Christmas 2018

All our grands :)

Our Christmas celebration started with the grandchildren and making gingerbread houses. Other years I had bought gingerbread house kits but this year we decided to make them with graham crackers. Steve and I did what everyone does these days and googled how to make gingerbread houses with graham crackers. We watched a You-Tube video and proceeded to follow the instructions. Here are the five little houses we made for the five oldest grandchildren (we did not think Clara was quite old enough to participate this year).

5 little houses sitting in a row ready to be decorated

And just because Steve was having so much fun, he also made a granddaddy one.

The big house

On Christmas Eve morning, Steve drove to Manheim and picked up Alexis, Lydia, Mark & Hannah. Shawn dropped Awstin off around the same time they arrived back home. The first order of business was decorating the houses. They all did so well!

The girls

The boys

Awstin

Mark

Hannah & Lydia

Mark's finished house

Lydia's finished house. Aren't the lampposts awesome?

Hannah's house. She liked Lydia's lampposts so added some to her house.

Alexis's house. Love the door frame and the smoke coming out the chimney.

Five little finished gingerbread houses all in a row

We spent the rest of the day playing and doing other fun activities.

Coloring goes better with sunglasses on

Love the concentration

These two had a lot of fun with the race track

Around five o'clock the rest of the family arrived and we went to Jeremy and Megan's house for supper. We were happy that Steve's mother could join us for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

The only picture I have with Mom on. Sorry it is a little blurry. Josh is in the Christmas spirit with his hat.

After supper, we came back to our house for the remainder of the evening. I don't have pictures of the gifts but suffice it to say it was interesting. We thought we were all getting mystery boxes from Amazon that Josh had ordered. At one of our Wednesday night suppers he was telling us how you can order a mystery gift box from Amazon. They are usually filled with returned items and Amazon boxes them and offers them as mystery gifts. We thought that sounded like fun, so instead of exchanging names, we decided to each give Josh $25.00 to buy a mystery box for us. Well, Josh got to reading the reviews and wasn't overly impressed so he and Julissa decided to go to Ollie's and Dollar Tree and buy $25.00 worth of items for everyone. One weekend when Jeremy was away hunting they enlisted Megan to go with them. Oh the stuff they bought! We each received a box filled with all kinds of random things like toilet bowl lights, candles, candy, slippers, plungers, pliers, sticky poop emoji, mugs, reading glasses, etc. Most of them were wrapped in Amazon boxes so we were all oblivious and had great fun exclaiming over everything. Josh & Julissa were practically doubled over with laughter and after we had opened all of them, confessed to us what they had done. So, the last laugh was on all of us, but I think Josh & Julissa and Megan got a lot of enjoyment out of tricking all of us. They said the worst thing was taking all the Ollie and Dollar Tree price stickers off. There were so many items that it took them a long time!

Kristen and Alexis tackled the big gingerbread house that Steve had put together. Alexis tired after awhile but Kristen kept at it until it was finished.

Back of house

Side view

Front of house

And of course I have to add a picture of Clara..

This girl is so much fun!

Last of all, here is the obligatory family picture. It is quite a struggle to get a good one but we have fun trying. This was the best we could do.

How I love these people!

As I reflect on the past year, there is no denying that it has been a difficult one for Steve and I. Looking ahead, 2019 doesn't appear like it will be any better. It is easy to concentrate only on everything that is going wrong and feel sorry for ourselves. However, I had an interesting conversation with a co-worker right before Christmas. He is well aware of the situation that Steve and I are dealing with. He said to me,

"I know your life is difficult right now, but I want to tell you something. When I walk in your office, I always see the pictures of your family. My wife and I would give anything for a family like that. She cries every day over the poor choices and decisions that our adult children are making. Your children are all happily married and living a christian life. You are blessed with grandchildren who know you and love you. We would take what you are going through in a heartbeat if it would mean having a family like yours."

I was speechless and it made me stop and think. Yes, what we are going through is really, really tough. But, I am so blessed with this beautiful and supportive family that we have. Of course, we (they) are not perfect, but when I compare my family with other families, there is no doubt in my mind that ours is the best. I'm not biased on anything :)

So, at the end of this difficult year, I am still thankful, especially for this family of mine. Bring on 2019 and we will deal with whatever comes.

The Almost-Christmas-Birthday Girl!

This girl makes me smile. Hannah is always, smiling, laughing and talking. Sometimes I think she is just going to bubble over as words tumble out of her mouth. Because her birthday is so close to Christmas (the 21st)  it will probably always be a challenge to get a date for a party or celebration, but I'm pretty sure having an almost Christmas birthday will never bother her. She just takes everything in stride and laughs and enjoys life to the fullest.

Kristen made a pretty pink cake with the number 4 on.

Hannah chose to sit between both Grandpas. You could tell that they were both secretly very pleased to be given this position of honor!

Hannah loved her presents. Her favorite (which I didn't get a picture of) was an American Girl Doll horse from her parents. Apparently, the three sisters like to play horses together and the older two each have a horse from American Girl and Hannah just had a small one. Now she has a horse equal to her sisters. She was absolutely delighted. Here Hannah shows off some of her other gifts. You have to admit the sunglasses are pretty cool.

Even Grandma tried them on....

And here are two videos for your enjoyment :)

Another Birthday for Mark!

The amazing cake

I remember when Mark was born. It was in the middle of Hurricane Sandy. There was heavy rain and flooding everywhere but Jay and Kristen managed to get to the hospital just fine and we were delighted to welcome our first grandson. Placed in the middle of four sisters, there is no mistaking that Mark is all boy. He likes to spend time with his daddy and if you ask him any question about farming, he has the answer. The birthday cake that Kristen created for him was perfect. Shelling corn is one of his favorite interests.

He may not be showing it in this picture was he was very excited about celebrating his birthday.

It takes concentration and a little help to light the candles.

And of course the video....notice how enthusiastically Lydia joins in the singing (haha)!

We had a wonderful time celebrating Mark and his birthday!

Nine Years Old!

Here it is a month late, a picture from Alexis' birthday party. At nine years old, she seems so grown-up. She is such a great helper with her younger siblings. Clara will reach for her over me every time, and Alexis and I always enjoy a laugh over it. I love interacting with Alexis and listening to her chatter about everything going on in her life. She has always loved to talk and that hasn't changed as she has gotten older, but the things she talks about have changed from child chatter to more adult conversation. Alexis is always up for playing a game with me and one of our favorites right now is Racko. I'm sure thankful for this sweet, thoughtful, caring granddaughter.

Unfortunately the video that I usually take of blowing out the candles didn't come out very well, so all I have to mark the occasion is this picture. The cake was yummy!

Clara is One!

That smile!

Suddenly, Clara isn't just the little baby anymore. She is an active, happy toddler who tries to keep up with her siblings. I am always amazed at how children change in the first year of their lives and it was fun to see Clara develop her own personality as she moved from infant to one year old. We celebrated Clara's birthday at her house last Sunday evening. (Her birthday was July 16.) Clara wasn't sure what all the fuss was about and was uncertain about blowing out the candle and eventually gave in to frustration and started crying. Of course it was adorable to all of us, but for her it was a little overwhelming.

What's all the fuss about?

She liked the lighted candle but wanted to touch the flame.

After the meal and birthday cake, she enjoyed opening her gifts.

Here is the video of the birthday song and trying to blow out the candle. It is a little challenging when the older siblings are so anxious to "help" her blow the candle out. Like I said, she is a little overwhelmed, but I think it is adorable. She is a sweetheart and we are so thankful for her. 

Awstin is 5!

This little guy that brings sunshine to our lives every Wednesday is five years old! We celebrated with a birthday cake that Melissa brought to our evening meal on the Wednesday before his birthday which was July 12.

Awstin was delighted to put the candles on his cake...

...and delighted to blow them out after we sang to him.

Somehow five years old seems a lot older than four. He is changing and growing so quickly. In September he will be off to kindergarten. I am so thankful for Awstin and it is with some sadness that I realize those precious times spent with him on Wednesdays are soon coming to an end. (Although, thankfully kindergarten is only half days, so we will still have some Wednesday time together.)

Family Camping 2018

The campers

Just like last year, we decided to have a family camping weekend in our park. Shawn's and Jay's brought their campers on Friday and set them up. Steve, Shawn & Jay spent a lot of Friday evening figuring out how to hook up electric to the campers so they could have air conditioning (it was VERY hot!), and thankfully in the end were successful. The rest of us "camped" in our own houses :)

On Friday, Megan, Melissa, Julissa and I went to Green Dragon during the day. We had a great time and all came home with a few treasures. Did I mention that it was hot? By the time we got back into the car in the afternoon, I was feeling a little lightheaded. Thankfully, after drinking plenty of fluids, I felt a lot better.

After setting up camp on Friday evening, the toys came out. Awstin and Hannah were always speeding around together in their jeep and Mark drove the tractor with the loader bucket in front.

Because of the extremely wet Spring, the park hasn't dried out yet and there was a lot of mud everywhere. Of course this didn't deter the children and Awstin kept driving the jeep through muddy places and he and Hannah would get stuck and have to figure a way out.

Awstin gets out to survey the situation.

Awstin tries to push the jeep (and Hannah who is still in the jeep) out of the mud.

Mark brought his battery-operated car along and enjoyed showing it off to everyone. It didn't work that great on the grass, but it was still fun to try and he even left me try my hand at driving it :)

Josh and Julissa brought games along and Alexis and Lydia enjoyed playing some of them.

Julissa and Alexis play Mastermind

Kristen & Lydia play Cootie

After a good nights sleep and a wonderful breakfast on Saturday morning, we headed to Lake Tobias. We knew it would be hot, so tried to get an early start so that we could ride the safari bus before the day got too brutal. We boarded the bus right around 11:00 and it was already very warm. We were glad when the bus moved and created a breeze. Amazingly, the animals were still out and about and not completely hunkered down and refusing to move because of the heat.

Not our bus, but one just like it.

This guy blocked our way until the driver/guide threw him some food.

Shawn points out an animal in the road ahead to Awstin.

Melissa was the lucky one who got to sit with this cutie :)

That's a lot of ponytails :)

Watching the animals

Hannah wants one to come close enough to touch.

The animals came really close to the bus and the children that wanted to did get to touch a few.

Those are some really big bison!

After the safari bus ride, we enjoyed a picnic lunch together at one of the pavilions. Afterward, we walked around the zoo for a little while, but honestly it was so hot that we soon called it a day and headed for home. We made a stop along the way for some cold ice cream. Yum!

Back at the park, the children were happy to get into their swimming suits and splash a little bit in the pond, stream and wading pool. The adults relaxed in various places around the park and pavilion and Grandpa started the campfire with a little assistance from his helpers.

Alexis with her net. I'm not sure if she caught anything other than mud.

Clara liked the little wading pool

Lydia and Mark liked helping Grandpa get the campfire built.

Jay relaxes in the hammock

Just hanging out in the pavilion

Sparten shows his affection for Josh.

Alexis and Mark showed off their log-walking skills to me.

Supper was delicious....thanks to Jeremy

Somethings funny!

Some of us went out to the Buck to see the fireworks while others opted for an early bedtime.The children loved the fireworks display and it was a great way to end the evening. I didn't take any pictures because it was too dark.

On Sunday after church we opted to eat lunch in the air-conditioned kitchen. It felt good to not be hot and sticky and the children were happy to play in the cool basement with the toys. Shawn brought his ice cream maker and we made raspberry ice cream. Very refreshing!

As the afternoon wore on, each family made their way to their own homes and by 6:00 the house and surrounding areas were quiet again. As I looked through these pictures, I realized that there is not one of me. That is what usually happens as I am the one behind the camera, but I should have asked someone else to snap a picture of me at least once. Oh well. Maybe next year.

It was a lovely (though hot) weekend and as always, we feel so fortunate and blessed to call this wonderful family ours. Happy memories!