Christmas - 2010

We had a wonderful Christmas celebration at Mom's this year but it was marred by the absence of John and Jason due to illness. Jason battled food poisoning for 24 hours and John stayed with him to help out. Chrysanne picked out this Elmo toy for Oliver. It was a big success!
Oliver's looking with interest at his Elmo Knex set from Greatgrandma.
Bryan enjoyed helping Trenton build his Lego set from Greatgrandma. Bryan was the king of Legos when he was a kid. He's a grown-up college student now - can you believe it?

The table was weighted down with large quantities of delicous food. Oops, Sheryl's face is hidden behind the chandelier. Can you see who is reflected in the mirror? It's Bryan.

Here's another view, minus me of course. We lucked out with the weather. Please go to Sheryl's blog to see good Christmas pictures and pictures of the blizzard.

The microphone was a gift from the Georges as was the Hess truck, both big hits with the boys.

The annual Georges Christmas picture. They missed having their picture taken last year because Dino and Bryan were absent due to illness.

It was a fun gathering.

Mom did a remarkable job planning, setting up, cooking and entertaining!

Oliver asks, "See it?"

Jim, Sheryl, Trenton and Oliver then came to our house to spend the night. We opened presents at night and the next morning. They were thrilled with this kid-sized pool table from Uncle Jay.

Moving Day

While John, Jim, Sheryl and Jason were moving Jim and Sheryl's stuff to storage, I had the pleasure of having the boys here this weekend. They loved the Christmas tree and all the decorations. Oliver can count (accurately) and he counted all the little tree candles.
They couldn't wait for the icing to dry on their gingerbread men. This is obviously a "before" picture ;-)

Here they are decorating - er, redorating - the window stickees. It's fun for them and for me to have decorations they can safely play with.

Our big project was making homemade suet in cupcake liners for family Christmas presents. It was messy, very messy, but lots of fun. Thanks for coming, boys, it was wonderful to have you here - all to myself.

Thanksgiving Gathering

We had a snowy Thanksgiving this year but the weather didn't keep any of our guests away.
We were fifteen at a very long table that extended into the living room.

Even though we took pictures from each direction we weren't able to get everyone in the picture. Jim took this picture and I took the previous one.

Trenton and Oliver had a great time playing with their second cousins. Peter, Bryan, Chrysanne, Trenton and Oliver played with toys that were new for Peter!

Now that's one happy Greatgrandma.

Bear

I received a frantic call from John while I was driving home from ShopRite yesterday just before 4 PM. He was looking for the camera's memory card but I had it with me to print some pictures. Luckily he was able to find the spare in the case. Why the urgency? There was a bear in our backyard!

A minute earlier Jason was in his room when he looked out the front window and noticed that a car was stopped at the end of our driveway. The people were looking towards our backyard so Jason went to the door to the deck and spotted the bear. John's used to receiving our reports on backyard wildlife sightings but usually we just say, "There are some deer eating pumpkins" or "there's a squirrel on the obstacle course." This time Jason said, "There's a bear in the backyard!" Just then a neighbor called to say a bear was headed our way and John told her "it's already here!" Then began the mad dash for the camera.
As I started to pull down the driveway a few minutes later I noticed that John was not waving to me from his chair near the window so I surmised that they might still be looking at the bear. I parked part-way down the driveway and went in the front door and found them taking pictures from our bedroom window with the storm window up.

What fun it was to watch it feast on peanuts. You could hear it breathing and chewing.

The peanut feeder is supported by a pipe which the bear easily bent over.

After finishing the peanuts it started looking around for something else to eat. This platform is just a wobbly disk so it then moved on to look up at the bird feeders which are now hanging from fishing line off the deck to prevent raccoons from getting at them. It climbed up the corner of the deck! We didn't want it on the deck so John opened the sliding door but all it did was look at John! John made some noise and the bear dropped back to the ground. Then it wandered around back near the boat and then to our neighbor's. I called the neighbor because I knew she'd just been outside with her two girls. I left a voice mail about the bear but he didn't linger, he headed out into the woods. A few minutes later a caravan of cars came down the road driving slowly and looking out back. People must have been following the bear's travels. It was probably a young male, about 150 lbs. We were happy to be home to take pictures and to prevent more damage!

Oliver's Second Birthday Party

The dual celebration of Oliver's birthday party and Halloween was lots of fun! Trenton enjoyed playing with Oliver's gifts as much as Oliver! Above Trenton plays with the magnetic car puzzle and Oliver plays with the magnetic fish puzzle.
The musical Spiderman Sit and Spin from Mommy and Daddy was a big hit.

Oliver loves everything Wiggles these days. He's dancing to his new Wiggles CD, probably his favorite song "Hot Potato."

In this picture he's making monkey noises and motions.

Trenton's into superheroes these days. He's Ironman this year. Even the grandparents got into costume.

I stayed with the boys last night while Jim and Sheryl went to a Halloween party.

Sue's costume was extra special! She always dresses up because the kids she sees on her crossing guard job get a big kick out of it. Of course they like the candy she gives out, too.

Oliver's face just lights up when he sees anything Wiggles. He's been calling us and Uncle Jay for a week telling us he's having a "Wiggles cake" on his birthday.

Elmo still delights him, too.

Here's the Wiggles cake! He doesn't quite have the hang of blowing but....

he sure is thrilled when he blows them out!

Hard to believe he's two already.

Trenton, I mean Ironman, enjoys a sweet treat, too.

Oliver's telling us the Wiggles' names: Jeff, Murray, Anthony and Sam.

"Whew, that's enough cake for one day! Thanks everybody for coming to my party."

A Busy Outdoor Weekend

While Jim was successfully completing the Oil Creek, Titusville, PA 100K trail run on Saturday evening cheered on by John and Jason, I was braving the cool, windy weather with Carolyn to watch Chrysanne cheer. She did an excellent job!
Chrysanne kept her hands warm inside the sleeves of her shirt.
Our football team won big. It was a lopsided score.
Their routines are much different than even when Jim was in football. It's more dance and athletic moves now. They were very entertaining and impressive. I sure am glad I was finally able to see Chrysanne cheer. I still remember how cute she was 6 years ago when, as a second grader, they cheered to "Hey Mickey". She performed it for me at home.That song sticks in your head ;-)

Grandma's Visit

Today was a beautiful day for a quick visit to Howell. Hard to believe it's October 11. It was at least 75 degrees!
Oliver's just finished his chocolate dipped pretzel treat. He ate all of the chocolate and some of the pretzel :-)
Ooooh, who's that scary boy? Trenton enjoyed playing with Halloween costume items that were his father's and uncle's!

Trenton as Ironman. Check out those muscles!