Jackie Retires 4-02-2010

It was on again! It was off again! I'm talking about my dear friend Jackie's retirement. You would find an "X" through a date that Jackie told me she would be retiring! Then something would come up and she decided to wait a little longer. But after all, it was up to her when SHE wanted to reitre.

So after so many "X's on my calander I wasn't for sure when she told me that April 02, 2010 was to be her day of retirment...and it truly was finally. So, I just wanted to have a small supper for her. I had invited Ann-Marie and Brett and of course little Sam just follows them. Later I found out Candice was home alone since her family members were all in Texas, I invited her and Brielle too. My day was busy making a new salad receipt from Rachel Ray. I was so surprise that everyone loved it! I know I did.

Then I made a scalloped potatoe dish. The steaks were being marinated. Later the guys would cook them on the grill.

It was so much fun getting this dinner ready. I had fun making my own nut cups. Setting the table with a plant for Jackie to plant in her yard as my centerpiece.It's that beautiful hydrangea plant in the photo above.

I had found a nice card that said at the top, "I DID IT". Then I downloaded a photo of Jackie in it. Since it has magnets on the back of the picture, I hope she put it on her refrigerator!

And as always, Ann-Marie find those funny cards about retirement.

And of course what goes with a good dinner...desserts! Yes, my friend Jackie made the dessert!!! And they were so delicious. The above one WAS and apple and pear dessert.

And for the CHOCOLATE LOVER...you truly would love the above one. Something like a triple chocolate dessert!

Jackie survived the evening. We even made her play a game she had never played before. SEQUENCE!

I just want to wish her the best retirement! HAPPY RETIREMENT MY FRIEND!

My Easter 2010

Well, I am so disappointed with myself for not taking my camera to St Charles, where we spent the entire afternoon with Brett's brother Dave and his wife Dawn. It was a beautiful day! Lots of food..good ham, deviled eggs, mashed potatoes etc. And of course plenty of chocolate candy. Ann-Marie and I even got out and took Sam for a nice stroller ride around the park next to Dave's home. BUT I FORGOT TO TAKE MY CAMERA TO TAKE PHOTO OF SAM'S FIRST EASTER!

But I can back-up to when Sam came to Grandpa and Grandma house to give them an Easter Card. And, of course, I had my camera ready. Isn't he so sweet...he looks so bashful!

Now he's starting to look right at us.
Happy Easter Grandma and Grandpa!

So, I'll just remember this Easter in a very special way.

Dave did get his camera out and took lots of photos! And we did enjoy visiting with Brett's family.

Family Gathering March 22, 2010

It's been so long since I have updated my blog, I'm not sure where to begin..but begin I will. Let's just start at the Rehfeldt's gathering out at the Berg Farm. Due to my mother passing on to glory, the family would all be together once again...I hope not our last!! Farmer Elmer aka Bruce Berg, married to my beautiful sister, Louise (She just might read this.) have a wonderful large farm in Brodhead, WI> And they are both great people when it comes to having a huge group of people around.

Plus, Louise is an excellent cook! And with the help of her daughter, Tammy everything seems to flow just right!

Another fun aspect of being on the farm is that Farmer Bruce will just hitch up the horses to the wagon and anyone can enjoy a nice country ride!!

It was a time for cousins to visit with each other...we really enjoyed having Anna here all the way from France! That's always a treat.

It's a time for hugs, providing that you let people hug you!! Above we have Ann-Marie and Alex her cousin from Montana greeting each other with a hug.

It's a time to see new babies that we haven't seen nor held in person...like Trey! He was such a joy to watch crawling around everywhere! So happy that he is now one healthy baby!!

It's a time to catch up with other families that we don't see that often!

Above brothers and sisters go over the plans for Mom's Memorial Service for the next day.

It's time for my younger great nieces and nephews to be up to no good!! Not really...I think they are being good.

It's a time to be silly and just enjoy each other's company! Like Tammy and Colleen. I think they'll be after me for posting this photo.

Ann-Marie and her cousin Michelle from Oxnard, California.

It's a time for sisters to try and take a photo together. It took awhile but we did it. I guess we forgot to take one of the brothers.

Just enjoy the photos. There are so many photos on facebook from other family members so if you are not bored by now, you can check out their pictures.

Thank you Lord for my large family! And thank Bruce and Louise for allowing us to have once again...fun, food and fellowship!!

Sam Visits Grandpa Trotter's Grave

March third will always be a reminder to Ann-Marie and me that life is indeed very fragile. Yes, that's the day God took her dad and my beloved husband to a much better and eternal place, heaven.
Ann-Marie took the day off so we could take Sam to see grandpa Trotter's grave. With the sun so bright and inviting us to be outside we looked forward to this day. Candice, who mother's grave is also at the Scandinavian Cemetery, met us at my home along with sweet Brielle. Gary, Brett, Ann-Marie, Sam, Candice, Brielle and I headed for the cemetery. Now as often as we have visited this site, you would think that we would have no problem locating the exact spot. We did not figure the factor that the stone marker would be covered in frozen snow. So here we all are out trying to find Bob's marker. Using our feet, then car window scraper we tried to locate the place. After trying so hard and discovering lots of other people's marker, we had to give up. Well, settling for a nice spot perhaps somewhere near Bob's marker and which we thought the small wreath would add a nice touch, we snapped the photo above. As the saying goes, "That's as good as it gets." Or same saying of that sort.

Besides, the wind was blowing some and we were getting a little cold. But you know Sam was really enjoying being outside.

There are many things we pray for our children (child in my case) and our grandchildren. Thinking about the many things I loved about Bob and would want to be passed on to Sam are way too many. But beside the fact that I want Sam to know the Lord at an early age, I do pray for two characteristics I believe Bob possessed. The first to rightly divide the Word of God in his heart and life. And OH TO HAVE A WONDERFUL, WHOLESOME SENSE OF HUMOR!!!

A Little Valentine's Party With Mom

It's always fun to get together when my sister, Jan come down. And since Valentine's Day was coming up, we planned a little Valentine's Party to be held at River Bluff Nursing Home where my mother now lives. So many members of my family are very crafty...in more ways than one. But especially with making handmade boxes, like the cone-shaped one and the smaller box one pictured at the bottom of this photo. Just fill them with any goodies and everyone is happy.

My sister, Louise spoiled us all by purchasing pizza for everyone. Plus she made a great pasta salad.

My sister Jan, made this delicious thick heart-shaped cookies. They were so big and sooo good, I had to take one home to enjoy eating later.

Since Tammy's husband Rick had the day off, he was able to join us. Plus Gary and Brett attended too.

And whenever Sam and Ann-Marie are with my mother and I, I always want to get a photo of us...because here you see four generations. Something I never ever thought would be.

It was so fun just chatting, eating and enjoying all the goodies bestowed on all of us by one another.

Just want to wish eveyone a very Happy Valentine's Day!

Strange Dream

Wednesday, January 13, 2009 I spent the day running around with my two sisters, Linda and Louise. Had fun getting lots of bargains. Had supper and then Gary and I headed off to Prayer Meeting.


Then when we got home I wanted to continue watching another of the three Bourne series. I can't remember ever watching them in order and from beginning to end. It was about eleven o'clock when I finished watching the movie. I wasn't tired so I decided to work a little on my Christmas puzzle . Gary came up from working in the basement and started helping me with the puzzle. I don't know if you are like me when working a puzzle but I always set sort of goal...like

finished the jingle bells cascading out of Santa's sack. Finally around one o'clock we accomplished that goal. TIME FOR BED!

Well, thinking I would fall asleep quickly I kept tossing and turning. "Remind me never to work on a puzzle before I go to bed. I think it gets my brain going." I told Gary. (Than later I remembered that I had had THREE DIET COKES at Taco Bell for lunch with my sisters. Gary is against drinking pop, so I wasn't about to say anything to him...would you? That might mean about an hour or more of the woes of pop.)

Finally I did go to sleep. The clock was ticking away in my dream. It was Sunday morning. Camille, Gary's daughter and family had spent the night. It's 10:45 a.m.Camille is getting the kids ready. I'm trying to get on facebook to see Kathy Pope's new decorated room. The computer won't let me get on facebook. Dave Boucher is still fast asleep . "Are you going to church with us?" I asked. "NO!" he bellowed out. Now I wondering were Gary is. It's now eleven forty-five. Oh I can see by the clock in my dream that I don't have enough time for Gary. I'm going to eliminate him from my dream. Can you believe that even in my dream I'm thinking, "This is neat I can eliminate people from my dreams." So I have Gary off somewhere for the weekend. It's almost twelve and time for us to leave for church. DREAM ENDS.

Pop! Movies! Puzzles! Whatever none of the above made any sense. Never been in Kathy Pope's home. Never had the Bouchers stay a night. And I never attended a church where the service started at noon. ONLY IN YOUR DREAMS can these strange things happen. Hope you enjoyed this dream with me.

Rehfeldt's Christmas Party 2009!

As many of you know, this year the Rehfeldt Christmas was a mixed bag of emotions. That wonderful photo of Dave's family below is missing a huge part of their lives...Venita's husband for 41 years, Paul and Jason's father, Kara and Jennifer's father-in-law and Noah, Adam, Hannah, Autumn and Oliver's grandpa. If they had not been able to attend this year, it would not have felt like a Rehfeldt Christmas Party for me. After all Dave was the Santa who took over when our father passed away. And we Rehfeldts missed our brother and my mother her son.

But thanks to my wonderful nephew, BJ who takes awsome photos, came with his equipment and was able to take such a great photo of Dave's family...I just sorta snapped a photo with my camera to get a photo for my blog. Thanks also to BJ for setting up his equipment so family members could have him take great photo of their family.

I just love every new babies that are born into our family. Did you know that my grandson Sam was my mother's 56 GREAT grandchild? I've said it enough, so you may already know that wonderful fact. We had three new babies this year at the Christmas party...Oliver, Sam and Isabelle ! I'm wondering what they will be like in six or seven years..

Perhaps like Jacob, Brigitte, Mikayla, Dakota, Sydney, Spencer...up to no good. Ha! I must confess that the little girl doing the whispering is none other than my granddaughter, Brigitte. (Better keep my eyes on her.) Christmas without kids of any age is not alot of fun...we'll think about that one...there are moments.

And we are so blessed to have my ninety-two year old mother, Agnes Theresa still with us to read the true meaning of Christmas. The birth of Jesus Christ.

Then after singing many wonderful Christmas Carols...our finally song to give a cue to Santa is "Here comes Santa Claus".

We were all grateful for Aaron filling in for our brother Dave this year. And it was fun as always. Most of the kids knew who Santa was and just play along with the fun.


This year we did our party a week earlier and instead of an evening one we needed to have an afternoon party. With my large family we try very hard to please MOST everyone. Not everyone can make it when we have it on Christmas Eve. But these are things that I truly missed this year beside my brother Dave. The Christmas caroling in people homes, the limited time we had the building for (Another party was coming in.) With Bj taking photos some family didn't get a chance to have their family photos taken because we ran out of time. And then..

my sister Linda from France had to stay at our home because she had gotten sick and couldn't come. Here all the way from France and couldn't attend her own family Christmas party! Glad to report she is starting to feel somewhat better.

But it was such fun getting the food ready. Everyone is so helpful with setting up and cleaning up afterwards. The food always so delicious. The visiting with family members is so fun. And of course the singing, the skits..Jan did an A plus one. Hopefully a family member has it on video! Great job Jan. And the nieces and newphews did a great job on their parts. Scott and Box Mania. Santa and the kids.

With such a large family..we had about 73 family members this year, I did 3 slide shows. So if you have the time or even the interest, just sit back and enjoy each one.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT!!