And this is what he left on my stove after his entrepreneurial chocolate fest!

Monday he bought the molds and chocolate and made some samples to take to school. Tuesday he took his pretty packages of goodies and handed them out, took the orders and sold $96 worth of chocolates!

With the pretty boxes and bags his Nana sent up from Georgia, he melted his chocolate, put them in molds, stuck them in the freezer, tapped them out of the molds and put them in some fancy boxes and bags.

This morning he took a laundry basket full of bags and boxes to deliver at school. I’m amazed at how a little packaging can take ordinary chocolate…and I mean ORDINARY…we’re not talking Dove or Cadbury….ORDINARY chocolate and make it into something people will buy. Just amazing!

Pictures from Friday night at Homecoming. Luke played well, he was high scorer again, I’m so proud of him! I just happened to have my camera with me, so I took a few snap shots of a double bonus. One was that Luke was playing and the other was that JW was singing in the Jazz band!

What a wonderful night we had enjoying watching our kids. I’m sorry if I sound like I’m bragging, but they are pretty much the center of our world right now, so they get top billing!

The game didn’t turn out like we wanted, they lost by a point. After the game, the jazz band played for the first set of music for the dance, so we stayed and watched that. I discovered that kids haven’t changed much over the years. They bascially pay $5.00 to get into a gym where loud music is playing so they can mingle with their friends. I think I could make a lot of money if I turned up my radio and invited them to my house to hang out and talk. And then I could sell them pizza by the slice and make even more. I think I’ve been missing the boat.

We only have one game this week and on Saturday Jake has his first official game while the boys head to Ft Wayne to a baseball camp where four major league scouts will be looking at the prospects. JW and Luke know they will not be looked at very seriously, but when they get done, they can say they tried out for a major league scouts! They are really looking forward to it!

My dryer continues to work nicely while my washer still needs some adjustment, but I am still able to wash clothes so the kids don’t go around with a cloud of dirt and dust looking like “Pig Pen” on Peanuts. Although with as much cologne as Jake has been spraying on, he will never smell bad again. I had some Mary Kay Men’s cologne and Jake discovered it while he was looking for acne medicine after one of his classmates (a girl) discovered a lone pimple on his face. She told him he needed some acne medicine. She even made him write it down on a piece of paper. He pulled the little wadded up piece of scrap paper out of his pocket and showed me. I showed him what he could use and while showing him, he found the men’s cologne and proceeded to douse himself with it. Yesterday afternoon JW and I were sitting on the loveseat watching Sarah Plain and Tall and all of a sudden we got a big wiff of his cologne. I guess he thinks he needs to re-apply it every so often throughout the day.

Anyway, Jake is smelling pretty good these days.

It’s a mild, cloudy morning on the Knolltop! Good morning!

Another game tonight, we will head to Camden for the big radio game….yep, it will be on the radio.

I’ve run out of time…have to go bed the barn.. oh yeah… God answered our prayers on my dryer….my brother found one on Craig’s list for me, my mom called and told me about it, my dad sent the money down for it and now I have a new(used) dryer AND washer, that needs a minor repair…but we’re getting it fixed. God is so good! THanks for prayer!

Good Morning from a much milder Knolltop! It’s 35 out this morning! It smells like spring and definitely gives me a spring in my step today.
Yesterday Luke had a game in Bellevue and the team decided to dress up. Jake being the manager decided to dress up as well….he loves to copy his big brother. So I thought I would capture the boys in ties, who knows how long this urge to look nice will last.

I have to hand it to Luke, he is good at tieing a tie. He’s quick and smooth. Jake hasn’t mastered it yet and he came to me the night before asking if I would tie his tie. I looked at him and said, “I can’t tie a tie, you’ll have to ask Daddy or one of the boys.” They were busy so a disgruntled Jake sat and tried to master the art of tieing a tie. Watching him in frustration, Sarah piped up and said, “Jake, give it to me, I’ll do it.” When she got done I asked how she knew how to tie a tie? She said she learned it from watching her big brothers do it over and over again. And then she reminded me that it wasn’t that hard of a thing to master. Of course I disagree.

Luke started again last night and had quite a few points and they almost beat Bellevue but fell short. What a bummer.

Now I’ve got to make a few phone calls and write another column!

Okay, as I did spell check it highlighted “tieing” and it doesn’t have an alternative spelling for it, isn’t that a word? Am I making it up? OH my heaven’s some one please come to my rescue!

Good Morning from a much warmer Knolltop. It’s sunny and the temps are climbing, this mild weather is a welcome reprieve from the subzero wind chills in recent days.

We travelled to Tekonsha the other night for Luke’s game and he got to start again! I realize that’s not a big deal to some, but for this mom, it’s big. I love watching my kids excel, what mom doesn’t? He also scored 13 pts…but they lost. Afterward we met Doug and Angie Myers for coffee and McDonalds, it was fun to catch up with them and laugh a little.

Tonight we will head to Bellevue for his game. JW and Sarah will finish up chores for us. They are so good to help us out like that, we are so blessed to have kids who are willing to give their time and energy for us and their siblings.

Okay, now I have a prayer request: I need a new dryer. My old one died. So, please put that on your prayer list and we will see how God decides to provide! I can’t wait to see what He has in store!

Now I have a column to write…..later!

Good Monday Morning from a cold Knolltop! We had a slight dusting of snow over night but nothing major. It’s 16 with a slight breeze…but nothing frozen in the barn! And I hear we are in for a heatwave later this week….our January thaw, perhaps?

Over the weekend, Sarah and I attended our county DHIA awards banquet. We garnered some pretty good door prizes..which is one of the things that keeps me going, other than I have to go to report on the event! Sarah picked out some lip gloss, shower gel and a water bottle. Yes, we had three chances at a door prize because a very generous Mark Adam gave us his number…..he always does….and that’s why I sit by him! No, not really, I love to catch up on what the world traveler is doing and of course we do a little gossiping along the way…nothing major, just who changed jobs, who’s working for who and who got married, etc. and a few other observations along the way.

Well, now it’s time to head back out into the cold and bed the cows!

Good afternoon from a snowy Knolltop! It snowed at least 5 inches since yesterday! The kids went to bed thinking there would be no school today but a 7 am, I delivered the unwelcomed news hearing groans of “NO!!!” right back at me.

The snow has quit now and it’s a pretty sunny winter day. Apparently we are in for some cold weather this weekend, stuff the plains states have been dealing with all week.

A buddy from Oklahoma, Robert Yeoman likes to send me his daily weather report. His weather sounds like Michigan. Yesterday morning he had 11 degrees and 30 mph wind. Yesterday afternoon he texted 25, sunny and still. I had visions of Oklahoma being warm and sunny this time of year, guess my visions were only dreams!

Our Hillsdale County DHIA banquet is this weekend, that’s always a nice dinner out with friends from around the county. And great door prizes. Honestly, it’s the unending ice cream sundae bar and door prizes that keep me coming back every year!

Timer’s going off…my granola is done!

Good Morning from a balmy Knolltop. It’s 28 out this morning! I took my sock hat off in the barn, I was so warm! And i know when I go back out to bed, I will be sweating! This is good, very good because I think we are in for a cold snap this weekend!

Last night the kids did chores so Bobby could go with me to a meeting in Lansing. This was actually my meeting but I knew I wouldn’t be able to stay awake on the way home, so I asked if he would go and much to my surprise he said yes! It was a Purebred Dairy Cattle Association meeting, so he just took the Agriview with him and read it while we discussed the matters at hand.

It was a very profitable meeting, they fed us pizza and then I brought home some of the leftovers! Guess what we’re having for dinner tonight?

Better get out to the barn…I’m a little late….

Good Morning from a warmer Knolltop. It was 20 this morning when we walked across the road to milk the cows. Sooooo much better than single digits!

Luke called me at 6 am to make sure Jake and Sarah would have a ride to school if he went in with JW to pitch. Well, actually JW pitches and Luke catches. I was amazed that this 16 year old would care enough to call me to make sure he didn’t have to come home and get them….wow.

Jake had to take his oven into school today. He came home yesterday and informed me he had to make an oven out of a box, foil and a light bulb. An hour later he was bringing a warmed up piece of pizza to me that he had warmed in his new oven. It worked and he was beaming! The old Easy Bake Oven has nothin‘ on ol Jake!

The fire is warm, the coffee is hot, the weather is snowy, it’s a good day to stay inside and enjoy the warmth!