And Just Like That...Goodbye 2025

Our annual Christmas photo. Two of the grandchildren are very hard to see. Can you find them?

2025 was a very uneventful "normal" year for which I am very grateful. We had some wonderful family and friend times which I have written about on this Blog and which were the highlights of our year. Other than that the days were pretty much the same with me working the store and Steve taxiing the Amish. At our age we will take all the normal years we can get!

We got together at Jay & Kristen's for Thanksgiving and had a wonderful time relaxing and talking together. Naomi entertained us with her antics. At a year and a half she is energy and cuteness wrapped up together. 

A couple of weeks later we celebrated Hannah's 11th birthday. Born on December 21 her birthday is so close to Christmas but I like that we always have a special evening just for her.

11 years old!

On Sunday, December 28 we had our family Christmas at Megan & Jeremy's. They have graciously hosted it the last few years and it works well. I provide the food and they provide the place and we both like it that way.  It is chaotic but everyone seems to have a good time. We always try to get a family picture which proves pretty challenging. This year something upset Bryce and he didn't want anything to do with a picture. If you look close you can see he is hunched over beside Melissa with his face in the carpet. :) Janae is sitting on Kristen's lap behind Shawn and you can barely see a little bit of her hair and shirt. It should be a fun talking point for anyone who looks at the picture in the future. We did a little better with the grandkids picture. At least you can kind of see everyone. Plus Bryce got happy again!

How did we get so lucky? Love that Jake & Kyle are holding hands!

Here are a few other pictures I took of the grandkids.

The older grandchildren

Cousins & friends

Kyle

Seth

Naomi

That just about wraps up the year. We will be keeping Steve's mom for two nights from December 31 to January 2. Mark & Doris are away for a week and since it didn't suit Nancy to have her, the brothers have been taking turns. I'll try to take a couple pictures and add it to this Blog.

It went well with Steve's mom. She slept a lot and was very pleasant when she was awake. Here are just a few pictures that I took.

Josh & Julissa & Cassidy & Seth stopped in for a visit

Jake & Kyle posing with Great Grandma

She enjoyed putting puzzles together

Here are the two that she did. The top was a 200 piece and the bottom a 150 piece

At the end of each year, I just like to pause and count my blessings. They are so numerous and I really have nothing to complain about. I am thankful for the gift of salvation and for our church who feeds us spiritually and emotionally. We love our small group friends and going places with them like the beach and cabin. We have felt so loved and accepted by them. Our family continues to amaze us. They show their love in many ways and we know that if we ever need anything, each one of them would be there in a heartbeat. The grandkids are so special. I enjoy talking with the older ones and hearing about their lives. The younger ones are so energetic and each has their individual personalities. I love that I still have some little ones to hug and snuggle and read to. We are both thankful that our bodies still allow us to work and we don't have too many limitations. Steve still continues to struggle with diabetes and his blood sugar. It would be nice if he could get it under control better in 2026. I guess if I have one wish for 2026 that would be it.

Here's a song that sums up my life right now.

There's a roof up above me

I've a good place to sleep

There's food on my table

And shoes on my feet

You gave me your love Lord

And a fine family

Thank you Lord

For your blessings on me. - The Easter Brothers

See you next year!

It's Time for a Catch-up Post

 

Vacation Time!

This Blog is becoming more like a diary for me but a very erratic one. I suppose that is okay. If I ever have something really important that I want to write about, I know where I can come to put my thoughts down. Maybe it is a good thing that my entries have been sporadic because it means that nothing really traumatic has happened and I do like when life moves along without too many bumps and turns.

Since my last post in June after the grandchildren camping week, we have had quite a few birthdays.

The first one was Kyle's who turned 2 on July 7.

Kyle had a Winnie-The-Pooh birthday cake and he was so happy to be celebrated. Here is a video of him blowing out his candles.

On July 12, Awstin turned 12.

Awstin loves sports, especially Philadelphia teams :)

July 16 was Clara's turn. She turned 8 years old.

Here's the traditional cake...

...and here's the pretzel jello dessert because Clara requested this also!

And then came the big one on August 8! Alexis turned 16 years old and was finally able to get her permit. She had been anxiously counting down the days for this happy occasion!

Lydia was taking a cake decorating class and decorated Alexis' cake!

August 23rd was our 45th wedding anniversary and we celebrated it by going to a Phillies game! We have been enjoying watching their games this summer and hadn't been to a game in years. We drove down on Saturday afternoon and checked into a hotel before going to the game. Then we just had to drive a short distance to our hotel after the game and returned back home on Sunday. It seems a simple thing to do for such a momentous occasion but we both thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and the Phillies even won!

45 Years! :)

Citizens Park

On Sunday, August 24, we got together at Jay and Kristen's for our annual Lehman reunion with Steve's mother and siblings and grandchildren and families. We got a few pictures but none with grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Mom, children and spouses

 

Mom and children

September 10 brought another grandchild birthday. Seth turned 2 years old.

Seth loves any kind of farm equipment and trucks. Julissa made the cake!

Seth was a little shy about the cake, birthday song and candles. Here is the video.

In September we spent a weekend at a cabin with three couples from church. It is the same cabin I posted about earlier and is owned by Randy & Diane's daughter and son-in-law. We love going away with these couples and had a wonderful time together!

Just look at the beautiful mountains behind us! L-R - Randy, Diane, Becky, John, Me, Steve, Sue, Bob

 

Taking a ride in the buggy

Steve followed on a four-wheeler

In October, Jay & Kristen's four oldest children showed their hogs at the Manheim Fair.

Mark

Alexis

Lydia & Hannah

And more birthdays!

Bryce turned 6 on October 9

Bryce started Kindergarten this year and is loving it!

Cassidy turned 4 on October 26

Cassidy said she wanted a cat for her cake so Julissa made her one!

The last birthday in October was Mark's on the 29th. He turned 13 so entered the teenage years!

When one of their children, turn 13, Jay & Kristen invite grandparents, uncles, aunts & cousins from both sides of the family. We went around and said things that we appreciate about Mark. It was nice to see how his face lit up when people spoke about him.

The only grandchild yet to have a birthday this year will be Hannah on December 21, so I'll cover that in my Christmas and year-end blog.

The last thing I want to write about was our vacation week in Myrtle Beach as referenced in the first picture on this Blog. Randy & Diane were able to trade their Hilton Head timeshare for one in Myrtle Beach and invited us to go with them. An invite which we happily accepted! It was one of the most relaxing vacation's ever. We arrived on Saturday, November 1 and left the next Saturday, November 8. We purposely did not plan many activities because we wanted to have time to just enjoy the freedom of no schedule and the beautiful ocean setting. We had booked tickets for 3 shows which we went to on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. They were all centered around Christmas and one was an acrobatic show, another a musical, and the last one was a Pirate Dinner Theater. All of them were really great and we loved them! We played miniature golf one day and usually ate out once a day, because what is a vacation if you don't enjoy different dining experiences! My highlight was watching the sun rise over the ocean each morning while drinking coffee on our deck. Of course we also spent plenty of time playing games, talking and laughing. We are so thankful for Randy & Diane! We joked that we are still friends after spending a week together but none of us were really worried about that! :)

Sunrise over the ocean

Sand, ocean & sky - beautiful!

We were on the 6th floor. Perfect for seeing out over the ocean!

This mini golf course was played on different levels with the top level showing a beautiful view out over the ocean.

I won! (But I didn't take the trophy home)

We were so fortunate to have beautiful weather all week.

Gotta have that picture on the beach!

Proof that I was on the beach!

Steve was the only one adventurous (or crazy enough) to go into the ocean. It was pretty cold! Here is proof that he actually did it.

That pretty much catches the year up. I'll be back to close it out late December or early January.

Camping 2025 - Boys

The girls camp ended and the boys camp began. Kristen picked up her girls around 10:30 on Wednesday morning and dropped off Mark. Megan brought Bryce and Jake soon after and then took Cassidy home with her. Awstin didn't arrive until around 4:00 as he had a 6th grade graduation to attend in the afternoon so Melissa brought him after that. While we waited for Awstin to arrive Steve and Mark went grocery shopping to replenish our supplies. I took Bryce and Jake to the playground and then when Steve and Mark returned we went swimming in the pool. This was Jake's first year to come camping and unlike his cousins he had no idea what camping really meant. All of the other families regularly go camping and own a camper but he doesn't, so it was really fun to see his excitement as he experienced it for the first time.

After Awstin arrived we went mini golfing and then for ice cream. We basically did the same things with the boys that we did with the girls except not all of them did crafts and we did a lot of swimming with the boys. I was glad that it got warmer as the week went on and the water heated up nicely. All the boys loved swimming so it was a great activity to do with them.

Ready for mini golfing!

Jake had never played mini-golf before but he caught on very quickly and loved it!

Bryce :)

Mark kindly posed for a picture for me.

Jake :)

Our friends had a cool swing in their yard and the older kids especially loved it.

Jake tries his hand at some crafts

The older boys also liked the Ninja course that our friends had in their yard.

The sandbox was a hit for Bryce & Jake

To say the boys loved swimming is an understatement

Love this picture of Mark & Jake walking to the train station.

Awstin & Jake are ready for the train ride...

...as are Grandpa & Mark...

and Bryce.

Whoops! Jake just couldn't stay awake.

Bryce is fascinated with the scenery.

Group picture before we leave the railroad!

Awstin took this cool video of the engine going by us to hook up to the other end.

On Friday morning we packed everything up. Kristen came for Mark around 10:30 and then we hooked up the camper and headed home with the other three boys where their mothers picked them up when we got back. I feel like it was a very good week. It certainly had not been a vacation for Steve and I but we did not intend it to be. It was time that we could spend with our grandchildren and hopefully give them some good memories of fun times shared with their grandparents. 

Will we do it again next year? Thankfully we have a year to decide. :)