I Can Skip "Fall Already!" and Go Right To "It's Winter??" What??? Wait!!!

I'm not kidding myself. Only a handful of people even read this blog. It's mostly a few family members and maybe a friend or two who sometimes remember, oh yeah, that Mitchell blog thing. The rest of the visitors arrive strictly by accident and I'm sure they don't stay around long. So why am I posting? Because my dear, sweet, 87 year old Auntie wants to know what the rest of the family is doing. Because this is the way I can share pictures from our summer vacation (which I just uploaded actually) and because when I do read back over the year(s) I enjoy seeing what was going on, the things I may have forgotten. So, here goes.

Our summer in Michigan was really beautiful and August was no exception! The baby ducks kept growing and coming back to the feeder for snacks. Here it is almost Christmas and I think saw a couple of them just last week. We have had a pretty mild winter really, at least it might seem so because we haven't had much snow. We had a little around Thanksgiving but really none in December. It's been nice after the deluge from last year!

We also had to buy a new stove/oven. The cooktop started shorting out and there was no replacement part (too old) so we had to bite the bullet and order a new one.

The garden continued to give and give and give. I also got a nice amount of potatoes from the pots on the lower deck. I did finally get a pumpkin, pretty good size, but it didn't have enough time (or heat) to turn orange.

Our last hurrah for the summer was our trip to Pass-A-Grille, Florida. We flew down this time which was a nice change. Amber, Andy and the girls arrived the same day we did. We all had such a nice time together.

Quinn made a new friend. She lives in England and we got to spend time with her family at the pool and beach and we even went out to dinner with them one night.

We got to see friends

We got to see family

Berit learned to walk!!

The sand and open spaces provided just what she needed to finally take off! What a great memory!

When we returned to Michigan it was back to work, back to school and back to reality.

In September we celebrated Scott's 26th birthday with a little at home cake and ice cream.

Emily and Jessie joined us.

Apparently nothing noteworthy happened in October because I don't have a single picture. All I remember is that Halloween was so blazing COLD and miserable and I was so thankful that Emily and Jessie came over and between the two of them (and the boys, of course) they handed out the Halloween candy (lowest kid turnout in history of us living here) so I didn't have to go out there and do it!!

In November Amber and the girls came for a short visit in the beginning and end of their Thanksgiving holiday over at Andy's parents. We enjoyed our time together and Amber even planned and cooked our own family faux Thanksgiving the Saturday before Thanksgiving. Emily and Jessie came over and apparently I didn't take a single picture!! Arrrrrrgggghhhhh! I did manage to get a couple pictures of the girls though. The weather was nice enough for a couple days to go for a walk. In a couple of these Quinn is pretending that she's fishing!

Now it's December, almost Christmas and we are on break from work and school. We have big plans for Christmas and I'm hoping and praying they can happen. Unfortunately, just last Tuesday I came down sick, after bragging the week before how well I had been this year! Figures! When will I learn to keep my big mouth SHUT! I missed 3 days from school due to bronchitis and I'm still coughing and tired! I'm hoping to be all better in time for our Christmas at Amber's house next week. Then Amber called to say Berit had thrown up, then Quinn, then Amber and then Andy. YIKES!!! That does not sound good. I'm scheduled to go tomorrow, Howard will drive down the next day, then the boys will fly in the day after that. I'm hoping they open windows and all the germs are gone by the time we are all together!

So, there's the fall and with only a couple more weeks left in the year the only other pictures I will probably take are at Christmas. I'm hoping everyone gets well really quickly and that it's a little warmer and sunnier there. Michigan has been particularly gray these past two months. Depressing.

So Auntie, have a Merry Christmass and a Happy New Year and I'll post after Christmas. I promise! Love you!!