Family Time

I have a reason for not posting about our trip yet - there's a new baby in our family!  My niece, Lauren, had a baby girl last month.  I was finally able to make a trip to Fresno to meet her and I'm so in love!  Olive Jae is just a darling little bundle.

 

 

We had a mini reunion on Tuesday night.  My brother, Rick, is a fabulous great uncle!

 

 

My sister, "Mimi" Kim.  If you look closely you will see braces on both her arms.  Kim took a tumble a few weeks ago and broke her right wrist, broke her right elbow, and sprained her left wrist!  I drove her to her followup appointment on Wednesday.  X-rays show that she is healing, it's just going to take time. 

 

 

The other star of the show, of course, is Olive's big brother Bo.  He will be in four in February and he kept us entertained all evening.

 

 

I brought several gifts, my favorite is this book - "A is for Adobo."  With his blonde hair and blue eyes you wouldn't guess that Bo is one fourth Filipino, but he is.  This is an alphabet book with Filipino words and it is adorable!

 

 

He loves Olive and is so sweet with her!

 

 

"Moose on the Loose" shirt that we bought in Canada.

 

 I found this darling handmade duck at a produce stand in Cookeville.

 

Bo had one request at the end of the evening - a little dance party, with head gear required!

 

 

After Kim's appointment on Wednesday, we got a little more time with Lauren and Olive while Bo was at preschool.  I think I just held her and stared in awe for about an hour!!

 

 

 

Bo came home just before I left.  He and Mimi had a drawing party.  It was so fun to see how creative he is!

 

I'm so thankful for my family!!

Family Time

 

Sandwiched between two very busy church weekends, we made a quick trip to Fresno.  I got to see my entire immediate family with the exception of just one, my nephew Ryan.  The rest of us gathered at Kim and Rodney's for dinner.  The main attraction, of course, is our little darling ~ Bo!

Three generations ~ "great" Aunt Kathy, Bo, and Auntie Krysten

 

I didn't get a single picture of my brother, Rick, and his wife, Diana.  We enjoyed catching up.  They went to Ireland and Scotland in October, so we had a lot of traveling to talk about!  We stayed up way past all of our bedtimes, but enjoyed the time so much.

On Friday, Kim, Les and I went over to Lauren and Jordan's for some more time together.  These two were having quite the conversation:

It's so fun having a little one around again!

Where Did September Go?

 

It's been almost six weeks since my last post.  We had a very busy end of the summer.  Les traveled to Philadelphia for work the last week of August.  We then enjoyed Labor Day at home - we even made s'mores in our backyard!

The day after Labor Day we flew to Hawaii.  DRC (Decision Research Corporation, Les' employer) celebrated 50 years of business and Les spent about 10 days in the office.  This was our first trip to the island this year - we've definitely missed it and our many friends, especially our First Church Hawaii Ohana.

 

 

We also enjoyed running and cycling.

 

Beautiful sunsets.

 

 

Friday night fireworks.

 

And a double rainbow!

We did not enjoy the fact that our Hawaii car broke down.  But God definitely led us to the right mechanic.  Sanchez Mobile Car Care came to us.  Jon was such a pleasure to work with and I immediately felt that I could trust him.  He had to replace the alternator and the starter, but his prices were completely in line with what we read online.  He had quite an office/diagnotics setup in his truck!

We got home from Hawaii Saturday morning, September 17th.  Victory Tabernacle Sunday school department hosted a Fun Day Sunday the next day.  The theme was Safari and our Sunday school department did an outstanding job!

We spent the afternoon outside - eating, fellowshipping and playing games.

The dunk tank was quite a hit!

Les had to fly to Las Vegas for a work conference the next day.  We decided I would go to Fresno on Thursday and he would fly from Las Vegas to Fresno on Friday morning when his conference was over.  We then drove home together.  I enjoyed some sister time!  I also saw my nieces and the sweetest little boy, my grand-nephew Bo!  (If you're local and want to see what he looks like, please don't hesitate to ask!)  Les got to meet Bo for the first time and Bo was fascinated with his great uncle!

No trip to Fresno is complete without a stop at Bravo Farms.  We had lunch there, then stopped at the fudge counter.  Whoever makes their fudge is a master!  The flavors are amazing.  We got Heath, Strawberry shortcake, Pralines, and Lemon meringue, because they always have "Buy Three, Get One Free."  Again, the flavors are amazing!

Last week we started revival with Evangelist Mike Truck and his wonderful family.  God is moving at Victory Tabernacle and we are thankful!

Grandparents Day

Happy Grandparents Day to any of my readers who have grandchildren.  I was blessed to know five of my grandparents.  Both of Mom's grandmothers were still living while I was growing up, along with Mom's mom and Dad's mom and dad!  I think the bond with grandparents is very special and I'm grateful for mine.

One of my earliest posts was called, "When Mom Became Grandma."  Mom wrote in her Grandmother's Memories book:  "When I first became a grandmother, I felt like a Queen. I couldn't stop grinning; I got 3 grandbabies in 10 weeks! Ryan, Krysten & Lauren."  Ryan was born on January 11th (his daddy's birthday) and Krysten and Lauren showed up 7 weeks before their due date on March 20th.

 

Grandparents Day has brought a new emotion this year.  It started with a text I received about a month ago from my niece, Lauren:

My heart is overflowing with excitement!  Lauren and Jordan got married in January of this year and now they are going to make my sister a grandmother and I get to be Great Aunt Kathy!  It seems like yesterday that they were this tiny:

The Santa Series

I've posted these pictures of my siblings before, but they are just too funny to not show again.

Christmas 1959, Kim is about 8 months

December 1960


1961, add Rick who is about 11 months


December 1962

1963, Rod joins the mix at about 9 months


I was born in 1964 and there are no more photos with Santa! I'm guessing 3 unhappy kids was the limit for Mom. I'm sure I would have cried ~ that is one scary looking Santa.

Do you have pictures with Santa? Have you, or will you this year, be taking your kids to sit on his lap?