From Tea to Cosmos

I had the pleasure spending the last afternoon of the year with my daughters enjoying a "Victorian Tea" in a new tea room in town. We were seated in a nice quiet and private room to sip our tea, munch (I guess "munch" wouldn't be a good word to use while eating delicate delights) enjoy our lovely tea sandwiches and savory goodies, and indulge in the very delectable scones, petit fours, and cookies. In addition we used the time to reminisce and laugh and chat the afternoon away. A wonderful time with my girls!

We sat in the "Alice in Wonderland" room!

We had such a good time being together . . .
a rare treat with SS living in the midwest, as she does.

JJ can shake together a great Cosmo!

Yummo!

As the sun set, our evening began with a refreshing cosmo . . . or two . . . a great way to say goodbye to 2007 and hello to 2008.

Happy New Year everybody!

Life is good!

A Field Trip with the Kids

Today we gathered early and made a trek up to Mountain House for a scrumptious breakfast—S and M's treat! Upon arrival back at the house a game of Pegs and Jokers was played with the kids . . . the "Boys" won, and they were feeling pretty proud. Jen had packed up a picnic lunch and we piled into the cars and all but M went over to Mariposa to the California State Mining and Mineral Museum which was a real blast. The kids all worked on a quiz so they could earn their Junior Ranger badge and we all learned a lot about rocks and minerals and gems. A highly recommended place to go for all ages!

S.Sue took this picture of us so that I could be in one of the photos for the day too. She knows, now that she's a mom herself how we so often are the photographer in the family and rarely are in the "family outing" keepsake pictures.

R.D. is doing so much better in school now that he has his glasses, and they look pretty darn cute on him, don't you think!

Packing a picnic lunch was such a good idea. Thanks JJ!

Here is T trying to stay warm as he enjoyed his P and J sandwich.

JD was anxious to get inside the museum.

KL, the only girl of the five grandkids, holds a special place in my heart!

CD loves having his cousins to play with.

Here KL is helping R with the test questions they needed to answer to earn their Junior Ranger badges . . . he was pretty excited about that!

Auntie S enjoyed helping the "cuzzies" with their answers.

This is one of the many exhibits . . . the Fricot Nugget, over 200 ounces of gold. It was discovered in 1865 in El Dorado County, California, and was sold to Jules Fricot a few years later for $1640 and is currently worth more than $168,500. It is thought to be the largest surviving specimen of crystalline gold from the Gold Rush era.

Ranger Randy awarding the kids their Junior Ranger passports and badges.

KL is about an inch and a half taller than I am!

Life is good having more fun with family!

Fun with Family

Today we got to just kick back and play with the kids. We ventured into the local bowling alley and watched the kids and grandkids try their darnedest to knock over the pins. Then we moved on to the arcade where lots of gold coins were purchased and spent on the various games in just a few minutes. We headed home for dinner and a rip-roaring three games of Pegs and Jokers. We had lots of fun with all of them and look forward to a few more days before the mid-western part of the family have to fly home.

Five cousins had a great time at the bowling alley!

STRIKE!

Anticipating learning to drive someday.

Some serious Pegs and Jokers games were played.

Four Generation Christmas Celebration

Today we had the honor and privilege of a four-generation celebration. What a blessing it is to still have Mom with us and so close by so that she can spend lots of time with her daughter and son-in-law, and their daughters and families making up the four generations. I have lots of pictures to illustrate our fun day.

Whenever we can we like to get the four-generation
"girls" picture.

Here is Mom and five of her "Greats!"

S.Sue enjoying a gift from her sis!

Here's Mom feeling the softness of her new jammies.

Here is RD engrossed in a new book—one of the "Michigan Chillers" series.

The artist at work!

K has some catching up to do,
starting with the first series of "24"

A gift from her sister will keep her hands warm
in the chilly mornings ahead.

What a nice comfy sweater in which to enjoy his new DVDs

He loves to tease his mother-in-law,
and she thoroughly enjoys it too!

I love hand-made gifts . . . this will be displayed in a special place!—thank you S.Sue!

Another new thing to enjoy through the next year!

One just can't have too much GI Joe things!

This picture frame will go so well in her new bedroom!

30th Anniversary Star Wars pop-up books . . .
what fun to discover how the characters unfold
right in front of your eyes.

You gotta love the smiles!

Here is JD with Auntie S . . . he's taking lessons from her and acting as her "sous chef", and will someday become a great chef himself! Shown here is goat cheese with marinara sauce on top and then baked in the oven until the cheese is warm and gooey . . . yummo!

And here he is again preparing the sliced baguette with garlic butter and then he toasted it in the oven for the goat cheese concoction.

Life is good! . . . especially spending the day with Mom and all the rest of our little family!

Day Three

The day started early with Jen picking me up this morning with her three tagging along to hit the "Day After Christmas Sale" at JoAnns which has become an annual tradition. However in this part of the country it's not a stressful event. We found a parking place right near the front door, went in and gathered up our treasures mostly at 70% discount and were back in the car in less than forty minutes. Normally it's a two-hour event—waiting in huge lines to get the deals! Then we headed to Target so the kids could spend their gift cards, then on to Costco for a quick hot dog and shopping for the mid-western family's visit . . . we were home by 2 p.m. . . . and totally relaxed. With a quick pick up of the house and a chicken pie in the oven, we greeted our daughter and son-in-law and two grandsons with open arms. They had a long travel day and were glad to finally get here. We'll enjoy being together for the next week or so. How truly blessed we are!

Here are the other two of our five grandkids.
It's so much fun to watch them play all together.

Day Two . . .

After we took Mom home in a terrible fog last night (I'm talkin' white-knuckle driving), we quickly went to bed in anticipation of an early morning. I couldn't get to sleep until well after midnight. When we left it was agreed that the kids could get up at 6 o'clock to see if Santa had come—providing the coffee was ready (keeping up with a four-generation-tradition). Then we would all exchange our gifts after our arrival. Needless to say we didn't want to miss out on anything . . . so we got up at the ungodly hour of 4:45 this morning, had our cappucino to get the caffeine going through our bodies hoping to wake up, got dressed, and headed up to greet the kids. We pulled into their driveway at 6 a.m. sharp! They were so unbelievably surprised to see us, and their adrenaline was already pumping—filling them with extraordinary excitement. Here are a few pictures of our morning for you to enjoy.

Note from Santa left on the kitchen counter.

The discovery stage . . .

The much-desired ipod!

The tidy mess of tissue, boxes, and opened gifts

Is there anything with MY name on it?

In eager anticipation of the blueberry muffins baking in the convection oven . . . a new appliance with which to get acquainted.

The fog burned off—welcoming a chilling however beautiful Christmas morning.

Life is Good!

It's Christmas Eve And All Is Well

It has been such a busy month what with getting Mom settled in her new home in Fresno, and helping Jen's family get settled (almost) in their new home. Somehow Christmas Eve is upon us and we had a wonderful time enjoying time with family, a wonderful ham dinner, and singing Christmas carols. We'll spend Christmas morning with them and then two days later we'll have our "tree" with the mid-western-based daughter and family when they fly in to join us for nearly a week! I'm pooped and don't feel quite as creative in writing so I'll just let you enjoy some of the pictures capturing our family fun.

This picture is for my little sister, who taught Jen how to make
the most festive and delicious Cosmos!
Merry Christmas, Jackie!

And here's Jen enjoying her brand new kitchen!

My mom is adorable at 87 years old!
We love having her so close to us.

Jen's amazing . . . having moved to the new house ten days ago,
it was decorated like she'd been in it for years!

A "Grammie and Papa tradition"
New jammies so they can open a present on Christmas Eve!