Special Days

Yesterday was PopPop's birthday....that would also be my hubby :)

The kids wanted to make him a cake. 

Aren't they adorable?

We decided to decorate it....a cake decorator I am not!!

I promise you, that is a saw and not a carrot!!

We should have listened to Zoe who suggested making the blade gray and the handle orange :) We had fun!

I ordered pizza (a salad for me) for dinner. Cake and ice cream for dessert after Ellen came home from work. I will join him at 63 in March....how the heck have we gotten so old??!

Today is our 43rd anniversary.

Oh my, we were so young!

With our parents. 43 years later and they all are now living in Heaven. 

Here we are with the bridal party. 

One of those benches (maybe you would call them pews) is sitting in my basement living room. I'm thrilled to have it because  I tend to be very nostalgic....but let me tell you, they were probably the most uncomfortable church benches ever!!

The man that did the flowers for our wedding was later (much later) a resident at the nursing home where I was the Activity Director. I loved telling him how my mother and I came to his shop and how he listened to my ideas. He knew just how to make our flowers look Christmas-ey and beautiful! He would lean forward and smile as I told him my story. Not sure he ever got it that I was talking about him and that's just fine. It obviously brought great pleasure to us both. 

Today I decided to just take it easy. I've had a sore throat for two days now and a cough that just isn't going away. My energy level is at 0. Today it seemed especially so. I'm snuggled in a cover on the day bed in our living room....I'm snoozing and watching HGTV and Food Network.....something I never do during the day. Hope I can kick this to the curb soon!! 

Hope you are well and enjoying the day. If not, pull out a cover, relax and take a snooze ;-) 

Christmas Dinner with the Kids and Grands

We said we would eat at 4 but it was after 5 until we gathered around the table. It was fine....no reason to rush!

Again, I'll let the pictures tell the story. 

So thankful for a living room connected to our dining room.  And a table with many leaves!! 

We had the same menu as it's been for many years....chicken cordon bleu, sour cream mashed potatoes, baked corn....

This year Christy made a sweet potato casserole that is so yummy. It's a keeper!

My recipe cards are showing some wear! 

My family says they would be sorely disappointed if we didn't have these two plus the corn at our Christmas dinner, so I guess I'll keep making it!

After dinner it was time for gifts. We started with the gifts to the Grands from Nana and Pop Pop.

Carson with a barn for his animals

Noah gets help from Mommy (it's a fire engine)

 Brinley loves her Princess sleeping bag!

Paityn checks out one of the two craft sets,

Aidan shows off the racer kit he found on the internet when we were looking for ideas

Zoe loves her new portfolio!

Andrew got money and gift cards....but I didn't get a picture :(

Kim got her baby sister a gift because she is so generous and she knows Ellen loves to open gifts :)

You think Ellen was thrilled?!! 

The children exchanged names. The aldults did not this year....we decided to bless others instead. 

Brin had Noah's name and was super excited to give it to him! (And help him open it, too!)

Paityn had Carson's name and got him a cool play leaf blower....but Carson loved Noah's gift. Noah was more thrilled with Carson's gift!! Too funny! It was all good later :)

Brin opening her gift from Zoe...it was a Puppy surprise. 

Aidan's gift from Noah....he had seen this gift and was told it was for Paityn....mommy said she had to tell a little white lie for that oops ;-) 

Zoe got some cute clothes from Carson. And nail polish. 

Aidan had Paityn's name and wrapped the gift in many boxes....

Box after box, wrapping paper and duct tape....a Lego set! 

We took a break to eat dessert....I didn't get a picture of the dessert table. 

Next, Now you have it, Now you don't, game. Always fun, always lots of laughs!  I was calling numbers so no pictures taken.

After everyone had claimed a gift, we open them. Laughs erupt again!

I knew what was in the gift that Kim got, I put it together. Had to grab my phone....

An iPad, er, make that an Eye Pad note pad :)

Yay, leftovers....half a bag of leftover Easter candy!

Trump candy hair....too funny!

Andrew got the purple gift that I put together...a purple cosmetics bag, dark chocolate m&m's in a purple bag, purple snack napkins.... :)

Aidan opened a container of water balloons that squirted at him!! That had Scott written all over it for sure :)

We had so much fun. We always do. 

Good memories made, that's important!

The Day After the Big Day

Whew, what a whirlwind. I went to bed exhausted..... a good exhausted, mind you.  This morning I took it slow. My throat is a bit sore and my nose a little snifflely. Had my coffee (thinking about having more!) and smoothie. Picked up a little bit, finished loading the dishwasher and put in a load of laundry.....it's a start in getting this house back in order. When you host the party, there's always a cleanup element later :)

It was a good day, our Christmas. I'll let the pictures tell the story.

Merry Christmas! 

Ellen is dressed in her Christmas tinsel and bows ready to see what Santa put in her stocking!

She's pleased!

This sweetie <3

The children participated in our church service. Precious!

We had an hour long service with a birthday cake for Jesus afterwards. Everyone took home an orange too.....that brought back so many good memories from my childhood. We often were given a huge orange on the Sunday before Christmas when I was a kid. 

After church we went home to eat leftovers and open gifts. Fun! (The gift part, that is - haha!)

Aidan and Zoe couldn't wait to give Ellen this gift....a yellow dress! Her favorite color.

Watching children open their gifts is delightful! 

Ellen is all set to travel.....she loves her pretty Vera Bradly bags :)

Noah took a nap before opening his gifts....brother and sister are delighted to help!

What is under the cover???

He's checking it out.....

It's a kitchen with lots of food and accessories. It even has a whole pizza and sushi with chopsticks!! So fun! 

(Christy found it on a yard sale site and was fortunate to get it!)

Daddy to the rescue in getting the dolly out of the box. 

Next it was clean up and last minute food prep for the big family dinner at our house. More about that next time!

Christmas is Fast Approaching

Christmas is coming.....

I've been working at wrapping. 

Man, I can make a mess!

I do have more wrapped than shown here. But I'm not finished.

Yikes.

(that's the old Hernley Mennonite church bench

 that's been stored for too long.

 We finally decided to pull it out and use it. 

Hubby will shorten it, it's very long)

I've made lots of this!

Onion pretzels

White Chocolate party mix

Both are favorites at our family dinner.

We took time to see good friends....

Our friends from NH....

Pat and Dorothy.

We met them at Cracker Barrel for lunch on Wednesday.

Lovely time!!

These little ones always brighten our lives....

Zoe is up early and reads a book to Pop Pop.

This one....

is a ham!

Today I had all three kids while the parents worked.

Aidan suggested that we buy lunch....

I thought about it for a second

and decided it would be great fun.

We went to Wendy's,

ordered at drive thru...

3 kids meals

1 half salad

4 frosty's

Nana loves to spoil them once in awhile =)

Can't do it always...

remember, I live with these kiddos!!

Lunch and a movie is the best!

We watched My Dad is Scrooge.

They loved it!

Selfies =)

Noah with  ketchup all over his face!

We took time to see some lights tonight.

Would you be brave enough to walk up that staircase??

I would not...

not even for a million $$!

Krasley Christmas....love it!!

This town square has been a favorite my whole life.

Manheim, my home town.

It's a thrill to drive under these red and green light bulbs every time!

Hopefully by this time tomorrow, I'm ready for the big day.....

Merry Christmas!

Inner Harbor

Monday was a beautiful clear and cold day. We needed something to eat again. Funny how that happens =) The dilemma was where to eat. The bakery, again, just having coffee and fruit then eating lunch at the harbor. Walk to another restaurant or coffee shop or eat at the restaurant at the hotel. Eating at the hotel it was. Such a beautiful dining room.

Very elegant!

My delicious tomato and swiss cheese omelet. 

Coffee, give me coffee!!

After breakfast we packed up our things and checked out. On to the next part of our get away.

Inner Harbor!

Specifically, the National Aquarium.

Such a pretty place to be!

Waiting for the dolphin show.

We found Nemo =)

Love this aquarium!!

After visiting some shops we headed north again, arriving home around 4:00. Lovely little vacations have to come to an end sometime. It was good to be home!