Garage Sales

Well this post will be done in reverse! Sometimes I get the photos in the order of the story, but it's 4:00 a.m. and I'm so far behind in my personal blog that I'm just will have to tell you this event in reverse. Thanks to my sister-in-law Sheila, we had a delicious lunch at their home after the garage sale. She is such a great cook! Something I am not. We had a great quiche, salad, french bread and a delicious cake made from scratch.

She even spent time making these delicious cupcakes!

Now to the beginning of the day. With my huge family, we started the day off with my sister Louise, her daughter Tammy and her three children, Megan, Caleb and Jacob. Then we had my sister Carol from Connecticut with her daughter Beth and her four children, Isaac, Zachary, Austin and Mikayla. Then my sister from France Linda and me. Now that's a crew to go to garage sales with! Above we have Zachary and Isaac trying out some neat seats. My sister Linda and their grandmother Carol purchased them for my wonderful great nephews.

Here we have Mikayla, Jacob and Austin also making another purchase. In the background we have Megan, Beth, Isaac and Carol.

Now we did not make this purchase, but Mikayla looked so cute on it that I just had to take a photo of her.

It again was a great day to spend with my sisters, two nieces and then all those great nieces and nephews. And to end it with a relaxing lunch with Scott, Sheila and their grandson Aidan.

Thanking God once again for all the relationships He has given me.

Ann-Marie Turns 31! Linda Turns 69! = 100

It was just a nice small get-together with my one and only, who also became a "MOM" for the first time this year. Just getting away for a short time without Sam was going to be the big challenge. With my oldest sister Linda here from France, who also shares the same birthday it was great to have them be together. In the above photo above, my brother Dave and his wife Venita phoned us while we were eating to sing "Happy Birthday" to them. It was indeed a wonderful surprise!

One of Ann-Maire friends, Angie was able to join us.

Here we have Ann-Maire and her Aunt Linda celebrating their birthday together with some type of drink. Linda reminded us that with Ann-Marie turning 31 and her turning 69 it equaled a century! They don't look that old. Well at least not my daughter! Just kidding Linda.

And here we have our party group. And so thankful that Candice, Ann-Marie's cousin could also join us!

After dinner, we went and saw Julie and Julia. Can you believe that my sister Linda had never heard of Julia ! It truly was a fun evening. As they say in Chicago...Happy birthday to the boat of you! Sam must have survived the evening because we never had a call from his daddy!

Andrew Turns Twelve

On August 18, twelve years ago Andrew was born. Gary's daughter Camille wanted to name him after her brother, Andrew who had been killed in a car accident when he was only eighteen. Camille had even asked her father if he would mind her naming her son after his son. And of course I'm sure he felt it an honor for her to do that. Some of you may not know, but Camille doesn't really enjoy her own birthday, because that was the day her brother was killed.

But with all the sorrows that life brings to us, God sheds His many blessing on us also. Like our grandson Andrew. He has been a real joy to this blended family. Well, I'm not a Cardinal fan, but Andrew and his dad are real good fans of that team.
Here we are all getting ready to sing "Happy Birthday" to Andrew.

My sister from France wanted to give Andrew a special gift. So Andrew was so happy to get some euro money. I told him that he could take it to the bank and cash it in for American money. But he said that he just wanted to hang on to it.

With approval from his parents, Gary was able to purchase Andrew his first pocket knife. Which we also added some money to his card. His already thinking about getting a case for his new knife.

Then we have Andrew's sister Brigitte who just had her hair cut and was having fun with her mom.

Happy birthday Andrew...just think, next year he will become a TEENAGER! That will become a whole new world for everyone!

Moving Day for Ann-Marie & Brett

WHAT A DAY IT WAS---from morning to night. But thankfully all the big items got moved into their apartment so they could start living in their new "HOME". One is always so greatful for the help they can get. Several of the men from Morningstar were able to give some of their time to help. Since there was not a rented U- Haul, it took many trips back and forth. But we were also thankful that the apartment was only one mile away.

There were several ladies who came later and helped with taking items out the freezer and frig. I tell you when you go from a two story house to a two bed apartment, you appreciate all the help.

Of course with all that lifting and lots of calories burned, one needed to stop and enjoy a sandwich from subway.

Above we have Gary and Brett putting the bed together in the apartment.

We were all so thankful to my sister Linda, who is here from France, to stay at the apartment and take care of Sam. She was also able to unpack lots and lots of boxes with items for the kitchen. Oh and we don't want to forget to thank her for getting supper for us later that evening. Thanks Linda.

It was indeed a very busy, exhausting day for everyone. At night while I was sleeping, if I had to move from on position to another my body ached. But I have to say I love their new apartment.

Sam seems to feel right at HOME!

We still have things yet to finished up at the house, but it will get done. As Gary always say, "Get it done!" And he does just that!!!

Just want Ann-Marie, Brett and Sam to enjoy this new avenue in their life. After all...Home is really where they are TOGETHER.

Gramma Done Good

I know that the title of this blog is not good grammer. But to me it fit the occasion. What a joy to be able to have my grandson Samuel for a full day. I was not sure how the day would start or end.

Samuel arrived at my home asleep. Now that's a great start. After Ann-Marie and Brett left, I thought of all the things I needed to get done in the kitchen. The first item on my list was to make good use of three ripe bananas. Plus at the Heilman Reunion, I had a bag of fresh black walnuts that Gary's cousin had processed. Doesn't that just make banana bread sound good? So while Samuel slept, I was able to check off the first item on my list. Banana Bread Done
Next on my list was to process zucchini that my sister Louise had given me. I'm so thankful for a food chopper. It made the job easier. I was able to get 6 cups of zucchini to freeze. Then when I want to make zucchini bread or muffins I have my zucchini all ready to go. I must confess that I did have to stop between chopping to fed Samuel. But he went back to sleep and Gary and I were able to enjoy lunch together.

The last item on my list was to make a beef pot roast for all of us for supper. And please forgive my photo above. I meant to take a picture of it before we devoured it...but I forgot. So at 1:00 p.m I put the roast to cook slow in the oven. My plan was to fed Sam at 4:00 p.m. then put the potatoes and carrots in at 5:00 p.m. Somehow it all went according to plan.

Ann-Marie and Brett arrived around 4:30 p.m. and Ann-Marie was able to get a very short nap. At 5:30 p.m. we were all able to sit down together and enjoy supper as a family.

Oh you are probably wondering how Sam survived the whole day...well, I would say as his Gramma...

SAM WAS A PERFECT LITTLE GRANDSON. Wouldn't you agree!!

Heilman 59th Family Reunion 8-09-09

The Heilman family have a very neat tradition. They have this hugh quilt that has a square for each family. Whenever you attend you put the date you were there in your square.

This year the cooks grilled prime rib steaks and sweet corn. It so delicious and so tender. Each family bring a dish to pass. And as always we had plenty of food.

Here we have Gary's brother Don. I call him THE CHEF! He always makes sure we have good meat!

Here we have Dave and Camille with some of the Heilman clan.

We started the day without rain. But in the afternoon we had two seperate rain events.

I will entitle the photo above as "Playing in the rain!" Kids love to play in the rain.

The Hielmans also always have something fun for the kids to play in. This year it was a cow....upside down.

When I was giving Sam a bottle, the sun was shining and Grandpa Heilman said that Sam need sunglasses. So Sam got to wear Grandpa's sunglasses. Here Sam is now two weeks old.

Coming home was a little scary for me! The clouds look so foreboding. Gary kept saying I never seen clouds like that. Not knowing what kind of clouds they were, I was wondering if we might run into a tornado.

While watching the news that evening people had sent photos into the different TV satations showing the same clouds that I had taken photos of. That evening I found out that they are called shelf clouds. NOW I KNOW!

Next year the Heilman will mark their 60th Reunion. Hope the weather is much better. And I really don't want to see those clouds next year. We did end up driving in a heavy downpour! But so thankful we arrived home safely.

August 8, 2009 Ron Turns 70!!!

To just stop and think that my mother was only twenty-one when she gave birth to her firstborn. And as you all know, she didn't stop with just having one.:) Can you believe that her firstborn, Ronald Wayne Rehfeldt turned 70 on August 8th? Well, I guess you can believe that knowing she will turn 92 in Septmeber. I must say that cake was delicious! We had another cake and some cupcakes, but I enjoyed every bite of this white cake. It was so moist. There was even enough for me to take some home.

Here we have Ron and Mom.

Again we were able all to gather at my brother's Bruce's home. Here Bruce and his wife Jola are getting some of the food ready.

Here we have four generations of Rehfeldt. My Mother, my brother David, his son Jason and Jason son Oliver. Oliver was born on July 3l, 2009. Here his is only 9 days old.

Here we have another four generations. My mother, me, Ann-Marie and Samuel.

Here we have Samuel meeting Oliver for the first time. The little girl is Autumn, Oliver's sister.

Here Jola and Louise are making a fruit salad.

Downstairs we found Caleb and Andrew playing pool.

Jacob was my little helper. I wanted to trim some of Bruce's overgrown bushes! Jac0b helped me put them into the container.

The older guys went outside and played the bean bag game. Here we have Rick and Gary.

As always we had fun and since it was a surprise party for Ron, I know that he enjoyed the day. Happy Birthday Brother Ron!

Charity & Colleen - Garage Sales August 7, 2009

As the song goes, "Come rain or come shine." Well, that how we feel about going to garage sales. It hadn't started to rain at all, but by the time everyone arrived at my house, it was starting to sprinkle. We ate after the garage sales and that worked out great because than it began to really rain hard.

Caleb was the only one smart among us. He had his own horse design umbrella.

I had Charity hold up a T-Shirt from Arizona because that was was my sister Jan and Laurie were seeing the Grand Canyon. Colleen held up the Canada just because I told her to! We didn't purchase any of them. Just had fun looking at them.

Here we have Tammy holding up another T-Shirt. We did find alot of T-Shirts.

I wished we had had more time, but everyone had places they had to be after lunch. But come to think of it, Louise and I did go to the Bent and Dent after we got back to my house. That's always fun. Than on Saturday, Chaity and Colleen had to return to Springfield, Tennessee. Wished they lived closer. But so glad we were able to see them even if only for a short time.

Grandson Andrew Visits Us

Oh what joy we have whenever we have our grandchildren. Usually when we have Andrew, we will also have his sister Brigitte. But due to circumstances I was not going to be around and I asked Camille if perhaps Andrew could just come and spend time with Grandpa. Camille talked with Brigitte and she said that was okay because she had spent time along with her other Grandmother so it was okay for him to spend time along with Grandpa Heilman. At first we were only going to have him for one day. But since the Heilman Reunion was going to be on Sunday, we got the blessing of having him stay from August 4, to August 9. The night before Gary asked Andrew what he wanted for breakfast. "I would like pancakes." was his reply. That evening we went to prayer meeting. Since Pastor Wright was out of town, we had a layman speak. He told how he had only been saved for four years.

One the way home with Andrew in the backseat, he made the comment that he was a Christian. We asked him how he knew that. "Why, I know that I am a sinner and Jesus died for my sins. I asked him to forgive me of my sin and asked him into my life." That's what getting saved is all about.

On August 6, Grandpa and Grandson were planning a big bike ride. I even had to laugh during our devotions. When it was time to pray, I asked Andrew if he had any prayer requests. "Pray that Grandpa has the strenght to stay with me on the bike trail." was his reply. We all laughed!! Above we have Gary getting the bike rack attached to his truck.

Here we have Andrew waiting and watching Grandpa get the rack set up.

Of course all the tires have to be checked out before setting out for a 30 mile bike hike.

When they returned home they were tired out. They had stopped in Popular Grove for lunch but they were ready to eat again after burning so many calories.

That evening I don't ever remember Andrew saying to us before,"Can I go to bed now?" Again we all had a good laugh about that statement.

The days went by fast and before you knew it, it was time to the Heilman Reunion. We enjoyed Andrew's visit and of course the highlight was him telling us he was a Christian. I always think of the verse that says something to this effect: "I have no greater joy than my children walk with the Lord."