Fun with Dogs

Chris, Annie, Tyler and Mary Kay were here!!!! Shotzie, Dickens and Gwennie provided most of the entertainment.

After the traditional Annie throwing the dogs in the lake, Shotzie tried to dry out her ears.

Annie is enjoying her handy work!  And Gwennie and Dickens are continuing their play time in the water.

Mary Kay thinks Dickens looks like a drowned rat when she is wet. And now she knows for sure that Dickens can in fact swim!

And they had fun!

Chris enjoying life!

Annie and Gwennie loving each other.

Mary is the safe one for all of the girls!

Tyler is not sure we are sane!

Chris knows we aren't.

And there was boating.

Also drinking beer with the dogs.

Chris likes my drum.

Mary enjoying the chaos.

Mark oblivious to it all

Tyler pitching in with clean up

Chris and Dickens bonding

Wonderful having the kids and Mary K visit!!!! 

And now it's on to the 4th of July!

May & A Bit of June 2013

Blue Bunting

Spring and summer have finally arrived and we have had many beautiful birds at our feeder.  I love to sit in Mark's chair in the morning with my coffee and lap top and look out the window.  Sometimes I am lucky enough to catch a picture of one of our winged friends.

Cecilia was baptized at St. Patrick's Church in Washington.  We had to wait awhile for the ceremony to begin so we had some time to chat. Grandpa Hatton thinks Cecilia is a keeper.

Pat and Becca
George is under the pew.... couldn't get a picture.
He makes me smile.

Cecilia didn't cry at all....

Dick and Betsy came to visit!

We celebrated Betsy's Birthday. She received a Kindle from Dick and I went over how to download books from the Wisconsin Digital Library.  We will probably have to have a few more lessons!

Dick admiring our breathing salad bowl.

We are looking forward to the next couple of weekends.... Chris, Annie, Tyler, Mary Kay, Dickens and Shotzie arrive Sunday for a visit.  And then the fourth of July is just around the corner.
Please come and visit... it's why we live on a lake!

May 2013

It's May!  The weather is still slightly schizophrenic... cold one day, sunny and 80 the next day.  But it is Wisconsin, and if we are anything it is flexible.

I haven't taken many pictures lately.  Maybe one or two of Gwennie... so I just picked a random picture to upload.  This is a picture Mary Kay took when she was on her Alaskan cruise.  Pretty view.  But I bet the water is COLD.

One of my friends and her family has already gone water skiing and knee boarding.  She said it was fun!  She is probably a little crazy, but then she is my friend.

I completed my first class toward being certified as a rural librarian.  I am happy to report that I passed Basic Library Management!  I am taking the summer off .... and I will start another class this fall.

Other things I have been doing to keep busy include quilting and reading.  I have made a couple of quilts (small) this winter and I have read a ton of books!  I think I am becoming more and more like Grandma Hatton... if only Mark would let me sleep late!

This is a picture of the table runner I made.  I gave it to Paula, so now it is adorning her coffee table.
I made two baby quilts... one is at the quilter's and the other is just waiting for a back.
We moved my sewing room upstairs and I am enjoying having it up there instead of going down to the basement.

My challenge is to get the upstairs back to normal from our painting and new carpeting, and see if I can't do something with the basement.  It's just that there are so many good books, quilt patterns and other fun things to do, and so little time! And to be honest I have been having a hard time with motivation.  I am hoping the warm weather will give me the pushes (shoves, whatever) I need.

April ... Waiting for Spring

The long winter brought out some creative urges.

Decopage flower pot I made for Romemakers Flower Pot Challenge

Table Runner is now quilted!

Winter or should I say Spring Storm knocked down quite a few branches from our Pine Tree out front

Waiting for Spring!

Quilt Retreat in Sparta
Love watching these gals create!

Lynette hard at work!

Nature is getting creative too!  This is the orchid plant I won at Bunco

One of several limes on the Lime Tree Chris sent 

Gwennie was the first one in the lake this year

She didn't stay in too long.... water is cold!

Mark got out and did yard work as soon as the snow disappeared

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Gwennie, Mark and I are hopeful that Spring will make an appearance this year.  I did wash my winter coat, but I still haven't gotten out my shorts and other spring clothes.  I don't want to jinx it!

Looking forward to warm weather and sunshine... hope I don't have to leave WI to find it.

Changes

I was playing with the blog this week, when I should have been doing homework... and changed the settings to Dynamic view... and then got completely confused.  It has taken me a few days to first of all try to adjust to the new look, and then ultimately get the old look back.  I like this one better... and I find it easier to work with.  So sometimes the right change is to revert to the tried and true method.  Think we can convince Microsoft of this?

Tangerines at Annie's

A fritatta prepared by Mark in his new pan, which was a gift from the Kuhnz's

Gwennie and Shotzie watching their people do yard work 

They are just so darn cute!

Let's storm the door!

Mark made us Mahogany Beef after a day of yard work... what a guy!

Watching St. Louis in the Basketball Tournament
The Girls are BIG Basketball fans!

Pam and I had a fun girls weekend earlier in Feb. at the Abbey in Lake Geneva
Friends Forever!

We are anxiously awaiting the arrival of Spring in WI.  We had ice storms this week and we are supposed to get more snow this weekend.  I feel like Oliver... only we are singing "Where is Spring?"