Birthday Celebrations!

 We no sooner finished our Christmas celebrations, and we moved right into birthday mode.  It really began with Freya's birthday the day their family arrived in Kansas, but as usual, I didn't think to get my camera.  Westin turned 1 year old December 28 and he had a lot of family to help celebrate. 

 

Yum...chocolate cake to celebrate the big birthday.  Westin wasn't lacking help in opening his birthday gifts.  Everything was checked out to make sure there were no defective toys!

 I included the next three pictures for a particular reason.  What are the chances that out of nine grandchildren, that three are left- handed.  So here is Max, then Tyler, then Lena!

 A couple of days later, we were celebrating Miss Emmy's first birthday.  I have never, ever used red icing on a birthday cake, but Freya found bargains galore with after-Christmas deals, so we made use of the bright red icing :)

 Even though Rebecca has a little boy of her own, the kids still ask for her to sit with them.....you know....she is just their age!

 This picture speaks volumes.  Tyler - "I really don't want to do this."  Westin - "I want my Mommy!"  Kayla - "I don't have room."  Emmy - "Hold on to me, Max; I'm slipping!"  It's a hoot to get a group picture.

 Here were the mothers preparing plates of food for the kiddos.  It was such mild weather that I actually grilled hamburgers and hotdogs for the evening meal.

 Westin was getting introduced to the wonders of a purple popsicle.  He thought he liked it, but had a hard time deciding.

Freya just partied too hard.  For whatever reason, in the process of getting the kids ready for bed, she ran into the wall and put a pretty good size knot on her forehead.  It hurt enough she was ready to put some ice on it.

More Christmas

I wish you could hear the audio portion and catch the excitement!

After the older children had opened their gifts, then the three little babies opened their gifts. I wonder if we will always refer to Emmy, Westin, and Jordy as the three little babies!

Grandpa helping Westin show off his new "Snap-On Tool" bib!

Lena and Kayla admiring each other's presents.

What a difference one day can make. Henry was feeling much better the following day and ready to play with his "Marble Run" toy with his daddy.

Grandpa with Emmy and Max. Max took his turn of not feeling very well a couple of days later. We just kind of had the "gift" that we all kept "sharing."

Christmas 2012

The "blog" format changed on my computer, so I've been trying to figure out how to post my pictures, so this first entry, is my experiment. We had such a good time with family during the Christmas holidays. We had our family Christmas on the 23rd, so before we opened our gifts we read the Christmas story. Kayla and Lena were my only "takers" of dressing up as one of the nativity characters. Kayla was Mary and Lena was an angel.....somehow didn't get a picture of her. They both acted out their character with enthusiasm. I wonder back in the days of Sunday school pageants, if the boys were as reluctant to dress up as my dear little grandsons are??

Even if you don't want to dress up, we have these wonderful masks to make the Christmas story even more impressionable. Poor little Henry; he was feeling pretty punk that night.

Okay...it's finally time to begin passing out gifts. The children were so patient and excited at the same time.

Rebecca and Jordy watching the action.

The older children all sat side-by-side and took turns opening their presents. What fun!

October Fun

 Yes, Folks, this is homegrown corn on the cob on October 12!  I really didn't think the second planting would mature, but the summer was hot, and I irrigated lots and lots.  We had corn everyday for about 10 days!

 

 It's a Saturday night at Grandma's and we're watching a video downstairs before bedtime.  Wait.....where's Tyler???

 

 Tyler was more interested in playing with "little people" instead of watching a video!

 

 Carly, Brian and Westin. 

 

 I made this jumper for Kayla while I was in Denver.

 

 Lisa and Ryan.  Ryan cooked lunch for our family on Sunday.  It was yummy....BBQ meat and veggies!

 

 Mr. Westin with his daddy!

 

 Jordy.....our little super hero!!  He's ready to take his mommy and daddy trick or treating.



Happy October!!

 I just loaded these pictures absolutely backwards, sooooo, we'll start with the most recent and work backwards!  Today is this little guy's daddy's birthday.  Happy Birthday, Brian!  Born 11:11 am in Pawnee City, Nebraska.  And this is Mr. Westin, just ready for the party to begin.

 

 Jonny is doing the babysitting time with Westin and Jordy.  Seemed to all be pretty happy for the moment.  Perhaps....just perhaps.....Jonny will get his cast off tomorrow!!

 

 Richard, Lisa, and Rebecca enjoying tacos.

 

 Bryan and Brian.  Happy Birthday, Brian!  #28!

 

 This is my poor knee after I wiped out on the driveway on Thursday.  My foot rolled, and so did the rest of my body.  Wow, it really did hurt!

 

 Last week Jordy and I accompanied Rebecca to Denver while she taught classes for the bank.  The first three days were beautiful and Jordy and I enjoyed a lot of outside time.

 

 On one of our stroller rides we passed these decorative rocks and I had a sudden "flashback."  This is for my sister Susanne.  Remember the trip to Colorado and we began picking up pretty, decorative rocks?  We got caught in a flood and spent three days in Lamar, Colorado, spending the nights in our car.  Every night Dad threw out a few more of our souvenir rocks!

 

 Beautiful 83 degree days!

 

 Over in the distance you could see the mountains.

 

 We were in Denver the week of the 1st presidential debate.  This is I-25 that was closed from 5-10:00 for security purposes.

 

 Checking into the motel.  Of course we couldn't make more than one trip.  It's all loaded on the cart....except for the sewing machine.  I hand-carried it!

 

 Now this is how you get down to business and tighten the base of a carseat!!

 Before we headed the Denver, we celebrated Dad's 97th birthday with him in DeSoto.  It was a special weekend and ALL 21 great-grandchildren were there.

 

Here are the three babies and their mommy's in our family:  Carly and Westin, Rebecca and Jordy, Freya and Emmy.

 

 Susanne, Marilyn, Dad, and I with his birthday cake.

 

 Dad commented several times, "Real nice afternoon!"  Yes, Dad, it really was!

 

 Richard and I with our 9 grandkids.  Being a grandparent is pretty grand!

 

 Ryan and Emmy. 

 

 It was pretty special seeing different ones spending some one-on-one time with Grandpa.

 



End of the Summer

It's not new information to tell you we had a HOT, DRY Summer. We will always remember the summer of 2012! I began noticing this crack out by the yard light and finally I couldn't resist the temptation to see how deep it was.
You are seeing the numbers accurately. The yardstick went down 22 inches. Amazing. Notice how the grass was so dry, so brown, so matted. I was sure we had lost the lawn. Surprisingly enough, it is beginning to green back up after the rain we've had.

Because the coon took out two rows, then we ate two rows, and I still had corn seed left, I decided to plant a second crop the middle of July. Dad was skeptical that I would get a crop, but he said, "....but it's fun to try!" Guess that's why I like to garden. By now the corn has tasseled and it is looking promising.

The end of August I went to Dad's for a visit and on Saturday, Stephen and the boys came to switch out cars, picking up the car he put together this summer. Max and Henry were troopers to make the one-day trip.

And.....Rebecca, Jonny, and Jordy were coming back from their vacation to Virginia so they stopped by, too. Here's Jordy checking out Great-Grandpa's knee.

Great Grandpa (who will soon be 97 years old), Jordy, and Rebecca.

And.....Brian, Carly, and Westin had come to St Louis for the weekend, so we had a full house for a few hours. Westin really wanted to examine Gr Grandpa's sunglasses tucked in his pocket. The time together was sweet and precious.

I included this 40" picture of "Sparky" because that has been what I've been pre-occupied with lately. We've started a new year with a BIG group of kids and we're excited!