Monday, December 28, 2009

Grandma got Nerfed

 

Ben got a Nerf Gun from Santa - and Grandma was a target. Grandpa has a collection of Nerf Guns, and now the 4 and under guys have their own. The war is on!

 



The usual suspects (Lyons, Runyans, Jared's Fam and G-Ma & G-Pa Hawley)came for Christmas Dinner. We had a great time, but missed the rest of the fam.

 

This was one of my favorite shots of Christmas - the sign of a "real" man. Aaron is doing dishes, armed with a disposable diaper in his back pocket.
This was the first Christmas Eve in about 37 years that we spent the night at home without any kids in the house. We got up early and went over to Lyons to unwrap presents with them. It was kind of odd going to bed on Christmas Eve without any children in the house, but also kind of peaceful!! And, because we did all the unwrapping at someone else's home, we were spared all the extra wrapping paper mess. First time I can recall our garbage can was not overflowing the day after Christmas.
We had the traditional Chinese Food on Christmas Eve, with our Nativity Story re-enactment. Those photos must be on Emily's camera. She will have to blog those. Then we did the traditional breakfast at Emily's house, and Dinner at our house. It made for a very nice Christmas Day. We feel so very blessed in every way imaginable.

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Thursday, December 3, 2009

Thanksgiving, 5K Turkey Trot & Family Reunion

We started off the long weekend with our traditional Thanksgiving Dinner. Not all of the family were there, as Josh and Courtney spent the day with Courtney's family and Megan was enroute from New Mexico - leaving her family behind (sad face). We had great food, and great company.



We kicked off the Family Reunion with a "No Chickens Allowed" 5K Turkey Trot on Friday morning, after Thanksgiving. It was a good way to burn off the additional calories from the Thanksgiving over-indulgences. It was a beautiful morning to run, after a much needed rain. The kids did a 1.4 mile run, while the adults did a 5K. We all ended up at Emily Lyon's home for juice and bagels. Aaron Lyon came in first, and I came in last - woohoo - at least I was there, and I finished.




Yes, we had the Family Reunion to celebrate my mom's 90th birthday. There were 72 in attendance. We had wonderful time. It was so great to see my parents enjoy greeting their children, many grandchildren (15 of 24) and numerous great-grandchildren
(38 of 60?). We played a Jeopardy game with questions about Grandma & Grandpa, we had many photo ops with each family, then each family put together a scrapbook page. We presented the album at the end of the evening. We ate dinner, had a variety show, and then had cake and Hot Fudge Sundaes, per Isabelle's request. It was a perfect evening. Thanks to all who made the trek to Cali. The grandchildren came from as far as Minnesota, Iowa, New Mexico, Arizona, Washington, Nevada and Utah. I know it was a sacrifice for many, but Grandma and Grandpa are still floating on clouds over the magnitude of the event.


Sister Act + One Grandma

Here is our contribution to the Family Reunion Variety Show. We celebrated my mom's 90th Birthday with a gathering of about 70 family members. It was a wonderful time to see everyone and renew family ties.
Emily roped us girls into doing this parody from Saturday Night live that my granddaughter, Sara, had shown us. I made the snazzy aprons and Emily chose to be the "odd" sister. We are in order from left, Emily, Andrea, Laurie and Megan. And that is a pillow filling out my apron front! Anything for a laugh!
I will be posting more photos of our fun filled Thanksgiving, 5K, and Family Reunion soon.
Enjoy!