Happy Birthday To Our Girl

This Sunday is our daughter, Carrie's, birthday; unfortunately we will be in California for the Stanford-CU football game. Last night we celebrated our girl; we all gathered for dessert and showered her with love. She is such a remarkable woman~so kind, mature, grace-giving , thoughtful, loving; the list could go on and on. We all love her to pieces! I don't know what her dad and I did to deserve such an incredible daughter, we are so thankful for her. I fixed an apple and blueberry crisp(Paleo recipe)and everyone enjoyed it. You know you've got a large family when there is only a tiny bit left from a 9"x13" baking dish.  Here she is with her youngest.

Her hubby is a clown and this was so cute to watch, little Miss E was giggling at her daddy.

We will be heading out tomorrow for the weekend, it is just a short trip-but will be filled with lots of fun.  Rumors have it that CU actually has a chance this year; in the past it has been a landslide on Stanford's side-can't wait to see how we play.
Hope you all have a great day today.
Blessings to you!
Noreen

Birthday Fun

It's hard to believe I am just getting these up, but last week we had two family birthday parties-this one was on Wednesday. Little Man and Miss D have birthday's within 5 days of each other. When you have a large family, you tend to combine parties. Love it.

Don't they look alike!  Both sporting their shirts from Disneyland, where Little Man got to spend his birthday.

Cousins-planning on playing some baseball together.  We gave Little Man a nice mitt(left handed), and a baseball shirt.

Miss D is into Owls and Cooking, so she got several owl items as well as several cookbooks.

It was so fun; hard to believe Little Man is 4 now and Miss D is 8.
Have a great Tuesday.
Joy to you!
Noreen

How Can She Be 3?

It seems like just yesterday that our youngest granddaughter was born, but in fact it was three years ago. The entire clan gathered on Friday evening for dinner and a party, just to celebrate her. With our family all together, there are 17 of us and it's a party in itself.  Here she is with Carrie and brother B.

 My Peanut is growing up quickly as well, so is Copper.

 Cousins, aka best friends.

 Cousins or sisters?  These two love each other, but so do all of the cousins.

 Our oldest grandson goofing around; he has got a wacky sense of humor just like his dad.

 Now you can see where the oldest gets his sense of humor.

 He is growing into such a handsome young man.

 Ice cream with all the toppings.

WE had a wonderful celebration!  I will tell you that the whole gang, minus hubby and I, went down to Colorado Springs on Saturday to run in the Big Dog Run~it's a 2k obstacle course in the mud.  Our daughters and the two youngest couldn't join in, but I can testify to the fact that the others were covered in mud.  I would have done it when I was younger, but now the idea of being covered in mud doesn't appeal to me much.
I'm off to walk this morning with the neighbor gals before it gets hot.  I am hoping to clean and polish the wood floors while hubby is away and finish some sewing.  I machine quilted a patriotic table runner yesterday, not sure if I'm happy with it or not(it might be hand quilted after all)and I've got to make some pillow shams for our new quilt.  Plus throw in getting to the pool.  It will be a full couple of days while hubby is away.
I hope you have a great Monday!

Family Fun

Morning friends! As you know we have three birthdays here within a week of each other and Saturday night we celebrated them. Our daughter Carrie turned 36, how did this happen? We started our evening by having a pizza dinner, then presents and finally watching home videos and enjoying dessert. Hunter always wants to be in the middle of activities with "his peeps"-whenever I mention his peeps are coming over, he races to the front window to wait for them.  He loves the family!

Peanut and Miss O, cousins and the closest of friends. Don't they look like sisters?

Our youngest granddaughter, Miss E age 2.

Part of the crew.

Kim and Little Man; people often think that Carrie and Kim are twins-I think they look so much alike, despite the hair and eye color.

Miss S and Miss F, best friends and cousins.

Eric, Kim's hubby on the left and Brent with Miss E on the right. Their birthdays are on Thursday.   We have many birthdays within a week of each other, which makes parties so much more fun. 

We ate well and laughed so much; the grands loved seeing videos of their moms as little girls.  We are so blessed!  Yesterday was a fun day as hubby and I ran up to Estes Park to do some Christmas shopping.  Unfortunately, the item we needed wasn't available and we ended up ordering it from home. 
It was a beautiful weekend, but this morning is cold and cloudy-looks like we might get some rain.
Today, I'll run some errands and then straighten the house as I have two friends coming for coffee this afternoon.  I hope you stay warm!  My thoughts and prayers have gone out to those in Mexico and Texas, who are experiencing flooding-may you be safe.
Hugs,
Noreen and Hunter

Two Beauties

Happy Monday to you! As promised I have some photos to share from our birthday celebration on Saturday. Here are our two birthday girls, sisters just two years apart. They are such wonderful girls-Miss S on the left is now 10, Miss M on the right is 8 tomorrow. The are incredible helpers, a must in a big family,  also sweet, intelligent, thoughtful-well you get my drift. I just can't say enough about what wonderful girls, daughters, sisters, cousins and granddaughters they are. 

Two cousins and close friends. Many years ago, I had friends who were twins and their children all acted like they were one big family; I didn't understand it then, but sure do now.

The girls each got some great gifts! They were so thankful for all of the thought that went into their presents.

Little Man decided he was a ninja warrior and was twirling the sticks like he was doing martial arts. So cute. His language is exploding now and it is fun to have to telling us that he wants to go in our car with us and come home to Nana and Papa's. We are blessed beyond measure.
 Today I asked a friend if she wanted to go check out some shoes with me that were recommended for our trip to Ireland; she was in and we had fun looking at all sorts of different shoes. I will say that the gal who recommended Naot brand shoes said they were like walking in your slippers, but they are expensive. I whole heartily agree with how wonderfully comfortable they are, but the price is way too high for me. Well maybe, I might get a pair yet. I tried on every other brand that was comparable, but none were are comfy as the Naots. Don't know if there are any travelers out there, but if you are planning on walking a lot, you might want to check out this brand.
I've walked this morning and will ride later on, but for now I'm heading out to the sunshine to read an ebook.  I hope you had a great weekend!
Blessings,
Noreen