Old Friends after Christmas

Rick's good friend all through grade school, high school and after.
Rick, Tara and their daughter Alyssa












Santa's Elves. Jesse, Rick's Dad-Rick and his Mom, Susie

Christmas Day

We were invited to a neighbor's house for Christmas dinner. It was quite a change from our usual tradition but we had a lovely time.

Jesse, Delores, Kristen (Delores' granddaughter)

Christmas in PA

I like to take a picture of our tree every year with the presents under it but we had already taken the presents to IL.

Making the white sauce for scalloped potatoes in my new Zambian apron.

I bought Jesse a couple of sweatshirts. He rarely wears anything but short sleeve shirts but sometimes he get a little cold.

Opening one of my presents.

Rick and one of his new shirts.

Melvin the Miracle

Melvin was able to be taken off the respirator and breath on his own. It was a miracle.











Our goodbye's to Melvin. This is Sunday Dec. 16th. We are heading back to PA tomorrow and we are heading home to PA.

Christmas in IL

I made everyone red sweatshirts and embroidered cute animals on them. Some turned out good and some were marginal. I'm not sure I will ever get that embroidery machine under control. It was fun anyway.












We drove up to IL from MO the day after an ice storm. We slept in the motorhome but no water because the connections were frozen and even the antennae on the roof was frozen down. We drove back and forth to the house. I walked if the wind wasn't blowing too hard but went up to the road and around as the snow was covered in ice. BRRR!













We got a call that Jesse's brother may be taken off the respirator and probably die so we cut our IL visit short and headed back to MO. This is the ice at one of the rest areas.

Trip to Chicago

Rick, Kelly, Linda, Olivia, Heather, Shirl (Linda's Mom)
We took the train into Chicago and took "the girls" to the American Girl store. It is unbelievable all the "stuff" you can buy for these dolls. Rick was interested in coming with us because he had gone to the store in New York and bought a couple of presents for Heather and Kelly.
He was surprised how clean Chicago looked compared to New York.














We ate lunch at The Cheesecake Factory. Olivia loved it because it looked so "weird in there". She kept taking me into the bathroom to look at all the different looking items in there especially the sink.

Alek's Birthday in IL

Grandma Judie, Kelly, Heather, Background: Uncle Rick and Aunt Debra, Alek, Olivia, Me and Pat-Don's wife. Pat graciously invited Jesse and I and any of our side of the family to a birthday party for Alek and other Oct. and Nov. birthdays. She made her very first red cake. She won the prize for the best as she made double frosting! Who would have thought it would make such a difference! Now we will have to change the cherished family recipe to include double frosting.

Hugs, Hugs and More Hugs!

The one thing I especially wanted from Zambia was this apron. We couldn't find one while I was there. Linda searched and searched and finally had a lady make me one for my birthday. It is a cherished present.

Grandpa is always showing the kids something. Here he is showing them their pictures on our computer. They just love looking at them.












Uncle Rick was able to make a visit and as always they were thrilled to play with him. Heather is about 1/4" shorter than me this Oct.

Grandpa's Present

Kelly carried this warthog all the way from Zambia for Grandpa. Sorry Kelly but Grandma thinks it is UGLY!