Christmas 2021

Christmas 2021

On Sunday, December 19, Keelie hosted her annual girls' party. In addition to Marlow and Jenna, Greg's girls got to go with Marilyn as they had flown in that afternoon. It's always such a fun time. Monday the girls got to have a sleepover at her house. They had a blast. She had even gotten them all matching pajamas. 

Tuesday evening the cousins opened their presents. Afterwards, Marilyn and I ran to the grocery store to restock. 

On Wednesday, I picked up Jerry at the airport to spend a week here for Christmas. Thursday Greg and the girls flew back.

Friday, Christmas Eve, we had our family Christmas. We played our traditional games, gift card exchange, and a special visit from Santa Claus. Our meal was chicken fried steak and chicken. 

Rick and I had a lazy Christmas Day. Jerry flew back Tuesday the 28th.  

Our Anniversaries

 Our Anniversaries

Jared and Jenna - November 21

7 years

Justin and Keelie - December 15

20 years

Rick and Diana - December 16

44 years

Thanksgiving Break and Marlow's Party

Thanksgiving Break and Marlow's Party 

The weekend before Thanksgiving Greg and the girls flew in. I went to get Marlow and Jackson so they could be with all the cousins. We had a traditional Thanksgiving meal Saturday night. Greg and the girls stayed until Wednesday. Thanksgiving Day was a low key day. Friday we had a playoff football game; Jenna and Jared came into town. We played games, cooked and ate. We had our Thanksgiving "Fiesta" meal with everyone Saturday evening. 

We went to church yesterday and had a birthday party for Marlow. She is turning 6! 

Thanks to Marilyn we got some new family pictures.

Halloween

 Halloween

October Girls' Trip

October Girls' Trip

We flew into Baltimore, Maryland on Wednesday, October 13. We traveled 1600 miles in our rental car visiting Delaware, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. We also hit the corners of Virginia and West Virginia. This was our second time to visit all these states, and what a treat! We saw historic villages, covered bridges, historic homes and battlefields. We did driving tours of Gettysburg and Antietam. Historic Harpers Ferry was a special place we got to see. We flew home yesterday having seen and done some of the best things!

Helping Out in Mansfield

 Helping out in Mansfield 

Rick and I went to Mansfield Friday to help out with Marlow and Jackson while Jared and Jenna went to Napa Valley. After we picked them up from school, we went to the park. Saturday we had t-ball and softball games to make. Yesterday we made church with them and had lunch out. 

Jonah

 Jonah 

Jonah is doing well in his JV football season. Papa and I love making his games. 

Glory is a Teenager

 Glory is a Teenager!

Sweet Glory turned 13 today! She's such a thoughtful, creative young lady.

Marlow's Grandparents Day

 Marlow's Grandparents' Day

Rick and I visited Marlow at school today for Grandparents' Day. We had lunch and visited the Book Fair with her. 

Go Glory!

Glory is once again doing new things. She loves to stay busy and naturally wants to be with her friends. So what was better than to jump out there and get busy. She is playing 7th grade volleyball and is also getting to be a tiger mascot for the 7th grade football team. I love that she loves being social and wants to be with her people!

 Jonah Turns 16!

Our first special grandson turned 16 today! Hard to believe Jonah is a driving sophomore now.

School and Covid

All the kiddos are in school. This is so hard to believe!

Jackson - PreK

Marlow - Kindergarten

Molly - Kindergarten

Glory - 7th

Jonah - 10th

It started off a little challenging for Jonah, Glory and Molly as Glory tested positive for covid. According to "local policy" with conflicting information from school personnel,  all three had to quarantine for 10 days which was unfortunate for sure for Jonah and Glory as they were trying to not only start classes but football and volleyball, respectively.  

Molly Turns 5!

This sweetheart turned five today! She will start kindergarten in the fall.

Summer Colorado Trip

We were thrilled to get to make our South Fork trip this year after missing it last summer because of all the covid issues in the country. We arrived on July 9 and came home August 6. Mid July we met the kids north of Durango for a week's stay in a VRBO house. Lots of fun and food went down. Brenda and Dominic came another week; they got to stay a week. We celebrated my 65th birthday with them complete with decorated cupcakes and cookies Brenda brought! She's so thoughtful!

We visited with neighbors and attended church services in the park. We also made several day trips to Creede, Pagosa Springs, Del Norte, and Monte Vista (which included the Amish bakery at least twice). We had to have the truck AC repaired one day but had no other issues coming or going on the trip.

2021 Fourth of July

These three weeks or so around the July 4th season give us many opportunities for much family memory-making fun. We had 19 days of food, family, fun, crafts, and fireworks. The weather was great for firework season. We added a water slide this year to our activities for all the little ones. In addition to that we took all of them to a neighbor's pool several times. Marilyn and I fed 14 to 22 people each meal. The boys did four private shows and three city shows. Because of a shortage of fireworks, they did not get all the order in; so what we did have, we sold everything out. Randy's stand closed about 4 PM on the fourth and brought us their leftovers. By the time the boys got home from their shows, we had sold everything in the stand. It was a great year with great stories. 

 Rick and Medical Issues

I thought I would document some issues that have been going on with Rick medically. First he had to do several weeks of chemotherapy cream treatments on his face beginning the first of May. It was not fun! Then the first of this month he had to have some urology surgery which kept him down and not moving much for two to three weeks. However during that time frame on Father's Day, he fell and cracked some ribs (AGAIN!). This was terrible for him. The first three weeks he slept in his recliner. So painful!

During the "ribs" recovery period, he had to go for his post op visit. The surgeon helped him on and off the table. A few days later we had to go for his annual MRI and neurological doctor visit. Finally all the appointments were done. Phew! 

Can I say this man is tough?!

Marlow's Kinder Graduation

Marlow's Pre-K class at daycare had a drive through graduation ceremony this evening. It was complete with cap, gown, and music. We didn't really know what to expect but it was so cute! They called out each child in the vehicle and had lots of hoopla going on. I am so glad I videoed it! We all went to Rosa's afterwards to celebrate. 

Nashville and a Kinder Graduation

I flew with Marilyn on Monday to Nashville. She had gotten a rental car, and we drove to Greg's in Franklin. Anja had her kindergarten graduation on Tuesday. It was a cute ceremony. We enjoyed visiting with them. As always, food was involved in our trip. Today M and I toured the Johnny Cash museum before meeting up with Chad and Dave Dunn for lunch. We flew home tonight. Great trip!

 

 Girls' Trip

With 2020 and all the pandemic ramifications, travel plans had been very limited. We finally decided to do a road trip to Branson this week. We had a great time playing on the way up and back home. It was a little nostalgic being in Hot Springs and then on to Branson for several reasons. I had been back several times over the last few years, but it was Marilyn's first time to be up in the area since Carl had passed away. Thorncrown Chapel was a favorite to see again; Rick's parents had taken me there for the first time many years ago. Special memories......

Helping Out With Marlow and Jackson

We have kept Marlow and Jackson the past few days while Jenna and Jared were on a trip. We kept them busy each day after we picked them up from daycare. I even got to take Marlow for a tour of the elementary school where she will be attending kindergarten next year.