Snowy Weather

My Colorado friends are surprised whenever I tell them it snows in Texas, so I thought I would share some photos of my trip down there this past week. I went to do some cleaning on our Texas house. We had nice, but windy weather the first few days, then the storm came in. We were watching the news on Wednesday night and the weather man said it would begin raining and then change over to snow in the night. I told Dad I would go and do an old fashioned weather check, so I went to the door and looked out and sure enough, it was raining. I was so nice to go to bed that night and listen to the rain. When I woke in the night it had become quiet so I looked out and there was just beginning to be a light frost of snow on the ground.
This is the road to Mother and Daddy's house.

I had to meet the plumber in town at 8:00 a.m. and this is what it looked like at 9:30 on my way back to the farm. A snowy wonderland and still snowing. It was going sideways.

This is our house in town and what it looked like when I was leaving. So yes it does snow in Texas!

Sergeant Robison

Owen has made Sergeant! We are so pleased for him! Way to go Owen!

Looking back!

This weekend our church had it's twice a year General Conference. One of the speakers talked of climbing a mountain in Oregon with his children, that climb turned out to be very challenging. As a way of not getting discouraged they made a plan that every time they stopped to rest, they wouldn't look up to see how far they had yet to go, but to look back at how far they had come. This blog and especially this post is a look back over the last few weeks to see how far we have come, and not how far we have to go. I sometimes get discouraged when I think of all the things I would like to get done. But then I look back at what I have been doing and feel a little better about it all. Here is what has been going on. We went down to Texas over Labor Day. This is Levi riding with Reagan on a horse. Aunt Janna is leading. Levi loved riding, Milly was having none of that.


End of July we also went down to Texas for my Aunt's 80th birthday party. Coincidentally it was Jan's 40th high school reunion from Borger High School. See if there is anyone that you know in this photo. While we were there, we drove around town and also visited the cemetery where his parents are buried. It was good to revisit the old home.

Every Wednesday this semester, I am babysitting Levi and Milly. They are a fun handful and are potty training right now. Got to plan ahead and mark out all the bathrooms and have plenty of extra clothes in the diaper bag.

For Susanna's birthday I made (with Aaron's help) a padded headboard for their bedroom. It looks nice and was pretty easy. The kids helped and were so proud for Mommy to have a new bed.

I refinished this TV cabinet. It was a 10.00 thrift store purchase and was a light blonde color. I painted it red, then glazed it with black glaze. I added new feet and sprayed the silver doors and hardware with bronze spray paint. Now we have a nice TV cabinet for the old TV. Hope to have a new flat screen one of these days.

I bought this little rocker for the new baby and refinished it for her. I was fun, I took it apart and reglued it as it was a little wobbly. Then a coat of primer and turquoise paint and drew the daisies with the help of good old carbon paper and painted them, distresses and added a coat of stain that was quicly wiped off. After all that sprayed it with a coat of poly. Now Abigail has her own rocker. This is in addition to the scout meetings, homework, laundry, geneology, bill paying, working, cooking, sleeping, weeding, watering, gardening, car pooling, husband loving, children loving that I ordinarily do.

But the highlight of the last week and total focus of the week has been little Abigail Jo. She is off of the bililights, and has her IV out now. They have increased her feedings and she is gaining weight. She is up to 3 lbs 12 oz. She has no oxygen requirement. This weekend her other Grandma Pam came to visit and so did her Aunt Sarah. They also helped Sean and Krysten move to a new apartment. My muscles are screaming. Today we got to rest and watch General Conference, (hence the reflection on looking back) and enjoy some pumpkin pancakes for breakfast and French bread pizza for supper. Tomorrow back to work, but I get to take my lunch hour with Abigail.

Not such a back last few weeks huh?

Boy Scout Motto-Be Prepared!

Well, she's here! Abigail Jo Robison was born at 9:02 on September 25, 2011. She weighed 3 pounds and 15 ounces and came out screaming. Sean called us at 2:30 on Sunday morning to tell us that Krysten's water had broken. I told them to go on to the hospital. Their doctor wasn't on call over the weekend and so the on-call doctor met them at the hospital. It was a blessing for us and them that he sent them to the closest hospital where Krysten and I both work, so that we can visit easier and I can see here while I am at work. Dr. Stoll delivered her and then she was whisked off to the NICU because of her being 8 1/2 weeks early.
She is beautiful and I think she looks alot like Krysten and her sister Sarah. They have the same shape of face. Abigail is already good at giving a really nice pout face. She also likes to stretch alot and throw her arms up over her head while she is sleeping. I got to shampoo her hair after Krysten gave her the first bath last night. It was wonderful.

Krysten was very emotional after the delivery. I can understand that, as she had worked very hard and was very worried. There was nothing finer than seeing Sean come out of the delivery room with the baby with tears in his eyes too. He told me today that watching the delivery was pretty amazing!

I went shopping today and bought a few little cute things for her. They are all too big, but she will grow. Today she is off oxygen, cpap and is on room air and still has her feeding tube and IV. She is in an isolette and under phototherapy for jaundice. Her hair is probably going to be curly and is a light brown.

I guess that we should have been better prepared. We haven't gotten the dresser or rocking chair painted, Sean and Krysten were going to be moving this next week, and we haven't had the baby shower yet. Now we will just have to go into high gear.

We love her already!

2011 Garden

So far this is all that we've gotten from the garden this year. It was cool for so long in May and we planted a little late and it grew slowly due to the cool weather. Weeds have been our bain too. I didn't need these tomatoes but I canned them and split them with my married kids, eight pints this time. If the warm weather holds we should get another batch.

Squash grow like a foot overnight, I have a friend who can feed these to her chickens.

My lovely beets! I've grown these before with good success, but this year they were a little slow to grow. But we got one good mess which I oven roasted tonight and dressed with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. They were delicious!

My first successfull year at growing carrots! I was pleased since they were pretty much ignored and unwatered. I'll roast them with some potatoes, parsnips, onions, and turnips with some herbs and olive oil. I am grateful for the little successes with the garden this year. We had a good bit of squash, I've two butternuts out there ready to pick, some good peppers, which we made into pepper poppers. The green beans didn't do well, not enough water, neither did the cucumbers. I've got potatoes to dig next. Anyway I'm grateful!

I told you so.....!

THIS is what you look like after you take
THIS for a walk.....(I don't know anything about anything, she says!)
wearing THESE without one of.....

THESE!

The last thing he remembers is looking back at his friends and skating faster. Then I was in the living room and heard him coming in the house in tears, and he said he thought he blacked out and he couldn't remember anyting. The goose egg on his head above his brow was as big as a golf ball. We iced it for a couple of hours and then made the trip to the E.R. The doc said he had a concussion and needed to let his brain rest for a few days. So no school, video games, tv, books, music, or books on tape. Do you know how hard it is to make a ten year old lay in a dark room and rest his brain? Well it has been two weeks now and he is recuperated, but his judgement is still lacking as he went out today for recess, when his activity start up date is not until Monday. What is a mother to do?

Great Grandmother Little

Fannie Monroe Long was born 7 March 1885 in Jacksboro, Texas, in Jack County. She was she oldest child of Jake M. Long and Elizabeth Obarts. She married Jessie Bester Little 7 November 1901. Their children were Bonnie Elizabeth Little, Sam Bester Little, Nancy Edith Little, Fannie Mae Little, Eula Alma Little, Mertie Jake Little, and Clarabelle Little.
This is a photo of Grandmother Little with her oldest child, Bonnie Elizabeth, who was also known as Willie. All the children had nicknames that were given to them by their older half brother Earl and these were the names that most of us remember them being called by.

This is a photo of Grandmother Little's youngest brother John, who was born January 1898.

This is Jake Long, born 1892, and died April 1914, of meningitis. Grandma Pat told us the story of going to his funeral and having to kiss him in his coffin. It was a wonder that more of them didn't die from meningitis too. He died the same week that Aunt Babe (Mertie Jake) was born and so she was named after him.

This is a photo of another brother, Sam Long, born 24 April 1896, he had only one leg. This photo shows them in front of an oil rig. According to the 1930 census of Love County, Oklahoma his wife is Vinnie, and children are Albert W., Gladys L, Ruby L, and Sam R.J. I wonder if he lost his leg in an accident in the oil fields or as a farm worker. Probably will never know.

This is Great Grandmother's sister, Bonnie Elizabeth Long Sigman and her husband Jim. They had three children, Dottie, Jake and Elizabeth. They are listed in the 1920 census but then in the 1930 census they are both gone and the kids are living with the oldest sister in Wichita Falls. I don't know what happened to them.

Some things I do know about Great Grandmother Little. She was greatly loved by her husband, Jessie Bester Little. She died of breast cancer in 1916, when they went to Dallas to the doctor and received the diagnosis of cancer he took her and bought her a cameo brooch, that is now owned by my sister Elizabeth. He sold his farm to pay for her medical bills. While she was sick, my grandmother was taught to run the house, and do the cooking at the age of eight years. She also was the one who changed the dressings on Grandmother Little's breast as the cancer advanced. Grandma Pat told my sister Elizabeth that she was the first woman in her family to live past the age of forty. All her female relatives had died of cancer before the age of forty, including her mother, Fannie Monroe Long, grandmother,Elizabeth Obarts, aunt, Bonnie Elizabeth Long and sister, Nancy Edith (Billie). I wonder what that would feel like to be approaching that birthday and wondering what would happen to you? I am making the assumption that Elizabeth Obarts died of cancer, as well as Bonnie Long Sigman and we do know that Billie (Nancy Edith) also had breast cancer and died of a brain tumor after the cancer was treated. Billie was actually 42 when she died.

I also know that Fannie Monroe Long loved her family very much, since she named all of her children after her own brother's and sister. She is buried in the Illinois Bend cemetery in Montague County, Texas.

As I study the family history information and talk to my family members about the different stories that they've been told I feel even more close to the past away relatives. I love my family so much that sometimes it hurts!

Malachi 4:6.