Birthdays, a wedding, and a funeral

This has been birthday week in our family.  Last Thursday was Austin's, Sunday was Jenn's, yesterday was Sophie's, and today is Lisa's!  

Here's the collage I posted yesterday on FB in honor of Sophie's birthday.  She's 14 now!!  What a precious, beautiful girl she is!

Today it's 45 years that we became a family of three!  It is one of my very best memories of my entire life.  I just couldn't believe that this adorable little baby girl was ours!  This morning I was looking for our first picture as a family of three.  Hahaha!!  What can I say?  I guess I had to look good in the hospital too!!  

Actually, this was our first picture as a family of three!

Lisa was such a beautiful baby girl.

So in spite of the snow forecast, Dick and I did leave last Saturday morning for my former student Karlee's wedding in York, PA.  We decided to go in Dick's truck because of the four-wheel drive.  We had no snow at all on the way there, and we arrived over an hour before starting time.  In fact, only when we were ready to leave the reception was there any snow at all!  I'm SO GLAD we went!

A bit of background first - I knew Karlee's family long before there was a Karlee!  Her dad's family went to Manheim Christian Day School back when our kids were students there.  At some point her grandma Judy was hired as secretary at the school, a position she held for many years.  And somewhere along the line they started attending Grace Community Fellowship where we went to church, so our lives intersected at many points over the years.  

Jon (Judy's youngest son) and and his wife Karrye actually adopted Karlee.  Karlee's biological mom was a sister to Karrye and died of cancer when Karlee was very young.  So Jon and Karrye became parents almost as soon as they got married.  I remember when Karlee came to Manheim Christian as a Pre-K student.  Everyone adored her free spirit.  I remember having her on the front row of the stage when I had the entire student body singing together, and she pulled her skirt right up over her head, hahahaha!  

Jon and Karrye went on to have two biological daughters, Hannah and Leah.  They were near our granddaughter Destiny's age, and for a couple of years when Destiny lived with us as a preschooler, I would take her to their house in the morning where she would stay for the day while I taught.  I often took Karlee and Hannah to school after I dropped Destiny off.  When Karlee was in middle school she joined my middle school worship team and was a vital part of bringing the team together the last year I was there.  To this day I hold the memories of our times together closely in my heart.  So all that introduction before I share my pictures from the wedding!  It honestly felt like a family reunion to me!

Karlee and Tavon saying their vows.

On the top left I am with Hannah, on the top right I am with Leah, bottom left I am with Grandma Judy (my dear friend for years!), and bottom right are parents Jon and Karrye.  

At the reception - bride-and-groom dance and father/daughter dance.  It was such a joyful occasion!

As I said, the snow had started when we left the reception around 6 pm.  It should have taken just a little over an hour to get from the reception to Sam and Jenn's place, but I think it took us two hours.  We didn't have any trouble, just very slow traffic lots of places.  We were really glad we were in the truck and thankful to finally arrive at their place.

We had a really wonderful evening together.  Sammy had the "downtown lounge" all ready for a dance party, so I hung out down there for a while.  Later we all watched a lot of news bloopers and laughed our heads off.  

We slept in Sunday morning.  The snow in that area had turned to rain over night, so it wasn't as beautiful outside as we had expected it to be.   I made a favorite breakfast of bacon and eggs scrambled with hash browns, onions, cheese, and bacon grease!  It was Jenn's birthday, so I guess that was my "gift."  Somehow I didn't even get a picture of her.  What is wrong with me??

I had finally gotten the book The Wonkey Donkey last week and brought it along.  Sammy had fun reading it several times!

I colored with Bianca and enjoyed watching her play with all her princesses.  She reminds me so much of Destiny when she was little.  So much imagination.

Because we knew that there was more snow up in our area, and that very low temperatures and wind were in the forecast for the day, we did not want to wait till evening to leave for home.  In spite of the wind, it was a beautiful drive.  

Anthony had posted this picture he took that afternoon, probably from their dining room window.  He said they counted nine deer!

Boy, was our house cold when we got home!!  Yikes!  We usually turn our thermostats way back when we go away for the weekend, but I don't think it was a good idea this time.  It took WAY too long to bring the temp back up because of the wind.  

Not too much news from the week.  I had a hair appointment on Tuesday and got some highlights this time since we have a wedding coming up.  Destiny wanted me to send her a picture after my appointment, so this is what she got, lol!

I took this one after I had time to fix it the way I like it the next day. 

On Wednesday I had Hunter here for a while after I picked him up from daycare.  Sorry, no pictures this time.  He is a never ending delight and source of giggles!

Wednesday night and Thursday I made a lot of ham and bean soup because our church is having a soup sale tomorrow.  Wow, I hadn't made it in a long time.   I started with dry beans and a big old ham on the bone.  I kept tasting it yesterday as it stewed, adding this and that and the other thing till I was satisfied.  Not the prettiest thing I ever made, though!

This evening we will be heading down to Sam and Jenn's overnight again.  Tomorrow we will be going to my aunt Dorothy Witmer's funeral.  Her husband is my dad's brother Luke.  I have not seen most of their children for years, so I am very eager to go and reconnect with them.  It will be one of those "family everywhere you look" gatherings.  Dorothy was a sister to Dick's brother Fred's wife Deb's dad.  Hahahaha!!  Did you follow that?  Maybe I need to draw a diagram!  

Which reminds me, I really am having fun working on our family trees on ancestry.com.  So far we don't seem to be related to each other, which is surprising considering the three lines of Stauffers in our ancestry.  

Well, I gotta run!

A shower and a birthday

It's late Friday evening, but I'm going to try to get this blog post done before I go to bed.  We have plans to go to a wedding tomorrow (a former student), and after that I'll have so much more to write about.  

Last Saturday evening we had the boys here while Anthony and Lori went to a movie.  They had fun for a long time in our tub.

Austin is always in the mood for dessert, but I didn't have any on hand.  So between the two of us we came up with some quick s'mores.  I put mini marshmallows and chocolate chips on graham crackers and broiled them in the toaster oven, then topped them with whipped cream.  They were really good!  The ones in this picture were mine - I like my marshmallows burned!

Hunter and Grandpa hung out on the recliner till Anthony and Lori arrived.

On Sunday we hit the road for Lebanon right after our service at GBRV.  As we drove I was trying to take a selfie and was complaining that my top looked like a granny pattern on the pictures.  Dick said,  "Well, what's it on?"  I didn't know what he meant so he kindly explained,  "It's on a granny.  Why should it look like anything else?"  Now THAT, my friends, is classic Stauffer humor!  Ugh!!

Sam had gone to pick up Destiny for me.  Then Jenn, Destiny, and I went to Jess's bridal shower while Dick hung out with Sam and the kids.  He did also visit his parents.

Here I am with the beautiful bride-to-be.  I love her so very much.

The shower was held in this adorable cottage at The Historic Acres of Hershey.   

We were the ones representing Bjorn's family - Ashley, Destiny, me, and Jenn, with Jess in the middle.

There were lots of fun games.  And fantastic food, which I got NO pictures of!!  One game was a team contest, dressing a team member in a toilet paper wedding dress!  In our team, Destiny was the bride, Ashley and Jenn were the designers, and I was the photographer!  What a HOOT!!

All the brides!  Including my sister-in-law Deb on the left of Jess!  (Bjorn had lived with Fred and Deb during his senior year at Manheim Central.)

The winning team!!

Bjorn arrived in time to help unwrap the gifts.  They're so funny and adorable together!

Jess loves winter, so it was perfect for the trees to be so beautiful on the day of her shower.

When we got back to the house it was time to hit the road for home, so I just got some quick pictures of the kids.  Sammy holding Cocoa.

And Bianca trying to show me her "friends," but blocking her own sweet face, haha!

This has been a pretty normal week, so I'm not going to take the time to talk about it.  Thursday was Austin's 10th birthday.  Unfortunately, he was been sick most of the week.  Also, Dick and I had choir practice that evening.  So we waited until this evening to celebrate.  We went to the bowling alley, as we have every year for his birthday since he turned five.  

Hunter just loves to roll the ball.  He really doesn't care how many pins it knocks down.  He giggles with delight.

Austin, on the other hand, is not satisfied with anything less than a strike - which he did get a fair amount of. 

As usual, he won.  He also took most of my turns.  And Hunter took all of Lori's turns.  

When our game time was up we went to the game room for some more fun.

This motorcycle ride was probably the most fun of all.  Look at Hunter's face, haha!

The men had a little fun too!

Afterward we went to nearby Dairy Queen for ice cream.  We put candles on Austin's brownie sundae and sang to him.  Every time the four of us sing Happy Birthday we break out into four part harmony.  This time we ended the song with no one on the melody!  We decided that after this I will just have to control myself and stay on the melody so the rest of them can harmonize, hahahahahaha!  #musicalpeopleproblems 

Some silly selfie time with Hunter.

So we're supposedly getting a snow storm this weekend.  They already cancelled our Sunday morning service at GBRV.  At this point it doesn't look like there will be much snow further south of us, so we're planning to go to the wedding tomorrow.  We'll probably sleep at Sam and Jenn's tomorrow night since we don't have to be back for church on Sunday morning.  But if you think of us, we'll be glad for prayers for traveling safety.

Goodnight!

Just a regular week with some funny things added in

Last Saturday after I wrote my blog post I got started un-decorating the tree. Dick took down the outdoor lights and decorations too.  By end of day there was no sign of Christmas around here.  That's really early for us, but we had the time and knew that we'd better do it before life gets crazy again.  One reason I'm glad to get rid of the tree is so that I can put all the toys in the toy corner again.  While the tree is up the toys all come into our den, right in front of the book shelves that store all my music.   

Sunday morning started out like any normal Sunday morning until we got to church at GBRV.  We were setting up our praise team area and I noticed that Dick had something black slung across his right shoulder.  I thought it must be his tie, that perhaps he had tried to get it out of his way or something.  Later I noticed that it wasn't even attached to his shirt collar, so I walked over to him and asked what he had on his shoulder.  He had no idea what i was talking about.  He reached up and pulled a pair of black sox off his shoulder!!  He said, "There they are!  I was looking for them and had to get another pair out of the drawer!"  I wish I would have made him put them back on his shoulder so I could have taken a picture!  How we laughed!  The crazy thing is that they stayed there through his putting a coat on at home and taking it off when we got to church!  

As usual, after our service at GBRV we went to the 10:45 service at Calvary.  The clouds were spectacular that morning and I was trying to take pictures of them as we made the 15 minute drive. I missed the best shots, but here's one that i did get.

After the service at Calvary we brought Austin and Hunter home with us for the afternoon.  As Dick was helping Hunter out of his car seat I overheard this conversation between them.  

Hunter: You have a beard, Grandpa.  

Dick: Yes, I do.  Who else has a beard?  

Hunter: Daddy has a beard.  

Dick:  Do you have a beard?

Hunter:  No, I have a skin.

Sometime I need to make a video of him talking.  I just can't take how cute he sounds.  He enunciates his words so clearly and carefully, and he raises his voice high at the end of every question - which he asks lots of!  

Dick took this little video on Sunday.  I love how he moves his feet!

Sunday evening there was a football game on TV that Dick really did not want to miss.  The Eagles vs the Chicago Bears.  Of course we love the Eagles because they're a Pennsylvania team.  But we also have had a lot of interest in the Chicago Bears this year because their head coach, Matt Nagy, was a Manheim Central graduate.  Our son Frank played on the same high school football team as Matt did, and our son Anthony played on the same high school basketball team as Matt did.  Matt was one of our high school football heroes.  We all are so proud of him!  The end of Sunday's game was so hard to watch.  Of course his team lost with that excruciating last kick gone bad.  We would have loved to see Matt's team go to the super bowl.  I saw his kicker being interviewed this week on the Today Show.  What a wonderful young man with such a great attitude.  


On Monday morning there was a brilliant sunrise!  

Of course I know the old tale about taking warning when you see red in the sky in the morning.  And sure enough we got sleet around noon.  Apparently the roads were pretty slippery at that time, but I was still here busy cooking.  By the time I left to go over to Anthony and Lori's they weren't bad.  

I didn't have many other reasons to take pictures this week.  Just a regular week of cooking for Anthony and Lori and music prep.  On Wednesday evening I had a worship planning meeting at GBRV and on Thursday evening we had choir practice as usual.  

I was also working on mailing out pictures to our children and our siblings and their children.  In the past I used to write a big update letter about everyone in our family, complete with one of my famous cut-and-paste family portraits.  I would send out about 150 of them!  Now I was just sending out 60-some pictures, no letter, and it seemed like a never-ending chore!!  Getting mailing addresses updated, writing the addresses on the envelopes, slapping a return address label and stamp on each one, sealing the envelopes.   Ugh!!  We're so spoiled by digital everything anymore!  

The picture was the one of Dick and me with Anthony and Lori's family at the Christmas tree at Calvary.  I had added text:  Merry Christmas from the State College Stauffers.  A few days after I picked up the 50 prints from Walmart I realized that they had included foil lined envelopes!!  With prints??  Of course I didn't get them out before Christmas, but fifty people did get them in those nice envelopes!   I decided this week to order some more, but I updated the text to "Happy New Year from the State College Stauffers."  When I picked them up there were no envelopes included.  I mentioned that I had ordered some prints a couple of weeks ago that said Merry Christmas, and that there were nice foil lined envelopes included.  He was surprised and said he supposed they thought that they were a Christmas card.  He didn't offer to include envelopes with this order unfortunately, lol!  Rats,  I should have kept the Merry Christmas on them!  Here's the Happy New Year version of the picture.

If you would like to have one and you email your mailing address to musicaljean@gmail.com I might send you one in the mail!  

One day this week when I was over at Anthony and Lori's I noticed a "book" written by Austin.  I read through it and thought it was so clever and so funny!  He said he did it on his Chromebook at school.  I said, "But you made up the sentences and drew the pictures, right?"  He said he had.  I exclaimed that I loved it and that he could be an author and write books.  He said, "I told you I did it on my Chromebook.  I didn't write it."  I laughed and said,  "Austin, how do you think authors write their books?  On their computers, probably not with pen and paper!"  I loved it so much I decided to take a picture of the cover and each page.  Be sure to see the last picture with that poor gingerbread man hanging halfway out of the T rex's mouth, hahahaha!  

Oh, I have to show you this picture that Dick posted.   Anthony and Lori were at an antique store recently and found this bottle opener that they knew Dick would love!  Just to be funny he hung it up at the window between our kitchen and living room where we usually hang our old Christmas bell.  Needless to say, that is not where it stayed, hahaha!! 

Recently Dick and I sent our "spit in a bottle" to ancestry.com and this week my results came back.  Certainly no surprises!  71% Germanic Europe and 29% England, Wales, and Northwestern Europe.  I've been having so much fun on my ancestry.com app building my family tree and some of Dick's too.  It was easy to see how my dad's parents were second cousins when three of their four parents were Wengers, haha!!  And between Dick and me there are a whole lot of Stauffers in our ancestry.  Of course Dick's dad is a Stauffer, but so was Dick's maternal great grandmother and also my maternal grandmother.   Who knows?  Dick and I are probably related to each other!  I told Dick last night that I think I have found a new obsession! 

Next week Austin will have his 10th birthday!  Ten years ago.  2009, the year our big life transition occurred.  Some of you remember that.  I'm sure I'll be reminiscing throughout this year.  

I had such a cute memory of him five years ago in my FB memories this morning.  I had written:

No end to the quotable quotes when Austin's around.  A while ago he wanted to go outside to show us how he can ice skate on the ice that still remains on our driveway.  He warned Dick,  "Be careful.  Old people can fall."  

Earlier he had asked,  "Why do you live here with no children?"  I said that our children had all grown up and moved to their own homes.  He said,  "There are children that need mommies and daddies."

Awwww.  He obviously was not yet aware of how parts of our family had come to be.     

They say we're getting some snow tonight.  I hope it won't be too much.  Right after the service at GBRV tomorrow Dick and I will be hitting the road.  There's a bridal shower for Jess tomorrow afternoon that Jenn and Destiny and I will be going to while Dick hangs out with Sam and the kids and watches some play-off football.