Happy Birthday Aaron!

The Brockmeier's are on the road to Omaha today. Aaron will be able to celebrate his birthday with his Mom and Dad! Something special about celebrating birthdays with your children. I wonder what the weather was like on Aaron's birth day? Wayne and Susan you have a lot to be proud of - Jeff and I are!

Christmas Day

Although the weather made the road journey tricky to our home all the big kids and grandkids along with Grandma Nadeau enjoyed a day of family fun filled with the blessings of the season.
We were thankful that everyone arrived safely and were able to return to their homes safely.

Christmas pics cont ---

Snow, snow and more snow!


Games, food, & more games!

Christmas Eve at the Brockmeiers

Jeff's Mom, Jeff and I attended Christmas Eve services at St. Luke's where Aaron is pastor. It was a beautiful service with music and candle light. We enjoyed appetizers at their home before attending church. The weather was a bit tricky going home but just ask Jeff's Mom who she thinks is the best driver around.

A day with Natalie and John!

Since Jeff was on vacation this week (12/21) we thought it would be fun to play with Natalie and John all day. We started off with a visit to the Maple Grove Maze, lunch at MacDonald's, a visit to St. Therese to see great grandma Fisher, and finishing our day at great grandma Nadeau's. We just missed her; she was off on a shopping adventure with Gwen & Joy. But we will make up for that on Christmas. These are some fun pics from our day.

Fun pics from our day!

Jeff and I enjoyed watching the kiddo's discover all the ways to travel through the maze. We will have to make a return visit!

Gregg retired!

A couple of weeks ago we attended Jeff's "older" brother Gregg's retirement celebration. He has worked for the Agribank for 29 years! He now is taking care of his new grandson Oliver! We have a link to the Lowe's blog. Check it out and see what a handsome grandbaby he is! This is what retirement is all about - enjoying the grandbabies. Congrats to Gregg!
(Do you think Jeff is far behind?)

Ice Fishing Buddies -

These are Jeff's ice fishing buddies. For the most part they are pretty safe - the group includes a dentist, fire chief, carpenter, banker, and implement dealer. So they should be covered if anything unusual occurs!

Annual Christmas Cookie Bake

Last year was our first time of baking Christmas cookies together. We had a great time and decided to do it again. Everyone went home with a great selection! The little girls decorated Grandma's kitchen Christmas tree and Great Grandma Nadeau shared all her baking experiences.

-- and look what else came out of the oven last year!

Noelle was in labor during the cookie baking day last year - Jeff and I decided to keep Lauren overnight and by 6 am the next day Aaron called to tell that they were in the hospital - later in the day Elijah arrived. We celebrated his birthday later in the afternoon.

Cousins - what buddies!

Lauren & Natalie in '08 and now in '09! Aren't they just the cutest tree decorators!

Look at all the cookies!

Jeff thought we didn't have enough flour on us so decided to sprinkle more!

Happy "First" Birthday Ean!

Today 12/7 is Ean's first birthday! He is walking & growing; playing with his big sister & growing; playing peek & growing! We think that the Vikes have no worries replacing the "William's" boys - Ean is in training!

Love you!
Grandpa & Grandma

Aitkin Fish House Parade!

It sure was fun!

Thanksgiving '09 (at Tamarack)

Karen, Rodger, Jeff and I spent our Thanksgiving at the lake. Karen and I prepared pheasant with all the fixings. A friend shared a recipe with Karen that was absolutely delicious! -- at least we thought so. Great time - the boys won a number of Sequence games but we just kept trying.

Pics from "The Dean's" dream home --

This is the inside and a model of the house.

Interesting Home!

On Wednesday 11/25 Jeff and I stopped by to see a home that is being built with scrap panels from FAB-CON. We intended it to be a quick stop but ended up spending the afternoon with Dick and Karla Dean. This couple are in their mid 70's and are building their dream home. It was the most interesting visit. Dick has been active in prison ministry and during this process has had help from inmates that are on a "work program." Dick had had a scrap metal business. Through this business he has had experience with retrieving large construction equipment that have gotten lost in the peat or other areas with soft soil. Fascinating - these are just a few of the photos. The very top will be an observation deck - he has already put a telescope up to see how it will work. I am amazed at the intelligence of individuals and how they use it to create their dream!

A turkey is it?

I found this idea in a magazine and thought it would be fun to do - so as usual I convinced Jeff to give me a hand since he is the "turkey" hunter in the family!

Thanksgiving Hats :)

I found this fun idea to make the grandkids these "turkey leg" hats - well as you can see the girls bought into the idea, Ean wasn't buying it at all and John went the other direction when he had a look :) Oh well, it was a hoot anyway!


Lauren was showing the turkey dance!

Thanksgiving '09 & Heather's Birthday & Anniversary Wishes to Blair & Heather

We decided to celebrate our Thanksgiving a little early so we could all be there. Danielle and Paul are hosting the "Fischers", Noelle and Aaron are heading for Omaha, Blair and Heather will be at the 'Olson's" and Abby and Dan will be at Dan's aunt's home on Thanksgiving. So Jeff and I thought we would start a new tradition of celebrating the Sunday before. This was great - we were able to relax and enjoy the day. We are very thankful for all the blessings in our lives!

--- along with all of this Heather also celebrated her birthday on the 14th!
--- and Blair and Heather celebrated their 5 year anniversary on the 27th!

Thanksgiving pics ---

Aaron helping Ean ride the horse.
Playing with Uncle Blair - Lauren and John.

A bale of pheasants!

Jeff and the group hunted on a group of five farms - 90,000 acres. They came home with a limit of pheasants and special memories of a very successful hunt.

Pheasant Hunting in Pierre, SD

Jeff has done buildings with Marty Kiehm for many years. After having been invited numerous times to go on the hunt Jeff finally decided to go. Marty flew his Cessna 340. They had a great time - the weather and the hunt were excellent - as I write this we are cleaning the pheasants. We plan to enjoy them on Thanksgiving Day at the cabin.

Long Lake Conservation Center - Quilt Retreat

Our annual quilt retreat was this past weekend. Karen & I made all the girls a special pillowcase to use for our retreats. Last winter I found the fabric in Phoenix - Karen & I then made them while we were at the cabin this summer at our "Beat the Heat Quilt Retreat." We enjoyed the process as much as giving them to everyone. Pictured is Karen, Pat, Abby, Jamie, Danielle, 2nd row - me, Kelly, Laura, and Linda! We enjoyed the time quilting and sharing.

Great-Grandma's group is growing!

We tried again to get all those babies to look our way - check the other blogs - someone-else maybe gotten a better pic of them all facing front:) What fun we all had.

left to right- Ean (almost 1), John (2), Lauren (2), Great-Grandma, Oliver (4 months), Natalie (4), and Avery (almost 1)

What a beautiful group of ladies!

All the "girl" cousins were able to attend the bridal shower - sitting - then from left to right;
Claire, Noelle; Chelsie (newly engaged:), Julie, Allison (baby due in February), Becky; Jackie, Abby, and Danielle!