Can you believe we're all the way to December?

We started the month off with a........wedding!

Andy and Kailyn were married on a very snowy, December 5 at what most people told us was the best wedding, ever. We agree! Words just can't do it...so let me show you a ton of photos:

Michael was his brother's best man, Tony was an usher:

My beautiful niece, Katlyn, was the junior bridesmaid.

The whole family was there...although once again, we missed getting my brother in the photo. We'll get him next time!

The reception was tons of fun. The wedding planner out did herself, the hall was so beautiful, it looked like a winter wonderland. I think that the person that had the most fun was my 77 year old mother! She danced the night away, making sure she danced with all the cute guys...

Like my brother...


and Andy...
And Tony!


During the reception, the DJ announced that the Village People were going to perform for us, singing their hit song, YMCA. You can't believe the cheers they got when they came out:
I could barely stand up when I saw our sons, Andy, Tony and Michael, or the police man, the sailor and the Indian chief, along with Kailyn's brother, dancing! It was too funny!

While we were inside, dancing the night away, it was snowing outside...we were fortunate and all our friends and family members made it home safely.

Getting ready for Christmas is such fun for us! Tony and Morgan went down to Pittsburgh to skate at PPG's wintergarden:

The whole family got together to spend a day in Pittsburgh, exploring the strip district and having a fun lunch at the Cheesecake Factory.
Linda was confused by the whole holdiay thing...
But Bill caught on quickly. He even practiced sitting on Santa's lap. Mark didn't appreciate being a Santa substitute!
Also in December, Mark and I found a new church home! For Mark, it was instantaneous, he knew he was where he should be. For me....well...let's just say it took a little longer.

Andy kept playing with his tractor...with a few mishaps...
What can I say????

A kid that comes home to cuddle Bill can't be all that bad!


Growing up, Christmas was always such fun for us. The Christmas after my father died was so sad, I made up my mind that we would never have another sad Christmas again. We had family!

That's the year I we started hanging our stockings again for Christmas Eve at my mother's house. All year we pick up odds and ends to put in each other's stockings. Nothing cost more than $1 and most things are...well...

This year Tony found swimming rafts on clearance...


And everyone got tiaras (and clown noses)!
Recognize these guys?

The policeman:
The sailor:
And the Indian chief!
There is a lot of creative wrapping going on...
Those are drum sticks!

And lots of giggles and lots of reminiscing, lots of memories being made. It's our night to be silly!

Christmas eve has always been a special time for our family to be together. Christmas day, we all have our 'other families' and other traditions to keep us busy, but eventually, tired had happy, the kids all end up at our house to end the day. I try to get a photo of all of them together, this year is was (almost) successful.


Hey...isn't this fun? I LOVE Christmas. Come back tomorrow, we'll celebrate January!

Love,
Jan

November was slow...

for that we were thankful! We needed a breather for sure!

Of course, in a family divided politically (who ever taught those kids to think for themselves?) voting is something we take seriously even though there is much ribbing going on!
We're proud Americans and fly our flag over our home with pride!

Vicky, my daughter (with the second degree black belt) took my niece, Katlyn, to Taekwondo class with her. We were thrilled when they came bursting into the house one Thursday early in November with the announcement that Katlyn had earned her first yellow stripe!

One Saturday, also early in November, I woke to the sound of a ladder being extended. I opened the bedroom door to find my husband, who hates heights, painting the two story hall!
I quietly closed the door and went back to bed. I didn't want anything to distract him. The hall was red ever since we moved in here. Painting it has been #1 on my to-do list for 5 years. It looks wonderful and I'm so thankful the job was completed without mishap!

Of course, November brings...snow!
Linda likes it, but not as much as Tony and Morgan:
I think they dragged out every snow toy we had in the garage!

A friend of ours traded with Andy: If Andy would do some welding for him, he'd give Andy and old lawn tractor. Of course, loving to have things in his garage to 'play' with, Andy accepted. It was in pretty sad shape:


But that didn't stop Andy! He quickly built what he called a 'rock crawling tractor' and had a ball with his new toy.


He brought tons of rocks to put beside our little pond, and then proceeded to drive his tractor over them. It kept him busy for hours and hours. How did he get it to our house? He put it on a trailer behind his Jeep! We tried to persuade him to leave the tractor and take this load:

No deal!

One Sunday, he challenged his dad to a 'crawl off' between tractors. Andy set a course through the rocks and marked it with items from our recycling bin:


It was a very close competition for about a nano-second when Mark got hung up on a rock

He had to be towed out by...none other than...

Super Andy! I swear, there isn't a dull minute around here.

Since the kids grew up and had significant others or even spouses, we moved my family celebration of Thanksgiving to the Sunday after the holiday. It gives us time to relax and enjoy each other without rushing and balancing time between two families.

This year, Mark deep fried a turkey for us. It was the first time using the turkey fryer, so it was exciting for us.


Turned out beautifully, didn't it? It was delish!
Right after Thanksgiving, Tony told me he had a photo opportunity for me. He took me out on the golf course:
Yes, that's SNOW! I followed him around the golf course for hours, freezing and photographing. This is what it looked like when we were done:
Dark! What we won't do for our kids!

Told you it was a slow month. We were getting ready for December...wow, wait until you see what we did then!

Be sure to come back tomorrow! It'll be worth it, I promise!

October is always such a colorful month

and usually starts out with the most brilliant blue skies and perfect temperature. I grabbed my camera and hit the roads, photographing things that caught my eye:

I must have spent HOURS and HOURS, driving around, snapping my shutter! Both driving and photographing are therapy for me.

Kailyn, who always plans things ahead of time, bought her cat, Deore, her Halloween costume"

Deore wasn't fond of it, I don't think she wanted to be a lady bug, so she did her best to get out of it:
And when she did, she made sure her mommy wasn't going to try to put it on her again:
The cooler air made the dog feel frisky for a few minutes right before they went into hibernation for the winter. They felt obligated to hunt those renegade leaves and twigs. Linda obeys when you tell her to drop things. Bill seems to have a problem:
In mid-October, I was driving down the road and....OH OH!
Something hit my windshield!

What was it?

Yes, it was Bill! No, he's fine, but ouch! I had to step on the brakes quickly and he came down, between the seats and wacked the windshield. Not so sure the insurance company bought that story, but they did replace it.

The small town where we camp has a scenic train ride on weekends. When we see it pass, we always run out and wave. Usually people have their cameras ready and snap photos. Some time I surprise them and photograph THEM!
We decided to take the last train ride of the regular season.

They do have a winter run in December, but brrrrr! Mark, Andy, Kailyn, Tony and I got to go. Morgan was at work.




The town where the railroad is located has a population of 55 (today, 54 last week!). One of the cutest things was this couple, sitting at the beginning of town.
Also in October Tony was in a golf tournament with his college team. He came in second overall which brought his team in at second place. He was tickled even though the huge trophy stays with the school. How lucky is this kid who's mother had a golf trophy ready and waiting for him when he got home:
Oddly, he wasn't around in 1958, the year on the trophy. In fact, his mom was in grade school! The wonders of ebay!

Also in October, wedding preparations were in full swing! Kailyn's attendants had a shower for her:

She got so many beautiful things, and was beaming when Andy showed up later:

The tulle veil was the wrapping for a gift from Kailyn's aunt. I wish I had gotten a photo of the wrapped gift, it was beautiful and what a great idea!

Andy also had time for a hug for his sister and his cousin, Katlyn, who will be a junior bridesmaid in the wedding.

We also heard that the city had torn down the house Mark and I bought before we were married. They are expanding the base-ball park behind the house. Tony and Michael wanted to see:
You can see the baseball field in the background. It's a beautiful park.
They found some of Tony's pogs, a few legos and one jeep matchbox car. I put them in a jar as our time capsule!

Lastly, I suppose it would be Halloween...and we really don't celebrate it. I love to buy pumpkins to use in decorating, but we don't even get trick or treaters up here on the hill!


Whew...still with me? Come back tomorrow for November, which will be restful, I promise!

Wow...If August was busy, what was September?

Awesome!

We started with Andy's birthday:
Celebrated after a long day on the river, of course! Just look at the sun kissed faces. Andy and Tony's birthdays are only five days apart. Both were due on August 23, but neither bothered to show up that day. Tony's birthday is August 26 and Andy was born on September 1 (which, appropriately, was labor day that year).

The family gathered to celebrate the end of summer

Those who didn't want to brave the wiggly dock stayed on shore and watched the fun:
They tried to teach Kailyn to water ski:
That didn't work out that well, but wow! That kid took to knee boarding like a duck to water!
She loved it! Of course, skill building was not without mishaps. This is my favorite picture of Kailyn and the knee board:
She was such a good sport! She took all the teasing in stride, and I know some of those landings had to hurt, but she didn't complain to us (maybe to Andy??)!

Andy was unstoppable. He kept trying new things and getting stronger and braver:
Tony shocked us more than anyone...he started on two skis, but quickly graduated to one:
Although we should be humble, we have some pretty great kids...and buying the jet ski was as wise a decision as buying a travel trailer was when they were small. Here we are, twenty years later, still having a good time together and ending our days around a camp fire!

Another activity was helping Andy and Kailyn get their rental house ready to move in:
Michael and Catherine were the first guests:
Michael brought the traditional bread and ???? Good grief, my mind is blank! You can fill in the blanks!
There was work to be done. The guys painted ceilings...
While Kailyn made the kitchen her own!
There were so excited, but wow, was this a tough one on Mom!

By the end of the month, the leaves started changing colors...There were subtle signs that it might almost be close to time to call it a summer and to arrange to take the jet ski out of the water...Some people caught on faster than others...Every family has one, right?


Hey, be sure you come back for October, tomorrow! I'm so excited to see you!

August started with a BANG!

Michael, my oldest son, married the beautiful Catherine in a wonderful and elegant wedding in a lovely mansion in Pittsburgh.

Andy and Tony were Michael's best men, he said he didn't want to decide between his brothers, isn't that cute?

It was a wonderful time to get all four of my kids together for a photo...
And even one with spouses, fiancees and girl friends!
And one of our family!
For the most part, my children were on their best behavior. Vicky and Kailyn just had a momentary lapse of judgment.

Please indulge a very proud mother...and pretend like I didn't post a thousand photos of this wedding!

Michael left home when he was 20...just short of half his lifetime ago. Over the years, he asked me about pictures of himself when he was young. I used to kid him and say he could have them when he got married. After all, by time he was 30 and still single, I thought I was safe. That's how he and Catherine annouced to me that they were engaged...they asked for his pictures!

What a wonderful trip down memory lane that was!

Oh, and you are wondering about Bill? He's doing fine...bigger and better.
August also brought Tony's 20th birthday...
And Tony and Morgan went back to school, Morgan for her freshman year, Tony for his sophomore year. How quickly time flies!
We continued to enjoy the river...more and more each week! The kids never tired of playing in the water
Some days we had the whole family there!
Even my grand dog, Max, and my son-in-law went in swimming, some by choice...
It always makes me feel good to see my kids play together and be friends.
Everyone made themselves at home. My daughter didn't get off this innertube all afternoon. If she didn't have her second degree black belt, the boys might have knocked her off!
My grandson, JR, came home from spending the summer at his father's house in Virginia. Andy and JR have always had such a special relationship, can you see the love there?
I could have spent every waking hour on the dock. Did I ski or knee board? Heck no...THIS is my idea of summer heaven on the dock:
Are you enjoying this as much as I am?

The end of August brought good news for Andy and Kailyn. The house that they had been watching for six months, became available for rent. They were in seventh heaven!

You'd think, that since Andy is my third child to leave home, I would be used to it.

NOT!

Tune in for September!

Let's talk about July, shall we?

July was busy too...we usually have a big picnic in July, but this year we had too many graduations and graduation parties, so we just moved into July with what Mark considered one of the biggest moments of his life: His 2003 Honda Civic went fromto

Yes, 200,000 miles and it still looks great, doesn't it?
It probably seems a little strange that I was there in the car, with camera ready, for this big event...and even stranger that he had one of our sons on the phone to listen to him cheer as it turned over 200,000 miles, but that's my hubby...

Mark celebrated the big 5-OH! Yes, he has more miles on him than the Honda, but he looks just as good, doesn't he?
Before you ask, I will tell you, he did have a case of middle-age-crazies, or a mid-life-crisis. Instead of the Harley (that he wanted to buy) or the bikini underwear (that I was willing to buy for him) or the young, skinny girlfriend that he knew better than to find, he decided that he wanted this:
a jet ski! Of course, the kids loved it!

Of course, we spent every spare minute on the river, which made us realize we needed a place on the river...YES! So we found a place to call home, on the Kiskiminetas, or Kiski, River! We moved the motor home up there for the summer, and from then on, if you wanted to find us, we were at the river!



Also in July, I took my niece and her friend out for our first annual girls overnighter. We went to the water and amusement park in Erie, PA, for two days. The girls had a ball!
After being around the guys for all those years, I didn't realize how much fun a bunch of girls could be...we giggled most of the night and enjoyed the beach the next day.
She's the first local girl in the family since my daughter was born in 1970! My late sister's daughter is now 30 but she has always lived on the west coast, so we got to see her once a year.
We are really enjoying having her around. She keeps us all on our toes!

I bought myself a new camera for my birthday. I think my family wished I hadn't. Nothing was safe. I photographed EVERYTHING (as you will see in the next few days). Check it out:


Don't say it...I know...amazing!

Wow, I can't wait to show you what we did in August...come back tomorrow and see!

I'm having a ball, hope you are enjoying yourself as well!

Good to see you!

I know...I missed all of you, too! I have been away so long, for various reasons, but I thought you'd like to see what we've been doing for the past year (yes, it's been a year!) and find out what we're doing now...

Let's get caught up quickly, okay? The only way I know how is to post 12 consecutive days, one for each of the past 12 months. Stick around, might be worth the wait!

Let's see, we left off last June, just when the flowers were blooming and things were coming along nicely. Andy had put bubbles in the pond...

and being the mean parents that we are, we made him clean it up. Of course, he felt bad..
But before too many days, things (as far as the pond, that is) were back to normal!

The boys were playing hockey...
And we were all tired from playing, I mean working, in the yard!

Tony's girlfriend, Morgan, graduated and we had a great time at her party!

Morgan's family got to show off their new baby (I can't remember it's name)
And at the end of the day, this heart shaped cloud appeared and Tony told Morgan he ordered it just for her (the stinker, wonder where he gets it???)We celebrated Father's day by letting my hubby rest...
And the flowers were blooming...they were so beautiful! This is one of my favorites:
All was well with the house on the hill. How could it not be? The three Amigos watched over the neighborhood from their favorite spot in front of the house:
You can tell it is their favorite spot - we can't get grass to grow there!

At the end of the month, all these crazy women:
Got together for this:
Who is Catherine? THIS is Catherine. She's as smart and funny and nice as she is beautiful!

Soon she will marry this handsome man who braved the rainy weather to deliver these flowers:
And to keep his sister's head from getting too big (or at least that what I thought he was doing)
And I hope the beautiful couple lives happily ever after! You'll have to tune in a few days from now to see the wedding!
Now, I know that everyone wants to know...how's Bill. Bill is fine, just look:
Again...it's soooo good to see you. Come back tomorrow! I've so much ready to show you!