I'm back...

well, its been over a year since i last posted.
i certainly didn't mean for that to happen.
not even sure how it happened.
but hey, i'm baaack!
and, wow, a lot has happened this past year.
new births, joy, graduations,
broken relationships, new relationships,
injuries, love & heartbreak, happy celebrations,
new opportunities, regret ...
in other words, Life.  it keeps happenin'
and it goes on...

*** *** ***
not sure that i remember fully how to do this blogging stuff,
but i'm going to give it a whirl again....
might take me awhile to work out the kinks and
get the hang of this once again.
but here goes...
*** *** ***

this winter has been harsh.
cold and, well, wintery. like really wintery.
miserable, actually. and looong.
and now spring is here and we're all still wondering
why the snow hasn't stopped.

a few weeks back we decided to work with it
and have a little fun, despite the cold and snow.
so we headed outdoors for a little photoshoot.
it's been awhile since i'd done a photoshoot
and so i was a little rusty.
plus i still dont have my own camera since mine
broke over a year or so ago. 
laura is always good to let me borrow hers.
but at any rate - here's the result:

marissa, ceara, elsie, emma & lisa...

this post should be named, "better late than never!"

Thanksgiving 2012

***

this year ceara & ted hosted thanksgiving at their house.

yep, you read that right.

i've hosted thanksgiving at our house for years and years.

but no more.

now that my kids are growing up, getting married and living on their own,

they're calling for some of the holidays. 

several years ago shasta called for july 4th as her holiday to host. 

ceara called for thanksgiving way before she was even married.

and im okay with giving up holidays. 

it just seems weird. 

the big family holidays have always happened at our house. 

but the one holiday i told all the girls that i wont give up is christmas. 

and i think everyone is okay with that.

but anyhow - ceara started planning for thanksgiving at least a few months ahead of time.

she wanted everything perfect. and it was!

she really got into the details - big & small, and the decorating and planning the menu.

she changed the menu up from our traditional menu and added lots of new dishes.

and it was all very good!

it was definitely a good day for everyone.

*** *** ***

we still did a few thanksgiving things at our home

since we still have youngins of our own livin' at home. 

i decorated and also hung up a few art projects of the little girls' from a few years back. 

sad that they've grown up so much in just the past few years. 

And on the evening before thanksgiving it was just marissa, emma and i in the kitchen making a few salads and pies to bring to cearas. 

in years past i've had a kitchen full of girls hustling & bustling about making food. 

but this year my teens were off helping ceara and so it was just me and the two younger girls. 

a little bittersweet. 



 

 

*** *** ***

here are some pics of a few of the decorating and little details ceara had in her house.

her house is decorated cute anyhow - lots of bright and fun colors.

i loved that she had everyone drop their phones in the jar as soon as we got there. 

smart girl. 

i told them the rule didnt apply to me, however. 

my camera broke awhile back and so i use my iphone as my camera. 

and we all know i absolutely cannot go without taking photos. 

so my phone remained by my side throughout the day. 

three long tables and lots of extra chairs - plus a few kids tables - were all set up so perfectly...

heres ceara - busy working in the kitchen! 

turns out they were the only pictures i took of her!

ooops. 

at that time my iphone was very new to me and i wasnt too great at working it. 

lots of pics turned out blurry.  but i did what i could.

the boys carving the turkey...

random shots of my family - kids & grandkids & boyfriends & ted's mother.

people here and there and everywhere.

it was definitely a crowd.

yummy dessert - several pies, all gluten free and dairy free.

our crowd devoured most of them. 

heres auntie ceara reading stories to some of the little ones later in the afternoon. 

shes a fun aunt.  very animated.  always laughing. 

kids gravitate toward her.

 

and it also snowed on thanksgiving!

first snow of the season - and it made for some very excited kids, and adults too!

all the kids and several of us big ones had to go outside and run around for a bit!

the first snowfall is always so magical!

*** *** ***

and just like that thanksgiving day was over.

we continued on with a very busy and full weekend with family.

and it was all good.

we are very blessed

and definitely vey very thankful!

 

a little of this and a little of that

trying to catch up with blogging is pretty much impossible at this point.

it just aint gonna happen.

ive come to the conclusion that i will perpetually be behind in

this blogging adventure.

*** *** ***

so ive gone through my photo files from last fall

and found some that i liked,

which was really hard, because theres just soo

many fun memories attatched to all of our pics. 

i honestly have thousands of pictures. 

so many thats its really rather pathetic. 

and kind of overwhelming for me to go through and choose. 

so my theme for this post is randomness. 

but sometimes i rather like randomness.

*** *** ***

*** *** ***

first off we have more birthday pictures.

lisa is a good girlfriend - and threw jordaan a surprise party!

she began planning a few weeks ahead of time and we all kept

secrets and told little white lies when needed. 

it was her first time ever throwing a party by herself - and she

was so nervous that it wouldnt work out - but it did! 

and thanks to the help from a

few friends and family - he was indeed surprised!

several friends and some family all showed up to help

him celebrate - and they all had a fun time! 

*** *** ***

and here's pics from our annual tradition of turkey bingo the week of Thanksgiving...

this year ryan and jordaan joined our group.

elsie also came with us since shasta stayed home with newborn angelina.

i stayed home as well and enjoyed the peace & quiet, which i so desperately crave.

and once again, like every year since the beginning of time for the past twenty-five years, no one from our group won a turkey.

but thats okay, it was fun and all proceeds goes to our local small town fire department. 

and thats a good and worthy cause. 

*** *** ***

and Luke, who's our 3rd born grandchild and was born on our 30th wedding anniversary, celebrated his third birthday! with a super-hero party.

he apparently loves Superman as well as lots of other super heros and so he had a Superman birthday party!

im not gonna pretend that i know much about those

super hero characters, because i dont.

my girls could have cared less as kids and colter never got into them either.

but luke loves 'em. 

as a special surprise ryan borrowed a friend's batman costume

and he and laura showed up at luke's party with ryan in costume!

yep, it was the hit of the party!

very cool idea, indeed.

fun memories!

*** *** ***

Ana, Brandon, Oliver and Gus were able to come and

visit three times in recent months!

An october weekend, Thanksgivng and then a few days after Christmas!

so that was cool and made everyone happy. 

and of course when they come to visit all the kids & grandkids

spend the majority of the weekend at our house visiting too. 

it's so sweet to see cousins playing with cousins 

and see them hanging out with colter, missy & emma, too.

my girls dote on all their little nieces & nephews.

 

*** *** ***

And next are photos from baby Angelina's baptism.

unfortunately not all of us were able to attend.

we ended up with a few of our kids sick with the flu and so

only wayne and the kids that werent sick attended.

i was sad because i'd never missed a baptism for the grandkiddos before -

but it cant be helped when there's sick kids in the house.

i hear little Angelina was a perfect angel during the service though!

shasta & jon asked ceara and ted to be her godparents.

*** *** **

to be continued - another random picture post will soon follow...

double birthday

november is a busy birthday month in that there are several

birthdays in a short span.

first is elsies birthday, then a week later there are four birthdays

in a row...first emmas, the day after that it's Ana's, the next day it's jordaans,

and the next day my mothers.

its not a full week of celebrating, but i mention it simply because i think its pretty neat

that so many in one family have back to back birthdays in such a short period of time.

this year emma & elsie wanted to celebrate their birthdays together.

emma turned ten. elsie turned five.

they are auntie & niece.

but they act more like big and little sister.

they get along great one minute and then are fighting the next.

mostly, however, they get along great and can barely go two days without

seeing one another or at least talking on the phone.

and so for no reason in particular the girls decided on a pancake party!

very unique and a very cool idea.

they each had a separate cake, and then we made stacks of pancakes,

sausages, juice, applesauce, and lots of fruit. 

it actually turned out well and it was lots of fun!

good memories were made!

 

Happy birthday, Emmy!

Happy birthday, Elsie!

Hope both you girls had a fab day!!

oh deer!!

deer hunting season.

the favorite season of my son.

he'd been waiting and planning for this years deer hunting season since last season! 

no kidding!

all that waiting and dreaming and planning became reality when on the opening weekend, the second morning out, he shot his deer. 

a four-point buck. 

oh happy day!

he was one proud and happy boy!

good job, colter!

 

 

and he kept the two shells that he took to make the kill.

his first shot went through the spine and the deer instantly fell to the ground, but

that meant having to make another shot to kill it.

i know, gruesome....ewww!

but the boy loves anything thats related to hunting and fishing and guns and fishing stuff....

and on and on it goes. 

it's in his blood, i swear.

this is the stuff that makes him happy.

he and his dad hung the deer up in the garage and colter began the task of skinning it out.

a day or two later they began the process of cutting up the meat.

he and wayne are the only ones in our family that enjoy

the taste of venison - and a few times a week colter takes a package from the freezer,

thaws it, and then cooks it up for himself and his dad.

sometimes he'll cook up a small steak and that will be his afternoon snack.

he does all the cooking himself - often smothering it in spices,

onions and mushrooms.

the other day they slow cooked a roast in the crock pot.

i have to admit it smelled pretty darn good.

he makes me smile.

what a guy!

football

we are so not a sports orientated family.

we've just never really gotten into sports.

and so i think its kinda funny that a few of the girls have ended up dating

guys that are into sports.  

guys that actually play the sports.

for a short time, when laura was still a high schooler, she was seeing one of the star

football players. 

and now, for the past year, lisa has been dating a football & basketball player.

even though we homeschool, the girls have known many

of the players in both basketball and football. 

and so for several years now they've attended most of the games. 

this past football season many of our family members went to most every home game...

yes, for entertainment, but also in support of lisa's guy.

i think its cute that he gave her a football jersey of his

and she would wear it to school on game days.

and then there was homecoming week in school.

most of it is new to us since we've home educated for so many years.

but lisa has had lots of fun with all the school traditions.

there was a mismatched and wear your hair in a funky style day, a jersey day, a school spirit day, a neon colored day, and a camo day. 

very interesting and fun memories!

the next pictures were taken during the homecoming game.

i think most of our family went to that game.

it was an exceptionally nice and warm evening that night, which is pretty unusual in october around these parts.

the team played well, very well, all season - but they didnt do so well the night of their homecoming game.

it was their first loss and it was a big disappointment for them.

but they did their best - and life goes on. 

and now football is over - it was a great season for the team

as well as all those who love attending games.

(and these next pictures were taken later in the season...

not sure who took them, but i found them in a file on the computer!)