John gets help from Dad

John and Sara are moving forward with a construction project that will convert their screened in porch to a four season room. It will really be a wonderful addition to their home. There will be a cozy fireplace and comfy chairs. I can't wait to see it finished and enjoy morning coffee in their new room! Wally and I spent a few days with John and Sara - and the men hammered nails while the ladies baked or too long walks....

The size of the room was extended about 18 inches.

The sheeting was on by the end of Saturday. The next step will be installing the windows.

Coffee, apples and gjetost!! (Gjetost is a soft caramel colored cheese from Norway made from goat's milk.)

The weather was so grand all 3 days that we had most of our meals and breaks outside.

Fun at Grandma's

Just a few pictures from Memorial day weekend. Preston, who will soon become a one-year old, is now very into everything. He crawls with determination to get what catches his eye... usually whatever his big sister is playing with at the time too! He pulls himself up to a standing position so he can reach (hopefully) the toys we are playing with on the little table... or the crayons we are using to color... whatever Brooklyn and Grandma are doing that's where Preston wants to be! No matter there are tons of other really interesting toys all over for him... nope, gotta check out sister!!

So far Preston has not yet be allowed to join us for tea though! That is strictly a girl privilege right now. Here Aunt Martha gets in on the action with Brooklyn and Grandma. These wonderful hats came from Rhode Island and my dear Aunt Bea! Thanks so much Aunt Bea! We are making good use of your hats!

Happy Memorial Day - Honoring our Ancestors

Today is a day to remember those brave men and women who have served in the military for our country's freedom. I have two great great grandfathers who, as young immigrant men from Germany, willingly fought in our Civil War. This picture is from our Walk of Flags here in Fergus Falls - over 1000 flags are placed along a designated area. It is very dramatic. Each flag has been given and placed in honor of a specific veteran.

Adam Herlich, enlisting from New York City, was involved in many battles, most notably the 2nd battle at Chancellorsville, where he was taken a prisoner of war. That may have saved his life because he was unable to fight with his regiment at Gettysburg and many in his regiment died in that battle. He was released in a prisoner-exchange and continued to fight for our country, re-enlisting when his first term expired.

John Kessler, also enlisting from the New York area, was wounded in a skirmish near Baton Rouge, Louisiana where the enemy had donned northern uniforms to ambush John's regiment. He suffered a severe wound to the knee and, according to his account, lay on the damp ground for quite some time. He was hospitalized and later released and his injuries plagued him the rest of his life.

Siblings together - some of them, at least!

Here we are with Phil, Betty Jo, Norman, Martha

and Wally and myself enjoying some good family time.

Phil and Betty Jo were in town for a high school class reunion. Notice Phil hasn't changed a bit, still haming it up in the picture!

Guess who came to visit? Bennett!!

Oh how fun it was to meet Bennett in person after seeing him on his mommy and daddy's blog! In fact, many of us watched throughout the many months of his mommy's pregnancy and waited - oh, so anxiously! - when mommy went to the hospital to give birth. I just remember not being able to leave the computer because I kept checking on the blog for the big news!

Well, here he is in my home - almost three months old and as cute in person as he is on the blog.

I quickly hauled out my infant bouncy seat and other infant items and, of course, my camera!

We had fun taking pictures and then we decided to try to take our own picture together - Bennett, his mommy Shannon and me. It's kind of silly but I just had to put it on too!

Shannon and Bennett, thanks for the visit!

John, M.B.A.

It was a perfect graduation day on Monday, May 14th as John was awarded his Master's of Business Administration Degree from the Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota. Here is the proud graduate and his happy and supportive wife!

The guest speaker for the graduation ceremony was Steve Forbes, C.E.O. of Forbes magazine.

He was a great speaker.

We had great seats; quite close to where John was sitting actually. Here is our boy walking across the stage to recieve his degree.

There was quite a crowd outside following the commencement. We also enjoyed a reception at the Carlson School of Management building.

Finally, the proud parents. (Can you see my third corsage?) I never realize how short I am until I see a photograph - who is that short gal?? Oh, me!

Three for Three on Mother's Day

Wow, who would expect three corsages on Mother's Day - certainly not me - though I have three sons - but what a nice surprise to receive a lovely corsage from each son this Mother's day! I only wore one to church, then two to the picnic, and the third one I saved for the following day for John's graduation. Some of you may know that on past Mother's days I would purchase my own corsage and make our dinner reservations myself to insure the proper Mother's day outcome.... so, does this new change in attention to mom come from my sons' age and maturity...... or from the fact that they are all married now and have their lovely wives to encourage them to buy mom a corsage? What is your guess?

We enjoyed a lovely warm sunny day in Eagan celebrating Mother's day and, more importantly,
John's upcoming graduation. Here is precious Hannah examining the feel of grass...












Luke is well-trained for offering a great smile as soon as he sees the camera. Good job, Luke!

All smiles!

This morning was Brooklyn's Preschool program - as you can tell, she was tickled pink to see her family proudly sitting in the audience to watch her!

Here are God's little lambs singing for us!









I love this picture - four generations - Ruth(great grandma), Meghan (mom), Brooklyn (daughter) and Rae (grandma) - aren't they all attractive ladies? I sure think so.

From birds to blossoms..

Wow, what a perfect day - the blue sky is flawless and the cherry tree blossoms and the crab apple tree blossoms smell wonderful! Too bad there isn't a way to add "smell" to this blog!! I just couldn't resist grabbing my camera to capture a few pictures for those of you who stop by!

Faithful friends of faith...

For quite a few years now eight couples have met on Sunday evenings at our home for a Bible study and great friendship bonding. As a group we have gone through a very long list of sorrows, joys and concerns. A very long list, in fact. So we have grown quite close and know we can count on this group to support any member at any time and in any circumstance. What a blessing God has given us in the fellowship of believers! We cease meeting for the summer months so we had a cook-out Sunday evening prior to our last study. However, we don't cease our friendships and our growing faith in God's guidance in each of our lives!

Like clockwork...

I think it takes a lot of faith to believe in no God. I mean, just look at nature - birds, for instance. These birds return every single year almost the exact same week. I think it is hard to think that is random- that life just started somehow by chance and things managed to get this predictable - just by chance? Wow, that takes a lot of faith to believe in chance. As you can guess, I believe in the design of our creator God - but beyond that I believe in His personal interest in us. That is truly amazing. God loves us!

Here is the first oriole of the season at our feeders! Right on time! Also arriving today was the hummingbird (he's too hard to capture in a picture!). We also have one beautiful red cardinal, many bluejays, goldfinches, woodpeckers, mourning doves, grosbeaks, chickadees, nuthatches, red winged blackbirds, sparrows... oh, I can't get anything done but watch the birds!!

Mr Bluejay is sometimes rather pesky but none-the-less quite beautiful, don't you think?

Right on schedule - rain or shine!

I was going to try to not load this blog up with bird pictures, but every year I get so excited when "my" birds return! Just last evening we said to Norman & Martha (who were over for dinner along with Daniel, Meghan, Brooklyn and Preston) that the grosbeaks should arrive any day...we have been keeping record of their arrival in our bird book since 1989! Well, the first thing I saw this morning when I looked at the feeder was Mr. Grosbeak! As you can see it is a rainy day - but that didn't keep them from their arrival. They may have a better on-time record then the airlines! (There are 3 grosbeaks in this picture - two on the tray feeder and one in the tree - can you spot them?)

This fella is waiting his turn to get to the feeder. The male is so colorful - his female counterpart is brown and rather modest in comparison.

The birds are coming back!

This is a great time of year in our backyard - the birds put on a great show - and wow, do they eat a lot of sunflower seeds! Today the brilliant yellow goldfinches are enjoying lunch on us. There were about 14 of these beautiful birds on the feeders. I am anxiously awaiting the return of the hummingbirds and the orioles. We had a cardinal yesterday - they are not as plentiful here as in NJ. You can see just the start of the green buds on the trees in the background - and the light blue is the river in the distance. That view will be gone once the leaves are full.

Happy Birthday today to my dear sister, Marlane!

Golden Boy

Happy Golden Birthday to Adam today.

We were happy that we could spend the day with you! May you enjoy many more wonderful birthdays!

p.s. for those of you who may not know the term "golden birthday" it is when your age and the day of the month of your birthday coincide! I had never heard of a golden birthday before I came to the midwest. Of course, I was 2 when I celebrated my golden birthday since I was born on the second day of the month. Adam had a much longer wait for his golden birthday!

Ringbearer

Friday night was a special evening for Andrea's sister Emily who married Eric. Luke and Timothy were ringbearers - and Luke went down the aisle just like planned. The flower girls were a little harder to predict, though they did finally get to the end of the aisle. Timothy had second thoughts though and decided at the last minute that this was not something he really wanted to do! Oh well, he made it in the pictures beforehand!

Emily and Eric made a striking couple - very happy too! Adam performed the wedding and Andrea was the matron of honor. Adam did a fine job too. Can you see him up front?

Here is Adam with little Hannah Sophia.









Preston and Daniel are quite a pair.

Teatime in the tent...

Ah, a girl after my own heart! I just love afternoon tea! Doesn't this look inviting? It was!

What a cozy tea in a tent for me!

And we're off!!!!!

Yup, it's official - forward motion has been achieved! Wow, this is great stuff! Here's Preston's form - four on the floor...

This is great - following this ball - it can't get away now!

Another favorite - riding on Thomas! It makes the greatest sounds!

Crawling.... backwards...

Well, here we are at 10 months old! Little Preston has a wider area of mobility - he gets around now but the crawling is best only when going backwards.... and then, what does a fella do when you hit the furniture behind you? Help me out here Grandma!