A Milestone Celebration

We celebrated John's 60th birthday here Saturday with a family gathering for a turkey feast. Oliver was happy to be here for Grampack!
He always responds to Mommy with a smile and something to say and luckily I was right there with my camera.
Oliver's almost 4 months old. He doesn't look much like Trenton now but we see some of Grampack's features and Greatgrandma's strawberry blond hair!

The sling is a convenient way for Sheryl to carry him and still have her hands free.

Trenton had lots of fun with everyone. He was so cute when he said to me, "Grandma, your snow's all gone." After dinner he was able to go outside and play football and baseball with some of the guys and Chrysanne, too.

Now this is an excellent father-son picture and will be added to our framed collection!

We were 13 at the table, including Ollie in the sling. Elise had to work and we missed her very much.

I've just said one of Uncle Jack's graces and we're ready to dig in!

The dining room can't contain this group anymore. This picture is especially good because the framed pics on the wall are clearly visible in the background. Thanks, Aunt Jinny, for the "60" napkins, they were a welcome gift.

Now the plates are empty and the bellies are full, but not too full for dessert!

Greatgrandma showed us what color her hair was when she was a child. Too bad color photography wasn't invented then ;-) Oliver's is a very similar color.

John had a very nice day, celebrating, feasting and being with family.

Desserts galore - Greatgrandma made an applesauce-walnut cake, a favorite of John's - plus there was cherry pie, brownies, cookies, donuts, fruit salad, and, of course - a GF dessert for me and Carolyn. Oliver helped blow out the candles.

Singing Happy Birthday to John-Dad-Grampack.

Greatgrandma enjoyed some quality time with both greatgrandsons as she was able to hold Oliver and be in the bathroom while I gave Trenton his bath.

John's actual birthday was Thursday and we celebrated at home with a delicious shrimp scampi dinner and many birthday phone calls. Then on Friday evening he was scheduled to be at the club for the trap shoot, on a frigid night. At 7:30 PM, after being in the scoring chair for a numbing 2 hours, he was unexpectedly called in to the clubhouse to help out in the kitchen. He was quite surprised to see friends, family and club members all gathered to celebrate!!!! Thanks Jim for arranging such a memorable get-together and thanks to everybody for coming with food and beverages and sharing in this milestone birthday. Thanks, too, to everyone who sent cards (Kearneys sent 3!).

Valentine's Day

We had fun with our grandsons while Sheryl and Jim had a Valentine's dinner at a local restaurant. It was fun for us to be with the boys and it was romantic for them to have time together!

Birds Galore

The pine siskins have arrived! Sometimes we have 40 on 3 thistle seed feeders. Apparently it's too cold up north so they are wintering here.

Four Days in a Row

Trenton and Jim arrived here for dinner on Friday. Saturday morning John and Jim went to Round Valley and hiked 8 rugged miles in the snow to prepare for next month's snowshoe marathon. Trenton and I bundled up and played outside. He enjoyed going down the hill in the front yard in his dad's old green plastic sled! They left Saturday afternoon and met up with Sheryl and Oliver in North Brunswick for a party.

We arrived in Howell on Sunday in time to make and eat wings, calzones, french fries, chips and salsa and hummus, have a beer or two, oh, and watch the Super Bowl/Commercials.
Ollie's a chubby cutie, always happy and very interested in what's going on. My camera's flash is too bright sometimes so I mute it with a tissue. Unfortunately, as you can see above, 2 layers of tissue is too much.

He likes to watch this mobile. He's also almost ready to roll over.

This is the first time I've seen Ollie have a bath. He enjoys it.

See how red his hair looks!

Now he's all clean and ready for pictures at the mall.

Grampack gets Trenton laughing like crazy every time they're together!

He was having fun with the remote control car we gave him for Christmas. It was rewarding to be with Trenton 4 days in a row, and Oliver 2 days in a row.

We had some wet snow today. This has been a cold, snowy, windy and icy winter.

The pictures are adorable!

Three months old

Three years old