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.  

Our New Year's Weekend, 2018-19

We had a truly wonderful New Year's weekend!  Actually, the Christmas/New Year holiday this year seemed to be one long weekend.  I had the hardest time remembering what day of the week it was.  We didn't even go to church this past Sunday, so that made it even more difficult to keep the days straight.  

As you've noticed, I've started to post most of my picture in collages to keep my posts shorter.  They do get bigger if you click on them.  But you probably already knew that!

I'll start this post with one last Christmasy picture.  My sister Mary Ellen gave me this ornament, and I LOVE it so much!

Sunday, December 30

Dick and I packed up our van as much as we could on Saturday evening, then on Sunday morning we packed up the rest of our "stuff" and hit the road before 8:00 AM.  This was the day for the annual Stauffer family gathering, and it was starting at 11:30!  So I obviously was taking a Sunday off from church because we would have a 2 - 3 hour drive.  We went first of all to Sam and Jenn's to pick up the children.  There was a showing scheduled at 2:00, so that gave them time to get the place all ready for it - without kids!

As we have done the past few years, the Stauffers got together at Manheim BIC.  They have a wonderful gathering room adjoining the gym.  It's perfect for a big group like ours with energetic children.  

As we waited for more people to arrive, the men sat and chatted.  The children ran and tryked around the gym.  Then Jess arrived and the kids gathered around her as they worked on the Frozen-themed floor puzzle that Sammy had brought along.  Unfortunately Jess came without Bjorn because he was sick.  

When everyone that was coming had arrived, we started the meal.  Lasagna, garlic bread, salad, and desserts were our menu.  Of course the babies had their own special menu.  I loved watching the young daddies feeding them.

After eating there was lots of catching up to do.  I actually didn't get to do too much of it, because Jess and I were playing Sammy's game, UNO Attack, with some of the children.  Nobody took pictures of us, so you'll just have to take my word for it!

Before too many had scattered I managed to get a few important group photos.  Of course, brother Bob and his wife Doris were missing.  They live in Minnesota, and this week they left for a year-and-a-half of service in Haiti.  

Steve and Faye are at the left side of this photo, then Dick and I, Grandma Arlene and Dad, Jim and Carolyn, Fred and Deb.  As usual, there were lots of jokes being cracked as the pictures were being taken.   I just love the one of Dad and Arlene.  

We went back to Sam and Jenn's after we left there and had time to relax.  I even fell asleep for a bit on the chaise lounge, covered with a cozy green blanket.   When I woke up I discovered that one of the cats had been sitting on me.  No wonder I slept!  Bianca was intrigued with her Fishin' Frenzy game.  Just couldn't get enough of it.  She even roped me in for a while, and it really was fun!  

In the evening Dick and I went on a big grocery shopping mission.  The next day would be our annual family fondue with our PA crew, and we needed lots of food!  After we got finished we picked up a couple of pizzas to take back to the house.  It was a cold night, so we were able to leave most of our things in the van, which was wonderful.  The one good thing about cold weather - outdoor refrigeration!

Monday, December 31

We have often had our fondue in Sam and Jenn's basement, but decided against it this year because of the house being for sale.  Thankfully we were able to have it at our home church near Manheim, Grace Community Fellowship.  Dick and I got there around 10 AM to set up tables and chairs, unload the van, make the cheese and chocolate for dipping, and heat the oil for frying.  Many years ago, 1989 I believe, Miki had done a fondue meal with a group of young adults and asked if we could do it with our family.  There were probably six of us at that time, lol!  She brought me her handwritten recipes for the cheese and chocolate, including suggestions for things to dip into them.  I still use those very same recipes!!  I assured her that I was thinking of and missing her as I used them.

We were disappointed that once again the weather was not in our favor.  Last year we had a lot of snow, which prevented both Anthony's family and Frank's family from being able to join us.  This year we had rain.  However, for Anthony and Lori it was rain and fog.  They were on their way, but were barely out of Centre County when the traffic was just crawling along due to fog, and they decided to turn around.  As I heard reports of freezing rain up in this area, I was actually glad they had done so.  But we really missed having them there.  

I didn't actually get any pictures of everyone at once, but we had fun eating and everyone had plenty!  The children had a great time playing too.  

Bjorn did join us, but was still not feeling great.  So they were the first to leave.  My sister Mary Ellen joined us this year.  She brought a game to play - the game of Things.  WHAT FUN for all ages!!  So much laughter.  Those of us that didn't start the game wanted to join in before long!  I will definitely be getting this game.

Of course, there was time to just catch up with each other too.  The church basement was a perfect  location for us.  We really had a wonderful time together.  I just hope it doesn't smell like a fast food restaurant when they go to church tomorrow!  

And then there was all the clean up.  UGH!!!  But we had plenty of help.  I think we left around 4:00.  We were so glad for the carport at the church and again at Sam's because it was POURING.  

On the way back to Sam's, Dick and I went past the farm house, just two miles from the church, where we lived with our crew for 18 years.  So many memories of our life there.  Then we went through the square of Manheim so we could see the Christmas lights.  It was raining, so I couldn't get a good picture of it this year.  But it was still magical, just as it has been ever since I can remember.  

We had a really fun New Year's Eve at Sam and Jenn's.  Ray came over with his girlfriend Ashley and her son RJ.  She had to work that day and missed our fondue.  But we still had plenty of stuff left.  We ate all evening long, watched the live show on ABC and sang along, laughed at Cocoa watching bird videos on Sammy's tablet, haha!!  And we celebrated and messaged family members as the ball dropped in Times Square.  

Tuesday, January 1, 2019

On New Years Day Dick and I were the first ones up, getting ready to leave.  We had a little bit of time with the kids before we said our goodbyes. 

Before heading back home to State College we went to Quentin Haus Family Restaurant for one more gathering - my Pennsylvania siblings.  It was actually a last minute thing that amazingly worked out for all of us!   There was lots of talking, good eating (again!) - most of us had pork, sauerkraut, and mashed potatoes, and of course, many laughs.  I just love being with my siblings!

Actually, I didn't even know Mary Ellen had taken some of these pictures, but I decided to have fun with them, haha!

When we got home late afternoon there was SO MUCH STUFF to carry into the house and put away.  But we got it done, and then I had to get right to work choosing the music for this coming Sunday.  Later we made a quick run to the grocery store so I'd have the things I needed to cook for Anthony and Lori the next day.  Bed felt really, really good that night!

First week of 2019

So it's been a regular work week for us.  And the same old dreary weather.   I told 2019 to stop trying to be like 2018!!

Maybe it listened to me!  When I was working in the kitchen at Anthony and Lori's late yesterday afternoon the house seemed to have a glow.  I looked out to the west and knew I had to get a picture QUICK!!   It was truly spectacular!!

And now this afternoon we have glorious sunshine!!!  It's incredibly wonderful after all the gloominess we've had most of the time for MONTHS!!

Have a great Sunday!