Quick Trip to Iowa!

Made a quick trip to Iowa to see Jackson's first home basketball game of the season.  They won!  He took a selfie with me after the game.

And the whole crew........

And his girlfriend.........

I sat between my sister and Jackson's girlfriend, Carmyn during the game.  They were wearing their new white uniforms for the first time, and we noted that Jackson was wearing his patriotic undies...........one butt cheek was red/white stiped, and one was blue with white stars.  It only got more noticeable as the game went on and he got sweatier!  He wasn't the only one not wearing tidy whities!

Prior to the game, we went the the Festival of Trees that was put on by their Chamber of Commerce.  Local businesses and organizations, and even individuals decorated trees and we were given 2 tickets to vote for our favorites.  It was pretty amazing for a small town...........lots of creativity!

The Man Cave tree!  Notice the red roping garland, that's an extension cord!

A baking tree............

A craft store tree............

There was even a scavenger hunt list for you to look for certain things and put down which tree you found them in.  This little girl was looking for a squirrel.

The public library tree.......

The Sweet Shop Tree............

And this!  The elves were trying to save the cookies for Santa!  
 

It deserved 2 photos and one of my tickets!  Note the open jaws on the packages to put your tickets into!

This was the local garden club's entry.  They included their vintage garden club books as decorations.

And this was from a dental office!  Note all the molars on the tree and all the cute little elves who had the name badges of the people who worked there and the snowman was the dentist.

This one was done by the Ram Fans.  All of the high schools winter sport athletes were pictured there.  We found Jackson's photo on the tree.  Nice pom poms on top!

This one got my other vote.  It was done by an organization promoting kids programs.  Each of the ornaments had a different kid handprint on it and all of the decorations were made by the kids.

And of course, the Cyclone fans got in on the action!

And the local vet clinic...........

And you could have your picture taken with Santa and Mrs. Claus..........so we did!

They had cookies and a silent auction, and you could make a donation.  I was very impressed with this event.  I circled all the trees at least twice and could have gone again, but we had to get to the game.

Christi

Meanwhile, back at home.....

With the addition of Esme to the household, Cici has become a little more active.  She's back to climbing in to baskets among other things.

We had our quilt guild Christmas party and held the drawing for our raffle quilt.  We set a record with ticket sales and Kris brought in her chicken washing bucket to hold them and stir them around in.  Someone from Fayette was drawn.............. so no one that I sold tickets to.😞

I did finally spend a little time in the sewing room.  Cici was on hand to supervise and provide quality control.

While this project required no sewing, it was a project FOR the sewing room.  David helped me make a new top for my ironing board which I covered with wool batting and this fun polka dot fabric.  I love it!  And should I ever need that narrow end to iron a shirt (not happening), I can just lift this new top off and press!

As of now, Esme isn't that impressed with the workings of the sewing room...........of course, I haven't spent much time there, so that could change.

And I left the sewing room to head to bed one evening only to find this............. 

 If I thought she could lay still and not hog the bed, I might let her sleep there, but I really have no faith in that working.

Christi

Saturday in The Lou or the Zoo!

 We went back to historic St. Charles on Saturday morning to see it decorated for Christmas.  We ate at the Lewis & Clark again..........Sarah and I even had the same thing we had the first time!  There was a parade scheduled that we missed because we were still eating, but we did see this entry parked outside the restaurant.

We are not really sure what kind of car it was...........even my dad wasn't sure when we showed him the pictures...........so, Uncle Al, what do you think?  You're the car expert!

That evening, we went to the Wild Lights at the zoo.  Sarah had done this one last year and thought it was pretty cool............  It was actually colder and a little breezy compared to the previous night at the botanical gardens.

There were so many photo ops for kids...............including Elsa and Anna from Frozen!

And Olaf!

When Sarah was here last year, she witnessed a wedding proposal in this light tunnel.

We still love the red panda!  The only actual animals out were the penguins and sea lions.

Selfie with Olaf!

The zoo was lots of fun.  David and I probably like the Garden Glow better, but Sarah would pick the Wild Lights of the Zoo!

Christi

Garden Glow!

Hold on to your hats!  I've got a lot of photos to share, so expect several posts this week!  We  went to St. Louis the first weekend in December to do some holiday things with Sarah.  On Friday evening, we went to "Garden Glow" at the Missouri Botanical Gardens.  The weather was great and we didn't even need heavy coats!

Same tree, different colors of lights!

 And now, get ready for a parade of lights................Garden Glow!

Same spot..........change in light color!

We had to wait in line to go through the light tunnel.  The little hillside up to the tunnel was covered in rows of lanterns that were flashing in time to the Christmas music.  It was pretty amazing.

We didn't wait in the line to get into the "snow" globe.  

This might have been the best part..........there was a projection on the side of the building that went with the music.........The Nutcracker Suite was my favorite!

We stood there quite awhile watching the show.

Garden Glow was well worth the price of admission and I would do it again!

Christi

New family member and decorating for Christmas

Just like Christmas gifts, it's the empty box that is most fun!

 Cici did her best to hold down the empty tubs of Christmas decorations.  Sarah helped put out our decorations when she was home over Thanksgiving.  It didn't take long as several of my traditional decorations have migrated to her apartment in St. Louis.  

This is my new table runner that my Aunt Judy made.  She had several of these for "show and tell" at Thanksgiving.  It was hard to choose from all the different ones she had.

Sarah didn't want to help with the Christmas trees.  So, I worked on those the week after she left.  We had to replace all the lights on one of the pre-lit trees, so it took awhile.  No photos yet.  We were a little hesitant to leave with 3 trees "mostly" decorated to go to St. Louis on the weekend because we welcomed a new member to the family.

Meet Esme!  She is a rescue from a shelter in Kansas, she's somewhere between 6 months and 1 year in age.  She has the most beautiful fluffy tail.  Since she is from Kansas, I contemplated naming her Dorothy, or Toto (we're not in Kansas anymore!), but she didn't seem to fit either of those, so her name is Esme.

She is a little more tolerant of Willow than Cici is.  She and Cici have been getting along well.  Esme slept on my bed the first 2 nights, but now seems to hang out with Cici at night.  She was also like a puppy the first few days, following me everywhere, always right under my feet.  She has started expressing her independence a little.  And she has claimed the Christmas quilt on the church pew as her "spot".

In other news, I am happy to report that I have completed all of the baskets I needed for Christmas gifts.

This one was ordered by Jeff, our neighbor who helps haul grain and does chores when we are gone.  He is giving it to his new wife for Christmas. 

This next one is an antler basket that another grain truck driver ordered for his daughter.  He brought me the deer antler.  It took quite a while to finish.

Once it was finally done, I did a photo shoot to try to get all the angles...........

I also finished a basket for my quilt guild exchange gift.  I forgot to take pictures though, and it is already wrapped up for our Christmas Party this evening.  Maybe I'll get a photo with the recipient.

As for sewing, NOTHING has happened there for a couple of weeks.  The sewing room is now being used as a kitty rumpus room.  I can hear them up there cavorting around and wish I was there with them - not cavorting, but maybe sewing!  The only thing that has happened up there is that the hubs helped me make a new ironing board cover.  It's so amazing - well, I say that, but the only pressing I have done is to press the napkins from the laundry.  Maybe someday I'll get time to sew.  OK, I HAVE to get time to sew because I still have a couple of Christmas gifts to quilt.

Hope all your Christmas lights are Twinkling!

Christi