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| Leila's first ice fishing... she caught 2 bluegills! |
The last time I blogged was early November, and now we're into January-- so it's been awhile! But, of course, there were a couple of major holidays mixed in there, so things have been busy.
We've been well. This time none of us got sick during the "annual exchange of germs" during Thanksgiving and Christmas, so that was nice. I guess our little grandson Jack came down with something, but that must have been a bug he caught after visiting us.
At Christmas we had a dusting of snow and relatively warm temps, but since then it's settled into more of a Wisconsin winter around here. The past few days have been below zero, with a solid layering of snow.
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| The "adult" table (kids were in the kitchen) |
We spent Thanksgiving in Madison, at my sister Laurie's house. Her husband Mark (who, I will observe with glee, is a trained chef-!), cooked us a scrumptious holiday feast complete with turkeys roasted two different ways. The meal was great, but afterwards Mark observed (with some annoyance) that after everything's said and done, turkey tastes like turkey no matter what you do with it.
As always, Mark and Laurie were wonderful hosts who think of all the details. One especially fun thing that Laurie did with the girls was make them pilgrim hats and collars out of paper...
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| Leila, Beth, and Emma |
Finally, after more than a year, all the cousins were together: Don and Hope's kids, and me and Jon's kids. It's always fun to watch them get reacquainted with one another and get right back into the playing. Of course, a lot of their playing is done on small electronic devices, now, but there were also some old-fashioned board games, stuffed animal play, and running around.
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| Leila and Stephen |
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| Beth and Emma |
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| Mom and Dad |
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| Mom |
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| Cousins |
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| Rocking the buns and glasses |
Then along came Christmas-! A few days before Christmas, Don and Hope came back to Wisconsin with their kids and stayed at our home in Colfax. We had another holiday gathering with family, including my parents, brother John, and Jim.
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| Leila sliding |
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| Something Don can't do in Arkansas... |
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| Don and Hope having a playful moment |
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| Chess for Michael-! |
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| My dad |
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| Kids on the couch |
On Christmas Day, Jonathan and Alicia brought Jack and David over. We had an informal, brunchy kind of meal and opened presents. David stayed with us for a few days and was able to make a visit to Cornell to see Grandma Jane.
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| David and Jackson join us |
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| We love David |
This was the first year that Susan didn't make it back to Wisconsin for Christmas, but she is heavily pregnant (baby due later this month) and not feeling up to long distance traveling. She's doing well, but let's face it: things are a little uncomfortable for those about to have a baby. We look forward to visiting her in Kentucky when little "junior" Johnston makes his appearance...
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| About to pop! |
I will close with a few "odds and ends" pictures taken recently. Hope 2015 is a good one for you!
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| Leila's outfit to the Christmas concert (from Grandma Jane) |
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| Emma performing with the middle school band |
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| Stray kitty I found on a walk |
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| No, we didn't get to keep him. But we found him a good home. |
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| Emma and Leila have their "sister friends", Jacqueline and Jenna, over |
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| All this piled wood waiting optimistically... unfortunately the glass on our wood stove door BROKE yesterday :(. |
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| Chicken chores for Jack and Leila |
