Wordless Wednesday - Cheers!

Happy Birthday, Ruby!

I realize I am a day late, but I decided to post a birthday greeting to my precious Ruby anyway. She is a big 2 year old and the first thing she said when she got up yesterday was "I need presents." She gets it already!! She does have some presents coming but she'll just have to wait a few days to get them. If anyone remembers Annie as a toddler then they will know what I mean when I say looking at Ruby is like a visit to the past. She looks exactly like her mom did, both beautiful girls. Love you, Ruby!!

Finally, the end of 2010

Thought I would post just a few of the MANY pictures I took of our family Christmas and finally wrap up 2010. Katie had my blog made into a book a couple of years ago and I would like to have the rest printed so I need to at least have some pictures of all of our holidays. Enough, on with the pictures...
I really don't think Sam is aware that this is an Oklahoma Sooner Santa hat. I plan on keeping this picture to torture him with in the future.

Brock is ready to open presents, I really think he just wants to rip the paper off the boxes, not that interested in what is inside them.

Max always opens his gifts behind the TV. I just realized this year that he does this to keep everyone else away from his stuff. I just thought the sharing spirit was alive and well at our house...

The kids gave Greg a new television for the kitchen. He likes to park himself at a chair pulled up to the kitchen bar and watch TV away from the chaos in the living room. Now he can do it in style.

I made all the kids a scrap book of our Disney vacation. I made it on Scrap Blog (thank you Cari for cluing me in on this awesome site) and then had it printed for everyone. It was great fun to do. I hope we take many more vacations that I can make books about!

I thought these trains would be great gifts for the three toddlers. You would think I would recognize the "danger" potential of toys by now. Heidi's favorite thing about this train is her ability to launch herself off it.

Ruby's favorite gift was her new boots. She is already a little fashionista, especially where shoes are concerned.

Can you tell these two "Hiccups" are ready to train some dragons?

Rock band in training!

A finally Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

For Lacy...

Okay, Lacy, you are right. I still love reading the blogs of others and my intention was to get back at it myself. Then I looked at my blog and saw that I had not posted since October! It couldn't have been that long, I am sure that blog goblins are playing tricks on me. Regardless, I am going to try posting a little more often, hey, it helps me remember what has been going on around here. Since it is still January, I feel completely justified in posting about our Christmas. I will try to limit the number of pictures and also limit myself to 2 (maybe 3) posts. Thought I would just do a quick recap of our family participation in Christmas programs. There were several featuring the children and I will grace you with those pictures. Our adult choir joined with other choirs in our community and presented a Christmas musical at Crystal Christmas this year. Wish I had pictures of this (not of me, huddling under a blanket in the choir) but of the living nativity (Mandy was a glorious angel) and looked quite angelic I might add. It was fun, very cold, and also meaningful to be a part of this production. Sally also joined me in the choir. So I will move on to the children's programs, not all of them, but a few highlights...

Ben's preschool put on their annual Christmas celebration in the evening so all of the proud family members could attend. Doesn't he look so angelic?

Of course, you cannot play the rhythm sticks without first putting them in your ears, probably helps tune them or something...

Of course, all stars get a little weary of all the attention, so you must just turn your back and ignore it (no he is not picking a wedgie).

Our children's choir at church performed "Baa Baa Bethlehem." It was one our kids put on in Yukon many years ago, but it was just a cute and the message is timeless. Max is the"silly shepherd who needs a shave," Emily is "Fussy the complaining sheep" (and may I add that she had her character nailed!) and Sam was a "student" in the choir. I couldn't have been a prouder Mimi!

I also got to travel to Owasso to see some other special little people do a special performance in December. You'd think I would feel a little sorry for Pa, since he has to work so much and couldn't go, and I did, a little. It certainly didn't keep me home. Lily is getting ready for her special line, she is such a perfectionist.

Ella also had a line, while cousin Cooper held a sign for her. Cooper is not nearly as enthusiastic about performing as Ella.

Thought I would leave you with the group picture taken after my tree was trimmed. It perfectly summed up the evening. There was joy, frustration, grumpiness, silliness, noncooperation, and just lots of great memories!!

The Big Apple!

This fall, Greg and I got to visit New York City with some good friends. This is our third trip to the city and we got to see some things we never had before. Of course, you could go to NYC for years and still not see all the city has to offer. We had a great time.
For some reason, my husband loves to make purchases from the street vendors. Here he models a lovely cap, which was one of his bargains. He also purchased a "Rolex Sub Mariner" watch for about $20. Yes, he knew it was a knock off, but "looked cool." :)

Our hotel was right on Times Square, here Greg and Bruce are deciding what we need to see first. Talk about sensory overload, it can be overwhelming!

Elmo was roaming the streets giving people photo opportunities. I have some grandchildren who LOVE Elmo so I thought they would get a kick out of this picture. As we were posing for this picture Elmo whispers in my ear, in a foreign accent I might add: "One dollah fo pichur."

This was our second visit to Ground Zero. It will be amazing when it is finished, but we were there about a year and a half ago and there hasn't been a great deal of progress since then. We gathered that some of the native New Yorkers are frustrated by this since a skyscraper is thrown up in a year and it has been nine years since that terrible day in September.

My sweet husband was nice enough to take the train across the river to Hoboken, NJ to visit the home of the Cake Boss. Emily and I love to watch this show together. It wasn't too bad for Greg, because we got quite a few treats from the bakery! Emily and I also got matching shirts. Didn't get to see Buddy, but Chef Mauro was working out front and we got to visit a minute with Buddy's mom!

I had to post this picture, it was taken in a riverfront park in Hoboken. I thought it was some kind of modern art sculpture until I realized it is a toy. Yes, a playground toy. Quite unique, too.

Greg and Bruce, both being in the oil and gas industry found this sign quite hilarious. It says "Gas drilling in New York could contaminate the drinking water for millions of people." They said it just goes to show that New Yorkers know absolutely nothing about drilling for natural gas!

The other two time we have visited New York there have been street performers. Good way to make some extra money, I guess, but these guys had a different angle. For a small donation. you could pose for a picture with their pets. You can imagine my reaction, this picture is taken from over a block away with my zoom lens. I draw the line at snakes, in the country or the city!

We took a boat ride around Manhattan Island. While there we saw the Coast Guard, armed and ready for any suspicious looking activity. The guide said the UN was in session so security was pretty tight. Another thing New Yorkers aren't too fond of, the UN. He said all it does is make problems with traffic and closed roads and such.

The Soup Nazi (the one Seinfield based a character on) is back in business! Apparently he had to close up shop for awhile because his fame from the TV show made him so popular there was no way he could accommodate all of his customers.

This is a pet hospital and I swear it is as big as our local one. it offers all kinds of pet care, from check-ups to surgery to private in house rooms, even intensive care. The tour guide said the animals get as good or better service as some human hospitals give, all for a dear price of course. I loved my pets, but I don't know if I could justify going into debt for their health care.

This picture was taken from the top of The Rock (the Rockefeller Building). The Empire State Building is in the background. We have never made it to the top of that one, never wanted to fight the long lines.

We got to attend a Yankee's game. Before the game started there was a ceremony honoring George Steinbrenner. Many old Yankees were in attendance, such as Yogi Berra and Don Mattingly, it was very cool. Frank Sinatra Jr. sang the national anthem and he sounds a lot like his dad. And the Yankees beat Tampa Bay!

I must admit that the sight of Lady Liberty never fails to give me goose bumps. I thank God that I am lucky enough to be an American!

Bug Hunt, Soccer, and Homecoming!

I know it is Wordless Wednesday, but I still have some serious blog catching up to do. Two posts this week and it is only Wednesday, gotta be a record for me. Some of you "old" Woodward alums probably remember the 3rd grade bug hunts. Well, I got to attend another one with Emily. We took the hike to Crystal Beach and those bugs had to beware!

Emily in action!

Emily is fortunate to have Mrs. Lucas as her teacher. She is so wonderful, we all love her!

Emily and her buddy, Lizzie.

Max and Sam played Kids Inc soccer this fall and got to be on the same team. It did make is easier on the fans. Sam was just about the youngest on the team but that didn't slow him down any!

I think you can tell from the look on Max's face that he takes his soccer seriously!

Last Friday was Homecoming. There were many festivities which I, of course, forgot to take my camera to. The parade was a free for all of candy gathering. We were just happy to get away with no injuries. But the only picture of got was of these two before leaving to see the parade. We had a great time even if I didn't get to record anything for posterity. I think the grandkids were relieved to have a respite from Mimi's photo opportunities...

Catching up!

I have been a terrible blogger lately, okay, worse than that, totally pathetic! It seems I always have something so important (to me) to do that I have not been on the computer much at all. But as I was doing my blog lurking, I still really like reading other peoples blogs, I decided to get with the program. I must confess that I have an ulterior motive. Our computer crashed this summer, with a disastrous BANG! Fried hard drive, lost all my information, and I was so depressed. FYI - there are places send your hard drive for retrieval, but lets just say that you could purchase several new computers for the price they charge for that service! I have not been very consistent with backing up my pictures so I lost a lot! I know, I know, I am now backing them up, twice! But I am getting off track, luckily, all of the pictures posted to facebook or my blog are still safe, so I am going to be a better blogger, if for the only reason that it will help keep my pictures safe. Having said that, I plan on posting several times this week, and the posts may be long and boring, but I WILL have a pictorial record of the family. I may even print these blogs, Katie did one for me and it was terrific! Okay, so the family took their annual Labor Day Camping trip to Canton, which is the subject of this post...

Greg's Uncle Edgar and Aunt Caroline joined us for this trip, and we were so excited. It had been years since we had seen them.

Ruby made the rounds, too bad she gets no attention. Here she is sitting on Grandma Vena's lap, playing with MY IPhone.

Now she is on Nanny Rice's lap...

For some reason Ben didn't think Pa Rice needed a nap, but it seems he can sleep through anything these days....


Brock could find mud in a seven year drought, of course, since this is right by the water spigot it wasn't too hard too find.

Pa's truck is absolutely filthy, so it is a good thing the girls were handy to wash it off!

Max found this lovely fish skeleton near the lake, he always seems to locate disgusting items everywhere he goes.

Don't know why, but throwing rocks into the lake is a favorite past time, luckily no injuries resulted in the said activity.

Ryder and his bike..

Apparently, this is Ben's bike, he just has to have a handy energy source to make it go.

Four of the grandchildren have September birthdays, so we celebrated during the weekend, Lily-7, Cooper-5, Max-8, and Heidi-1.

Three of the birthday kids, Heidi wasn't cooperating.

We do have a big number of munchkins running around the place.

The cake was enthusiastically enjoyed by Ella and Sam!

Heidi had a small cake all her own, which as you can readily see...

she really enjoyed!