Thanksgiving - Part 2

The real Thanksgiving Day was spent at our house with Shari and Mark and Esme; my sister, Carol and her husband, Don, and son Dylan; and my mom and her husband Roy. Shari and Esme had spent about ten days with us by then, and our son-in-law, Mark had come from Tennessee the day before. My sister, Don, Mom and Roy, and Dylan came late morning. Shelley and Bob and Matthew were also here until it was time to eat. Then they left to go to Bob's parents house.

This is a picture of Terry and me holding Esme. 

Below is a nice picture of Mom and Roy in our family room.

We started out with all kinds of appetizers in the family room. Thanksgiving is always kind of a crazy day for me. I enjoy the company, but the meal is so much work - especially actually getting all that food on the table and getting everyone around it! I loved having part of my family here. I always enjoy being with my sister. Don loves babies, so he just took over holding Esme that day. I am so thankful that everyone could be here with us!  Shari and Mark and Esme had to leave late afternoon to go to Mark's family's house. We are very blessed to have had them this year for Thanksgiving! 

This shows Dylan and Shelley (cousins). Shelley is about nine months along at this time and we were eagerly awaiting a new baby!

Here is our daughter, Shari, holding her nephew Matthew and daughter Esme. We miss them both so much. We found out that they are coming home again for Christmas! It was a wonderful Thanksgiving - we have so much to thank the Lord for!  Having our family for Thanksgiving was a great blessing!

Thanksgiving - Part I - Thanksgiving at Dad's

I have a lot of blogging to catch up on! I'll begin with Thanksgiving at Dad's house the Sunday before the actual Thanksgiving Day. We got to have dinner with Dad; Ken and Sandy; Barb, Ron, and Kristin; Rob, Melissa, and Kate; Shelley, Bob, and Matthew; and Shari and Esme. Ron and Barb made a couple of great kinds of lasagne and then we all pitched in with other food.

Here is Kristin with Rob and Kate (four months). Dad is sitting in his chair. He was at home for the day. He now lives at a nursing home in St. Clair Shores. 

The younger generation sat at this table and the "older generation" which includes Terry and me  :(  sat with Dad at another table. We had not been together in quite awhile and had a good time visiting and playing with Matthew, Kate, and Esme.

Below is a picture of "Grandpa Ken" with his granddaughter, Kate. Isn't she beautiful?

We were missing lots of people at this gathering and we did miss them, but it was a fun time and we were thankful to spend time with this side of the family for a special day. We were so blessed to have Shari and Esme with us. Shari hadn't been home for Thanksgiving for about six years! I think that I failed to get any pictures of Esme on this day. The poor girl was probably sick of pictures by then anyway!! 

We're Done! Yea!

(Except for refinishing the floor - an AFTER Christmas job!)

Done by Thanksgiving??!!

Not only is our kitchen a mess, but so is our living room! Much of our stuff from the kitchen is thrown in there to make more room to work in the kitchen while we do a little remodeling. Nothing major - WE THOUGHT!

When we started the project of taking down our kitchen wallpaper at the end of September, I JOKED that I HOPED we'd have the kitchen painted and our floor refinished by Thanksgiving! Now it's coming back to haunt me - only three and a half weeks until Thanksgiving and now Shari and Esme' are coming a week and a half early!  :)  :(  Oh no!  

We are so happy to have them coming early so we get to spend some time with them, but we surely need to rush this job which is taking way longer than I expected. The wallpaper had been up for twenty years and did not come off easily. Then about 1/16 " of hard paste was left on the walls when the paper came off. That was even harder to get off and Terry hurt his neck and back scraping it off!! It took about a week and a half for him to be able to get back to working on the kitchen after going to the chiropractor about four or five times! :)

This is the state of our kitchen now. We actually have a gray primer on all of the walls! Yea! The ceiling needs to be painted yet and then I can paint the rest. I  am painting the top half a pretty gold color and the bottom half cream. Then we have to work on the floor which is trashed. It needs to be sanded, restained, and tung oiled. We have our work cut out for us!

I can't wait to get the house back together. A week or so with everything a mess is O.K., but it is now getting old and much too close to Thanksgiving. Speaking of Thanksgiving, we are so blessed to be having my sister and her husband, my nephew Dylan, our daughter Shari and son-in-law Mark, baby Esme, our daughter Shelley and son-in-law Bob, our grandson, Matthew, and my mom and her husband Roy all joining us for Thanksgiving! (Shelley is actually due to have her baby the week of Thanksgiving, so it could turn out to be interesting!) We will have a houseful and it will be fun. So we better get to work!! Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Birthday, Shari!

You will always seem like our "little girl" even though you are certainly all grown up! You are beautiful to us - such a wonderful daughter, sister, wife and mom!

You have a wonderful husband who takes good care of you and we are so thankful for that since we don't get to see you much. I am having no luck in loading the picture of Shari with Esme!

You have given us such a precious granddaughter! We love Esme so much! We are so blessed to have you for our daughter and we love you very much.

MATTHEW IS THREE!!

Happy Birthday, Matthew!

How could three years have gone by so quickly? You have grown from a tiny baby into a "little boy"!  You have your own personality, likes and dislikes, and talents. You are a special boy and we are so thankful to the Lord that he allowed us to have you for our grandson! 

These are some favorite pictures of you from the past year. We feel fortunate to live so close and be able to have a part in your life! You make any day fun.

We already have some fun memories of times we have shared - the ocean, the parks, the zoo, days spent at our house, playing trains, racing cars, playing with stuffed animals, and reading lots of books.

One of our best memories will always be taking you to your first ballgames! You have become quite a baseball fan - the Tigers can be proud! Grandpa loves to have you at the ballgame with him. Last time we were there he almost fell down the stairs while holding you and trying to get a fly baseball at the same time!! For you, of course! :) And he got one! Thank goodness, he didn't fall!

Have a fun birthday. I hate to see our little grandson grow up, but I know you will be a wonderful "big boy" also!

This picture was taken by me one night at your house. We were playing ball in your front yard and Grandpa had been trying to teach you how to use a baseball bat. You would have none of it! But you loved playing!

I love your smile and your hugs! You are the best grandson ever! We love you and wish you a

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

New Esme Pictures!

Esme

Look at this little princess! She has it made!

These pictures are from their vacation a couple of weeks ago in St. Augustine, FL. They had a cottage right on the ocean.

Shari and Esme

Isn't she a sweetie?

We can't wait to see her and hold her again! She has gained about three pounds since we last saw her!

Birthday Party!

Matthew Turns Three!

Today we celebrated Matthew's third birthday with a party of family and some friends at his house. He was so excited! He picked out this cake himself. He loves baseball and has seen the American flag at baseball games at Comerica Park, so Shelley took him to pick out a cake and this is the one he wanted!  :) 

This car wasn't really a birthday present, but Bob was driving in the neighborhood one day this week and this car was being discarded. He stopped to see how much the man would charge for it and the man gave it to him for free. It runs on a rechargeable battery. Matthew is in this picture with Peyton, his cousin who was at his party.

Matthew got lots of presents. He wanted to play with all of them and would forget that he hadn't opened all of them yet. He loves using playdough and these were some tools for making things out of playdough.

Bob made sure he looked at all of the birthday cards that came with each present.

Matthew is just getting to the age where he is able to play some games. He got a couple of them for his birthday and he was very pleased.

It was a nice enough evening that the kids got to play outside for awhile while the adults visited. They were in and out and had a great time playing together.

One of his favorite presents was a set of wooden and plastic cars that have interchangeable parts which he got from his aunt who lives in Arizona.

We had appetizers, donuts and cider, pizza, salad, cake, and ice cream. Matthew had lots of family there - His Uncle Tom, Aunt Lisa, Cousin Breanna, Aunt Carol, Uncle Dave, Cousins Peyton, Karia, and Savannah. Terry and I were there, and some friends Amy and Dave Jacquemotte with their kids Avery and Lucas. Avery and Matthew are the same age and she is a special friend of his.

Here are Matthew and Avery looking at one of Matthew's presents.

It was a fun evening! Matthew loves having company and was just old enough this time to really know it was his birthday and was able to enjoy the presents and cake.

        

Yate's Cider Mill

Today was a beautiful fall Saturday! The weather was perfect - pleasantly warm and sunny! We started out the day by working a couple of hours in the kitchen where we are removing the wallpaper and paste that have been there for about twenty years. We are making good progress! At noon we got together with Shelley, Bob, and Matthew and went to lunch at Chelies. It is one of our favorite places and we had a great time visiting with Shel and Bob and playing with Matthew. Since it was such a great day, we decided to go to Yate's Cider Mill for part of the afternoon. Shelley and Bob and Matthew couldn't join us, but we went anyway.

It was VERY crowded!! We parked quite far away and walked. The line for cider was long, so we decided to walk along the river. It is always so beautiful there. While we were walking, we saw a little girl of about seven standing along the railing. She was alone and crying. She said she was lost. She knew which way her mom had headed, but had lost track of her. Another lady came up about that time and suggested that she call her mom on the lady's cell phone. She did that and a few minutes later her mom came up and just kind of grabbed her. I think the mom had been scared and just reacted out of embarassment and fear. 

These are some pictures of the scenery we saw today while walking along the river. Isn't it beautiful?

A young couple wanted us to take a picture of them, so they reciprocated and took a picture of us!

When we got back from walking along the river the line for cider was two or three times what it was before, so we had to give up the idea of getting cider today. So we bought our favorite tart apples (Empire) and started home. There won't be many more days like this! I know winter is coming and it is long, so we were thankful to have a day to just enjoy the beautiful fall season! God is good!

GEORGE GEORGE PARK - Autumn 2008

Today was a beautiful autumn day - a day that would be hard to spend inside when you could be outside enjoying the cool breeze, the warm sun, the blue sky, and the gorgeous autumn trees!

It was a perfect day to go to George George Park - a beautifully landscaped place with two fountains, many bridges, creeks, ponds with geese, clean picnic areas, gardens, and beautiful TREES!

In the middle of the park is a children's Play Area. It is for climbing, swinging, sliding, and pretending. Shelley and I played with Matthew there for awhile before we ate our lunches on a picnic table under the shade of a beautiful old tree. For awhile we played on a black twine structure that looked like a spider web. We all had to be "spiders". Matthew knows that neither one of us likes spiders, so he let us be "little tiny" ones!

The trees are just beginning to turn colors and they are so beautiful! Here is a view across the park.
We crossed several bridges on a walk through the park. This was the view from one of the bridges of a little creek running through the property.

I don't know what happened to my frame around this picture - I did make one - but it is still a great picture of Shelley and Matthew at the top of one of the slides in the play area. Shelley actually went down the slide with Matthew and she is eight months pregnant!! She gets around very well, but it is getting tougher to keep up with an active almost three year old.

We stopped by a large pond to see all of the geese swimming in the water and getting food in the mud and grass. There were also some cute ducks.

Matthew was very nice to pose by this big pine tree. It kind of shows how little he is, but most of the tree got cut off.

Matthew was getting tired of pictures by this time, but we "snuck" this one  in. I wanted one that showed some trees in the background, but he would have nothing to do with any more pictures.

We had a great time - what a wonderfully beautiful place! Here is the pool around one of the fountains. There used to be a sign that said "No swimming!" in front of it. One day Terry and I were walking here and saw two girls actually swimming in this pool. Their mother had brought a change of clothes and towels to dry them when they got out. Go figure!!

Michigan is so beautiful in the autumn! I had a great time being outside. I am so grateful that we have these times together. I love my grandson very much - he's the best! Soon we will have another grandchild to love and play with -can't wait! :)

In the midst of all of the chaos in the world right now with the economic crisis and the crazy Presidential campaign, it struck me how peaceful it was at the park today and how peaceful we can feel in the middle of a world at unrest because we have a family who loves us and a God who holds us in his hand!