In Memory of Grandma Clara

My sweet Grandma Clara was born 100 years ago on the 14th of September in 1911. She is Madeline's Great-Grandmother, my father's mother. I'm including this in Madeline's blog so hopefully she can read this about her Great-Grandma some day.

Grandma Clara and her siblings were the first generation of her family to be born in America. Her mother and father, Mary and Vincent Zobac, came to America from Czechoslovakia in the late 1800's and settled in Bertram, Iowa where they had a farm and raised 7 children. Clara was the youngest sibling of 4 girls and 3 boys. I'm not sure of the order but the siblings names were William, Edward, Louis, Emma, Rosie, Bessie (who were twins), and then Grandma Clara.

Clara being a farm girl only attended school through the 8th grade, lived on the farm until her late 20's, and didn't marry my grandpa Verne until she was 30. They met while working at Wilson's meat packing plant in Cedar Rapids. He would give her and her roommate rides to and from work. They married on July 4, 1942 in Joplin, Missouri close to where he was stationed in the Army before going off to to the South Pacific during WWII.

Clara gave birth to her first son, my dad Del, in December of 1943. Then my uncle Alan came along a few years later. She spent most of her life as a housewife and stay at home mother.

The pictures above are of Grandma Clara with my dad Del as a toddler. The first one looks like it was taken at the family farm in Bertram. She went to the farm alot as her parents then her three brothers who never married all lived there until they died. I went out to the farm alot as a child as well. I enjoyed chasing chickens, getting to explore the old barn, and remember picking lots of strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries.

I have such fond memories of Grandma Clara. She was a sweet and gentle soul. Very mothering and nurturing. She always felt like a safe place to me. She was rather quiet, not a big chit-chatter, and she got after me when I would try to make her laugh. I could always count on having homemade chocolate chip cookies and strawberry preserves on toast every time I went to her house. And we always had fun games of cards or Scrabble together.

I was only 16 when she passed away at the age of 77 but the times I spent with her were wonderful times and I still miss her and think about her alot. Goodbye Grandma Clara...until we meet again...

Nice Day For The Park

Today was such a beautiful day - sunny and low 80's - that we decided to take a trip to a local park. We had a great time checking out the little town (Dodge Town), the playground, and the duck/goose pond.

The pic above was from outside an Old Navy store we went to yesterday. I just had to include it because I knew Grandma would love to see those flowers!

The pics below are from the park...

The schoolhouse.

The bank.

Madeline in jail.

The hotel.

Playing with her puppy "cupcake".

A shot of part of the little Dodge Town. Such a cute place for the kids to play.

Then we headed down to the duck pond.

And Madeline and I made it across the water without falling in! :)

It was such a pretty day today!

The geese hoping to get fed.

Maddie checking out some wildflowers.

Happy girl!

We took a nice walk around the lake.

And watched the geese taking a walk too. Great day for the park!

Just a Relaxing Friday

Maddie and I usually have activities planned throughout the week but today was just one of those nice relaxing days where we didn't have anything going. We did a little shopping - went to a couple craft stores and Target to get a birthday present for a little friend who is turning 1.

On our way home we happened to see the Jelly Belly bus parked in front of our neighborhood HyVee Store. We stopped of course and it was the same couple who had the bus up in Omaha when we were there on Labor Day weekend! Funny!

Here is a front view of the bus. They had the most disgusting flavors (puke, toothpaste, pencil shavings)...I actually had to spit mine out before I puked myself! Ewww...but then they gave us some good flavors as well to make up for it - citrus and berry.

After we got home we did a dry run on the apple stamp craft that we're going to be doing next week with our playgroup. We used a canvas bag that we decorated for Grandma. It turned out pretty cute!

Hope you all had a great Friday!

Just Some Misc Stuff...

This is a very random post but since I use the blog as a journal of sorts I'm just going to throw in a couple of things from our past week.

We had Grandpa Del (my dad) visit us for a few days last week on his way to his 50th high school reunion. He brought some peppers from his home state of Arizona and taught me how to make spicy shredded beef for tacos, enchaladas, or whatever. It was so good! I'll have to post the recipe later.

We took Grandpa out to the Legends shopping area one evening for dinner and then just walked around.

Grandpa and Madeline.

The Harry and David store closed which was a disappointment to my dad who loves sweets so we had to check out the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory instead. Madeline shared a rice krispy treat with her daddy.

Checking out the sweets...

Last Friday we went to a bounce house place with some friends for the first time. The kids had a blast (and so did us moms)! I think we played about as hard as they did!

Me & my girl.

Some of the inflatables had slides and some had obstacle course type things. Others were just basic bounce houses. Alot of them had something to climb up and slide down inside of the bounce house (opposed to the one above that's just open).

This one was fun!

It was great that we went while the big kids were in school. We practically had the place to ourselves. We'll definitely have to go back!

Apple Picking at Red Barn Farm

This past weekend we went to the Red Barn Farm in Weston, MO for some apple picking. Low and behold they already had TONS of pumpkins out! The kids had so much fun checking out the pumpkins.

It's hard to believe that my little girl will be four years old in December!

This is an interesting one...they had pumpkins and gourds of all shapes and colors.

Maddie really liked the mini pumpkins (she likes everthing that is teeny tiny, just like herself).

Mommy, I found one.

There were animals at the farm too: sheep, goats, ponies, chickens, and even a turkey. We even got to take a horse drawn wagon ride through the woods. So fun!

Our friends Ewa and Lukas with Madeline.

Madeline with her good friend Lukas who will be moving away soon - we will miss you both!

Maddie picking some apples.

The kids checking out their harvest.

Cute barn pic! Thanks for inviting us Ewa and Lukas!

The Greatest Show on Earth!

Friday night Mads and I went to the circus. This was Maddie's 3rd year going to the Barnium & Bailey Circus. We always enjoy going.

Before the show started they had the stars from the show down on the floor meeting the kids. Madeline got a photo with one of the show girls. So pretty.

Here's one of the opening acts of the show. They did a big parade thing at the beginning then again at the end.

Of course Madeline's favorite act is usually the elephants.

There were several big elephants and two babies with the show.

Madeline with her clown snowcone...an accident waiting to happen!

Another shot of the show.

Trying to get Madeline to pose by the sign. How hard is it to look at the camera???

Checking out the uber-expensive toys...only $30 for the elephant....crazy!

Finally, a smile for the camera!