Duelin' Cousins...

This past weekend we went up to Sammy's Aunt Annie's. She surprised Sammy with some water pistols. Sammy's cousin Chris challenged Sammy to a duel and for quite a while the two of them were all over the place laughing and getting wet. It seems just an eye-blink ago that Chris was Sammy's age.

We also got to meet Jim finally...and went into the wee hours of the morning conversing with him. A nice guy.

An Ikea Birthday...

This past Sunday we went up to the Twin Cities to celebrate Diane's birthday. We met at Ikea and then went to Molly & Chris' place to celebrate. Grant made the chocolate cake of all chocolate cakes. Anne took a few photos and passed them on to us (below).

Sammy the executive...
...at home at Ikea...

A man was making balloons for the kids at Ikea...
...Sammy of course asked for a white horse...
...unfortunately the balloon popped...
...all that was left was the head...
...so we left the horse's head on a bed display at Ikea...

Maker of chocolate cake of all chocolate cakes...
...Grant puts finishing touches on the cake...

The birthday girl and her cake...

I'll have a uke Christmas without you...

We celebrated Christmas with Paul's family in the Twin Cities the day after Brian & Vanessa's New Years Day wedding. Sammy had a fun time with the family.

The theme for this year's Christmas turned out to be ukuleles. After Michele bought Paul a ukulele, we thought about it and figured it would be a fun gift for other family members. We found a maker of affordable ukuleles which has them painted in various colors (Mahalo). The strings which come with them are pretty bad, so you need to replace them with better strings.

Some of the painted ukuleles available...

Chris has a friend in Woody...

We video-conferenced-in Anne's grandson Tommy...
Grant, Chris, and Brian provided necessary technical support...

Opening their ukuleles...
Chris (orange ukulele) and Molly (light powder blue ukulele)...

Vanessa with her pink ukulele...

Brian with his yellow ukulele...

Wearing an orange shirt...
...Chris entertains us with his orange ukulele...

Sammy helps with clean up...

Sammy...

Chris shows Sammy how to set up and topple dominoes...

A New Years Wedding...

We started off 2009 with a New Years day wedding of Paul's nephew Brian and Vanessa.

The night before the wedding (New Years Eve), we stayed overnight at the hotel where the wedding was. Paul managed to get Diane a teeny-bit-tipsy on Yukon Jack (a family tradition of sorts).

We are very happy to welcome Vanessa into the family. She is a very nice young lady and she certainly makes Brian happy.

Here are some of the photos we took at the wedding...

Grant helps Brian get ready...

Vanessa and Ashlynn sharing a moment together before the wedding...

Diane, Grant, and the Minneapolis skyline...

Paul's nephew Chris and Molly...

Sammy bits a big bagel...

Brian and Vanessa during the ceremony...

Mr. and Mrs. Brian S...

Thanksgiving 2008

Thanksgiving 2008 was a busy event. We must have had over 25 people throughout the day come through our house. It was wonderful to have friends and family over.

While Paul's mother was at the Mayo (for back surgery this past October), she obtained for herself a new "daughter" named Veronica (one of the nurses at the hospital). Veronica is of Italian descent and she and Paul's mother seemed to hit it off. Veronica came over with her husband and her (real) mother for dessert on Thanksgiving night. Paul's mother continues to reassure her children that she won't leave them for a new family.

Diane the pie maker...

Dinner as Sammy saw it from the end of the table...

Michele and Sammy...

Johanna...

Chris enjoys dinner...we think...

The first ever annual Thanksgiving Day pie parade...
...Michele, Linda, Anne, Diane...

We had a ukulele trio with Kevin, Ryan, and Sammy...

Paul's mother with some of her new family members...
...and a few legacy ones...

Diane realizes she is no longer the number one nurse in the family now...

Surprise Party for Michele...

Last Saturday we gave Michele a surprise birthday party (Paul's sister Diane did most of the planning). We had family and close friends over. We can't say how old Michele is (to protect the innocent)...but we can say it was a milestone birthday. Happy Birthday Michele!

Roses pale in comparison to Michele...

The table & cake...
we had to edit out the numeral candles...

Playing "Cranium Wow", Chris sculpted with clay what looked like a "male appendage"...

Diane tears up with pride over Chris's sculpture...
...then we realized it was an umbilical cord...
...notice Michele's birthday girl head wear...

Molly, Johanna, and the 2oz bottle of Heinz 57 Ketchup...
...Johann promised to take the bottle through airport security....
...to Uruguay...
...and take a photo of her, her mother, and the ketchup...

We had "n" balloons...one for each year of Michele's life...
...so we can't say how many, but one can speculate...

Chris ties up Sammy to the balloons...
...moments before he lifts off the floor...

Sammy loves balloons a lot...
...and a lot of balloons he loves even more...

After some helium escaped from the balloons...
....Sammy touched down...

Ashlynn gives Sammy a hug...

Sammy instructs Ashlynn on how to be a rock star...

Playing Apples to Apples...

Vanessa, Brian, Jaime, Molly, and Chris...

Chris...
...the man of 1,000 faces...

Brian gives the camera his serious look...

Chris and Veto...