Extremely Grateful

Some days I just stand and pause in awe at how much God has given me.  

A husband who loves me and cares for me, who is my best friend.  

These 9 young ones who call me "mom" and help make me a better person each and every day.

The love that has just multiplied and continues to multiply daily in our house.  

++Thank you, God, 

for your grace and gifts daily!!!++

Celebrating A Special Birthday

March 4th

"March Forth!  
It's a command, you see!"  

These are words my Grandma Morris would share often regarding her birthday.  What a cool day to have your birthday - the date forming a "command".  I can almost see and hear her say that now, with her sweet smile and smiling eyes.  How I love and miss those times.  But, I am thankful for our memories and so blessed to be able to carry them on.  She would drop off yummy treats and baked goods every year on our birthdays and make sure to call and sing "Happy Birthday" too.  These small acts given were HUGE acts of love received.  Ones that I hope to carry on and bless us others with as well.  We've definitely taken over the singing of the "Happy Birthday" song and are known to even play the piano while we sing it.  She was my only grandparent who was musically inclined (piano and mandolin), and I know it brought so much JOY that my own children were in music/piano lessons.

One of her signature treats were Rice Krispie Treats - cut into squared, wrapped in wax paper (like a little present) and topped with a sticker.  It was so special to get them every year!  We looked forward to them on our birthdays and holidays.  She would never forget.  And who remembered them this year?  Not I, I must say.  My awesome husband!!!  He was the one who remembered and said we need to make them.  So it became a family project!  We used the standard Rice Krispie treat recipe and made up three batches and them shared them at a family get-together that same night.

I never had a write up on my Grandma Morris as she passed away in December of 2010, which was before I started blogging.  So this is my first sharing about her.  What a blessing she was to me!!  Here are some pictures I could find of her....

(A family birthday we had at our house - whose birthday - dunno!  But you can tell these kids have changed a TON since then!  Love the smiles from Grandma in the background.  She sure loved all the kids!!)

 (Grandma and Grandpa Morris with baby Melody)

(Grandma Morris, my mom, Grandma Hamerlinck)

 (Grandma and Grandpa Morris with Ariel, 7 months old)

 (Grandma and Grandpa always made it in to visit our new babies in the hospital, but little Max was born on a nasty snowstorm so we had NO visitors in the hospital for him.  They did make it over when he was a couple weeks old though - in this picture!)

(My dad with his parents - again another family birthday party at our house - for our August birthday kids, Fone and Melody) 

(Fone's 7th birthday party) 

(Grandma and Grandpa with Max, who was just a little over a year old here)

++Thank you, God, for the life and love of my Grandma Morris.  I pray she is already in her Heavenly Home, smiling down upon us.  May her love and intercession be with us daily!++

A Fun/Yucky/Yummy Tradition ~~ Potato Bologna in 5 Easy Steps

I remember as a kid eating this food and the family getting together every year to make it with the Hamerlinck side of the family.  What a big production it was!!  And a production/tradition that we started this year with my parents and sisters and our immediate families.  It was a fun day, for sure!!!  And, we all have our freezers stocked with one of our favorite meals from growing up.

#1 - Peel all the potatoes and onions.

#2:  Wash out the casings (pig intestines!!!) under cold water and untangle them.

#3:  Grind the onions and potatoes.

#4:  Mix the onions and potatoes with the pork.  It's a pretty easy recipe....

10 pounds of pork

10 pounds of potatoes

3 big handfuls of onions

salt and pepper to taste

#5:  Stuff the casings (pig intestines!!) with the potato sausage mixture.  (this is the FUN part!  The kids all loved taking their turn!)

And, VIOLA, there ya have it ~ THE best potato bologna you have ever tasted!!!!!!!!!!  

Then you can freeze it or cook it....   

To cook, place in water and boil for 30 minutes.  

Cut open the casings and butter/salt/pepper to your liking.  

Serve with apples and rye bread.  

++Thank you, God, for this fun tradition and for carrying it on with my immediate family!!++

Puppies!! Puppies!! Puppies!!

My youngest sister rocks!!  She's a momma to four kids eight and under and is so calm and collected.  I just love her to pieces!  I tell her all the time that she's totally in the "thick of it" when it comes to mothering.  Having four that close was harder than my eight right now, mostly because I have so many helpers.  She gets to wear her super momma cape daily to just get by and pray for a TON of grace and love and forgiveness, which comes so naturally in a loving faith-filled family!  Anyways, her and her hubs are HUGE animal lovers too - they have chickens, geese, ducks, bunnies, cats, dogs, and just recently had their second litter of puppies.  Momma dog is a standard poodle and Daddy dog is a labrador.  So the babies are beautiful labradoodles!!  I took 5 of my crew last weekend to go visit the puppies.  I think they are 3 weeks here....

Aren't they precious??!!!  I didn't get any pics of Max and Pookey holding the pups because they snuck off as fast as they could to go play with their cousins!  They love their cousins and are such good buddies with them.  Did you know cousins make the BEST of friends?!!

Visiting Mount Rushmore

Our last night in South Dakota, we went to Mount Rushmore.  (we visited Custer Park during the day)   My mom is really good at jabbering with the locals and one of them shared to make sure you go to Mount Rushmore at night because of their evening show.  SO very glad we did!!!  They light up the faces and also call up any veterans for the recognition of their service to our country.  Both were very moving!!!  Well worth it to go in the evening, even though it was a little late for the kids.

 Definitely one of those places to check off your bucket list.  SO glad we did!!  We really enjoyed our visit to Mount Rushmore!!!

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Click the image below to see all our destinations with details 

and pictures from our trip Way Out West....

A Visit to Custer Park

On our last full day in South Dakota, we visited Custer Park.  It was nice, and we really enjoyed it, but since we went on to Yellowstone (posts coming soon!!), we realized that we didn't see anything in Custer Park that we didn't see in Yellowstone.  So, my advice is that if you are going on to Yellowstone, then skip Custer Park.

One way to enter Custer Park is to go Needles Highway.  But since we drive a big bus and it was less than a month old (we traded in the old Big Red/Sprinter for a new Big Red/Transit), we weren't willing to chance the tunnels.  Plus we watched videos on YouTube and were a little freaked out.

But, my sisters and their families and my parents braved it.  Here are some of their pictures...

We did a lot of driving, saw some animals, had a lovely picnic lunch (do NOT forget to pack a lunch!!), and the kids loved splashing around in a stream....

It was a nice time here, not the best, but we had our experience of Yellowstone to compare it to.  And, Yellowstone is WAY more awesome than Custer Park.

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Click the image below to see all our destinations with details 

and pictures from our trip Way Out West....