Amanda's Clan

Midnight - Our rescue

noreply@blogger.com (Amanda) — Sat, 26 Feb 2011 16:03:00 +0000

My daughter and Midnight

I haven't posted here in a really long time. This blog is different from my craft blog and cooking blog. It was meant to hold family memories but alas, fell by the wayside. I am compelled to write today because I wanted to document this darling puppy. Her name is Midnight and she first stepped foot in our home on Thursday (2/24/11). She's about a year old and is a black lab. All she wants to do is please you. She's sweet, gentle, cute and cuddly and a super fast learner. Midnight had a bit of a rough beginning.

Here's a video of her. You can see that she's gentle, her tail wags all the time, and she won't stay still long enough to get still pictures. :) So a video was the best I could do.

She didn't suffer the abuse that some animals do, but it was abuse just the same. The odd part about it is that the owner really did like her, but unfortunately lost his temper a lot and Midnight was the brunt of his frustrations. She was often smacked on top of the head over and over again, simply because she came looking for some love. She was tossed around and thrown about, all because she wanted some attention. Sometimes she had food, sometimes she didn't.

Thing is, the owner took her for walks, taught her basic commands and actually wanted to know how she was doing after she left his house. It's beyond my comprehension, but as I'm finding out, there are some mental stability issues at hand that often affected his emotions and reactions.

This sweet puppy lives here now. She's a fast learner and eager to please. We have been careful not to yell in her presence, as she cowers when we do. We also don't lift our arms or hands quickly as that causes her to cower as well. Other than that, she's only had one accident and seems completely potty trained. She stays in the yard and gets along great with my 9 year old German Shepherd, Angel. She plays fetch and loves to run and play.

I said I didn't want anymore dogs. One was enough. However, when my husband told me about her there was no question in my mind that we needed to get her out of that environment. Just imagining this sweet little girl being the brunt of abuse makes me want to cry. I'm happy she's here now, I think she's pretty happy too. Welcome Midnight. :) We love you already. I think we loved you before you even got here.

Dirt bike pics

noreply@blogger.com (Amanda) — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 23:18:00 +0000

Here's some pics of the hubby and a couple of the kids on the dirt bikes in our neighborhood. more later :)

Sunrise, Baseball, and Buffalo

noreply@blogger.com (Amanda) — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 01:41:00 +0000

Ok the subject line sounds kind of weird I know. But I have a few photos to share. Some of a gorgeous sunrise from Friday morning, some of Dominic's first baseball game of the season (they won!) and a photo of the buffalo at a nearby farm.

The photo above is of the buffalo (duh), which aren't normally near the fence at the road, but today they were. There's a buffalo farm a few miles from us and it's always cool to see them off in the distance, but it was truly a treat to see them right at the road side today!

Friday morning there was a gorgeous sunrise. These photos are of the view I saw from my upstairs deck, which is basically off the kitchen. Good morning! :)

These next set of photos were today, Saturday, of Dominic's first baseball game of the season. They played so well, such good teamwork! They did win the game and had a lot of fun. They got lucky too, right at the end of the game the rain came pouring down!

The first picture is of Dominic (middle) with two of his very good friends. As you can see, they are all on different teams :)

Went Camping This Weekend

noreply@blogger.com (Amanda) — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 18:22:00 +0000

We just came back from a very relaxing trip up to our camper. We decided at the last minute to go and the older kids opted to spend the weekend with friends. So we loaded up the dog, the two younger boys and one of their friends and went to enjoy the mild weather.

Widdlin' wood :)

Walking back from the river

Mmmm marshmallows :)

Fishing

Riding the dirt bikes

It was beautiful out and so nice to get away. I have tons of laundry to do now and everything smells like a campfire, but I don't care. I needed it!

Here's some pics, the dark haired boy is our neighbor and my 3rd child's best friend. :) It was his first time camping, first time on a dirt bike, and his first time to the Dells. A great time was had by all.

Rainy Days

noreply@blogger.com (Amanda) — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 14:09:00 +0000

It's raining today. Hard to believe we got 4" of snow two days ago. It's almost gone, should be gone by the end of the week. I was so happy spring was here, and so were the birds, so this snow needs to take a hike! :)

Chicago: Field Museum and the Big Christmas Tree

noreply@blogger.com (Amanda) — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 02:46:00 +0000

This past weekend we made a trip down to the city (Chicago) to see my Dad, the big Christmas tree, and visit the Field Museum. After all, as long as we were going to drive an hour and half, might as well make a day out of it :)

We brought Dakota, Kristen's best friend, with us. Here's some pics. There's a video at the end of Kristen being pushed around by one of the city carriage horses ;-)

Captions below photos.

Kristen (left) and Dakota standing by "Sue" the T-Rex at the Field Museum.

TJ (Tracy Jr) and Dominic, our youngest two boys, holding two of "Sue's" teeth (or models of them anyway).

Kristen and Dakota, Picasso behind them, by the big Christmas tree.

My Dad (far left) with Kristen, TJ, Dakota and Dominic standing in front of a beach display in one of the nature exhibits.

TJ, Kristen, Dominic and my Dad in front of a giant worm in the Underground Adventure.

Kristen and Dakota outside of the Field Museum.

Kristen and Dakota inside the Field Museum, city view through the window. Or at least we tried :)

Dominic and TJ being eaten by an alligator ;-)

Dominic, Kristen, TJ and Dakota in the Underground Adventure exhibit, climbing on the wall.

Me and my dad in front of the big Christmas tree.

Dakota, TJ, Dominic and Kristen in the car on the way to Chicago.

A view from the bottom of the big tree.

Dominic, Kristen and Dakota in front of the big tree.

Kristen getting a shove from one of the city carriage horses ;)

Let is snow

noreply@blogger.com (Amanda) — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 20:32:00 +0000

Well we have had our third snowfall already. These pics are from the first one. We had one before that even, but it was only about half an inch.

This is the magnolia tree in the yard just next to my driveway.

These are the trees at the end of the street, so pretty :)

This is my street

This is the view of the neighbor's house standing in my driveway. Look at the big pine tree :)

Tony on the mule

This is a shot of the front of the house in the fall, look at the red bushes!

Oh look... snow!

Ah the Hillbilly Hot Rod ;-)

Angel!

Coming out of the garage
This is what those pretty red bushes look like now ;-)

Happy birthday kitties :)

noreply@blogger.com (Amanda) — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 22:24:00 +0000

Two of my cats turned 2 years old in October. When, not sure, somewhere in the middle of the month. Anyway, thought it was a good time to post some cute pics of Rex and Spike, now and when they were babies :) Above Spike on left, Rex on right.

Sorry for the quality of these photos, some are from my cell phone.

Sunrise

noreply@blogger.com (Amanda) — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 01:51:00 +0000

Wow, time gets away from me and I just don't post here like I originally intended. Here's some pretty sunrise pictures from last week I just wanted to share :)

Halloween costumes, fire pit and decorations

noreply@blogger.com (Amanda) — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 13:19:00 +0000

Just a few pics from Halloween. Dominic was a storm trooper and TJ was an Underworld Vampire. They are pictured here with one of their friends.

Here are a few pics of my ghost luminaries, the light up mask on one of our lawn decorations and the lovely fire I sat around in the driveway while handing out candy. We have a portable fire pit, I didn't build a campfire in the middle of the driveway. LOL

Bonnie my serial killer cat

noreply@blogger.com (Amanda) — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 02:31:00 +0000

One day I was joking with an online friend of mine about how one of my cats, Bonnie, brings home all sorts of woodland creatures. Unfortunately they are of the dead variety. So I made this poster after a comment that my friend made, saying she hoped she wouldn't see her on the post office wall. LOL

Stade's Farm Market and Pumpkins

noreply@blogger.com (Amanda) — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 12:10:00 +0000

This is the view at an intersection a mile or two from my house. I've always loved this particular area as there are farms and tree lined streets, a gorgeous midwest fall shot. The next two shots are going down that road. At the next intersection there's a farm on the corner where during the summer you can buy corn on the cob picked from the field. Just drop some money in the box. Same with the pumpkins in the fall.

Choose your pumpkins, or buy some Indian Corn...

This is Lakeshore Drive, the road I live off of. There are tons of trees, they are not all changing quite yet. In the winter the snow looks so beautiful.

Saturday was a beautiful fall day, so we went to Stade's Farm Market in Spring Grove, IL. Now, I had no idea this place was so big, I thought it was just a farmer's market. I was surprised to see so much to do for the kids and so many great fresh veggies at pretty good prices! I went back the next day and bought some tomatoes and they were fabulous!

Some hot chocolate from the market and one last look at the giant pumpkins...

Their prices are high on their pumpkins, bales and corn stalks. So that's why we ended up stopping at the local farmer's wagon in our neighborhood.

There were fun things to do, including launching corn cobs at targets, shooting pumpkins out of a cannon, hay rides, pick your pumpkins, a haunted house for little ones, and a corn maze.

Overall a really nice day~

Cool night moon

noreply@blogger.com (Amanda) — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 17:12:00 +0000

The other night we had a really bright moon that kept trying to peek through the clouds. I don't have much to say about it, just that I thought it was nifty looking :) so here it is.

Beautiful Autumn Day

noreply@blogger.com (Amanda) — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 14:03:00 +0000

Yesterday was gorgeous, my last shot of the day was of the moon. I was sitting out on the back deck going though all my new cookbooks bookmarking things I would like to try. When I finished, I looked around the backyard and noticed how the leaves are all starting to change in the neighborhood. So I snapped some shots. They are as follows:

from the back deck balcony
down at the end of the street
my dog, Angel :)
my house and the big tree
Dominic hanging out in the big tree next to the house

From the balcony

down the street

My dog, Angel

Sneaking one in of Bonnie

My house & the big tree

Dominic in the tree

Tracy was in a car accident

noreply@blogger.com (Amanda) — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 01:08:00 +0000

Tracy was in a car accident on his way home from work. He was driving down a two lane road and some guy on a side street to his right pulled out in front of him, across traffic to turn left and go the opposite direction as him. Well he punched it and lost control (it was a CHERRY 68 Mustang with too much horsepower) and he swerved across into Tracy's lane. He was coming head on at Tracy, Tracy turned the wheel to the right and the Mustang went down along the driver's side of Tracy's truck.

Tracy's truck sustained damage, a hole in the front bumper, broken headlight, popped tired and the car scraped all the way down the side.

The Mustang is trashed. It peeled the front of the car wide open. That WAS a beautiful car before this. Both of them are fine, no injuries.

Twin Lakes, WI

noreply@blogger.com (Amanda) — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 11:02:00 +0000

There are some wonderful houses in Twin Lakes. We live a subdivision that is across the street from the lakefront houses. I took a drive through some of the lakefront neighborhoods yesterday as I just love looking.. Here's some pics :)

Fall leaves are starting to change

noreply@blogger.com (Amanda) — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 10:52:00 +0000

Wisconsin is of course, in the heart of the midwest. I live is a rural town, kind of a small suburb surrounded by farms, and I just love the landscape around here. Yesterday I went out and snapped some shots of the leaves that are beginning to change. Man I love this time of year! This weekend I'll be hauling out my Halloween stuff.

Coming soon

noreply@blogger.com (Amanda) — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 02:56:00 +0000

Well in an effort to keep friends and family up to date, I am starting a blog about family stuff, my kids, pets, neighborhood, camping, etc. You get the drift, personal stuff. Anyone is welcome to follow along of course, but I needed a place to put everything!