~~ODNEAL FAMILY BLOG~~Port of Readlyn, Iowa

We actually had quite a few trick or treaters this year which is unusual. But I've heard that alot of out of town people came to Readlyn since ours was held tonight instead of on Halloween. Same in Fairbank where I know Taylor's family ran out of candy and not one person had been from Fairbank when that happened. That is a whole lot of trick or treaters! So here are a few shots from around home. The left three pictures are crafts my Momma made that I put out every year just because. And I made cupcakes for my favorite guys at work tomorrow morning so they can have a treat after their flu shots. Yep I don't bring treats for everyone too often but some holidays require cupcakes. Good luck to WV football boys. Play with your hearts like you have been and you will be fine. Looking forward to watching #39 run that ball. Happy Halloween!!!!!

Wapsie has the second round playoff game Monday night at Alburnett. We updated the sign for the yard today so that Ty's name and number is displayed. Been a few years since this has  been sported out front, but so glad to have it up in the yard! Haven't had it up since Kyle was a senior and he is now a junior in college! Bruce's side looks better than mine(his is on the right) but oh well! I was busy all weekend and had to go out there and quickly paint something. Got much accomplished this weekend and except for getting through the clothes in my closets I pretty much got everything on my much too long list done. Why I put that pressure on myself I will never know. Would have had almost everything done yesterday but had some distractions that were not expected. Like baby Ava showing up in the afternoon along with one of my best friends that stopped by. Great weekend and good luck Wapsie Valley. I know that you can do it! Looking forward to cheering on the Warriors tomorrow...

So when I got the mail Friday afternoon I had a box that had a return address from Right At Home and I thought that I had clicked by accident on something and ordered it.  I was so happy and surprised when I opened the box and it had a card with it that said "congratulations here's your Right At Home giveaway". I was so excited I had to go out and show Bruce on the roof.  Yes he is still working on the roof.  I sign up for every contest and free thing that I can on the web and have NEVER won anything.  And I actually have considered buying one of these for the houseboat or boys bathroom at home so it was a great prize to me!  So the bottom right picture isn't where it ended up as you have to have it within 5 feet of people walking by it.  Can I just say that it smells incredible and I will keep signing up to win free stuff all the time because WHY NOT?  So thank you Right At Home and SC Johnson for making me a winner.  I love the automatic freshe...

Almost done! Bruce has been climbing up there every day after work and trying to get it done before the dreaded snow flies! Yes I said snow. Why do I live in Iowa? I frickin hate snow. Anyway, our shop/garage roof is almost done. I think Bruce just has to get the rest of the metal flashing (I really don't know what I am talking about but I think that is right) up and adhere the rubber roofing on the flat carport roof. And a big THANK YOU to Brian K. (friend beer drinker and neighbor sort of) for bringing over your skid loader and trailer and helping Bruce out. Much appreciated. I believe I was told a bottle needs to come your way. Consider it done!  What that bottle will be is to be determined.   It will be so nice to have the roof done and be able to actually stand under the carport roof during a thunderstorm and not get soaked! WV won last night and we play the second playoff game Monday night at Alburnett. Great job Warriors! Everyone have a great weekend. ...

Last Friday night we (me, Bruce, Helen, and Louie), and the WV Warriors traveled to Arlington to take on the Starmont Stars.  And no we did not travel together.  Duh!  I thought it would be a close game but we dominated and it was a great night. Unfortunately for them they lost a couple of players (I believe from talk on the web) due to injuries, and have to travel to West Branch for their first playoff game.  Good luck to them.  They are a good team for sure.  So we will be doing this tonight on home field against Pekin, and as I said last Friday..... If we play like we can with heart our boys will do it. We have a very talented team that never gives up. Lets go Wapsie Valley against Pekin out in the middle of nowhere where you can and will be your best. Get this one done doing what you do great and move on to the next game. One game at a time and you will succeed. Best of luck to all of our players. Lets have another great game injury free on both sides ...

  This was a great and productive weekend as usual. Ava was cranky most of the day Saturday at Grandma & Grandpa's house but we think she is definitely teething. Her Momma lets her suck on an ice cube to soothe the pain and her lips turn almost purple! Ava loves sleeping on Grandma's comfy bed. Although her nap was only 35 minutes! Loved looking out into the LR and seeing all of my "boys" sitting together and watching TV. And then the photo of Taylor and Ava joining in the LR fun! Great game Friday night with WV winning and get to start the playoffs at home Wednesday night, Bruce and Cole got most of the roof done and should be able to finish it up this week (hopefully). So again a great weekend and I got a lot of what I wanted accomplished. With the weekends were longer because I could so use another day or two working around the house! Oh well. And happy birthday to my brother Rick today. He is the big 50 and still acts like a kid so I guess he is...

This is a picture from last Friday nights game where we had our first loss of the season. But it was a great hard fought game in the 4th quarter. This week will definitely be different. The one picture I snapped was Tyler protecting and getting ready to block for our quarterback. Not the greatest snapshot but at least I got one. Looking forward to the last regular season game against Starmont tonight. Should also be a very exciting game and hopefully this week we come out on top. I know that they can do it! Good luck Tyler and the Warriors. If you play your game you will win. I know it. Everyone have a great weekend. Glad that Louie & Helen are coming to finally watch Ty play. Thank goodness that kind of stuff doesn't bother this kid! I will take more pictures tonight. Well maybe. We will see how it goes!

So we ended another successful boating season last Sunday when we moved to our winter parking place and closed up the boat. It is always sad but also in a way happy because then we get to spend more time at home getting things done and enjoying more family time. I haven't touched my scrapbooking stuff for over a year and Tyler is now a junior. Get on it Kay!!! There is so much stuff to get through. Oh and need I mention that I cannot even hardly walk through our 3rd story walk up attic because it is so full of crap! So much that needs done and yet I just want to be able to not have to pack up every weekend and work so hard to have so much fun on the weekends. It is much better for me to put my efforts here at home. Next year I think the houseboat will have to be a nice weekend getaway but maybe not an "every" weekend getaway. I think it wears me out and is harder on me than normal everyday life. We shall see when spring arrives I guess. Always happy to o...

Wishing a very happy birthday to my SIL Helen who turns the big 6-0 today! Yep she is 60 years young. I hope you enjoyed your birthday weekend with all of us crazies at the river, and especially enjoyed you birthday twinkie cake!!!! You are a great lady and I love you like a sister. Oh and you really rock that tiara better than I did!!!!! Won't that be so much fun to pass on and on and on!!!!! Make Louie take you out for dinner too!

Yep my "old man" turned 48 today. Too bad that we had to spend it closing up the houseboat for the season, but we had a fun get together and celebration last night on Louie & Helen's boat. We seem to have this thing where we both take many photos (especially in winter because I don't lay on the couch in spring or summer) of the other one sleeping on the couch with the cats usually close by! I guess when you turn 48 you are much more tired, so that would explain the photo. Being OLD is hard work just being! Hope you had a great birthday weekend honey and I KNOW you enjoyed your birthday present!!!!! Love you "old man" to the moon!

This is an early picture of the roofing of the shop/garage. What a project this has turned out to be. I think Bruce said it already has cost us more than when we did the whole house. How can that fricking be? It is small isn't it? Oh yeah I guess that stupid rubber roof for the carport alone was $500. WHAT?????? And I am the one that said we had to save the carport! What the heck was I thinking? But it will all be so nice when said and done and I will love walking out to the garage on a rainy morning and not getting more wet under the carport than out in the open. Yep it is a project that needed done very much! Everyone have a great weekend. We sadly are closing up the houseboat for the winter (yes I had to say WINTER-it is coming!) this weekend and am looking forward actually to spending our weekends at home. Yes I must be getting old. Have a great one!

Our sweet precious grandbaby Ava is 4 months old today. And she weighed 13-4 at her appointment yesterday. Yes she is the most precious thing to happen to us for quite a long time. And here she is Sunday with her beautiful Mama (yeah the only good pic I got of Ava and her outfit you couldn't see Ashley well at all!) at our house hanging out and watching football with the family. Who knew you could be so completely over the moon with love for grandchildren. My kids are my life for sure but boy this little angel melts my heart. She is so precious to all of us. Even Gizmo wants to be "watching" over Ava close by when she is here. We love you so much Aviator and cannot wait until you are bigger and even more fun. Although we think you are pretty damn cool now! Happy 4 Months Baby Girl!

 I picked Ava up Tuesday and brought her home until her Momma got off work.  She was just sitting in her carseat content and happy when I brought her in the house.  Of course she had found her fingers and was gnawing away at them! Here she is laughing and talking/cooing back to grandma because of course she thinks I am silly as can be for talking to her and telling her what a good girl she is.  Oh and how pretty she is.  I'm sure I was telling her that too.  Gotta get her self esteem going early on! And this face is precious!  I think she was freaked out by the flash going off three times in a row!  She looks freaked out or something!  She did recover very quickly I can assure you.  And what a sweet little girl she was pretty much the whole time she was there!  Love that little gal like crazy!!!!!

The guys (Bruce, Kyle & Kevin) started working on the shop/garage roof yesterday afternoon.  I think they said there are four old layers on it and two of them are wood shakes.  Not fun to take off I'm told!  The back shop roof is all galvanized steel and will never need replaced but the front is old yucky shingles and the carport roof is rubber.  Lets just say that it should have been done a few years ago when we did the house as when it rains I think you stay dryer standing out in the rain than under the carport!  The chimney will be gone when they are done also.  It isn't a working one and probably in years to come would fall down so might as well get rid of it now.  Boy it will definitely look different but will be so much nicer to the eye. Now if we can get it done without any injuries that will be a plus.  When we were finishing up the house someone (Bruce) had a mishap when no one else was around...

Here are a few pictures that I snapped from our beautiful fall weekend at the river. On Saturday us gals (me, Helen, and Joey) all went uptown to a farmers market and did some other shopping while the guys went fishing. The farmers market was the first Saturday they had done one uptown and only a few vendors. We each bought some goodies at the Amish stand but not much else fancied us. Saturday night we held a fish fry on Dock 1 for all our friends, family, and basically anyone else that was up for the weekend on Dock 1! Let me just say that the fish and all the food rocked as usual. We know how to put out a spread. And Joey (my MIL) fries fish like no other. We also deep fried some and it was excellent also. Sunday we took a ride with Helen & Louie in the fishing boat, and then later got a nice houseboat ride with our Becker friends before their boat was coming out. I think the leaves were very pretty but will be at their peak in Lansing next weekend. We had a great weekend. I am a...