Christmas in Henderson

Mike & Lea drove up from St. Louis the day before Christmas. We relaxed that evening, ate salami, crackers, and cheese. We took a picture while everything was still untouched.


It was definitely a white Christmas here in Illinois! Mike & Lea bundled Mazy up and took her outside to introduce her to snow:)

Christmas Day we slept in a bit, then opened presents. Mazy had a lot of fun just with the wrapping paper! She loved all her presents. Baby toys are so entertaining these days! Mazy got a ball that talks, lights up, and moves itself; also a talking telephone:) Mazy is so cute- she rolls anywhere she wants to be! My videos aren't loading tonight - I'll have to try tomorrow.

Mazy with the cute boa headband made by Lea! She is holding the bear from Great Grandmother and Great Grandpa McEwan.

Santa was good to everyone - now I just have to put everything together!

Thanksgiving in Henderson

We had our Thanksgiving feast with Michael, Lea, and Mazy Thursday afternoon. My favorite is always the yams and apples casserole and Lea's rolls from her Aunt Gabby's recipe! I tried the rolls' recipe Saturday and they were yummy again. Now it's Sunday and we are still enjoying all the leftovers.
Rob and I were crazy and got up for the 5 and 6 am specials on Black Friday. Let's just say we scored on a few big items, so it was worth the lost sleep :) Michael, Lea, Mazy, and I went shopping later and found much of what we were looking for.




This will be Mazy's Christmas dress!


Mazy sitting on Grandma's lap and talking about all kinds
of things:) Hmmm.. you can't see the spot where the first
tooth is ready to break through!

Hope everyone out there had a great Thanksgiving. We are so grateful for our many blessings!

Halloween 2009

Wow, St. Louis weather was really enjoyable for Halloween weekend - mild and sunny. Mike and Lea planned a party and these were their living room decorations. Lea made bats, I blew up balloons, and Michael draped the crepe paper. On the top shelf where you see little orange twinkle lights were Grandpa McEwan's dental school skulls he gave to Michael to study anatomy. They were a big hit, especially with the orthodontic students who came!

Mazy loved putting her mouth on the balloons and babbling!


Lea made Mazy's spider costume.


Mazy was the spider and Mike and Lea were the web!


Tuckered out :)


We all enjoyed Lea's soup, home-made rolls, and "brain" cupcakes! Yummmm!

It's Fall in Henderson

It really is very pretty around here when the leaves turn. The weather is all over the place, cold then warmer, sunny then rainy. I've been able to walk outside almost every day though.




The gold tree is the neighbor's and the pink one is a large bush in our front yard.

First term is over at GHS. We had one wave of colds and flu pass through the student body. One day I had 7 out of 11 students gone. The district passed out spray bottles of virus killer to every teacher and told us to use as much as we need. So far so good.

I'm heading to Mike and Lea's this weekend - yay!

Labor Day in St. Louis

It was fun visiting Michael, Lea, and Mazy for Labor Day weekend! Although a 3 3/4 hour trip, we do it in segments and the time passes fairly quickly. When we arrived Saturday around 5:30 we headed downtown to have dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory. Rob and I have special memories from going to the restaurant in Salt Lake City when we were first dating. Little did we know there had been a football game in St. Louis and a festival going on at the same time right in the downtown neighborhood where we were going. It was pretty challenging finding parking and walking amidst all the street and parking lot partyers! The wait was a bit long, but we enjoyed the meal!

Sunday we went to church, enjoyed Lea's cooking and Mike's grilling, watched a DVD, "The Soloist", and enjoyed Mazy. She is modeling one of Lea's hand-made bows - they get baked in the oven as part of the process! Michael then gave us a tour of his dental school. It is very impressive! We viewed the "before" models of his current patients' teeth:)

Monday we went to the Arch, which turned out to not be too terribly crowded. We then went to lunch at a rib place known for its delicious ribs. As we waited in line, the cook came out to tell us he had purchased twice as many ribs as usual, but had run out. We enjoyed the pulled pork sandwiches, baked beans, etc. St. Louis seems like a nice place to continue to explore!

Not sure why my pictures always load in backwards order, but you can view them from the bottom up until I figure out how to fix that!

Mike and Lea - none of the pictures the lady took of our family at the Arch were on my camera when I downloaded!!!



The view from the top - you can see Busch Stadium.


Duck your head, bend forward, hold on, and 4 minutes later you
are at the top!


Lea got this great shot as we were approaching.


The view of Michael's dental facility from the balcony


Michael's station :)


Mazy in the bow made by Lea.

Visit to Sequim

Visiting Brian, Megan, and Clarie was my last opportunity to relax before going back to school! We spent a happy week together - going to the park, doing a little shopping, canning, getting recipes for some new dinners to try. Megan has been working diligently on her food storage and showed me how to can meat as well as her other frozen and canned goods.

They have lots of room now in a 3 bedroom duplex, with a double garage!

Claire is delightful - saying lots of new words, signing, and of course dancing :)




She examines everything very closely!


Claire always wants to "Go outside"!

Sandy's Trip to Amelia, OH

I just returned from a trip to visit Jim and Jolene and meet up with Katy and Anita and Jonelle. Lyndsay & Jill were able to join us to for dinner and shopping. It's a fast trip but always fun! It's like staying at an all-inclusive resort - yummy food and desserts, shopping, a movie and time to talk and catch up! We watched "Twilight" which we all liked - most had read at least the first book in the series.



Jonelle is showing us her pictures from Poland. She just spent 2 weeks there on a missionary trip with her church. She had a lot of great pics - some of Auschwitz. She learned a lot!


Looking from the kitchen into the living room. It's a beautiful home with woods on 3 sides - we heard woodpeckers and turkeys!

"Heads on the wall"
Let's do it again next year! :)