Jeff, Kathy, Kari, and their respective families spent the last weekend of June at our house.  Jeff’s family arrived on Thursday and voted to kick off the weekend with the traditional lunch at Steak ‘n’ Shake.  That was irresistible to Kari and her boys, so they joined us as well.  After lunch, the kids all spent the afternoon in the pool.

Kyra and Zaque keeping cool.

We had some one-on-one time with Jeff’s family on Friday, which was very nice.  We went out to lunch and then spent the afternoon at Kari’s house.  When it was time for Kari to begin her “I’m working at the skating rink tonight” countdown, we went out to dinner with Jeff’s family.  That was an easy day for Ted and me–no cooking or dishes to do.

Kathy and Annette arrived on Saturday for lunch, then Ben and Amy joined us in the afternoon and stayed for dinner.  Thanks to the gorgeous weather all weekend, we had a relaxing day enjoying the new umbrellas and visiting with each other poolside.

Some of us got an early start reading, napping, and/or swimming on Saturday morning.

The new cantilevered umbrella provided an additional shaded area for relaxing.

The entire group was present for dinner on Saturday, when Ted and I had a chance to share our Wisconsin hard rolls with grilled burgers and all the appropriate supporting foods.

Burgers, Wisconsin hard rolls, German potato salad, chips, summer fruit, and ice cream cake for dessert.

The humidity was low enough in the evening for the temperature to cool down, making it possible to enjoy the firebowl for a few hours.  Luckily, we never ran out of things to talk about.

A beautiful summer evening for a fire.

Jeff’s family left early Sunday morning.  Annette, Ben, and Amy went to the St. Louis Pride parade, and Kathy spent the morning with Kari.  In the afternoon, Kathy and Kari came to our house and the four of us had some quiet, adult time floating in the pool and chatting without getting splashed “accidentally” by the kids jumping into the pool.

Annette, Kathy, and Kari, possibly dozing on a “waterbed.”

Kathy left after dinner Sunday night, but Kari stayed for awhile to visit, giving us some more quiet, quality time with her.  It was a wonderfully relaxing weekend and I think everyone enjoyed it.  I can’t wait for the next time the kids come home!

After spending time with Tom and Jo, our next destination was Kiel, WI to see Ted’s brother, Gary.  That meant playing sheephead, eating at a variety of restaurants, and picking up cheese and bakery to take back to MO.  Gary helps make this possible by contributing freezer and refrigerator space between the pick-up times and our departure time.  When it’s time for Ted and me to head back to St. Louis, the food moves from Gary’s freezer and refrigerator to our ice chest and safely makes the eight-hour journey.

We brought back enough hard rolls, filled coffee cakes, and cheese to share with the kids, and some more for Ted and me to enjoy after the kids left.

On this trip, we also took time to drive to Door County to buy frozen pie cherries.  People in the know are aware that cherries from Door County, WI or Traverse City, MI are the best cherries in the land!  Since the tart pie cherries are frozen in liquid in large containers, they make the eight-hour trip to MO perfectly, thawing just enough to separate them into multiple pie-sized portions before putting them into our own freezer.  Ted and I now have four cherry pies in our future.

When she heard Ted and I were coming to Wisconsin, my Aunt Ruth (LaCrosse area) asked if there would be a chance to get together if she and Uncle Ken drove across the state to see us during our visit.  Absolutely!  We had a delicious brunch with Ruth and Ken; my cousin, Donna; her husband, Jon; and Uncle Gibby.  (Gibby and Ruth are my mom’s siblings, and Gibby is Donna’s dad.)  It was a two-hour brunch, but the time went by much too quickly.  Just like with Tom and Jo, we wish we could see these family members more often, but we make the most of the times we get together.

The happy ending:  We had a great time, and the menus for the kids’ visit wrote themselves around the Wisconsin favorites Ted and I brought back to share with them on their late June visit.

Ted and I took a quick trip up north in mid-June to get cheese and hard rolls for the kids’ visit the following week–and also to visit family.  On the way to the cheese factory and the bakery, we stopped in St. Charles, IL to spend time with Tom and Jo, my brother and sister-in-law.  When we checked into our hotel, we discovered that the light bulb in the bedside lamp was burned out.  The desk clerk didn’t know where the extra light bulbs were stored, so she upgraded us to a suite with working lights.

We had a very nice visit with Tom and Jo.  Getting together in person is always more fun than emails.  They celebrated their 39th anniversary on June 10, and our 48th anniversary was on June 14, while we were at their house.  The four of us paid tribute to our wedding days with a delicious dinner.

The anniversary honorees.

During our visit, the four of us spent an afternoon at Cantigny.  In the early 1930s, Col. Robert R. McCormick, owner of the Chicago Tribune, established one of the most successful experimental farms in the nation.  He named the property “Cantigny” in memory of his fellow soldiers with whom he fought in Cantigny, France during World War I.  The property now focuses on horticulture, rather than agriculture, and provided us with a very nice afternoon of walking around the beautiful grounds.  We were also able to take a guided tour of the Colonel’s home.

A pretty, shaded path.

One of the beautifully planned and colorful gardens throughout the property.

Potted plants along a walkway.

Ladies posing for a photo shoot before going to their dance exhibition.

We had time to visit with Tom and Jo at home as well.

AJ joined us for a few hours before Jay picked her up to take her home. Vroom! Vroom!

Tom gave Ted and me a ride in his restored T-bird convertible.

We had a personal tour of the plane Tom is restoring.  This is a view from the back.  The wings will be attached above the cockpit.

It’s always good to get together with my brother and his family.   Thanks for a memory-making visit, Tom and Jo.

In my continuing documentation of Wisconsin-based parents teaching their children to be Packer fans by dressing them in Packer regalia beginning at birth, I have yet another piece of evidence that this is Truth.  My nephew, Brandon, and his wife had a baby girl in April and Brandon recently posted this picture of her on Facebook.

Three of our kids will be visiting us the last weekend in June, so I’ve been thinking about “family” over the past few days.  As a result, I’m also thinking about some things I’ve learned about families and relationships.

One of my perspectives of family came from a movie.  The two romantically involved main characters in My Big Fat Greek Wedding come from diametrically different family backgrounds.  At one point, the woman tells the man she is uncomfortable about her family and the way they behave.  The man responds by saying, “So your family’s weird.  Everybody’s family is weird.”  Hmmm.

I learned a way families get along from the TV series Everybody Loves Raymond.  Raymond’s mother is a stereotypical buttinski Mom.  (Wisconsin word for always putting her nose into everyone’s business.)  Mom does her usual interference routine at the wedding of her son, Robert, creating stress on the wedding day for several of the characters in the show, especially Robert.  In his role as the best man, Raymond makes a wedding toast to his brother and new sister-in-law.  In his toast, he refers to Mom’s actions of the day and mentions that “families edit.”  Family members know each other’s strengths and weaknesses, and they “edit” the less than perfect moments of family life, focusing instead on the strengths of the family unit.

One of my most valuable insights into relationships came from my Grandma Lorenzen, and it applies to people in general, not only family units.  Grandma had a plaque above the stove in her kitchen that said:  “All are queer but me and thee, and sometimes me thinks even thee.”  (Note:  This was in the 1950s, when common usage of the word queer meant “odd.”)  I’ve always thought this was good to remember, and I guess Grandma thought so too.

Dylan and Teddy were ready to open the 2017 swim season, so Kari brought them over for a swim.  Kari, Ted, and I thought it was a little too cool to get in the water.  Sitting in the sun felt better to us, but the two kids had a good time.

Go, boys, go!

Today we celebrated Dean’s birthday (May 3), Teddy’s birthday (May 15), and Kari’s birthday (May 19).  For good measure, we included Mother’s Day (today).  Teddy was allowed to choose the cake, so he asked me to make a pig cake for him, like last year.  We had presents, cake, and time to talk.  Life is good.

Dean got a new miter saw with laser alignment from Kari for his birthday.

Dean can use his new saw as he reconfigures the skate ramp he’s building.

Kari’s electric fry pan is missing a leg, has hot spots, and has a cord that arcs when it’s plugged in, so Ted and I gave her a new one for her birthday.

I made a pig nose and stuck it in Teddy’s gift bag.

Here are Teddy and Waffles with the quilt and pillow I made for them.

Naturally, Waffles had to try the pig nose too.

Teddy’s pig cake.  The pig looks mystified.  Maybe because I don’t draw very well and didn’t show his good side.

I hope Teddy wished for something wonderful.

Late spring means it’s time for the school orchestras to show their families how much they’ve improved since the fall concert.  Last week, Ted and I were able to attend Dylan’s spring concert.  The music selections are always fun and the concerts last about 30-40 minutes (an important factor when sitting on bleachers).  The improvement is always noticeable and we are thankful we have the opportunity to hear our grandchildren perform.

6th grade orchestra (Dylan) on the left; 5th grade orchestra on the right.  The arrow points to Dylan.

Can you find Dylan, our sixth grade cellist?

The parent in the blue shirt is serious about his photos!

Ted and I are related to two artists whose work was selected for public exhibition:  Sky and Dylan.  Each spring, the St. Charles School District chooses a few representative art projects from each grade–K-12–and displays them at the Foundry Art Center in downtown St. Charles.  Of course, we had to take a personal look at the artwork.

Sky (not surprisingly) submitted a detailed Star Wars drawing.  Dylan painted a sunset sky.  The sun in Dylan’s painting is colorless.  Dylan told me it’s an artistic illusion:  the orange sky makes the sun look yellow.

And here’s a first grader’s picture that made us smile.  The minions always seem to have that effect.

The newspaper hasn’t moved for awhile and Ted’s head is slumped forward.  Is he sleeping?  “Oh, no,” he tells me.  “I’m just resting my eyes.”  Picture Jeff sprawled on his bed (while he lived at home) with his eyes shut.  Was he sleeping?  Not at all.  He always insisted he was “thinking of what to do next.”

Last week, I saw a bumper sticker that reminded me of Ted and Jeff.

Kari’s family invited Ted and me to their house for Easter dinner.  All the food was delicious (Who taught that girl to cook?  Oh, right–me!), and it looked so pretty on the table, I had to take a picture of it.  Dylan, a master of presentation, set the table and planned the serving dishes and their placement, contributing to the overall effect.  After dinner, there was conversation and sheephead.  It’s so nice to live close to at least one of the kids’ families so we can share times like this.

Lots of milk drinkers in this group.

Tonight we went to Sky’s concert.  This is always an enjoyable evening for us.  The difficulty of the music and the kids’ improvement in musical skills is always noticeable from one semester to the next.  These kids are now old enough for competitions, so we heard some of the pieces they played at their festivals.  A few of the kids are even brave enough to play solos and duets, so we heard their competition pieces as well.  Most of the music was classical, but then the director asked, “What’s a concert without Michael Jackson?” and the orchestra played Man in the Mirror and Thriller.  Yes, an enjoyable evening.

I love that blue violin on the left.  What if the blue-haired girl played the blue violin?  (Arrow to Sky on the right.)

Over the kids’ surprise weekend visit, I had a chance to spend some one-on-one time with eight-year-old Teddy.  Teddy takes after his mother (Kari), and talks nonstop.  Like his mother, he’s interesting, so this is ok and excuses the listener from the challenge of making small talk with a young child.  What always amazes me about Teddy is that first, his mind is always working; and second, it jumps all over the place in no particular order.  For example, when Ted watched Teddy one day when he was sick and couldn’t go to school, Teddy blurted out, “I just don’t get the Big Bang!  I mean, what started it?”  During the 30-45 minutes Teddy and I were together last weekend, some of the myriad of topics that came up for discussion in rapid order included the following:

* Birch bark can be used for paper, so if you would draw pictures of trees on pieces of birch bark and then put them together with pieces of wood for covers, you would have a book about trees made out of trees.

* I wonder if you can ever chew gum enough to make it disappear.  You know, like when you chew other food, it gets smaller and smaller and smaller and then you swallow it, but gum always stays the same.  (I mentioned this conversation to Katie and she told me there is a gum that dissolves.  She had it once and said it was awful.)

* What if we didn’t have skin?  What if everything about our bodies–the organs and the muscles and the blood vessels and everything was still the same, but we didn’t have any skin to hold everything together?  Maybe we would have something rubbery and we would all be like robots.  (Demonstration of how we would move like robots if this should occur.)

* What do you think would happen if you put ice cream in hot chocolate?

* I think more men than women died on the Titanic because they put women and children in the lifeboats first, so fewer women than men were left on the ship.

* Kittens were saved from the Titanic.  Really.  This is true.  A mother cat had kittens in a lifeboat and they were saved when the lifeboat was launched.

* Maybe I could write a story about a Titanic lifeboat.  “A long, long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, a lifeboat sailed . . . ”

Kari told me later that Teddy had to research the Titanic for a school assignment, so that explains why the Titanic came up repeatedly.  As I said, conversation is interesting with Teddy.  You never know what he’s going to wonder about next.

Friday night, Ted said he wasn’t too hungry, and asked how I’d feel about eating dinner a little later than usual.  Fine, I was reading a book, so I didn’t care.  We had a light supper around 7:30 and, just as we were finishing, the doorbell rang.  I couldn’t imagine who would be at our door at nearly 8:00 pm on a Friday night–a driver with a broken-down car?  a salesman?  a candidate for Tuesday’s election?  I could see a young-looking man and some other figures through the blown glass in our front door, so I decided it must be some high school kids with a fund-raising plea.  I opened the door and saw . . . my kids!  They had been working with Ted to plan a surprise birthday party for me.  I didn’t have a clue and almost started crying, so I reached for Sefton and snuggled my face into him.

Just the day before, Katie texted me a picture of Sefton and I texted back that he lives too far away from us.  The next day, she brought him here.

Jeff and Thom scheduled flights to arrive in St. Louis within minutes of each other around 6:00 pm.  Kathy and Annette arrived at Kari’s house in the late afternoon, and the plan was for the girls to pick up the boys at the airport, then come to the house to surprise me, after which we’d all go out for pizza.  (That’s why Ted was supposedly not very hungry at dinner time.)  Unfortunately, Jeff’s plane had hydraulic problems and he was delayed almost three hours.  The girls got hungry and decided to eat.  (Messages between them, Jeff, and Ted that I knew nothing about led to Ted’s and my late, light dinner.)  Ted and Thom picked Jeff up at the airport around 9:00 pm.

The kids and Ted apparently exchanged many emails/texts/whatever since late February to plan all this.  The first suggestion was to get together on my birthday weekend, but Ted and I were in Key West.  Not exactly hardship duty, and I was thrilled to have a destination birthday.  I had birthday phone calls from all the kids and not a single person gave away the slightest hint that anything like this was in process.  Everything was planned so that I could have a stress-free weekend to celebrate.  Kathy and Kari took care of the food preparation, and Kari hosted lunches at her house, as well as providing sleeping accommodations for Kathy and Annette.  What an awesome, loving family I have!  This was one of those times a friend of mine described as “pearls” in your family’s life.

Sefton was happy to see his Grandpa too.

Saturday morning included a trip to Paul’s Donuts.  Sefton didn’t seem to mind that his was a toy.

Three of my favorite boys:  Sky, Teddy, and Dylan.  Sky is almost as tall as I am.

As the hostess, I usually go through the buffet line last, but as the birthday girl, I was ordered to go first.  It felt a little weird.

When my plate was filled, I thought the food was so pretty, I took a picture of it.

Then I saw Dylan’s plate.  You can tell by the ring of green beans that he is far more artistic and more skilled at presentation than I am.  (And he likes bread!)

After dinner, there were birthday gifts to be opened.

Naturally, there was Vienna Torte–my favorite dessert–for my birthday cake.

Laralee’s sister is celebrating a milestone birthday in Arizona this week, so she and Jeff decided that Jeff would come to my party and she’ll go to her sister’s.  Alex is in Peru; Kyra is at BYU; Zack stayed home with La; and Julian was dog-sitting.  Dean spent some of the weekend with us, but couldn’t be here for the official birthday dinner.  Annette’s son, Ben, lives in the St. Louis area now, so he and his girlfriend joined us for some of the festivities, but not this dinner.  The miracle is that all four of our children, representing all four families, could be with us at the same time!

Here we are–all four of our children present.

Ted and I had pizza (delayed from Friday evening?) with Thom and Katie before we took them to the airport.

We are regular customers at this restaurant.  When they found out it was my birthday, the staff gave me a gift.  They “wrapped” it in a plastic cup and all the servers and both managers on duty signed the cup with birthday wishes for me.

Shocking!  It’s a glass with the restaurant logo imprinted on it!

On Sunday, Jeff left on a morning flight; Kathy and Annette left after lunch; Thom, Katie, and Sefton left after our pizza dinner.  I’ll bet the small, dark-colored duffle bag Thom is pulling holds his and Katie’s stuff, leaving the large plaid suitcase, the backpack, and the car seat for Sefton.

When everyone was gone, Ted and I relaxed outside at our firebowl.  The amazing, awesome, wonderful, fantastic weekend was over, but I’ll never forget it.

My cousin, Nancy, sent me a sentimental treasure:  eleven letters written by my mother to a neighborhood friend serving in the Army during World War II.  The friend was Frankie Kotnick, whose family lived near my mother’s family in Sheboygan.

One of the Kotnick kids–maybe Frankie–lived in Frankie’s parents’ house, and at least one of their children was a friend of Nancy, my cousin.  When the children were cleaning out the house, they found letters from my mother that Frankie had saved.  They offered the letters to Nancy, who shared them with other Lorenzen family members, including my Uncle Gibby and Aunt Ruth, siblings of my mother.  After that, Nancy generously sent the originals to me.

The letters, written from 1942-1944 when Mom was 20-22 years old, present her as a young, single woman–someone I never knew.  She loves to dance, she drinks, she hangs out on “Prange’s corner” with her friends, and she is “getting sick of this small town stuff” in Sheboygan.  She enlists in the Civilian Defense Home Guard and applies to the Civil Air Patrol, hoping for a job as a telephone operator or a secretary somewhere away from Sheboygan.  She confides in Frankie that “if a person wants to earn money or try to amount to something Sheboygan is the wrong place for them.”  All the action and the big money, she says, is in cities like Milwaukee and Chicago.  She admits she has it good living at home, but tells Frankie “my Mother and Dad would put their foot down if they knew I wanted to to (sic) this.  You know how parents act when it comes to something like that” (referring to moving away from home).

The letters provide a glimpse of my mother’s youth and the early 1940s.  Her sentences are filled with “gee” and “swell”–apparently the slang of the day.  Mom goes to lots of movies and dances, and mentions how much she loves to dance.  She confesses to a fascination with slot machines.  (When she and Dad went to Las Vegas, she won on a nickel slot machine in the days when real nickels fell out of the machine.)  The envelopes have three-cent postage stamps and the cancellation mark says “Buy war bonds and stamps.”  The envelope of a December letter has a Christmas seal on the back.  Mom mentions that Grandma was in charge of sugar rationing coupons for her area and spent a lot of time on that job.  Mom also tells Frankie that she wants to buy a used bicycle, but can’t find one for less than $28–more than a new one costs–so she’s decided to keep using her brother’s bicycle and wait until after the war to buy one when bicycles (metal) become more available again.

One day, my mother and her friend, Lorraine, got fed up with their jobs in Sheboygan and simply failed to show up for work the next day.  They took a bus to Milwaukee instead.  You can read the letter about that experience below.  I think moving to Milwaukee and being independent felt the same to Mom as going away to college felt for me.  Freedom!

Mom died 22 years ago, and I still miss her greatly.  Reading her letters to Frankie was like spending time with her again.  Thank you from the bottom of my heart for sharing these, Nancy.

Kari sent us some photos to let us know how Waffles (the pig we gave Teddy for Christmas) spends the day at home while the family is away.

First, while Teddy gets ready for school, Waffles has a little breakfast from the cat’s dish.

Then, after Teddy leaves, Waffles keeps an eye on the food bowls at the kitchen door.

Ted and I just returned from our visit to Seattle (Puyallup) where we were introduced to our seventh grandson, Sefton Aron Schroeder.  (Kyra retains her status as our favorite granddaughter.)  I could go on and on, but whatever I have to say about Sefton would be the same thing in different words:  he’s a baby, he’s small, he’s so, so soft and cuddly, and he’s so, so sweet and lovable. Here is February 1-5 in pictures.

My first time holding Sefton.

Sefton with Grandpa.

Sefton with his big brother, Julian.

Sefton does not enjoy bath time.

Thom and Katie blow-dry Sefton after his bath.  He likes this a lot more than the bath.

Sefton can already sit by himself–with some support, of course.

Ted and Julian having a Connect Four tournament–just like they did when Julian was much younger.  This time, Julian didn’t cry when he lost a game to his grandpa; he just beat Grandpa in the next game.

Julian playing one of his piano compositions for us.

As part of his birthday gift, we took Julian to Trampoline Nation where he amazed us with twists and flips and twisting flips.

Me and two of my favorite boys–Julian and Sefton.

A family photo.

Thom and Katie’s Lego family.

Just before we left, the rain changed to snow.   Sefton’s first snow.  (For us, two coats of de-icer on the tarmak before our plane could take off.)

While we were in Seattle, we had the chance to spend Saturday with my brother Russ’s family who have moved to Seattle from Philadelphia.  We decided to spend the cold, rainy day at a museum and selected MoPOP–the Museum of Pop Culture–at Seattle Center, in the foggy shadow of the Space Needle.

Most of the museum focused on music and musicians from the 80s and 90s, but those exhibits were joined by displays of the Wizard of Oz and The Princess Bride because of the widespread cultural influence those movies have had.  There was also a special exhibit on Star Trek for the same reason.  Unfortunately for us, the Rube Goldberg exhibit doesn’t open until February 11.  It was an interesting afternoon and gave us a nice venue where we could stay warm and dry while we visited with each other.

This tower has over 700 guitars and other instruments wired together to play electronic music.

Some of the instruments in the guitar tower.

The Jimi Hendrix display required an entire room.

Star Trek, of course.   Beam me up!

Ted and me and a friendly guitar.

L -> R:  Russ, Nick, Betsy, Phil, Ben

Katie put this composite picture together.  Sefton is on the left; Katie is at the top right; and Thom is at the lower right.

Thom was our least attractive baby at birth.  When they brought him to me for one of his first feedings in the hospital, I put out my arms and said, “Come here, you homely little guy.”  I said it with love, but the nurse didn’t leave the room.  I’ve always wondered if she put herself on guard duty in case I harmed my baby.  In less than two weeks, Thom’s face firmed up and he started to look like the handsome man he is today.  He’s the epitome of my Grandma Lorenzen’s saying:  “Homely in the cradle; handsome at the table.”  (What does that say about our other children who were prettier right after their births and are still handsome and beautiful?)

Teddy loves pigs.  I made a pig birthday cake for him, and we found a huge pig that Ted was sure his namesake would be excited to get for Christmas.  Frankly, I thought it was a little too big, but we bought it and it was a hit with Teddy.  He kept it at his side all day on Christmas, and fell asleep with it when he got home.

Now Kari’s family has a new kitten and Teddy is in love with the kitten too.  This makes it a tough choice when it’s time for a snuggle break, so Teddy relaxes with his two best buddies:  the pig and the kitten.

Thom and Katie introduced Sefton Aron to us yesterday, January 11.  He weighed 8 lb. 4.5 oz. and was 21 in. long.  Mom, Dad, and baby are doing well.  Sefton is the patient type.  He was born nine days after his due date.  This gives us seven grandsons and still only one granddaughter.  Kyra retains her status as our favorite granddaughter.

I can’t wait to hold Sefton!  We’re going to Seattle February 1 to meet him. . . . and to see the rest of the family too–Julian, Thom, and Katie.

He’s so cute!

Mommy loves him.

Daddy and Sefton in an airplane?   (Or a birthing center.)

Coming home.

It was wonderful to have three of the kids and their families with us for the Christmas weekend.  Jeff’s family arrived for lunch on Friday; Kathy and Annette arrived for lunch on Saturday; and Kari’s family lives only 12-15 minutes away (depending on the traffic lights) and is on call to arrive at any time there’s fun on the schedule.

Naturally, we began the group activities with our time-honored tradition of lunch at Steak ‘n’ Shake.  SnS, based in Cape Girardeau, MO, used to be a small regional chain, and was quickly established as a favorite among our grandchildren.  It was also a favorite stop for Thom and Jeff, who couldn’t get those steakburgers in Colorado or Washington.  SnS has spread out over the years and is now available in a much wider area, but too late–it’s already a family tradition to start a group visit with lunch at SnS.  We must have had a new waitress this time.  La commented that the waitress went pale when we said there would be ten of us for lunch.  I missed her lack of facial coloring, but saw that she froze for a few seconds while processing that number.

Here we are at Steak ‘n’ Shake, with our menus at the ready, pondering which flavor shake to order.

Teddy has what he wants:  the double chocolate brownie shake.

Another tradition of our family get-togethers is board games.  Some of us (Jeff and Kyra) are board-game-aholics; others of us, not so much.  Jeff usually has a new game the rest of us haven’t heard of, and it’s always something we enjoy while we play it together.  This year included a remarkable Michigan Rummy game.  The king/queen of hearts combination struck three times for payoffs (twice for Kyra and once for Ted) and the even more rarely played 6-7-8 combo struck twice–Ted hit it early in the game, and I won it on the last round.  By then, the container we use to hold all the chips on that spot was full to the top, making me the big winner with that single pot.

Jeff shows us his obligatory goofy photo face during a round of King of Tokyo, a new game for this visit.

After all these years of hosting family get-togethers with so many people eating with us every day for several days, I’ve become pretty good at finding recipes I can prepare ahead.  Then I only have to put them in the oven or the crock pot when it’s mealtime, minimizing my cooking time and maximizing my visiting time with the family.  Of course, I always have offers of help from everyone and they take turns helping with food prep, serving, and doing the dishes.  This year, Jeff and La’s family completely took over a Christmas brunch (prep, cooking, and dishes), and Kathy and Annette did the same for the Monday lunch.  Kari dedicated herself to helping me with all the evening dinners, and I felt like we had a well-oiled system, leaving all of us well-fed with plenty of time to enjoy each other’s company.

Of course, the highlight of Christmas weekend is the gift-opening.  It takes a long time for everyone to open gifts one at a time and then to show them to the group.  One or more of us sometimes gives the same gift to everyone, and we quickly begin to see a pattern after the first two people open an identical gift from the same family.  This year we tried opening gifts by family and it worked very well.  We all opened the things we got from Jeff’s family and showed them to everyone; then the gifts from another family; and so on.

The gifts are packed tightly under the tree and extend behind the tree on both sides.

Zack was excited about receiving gaming headphones and a gaming keyboard.  He can now be a gaming superstar.

Aunt Kathy and Annette scored a hit with Star Wars caps for Dylan, Teddy, and Sky.

Teddy loves pigs and was thrilled with his two new pigs.  Kari texted us a photo of him sleeping with the big pig after her family went home on Christmas Day.  Notice that the pig likes Teddy’s Star Wars cap too.

Dylan won the figurative gift presentation award and a literal round of applause when he described the gifts he had received.  I don’t remember which gifts he was describing, but it went like this:  “I got a (this) and a (that) and a (something else),” he began.  Then, holding up something in his hand, he finished with, “And I lost a tooth.”

Dylan with one less tooth than he had a few minutes ago.

We missed having Alex with us, but Christmas is one of the days he is able to call home.  Jeff’s family generously allowed all of us to share in the Google Hangouts conversation with Alex for about an hour.  It was fun to see him and to hear more details about his life than he is able to write in his weekly emails.  After a year, he is fluent in Spanish (except for a few fine points, he said) and we all got a kick out of the fact that his English now frequently includes a Spanish speech rhythm as well as a few Spanish-accented English words.

Sharing Christmas with Alex on a Google Hangouts video call.

Now the Christmas family gathering is over.  Kathy and Annette left Monday afternoon and Jeff’s family left this morning.  Thom, Katie, and Julian were not able to join us, as Katie’s due date is January 2.  We talked to them by phone and are looking forward to getting a call from them very soon, letting us know if we’ll be meeting our seventh grandson or our second granddaughter when we go to visit them the first weekend of February.

Our still-growing family.  Picture Thom, Katie, Julian, and (?) with us.

Speaking of breeding Packer fans, I was looking at old photos and found this one of Ted and Teddy when Teddy was seven months old.  Yes, those Wisconsin folks start developing Packer fans early.

Still too small for the cap, but he’s in the hallowed green and gold.

Yesterday, Ted watched Teddy, who wasn’t feeling well enough to go to school.  While they were sitting in the living room and petting the new cat, eight-year-old Teddy blurted out, “I just don’t get the Big Bang.  I mean, what started it?”

Since the scientific community has not yet definitively figured that out, maybe Teddy will be the one to do it.

In a previous post, I mentioned that they breed Packer fans in Wisconsin.  Today, my cousin proved my point when he posted a picture of his new granddaughter on Facebook.

Eleven weeks old and dressed in Packer green and gold from head to toes.

Last night, we were able to attend Teddy’s school Christmas concert.  They always have such cute songs in the elementary school programs that I thoroughly enjoy the concerts.

This year, the story line was about a dog who wanted to sing with the choir, but could only howl out of tune.  The other choir members didn’t want the dog in the group, until one of them thought of the perfect songs they could sing so that everyone (even the dog) could be a part of the Christmas spirit.

It was a happy ending to the story–except for Teddy, who thought there should have been some cookies for all those weeks of practicing the songs.

Teddy is on the left, at two o’clock, above the head of the lady in the bright blue shirt.

Our favorite elf.

Today, to “be the light,” Ted and I helped two ladies with their walkers.  As we left the building, they were getting out of their van in a handicapped parking space and I could hear the lady nearest to me huffing and puffing as she very slowly worked her way back from the car door to the open trunk, holding onto her van for support.  I asked if I could help–just as another woman in the same condition appeared on the other side of the van.

The ladies gratefully accepted the offer of help and I got the walkers out of the trunk, opened them up, and put them in a ready-to-go position for each lady.  While I did this in the 20-degree weather, Ted helped Lady #2 put on her much-needed coat, which was also a struggle for her.

When everything was ready to go and the van was all locked up, both ladies thanked us profusely.  They were so appreciative of our small service of a few minutes that one said, “You’ve done your good deed for the whole year.”

This is something Ted and I would have done anyway–with or without Jeff’s “light the world” project–because that’s what our parents taught us to do.  I find this to be true of the kindnesses I’ve done this week as part of our family challenge.  Every act has been something I would have done anyway.  The difference this month is that, instead of doing these small things as they occur in my life, I’m making a greater effort to find someone every day who needs an act of kindness.  That’s definitely a positive thing.

Jeff’s church has launched a campaign to “Light the World.”  The initiative encourages people everywhere to do service for others and to “be a light” to them.  Jeff challenged our entire family to find ways to “light the world” this month, and we have all accepted the challenge.  Here are things we’ve already shared that we did yesterday:

–Jeff left a note on the front door of his office building that said “You are awesome.”

–Kathy fed stray cats.

–Thom helped a “wrong number” caller find the right number.

–Kari helped a fourth grade girl look for a lost-on-the-playground hair tie her grandma had made for her.

–Ted and I made an anonymous scholarship contribution to the community college.

I have always enjoyed performing random acts of kindness, but Jeff’s challenge will encourage all of us to make a special effort to be kind and helpful to others in the coming days.  The challenge continues, as I encourage anyone reading this to “light the world” a little bit every day this month and afterward.

Over a year ago, while we were sitting around at Thom’s house during his wedding weekend, Kari told me she thought it would be fun to have date nights with Dean.  I immediately offered to babysit any time.  Well, only fourteen months later, they finally asked us to babysit the boys.  Beam was hosting a company dinner, and Kari and Dean wanted to attend the event.  Ted and I assumed we would babysit at Kari and Dean’s house; Kari and Dean assumed we would babysit at our house.  At least the location issue came up in conversation so we could clarify that before zero hour.

We picked the boys up and gave them the option of choosing where they wanted to eat dinner.  Guess what they picked.

Teddy marks the spot.

Of course, everyone ordered a shake and the boys ordered their regular menu item:  chicken fingers.  Yummy!  It’s questionable whether Sky and Dylan had more chicken or more ketchup on the chicken.  Whatever.  They definitely enjoyed the meal.  (And ours was not the table that spilled a liquid beverage over three people and a large floor area, requiring a major clean-up by the SnS crew.)

All the tables were full, so we crowded into a booth.  Teddy got all the SnS hats.

After we finished eating, we came home, Ted lit a fire in the fireplace, and we watched Home Alone and The Polar Express–both perennial favorites for all of us.  Of course, movies require popcorn, and salty popcorn likes to be followed with cold and creamy ice cream, so we broke out the food between movies.

Watching “Home Alone.”  Note that Ted and Sky like to sit with their arms behind their heads.  Each of them also has a foot pillow.

With dinner and a double feature, it got to be a late night.  Shortly after 10:00, Kari and Dean arrived to pick up the boys.  The Polar Express still had 30-40 minutes to go so I offered to send the DVD home with the kids, but the majority vote was to finish the movie and sleep later in the morning.

What an enjoyable night!  I hope Kari and Dean want more date nights soon.

Tonight we were able to attend Sky’s middle school orchestra concert.  Wow!  The music they played was noticeably more difficult than what they play in the elementary school concerts.  The program was a mix of classical, holiday, and pop music.  The highlight piece was undoubtedly the Star Wars theme, complete with light sticks attached to the bows.

The music director has obviously done this before.  At the opening of the program, she announced that this is the best the kids will look, so she’d be stepping aside to give us a chance to take our pictures.  We did, and we had a very, very enjoyable evening.

Sky tuning up before the concert

The middle school orchestra.  Sky is in front of the bass ahead of the doorway in the upper right.

“Light sabers” attached to the instrument bows in the darkened auditorium to perform the “Star Wars” theme

Kyle sent us some wedding photos.  I assume the official photographer took these, since they look good, have good lighting, and are all front views rather than off-side views from where the rest of us were standing for our free shots.  I’m posting them here, even though some are duplicates of those taken with our camera.  These have much better lighting effects.  ♥

Guess who?

Bride and groom with favorite aunt and uncle.

Celebrity shot–the bride and groom posed with four of their fans.

Dancing to a slow song. (We didn’t know we were on camera.)

Kari’s family joined us for Thanksgiving dinner tonight.  We included Kari and Dean’s friend, Jerry, who is recently divorced and would have spent the day alone.  Jerry brought a bottle of wine and another pie, so he’s welcome to come again any time.  (Just kidding.)

When Ted and I were in Wal-Mart recently, we saw Thanksgiving tablecloths and napkins for $1.00 per package.  Who can resist a bargain like that?  With the colorful table “linens” (hah!), my pumpkin-vased fresh flowers, and some fall-colored candles, the table looked very festive.

Not surprisingly, we had ham for the meat course.  The boys were so eager for it that they skipped lunch to make sure they’d have plenty of room for ham and for pie with whipped cream.  They ate so much food, they couldn’t finish their pie.  A good time was had by all, and Teddy took his leftover pie home in a to-go container to eat for lunch tomorrow.

I am amazed almost daily at the number of things I have to be thankful for in my life.  I am truly blessed in many, many ways.

A few days ago, I sent this to Katie.

Today, Katie replied with this.

Fact check:  I’m sure both of the above statements are absolutely true, although the first one should say its, not their, and the percentage goes down in the second one if you factor in the second set of grandparents.  We need better editors when there are such important pieces of wisdom to be shared.

Kathy and I enjoy meeting in Columbia to spend an occasional one-on-one day together.  We live three hours apart, and Columbia is the halfway point–about 90 minutes of driving each way for both of us.  There are enough shops, restaurants, and points of interest in the city to let us do something while we talk.

Yesterday, we met in Columbia for the first time since February.  (It’s been a busy year!)  We did most of our favorite things, beginning with a long lunch.  When we were tired of sitting in the restaurant, we went downtown and browsed in the shopping area.

The only place we spent money downtown was at the chocolate store on Cherry Street.  The owners melt and make their own chocolate, and it’s delicious.  We each selected a few pieces of our favorite varieties and then headed for the Columbia Mall for a sit-down break.  A frosty beverage, a table in the food court beside the calliope, and our chocolate, and we were set until dinner time.  When we finally felt hungry enough to eat dinner, we decided to try the “new” Shakespeare’s Pizza.

About a year ago, Shakespeare’s tore down their entire building across the street from the MU campus and re-built a newer version of it.  Most of the main floor is the restaurant; the remainder is rental space for small shops or offices.  The upper four floors of what used to be a one-story building are dedicated to “deluxe” student apartments.  The restaurant expanded into its previous parking lots, so the kitchen is larger and there’s more seating, as well as a new full-service bar.  A (literally) yellow brick path on the floor leads patrons from the seating areas to the rest rooms.

Shakespeare’s is family-owned and is always very busy, attracting people of all ages.  It’s also very user-friendly, and you’re welcome to sit at your table as long as you like.  Kathy and I had cheese garlic bread, pizza, and a beer plus two more hours of talking before we decided it was about 90 minutes from when we wanted to be home.  We went back to our starting point to pick up her car and, after hugs and good wishes, we headed home, looking forward to our next Columbia Day.

The “new” Shakespeare’s Pizza, all the way across the first floor, including two more sets of windows on the right that didn’t fit in my picture.

Still the same plentiful supply of t.p. in the new rest rooms, but now it’s on a new varnished wooden rod instead of hanging from a long heavy chain.

This sign is at the rest room doors. Kathy and I don’t know if the lights and buzzer really flash and ring, but we always wash our hands, just in case.

Over the weekend, we drove up to Sterling Heights, MI (near Pontiac) for my nephew Kyle’s wedding.  It was beautiful fall weather for a wedding:  sunny and warm with red-gold leaves on the trees.  It’s rare that I see two of my brothers at the same time twice in a year (maybe never before), but we were together at Brandon and Maddy’s wedding in September, and again to celebrate Kyle and Lauren’s wedding this time.

The pastor’s homily was unusual.  He gave Kyle and Lauren the chance to select one of three wrapped gifts (“Do you want Door Number 1, 2, or 3?”) and then connected the gift to the Biblical texts they had chosen for their wedding.  Their gift was a pretty crystal clock.

Kyle and Lauren Soerens

The wedding partyIt was fun to socialize at the hotel between the wedding and the reception.  Tom and Jo provided some beverages and snacks, and the conversations were lively.  The hotel provided shuttles to and from the reception, so we out-of-towners didn’t have to worry about finding the venue.  The dinner was delicious and was followed by wedding pie for dessert.  After that, it was time to talk, party, and dance.  Woo-ee!

The bride and groom sharing a piece of wedding pie

Tom (father of the groom) making a toast.  He quoted Ella Genzmer.

Tom and Jo with their family

Steve and Joan

Ted and meThe DJ played until midnight and even included The Beer Barrel Polka.  That wasn’t enough for this crowd, though.  More beverages and snacks appeared at the hotel after-party, and Jay and AJ ordered pizzas and buffalo wings for everyone to share.  Ted and I surrendered and left the after-party sometime after 2:00 a.m., but some of the other attendees carried on longer.

We had beautiful weather and an extra hour of sleep for our trip home.  It was a weekend of fun!  I wish we knew someone else who’s getting married so we could do it again.

As part of his birthday gift, we gave Sky his choice of an outing with us that included lunch.  He chose miniature golf.  This is a five-day school holiday for the boys, and I want to know why we didn’t get five-day October school holidays when we were in school!  With all that available time and the beautiful weather, today was a perfect day to go golfing.

Sky had the power to choose the lunch venue and he chose–where else?–Steak ‘n’ Shake.  Surprise!  The boys (Sky and Dylan) ordered chicken fingers and large shakes.  Just to give him a hard time, I asked Sky if he was confident that he could finish a large shake.  His response was, “It’s been done.”  Sure enough, it was done again.

From there, it was on to the 18-hole miniature golf course.  Is there any skill required to play miniature golf?  I’m pretty sure the answer is “no.”  The course is simple and easy, yet rigged with hills, ridges, traps, and grades.  Any kid who can hit a ball with a golf club can play, and any real golfer enters an alternate universe compared to a real golf course.  It was fun.

I needed seven strokes on an early par 2 hole, so we made seven the maximum score any of us would get.  There were a few 7s on our score card that were at least representative of the actual number of swings required.  Ted (who was a high school jock) scored 46, the lowest score by almost 20 points.  Sky, Dylan, and I are considering limiting him to scorekeeping next time because he’s too much better than we are.  The three of us scored above 60 on the par 36 course.  The good news is that the more strokes it took us, the longer we got to play!  How’s that for putting a positive spin on a high golf score?

At the end of the game, we all agreed that on another beautiful day we’d like to do this again.  Score for Grandma and Grandpa!

Sky reaching to retrieve his ball from the hole.

Ted going after his ball in the same hole.

Dylan making a putt.

Me–the only one who shot a hole-in-one.  It wasn’t enough to get close to Ted’s score.