How do you say "good bye"?

There's going to be a BIG hole in our meeting soon.....

Bob and Marilyn are moving away from the home and farm they have been on for many years. That means they will soon be going to another meeting...far away. They will be missed! None of us pictured above are liking the thought very much.

Well, we couldn't let them go without a little farewell from us all.... So we had a potluck and made a cake for them and tried to let them know that we wish them well and that we will miss them..... a lot! Some of us don't like change, but life is full of change, like it or not, so we go on and try to make the best of it. I know they'll be happy and enjoy their retirement and being closer to some of their kids and grand kids...and maybe they'll miss us a little too :) I do know that some changes are wonderful....just a few short years ago we didn't have the two young families and all those smiling children's faces in the picture!

Yes we gave them a picture (without a black hole) of us all.... A little memento from all of us in our meeting.

Wishing you the very best!

speaking of sunny dispositions....

Last Sunday, we got to spend time with this special lady. My Aunt Marian has been spreading sunshine as long as I can remember her. My first memory of her was when Uncle Marvin brought her home to meet the family while I was still growing up in my parents home at Ronan. I can remember Marvin and Marian joking around then, causing us all to smile. Unfortnately, their time together was far too short. Uncle Marvin died in an unfortunate accident a few months before their first child, BethArlene was born. We always loved it when Marian and BethArlene came to visit. I'm sure it wasn't easy raising a daughter and supporting them both on a school teachers salary, but you never heard Marian complaining. There was always lots of laughter when she was in the family group. Some time later after Uncle Maurice had lost his first wife, we rejoiced again, when Marian and Maurice were married. When Maurice's health worsened, we never heard a complaint from Marian, but marveled at her loving care and her ability to keep good humor in situations that were anything but humorous.

Here we are enjoying dinner with Aunt Marian at Betty and Dennis's house.

Dale and Marie brought her up from Helena on this cold winter day, so that we could all have a visit with her while she's visiting in Montana. Marian is no stranger to cold winter days. She shared her pictures from cold and snowy North Dakota.

Is it just my impression, or do you think everyone is purposely ignoring the camera? (as in, watch out, she's going to put these on her blog someday :)

ha...gotcha all looking here! That's cuz Dennis was doing such a good job taking the pictures.

who does baby look like?

It's really silly, but no sooner than a baby is born, than do folks start asking...."who does she/he look like....like Mommy or like Daddy?" I think it becomes a little easier to see who they resemble when they get past the tiny infant stage. But I'm guilty as charged...I like to think about who they look like too.

In my last post, I showed some dresses that I had made for Joellyn. Here's the same baby dress handed down to and worn by our niece Karla. When I came across this picture, I was struck again by how much Eva looks like her Mommy's cousin, Karla. Do you see it too? Maybe you have to see just the right expression or look in the eyes, but I don't think I'm the only one who has seen this resemblance.

Here's another picture of Karla when she was little...and she has an expression on her face much like I've seen on Eva.

You will have to agree....one thing Eva and Karla share is a very sweet and sunny disposition. I love that in a baby....in anyone really. Let's have a little sunshine!

No stranger to ruffles

My granddaughters wore their new ruffly skirts this Sunday, so of course this Grandma had to have a picture or two of my darlings. Joellyn posted about the project of making the skirts here.

A marathon session of sewing brought back memories of some of my own sewing sessions of sewing for my daughter. Of course, I only had one daughter, so the task was maybe a little easier, though I was usually on my own...cooking, cleaning, caring for kids along with sewing all day...usually to get a dress done for some special occasion, like a birthday or special meetings.

This was one of my favorites....all white and ruffles with a hint of lavendar ribbon. Doesn't she look like a princess? A pale one? I think she was getting over the chicken pox here. (another memory)

I think this Gunne Sax skirt and vest were awfully cute too! Remember Gunne Sax? I wore a few too, back in the day. And then there was Strawberry Shortcake! We loved it...and I'm not talking about food here :)

I started sewing for Joellyn while she was an infant.... here's one she's wearing before she was a year old.

The joys and trials of Christmas Cards

Here's the joyful part of Christmas cards: Getting them in the mail...Real Mail...I love it! I also love reading about your year, your family, your joys and woes, and seeing your family pictures:

Here's where I display all the pictures and some of the cards. Many a visitor at my house stands here in our hall way and looks over the pictures. We feel so blessed to have so many wonderful friends and dear family.

Here's one of the trials I went through getting my cards and letters together: My printer would not cooperate. It had a mind of it's own. My letter printed fine on white paper. I then lined it up and it looked like it should print perfectly on my holiday paper, but no....that would be too easy. For some reason my 'smart' printer thought that the top of the paper started where the decorative part of the paper ended and the blank part started. After several trial runs, I finally gave up and put it through the printer at work...a simple black and white laser printer. If I could have two printers, I'd get one of those. I do like our hp Photosmart All-in-one for most things however. Roger used the fax and I often scan things and sometimes print photos.

The other trial, is updating my address files figuring out how to print labels again. Maybe if I did it more often, I wouldn't forget how. Then there's the folding and licking and......

Finally, they are ready to mail, days after I should have had it done. Oh well, better late than never right?

Whoops! One more little problem. I got three card returned because of addresses that were not current. I thought I had my file all updated. I should have double checked. Well, those of you who thought you should have gotten my card....hopefully you have rec'd it by now. I've updated my address file and hopefully will have it right next time. Just please don't move between now and next Christmas, O.K.? It's amazing how many people on my list did move this last year. What's up with that??

Happy New Year from Roger and Linda

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