It's Official We Are Up and Running

We have hung out our shingle and are open for business. It is actually a metal sign that will last us for many years to come. We decided to just open for lunch and dinner so from 11 to 8 Monday through Saturday. Unless something changes dramatically we will be closed on Sundays.
This morning the kids got into the act by making these signs. There is this paint called chalkboard paint. Robert painted the boards yesterday and they were able to write on them today. Later in the afternoon Thomas hindged them together to make an A frame so we could put it out on the side walk. Later we are going to use it to list our specials of the day.

We did not realize going in just how much prep work and everything went into getting ready each day. espically this first day. We were there early and still were preparing when the first customer arrived. Here I am ready at the register.

Our fabulous friends from Monticello, Scott and Teresa St Clair, took time from their resturant, Monticello Pizza Kitchen, to come help us on our first day. scott has been in the resturant business for a very long time and was just a wealth of information. The day was so much fun and a lot less stressful having them there with us. They arrived early and stay with us until closing.

We had to quality control the food ( taste test) through the day. We passed out samples of items to several of our customers and asked them to give us there honest opinion of what they thought. On the whole the comments were all positive. There was one negative comment on the mac and cheese so we went back to the drawing board and before that customers left we had her try the new batch and she said it was much better and creamier, yeah us.

This is Amanda. By opening this resturant we are fulfilling her dream. For her and for us I hope it is a continued success.
Our first customers of the day were Bill and Barbara Dennington. They gave us our ceremonial first dollar. They even signed it.

Here is Bill picking up their order. After they ate Bill and Barbara took all the children Kathryn(mine) Sam ( Robert and Amanda's), Haddy and Hannah ( Scott and Teresa's ) and Grace ( theirs) to the movies and then to their house to play. That was such a blessing to us because the girls would have been so bored up there today. I know there will be times in the future that they will have to be there, but with the 4 of us trading off times to work hopefully one of us at a time will be off so they are not up there all the time. They did enjoy earning money by keeping the tables wiped off while they were up there though.

One of Robert's friends from Albertson's came to wish him well today.

I had several families from TCHF come out to support us. Thank you all. Cudos to Tammy who came all the way from Monticello to support us. It was also because she said she had a craving for Fried Chicken. Nice to know we are serving all the needs we can.

Some our Church family came out today too. Thank you to you all.

One more time I would like to say thank you to everyone who came out friends, family, and all the new friends we made today. Thank you and hope to see you all soon in Havana.

Busy Busy Busy

This has been such a busy last few days. Kathryn and I stayed home for the first part of last week because she was getting over her cold. I did not want any relapses before the holidays. She is doing better I am happy to report.

I was in the dining room working on some projects for later in the week and she was in the office watching a movie. She comes out and proudly shows me the string of garland that she made "all by herself" I guess her little artistic side gets to come out for a breath of fresh air every once in a while.

She was concentrating so hard she did not realize I was there until after the flash went off.

Here she is getting into the spirit of giving by dressing up like Santa. The Beard was her own idea. Too Cute!

This is what we were resting up for these next few days worth of activities. On Thursday I had arranged a Christmas Party at Home Depot. Each Month on the first Saturday they have a Kids Workshop where the kids come in and make a project. They have many of these left over at the end of the year so they hosted a party for us and the children each were able to make a project to take home and give away for Christmas.

It is hard to tell in this picture but they made boats, cars, memory boxes, flag poles, and the list goes on and on.

Here are a few of Kathryn and Grace making their projects. There were so many children some moved to the floor to have enough room. Kathryn does these quite often during the year so they were hard pressed to find one she had not done. everyone brought an ornament to exchange with a friend and a snack to share. Kathryn enjoyed the red velvet cupcakes a little too much.

Saturday was a one day Kids Christmas Day at a church in Killarn. One of the moms on the homeschool loop posted it and invited us all to come drop off our children for the day and go do some shopping. Those of you who know me know I am not dropping my child off somewhere where I do not know the people so I stayed and volunteered. It was a lot of fun.

Hannah and Haddy joined Sam and Kathryn for this one day event. The children made several crafts, heard the story of christmas and had a blast playing together.This project was making a wreath out of puzzle pieces. they also made paper chains, place mats, and a nativity out of popcycle sticks.

Hannah and Kathryn are busy on their paper chain. They worked together to create it and at the end of the day they split it in half and each took their piece home to put on the tree. Notice Sally and Sally ( the little dogs) in the picture. Kathryn knew that Hannah wanted a little dog like hers so we got her one for Christmas. Hannah opened it just before they came in here to do this project. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday Kathryn and Sam sang in the church production of "Life, Death, and Two Strips of Bacon" Funny title funny play. The girls sang the opening two songs and then there was nothing else for them to do. We sat through the play 2 times but on Sat night we cut out as soon as they were done singing. Their song was cute they took the song Jingle Bells and
and sang "rolling through the mall in a pair of roller blades" They had to dress for winter because int he play it is supposed to be where it is snowing. A big stretch for the ones who have never seen snow before.

This week on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday kathryn and Sam and I are participating in a Christmas VBS. Neat concept. All the activities have centered around Jesus and His birth. The mission project is collecting teddy bears for the fire department and the police department in the community. They take these toys with them when they go to an emergency involving a child and the toy helps to calm the child. The plan is to totally fill this 10 foot tall tree with soft friends and after Christmas give them to the fire and police departments.
This lady was reading a story to the children. I honestly felt very drawn to her, she reminded me so much of Mems. For those of you who do not know Mems was my father's mother and she passed away when Kathryn was a month old. We had gone to see her and introduce her to Kathryn and she passed away while we were there. I am glad she got to see her great grand child, and even though Kathryn will not remember it I always will.

This is the minister and he was portraying Joseph. Each day a new character comes in and tells the story from their perspective. so far we have heard from Mary, Joseph, the shepards and the inn keeper.

Kathryn was given a few line to read in a skit and here she is practicing reading her lines.

Tonight as part of the VBS the girls got to take part in a live Nativity. Sam is playing the part of Mary ( which she reluctantly did but was glad in the end that she did because she got to sit down) Kathryn and Grace are playing angels.

They look so angelic don't they.

After this picture Mary got tired of holding the baby so in a very modern move she handed the baby over to Joseph. She said," I'm tired of holding the baby it's your turn"Watch out Baby your Halo is slipping.

We will finish with VBS tomorrow, and are going to Monticello to visit with friends there and then home for Christmas Eve and Christmas day. Saturday we open up the new resturant. We passed indpection last Friday and are opening up this Saturday. I will post pics later in the week at the resturant grand opening. Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.

A beautful fall day in December

It seems funny to be posting this in the middle of December; however, it was a beautiful day the other day and Kathryn and Grace were out in Grace's front yard raking leaves and jumping into the piles. Eva and I also got into the act. We jumped in and took pics with the kids. This brought back memories of Indiana. It was the only only place I remember us being able to rake up enough leave to jump into . Our front yard is covered with pine needles so I was glad Kathryn got to enjoy this experience with her friend.

After we were done we had a picnic lunch.

Even Sally got into the act and had some fun.

Lawn Mower Parade

Today we participated in Havana Annual Lawn Mower Parade. We were not sure what to expect but I personally was pleasently surprised at the creativity of eveyone. It was so cute. This is our float. The funny thing is this snowman was up for this picture and for the practice run but ......

.....when it came time for the parade the inverter did not want to work so he was deflated for most of the parade. Robert drove the mower while Sam, Thomas and Amanda walked the route. They were going to give out candy but found out it is against the rules to do that for safty reasons. They did have fun just walking and saying hi to everyone though.
a few entries from the parade.

This was actually a golf cart. There were several of these entered too.

These folks were singing Frosty the Snowman.

Of course Santa ended the parade.

The whole parade lasted about 20 minutes and then Kathryn and I headed home she could not take anymore. Every other breath was followed by a coughing spell. Everyone else finished the parade route and disassembled the float and then came home.

Kathryn sick

Not sure what is going on with angle face but she woke up Tuesday morning sick and kept us up for several hours. By Friday I thought she was getting better we were even able to do some school work. But today after the parade she started throwing up again. I think if she is not better by Monday I am going to take her into her doctor. I thought it was just a cold but she is complaining of her tummy hurting and there is alot of throwing up. If anyone has a homeopathic recipe to calm a tummy ache or reduce a fever please let me know.