Jannessa and Drew, Who Knew??

About a year and a half ago, I blogged about the "small world" we live in, in a post called, Coincidental Connections. One of these "coincidences" was the fact that my niece, Jackie at one time had a little boy named Joey as one of her first foster children, along with his younger sister, Kryssy. Joey eventually went to live with his father, here in P-town, and about 10 years later, I met him again at my church, after I moved here...but I didn't put two and two together at that time. Well, Joey just HAPPENS to be very good friends with Drew, who is the son of one of my very good friends, Lisa, (QTPies7).

And now, you're thinking, "Okay, but you've told us all of this before, you really ARE losing it now, aren't you? What's the big deal??" (I'm TRYING to make a long story short...but it's not working). Stick with me... after having had Joey and his sister, Kryssy in her care, my niece took in a set of three siblings, Tiffany, Jannessa and Timmy...and then she adopted them all, along with (eventually), Joey's two biological half-sisters, Kryssy and Lily. Anyway, before Joey left for the Marines, in July of 2008, Jackie had a party for him, and invited his friend, Drew. Here's a picture from that party:

For reference, the guy bending over, comforting the little girl in this photo, is my brother, Bob. Directly behind Bob, is Lisa's son, Drew. Then L to R, Kryssy and Joey. In the right-hand corner, (with the date across her chest), is my great-niece, Jannessa. I don't know if this was the very first day they met, (I think Jackie said Joey had brought Drew to their place for dinner before this), but it was right around that time. Now....the big deal is... almost exactly 1 year and 11 months later, Drew and Jannessa will become HUSBAND and WIFE!! Therefore, my friend, Lisa and I will soon be related...sort of... Here's the happy couple:

(I borrowed this pic from Lisa's blog)

Lisa is having a lot of fun helping the bride and groom get everything ready for the wedding, and I think it's pretty cool, knowing the entire wedding party myself. They're having all of their siblings involved in one way or another, and since I happen to know them all, it should be a very fun wedding for me to attend. Now, just one question...which side of the church do I sit on, the bride's, or the groom's??? Lol!

Happy 78th "Snow Day" Birthday, Mom!

For her 78th birthday, (01/10/2010), my mother decided she'd like as many of her kids, grandkids, great grandkids etc. to come out and play in the snow. Most were happy to oblige. There would be snowmobiling, sledding, plenty of food, hot cocoa and a toasty fire in the garage's parlor stove to warm up, on this cold mid-January day. I believe the temp was somewhere around zero, which almost felt balmy compared to what it had been the first part of the month.

Below is the cake I decorated for the occasion. I thought I'd stick with the snow day theme.

Since at Mom's house, every day at 3 O'clock in the afternoon is ice cream time, we decided to surprise her with an ice cream "bar" at precisely 3:00PM.

(I "borrowed" this pic from my sister, Kathy)

I know, I know, only hearty Minnesotans would have ice cream while snowmobiling...but on the bright side, it saves room in the freezer, if you just put it all on a table outside!

My dad has lots of excavating equipment, from years of being in the business. Just because he is retired, doesn't mean he doesn't like to get it out and play with it once in awhile. Here is the sledding hill he made for the kids to play on.

This is my grandson, Christian going for a ride...whee....

There were a few more modern motorized "sleds" out there that day, but this one is Mom and Dad's favorite machine I believe it's from around 1973:

Here's my Mom and Dad, cruisin' in the old Ski-doo...

I know, not your average septuagenarians...

Mom's turn to drive...I was busy watching the kids sledding down the hill, but apparently she had a hard time getting anyone to ride with her. My sister, Laurie finally agreed...but took her cup of hot cocoa along, to ensure that Mom wouldn't go fast enough to spill it, (or her out of the machine). I hear she's a pretty crazy driver!!

A beautiful end to an awesome day, as my sister Kathy takes ONE more ride into the sunset... and back again...

Happy Birthday, Mom!!

What's Black and White and Red All Over?

A "blushing bride" (or maybe a little sunburned?) in a black and white dress! My niece, Crystal is getting married on 9/25/09. She and her fiance had a combination shower/golf outing/bachelorette/bachelor party on Saturday. The guys went golfing, while we women were told to wear our "little black dresses". Alternatively, we could dress in black and white with red accents. Since I do not own a black dress, (and it certainly would NOT be little if I did), I wore the black and white sun dress that I got for my other niece's wedding in May.

Here are a few of the "little black dresses" All the ladies looked lovely.

One of the games we played, was to design wedding dresses out of really cheap toilet paper, that would rip if you looked at it too hard. We split into 4 teams by the tables we were sitting at:

This is my sister-in-law, Rose and my mother, Lenore working on my niece, Holly's dress. Holly just wore her REAL wedding dress a few months ago, in May. Looks good so far!

Above, was my team's model, my grand niece, Desiree. My sister, Connie is putting some of the finishing touches on her creation. I didn't do anything but watch, laugh and take pictures.

These are the 4 finished products. Don't they all look stunning in their new gowns? Crystal was the judge, and chose the 3rd one from the left. I believe it is her SIL-to-be. Maybe she was just making points with her new family?? BTW, those are rose petals on Holly's dress, that they took off of the table decorations...she's not actually wounded!

And then of course, there were gifts to open. Here, she's opening the "Slap Chop" that Jessica and I gave her. Now she can remember us every time she chops onions...but she won't have to with tears in her eyes!

After the games and gift opening were over, the guys joined us back at Crystal's for dinner. There were alcoholic, and non-alcoholic versions of punch to choose from at the shower...
My brother Bob, decided to wear the "alcohol" name tag from the punch. He also stole the clothespins that we had been using earlier for a game...Looks like he'd already had enough alcohol while out golfing, don'tcha think? JK, Bob is always kinda silly like that.

We took a picture of my mother with all of the granddaughters that were present, those that are pictured here range in age from 32 down to 12. L to R: Jenny, Mom, Holly, Crystal, Lacy, Jessica, Molly and Amber. Molly wasn't actually at the shower, she and her cousin Tanner were watching CJ and Shelby at my sister's house a couple of blocks away, and then they all joined us for dinner along with the guys.

Here's one of me and my sisters, sisters-in-law, and my mother. Unfortunately, two of my sisters couldn't make it. L to R: sisters, Connie and Sue, me, Mom, my sister Kathy and SIL's, Lori and Rose. Notice how Rose is standing on her tippy-toes. I didn't even see that when I took this picture.



After dinner, the "party bus" showed up. Some of the guests decided to participate in this part of the day's activities. We opted to play it safe and take Molly and Christian home after dinner.

Here, Crystal and Kathy pose in front of the bus. I'm pretty sure this is one of those things where, "what happens on the party bus STAYS on the party bus"... and I'm not even sure I WANT to know...so I'll just leave it to your imaginations ;-)

How to Make a Big Splash with your Great-Grandson

The Sunday before last, my mom and dad met us at Silver Nickel Farm (which is just a little over 8 miles from our house), for an "antique tractor and old car show." We weren't exactly sure what to expect, but it sounded interesting. As it turned out, my dad actually owns a lot more "antique tractors" himself than they had on display, and the 1963 Ford convertible that my parents drove to the event was one of the oldest cars there too. It wasn't exactly impressive, but it was okay. We had Molly and CJ with us, and they enjoyed petting the animals in the petting zoo, and riding the train around...well, at least CJ enjoyed the train ride. He wouldn't get on it the first time, without Auntie Molly. She pretty much had to be a contortionist to get in the train car...and I wasn't exactly sure we were going to get her and her long legs back OUT of it once they were done.

And after CJ's first ride, we couldn't get him out either...just because he was having such a great time. They had a little "store" there, which was pretty much a garage sale, other than the fact that they also sell organic food products and some Amish-made crafts. They had a few larger used items outside. My mother found this Little Tykes slide for $5 and asked if I thought CJ would like it. I told her yes, and she bought it for him. There was only one problem. We still had all of our karaoke equipment in the van from Friday night, and had no way to get it home...or so I though. Ray came up with this brilliant idea:

It worked! We got some twine from one of the gals that worked there, and tied it to the top of the van. We drove the 8 miles home rather slowly, and after a couple of miles it collapsed and we heard a big boom! It stayed up there though, and had we known it was collapsible, we would have done that in the first place...but we made it home eventually.

Later on that week, the weather got pretty hot. We thought it might be fun to try the slide out in the pool. CJ LOVES his new "water slide." And that's how you make a big splash with your great-grandson:

CJ says, "THANKS, GREAT GRANDPA & GRANDMA!!!"

Wordless Wednesday #31 ~ An UnBULLievable Birthday!

Something I can cross off of my "bucket list"

Memorial Weekend Happenings

Our Holiday weekend started out nice. Sarah called on Saturday morning, to ask if it was alright for them to come down for a visit for the weekend. They had planned on camping in Northern Minnesota, but the weather up there was not cooperating. We told her that would be just fine, we had planned on grilling and having our first campfire of the season that night anyway, so it would be great to have company for it. We invited my son Joel and Ray's other daughter, Ruth and her husband too, but unfortunately, Joel had to work and we never heard back from Ruth.

Meanwhile, while Sarah and Brad were on their way, I got Ray working on my "Honey-do" list. They were just minor little things that I wanted done, like hanging the American flag out on the front porch, putting a lock on the bathroom door, fixing my chair and attaching our bed to the headboard, so it wasn't always trying to fall on us in our sleep. He did end up getting most of that accomplished. I have one more project for him to do, but he said that one was a little more "involved" than he thought it would be. Of course, this is the same project that was left over from th last time I gave him a list of things I wanted done.

After Sarah and Brad arrived, we took them with us to the first grad party of the season. It was a beautiful day for an outdoor party, and CJ had lots of fun playing with his friends, Caleb, DJ and Charlie, who all happened to be there at the same time we were. When we got home, we made brats and hot dogs on the grill and got ready for our campfire.

Here are Jake, Molly (with Bart in her lap), Sarah, Brad, Buster, and Jess with CJ in her lap.

Here we are, enjoying the fire and roasting marshmallows for S'mores. You gotta have S'mores to make it an official holiday weekend, don't ya think?

Here is Molly, posing with Jake, Bart and Buster. We had ourselves a real "Three Dog Night"

On Sunday afternoon, we all headed out to my mom and dad's house for another "work day". Most of my siblings were there, and some of the grandkids. They were all doing odd jobs around the place that needed doing. Some of us were painting Mom and Dad's bedroom, while others were doing some painting outside. They even painted the basketball/flag pole! That's my brother Bob in the orange shirt, and the other one is my BIL, Steve. I believe my brother Mike is operating the equipment here:

While they were doing that, my sister Kathy was busy painting the old basketball backboard, too. She did a very nice job on it, but we were thinking it needed the script, "Don't even think about parking here", along with a painting of Felix the Cat playing basketball...or something like that. I wouldn't be a bit surprised if actually did that. She's one talented lady.

Monday morning, we all got up and Ray made his famous omelets for everyone. Sarah and Brad packed up and headed North around noon or so. Ray, CJ and I took a ride out to the campground that our church is going to for a weekend in July. It looks like a nice place, and is only about 20 miles from town, so even if some people didn't want to stay, they could still come out to visit for a day. The lady from the campground told Ray that he had to show me the "outhouses". I thought that was interesting. I'll post more about the campground later.

A Shower With a Chance of Freezing...babies??

As I said in my last post, I went to my niece, Jennifer's baby shower this past weekend. Very appropriately, it was sprinkling off and on outside during the shower too. It was held at the sports bar that her parents have owned for years, and where Jen also works. There were many of her friends and relatives there, so she receive a lot of very nice gifts. We played the usual baby shower games...and one rather UNusual one. Jen's sister, Chris had frozen a little plastic baby in an ice cube and suspended it from the ceiling on a string. The object was to guess what time the little plastic baby would be "born". It was pretty funny...

Here's the baby dangling above the bowl on the table. You can see it's feet starting to emerge...I guess it's coming breech!

Here's a close-up of the baby...I can't tell if it's a boy or a girl...can you?

After a while, since the ice wasn't melting as fast as anyone had predicted it might, Chris started to "induce" it by holding it in her hand to melt the ice cube.

Eventually, the tiny babe was born. People were leaving, so Chris just walked over and broke the ice...letting the little thing fall into the bowl! The time of birth was something like 3:47pm I think. I had guess 4:02...and I might have been right if it wasn't for Dr. Chris perfoming a C-section! I didn't get a length and weight on it...and I still couldn't tell if it was a boy or a girl!! Oh well.

April Showers Bring May Weddings ~ May Showers Bring...July Babies??

Last Saturday afternoon, I went to my niece, Holly's bridal shower. She's the daughter of my "internetaphobic" brother, Dan. I don't believe she has a problem with me posting her picture here...after all I swiped it off of her facebook page. Holly will be marrying Nate C. on May 16th. It seems like forever since we've had a wedding in our family...and this year two of my nieces are getting married. The funny thing is... they're BOTH marrying Nate. No, they aren't polygamists...both girls just happen to be engaged to guys named Nate. The other niece, Crystal is engaged to Nate B. They'll be tying the knot on September 25th.

This Saturday afternoon, I'm going to a BABY shower...for another niece, Jenny. She is due on July 2nd...but I'm thinking if she tried real hard...she could have it a couple of days early and Kathy and Bonnie and I could share our birthday with him/her too. No, they haven't found out the sex of the baby yet....because they don't want to know. We're all very curious!

It's 12:30 AM and I'm still thinking about what I'm going to put on her baby shower cake. It really WOULD help to know if it's a boy or a girl! LOL! Oh well, I'll figure something out. I'm thinking I should go to bed and "sleep on it" (no, not literally)...and get up and decorate it in the morning before the 4 year old grandson wakes up and wants to help. Goodnight.

Easter Sunday 2009

Easter morning at home:

This is the beautiful Easter lily I got from Christian for Easter, and the roses that I received from my DH when I returned from our Duluth trip...well the yellow ones were from him...the pink one is from my DD, Molly! Shhhhh....don't tell anyone...but I think she actually missed me.

And believe it or not, Molly also begged her sister to buy these cute slippers for her to give to me as an Easter present too...(see, she DOES love her mom). Thanks, Molly, I love them!!

This may look like a very obvious place to find a camouflage Easter basket...but CJ was standing on our bed...looking at Grandpa's basket on his dresser...and looking right past his own basket that was hanging from "Buck's" nose. It must have been the camo!

After finding Easter baskets, we headed to church for choir practice and a pancake breakfast put on by the youth group. We had a beautiful Resurrection Sunday service. Ray and I were in the choir, which was part of the largest musical ensemble we've ever had up on our stage at church. There were guitars, violin, flute...you name it...we even had a brass section! I wish I'd thought to bring my camera and take a picture of it. I couldn't really tell what it sounded like to the congregation, but I've heard it was pretty good. We also had more people attend than we have probably EVER had on a Sunday at our church!!

After church, Jess and CJ got home before we did. She snapped a couple of pics of him with my camera. Here's my grandson:

"On Christ the Solid Rock I Stand?"

Yeah, that sounds good for Easter Sunday.

Caught in mid-air...Good job, Jess!

When we got home, we had to get a picture of Christian and Grandpa in their green Easter shirts. Bart, what are YOU doing in this picture...you're not wearing your green Easter shirt!

Then we all got in the picture...except for Jessica, who was taking it, that is. Don't you love the implements of destruction in the background?? Can you tell it's Spring in Minnesota? We've got the rakes AND the snow shovel out...you never can tell which one you might need this week.


After a light lunch of egg salad sandwiches and a nap, Ray needed to head to the airport, to pick up his daughter Sarah and her husband Brad. They were returning from Washington, DC. The rest of us, Jessica, Molly, CJ and I, hopped in Jessica's car and headed out to my parent's house for an Easter egg hunt and dinner with the family. Ray, Sarah and Brad joined us there, in time for dinner.

The start of the Easter egg hunt at my parents' house. My sister, Laurie (farthest to the left here), organized the whole thing, and her daughter Rachel and son-in-law, Kurt hid 85 candy-filled eggs for the kids. Rachel and Kurt are in the upper right-hand corner of this pic. Thanks, guys!
The kids quickly disappeared around the corner of the house, so I didn't get a real good picture.


The older kids, Molly and her cousin Tanner, who are both 12, helped the little ones find eggs, and found a few for themselves, that were hidden in the less obvious places just for them.

Little Shelby thought the Easter Bunny had really hidden them out a ways and ran as fast as she could out to the cornfield! Big sister, Lacy had to run after her and retrieve her.

Here's CJ with his eggs all in one basket! He won a prize for having found so many eggs, it's a kite he's holding in his other hand.

This is my sister-in-law, Rose, her two little girls, Liz & Katie and my sister Kathy (and in the very corner) her two little boys, Tiegen and Grayson. The little girls got there a little late for the hunt...but were still able to find quite a few eggs.

All the kids playing on G & G's playground.



Then all seven of us, (Brad and Sarah, Molly, Jessica and CJ, and Ray and I), went home and went to bed after a very, very long day.