Christmas Chickens

So, everyone usually thinks of baby chicks as "Easter", well here come our Christmas Chickens!!!


Delivered by none other than: Stan the Man!!!

A bird on the shoe is like ... hmmm

A different meaning to "a bird's eye view"

Home sweet home!!

Randoms...

Don't let the beauty fool you...

We drove back to the cities in some nasty weather. . . believe it or not, once we got to the cities, it was RAINING!

Here is dad shoveling the 1-3 inches of snow we were supposed to get. . . and it was just starting!

Look at me, I can hold my own bottle....

and smile for the camera, says little cousin Kayla!

remind me, who won?

M #1 is for "Manda"
C #1 is for Chad
C #2 is for Calvin
D is for Dad
M #2 is for Mom (that was actually bowled by all of us, left handed sometimes, since mom only wanted to bowl the 1st game!)

Is that a 130 for manda?????? I do believe that 130 is higher then the other 4 scores. Obviously this does not happen often, therefore the need to gloat! Let's just not discuss the first game! And besides, it is all about having fun, correct?

Weekend family fun!!

Time for some bowling. . .
Candids with my boys...

You think that form is gonna get you the win???

Say Cheese!!!

Lookin natural!

To Be Continued . . .

Annual Meat Cutting

So, I was fortunate enough to join in on the annual meat cutting festivities on the Tschida Farm. I love this time of year, but it sure has changed. I used to be one of the "lil kids" running around the house, stopping every time there was a pile of packages for me to write on. I remember that my mom, or grandma would write on one package "Roast 12/08" and I would copy the letters until they told me to stop and gave me a new sample! Here are some pics from the weekend:

They let me make hamburger . . . mmmmm :-p

Chad was able to join us as well :-)

My dad and uncle Paul, their second day of cutting up meat!!!

Our littlest and newest member of the meat cutting team: Daniel Mark, what a good helper!

He sure likes his "tummy time"

Thankful for family...

Adam and Angela were our fantastic hosts of Thanksgiving. . . again, since I was fortunate enough to be able to work today while the rest of the world shopped! here are a few snapshots of the past 24 hours...

would you like apple cream pie, pumpkin pie, or pumpkin pie cheesecake... the most popular: ALL THREE

Here was the crew: Calvin Adam Angela, Angela's dad and mom then grandma and uncle, my mom, my dad, my Chad and me... missing from pic is Angela's brother Jake, who is in Djbouti, Africa

Can never pass up an opportunity to take the "tough guy" pic

Angela's a pro at this. . . after just two years of hosting...

Wii anyone???

The day could not have been better. . .

Oh who am I kidding, I was feeling sorry for myself when I had to head back to Rochester cause they made me work today, while all the paid therapists took the day off and the rest of my fam got to stay and play cards til the wee hours of the morning, so it could have been better with more time!!!

and for those of you interested. . . 3 weeks left in Rochester... Woot Woot!!

Congrats Kelly and Doug!!!

Here are a few snapshots from the weekend. . . hopefully I can get some more pics from some one, I was a little too busy having fun to take pictures!

How bout some early morning perkins with the newlyweds...

Singing passionately....

Dancing the nite away...

How bout a quick game of buckhunter!!!

Congrats kelly and doug, I am glad I could be a part of your day. . .

Success...

We start the training early at deer camp. . . this lil guy is the newest addition to Paul's fam: Daniel Mark (2 months old). Those big eyes. . . and raised eyebrows, you can just tell that his grandpa Paul is fillin him in on the shot of the morning...

I guess you have to tip your head to see this one. . . but you are never too old to climb trees. . . adam found a nice place to perch himself. . . can you find calvin in the meadow???

Chad had the once in a lifetime opportunity to come huntin with me. . . and see me get my... 4th... 5th, 6th... "ugly buckling" who knows how many anymore. . . it seems I just keep cullin' out the ugly ones!

I do believe it has four antlers. . . but they were all busted off. . . this guy was a fighter. And did I mention that this gun I am holding I have been dreaming about all my life... It is true, my fist time hunting with my own gun. . . no more borrowing!!!

THE CREW!!! Thanks for an awesome weekend, as usual guys!!!

Long time . . . no blog

You are never to old to carve pumpkins. . .

Grandpa's Hotdish: serves: everyone!!!

3 1/2 cups Finely Chopped Celery
1 Green Pepper, Diced
2 Medium Onions - Chopped
1 Pound Bacon - cut into small pieces
7 Coffee Cups of Elbow Macaroni Noodles
4 1/2 Quarts Stewed Tomatoes

Cook celery and green peppers in water until tender. Fry Bacon, spoon into cooked celery and greem pepper mixture. Continue cooking. Add 1 quart tomatoes to mixture. Fry onions in bacon jiuce until tender. Mix with celery/pepper mixture: juice and all! Boil half a kettle water and add 2 big spoons of salt and 3 1/2 cups of noodles. Cook 9-10 minutes. Drain and cool off with cold running water. Dump in roaster. Repeat noodle thing again. Dump celery/pepper mixture and rest of tomoatoes into roaster. Mix it up and Bake at 350 degrees for 1 1/2 hours.

My mom and I spent an afternoon with Grandpa to make this hotdish. . . this recipe is exactly how it goes. . . everything down to boiling the noodles in two separate batches and adding the onions with all the bacon "juice". Enjoy!!!

Last BLAST of AUGUST

First up to bat in a long time coming whiffle ball game. . . AMANDA! with a single!

And then we have Calvin. . . who probably struck out (sorry but it's true, I do believe that he was responsible for two outta three outs each inning. . . HOWEVER, we needed him for his pitching!!!)
And Angela. . . the third member on the team that got rocked!!!
I believe that was one of many k's that Adam owned that evening. . . although he did come back later to take 2nd in the homerun dirby, only one run more than his lil sister!!!
And where would we be without our dedicated fans/catchers when we needed them!

last BLAST of AUGUST

Can I interest you in some leprechan legs (aka bean fries)?!?!? A new fav of mine at the state fair!!! Ranks right up there with roasted corn and custards last stand strawberry vanilla swirl custard cone.

Chad and I got matching tattoos . . . now for sure we have to get married!!!
Extreme Bocce Ball anyone??? We headed to a park to grill (believe it or not, I can still eat after going to the state fair. . . must be related to those scholl girls who can really put away the groceries!!!)
Who would have thought. . . my "shotput" method prevailed (once)!