Sunday Part 2

 Sara and Leo arrived on Sunday just before lunch.  The little ones were meeting again.  Sara's twins were excited about meeting the baby.

 And they got to know each other quickly

 Gram has good toys.

 We have a beautiful niece.  Star material.

 Brunch was served.

 The boys were relaxing

 Mom and baby were dressed for Christmas and Is that a bow in her hair????

 Leo was pretty tired after that long drive from the Cape


 Lara love to get down on the floor to play with the little ones.

 Are we ready for presents yet??  There were a lot of them piled up under the tree.

 A few more fun shots.  Beautiful girls runs in this family with a few more in this shot.  They pick good husbands too.

 Daddy looks more excited than baby.  Maybe he has been peeking in his gifts???

 We start with reading of the Christmas story.

 intent listeners

 And the gift giving begins.

 great toys

 cute aprons made by Aunt Della

Lara joins the family with her 'I know Doug" drink holder.

 This little guy received a wonderful fire truck that lights up and makes great noises.

 Leo drove over and joined us.  It was great to see him.  I bought him some 'Scrub Daddies' he asked for.  He only needs to drop a few hints and I write them down since he is difficult to buy for.

 New paddles for his Kayak???

 A tea set from Gram

 A new more stylish WARM jacket for Gram

 

 Two more aprons from Aunt Della.  It was fun making them for the girls.  They grew out of their other ones that I made for them many years ago.

 A great hat to go with that fire truck

 A beautiful canoe

 A wonderful family. Don't we look great???  I am so thankful for my brothers and sister.  It is wonderful for Eva to host this family gathering.  I am thankful that so many people drove to gather and celebrate the holiday.

 I bought a book for this little one called "The Blue Willow Plate"  It was my favorite book when I was about her age.  I also found this plate to go with the gift.  It is a wonderful book about a girl in the depression who only has this plate as a precious reminder of her mother and better times.

 Gram loved reading books to her grandchildren.

WHEW!!!!   It was an exhausting day.

 Monday we were suppose to go up to Dug's family lodge but we didn't have any snow for sledding and a little sickness was holding us back.  We stayed home and started a puzzle

We did get a walk in that afternoon though

 The park was near by and the swings were a hit.

This is the quilt that I made for Sara and Leo.
Stay tuned for PART 3.

Part 1 Grand Rrapids

 This is my THIRD try at posting an entry on this blog.  I have decided that it will only take a few pictures at a time so this is the first installment of our Grand Rapids Christmas.
When we arrived on Saturday Erik and Lara had already arrived and Matt and Diana had come with their family the night before.
We headed out on an afternoon hike.  No snow so we just enjoyed the woods and the family time.

 The girls enjoyed a little climbing.

 Mom and Dad relaxed at at rest area the I requested.  They are in better shape than me.

 Daddy and little one were enjoying the out of doors

 Like I said a little climbing is needed when in the woods.

 I can't get enough of this precious little one.

 When we got back it was time to rest.

 Take a nap

 play games.

 Fool around

 Admire this world and this precious one.

 AND these precious ones too

 Matt turned 40.  Isn't that amazing

 The family picture.  

 The STAR of the show.

Christmas in Northern Michigan

It is our tradition to have Christmas Eve dinner at Bud's sister's house across the street.  

 Aren't these two a good looking brother and sister.  50 years ago no one would have believed that Bud could be this nice to his sister.

 Sue and Walt have 4 wonderful children and we are thankful to be a part of their lives.

 Brittany was home from her internship in Chicago.  We hadn't seen her since summer.  She looks terrific.

 Charlotte is home from Lawrence University where she is studying music.  Another beautiful young lady.

 Brittany even brought her  wonderful husband, John.  They a such a great couple.  John is working VERY hard at a law firm in Chicago.

 Jack is finishing his final year at U. of Michigan where he is studying engineering.  I asked the question (without even being prompted by his parents)  "So, how is the job search going??"  He is working on it.

 Sonja came over for the evening too.  She is looking pretty good too.

 I had to get in the picture with David or he wouldn't let me take a picture.  I tried to take a picture of him by himself earlier but he wouldn't cooperate.

 Mom and son.  What else could you say but smile at this picture.

 It was a bit like 'herding cats' but we did manage to get all of them in one place for a picture.

 As per tradition, Walt read the Christmas story before the family left for church.

 Christmas morning we were right back over there.  This is David teaching Jack how to tie a bow tie.  Jack received the bow tie from David for Christmas.

 Another family tradition is that Uncle Bud fixes French toast for the family Christmas morning.  This past week he experimented with 2 different recipes to see if he could perfect his traditional recipe.  Neither one of the experiments was that good so he went aback to his usual style.  It was a great.

 The plate was piled high with the French toast.

 David offered to pose with me again.  What a great guy.

THEN, they let us come back over AGAIN in the evening for dinner.  We tried to go to the movies to see Unbroken but it was sold out in the afternoon.  We just decided to come back to the house and relax together instead of trying for the later show.

Finally, we went out again today (the 26th) to see Unbroken and dinner after at Applebees.  AS you can see we had great time with the family.  We hope they aren't too tired of us.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

This and That with pictures this time

First of all, I hope you weren't offended by my last posting/rant.  Sometimes I just get that way and I haven't  really had a good rant lately.  Today I have a much more pleasant post.  

 First of all, these pictures are very vintage.  I'm not sure how old they are as there wasn't a date on the back of them.  Aunt Kathleen let me borrow them to scan them into my computer since this is the lady that I was named after.  She and her sister Aunt Jessie never married and her nephews were my Grandpa Lewis (Charlie) and my Great Uncle Fred Lewis.  She had a brother than many of you may have heard off, we called him Uncle George (he would have really been my Great Great Uncle but we just called him Uncle George because that is what my dad called him. )  Uncle George made all the violins and gave one to each of his nieces and nephews (all of my dad's siblings have a violin in the family.  Eva has ours)    

 The man in this picture is my Great Grandfather, the only one of that family that married and had children.  I never met any of these people but do remember my dad talking about them.  They lived in southern Michigan I think.  The linage of the Lewis family is a little more vague than the Clarke side of that family.  I have a detailed book about the Clarke family (my Grandma Lewis was a Clarke) but just a brief sketch of the family tree on the Lewis side.  Anyway,  I was happy to get a chance to see these pictures and appreciate the fact that my Aunt Kathleen let me borrow them.  

 Can you believe it????????  Leo actually put up some Christmas lights at his house.  I think that is impressive.  He is getting into the spirit a bit.  He has plugged them into the front door light switch so he can turn them on right from inside the house.

 In my last post I mentioned that we didn't have any snow.  WELL, this last week we were blessed with a light dusting of snow to make the season bright.  Yes, I know this doesn't look like a light dusting of snow for many of you that don't live 'Up North' but it really was only a couple of inches and much of it has compacted down so it is just barely covering the ground.  We are foretasted to get a bit more rain/snow today and into the evening.

One last picture.  This is the leadership of the Yacht Club.  We had a little gathering of the board and of course Bud is part of that group.  He isn't officially on the board, he just keeps track of the money so he is kind of the CFO.  He puts a lot of time into this organization and they really appreciate his work.

That is all from me for now.  I am working on a nice new project in my sewing room but it is still a work in process so I will wait to unveil it when it is closer to completion.

My Christmas gifts are all wrapped and ready to take with me to my various celebrations so I am feeling pretty prepared for the season.  I just have to do a little cooking but that task needs to be closer to the holidays and all my baking is being done by Grand Traverse Pie Company.

Here's wishing you a stress free week.

What is this world coming to????????

I may regret this post in haste but here it goes:
 I just heard a story on NPR about law students at Harvard and other schools that want more time to study for their exams because they spent much of the last month protesting (the death of Brown in Ferguson and the death of the man in New York)  I agree that everyone and MOST of all college students need to exercise their right to protest and there are many ongoing issues with racism in our country. Protesting is a 'right of passage' for many college students.  BUT, 'back in the day' (the Vietnam War where hundreds of our generation died each week) we managed to protest (ME included) AND still be accountable for our exams. Maybe this isn't 'Apples and Oranges' but it does seem like kind of a weak argument that you need more time to study for exams.  I'm not buying it.

SO, there you have heard my opinion.  I will push the 'publish' button and just take it 'on the chin' if you don't agree.