Uncle Bob Riley and Aunt Edith..

Uncle Bob was born in September 1924 - and left this earthly
home and went to be with the Lord on January 10, 2009. He
will certainly be missed by all his extended family, friends and
especially our 'Aunt Edith' who has been the caretaker for
several years.

I remember when he had shared with Dale about this young girl
he saw working at Kable Printing and that he thought she would
be someone Dale should ask out for a date...

One evening at the White Pines Roller Rink Dale and I met and
Dale asked me to skate. We got to talking and found out that
Uncle Bob had told Dale about me.. Dale asked me out on our
first date and we ended up at Uncle Bob and Aunt Edith's house
and 'surprised' Uncle Bob. Uncle Bob always greeted me with
a kiss when I saw him. We have enjoyed many family gatherings
together as all our families have grown over the years.

Many of our favorite memories took place out at 'the farm' of
Charlie and Anna (Dale's Mom and Dad).

We will miss him dearly... Cori, LauraLee & family as well as
Mark will join Dale and I in Freeport, IL to honor his memory
this Thursday and Friday.

Cousins ENJOY Warm Weather..

Saturday (Dec 27th) the 'cousins' played outside
and enjoyed the 60 degree day and sunshine.
Here Jonas enjoys riding his scooter with
Jubilee and Ben also riding in the background...

Jolene pretends to take Ben for a ride on Grandpa's
4-wheeler...

Jared and Javan road one of the 4-wheelers around the

garden and boy did they stir up the mud!!

Nathan found another way to get a ride - in the bed of his

dump truck..

I found Jared, Nathan and Jesse in the backyard by Dale's

lumber pile and old tractor.. looked like they were up to

something here and I caught them by surprise. Just maybe

they were trying to AVOID Grandma's camera?? No -

no way!!!

What a crew... everyone but Jordyn was outside playing

that day for at least two hours... Good Times!!

Handmade Christmas Gifts...

This year I attempted to actually hand make aprons for my girls...
The last time I sewed a Christmas gift was probably when Cori and
LauraLee were in grade school and I made blue flannel nightgowns
for them with candy canes at the hemline. Since I have an apron
with a quilted top I wanted to make one for LauraLee too. Since
I don't quilt I found placemats at the Amish Flea Market in Berlin
and planned my project. As you can see below LauraLee's apron
has 2/3 of the placemat and the girls shared the other third.

Here's LauraLee and her girls: Jolene and Jubilee modeling their
new aprons. (Maybe next year I'll need to make a 4th apron.
LauraLee??)

Cousins...Dec 27, 2008

The cousins were waiting for the pizza to arrive at
Aunt Andrea and Uncle Mark's house... The only
cousins missing from the picture are Jonas and
Jordyn...

In the picture are Jubilee, Ben, Jolene, Jesse, Nathan, Jared and Javan.

Wrapping is Done!!!

Cori and I finished wrapping gifts at 2:30 this morning....I'm so
glad that we have completed that chore. Of course many of the
wrapped items were for a bingo game that we have planned.
Here you can see Cori modeling some of our raw materials.

Happy Christmas Eve everyone!!!! :)

The Puzzle is now Complete!!!

Thanksgiving day this puzzle was started and just recently was

completed thanks to Cori... Mom started the puzzle with me that

afternoon and many worked on it that evening before we ate

supper, we just didn't have enough time to get it done. I thought

it was so pretty it deserved a picture :) I guess I like it so well

because the puzzle brings to mind springtime which is very,

very far away!!! sigh....

Florida Vacation in Random Order

Sea World lighthouse on the cove at the front of the park. It was
a beautiful day for exploring...

Dolphins performing a jump at the end of the program...

Shamu rests at the finale of the program while everyone snapped pictures..

The Tree... very unique...

Fruit bats which eat ONLY fruit but are the biggest bats...

The girls and I took a walk one evening through Pleasure Island

and this fellow tapped me on the shoulder and gave me a 'start' -

Cori posed for me... There were many of these creatures

jumping throughout the plaza and were alot of fun to watch.

Our hosts, Bobby and Marlene. They were ready to work on a

house they are refurbishing for their daughter, Tara, right

before we left that day.

This is one of their two afghan hounds...

It was Amanda's birthday when we visited Sea World and Cori &

Amanda did the dolphin encounter... they fed and petted the dolphins.

Shamu show and a free ride for one of the trainers...

Epcot park - we ate in France one evening and then saw a beautiful

laser show over the lake...

Cori attempts to get her 'baseball pitch' in order...

She normally pitches a 'softball'...

The castle at Disney World and "The End" of a fun week in Florida.