Wednesday Fun

A tender moment with Sarah.


Getting hair in wrag curlers for tonight's party.

Katie and the Honor's Band

Our grand daughter Katie played Oboe tonight in the Barnett Jr. High Honor's Band.
She did a great job. This band sounds fantastic. They are 7th and 8th graders.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! Let The Celebration Begin!

Ya-Ya Gram

Mr. Will was famous last year for pitching Christmas ornaments and breaking them. This year he is 2 1/2 and can understand a little better. So to help out, I sent him a Ya-ya gram.... kinda scary looking at my haglike appearance as it is hard to comb my hair right now.LOL I hope he enjoyed Ya-Ya's instructional video on Christmas Tree Etiquette. :)

Blogging

I love to blog, and things have been slow going due to the lack of an arm. My right arm is useless at this time. I am doing acupuncture for pain and it has helped a lot, but only if I keep it in a sling and don't move it at all.
I thank the Lord that He saw fit to make me left handed or I'd really be in a pickle!
Surgery is in the future, but not until the house sells. (our old house) So I am slung until then.

I laughed when Erika went to the store to help me.... She is so funny. She said, "Wow mom, I don't know how you do it with one arm!" To which I said, "Well,I don't know how you do it with no feet!" And then we both started laughing..... helping each other through the store. She pushed the basket and I put the items in. When we got home, Sarah and Anna unloaded and put away. We'll get through this together.

Blogging is slower for awhile, but I'll try to keep up.

Mr. Will and The Gingerbread Village

Will discovered the special Gingerbread Village on Ya-Ya's counter.

What a good boy to just stare at it! Mouthwatering...

Maybe if I just put my mouth up closer, I can get a small taste?
Ahhh! Mercy. Katie shared with me. :)

Its Gingerbread House Makin' Time!

This year instead of one big gingerbread house, we found a gingerbread village. Each girl got to make their own unique design. It was a lot of finger-lickin' fun.

Anna Turned ELEVEN! NO WAY!!! YES WAY!

It is hard to believe that she is already 11.... She had a very nice birthday today. There were visits from the brothers and sisters and nephews, and there were presents to open..... We also visited the Nursing Home where she requested to visit a new friend she made named Robert, who has no visitors. She brought him a picture of Indian Ruins she found on the Internet. We had a play date with her favorite friends and then, it was off to come home and get ready for Pizza.
We never made it to making a cake. We'll try that for tomorrow. LOL

More Thanksgiving Highlights

Some Thanksgiving Highlights

RELAX ......

AND HAVE A WONDERFUL THANKSGIVING!



We're Eating Ham This Year!

The Fun Visit

Our friends from the East Coast visited us yesterday. They left early this a.m. to continue their Thanksgiving Trek. We are so glad they could stop by for a visit on the way, and we could offer respite to the weary travelers. :)

The girls had a great time visiting with Daniel once again, and were right in play mode as soon as he arrived. We had a nice dinner of Tilapia, cucumber tomato salad, broccoli, and rice.
The girls went to Sprouts and the guys headed to Frys. LOL

It is so very special to have a friend to connect with in many ways. Our lives are touched by similar experiences and we both love to share and talk about our Lord with each other.
JJ has been a tremendous encouragement to me and I am thankful for her's and David's friendship. While I am sorry they moved away, they moved to a very strategic place, which could cause us to need to go on a vacation there quite soon.:)

What a great treat. Here are a couple of pictures of our visit. And yes, I did just wake up in the morning. :)

Will And Charlie

Will, Ya-ya is SO PROUD of you! What a fast learner! :)

Instructional Video For the GrandChildren

Gramma Names

One time, my daughter in law and son asked me what I wanted to be called by the kids.
I didn't mind, being called Gramma or Grammy or Grandmother, or anything as long as it was nice. :)

I have been thinking this over and there are a WHOLE lot of gramma names out there.

One thing I DON'T like, is when my girls get confused, as we have this large family and when the grand girls are over start calling me gramma. They don't do it to tease, because sometimes I say, "can you get gramma that pen?" or something along those lines.... then I say mom, then we all laugh.....

SOoooo, I have been thinking about gramma names.
I hope they don't hate it, but I really have decided to get called something fun.
I want to be called "Ya-Ya".... it is greek for Grandmother.
So it is a real gramma name. But I find it to be affectionate and fun.
Kids, is that ok?
You can respond in private. LOL
Yep, your mama is crazy.

The Adorables

This is Marcus, Ivy, Will and Charlie.
I call them "The Adorables".

Marcus is our youngest son.
Charlie looks like Grammy. :)

For Dad

The first time I met dad, he and mom were already living in Oklahoma. They had dropped kids off all over the nation as they moved around. The last 2 were still at home with Dad and mom.

I remember the drive up from Texas, being so nervous. It is always nerve- wracking meeting your new family, but even more so,when you come with 4 little boys. :) I was a whole package deal! What would he say? What would he think?

After a few minutes, my heart was relieved. He said, "Do you know how to play spades?"
"No, but I can learn. :)"
He said, "very good".....
and I learned.

After that, it was 20 years of discussion, interesting debate on everything from the Reformation to Politics, to the Ottoman Empire. Maybe politics wasn't so pleasant.:) But our most pleasurable conversations of all revolved around family and kids.

He LOVED kids. He gained energy from being around them. He loved the challenge and enjoyed the things they said. He laughed at all their jokes.

Mike said that when he was a kid, they would all pile in a van and drive to all sorts of places. They went to the lake to live during the summer and water sports were synonymous with Minich.
Mike said all 6 kids saw things like Niagara Falls, traveled to Michigan, the mountains, went camping, water skiing, visiting Aunt Judy and Aunt Noelle, and all the cousins, and many, many, places.
I remember so well, when we first became familiar with email, he and Joseph would write letters back and forth in poetry. It went on for weeks. And they were so clever together.

He taught the kids how to "snipe hunt".... unfortunately, he taught me how to snipe hunt too.
I got drawn in without even knowing it.

He was famous for his silly songs and camping songs and would love to introduce them to whoever would listen.

He and Bob took 2 of our guys on a 2 week camping trip to the 4 corners. They had a blast of a time and it was a REAL guy time, because the truth is, they came back wearing the same clothes and underwear they started out with. But before they came home, they stopped at a nice restaurant on a Sunday afternoon to have steak. My mind still cannot go there. =)

He took our youngest son Marcus and his cousin Tim to Arizona, and on the way, killed Bambi in the desert. That meant they to be towed into town, but he took it all in stride.

He was an amazing encourager and the biggest cheer leader for all of us. He always had something good to say.

It wasn't uncommon for him to call to find out what we were learning in History. We loved to talk about our history lessons. He said he had developed a new love for history and would read the same books.

He took the girls for a walk and they came back rather wet. He said, they sort of swam with the ducks. LOL

When we were in Ukraine, we called and he talked to Erika and sang with her on the phone.
She loved him the minute she felt his embrace. He made a musical slide show of Erika and sent it to us. I was so touched.

If I were to come up with a word for him, I think it would be accepting. He accepted everybody just as they were. He didn't have any preconceived expectations of anybody and enjoyed being with other people just because. You never felt that you had to impress him, or be anything, other than yourself. He made you feel comfortable in your own skin.

And I think that is what He was. Comfortable in his own skin.
He was happy just because. Not because life was easy or special or wonderful, but just because HE was happy, and his happiness was infectious.

Dad we are really going to miss you. You left HUGE boots for us to fill.
Thanks for being our dad.
Here is the slide show from the funeral.

Grampa and the Girls

This is Dad and Gramma, at her birthday party.
Goofing off with Sarah and Anna.
The first time he ever held Erika. She loved him at first sight. :)

In Memory of Our Dad

Our dear sweet dad slipped into eternity today, while we held his hands. It was such a priveledge to be there and and honor to touch his hands one last time and speak words of love to him before he died.
I will write more tomorrow. But this is how I want to remember Grampa. :)

Leaving to Visit Dad

I will be leaving first thing in the A.M. to go and spend some time with Dad. I want to be there, even if he doesn't know I'm there. Please pray for travel safety. Mike is going to stay behind with the girls.
Dad's blog site is here.