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.

ANOTHER FUN WEEK AND WEEKEND

Last week Elisa and her 4 children came to spend the week with us. We had lots of fun and the kids always enjoy being with their cousins as well. I caught the picture below because our big blue van has about been worn out. Trey was pretty small when I first got this van and now they cannot pile as many kids in it because the kids are growing up. Sorry Trey - didn't mean to cut your face out.
Meryn, Ethan, and Avery are on the lower level. Thanks for coming Elisa - we really enjoyed having you here.

We always enjoy when our kids come home. John & Melanie and their 2 children and Phil & Julie and their 4 children were with us for the weekend and Greg & Susan and their 4 children and we enjoyed watching the March madness tournaments together. With 14 kids running around, we did have interruptions once in a while:)
The gang is ready to have an easter egg hunt

Brooklyn is watching what all is happening

Caleb is going after one of the hard to find eggs

Ella and Malia hunting for eggs below

A SWEET LITTLE GRANDDAUGHTER TURNS 2

Our sweet little Molly is 2 years old today. She has become quite a little talker and is always busy keeping up with her brothers and sister. We hope you have a fun birthday Molly and we love you very much.


HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

SPRINGTIME IS COMING

It is time to get the garden ready for spring time planting so this year we are not rototilling like usual. We borrowed a small tractor with a rototiller that made it possible to rototill the garden area in very little time. Trevin and Meryn wanted to help. It will soon be time to get the garden started and I always look forward to the harvest/canning time.

OUR SWEET GRANDDAUGHTER ELLA

Ella is celebrating her birthday today. She is 3 years old. She is so energetic, talkative, and helpful with her little brother Hudson. We hope you have a wonderful Birthday Ella and we love you very much!


HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

DAMON IS ONE YEAR OLDER TODAY

Damon celebrates his 36th birthday today. Damon keeps very busy with his work in the computer field as well as being a Daddy to 5 very active children, a great husband, and somehow finds time to bike. We hope you have a great birthday Damon and we love you!


HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

SPECIAL VISITORS

Friday afternoon the doorbell rang and I was surprised to see Leonard and Susie Smith at our front door. We thought they were back in Mexico. Our history with Susie goes back about 38 years when Rog & I were dorm parents to 14 high school girls at Central Christian High School. Susie was saved that year and a few years later went on to Baptist Bible College in Springfield because she wanted to be a missionary and share the gospel with others. There she met Leonard Smith and in time they were married. Leonard's parents were missionaries in Mexico and Leonard & Susie planned to go to Mexico as missionaries as well. Our church has supported them through the years and it is always good to see them.

The second picture shows Leonard's 2 brothers and their wives - Richard & Valerie and Jim & Sharon. On Saturday afternoon, Leonard & Susie brought them over to meet us. Richard & Valerie are missionaries in the southern part of Mexico and Jim & Sharon are missionaries to Ecuador. Sharon helped to care for Rachel Saint the last 10 years of her life in Ecuador. The 3 brothers and their wives were all involved in a missions conference at Westside Baptist Church here in Hutchinson this past week. It was a special time to meet and learn more about their family and reminisce about Susie's high school days.(I did not know until Sat. that Leonard was 1 of 5 boys and had 5 sisters) Leonard & Susie will be staying with us until Thursday and will be sharing at our church on Wednesday evening.

HELPING OTHERS

Karen Staib is in our church and a friend of ours. She has also been Meryn's Sunday School teacher so Meryn enjoys spending time with her. Today we went to Karen's house to help her get a piece of machinery moved. Meryn wanted to ride with Mrs. Staib on the tractor and it was a cold ride.

A DAY IN THE CITY

Yesterday we went to Kansas City to meet with our tax lady. We also had some fun time with our 2 sons and a couple of our grandkids. Later in the day, John & Melanie had asked if they could take us out for dinner and with a little persuading, I convinced my husband to stay. We had a delightful meal at a Japanese Steakhouse and it was fun to watch the meal being prepared in front of us. Roger & DeeDee joined us also. We had taken Karen Staib along with us because she was interested in selecting some flooring and carpet for her home so she enjoyed the meal with us too. Below you see her trying to catch a shrimp that the chef had tossed her way. We had a great time and it's always fun to be with our family.

A VERY SPECIAL GRANDDAUGHTER TURNS NINE

Today Maggie turns 9 years old. Maggie is a home schooler and also enjoys playing school and teaching some of her younger cousins. She played soccer the last 2 summers and enjoys that as well. Maggie, you have become a beautiful young lady and we love you very much. We hope you have a wonderful birthday.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY

I received a beautiful bouquet of flowers from Rog for Valentines Day and I love them. Just wanted to share their beauty and there is one flower in the middle of them that is very unusual and unique. I don't even know what kind it is but it is something. The top of it looks like feathers.

Thank you Honey and I love you!

I'VE BEEN TAGGED. . . .

I've been tagged by Melanie so here are 6 things you probably didn't know about me:

1. Everything tastes better smothered with ketchup or salsa and I use a lot.

2. I get sidetracked easily while working, I move from one job to another and end up with nothing finished - BUT when I get started, it is hard for me to stop a project.

3. I'm very sentimental with things so when I loose something, it is hard to stop looking and to get over it. I remember how hard it was for me to lose Roger's baby blanket at worlds of fun - I looked for hours and went back the next day. It made me sad for years. (Grandma Tucker made it)

4. I have a thing about picking up money and cans on the street. As a child, I often dreamed of finding money(many coins) and it was so much fun. It's a dream come true.

5. I often thought it would be fun to have a job at home of addressing and stuffing envelopes. I finally found it and immensely enjoy it. I'm doing about 750 a week.

6. I had a thing about curling my four daughter's hair for Sunday and now I do that with granddaughters when I can.

OFF TO CHURCH

Yes, today we had 9 grandchildren 10 years and under in age to get ready for Sunday school and church. When I was much younger I managed to get 6 of our own children ready but I had to start a little earlier this morning. They were sleeping everywhere in the house and of course did not wake up as early as usual. But we made it - even curling the girl's hair - and we were on time as well. What a great bunch! Yes, it took 2 cars to get them there and we had 3 times as many in our Sunday school opening. Damon & June arrived here at about 3 :15 this afternoon and by 5:00 were packed in the car and headed for KC. It is very quiet now and we are resting. We love the time we can spend with our grandkids.

MAGGIE'S FIRST HOME 9 YEARS AGO

Damon and June lived in Nickerson when Maggie was born so we've been wanting to get a picture of Maggie in front of her first home for quite some time. Today I went to Sterling so I took Maggie, Evan, and Eli with me and we stopped at Nickerson to get a picture of Maggie's first home with Maggie on the porch. We had our school, Heritage Christian, at this house after June & Damon moved to KC.

MY GRANDSON'S FAVORITE MEAL

Evan always tells his Mommy and Gramma that he wants biscuts and sausage gravy every day at gramma's house. Look at his plate - it is clean! I love to make what they like so I made enough the first day to last the whole time and Evan has had biscuts & gravy every day.

MAKING A SNOWMAN WITH GRANDPA

It was a perfect day for making a snowman with the temperature in the forties today. Grandpa took the grandkids outside after lunch and helped them make a snowman and they were excited.
They helped roll the snow but grandpa had to carry it because it was so big. Grandpa had taken some licorice for the mouth, a carrot for the nose and radishes for the eyes. They put great grandpa's hat on him and grandpa Neir's gloves on him and used some pampas grass for the arms. They had a lot of fun in the snow and were pretty proud of their snowman. Molly was napping while this was being done so I took her out afterwards to get a picture of her with the snowman. Below are several pictures of the grandkids building the snowman.

MAGGIE VISITING GRANDMA'S HOUSE

Maggie is growing up so fast. She enjoys hanging out with "gramma" and she is quite a little helper. She went walking with me today and kept up with my pace but she thought she might fall asleep when we arrived back home. She didn't though - she helped me with stuffing envelopes and then went with her twin cousins to basketball practice and is now at their house playing for a while. And do you like her curls? Aunt Susan took her to get her hair cut this morning and then curled it for her when they returned back home. Maggie is a beautiful young lady inside and out and we love having her and her brothers and sister here for a few days while Mommy & Daddy are skiiing in Colorado.