Happy 1st Birthday to Samuel Reuben Aho!!
(on Saturday, July 5, 2008!)
Wednesday, July 2nd
Mara and Mike are the first of the family to arrive. They got here after chores in the evening. We had a good chance to visit (no news at this time) and enjoyed our time together.
Thursday, July 3rd
Mara and Mike headed out a little after 8:00 in the morning to go and spend the day with Mike's family, over in Appleton.
I spent most of the day getting the last minute stuff done that you do before you get company. Sally, Scott and Sam got here after chores in the evening, and Mara and Mike only beat them by a bit, getting back from Appleton. We anticipated that Josh, Debora and Thomas would be pulling in sometime after midnight, so the old folks decided to call it a day and turn in. About 11:40 pm the dogs let us know that they had arrived. We laid low, though, and let the other kids greet them as we had to milk the next morning. There is no such thing as saying a quick hello and going back to bed.
Friday, July 4th
When we got home from milking, Mara had started a big breakfast (the meal-time pictures were from then). We were mostly done eating when Mara handed me a box (actually, a cold-medicine box) and told me they were sorry it was late. I opened it up and inside were a pair of baby booties, with FEB written on the bottom of one in glitter, and 2009 on the other! See their blog for the video (that we didn't know was being taken!). We are so very happy and excited for the two of them!
We barely had the chance to take that in, and Josh told us they had news, too! NO - no more babies (just yet), they are going to be moving to Germany - and by the end of this year! And for 2-5 years!!!! I think a person can only handle so much emotional stuff in such a short time span. On reflection, we are very happy for them as well, because it will give us a reason to go to Europe! That, and it is a good career move for Joshua. Debora is excited about it, too. The town they will be in/near is Zweibrücken, which is a stone's throw from France. Cool, huh?
After all that news, it would have been nice to just sit and take it all in, but we had company coming at noon to help Sam celebrate his first birthday! Cariann and Sally had collaborated to get a gathering of the cousins, plus my folks and Mary and Ed, so that Mara and Mike could see everybody while they were here. It was a beautiful day for a picnic (BYO - so it was easy), and the kids had a lot of fun. There were Krista and Joe's girls, Kate Marie (7) and Caroline (nearly 5); Cariann and Rob's two, Elyse (4) and Erik (1 in Feb.); plus our little guys! I had gotten bubbles for the kids and they had a lot of fun with them, but I think the next older generation had more fun with them earlier (hopefully someone posted some pictures of that!). Also there were party favors in the form of horns - the parents weren't too thrilled with that, but us older folks enjoyed it. Especially after we tried to see who could go the furthest away from us and still be heard...
Around 3:00 most of the party guests had left for home. Then Andrea, Wyatt and "Grandma" Connie stopped in for a visit. Sam must have been down for a rest, as he didn't get in those pictures, although he did show up to open his birthday presents from them. A cute piggy bank from Wyatt and family and some trucks from Aunt Connie. Oh, and he had gotten a dump truck from Cariann and family earlier - good boy stuff!
Then we got down to just our family, and had a wonderful cookout for supper. (We had switched our morning in so we could have the evening off with our kids.) Thanks Linda! Scott commanded a mean grill, with Josh and Mike assisting. We hadn't quite finished up with our late supper when John, Marina and Nicole arrived for the evening festivities. We had a campfire in the side yard, with two little boys in the play-yard, covered with mosquito netting. There may be some cute pictures of that somewhere, too. Sam's evening was topped off by his daddy shooting off some fireworks, just for him! Marina and John brought down some special brew, and there were s'mores and some rather unfortunate popcorn popping...I think the party broke up around midnight, although we were tucked snug in our beds long before that....what a fun and exciting day!!
Saturday, July 5th
Today is Sam's first birthday!!!!!! Wow! He is one year old!
I ran home from chores at 6:30 in order to say good-bye to the infanticipating Syrings. They had to head to Chicago for an 11:00 wedding. We were sorry to see them go, but soooooo glad they came up and spent some time with us! Thanks kids!! Mara is doing her preceptorship(?) right now. That is working with a Doctor. Should be interesting, can't wait to hear how it is going.
As soon as we had everybody ready to go, we headed down to Mary and Ed's for the day. They hosted the 60th Anniversary party for the folks and it was wonderful! My brother, Mike and his wife, Lorrie were here as well, so the folks were in 6th Heaven (would have been 7th, if Heather had been able to come as well). Other than my forgetting to pick up the buns (for the pulled pork sandwiches) and making a mad-dash to the Pig to get some everything went well. Oh, I guess there was a minor 'accident' when Erik decided to see how hard Sam's skull was (with a bocce ball). It just added to all the marks on that poor little boy's head - mostly bug bites that he had a reaction to. Those pesky bites really lasted a long time, even with benadryl. Poor little Sam was on a buzz for a couple of days, because of that.
Later in the afternoon, most of the younger crew headed down to the lake for some swimming. Dan and I had to head home for chores at that time, so missed seeing Aunt Fern, Aunt Phyllis and my cousin Cheryl! Another time, I guess.
After chores, we cleaned up and headed back down to M&E's for a campfire evening. It was really nice and relaxing, too. About 10:00 we all packed up and headed home. Big day!
Sunday, July 6th
Wind down day! We kept a pretty low-key schedule today. Bert, Andrea and Wyatt stopped over after church and visited for a bit. Soon after they left, Josh, Debora, Thomas and I headed over to see the Onan Animal Farm. Dan had to work on welding the bunk feeder out back and Sam was napping (good ole benadryl...). Scott, Sally and Sam came over after Sam woke up. There were fishes in a pool, chickens in a hen house and 5 goats! One of the goats is a young male and he was very friendly. Hopefully the kids got some good pictures of them. The Onans sent us home with some of their garden harvest - fresh-picked strawberries! Yum! We had shortcake for dinner, along with grilled brats and burgers. Thanks again to Scott for grilling!
Later in the afternoon, the Ahos packed everything up and headed for Baldwin. It was sad to see them go, but I know it always feels good to get back home when you have been gone for several days. Sam was happy to see his house, according to Sally. Either that, or he was just happy to get out of the carseat.
Sunday evening, after chores, we got home to find Josh and Debora had picked up some pizza for a late supper. How nice! That, and they had a Mother's Day/Father's Day gift for us, from all of our kids. A new camera! I don't know why they thought we needed one - maybe it was hearing comments like "wait, my camera is still warming up!" or "rats! my batteries are dead - again!" or "why didn't that picture take like it was supposed to???" Anyway, we REALLY like it and I have been having fun trying it out. There is much to learn about it, but I am sure I will get there eventually. I've got lots of teachers - THANKS KIDS!!!!!
(will have to wait and post more another time - time for chores soon!)
Mara and Mike are the first of the family to arrive. They got here after chores in the evening. We had a good chance to visit (no news at this time) and enjoyed our time together.
Thursday, July 3rd
Mara and Mike headed out a little after 8:00 in the morning to go and spend the day with Mike's family, over in Appleton.
I spent most of the day getting the last minute stuff done that you do before you get company. Sally, Scott and Sam got here after chores in the evening, and Mara and Mike only beat them by a bit, getting back from Appleton. We anticipated that Josh, Debora and Thomas would be pulling in sometime after midnight, so the old folks decided to call it a day and turn in. About 11:40 pm the dogs let us know that they had arrived. We laid low, though, and let the other kids greet them as we had to milk the next morning. There is no such thing as saying a quick hello and going back to bed.
Friday, July 4th
When we got home from milking, Mara had started a big breakfast (the meal-time pictures were from then). We were mostly done eating when Mara handed me a box (actually, a cold-medicine box) and told me they were sorry it was late. I opened it up and inside were a pair of baby booties, with FEB written on the bottom of one in glitter, and 2009 on the other! See their blog for the video (that we didn't know was being taken!). We are so very happy and excited for the two of them!
We barely had the chance to take that in, and Josh told us they had news, too! NO - no more babies (just yet), they are going to be moving to Germany - and by the end of this year! And for 2-5 years!!!! I think a person can only handle so much emotional stuff in such a short time span. On reflection, we are very happy for them as well, because it will give us a reason to go to Europe! That, and it is a good career move for Joshua. Debora is excited about it, too. The town they will be in/near is Zweibrücken, which is a stone's throw from France. Cool, huh?
After all that news, it would have been nice to just sit and take it all in, but we had company coming at noon to help Sam celebrate his first birthday! Cariann and Sally had collaborated to get a gathering of the cousins, plus my folks and Mary and Ed, so that Mara and Mike could see everybody while they were here. It was a beautiful day for a picnic (BYO - so it was easy), and the kids had a lot of fun. There were Krista and Joe's girls, Kate Marie (7) and Caroline (nearly 5); Cariann and Rob's two, Elyse (4) and Erik (1 in Feb.); plus our little guys! I had gotten bubbles for the kids and they had a lot of fun with them, but I think the next older generation had more fun with them earlier (hopefully someone posted some pictures of that!). Also there were party favors in the form of horns - the parents weren't too thrilled with that, but us older folks enjoyed it. Especially after we tried to see who could go the furthest away from us and still be heard...
Around 3:00 most of the party guests had left for home. Then Andrea, Wyatt and "Grandma" Connie stopped in for a visit. Sam must have been down for a rest, as he didn't get in those pictures, although he did show up to open his birthday presents from them. A cute piggy bank from Wyatt and family and some trucks from Aunt Connie. Oh, and he had gotten a dump truck from Cariann and family earlier - good boy stuff!
Then we got down to just our family, and had a wonderful cookout for supper. (We had switched our morning in so we could have the evening off with our kids.) Thanks Linda! Scott commanded a mean grill, with Josh and Mike assisting. We hadn't quite finished up with our late supper when John, Marina and Nicole arrived for the evening festivities. We had a campfire in the side yard, with two little boys in the play-yard, covered with mosquito netting. There may be some cute pictures of that somewhere, too. Sam's evening was topped off by his daddy shooting off some fireworks, just for him! Marina and John brought down some special brew, and there were s'mores and some rather unfortunate popcorn popping...I think the party broke up around midnight, although we were tucked snug in our beds long before that....what a fun and exciting day!!
Saturday, July 5th
Today is Sam's first birthday!!!!!! Wow! He is one year old!
I ran home from chores at 6:30 in order to say good-bye to the infanticipating Syrings. They had to head to Chicago for an 11:00 wedding. We were sorry to see them go, but soooooo glad they came up and spent some time with us! Thanks kids!! Mara is doing her preceptorship(?) right now. That is working with a Doctor. Should be interesting, can't wait to hear how it is going.
As soon as we had everybody ready to go, we headed down to Mary and Ed's for the day. They hosted the 60th Anniversary party for the folks and it was wonderful! My brother, Mike and his wife, Lorrie were here as well, so the folks were in 6th Heaven (would have been 7th, if Heather had been able to come as well). Other than my forgetting to pick up the buns (for the pulled pork sandwiches) and making a mad-dash to the Pig to get some everything went well. Oh, I guess there was a minor 'accident' when Erik decided to see how hard Sam's skull was (with a bocce ball). It just added to all the marks on that poor little boy's head - mostly bug bites that he had a reaction to. Those pesky bites really lasted a long time, even with benadryl. Poor little Sam was on a buzz for a couple of days, because of that.
Later in the afternoon, most of the younger crew headed down to the lake for some swimming. Dan and I had to head home for chores at that time, so missed seeing Aunt Fern, Aunt Phyllis and my cousin Cheryl! Another time, I guess.
After chores, we cleaned up and headed back down to M&E's for a campfire evening. It was really nice and relaxing, too. About 10:00 we all packed up and headed home. Big day!
Sunday, July 6th
Wind down day! We kept a pretty low-key schedule today. Bert, Andrea and Wyatt stopped over after church and visited for a bit. Soon after they left, Josh, Debora, Thomas and I headed over to see the Onan Animal Farm. Dan had to work on welding the bunk feeder out back and Sam was napping (good ole benadryl...). Scott, Sally and Sam came over after Sam woke up. There were fishes in a pool, chickens in a hen house and 5 goats! One of the goats is a young male and he was very friendly. Hopefully the kids got some good pictures of them. The Onans sent us home with some of their garden harvest - fresh-picked strawberries! Yum! We had shortcake for dinner, along with grilled brats and burgers. Thanks again to Scott for grilling!
Later in the afternoon, the Ahos packed everything up and headed for Baldwin. It was sad to see them go, but I know it always feels good to get back home when you have been gone for several days. Sam was happy to see his house, according to Sally. Either that, or he was just happy to get out of the carseat.
Sunday evening, after chores, we got home to find Josh and Debora had picked up some pizza for a late supper. How nice! That, and they had a Mother's Day/Father's Day gift for us, from all of our kids. A new camera! I don't know why they thought we needed one - maybe it was hearing comments like "wait, my camera is still warming up!" or "rats! my batteries are dead - again!" or "why didn't that picture take like it was supposed to???" Anyway, we REALLY like it and I have been having fun trying it out. There is much to learn about it, but I am sure I will get there eventually. I've got lots of teachers - THANKS KIDS!!!!!
(will have to wait and post more another time - time for chores soon!)
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