This Is The Day

Friday, March 21, 2025

Thursday, March 20, 2025

After the funeral we went to the graveside service and then went back to C & J's house for a reception. T showed the girls around their huge house. They've heard lots of stories and it had been 12 years since we'd been there so they were excited to see it for themselves.

It was so wonderful to catch up with all the family! All but two of T's cousins on that side of the family were able to be there and all his aunts and uncles were as well. We stayed for 6 hours just visiting, laughing, and remembering Aunt Connie. She was an avid scrapbooker and family historian so we had fun looking through her scrapbooks and following the family line back to the early 1800's! She even had maps of where the great great great grandfather was born in Europe!

The girls had fun visiting with their cousins.

And enjoying the awesome basement. They have arcade games, pool, a movie theater, and a dance floor!

I tried not to stay down there for too long so I could get back to visiting, but I did take time to play hockey with Boo and then K and Peanut joined us.

K and Peanut also had a dance party.

They had Aunt Connie's playlist going throughout the house.

We got a couple of pictures before we left. Here are most the men of the family that were there. Uncle W and cousin W didn't get in there. It was hard to say our goodbyes and leave everyone!

We got back to the hotel pretty late, but the girls wanted to swim anyway.

The pool was pretty cold so all but the youngest ones stuck to the hot tub. :)

On the way home we stopped at the girls' favorite little country mercantile and got candy that looked like rocks.

The little ones had a blast while they were with Noni. She took them to Chuck E. Cheese!

And let them make hot air balloons.

They also got these really cute pizza kits where they got to make their own pizzas!

The weekend's weather was amazing! In Portland it hit 75! At home I think it was still in the 50's but after negative temperatures recently that felt wonderful! They had a picnic one day.

Thank you so much for watching them Noni!! We really appreciate it!

Wednesday, March 19, 2025

Goodbye Aunt Connie

We were so sad when we got the news that T's Aunt Connie had passed. She had been doing poorly for a long time so it wasn't unexpected, but it was still heartbreaking knowing how hard it was for her family.

T took off work and we let the big girls miss school so we could make the trip to Portland for the funeral. We left the little ones with Noni knowing that it would be difficult for them to sit still after riding in the car for hours. The big girls were excited to stay in a hotel. Bug and Boo shared one bed, T and I shared the other, and Peanut made herself a little bed under the desk. :P She said she felt like Max, the Grinch's dog, in his little bed nook. :)

I guess not many people travel on a February Friday. We had the continental breakfast to ourselves.

I was looking through some of our blog posts and memories with Aunt Connie. Here she is with Grandma, Bug, Peanut, and Uncle J enjoying fireworks on the 4th. They used to come up every summer for the 4th when her health was good.

One of the girls took this picture of her at Grandma's surprise 60th birthday, 9 years ago. I love this picture of her. When I think of her I immediately think of fun. She was always so much fun and loved to laugh. From the first time I met her she made me feel like a treasured member of the family.

One special memory I have of her is from one of T and I's trips to Phoenix. It was one of the earlier years when we were staying at a different hotel than the conference was at. I didn't have a car so I just sat at the hotel all day while he was in his meetings. Connie and J were in town and she found this out and came and picked me up and took me to lunch at Olive Garden and then we spent all afternoon shopping. It was really fun. Being around Connie was always fun and even though we didn't get to see her much in the last few years we will truly miss her bright and vibrant spirit.

Here's another picture from that 60th birthday party.

And this one goes farther back...this was a baby shower for T's cousin. I'm holding baby Bug!

They had a really beautiful service for her and a slide show with tons of pictures from her life. These are just a few of my favorites. The little guy in the middle is T!

And I've always loved this one of Grandma with her three siblings. They were at one of the cousin's weddings.

C & J were married for 52 years I think! Amazing! My heart hurts to think of how much he must be missing her. :'(

She passed one day shy of her 70th birthday...much too young. Goodbye Aunt Connie. You will be dearly missed here on earth but we are so happy that you are no longer in pain and we will get to see you again one day in heaven! We love you.

Tuesday, March 18, 2025

Happy Birthday Papa!

The younger three girls and I got to go over to Noni and Papa's and help him celebrate his birthday. They were so excited to give him their handmade cards!

And of course they loved watching him open his presents. Presents are always fun even if they aren't yours!

Peaches grabbed my phone and got a bunch of pictures. Here are two of them...Abby.

And our gift for Papa...our favorite game!

Peanut got to light the candles and we all sang happy birthday.

We love you Papa!

Monday, March 17, 2025

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Daddy's birthday was on an AWANA night so we weren't able to do a big celebration but we did all meet early at the Mexican food restaurant to have dinner together before AWANA.

And then we did presents and cake afterwards even though it put the little ones in bed a little late.

Happy Birthday to you...

Lou was SO excited to give him her gift...some shop towels. :)

He got so many great gifts!

I got him a new Lego set, "The Big Wave".

And then I gave him his other gift...

He had been having fun using AI to design a sign for his shop and found one he liked so I spent about 18 hours creating it! Here it is...minus the identifying info. It was a lot of work but I had fun making it!