Happy Birthday...

The babies 1st birthday party was so much fun! They had a whole bunch of presents...who can resist? especially when you have Grandparents, Great Grandma's, Auntie's & cousins galore! I suppose this compares to some peoples Christmas's! Since we don't do Christmas, we DO birthdays!! Ahh well, not every birthday is this big! Trey and Jessi both got "squeaky shoes". They loved them, and it was a riot to watch them walk around deliberately making them squeak! You can sure tell where they are now! We tried to get a video of them, but it didn't turn out good, and we couldn't get it to download, so missed that.
One more album to go...Cake time is next, but that will have to wait for another day!

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Jeanne-30, and Jessi and Trey-1yr. I really am going to post pictures of our bash, but somehow my time gets away. So I'll post these two, then add too them later with a slide show of more. We had a great time!

Sick...and Tired!

Of being sick and tired! It's been quite the week here with 3 of our kids and Lynisha and her 2 all being sick. We don't get sick much around here as a rule, and if so, it usually doesn't last very long, but this influenza bug really hit. It's all over this year it seems, and I know it will pass, but it sure makes me even more impatient for spring!

No flowers...No chocolates for me!

Just this beautiful '08 Valentines Longaberger basket! I have to post this because for those of you who know me, You know I'm very hard to surprise! If I suspect or know anything at all, I either figure it out, or can't hardly stand it, so therefor generally prefer to look forward to something rather than be surprised. The difference is a real total surprise! This was one. I sold Longaberger for about 6 years, and so have a "nice" collection, including all the special edition valentines baskets they've had since I started selling. Last summer I quit selling and when I did, then my niece started. Although she had a party last month, and I saw the basket, I didn't order it, and although I was feeling a little bad that I wasn't going to have this years basket, I guess there's been enough going on around here for me so I didn't dwell too much on it!
So, last night when we sat down to our valentines supper, there on my plate was a folded piece of paper...the first clue to a treasure hunt. Now I just want to mention that my husband has NEVER done anything like that either! :*) So after supper I got to go on the hunt and found tie-on, liner, protector, lid & basket, all hid around the room. What a fun surprise & A lovely gift that I didn't even have to buy myself!! Thanks Raimie! you're a super consultant, and Thanks to my hubby for the beautiful basket & surprise!

A Year ago, Then and Now

Someone asked me a while back about the picture and title I had on my side bar, "From 1-3 in 3 weeks". These are our 3 grandkids, and Kyrie is 3, her brother Trey and cousin Jessi just turned one. Our daughters are keeping up with my side of family tradition in having babies very close in age! (Another post, another time!!) Last year I kept the road a little hot between here, Sidney & Fargo! I had been to Sidney for several days in Lynisha's last month of pregnancy to help her with some things & keep her company, as we all know how the last weeks can crawl! I came home on Friday Jan 19, and with a predicted snowstorm and Dalayna's baby due within a week, it seemed rather prudent that I head up there, so on Saturday a.m. Jan 20 I left on the 9 hr trip to Fargo by myself. We had several days of leisure and walking the stairs & halls before baby girl Jessi arrived on the 25th of Jan. I stayed a week with them, headed home on Fri Feb 2, spent the night with some friends in Iowa, got home on the 3rd, was home a week, and on Monday Feb 12 Lynisha called me & said she thought she was in labor. I headed back out there (3 hr drive), and as it turned out it was false alarm, but feeling like it was going to start up any time again, I stayed the week, and baby boy Trey arrive Feb 17, just a little over 3 weeks after Jessi. I stayed a week with Lynisha to help her out, and then headed home. Thus was my Jan. and Feb last year! This year is a little more calm... well, except for the first birthday party, which I will be posting pictures of soon!!

Did you ever wonder...???

What big families were like?
What they did for entertainment?
Why I retreat to my computer for blogging company of ADULTS?
Why 2 of my daughters got married quite young?
Why the older kids don't come home very often? (lol!)
Why I hesitate to have company for meals?
Why you don't see pictures of my "middle" kids on here?
Well, This should give you a good idea of why! Here they are in their "best form", going strong. Tonight it was pick on Relyssa night, and those two boys can about rival the funny video below.
By the way, it's not really like this every night at Dinner...THANK GOODNESS!
(A reminder here, sorry about the quality of the photos--no new camera yet, but hey, it matches the quality of their table manners!)

Gearing up for the weekend!

A good walk in the morning is a great way to energize you for your day! (If I keep telling myself this long enough, I really WILL believe it!) It did work today anyway, it was a little warmer, so that helped. Yesterday I had to walk in circles inside my house, and that was exercise, but it's really the good fresh air that energizes me. Now that I have a walking partner (my S-I-L, who just moved here from Montana to be with her mom) it makes it easier for me to walk, as I don't do it by myself. To be honest, I do have several others I could walk with, however it means either me going across town to them, or them driving over here to me, so it's not as convenient as someone 6 blocks away. The tower in the picture above is at a new park about a mile from here. That's where we usually head to walk, they have great walking paths, and this morning we went to the top of the tower also. The hawk was sitting there, and I got a quick picture before he took off at our intrusion.
This morning I looked out my back window and discovered Ryan had gotten home sometime after I'd went to bed last night. When I went downstairs to check bathroom & Laundry & bedrooms, peeking in Relyssa's room I see a blond head in one of the beds there. WHAT? I thought the girls all went to school today, It took a moment to realize that it was Kayleen, Ryan's girlfriend, not one of my girls who had went out the front door, snuck back in the basement door & went back to bed :*)
So, I'm on with my day here... there's "hot spots" to put out, menu's to plan, groceries to buy & beds to make. Today's also our Thurs. "Scrap-gals" lunch, so maybe I should get my work done first?

Today its...

Blue sky and Sunshine!