Julie's Birthday and Christmas 2008

December 25, 2008
(click on photo to enlarge)

Merry Christmas...Fa la la la

We have had a lot of snow this year and the roads have not be great. Due to bad weather and bad roads, this is the first time in 31 years, we celebrated Julie's birthday with Christmas.

The first few pictures is our little celebration of Julie's 31st birthday.

Granny made a special birthday cake for Julie.
(It got a little squished on the way to the Cities.)

Course, you have to make a wish and blow out the candles.

A little help with the cake.

Time for birthday presents...

A little money from Granny B.

A little money and something from Silver Feather from Mom

Now... on to Christmas...

The children were very anxious to open presents...

the fun time begins.

A manicure set from Julie.

A speaker for Meggie's iPod.

A Word Search book.

Money in a card for Matthew.

A camera for Matthew.

A Dark Night Bat Mobile for Dad?
No, Dad is putting all the small parts together for Matthew.


Matthew got new soft sheets...

and is ready for bed.

A Ninja

Chris got a 75 cent coupon for "No-Name" steaks
and
money from Granny B.

Chris got an iTunes card.

I always buy Jennifer coffee for Christmas...flavored coffee.
So, the sniff begins...
and
Granny needs to sniff too.

A Silver Feather gift to Julie.

Time to play...



Jennifer and Granny B.

Meggie, Granny, and Matthew.

I thought Jennifer and Chris had some nice ornaments on their tree.

Cat...

and more cats.

Lucy even has her own ornament.

Christmas ornaments the children made...

Meggie made this in 1st grade.

Matthew made this ornament in preschool.

Matthew colored this ornament.

Anita made this ornament for Megan.

In 1981 Bud made this ornament for Jennifer.

Baby boy's first Christmas.

Strawberry Shortcake

Jennifer made this ornament when she was in kindergarten.
It has been taped and taped together.

When Jennifer and Julie were small children
they had ornaments of Sesame Street characters.
There were made from dough.
This is Bert.

God Bless Our Home

Angels

Cows...

Cow....

Cow..

Merry Kissmas cows....

Moo-el cows...

and...finally...an angel cow.

Santa Claus 2000

Cross

Poinsettia

Santa on a motorcycle

Packer Santa

One of my favorites...Chuck and Don's Pet Food Outlet

Meggie and her special Julie.

Meggie got a new game called Cariboo (by Cranium)...fun game...
you pick a card, do whatever the card tells you to do and in order to see
the answer you have to use these glasses...fine...except...
I could never read the answer through the glasses...
I then discovered if I stood by light I could
see the answers through the glasses.
Meggie and Julie had no problem.

After presents and lunch,
(for everyone else...I had my special shake with strawberries),
we all went to Church and
Granny and I went to Julie's to have dinner and a sleep-over.

Granny cooking dinner.

Shrimp and lobster...I had 5 -oz of shrimp and potatoes...it was good!

Julie (the kool-aide drinker) and Granny.

The children received costumes...entertainment on Christmas day.

Wonder Woman and the Hulk!

Yes, this is snow...nuf said. Our Texas rocks are covered with snow.

Christmas is over for another year. Next year the children will be another year older AND I will be one more year closer to retirement!

Merry Christmas...Fa la la la

FEO Christmas Party - 2008

Friday, December 19, 2008

My office had their annual Christmas party today. But, before we look at pictures of the party I must wish someone, very special to me, a happy birthday.

Thirty-one years ago today at 5:05am Julie was born...weighing in at 9lbs and 22 inches long....phew!

HAPPY 31st BIRTHDAY JULIE!!!!!!

I work with some very nice people. We have a great time...most days...each day is one day closer to retirement!

Leslie, MaryEdna, Lucianne

We went to Grizzly's for lunch...
when we arrived Jill had to hand out a few presents early.
Everyone got candy, nuts or trail mix...everyone but me!
Mary Edna and her chocolate covered peanuts from Jill...
they looked so good!

Since I am on a diet, Jill gave ME scratch-off tickets.

I have NEVER bought scratch-off tickets so I was clueless as to what to do.
Jill was happy to show me how the scratch-off tickets worked.
(I think Jill has bought a few of these before.)
Little did I know how simple it was.

The winning tickets...I won three dollars!
This was our waiter...he had a slight accent...
was from Tennessee...AND he doesn't mind the cold and snow.

Kathy, Mary Edna, Deb, Jill, Leslie

The traveling bow. Mary Edna gave Jill a gift for her birthday with this bow.
Jill didn't want the bow so I took the bow. When I gave Jill her birthday present I put the (used) bow that Mary Edna had originally given to her on her present. So, then Jill kept the bow and put the bow on a Christmas gift to Mary Edna. (Guess you had to be there.)

Mary Edna is the gift wrapper in the building...she does an excellent job! She loves to wrap gifts. Everyone brings in their gifts to Mary Edna for her to wrap.Here is a small example of her work.

Opening the gifts...

This is a joke between Jill and myself...I bought these coupons, that Jill was hawking, for Community Day for $5.00. Well, they had to be used a certain weekend AND I was out of town that weekend. Therefore, I couldn't use them (cost me $5.00) so I decided since I bought them from Jill and I couldn't use the coupons I figured I would re-gift the useless coupons back to Jill.

What can I say!

The party was just too much for Mary Edna.

Well, we are done for another year. As you can see we have a lot of fun in our office...makes the time go faster (another year closer to retirement). Lucky Mary Edna will be retiring in April 2009...she will be missed.

Matthew's Christmas Program

Wednesday, December 17, 2008
(click on photo to enlarge)

Went to the Cities today to see Matthew's Christmas program at the Sunshine Pre-School in Forest Lake. It was such a cute program and was only 45 minutes long!


Matthew was excited for his program to begin...Matthew is wanting to wear ties lately...and...of course, looks so cute in a tie and so grown up.


Meggie took the afternoon off from first grade to come and see Matthew's program. She has her "create a ripple...stop bullying" t-shirt on from her school.


Grandma and Grandpa P came to see Matthew's program. Nice to see them again!


Meggie waiting for the program to begin. She is really looking and acting like a first grader.


Matthew is walking in with his class. Jennifer helped out in Matthew's class today during the program (Jennifer is on Matthew's left.)


Matthew is in the front row with the blue shirt.


The children were told when they got up on stage they could wave to their parents, brothers, sisters, and grandparents (get it out of their system).


Singing Jingle Bells and ringing their bells. (Matthew is in the front row with the blue shirt.)


Mom, Dad, Megan, and Matthew after the program.


Just a couple of final pictures before I left for home.


We had about three inches of snow on Tuesday evening so I was a bit concerned about the roads. Still very cold...but...the roads were fine once I got on to the Interstate. Bridge decks were a little icy but one has to be careful. Got home around 4pm just in time for my 4:30pm hair appointment!

Cities

Tuesday, December 2, 2008
(click on photo to enlarge)

Went to the Cities on Monday evening, in the dark, and had a sleepover at the Schneider's house. On Tuesday morning Jennifer had to leave at 7am for a class; so, it was my responsibility to fix breakfast and get Megan on her bus...on time. Not a problem!

It was cold this morning so Megan dressed in her warm winter clothes.

It was pretty cold (NO SNOW) waiting for the bus...but, the children didn't seem to mind.

They were not outside too long before the bus came. Megan has her morning schedule and does quite well. Of course she is the first one on the bus.

Jennifer and Chris have decorated the front of their house...since it was light outside I didn't get a good picture of the front of their house with the lights on.

Megan sold wreaths for school...her sales pitch was "it's fresh". She didn't quite understand what "fresh" meant...we would ask her if the wreaths have a nice smell and she would say "it's fresh". They are nice wreaths.
We had some time in the morning so Matthew and I colored pictures and watched a video until it was time to go to lunch with Megan.

Matthew loves his LEGO's...the LEGO booklet.

We went to school to have lunch with Megan. Matthew brought his lunch in his "Superman" lunch bag.

Had a few minutes wait....

still waiting....
Finally Megan's class came for lunch. Here is Megan putting in her "secret" code for purchasing her lunch...corn dog (ugh), french fries, and chocolate pudding...of course the chocolate pudding was eaten first.

Had a nice time in the Cities and got home before dark...I don't like driving in the dark before, during, and after deer hunting season. Yes, yes, I know...that is why my car has headlights.
===============
We went to see Lorie Line Sunday evening...Christmas around the World...great concert. She always puts on a spectacular show!!!! Lorie Line is very entertaining and the costumes are beautiful! It is a "must see"!
Each year they have a special time in the show where the children are involved. Even the children's costumes are unique. They always take a picture of the children...Santa Claus is Lorie's husband. I am hoping some year they have their concert on a Saturday so I can bring Megan and Matthew...they would really enjoy the concert.
Lorie has been married for 23 years to her business partner, Tim. They have worked and toured together for 19 years. Residing in Minneapolis, they have one daughter who attends college, and a son in high school.