Post Christmas at Ellie & Pete's

After Christmas we went over to Ellie & Pete's to help with the 

office renovation and play  

Ellie kept busy in her corner

while Pete was barricaded he played with the 

sandpaper musical instruments 

Ellie keeps all her little things in these jars 

so Pete can't get a hold of them

She loves playing with the old things revisited by Pete

We could save a lot of money by just putting these

things away for a year and bringing them back out

I just love watching Pete squat down and stand back up

without holding on to anything.  He did this way before

he even started walking

Ellie loves to help cook

Helping?

Pete might be the one to be the climber

On the go

"Row, row, row your boat" with Gram

Fun Times!!

16th Annual New Year's Eve Bash

It seems like all my posts are of grandkids so I thought 

I should post more of the other stuff we do.  We have this

New Year's Eve party every year and I never take pictures

This year wasn't much different I forgot to bring the camera

to the first house and at our house I forgot to get the camera out

In 1999 when everyone was worried about our computers

crashing at the new millennium our friends and we decided to 

have a New Year's Eve party.  As we were planning we decided

to make it a progressive dinner so we could see each others

houses decorated for Christmas.   So now 16 years later I'm just 

now deciding to take pictures!!  Go Figure 

The first course was drinks and hors d'oeuvres

Mary Anne made beautiful ones too I'm really bummed

I didn't get pictures of them

Salad was the second course at our house

Didn't get any pictures of my pretty Waldorf Salad (sorry

 I really don't think to take pictures of food) 

but here is my New Year's banner 

and our table to seat 10

Main Course was a yummy stew at Jamie's

I brought the camera!!

Some chatting is always good

Then on to the New Year's Eve party at Jan's with a dice game and

snacks.  We all chipped in $10 and bought Lottery tickets (50)

and scratched them throughout the evening.

As you can see...we should have just kept our money and 

we would have been ahead!!

Jan just had new bookcases and fireplace put in and

updated.  The house looked new!!

New Year's at the Space Needle

Happy New Year!!!

Christmas 2015

Here's a whirlwind peek at our Christmas with all the kids home

Claire helped make the pies

All the kids decorated the cookies Ellie and I made

last week at her house

Great Job!!

Dinner at Tony's, of course

Auntie Amy and Pete bonding time

Claire and Pete bonding time

Christmas morning before the kids got up

Ellie made a hand wreath at preschool and kept it a secret

and after the kids got up

Pete and Cade bonding time

Gram read Pete a story, he didn't last very long

Amy and Andrew got me a couple plates for Christmas

and we got to go make them

With all four grandkids together it was the

 perfect opportunity 

We thought Pete's foot might work better than doing his

hand a second time

Very cute!  Thanks Amy and Andrew

Since I forgot to take a picture of Christmas

dinner I thought I'd take one of another one

We didn't get to watch our traditional "How the Grinch

Stole Christmas" while Cade and Claire were here

so we watched it after they left

Walking around in his new shoes

Wow!!  What a week

It was great having everyone home :o)

Hoem side Christmas

Walt's family has grown so much that is hard to get together 

in someones house during the holidays, so we rented

Trophy Lake Golf Club's restaurant for an evening

Karen, Sherry, and Danae

Some of the brothers, Ed, Tom, and Walt

Walt's Dad (91) and Fran

Karen and Ed's daughter, Michelle, and some of her family

Joey and Boston

Adam and DJ

Renee and Arin

Fourth Generation, Emma, Chloe, and Gracie

Ally, Kasey, Emma

Connor and Cody

and JJ

Sherry, Danae, and Mickie

Santa arrived and Brooklyn went right up to him!!

He handed out some presents

Most of the fourth generation minus Colby (sick) and my four

Santa with the third generation and Grampa

Dad and the some of the second generation

We had a great time and it was nice to see all our nieces and

nephews and their families.  When we got together on Christmas

Day very few of them were able to come.