CHRISTMAS  2008

Christmas was fun and busy this year. Shari and Mark and Esme' were staying with us from Sunday morning until Christmas morning when they went to Mark's parents. We had a great time with them. Esme' is four months now and just the sweetest thing! She is very smiley in the mornings! Shelley, Matthew, and Nolan came to visit us and we went to visit them. We even babysat for Nolan for about an hour while Shelley took Matthew to the doctor. We made meals, went out to eat, went shopping, and just hung out at our house. 

Christmas Eve we all went to Sandy and Ken's for our traditional night with the O'Brien family. Ron and Barb could not make it because Ron is recupperating from open heart surgery last week. He is doing well, but since it was so cold and it would be late, he decided it would be better not to go out yet. So we missed them, but two of Sandy's sons were there as well as her mom and brother and his wife. We always have a great time of appetizers and food and then play a game exchanging $10. gifts.

This is Shelley sitting in the kitchen with some appetizers.

Mark and Shari got to see Nolan quite a bit this week. He is only three weeks old, so this is his first Christmas also. He sleeps most of the time, but we did get a peek at his eyes a couple of times. He is so precious!

I will really miss our sweet little granddaughter! It was so great to have her with us for several days and get to spend time with her and get to know her! I was very sad when they left on Christmas day. But there are other grandparents and relatives who want to spend time with her also. :(   (Can't blame them!!)

I got to hold Esme' while she slept on Christmas Eve. What a precious baby!

Shari fed her and then took over holding her while she slept. That was a very comfy chair!

Here is a picture of Melissa, Robbie's wife sitting with Shelley while she fed Nolan. Melissa and Rob have a little girl just a bit older than Esme'. Kate is about 5 1/2 months old.

We pick up Great Grandpa every year to come to our Christmas Eve gathering. He had never seen Nolan until that night. Here he is with Esme' and Shari. We did take Grandpa out to eat with Shari and Mark earlier in the week, so he had seen her once before. He is in a nursing home now, but Barb, Ken, and Terry take turns visiting and taking him out a few times a week.

Kalen was home for Christmas. He is Barb and Ron's son and attends Northern University in the upper peninsula. He's used to the snow!!

This is Kristin, Ron and Barb's daughter. She works in the medical field and is going back to school in the fall to study to become a physician's assistant.

Here is "Grandpa Ken" holding little Kate. She is a beautiful baby and he is very proud of her. Her other grandparents, Pam and Barry, were sharing her for the night. Cheryl is the other  "grandmother".

CHRISTMAS DAY

Terry and I took part of the the dinner to Shelley and Bob's, and Shelley made the rest of the dinner. We had a nice time visiting, eating, and opening presents with Matthew, Shelley, and Bob, and Nolan BUT....I FORGOT MY CAMERA!!!!!!!!! :(  :(  How could that happen? I have no clue! I intentionally put it in my purse that morning. But I must have taken it out to get to something else and not realized that I hadn't put it back. I was very mad at myself. Shelley and Bob will share some pictures, but I don't have any yet. 

We left Shel and Bob's around 5:00 because they were going to visit Bob's brother and family that night. Terry and I decided to go to a movie and it was kind of fun with just the two of us. We saw a movie about one of the attempts made on Hitler's life during World War II by people in the German army that were close to the inner circle. There were actually 15 attempts on his life that failed. This one happened about a month before he killed himself. It was an interesting movie and I ate TOO MUCH popcorn!