Jewelry Boxes by Bob

Introducing a new line of product: jewelry boxes!

 Aren't they beautiful?

They are of superior quality, handmade by Bob, of walnit wood.  He is an expert with wood and a retired chemist from 3M.  He knows a lot, I tell you, and is a pleasure to work with!  He also cuts the wood by hand for all of the cake stands that Rita Marie Weddings offers.

To order or learn more, visit my Etsy Shop:

Walnut Jewelry Box

Our Spooky Misadventure

We had a funny experience during MEA (Minnesota Education Days).

We decided to have a family activity, but didn't have a lot of time for it.  Going to an apple orchard is a big tradition when living in Minnesota.  We have our favorite one out in Stillwater, but decided to try a new one down south.  Little did we know it was more geared to preschoolers.

The funniest part was following GPS directions.  The girls saw a Trail of Terror sign, and said "Ooh, that sounds fun!"  Not 2 minutes later, the GPS leads us to a very old cemetery and says "You have arrived to your destination."  We bust out laughing because A) this looked spooky like a trail of terror and B) the cemetery was definitely not our destination!  And of course it started raining the minute we stepped outside of the car.

Look mom… this tombstone is scary.  And tall.

Oooooh… spooky!  Scary!  We found our own Trail of Terror!

We did finally find our way to the orchard.  What we loved about the orchard was there were tons of squash and the apples were amazing (honey crisp and honey gold).  We stocked up on both.

All was not lost, we noticed on our way to the orchard the Worlds Largest Candy Store.  Huh?  Why I have I never heard of this place before?

It was really fun to look the novelty candies.  I wish this picture showed how long the building is- the end of the wall is probably 1/8-1/4 mile down.

Scary equals this giant gummy worm…. 5000 calories!

Yep, you'd have to be a real pig to eat all of this candy.

After that, it was dinner at The Cheesecake Factory then walking around the mall.

It ended up being such a fun outing.  And incidentally, the cheesecake was gone in about 10 seconds flat.  My proper girls' etiquette went down the drain once the cheesecake was put in front of them.

Monthly Wrap

The last few weeks have been filled with school activities, filling out college appications, homework, work-work, and making time for family.

Royal Youth- Young Women in Excellence

The Young Women at church, which include my daughters, had a really neat evening of highlighing their activites they have accomplished over the last year.  My girls gave short presentations about love and the big hike they took this summer.  At the end they all received crowns (cute) with a royal decree. The leaders borrowed a few of my cake stands for the refreshments.

In Health News….
This girl is nearing the end of her ortho treatment.  She wanted me to take a picture of her real teeth.  They took the front braces off to reposition them to move the roots.  It felt funny.  Hopefully, she is in the final stretch for just a few more months.

 This girl got to pick out a new set of glasses.  They are very cool.  This was her trying to decide which pair she likes best.

Musical Review
So my youngest taught me that sometimes being the star is working "behind the scenes."

She did Tech for the play, and she helped build the set.  It turned out so cool.  So she was able to put her art skills to work.  She also helped with props during the performances, so she applied leadership and organization.  Great job, Girl!

Community Events
I attended the Prayer Breakfast for our city with some local leaders and friends.  It was so early!  Can you tell…. I look sooo tired.  But totally worth it!  I highly reccommend looking up your city's prayer breakfast.  Many cities hold them and people aren't aware.  There is, of course, a breakfast served.  Also, it is a great gathering of community members with some really good speakers.  I have found it to be a very uplifting experience.

 

Hobby Time

This girl loves drawing, and makes time for practing it almost daily.  She took some pictures of herself to try to draw some self-portraits.  I thought that was a great idea.

Date Night
This was such a cute show with a really cute set.  The only problem is it was a spontaneous decision so it was almost sold out, and there were only 2 tickets left-- on opposite sides of the room.  So I got to gaze at my husband from across the room.  He is texting me love notes in the picture ;o)

Speaking of Spam… did you know there is a real live Spam Museum in Minnesota?  I wouldn't say it is on my bucket-list (actually, I don't have a bucket list), but if I had occasion to be in the vicinity, I think I would stop at it.  Before I saw the play, not so much.  But now I understand Spam got it roots from World War II, so I think I would stop to learn a little more about the war.

Orchestra Concert
My youngest had her orchestra concert.  It is always a joy to see the progress from year to year when they hold orchestra concerts.

And that's a wrap!