CUTIE PIE BROOKLYN IS ONE YEAR OLD

Today our little granddaughter Brooklyn is one year old. She is such a doll and reminds us a lot of her Mommy when she was a baby. She is learning so many things right now and is such a sweet little girl. We love you Brooklyn and hope you have a fun birthday.


HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

SHILOH REUNION

This past weekend we went to Salina on Sunday afternoon for a Shiloh School Reunion. Shiloh school is where Dad went to school as well as his children. Dad rode his horse to school and we rode in our car or walked. When I(Mary) went to first grade, it was the same school building that my Dad had attended. There was a barn for the horses and an outhouse. They later moved that building out and moved another one in that had a basement so there could be students upstairs and downstairs. It was the first reunion that we have had and there was a good attendance with probably between 40 - 50 there and that would be counting spouses of some. I had not seen most of these since I left Salina to go to college but Mom & Dad have seen several of them. Most I did not recognize and the ones I did was because they looked like their Mom or Dad.

The group below attended Shiloh in the 1950's era.
In the back row from left: Jr. Holcom, Bob Jilka, Dick Jennings, Jerry Ireton, Melvin Holcom, Gary Jennings
second row from left: Darlene Holcom, Elizabeth Tucker(my sis), Mary Tucker, John Tucker(my cousin), Ann Banker, MJ Banker(Ann & MJ were my 3rd cousins)
front row from left: Mrs. Dorothy Favors(our teacher), Barbara Smith, Sharyl Tucker(my cousin)
Rosalie Smith, Barbara St. Clair, Luann Jilka were there but I didn't get their picture.

Below is the group from 1925 - 1950: I cannot name all of them but the 3 oldest are in the front row and Dad is the one in the middle(90 years)

Below: Sheldon Burr - Melvin Holcom - Jr. Holcom(looks just like his Dad did 50 yrs. ago)

These are the oldest members attending and they are friends(Dad & Sheldon Burr) and started school together at Shiloh and went clear through high school together. They are both 90 yrs. old. Dad really enjoyed this time yesterday and reminiscing with old friends and neighbors.

JOHN TURNS 34

Our son-in-law, John, has a birthday today. John grew up in a pastor's home and attended Calvary Bible College where he met our daughter, Elisa. He is always full of energy and fun and is a great lover of his family. We love you John and hope you have a happy birthday.


HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

FAMILY WORKING TOGETHER

We have a pile of wood behind our house that needs to be split but who has the time. When our kids come home we can usually get some things caught up and that is what we did today. Taylor and Dawson and Cooper and Grandpa made a dent in the pile today. Conrad Graham(who came along to sing for us at church tomorrow evening) was supervising.
We have an electric spliter so that certainly helps

Taylor was doing some heavy swinging with the spliting ax as well

Grandpa and Cooper were stacking the wood

The pile below represents a whole morning of work

Then some basketball helped them relax
Uncle Roger & Brendon

Meryn & Cooper riding around(both 4 yrs old)

Brittany & Jamie went to the tennis courts to play

SPRINGTIME - WEATHER, WORK, BEAUTY

HAIL

About a week ago we had quite a hail storm. The patio and front driveway were covered and our flowers took a beating.

GETTING A SUPPLY OF WOOD FOR NEXT WINTER

Last Saturday we went to cut some wood. We used up a lot of our wood this winter when we were without electricity for 8 days so if anyone says they have some wood that we can cut, we move. It was ash and hedge and both are good for making a hot fire. As Rog was cutting the ash tree, we saw this heart shape - just as God placed it in the trunk of that tree. Pretty amazing!

Below grandpa was in the hot tub to help his body after working with the wood and of course the grandkids always love a chance to get in the hot tub.

PANSIES

When we had the hail, our pansies had only been out a short while and it really beat them so the petals were gone on a lot of them. Just a week later, they are back looking great. I love the faces on some of the pansies - they have real personality.
Enjoy the flowers - we do!
The first one is our favorite - trimmed in white and ruffled around the edges.

What a grouch!
(Thinks he's cool though:)

ON THE HOME FRONT

I do handwriting for a business and really enjoy it but this week was not as enjoyable as most. I had to write notes on a post-it note and not knowing how long it would take for this I asked for 2000 post-it notes. It looks easy - it seems like it should not be too much - but I am weary and will be so glad to return my 2000 notes on Tuesday morning. (At one point I told them 4000 - I'm so glad I decided that was probably too many)

Below you can see that I've been doing some bike riding. One of my daughters asked if I would ride for her and she would do the running in the prairie punisher in July near KC so I decided I would like to do that. The place I will be riding is rather hilly and always windy they say so I guess I better get myself in shape since it will take me a little longer than it used to. I do enjoy biking so Rog and I are doing that for exercise as well.