Move Over Rachael Ray!

This evening Rachel helped me prepare dinner. I guess it was so much fun that she wanted to continue with her own creations. After dinner, she got her little fry pan and spatula and cooked up one of her play tea cookies for Pepper. Pepper was initially excited until she realized the cookie was not actually edible. After Nick finished the dishes, I suggested to Rachel that she make a snack for her daddy. Well, no plastic cookie would do for Daddy. Only the best for him... she marched off to the kitchen and came back with the apple cinnamon Cheerios. Poor Pepper was feeling a bit jipped. She cooked and stirred and poured until they were just right. She even let me sample a few. Best Cheerios I've ever tasted. :)

We were not brave enough to let Rach pour her own Cheerios. Pepper was very disappointed. (Notice her on the left cleaning out a bowl from Rachel's pretzel snack earlier in the day. There were none left in the bowl...but she licked it out anyway. Sigh.)

Working her magic on the Cheerios. I know if the General Mills PR people saw this, they'd call us right up and ask for the recipe...

A good cook always samples her dish before she serves it.

Final plating....
(Pepper the sous chef is only to happy to clean up spills from head chef Rachel)

Cheerios by Rachel Leone! Want a bite?
Now taking reservations.

The Big Move

It's been awhile...but I have talked about our little church on the blog before. I believe it was a post about the hoodlum that threw stones through the beautiful, old, wavy glass windows. Oddly enough, this post will also deal with my lack of speed when chasing something.
At the end of last year, Nick, Nathan, and Melvin made the decision to sell the church to Mrs. Koch. She proposed moving it up the road about 1/2 mile to join the Santa Statue and the museum and had plans to do some restorations. Since we don't own a multi-million dollar amusement park and have the same cash flow for renovations, the church was sold and plans were made for the big move.
Now, here is where my running begins. Due to job commitments, Nick was unable to join in on the spectacle of the big move...so he asked if I would take some pictures and video. This was no problem as I already had the camera batteries charged and ready. We had been told they would move the church at 8:30am. Wouldn't you know this would be the morning Rachel would sleep until 8am. At about 8:05am, Nancy called to let me know that they had already moved the church down the hill. I had missed the BEST PART! I wanted to see how they got the church turned and onto the small road leading to the highway. I grabbed Rachel and some string cheese since she hadn't eaten and hustled down to the corner. Ron Smith (who looks alarmingly like Santa Claus) was in charge of the project and told me the highway permit wasn't good until 9am. Since I hadn't showered (hey- if Rachel sleeps in, so do I!), I left Rachel in Nancy's care and hustled home for the fastest shower of my life. No less than 15 minutes later, I'm heading back to the corner and I catch some movement out of the corner of my eye. I then notice the church is not at the corner. It's big - you can't really miss it. The movement was the church...rolling down the highway- rather quickly I might add. This is where I mutter some not so nice words and begin my version of a sprint down the road. I turned on the camera and video camera and started recording. However, due to my huffing and puffing, I don't think we'll be showing the video to anyone. It's something I'll just keep for myself when I need motivation to go to the Y...
Without further ado... I'll let the pictures tell the rest of the story!

This was taken last week. The church had been lifted and turned 180 degrees in preparation for the move.

On the road and ready to head towards the highway.

On her way down the highway (25 minutes before the 9am permit...)

Getting ready to head up the hill.

View from the other side.

It's only appropriate in a town named Santa Claus, that one of the men leading the project look JUST like Santa. When I asked Rachel who that was, she very quietly said "Ha Ha Ha". This is her version of "Ho Ho Ho". It's also important to note that Rachel LIKES this Santa. The Santa at Holiday World and the one at the Christmas store terrify her, but she likes this Santa. Coincidence??

View through the trees as the church continued her journey.

The steeple as the church passed me.

The church with the new owner, Mrs. Pat Koch.

Perhaps the most nerve wracking part of the day...turning the corner into the drive of the Santa Claus Park...

It was a gray, gloomy day...but the view through the window to the stained glass was still beautiful.

Beautiful isn't it?

Still working on making that corner....

For an idea on how smooth the ride was for the church...perched on the corner of the trailer is one of the workers coffe, tape measure, and jacket....just going along for the ride.

There are some battle wounds though. In addtion to some misplaced boards, two of the beauitful old wavy glass windows were cracked. Windows that Mel spent a small fortune replacing just this last summer....

I have a couple more pictures I wanted to share, but I have apparently reached my blogger limit for this post. I guess that's my cue to wrap it up!

As I watched the church move into her new home, I have to admit a part of me was sad to see it moved from the place it sat for 131 years. Whenever I have spent time in the church, there is a sense of peace. When I see the oil lamps on the wall and the pot belly stove, I can almost hear the bustle of ladies skirts as they came in for church 100 years ago. Babies were baptized, marriages began, and loved ones were put to rest. Families gathered for weekly services and endured the agony of a Sunday service in southern Indiana on a stifling summer day without the luxury of air conditioning. The potbelly stove was fired up for Christmas Eve services and toes tapped to keep warm in the cold winter air. For those that attended services here, I hope they will be happy to know that the church will be restored to it's original luster and those who come to visit will feel the same peace and joy that I have when her bell rings. I have a feeling that we'll still be visiting often...just to check in and say hello.

What We've Been Up To

Once again a little behind in the blogging. Good thing keeping the blog current wasn't the top of the list of my New Year's Resolutions! I'd be failing miserably! But things have been a little busy here for the last couple weeks including a trip to Indy, Nick's Birthday, a new job at the library for me, and life in general. This next week is going to be a crazy one- so I thought I'd put some pictures up to tide you all over for a week or so until I have a chance to play catch-up again!! So without further yammering- here's a picture update on the goings-on in the Held House!

Doing dishes for Mama.

She is oh-so-grateful for the help.

A little reading before bedtime. I was getting her bedtime milk ready and came in to find her reading to herself. I love that she is really starting to love reading.

BIG SMILE!! We missed Elmo on tv so Mama opened the DVD from Great-Granny and Great-Grandpa.

She LOVES the Elmo DVD. We have since watched in about 1000 more times. I am beginning to know the lines...

Rachel likes to unravel the TP while I shower. She knows this is a no-no. One morning this week, I got out of the shower to find that she had tried to clean up after her fun. Gotta give her credit for trying....

I really need to do a whole post about the church, but long story short, it's on it's way to a new home and this week it was lifted off it's foundation and turned 180 degrees in preparations for the big move. The workers were kind enough to share with me they are waiting on highway permits before they can move it to the new location about 1/4 mile away. More to come on this one, PROMISE!

And something no one tells you about Motherhood- you are not allowed to go pee. If you do, you will come out to find your 19 month old standing on top of the kitchen table.

 I promise to be back to blogging and post more frequently than every two weeks!! If you're wondering what we're up to, watching Elmo is a pretty good guess these days!

Stacking Cans

Since our plan to head to Palmyra today to see the Abner's was foiled by Mother Nature and her idea for snow, I tried to come up with some activities to keep Rachel occupied here at home. I recently checked out a book at the library full of fun ideas for toddlers that you can do with items found around the house. The one we decided on today was stacking cans. Rachel loves to stack and the idea that she got to stack things out of her favorite play spot in the kitchen (the pantry) was appealing.

She's pretty good at stacking. Look out...future Jenga player!!

Mama's ideas aren't always stupid!

The most fun to making a tower is knocking it down!!

Hopefully tomorrow there will be enough snow to try out the new snow pants!

Just Do IT!

Like every year- I have resolved to get myself into shape. 2012 is going to be my year! I am the queen of excuses. But I have run out of excuses!
"I don't have time" - this was plausible when I worked for Extension and night meetings made it challenging to make it to the Y. But now I am working part-time from home. I can't use this excuse anymore! There are people who work full time, have more kids than I do, and still make time to go for a run.
"I'm not a morning person"- I'm still not... moving on.
"I don't have anyone to watch Rachel"- no longer true now that I have the guilt free child watch service at the YMCA. Rachel loves to go- so scratch that one off the list.

All my good excuses have been scratched off my list. I'm also going to use the fact that Nick has lost 9 lbs - yes NINE POUNDS- by giving up soda to kick my competitive nature into drive. I'm tempted to share the story of the slim fit khaki's I purchased for him by mistake this Christmas...but I won't. It is funny, though.

So, this is it. This is the year that I look at our family Christmas picture and say- I look GOOD! There are so many people that have done so much more than lose a few pounds. It can be done. :)
Especially if I do my weigh-in this way:

What Month Is It?

While I made Rachel a gourmet lunch of turkey, cottage cheese, and applesauce this morning, I thought she was on the deck driving her firetruck. Instead, I saw a pile of her clothes (shoes, socks, and lightweight jacket) and found her playing in her sandbox barefoot with the cat. Normally, allowing my baby to play outside without shoes on January 9 would likely result in a call to Department of Family Services, but it hasn't been our regular winter weather recently. And I have to say... I like it!

Pile of clothes next to the firetruck.

Rachel and Boots playing. Boots left quickly after this photo was taken when Rachel started to bury Boots in the sand.

Enjoying the unseasonably warm temps.

68 degrees inside (normal). 64.8 degrees outside- not normal!

I think I'll call this her Alma Mater pose in her very cute Illini t-shirt!
Hail to the Orange... Hail to the Blue!!

In related news- Rachel had her 18 month check-up today.

She actually lost weight (1/2 lb) and weighs in at 24.6 lbs. Refusing to eat for a week will result in weight lost- not that I have this problem.

She is now 32 inches tall- which puts her just above the 50% for height.

And she does not like the doctor's office at all. Lana called her name and Rachel started shaking her head no...once we crossed the doorway into the back office, the crying and tears began. Stickers, suckers, stripping to her diaper (normally her favorite outfit) and fun games did not change her opinion...

Christmas #2 and #3 - The Held's and the Wetzels

Rachel had another big day when we celebrated with the Held's and the Wetzels.

Rachel got a shopping cart complete with groceries. Now she can go shopping for ingredients and cook up her own supper in her kitchen...

It was a toss up for funniest gift this year between the leg lamp shirts and the moose egg nog cup, but I think the moose cup wins! "Can I get you anything Eddie? More egg nog? Drive you out to the middle of no where and leave you for dead?" HA HA HA!

All this gift opening is tiring. Good thing Aunt Sarah was there for some snuggles.

Pretty pretty ribbon!

Nancy and Mel opening their new stereo, cd, record and cassette player!

I was busy keeping Rachel off the stairs, so I didn't get too many pictures with the Wetzel's, but Rachel had fun helping Mary figure out how to play their new game.