Saturday, November 28, 2015

Thanksgiving Day: Feast and Family

The bunch that sat around our table this Thanksgiving Day involved family from two different groups. It was delightful! 

My brother, Dick, and his wife, Nancy, joined us as did my sister, Mary Ellen. The others were from the Scott family, DIL Christy's parents, Ralph and Karen, and their granddaughter, Ryley; her brother and family, Ralph and Katie, Gavin and Ainsley. 

Christy prepared the turkey. A whole turkey is in that roaster and a breast will go into an oven. It was delicious!! (And at this point, almost completely gone!)

Photos from around our table:







As you can see, we had an abundance of food! It was all so good. 

I had misplaced my phone for a while. By the time I found it, the kids were already playing. It was a beautiful day so they spent lots of time outdoors. 

After the dinner is the cleanup. 

Mary Ellen and Nancy did all the dishes that didn't fit into the dishwasher. Huge blessing!!

Katie and Christy talking while putting things away. 

Some of the guys watch football. 

Nancy was itching to relax on this chair. I made coffee for Mary Ellen and me and we all relaxed in the living room. Delightful!

Christy's dad loves our porch and because of the nice day, he relaxed there.  The women eventually invaded his space and the poor guy ended up snapping pictures of us!

Mary Ellen noted on a FB post that WE were the older generation of this gathering. How did we become that?!! Totally blows me away =)

Christy's parents stayed after everyone left. Ryley was having so much fun with Aidan and Zoe. We relaxed and talked and enjoyed the fire. 


It was a wonderful day and so worth all the preparation. Gathering around a table filled with delicious food that was prepared with love...it doesn't get much better than that! Thanks, Scott family and Witmer family, for joining us! 

Tuesday, November 24, 2015

Two Days Away =)

Thanksgiving is two days away. Our turkey is thawing in the frig, yum. A big bag of potatoes is waiting to become cooked and mashed, yum. A gluten free pumpkin pie is in the freezer waiting for the big day, yum! We will share our day with some of Christy's family and a few of my siblings. It will be delightful. 

The hustle and bustle of preparation is just around the corner....and for the most part, I love it. But for today, right now, I'm going to kick back, relax, drink a cup of pumpkin spice coffee, and rest a spell. 



It's a pretty day today, a bit chilly, but not bad at all for the end of November. 

Love this window! 

God Bless your Tuesday. Happy Thanksgiving! 

Wednesday, November 18, 2015

A few pictures, hope they make you smile :-)

It's been a full week so far....normal!

His cuteness is feeling just fine again. Thanks for your prayers!


Time for a post but.....what to post about??

Inspiration is slow.....brain trying to store too much??

Maybe. 

So, here are two pictures. They made me smile, maybe you too :-)

Sunday morning-

We had a guest speaker, a friend of our pastor. He's a very interesting speaker and delivered a thoughtful and challenging message. He had props for illustration.....asked for volunteers. Oh no, who would volunteer since the kids had children's church this morning and were not present. Ahh, let that up to my two sons-in-law!!

Lynn and Scott are each wearing a stained shirt under the white robe. It demonstrates how Jesus restores us to be heirs, His sons and daughters! 

The point was very clear, but I couldn't help but giggle. These guys are awesome, but look at Lynn! He looks like he's stuffed in that thing and can't wait to get out!! (Or he's probably roasting hot!!)

Tuesday dinner -
I made a favorite soup for dinner, chicken corn noodle. Sometimes (almost always) Zoe takes a long time to eat. We were all finished and Aidan had some applesauce I also had made for dinner. Zoe wanted some too, of course, but had to be encouraged to keep eating her soup before getting some.

Zoe says, Look what I made with the noodles I dropped....


She spelled Mom!! 
We cracked up! 

Life is interesting. Life is fun. Almost always. 

Sure, we are facing a tough world. We struggle with real life stuff happening right here (unemployment for my hubby, for one). 

But, I never want to miss 
the interesting, 
the fun, 
the amazing,
the beautiful, 
the goodness 

that is all around me. God is good all the time.

God Bless your Wednesday! 
(Haircut for me today, yea!!)

Friday, November 13, 2015

This Baby...

Can't believe I'm posting these because I'm not nuts over photos of me. So if you could ignore my old face and shaggy hair (please!!) and focus on that sweet baby boy (please!!), I would be thrilled. 

You know this baby has me tied around his adorable little pinky :) I'm head over heels in love with him! 

His hands are always moving....just like his brother when he was a baby. While going to sleep yesterday he was doing this to me.....

Anything, Nana. Even your nose!!

Speak no evil! Reminds me of the little monkeys we had as kids...see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil :))

Maybe I'll hook my adorable little pinky in your mouth....

Sleeping more soundly...
                    hands resting!!

Would you pray for Him? He's not feeling well. A sick baby is not fun at all....especially for the baby!

Thursday, November 12, 2015

Hanging On

It's hanging on for all its worth!

What a sweet, pretty, little rose! 
It's the last bloom of the season, for sure. I love this little rose bush given to me by Gina on Mothers Day 2 years ago.  

Leaves are almost completely off the trees.  

Took a long time to come this year, but was it ever a beautiful Fall! 


These trees look too much like winter. 

Just like the last blooms and the last few leaves on the trees, I'm hanging on to Fall for all I'm worth, haha!


God Bless you this day!

Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Full of Family - part 2

My Sunday was a family day too. But not filled with my children and grandchildren as it usually is. 

My sister and her husband, Barb and John from Idaho, came to PA last week to spend time with his elderly parents. 

Good looking couple, don't you think? They are dairy farmers, parents to four grown children and grandparents too! John is on a National dairy committee (or something like that) and travels all over the USA and world promoting dairy farms and dairy products. It's extremely interesting to hear of his experiences. 

Sunday afternoon my PA siblings and their spouses gathered at my brothers home to spend some time with the Idaho sibs. What a wonderful time we had! My brother's wife, Nancy, is a photographer so of course pictures were taken!

L-R: Mary Ellen, our Sweet Mary, Dick, Nancy, Dick S, Jean, John, Barb, Dale, me. 

My siblings who were there....in order of our ages. 

We were silly....especially the sisters! We were all lined up according to our ages and my brother said we weren't...I think that's how it was. Anyway, I and several others didn't see a problem until suddenly we realized I was on the end, not Barb! Oh good grief....I can't even remember where I am in the family line-up!!! We got a good laugh out of that as you can see!

We ate a delicious meal of soup and sandwiches. Conversations and laughter was in abundance too, of course :) Oh, it was sister Jean's birthday that day, too. (The reason for the Happy Birthday sign) 

All afternoon and into the evening I couldn't help but marvel that I got to see my sister two times this year! You may remember that she was in PA for a sister weekend in July. Totally blessed me. 

All too soon our time together came to an end and we all had to go our separate ways again. Barb and John flew home yesterday.

 Sweet memories made....feeling blessed!

A picture of us :)
Dale, Ellen and me. 


Monday, November 9, 2015

Full of Family

Whew, this was a busy weekend. It was filled with family. Then again, what's so different about that....full and family?? It was good and here's the pictures to prove it....ready or not....there's a bunch!

Brinley has a party!

This sweetheart is 4! She was so excited for her party. 

Big girl Paityn loves her baby cousins. 

We had a delicious dinner then it's time for gifts! 


A Frozen play dress and fun magnets from Aunt Jess, Uncle Josh, cousins Nolan and Maylin. 


PJ's from Aunt Gina

Sister reads the cards. 

Paityn tells Brinley that she will love this gift. 


She does!


Brinley loves clothes....several outfits from Aunt Kimmy in this gift. And....

Lipstick!! Kim asked her what she wanted for her birthday and all she said was lipstick...which totally cracked us up! She got some :) one happy girl. 

More clothes and stickers from Aunt Greta and Uncle Lynn and cousin Carson 

She opens our gift....

It's a big coloring book. 

Slippers that match the PJ's from Gina

A Princess book. 

And crayons. 

One more gift!

A Holiday Barbie from Zoe, Aidan, Noah, Uncle Corey and Aunt Christy

Time for cake!

Lighting 4 candles

Look this way....

Look that way....why?

Because all these people are taking your picture!!

Carson says, Hurry up and cut that cake or I'm going to eat this bat!!

We eat cake and a wonderful GF pumpkin dessert.  It was yum!!

Trying to get a picture of our little whirlwind is a fun time.....she put on the PJ's and slippers. 

Brinley, let me take a picture, please. 

Is this pose ok?

How about a silly pose??

Or a shy one?

Should I twirl??

Now my hair is in my face.

How's this pose, Nana?

Got it yet? Because....

I'M DONE!!

Kim reads the Princess book to Brinley :)

Someone getting tired? No doubt!

Today her mommy sent me this picture 
Brinley was enjoying the coloring book we gave her. Love it!!

This post is long enough. I'll post about our family day on Sunday tomorrow.

God Bless your Monday!