onion mix is done

I put them, along with the 

mushrooms and water chestnuts

in a tupperware container

in the fridge.

The next morning when I am

ready to stuff the 

BIG BOY 
(the turkey-not MyHero)

I beat two eggs a bit and

add 1 large container 

Swanson's Chicken Broth.

I add this to 2 to 3 

large bags of stuffing crumbs.

2-1/2 bags makes my own

dressing moist enough 

for our family.

(yeah- I really wanted to lie

and be all Martha Stewartish

and say I made my own bread cubes

but...)

Here's what I use.

Then I proceed to stuff

the neck cavity and the 

well-you-know-where

area of the turkey.

Can you see he barely fits

in my roaster?

Now because my family

loves dressing I always 

make a side pan of it, too.

And...HOW do you get that

TURKEY TASTE into

the side dish

Easy-peasy!

You know those parts nobody

wants?

I stick them on top of 

my dressing....cover with tinfoil

and bake away.

MyHero says...

DIANA! You can't post that last picture!
It's disgusting!  

I say..

WATCH ME!

(you will notice that I

didn't watermark THAT one)

So, tell me...

What do you stuff

YOUR 

Big Boy with?

My "girls" and I will be on our annual
Mother/Daughter Christmas walk today.
They are predicting snow, howling winds
and freezing temps.
Sounds like a good time to me!

Finish It Up Friday- Five For Friday!

Thanks for your patience yesterday-

Although a couple of you did 

SCOLD ME

for my absence---

and you know who you are.

I got a lot done and had about

30 people here for a meeting last night.

So, today, to pay you all back-

for giving me so much grief-

I am going to bore you with some

pictures that you can look at-

-or choose not to look at-

It's up to you.

cottage journal

Ha- Reeled you right in with that picture,

didn't I?

Now that I have your attention-

I am gonna make you look at some of

MY OWN PICTURES!

This is taken from my kitchen window.

It is one of the last ships that will 

come into the port of 

Green Bay, WI this year.

Soon, the bay will be frozen solid.

Unbelievably, our grass is still green.

Here is our little Bright Eyes....

Isn't she cute?

Just think-

Someday she will be all grown up and

wearing makeup.

NO TIME LIKE THE PRESENT!

Let's start with Mom's eyebrow pencil

and see where it goes from there.

Looks like it might TASTE good, too!

And here is your 

LAUGH FOR THE DAY!

I kept CJK overnight on Tuesday because

Mom and Dad had to be out of town

early Wednesday morning.

I made him a 

BIG BUBBLE BATH.

When he first looked at it- 

the bubbles were about 8 inches deep

and he did not want to get in.

After he got in he did not want to get out.

He said:

It's like WHIPPED CREAM, Nana

I said- Yes- It is!

 I dropped him off at his pre-school 

the next morning.

It is a small lock-down school.

When you leave the door closes behind you 

and you can't get back in.

AS THE DOOR WAS CLOSING BEHIND ME

he says:

My Nana covered me with 

WHIPPED CREAM LAST NIGHT!

I can only IMAGINE what the teacher thought.

As for me?

I hurried home,

pulled all the drapes,

and waited for 

CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES

to knock on my door.

If I disappear you will know that

I have entered the 

Witness Protection Program

to avoid being prosecuted for

child abuse--

OR

 I will be blogging as

Nana Diana Takes A PRISON Break...