Make a Joyful Noise to the Lord!!

Curtiss and my nephew Nate was born with a cleft lip and pallet. He just went through his first surgery to repair his lip and I thought you would like to rejoice with us by seeing before and after pictures.

Nate before his surgery.

Nate after his surgery.

Continue to pray for him and his Mom and Dad as he still has more surgeries coming up to repair his pallet but we are all thanking the Lord that his first surgery is over and that it went so well.

Housewife Tales

The Circling Rodent

Setting: a cold predawn winter day.
Characters:
The Heroine- Yours Truly
The Hero- Valiant
The Villian- The Mouse

The day started like most others with Yours Truly working in the kitchen to get a good hot (well at least some of it was hot) breakfast for Valiant before he heads of to work. Everything was going well so Yours Truly decides that it would be ok to leave the food for a few minutes when suddenly she notices a quick movement on the floor not far from her feet.
She looks down and sees The Mouse frantically running in circles chasing it's tail. Yours Truly (relieved that it wasn't something worse then a mouse) stops for a moment observing this strange behavior in The Mouse, why in the world is it running in circles? and why isn't it running away? Were some of the things that quickly flitted through her mind. Then something else presented itself to her mind, What should I do now???
(Options)
1. Cry out for Valiant to come and save her!
Problem he probably won't hear her as he is upstairs.
2. Just let The Mouse go free and forget about it. or
3. Catch The Mouse and then let Valiant deal with it.
Yours Truly picked the third option and after finding a handy bowl quickly plopped it on top of The Mouse placed a couple of heavy items on top and then went to tell Valiant about it.
He (after smiling and telling her to take a gun or knife and shoot or stab it) gets a pair of gloves, lifts the bowl and grabs The Mouse. He then throws The Mouse out the front door hoping that one of the cats will catch it:) The End

Seriously though this did happen this morning and all those things did run through my mind in the matter of seconds. Does every new bride have a "mouse" story? I have heard several and I was relieved when it was just a mouse as I have already in my life time almost stepped on a snake while walking down the hallway of our house (it was very little but still a snake) and had a rat hanging over the kitchen sink so the mouse was better in my mind then those but I still wasn't going to pick it up by the tail like Curtiss suggested:)
and to end with a question, why was the mouse running in circles??? Your guess is as good as mine.

Mmmm... Yummm...

Yesterday Jesse and Claire came for a little visit, and while here they enjoyed helping me make some Sugar Cookies. Jesse was given his little lump of dough, and Isaiah, Nathanael, and I had our big lump of dough, Claire was comfy and cozy in her own little chair and thus we started the cutting, cooking, and cooling process. It wasn't very long until I looked over and noticed that quite a bit of Jesse's dough was gone, he looked up at me and went, "Mmm...Mmmm...!" Being an Auntie I couldn't very well say in a very serious voice say, " Jesse don't eat the dough. " So I just let him enjoy himself. Later that day that I found out Jesse never fell asleep when his mommy laid him down for his afternoon nap, he just happily played in his crib. Sugar high. "Sorry, Trina!"

This is what happens when you give Jesse sugar and then ask him to smile for the camera! ;)

Claire slept the entire time in a kitchen chair.

Nathanael (being the photographer) was not able to be in the photo, but here is the rest of us. We had a lot of fun as you can tell.

Honeymoon Part 5...

... and also the final one (are you cheering or sighing?)

And our last stop is (drum roll please)

NIAGARA FALLS, NY

We actually stayed about half an hour from Niagara Falls in this cute little cabin at a campground that my Mom and Dad are members of. We had such a nice time touring the area going to see the falls and other stuff, one of our favorite places was,

The Anchor Bar home of the Buffalo chicken wing in down town Buffalo. How could it not have been one of our favorite places when you eat (excellent) chicken wings for supper and then go out and see a movie?

Another place we really enjoyed (and would encourage anyone to go) is Fort Niagara. The fort itself was built in the seventeen hundreds and it is really cool to walk around in.

There were a few reenactors there and this one was very entertaining and informative to listen too. Behind him you can see the flags of the countries that have occupied the fort over the years.
The French, British and the U.S.A.

as you can see we had a great time there:)

There were so many pictures to choose from that it was very hard to pick which ones to show you so you will all just have to come over and see the rest for yourselves:)

A Work Widow?

That is what someone asked me if I was yesterday in church, "So your a work widow now?"
laughingly I said yes since Curtiss has now started working at Holiday Valley Ski Resort about half an hour from our house. The resort opened the week before Thanksgiving thanks to a big snow storm we had and we have been waiting ever since for "the call" saying "be here on..."
"The call" finally came last week, normally he won't work weekends but his boss called and said "we need someone for Friday, Saturday and Sunday and since I knew you needed the work I thought I'd call and offer it to you" Curtiss said yes because if he hadn't then we wouldn't know when he would be called in and if he said yes then he would (most likely) have steady work for the rest of the winter. So this is my fourth day as a "work widow" How am I coping you may ask???
Very well I'd say since I have managed to stay busy with, organizing and getting out wedding gifts (something I saved for just this purpose:) decorating for Christmas, shopping with Susan and going over and spending the afternoon at her house along with Aunt Margie baking cookies, writing thank you notes (something I have almost finished WHOOHOO!!!) and of course cleaning the house and cooking meals since I am sole care taker now, no sister or mother to help carry the load.
So you might say I have managed to stay busy and I still have more to do which is exciting since I have to stay busy tomorrow and the day after that and the day after that and... well you get the idea:)
One of the biggest things on the list is getting ready for Christmas celebrations since my family is coming over and staying for a while (Elise, Isaiah and Nathanael for a whole week! Exciting I know:) Getting ready mostly means figuring out what food I am going to make and baking Christmas cookies, some how that isn't going to be as big a thing for me this year since you just don't need as many cookies for two people as you do for seven or more.

The Hunt...

For the "Perfect" Christmas Tree

Nathanael cut down his all by himself

Isaiah holding up his kill...

Jesse proud as can be helping his daddy carry out their Christmas tree.

Last Saturday we headed out to our favorite tree farm. On Saturdays they have free hot dogs, hot chocolate, and chili. Now you know why it is a favorite! ;) They also have face paintings and Santa is there, So, it is just a fun stop. Our house is now looking very much like Christmas thanks to Hunt's Tree Farm.

Honeymoon Part 4

Welcome to

Toronto Canada

Home of the CN Tower. Standing at 1,815 feet,
it really is a cool sight to behold.

Over looking the city of Toronto and lake Ontario you really get a fantastic view.
On a clear day you can see as far as Rochester, NY.

It has three different levels, the observation deck, the restaurant level
and the Sky Pod, which is the highest at 1,465 feet above ground.

The glass floor.
Here is Curtiss and my feet on the glass floor only 1,122 feet high
This is definitely not for those who have problems with heights
but Curtiss and I thought it was cool:)

Our hotel was actually in Mississauga which is an adjoining city,
the two run into each other so that you don't really know where one stops and the other begins.
So the day we went sightseeing in Toronto it would've taken quite a while to drive there and them you have the problem of finding a parking place where you don't have to pay an arm and a leg, so we took the subway.
It is actually the first time I had ever ridden in a subway so it was fun to do new things.

In the evening we had planned on going to Medieval Times Dinner and Tournament.
A restaurant that gives a medieval show while you eat a chicken dinner with your fingers because they didn't have silverware in medieval times.
But after finding out how much it would cost we decided to go out for mexican instead and rent a movie to watch in our hotel room.

Our next (and final) stop will be Niagara Falls, NY

Honeymoon Part 3

After leaving the cabin we headed further north to....

Sudbury, Canada

Sudbury is known for its nickel mines, here we are in front of the Big Nickel (Original name don't you think :) The Big Nickle is 30 feet high and it took 700,000 nickels to make it. It was really cold and windy there the day we visited so we didn't stay long but it was cool to see.

Another attraction of Sudbury is Science North. A cool science center with all kinds of fun things to do.

Here we are on a bed of nails. We thought it was cool:)

As you can see from our smiles in the picture above both Curtiss and I really loved it there.
(just kidding, actually this is the only time on the whole honeymoon that Curtiss got jealous:)
We look forward to going back some day.

Here is a picture of one of our favorite restaurants from the whole trip.
Creo's Louisiana Grill, a cajun style restaurant with really. really good food.
You should really go there if you are ever in the neighborhood.

Next we head to the big city of Toronto.

Have Yourself a Merry Little Thanksgiving

These last two weeks have been busy ones for us, a week ago Tuesday Daniel and Whitney came up for Thanksgiving and since Mom and Dad Archer are leaving for Romania in a few days we did our Christmas celebration as well. Here is a run down of what we did what day. Wednesday Daniel, Whitney, Curtiss and I went to the nearby antique mall (I got a book from my favorite author, O BOY!) and to see a movie, which was lots of fun. Thursday was Thanksgiving day (I hope you all already knew that :) and we a good time with family eating turkey and pie. Friday we celebrated Christmas with Daniel and Whitney and had a wonderful dinner and opened lots of presents :) Saturday morning we celebrated Christmas with Grammie and Uncle Jim and then late in the afternoon Daniel, Whitney, Curtiss and I went along with Susan and Claire to go bowling and for pizza and wings. Sunday was Curtiss and my open house for people out here who couldn't come to the wedding and Mom and Dad, Elise Isaiah and Nathanael came out and spent the afternoon and evening with us and got to see the house for the first time with me living in it, they had been here before but it wasn't my home then, it makes a difference:)
Now we are all gearing up for Mom and Dad going to Romania, Curtiss and I are driving them down tomorrow where they will stay with Daniel and Whitney until they fly out Tuesday evening for Romania to stay until May. So when Curtiss and I leave VA on Saturday morning it will be the last time we will see them until they pick us up at the airport in Romania sometime in the spring. Next time I blog I will try and have it be some more pictures from the honeymoon and I will try to not have them drag on and on before I finish telling you some of the highlights of our trip but I thought you might all like to know what I am doing now and not what happened a month and a half ago, is it really that long? doesn't seem like it:)

Honeymoon Part 2

Fun In...

Canada

Curtiss's Grandma and Grandpa (the ones who own the cabin)
bought us tickets for the Island Queen Cruise as a wedding present.

It was so beautiful with the water and leaves turning on all the islands.

On our way back to the dock we had to go by the turning bridge.It actually swings from the middle to let boats go by. The boat let out a long whistle to let them know we were coming and
sideways goes the bridge :)

While we were on the island Curtiss and I went on a canoe ride around
Grave island (the one we were staying on) and
Goat Island (the island right next to us)
The morning we went it was perfect, the water was like glass and we had a lot of fun.

We went for a hike the one day and explored.
Here is a picture of us on the highest point of the island.

Out for pizza.
Yes, we actually did order three pizzas.
It was just about as much to order three medium pizzas as it was to get one large,
so we had a really good breakfast the next day :)
Hooray for Pizza Hut deals

While Curtiss and I were on our way to the cabin we noticed these piles of rocks all over the place, naturally we became curious but didn't have any idea what they were for.
Well, the one day that we went souvenir shopping and we found some little ones for sale with info cards tied to them.
They are Inuksuks and they were a sign of welcome and safety back in the days of the pioneers.
Fun huh?
so we had to build one of course :)

Next time we leave Parry Sound and head to Sudbury Canada

Honeymoon Part 1

We finally got our pictures on the computer and since

some of you were so interested I decided to post a few pictures from the honeymoon,
and since we have about 1000 pictures to choose from it could be several posts :)

The Cabin

The first place we went was the cabin that belonged to Curtiss's grandparents up in Canada.
It was beautiful with the leaves all changing colors and since it is on an island we had water all around us too and it reminded me so much of when we lived on lake front property when I was young.

The only way to get to the island was by boat and this is where we had to dock.
The land on the other side of the water is the main land and one of the buildings you see is the marina where the boat stayed when we weren't on the island.

The living room with the nice crackling fire where we stayed to keep warm, we would usually eat in this room too since it stayed the warmest.

The kitchen where I had fun making messes for two and then cleaning them up :)

I had to show this one because it shows the very nice little electric heater that kept us warm for the time we were there.
When you wake up and it is 39 degrees inside you are very thankful for the heat source :)
The hat is what Curtiss bought me to ski in this year, he thought it was just so cute on me.

Well, I think that is enough for now, next time I will share some of the things that we did while we were staying in Parry Sound Canada.

It's Beginning to Look a lot like Christmas

Look what I woke up to this morning...

As you can see I now live where we will (hopefully)

have a white Christmas.

I had to take these pictures and put them up so that my brothers could see all the snow we have outside already and with snow in the forecast for atleast the next week I think it safe to say that winter is now officially in S-

Skiing anyone???

The Victorian Cowboy

How does one mix a Yankees loving cowboy with a Victorian girl who doesn't even know the name of one Yankee player?

Easy you make a Victorian Cowboy as seen in the picture above

I have been busy the last couple of day working on getting Curtiss and my bedroom all set up and arranged with both of our things in it.
I have rearranged the furniture and gotten out some of my decorations and mixed them with some of his and what you get is a nice cozy room that both of us feel at home in.
I have had a lot of fun working on getting everything to fit and feel homey for us and I really like the new look his room has gotten since I moved into it :)
As you can see I left several of his pictures on the wall of various western themes and added a few of my own things to it and it is an interesting mix but we like it and I thought that you all might enjoy seeing where I am living now.

Of course that doesn't mean that you don't have to come and visit and see it in person though:)

One Month

Can you believe it??? Curtiss and I have been married for one month today. How time flies and yet at the same time it feels like we have been married and together for a long time. We have fit so much into the last month that it feels like it wouldn't all fit.
You'll never guess how we spent the day so I'll tell you.
The house has had a leak in the roof since before the wedding, Curtiss tried to fix it but it still leaked so he spent the day going and getting the steel and preparing the leaking section so that he can fix it. And I spent the day I spent the day in our room rearranging, organizing and basically tearing everything apart and then putting it back together again so that all my stuff fits in.
SO you might have wondered if Joanna and Curtiss were back in the real world yet??? Yep, we're here and handling the nitty gritty details of life but are we back from the honeymoon? Not by a long shot :)

INTRODUCING!

My Stylish Brother-in-law...

Joanna and Curtiss came to visit the other day, and with them they brought my coat which had been accidentally left in the honeymoon vehicle. Curtiss, after disappearing for a little while came in wearing my coat. After I had captured a few pictures, he kindly returned it saying, "It probably looks better on you anyway."

I still can't believe that he even got it on. It is only a girls size 10/12!

He was kind enough to give me a couple different poses.

Thanks for being a good sport Curtiss! Although, when I took these pictures you probably didn't really think about the blog! ;)