Christmas with my side of the family

We had a wonderful time on Christmas Day with my side of the family.

Chris, Tami, Ben, Mom, and Bob

Karen relaxing before dinner.

Mom and Bob making the mashed potatoes.

The gift from us to Mom (Dad got the same thing). It says, "Fifty years of Marriage!" and has the picture of them laughing together at their anniversary party.

Karli took some of these pictures.

Lindsey, Ben, and Tami

Calvin and Jez enjoying the mixed nuts.

Anthony enjoying Aunt Jenny's gift. He loves the sky and space, Jenny. Thanks!

He really enjoyed those 3-d glasses that came with his 3-d book his mom got him.

Grandpa and Anthonly (as well as Chris and Lindsey) did the skit about the man and his donkey.

Karli took this picture. I'm not sure what Lincoln and Karen are doing!

Bob put on his presents from his stocking.

Anthony is talking with this other grandma in Michigan. He dropped the phone while talking with her. As he picked up the phone and put it back to his ear, he said, "Grandma, I dropped you with the phone!"

Breanna played her contest piece "Allergra" from Suzuki book 6 for us. It's all 16th notes!

Everyone else enjoyed the 3-d glasses, too.

Lindsey is talking with her other grandma.

Karen bought Lindsey some easy to read books and had Lindsey read them to her.

Breanna played a game like Aggravation with Lindsey and Anthony. Lindsey made sure that Breanna was playing it right!

We played a lively game of Dutch Blitz after we opened presents because Bob said that he would go to sleep if he didn't do something.

It looks like Lincoln didn't do something quick enough to keep from falling asleep. Karli took this picutre. I couldn't throw it away even if it was blurry!

The Grandparents. Looks like they are exhausted after a day of lots of family!

Merry Christmas!!!

Join me in honoring our Savior who was born to a poor family, announced to the outcasts and the kings, and came to bring light in the darkness for generations to come. Thank you, Jesus, for coming so that we could be truly free!

Merry Christmas from my family to yours!

Out to Dinner Afterward

Grandma and Grandpa G and Chris along with Breanna's friend Matt and his parents, all went out to eat with us after the dance at TLCC.

Chris, Amber and Kyle

All of us. You can see Jez in the red at the end of the table. Verna, Matt's mom, is between Breanna and me. (Steve, Matt's dad, took the picture so his face wouldn't be on the internet!)

Aren't they a cute couple?

The Last Dance

In the morning on Sunday, December 17, we did our last full dance at our church. The place was very, very full! We had a short three dances at a church in Middlebury in the afternoon. Now it's all over and very sad!

The KMZ kids sang "O Come O Come Emmanuel" and did the first dialog before the first dance, "The Angels' Medley."

Breanna on the left and me in the middle.

This is the finale where we all dance together for the song, "We Bow Down." A spirit of worship is on the places where we all bow down and worship Jesus together.

Breanna and I in a Dance

We are dancing in a dance called, One Holy Night. There are 9 dances performed by 6 different groups of dancers. Breanna and I dance to Oh Holy Night. Breanna is in the adult dance because she had a conflict with the time the teens met. It's neat dancing with her! There is dialog in between. It brings the congregation into worship of Jesus birth, death, and ressurection. We performed in the morning yesterday. Then Breanna had an orchestra concert at 3. There was another dance at 7 p.m. Breanna didn't go. She had too much homework. I had finally gotten someone to take pictures with my camera. All these pictures are from the rehearsal time when we were practicing. The kindergartners through 2 grade dance to Away in the Manger. The 3rd through 5th grade dances to One Silent Night. The teens to Here is Our King. We all dance to We Bow Down a new song (to me) with the words being: We bow down and confess you are Lord in this place; You are all I need; It's Your face I seek; In the presence of Your Light; We bow down, we bow down. It is so awesome to see all the dancers from young to old bowing down on the stage.

Our last full performance is this Sunday (17th) at 9:30 am at Tri Lakes Community Church.

Orchestra Concert in between

We couldn't see Breanna during the performance so we took a picture of her friend Jenny and her boyfriend, Matt.

One Holy Night Dance

One boy in the whole performance. He is Kesha's son (the co-director, kneeling in front).

The 3rd to 5th graders dancing to One Silent Night

Away in the Manger

Oh Holy Night

"Mary" holds a baby in the center of us in the real dance.

"Mary" and "Baby Jesus"

More and More Cookies and Candy

Ruby and Betty making the "bacon and eggs!"

I made Orange/Chocoate Sugarplums and they were messy to roll into balls!

The drying of the "white trash" on the floor in the basement (on wax paper of course)!

These were the cutest "bacon and eggs" ever!

All of our creations divided into groups so we could all take home everyone else's stuff.

The whole crew!

More Cookies and Candy

Virginia

Marilyn

Two Bevs (Bottom one was after she acidentally got sprayed with butter from a spray bottle!)

The "Girls" Cookie/Candy Day

We all wore our p.j.'s and "funky" slippers. (Mine are the penguins.)

Ruby, Bev, and Marilyn (Ruby has a camera in her hand)

Ruby and Marilyn making their "stuff."

Bertha (she came late and didn't wear her p.j.'s) and Marilyn.

A Happy Thanksgiving (but few pictures)

This is all the pictures I took on Thanksgiving Day. I was too busy getting the meal on the table and cleaning up afterwards (with lots of help from all the women there). We had Dustin's mom and siblings as well as relatives from both sides of the family--22 people all together. It was a good day.

A joke on Breanna and Matt

On the way home in Kyle's "new" car from a Christmas gathering of Bob's mother's family (a two hour drive), Breanna was talking on Bob's cell phone to her boyfriend, Matt. I called Matt's number on my cell phone from the back seat knowing he has call-waiting. I heard Breanna say, "Okay." I heard Matt say, "Hello," in my cell phone. I said, "Hi, Matt!" and Breanna turned around as she realized who had interrupted her phone call. I was laughing so hard that Matt didn't know who it was on the line at first. We all had a good laugh over that one. It was so fun!

Funny thing happened at church!

Our pastor was talking about being obedient to God even when others are telling us to do something else. He turned to a young man in the congregation and said, "Joe, you don't have to listen to Marla" as an example of this. Bob said loud enough for everyone to hear, "Amen!" You can imagine how much laughter went through the congregation as I hit Bob on the chest!

The ironic thing about the whole situation was that before church I had invited Joe to come to our small group on Wednesday evenings. I told him to pray about it and that he was welcome to join us. Imagine my surprise when the pastor used Joe and me for his illustration! I told Joe afterward that I hadn't told the pastor that we talked. Maybe God was trying to tell him something!

What a fun morning!

Teaching the last of our kids to drive

It's been scary a couple of times but we are teaching Breanna to drive (from scratch). She didn't take any driver's training because it is so expensive and I found out it doesn't change the insurance at all. I let her drive home from the license branch after I drove out of the busy part of town.

The next time she drove, she was to make a right turn. There was a car sitting in the other lane on the road she was turning onto. She took the turn way too fast and didn't turn the wheel far enough. She came really close to hitting the car sitting there. It was an older couple and you should have seen their eyes as this car was coming closer and closer to them! Both Bob and I were screaming and Bob yanked the wheel to make the sharper turn and we missed them.

The next time she drove home from church on a dark rainy night. I was nervous the whole time. When we got home, Bob wanted to take her for a drive around the area and I asked to get out. I had such a hard time not saying anything in the back seat! Jezra was beside me and he and I were looking at each other and whispering what we wanted to say to her aloud! Jezra said, "Now I understand why you were so nervous when I was driving! It's hard not to say anything!" (One of the pleasures of parenting: hearing your child tell you they understand you!)

Breanna's doing much better. I can relax for the most part while she's driving. She still has a bit of trouble negotiating right turns for some reason but she's getting better. I'm so glad this is the last one we have to train. I don't think I could handle another one! I would have totally white hair like Grandma F!

My niece and nephew "home" again!

They live in my town!

Lindsey and Anthony moved to Grandma and Grandpa's house