Happy 1st Birthday, Lucy!

Today was Lucy's first birthday. We celebrated it at Jeremy's sister's house in Waukesha. It was a beautiful day-warm and sunny-and of course Lucy was the star of the show.

 

There was lots of wonderful foods, salads, treats and snacks, as well as little boys and girls and a few large dogs!

Wonderful food

Delicious Salads



Lucy was dressed for the occasion. Her outfit included a pink bow tiara, pink tutu, and silver shoes. She received beautiful outfits and toys, although she made mom open most of the gifts, as she was preoccupied with the pink and red balloons that were floating around the room.

Lucy practicing her "teenager" face

 

Pink Tutu

Lucy and her gifts

 

Pink cupcakes and a special birthday cake marked the special occasion.

Lucy's brother and sister were having fun at the party as well. They are always attentive to her needs.

Matt taking great care of his little sister

Mom and dad seemed to be having a great time with their little princess. She does take a little more effort to keep track of now that she is walking and running.


Mom and Lucy hanging out together



Stephanie, Lucy and Jeremy ( Stephanie doesn't have a blurry head-(Lucy explored my camera lens)

 

Mom has been busy with Lucy, but now is getting ready for girl #3! Let the fun begin!!

Stephanie and girl #3

Happy Birthday Lucy!

 

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

Jackie's Surprise Baby Shower

Each year a few family members make the annual trip to visit Jim, Jackie and my 7 nephews. This year, with numbers 8 and 9 on the way, and one of them a GIRL, we wanted to give Jackie a surprise "babies" shower!


The Happy ( very busy) Couple

Lou and I, and mom and Linda brought lots of girl and boy gifts and clothes, and a cake. Max, Vince, and Molly secretly blew up pink and blue balloons in the basement.

Awesome Cake with Pink and Blue Booties

Opening "Baby B" (girl) Gifts

Mom Trying to Steal Baby B's Kitty

 

Happy Boys Love Cake ( and hopefully new baby sister)

 

Max and Molly were home from College, so they were able to join in the fun as well. It is amazing to see Max is now taller than Dad!


Max and Molly

Vince Playing one of His Many Guitars

We had such a great time watching each boy play piano. Vince has become quite a guitarist and can play Jazz, Blues, Blue Grass... anything. He also has taken up the mandolin and is proficient on the piano.

One of the highlights was listening to one of Jim's Direct TV music stations while watching the living room strobe light flash- and dancing as we tried to keep balloons in the air.

Of course, it is always a joy to watch the little ones play with their toys or blankets, or whatever is at hand. 

We are very excited to see the two new bundles that are coming later this summer.




Moore's Disco

Jack, Eddie and Victor

Aunt Linda Hanging out with the Boys

Roman Practicing Taking Care of Twins


 

RULER OF THR ROOST









Happy 82nd Birthday, Mom!

Birthday Girl

We celebrated Mom's  82nd birthday at Longhorn Steakhouse on Saturday night. Mom always enjoys the food there, so we decided to take her out and then have cake back at my house.

We had a group of 12 and the seating was a bit "cozy," but we had a good time.

Among the highlights were Rachel's Peach Sangria, which Laura decided to try and mom happily sampled, Adam's Watermelon Margarita and full rack of ribs-which he cleaned completely, and the Happy Birthday ice cream, whipped cream dessert which mom wolfed down-after telling all she couldn't eat another bite.
Of course, we had an awesome cake and ice cream, which mom found more room for-although she swore she just could not eat one more bite!

Hoping to have another big bash next year! Or maybe just an ice cream party!



Rachel's Peach Sangria
 

Mom loves fruit
 

Adam's full rack!
 



Happy Birthday treat from Longhorn

Jeff, Laura and Jeremy having fun



Ice cream and whipped cream-mom's basic food groups

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy 60th Birthday, Dave!

Saturday, we celebrated my brother-in-law Dave's 60th birthday.  His daughter and son-in-law, Michelle and Steve, hosted the party and wife Linda helped with the food and cake.



60 never looked so good!

 Dave's friends and family enjoyed the wonderful snacks and desserts. The pulled pork, calico beans, coleslaw, pasta salad was a hit, as well as the delicious cake with whipped frosting.

Wonderful cake with cherry filling.

Of course, it would not be a party without mom. And her shoes and socks gave us all a good laugh.

 

We are taking mom shopping for shoes and socks next week!

 The nephews were there looking very much like the famous "Smith brothers."

Adam and Jeremy-so young and cute!



We all had a good time talking and laughing. Dave got a number of great gifts including lots of gift cards to Cabelas and Gander Mountain and a few pleasurable beverages.



Dave and Frangelico

We are eager to see what his family has planned for his retirement party.
Oh, but that is sooooo far away!

Linda and Mom just having fun

Blowing out the candles



Going fishing?

 



Merry Christmas 2015

Today Lou and I hosted the annual Christmas Day Christmas party. It was a wonderful day filled with family from both sides, lots of food, good conversation and fun.

This party seemed to bring out the "crazy" in our families-as the pictures below will support. Perhaps it was something in the water or maybe wine. Needless to say, we all had a great time.


Lou junior...aka: "Crazy Eyes!"



I regret that I did not get pictures of all 17 people. It is always challenging to prepare the meal, deal with unexpected nightmares ( like our oven that just stopped working with 2 potato casseroles inside) and just keep everything moving.

We did take time to rejoice in the birth of our Savior and Lord and are so grateful to God for not only his many blessings but also for the blessing of His Son.




Evan looking very stylish today!

Lou's Christmas Coffee Toast!

Sun hats from my sister-in-law, Jackie

Linda and Dave-"what big eyes you have, Grandpa."



Joise, Evan, Ali and Lou (they do look better in person)

Linda and Mom just relaxing together.

Lou in his new sunhat.





Jenny came to town!

Lou's daughter, Jenny, came for a visit this week. She lives in Wyoming, and comes to visit when she can.

Last night, we had the annual Christmas party at Jenny's mom's house. We all had a great time laughing and catching up.

Today, Jenny and Lou watched the Packer vs. Dallas game together. Father and daughter are definetly from the same gene pool-as both love to yell at the TV-something I have often reminded Lou "they really can't hear you in Green Bay, so why yell?

Well, the Packers won-28 to 7, so all was good. We had a good time and are so glad Jenny came to town!



All Packer Fans love Hats!