Christmas Holiday Season

It's hard to believe that we're through the Christmas holiday season again. The kids came over to celebrate on Christmas Eve. Helen said that the bedroom, (where I put the new fireplace), had to be finished. We contracted Michele to do the wallpaper border.









Kringle was all "pumped" for Christmas. He had some of the packages under the tree staked out as a rest area.
















We had our family dinner on Christmas Eve. Attending were....Mary & Ashli. Michele, Ryan, her boyfriend Cody, Paige and Matthew. Mike, Nicole, Mikayla, and Maddy. Sarah and her boyfriend Justin. Randy, Kathy, and Noah. Helen had to work until 3:00 pm which left me as cook. Sarah and Justin peeled the potatoes for me. We all ate too much and had a good time. Randy and Kathy had quite a drive in questionable weather, but we're glad they could make it.





Here is a picture of the family opening some gifts after dinner....



Below is some of the grandchildren on the stairs......









This isn't exactly Hugh Hefner, but I am wearing a new and badly needed robe that I got from Helen.









Here are Sarah and Justin opening gifts on christmas Eve.....










Helen, myself, the Children and the Grandchildren spent New Year's Eve at Mike and Nicole's house. Mike & Nicole's family got the ever popular Wii for Christmas. Here's three future stars...








Maddy......












Sadie is one of Mike & Nicole's two little dogs. She endured all the people disrupting her home and just relaxed on the floor.

Ashli celebrated her 6th birthday at the Pizza

Hut

Thanksgiving Holiday

 

                                                                      The Cats

There are two members of the family that you haven't been introduced to. Katze and Kringle. Katze is German for "Cat". We brought Kringle home around Christmas time. They pretty much do what they want around here. 

                     Katze                                                                                                                    Kringle

 

      They play together pretty well when they're in the mood. Kringle is a Tomcat and weights about 18 lbs. Katze is a female and weighs about half that. She can "hold her own" when she needs to.

Below to the left is one of my favorite pictures of the two of them. Katze had been here for awhile, Kringle was the new "Stranger". Kringle was pretty little, but in no way intimidated by Katze.

                                                                   

Above to the right is the two of them today. They're "pals" at times. Here they are watching birds out the window.

                             Murphy Family Day at John & Ginger's

  We had our annual "Murphy" holiday get together at John & Ginger's. Ginger prepared a delicious turkey and everyone else brought pot luck. Had too much to eat and everyone had a great time. Here are a few pictures ........

                                      

 

                                            Annual Christmas Walk    

Princeton held their annual Christmas walk last weekend. Most of the shops are open on Sunday to kick off the holiday shopping season. Many businesses have cookies and punch. It's a tradition that Dad and the three daughters "do the walk". Helen usually has to work. Such was the case this year.

On the left is a picture of the four of us taken at Citizens Bank where Beth works. Pretty good looking bunch, huh? Center is Sarah and Justin posing at the bank entry...

                           Above right,.....Me, goofing around, trying to impress the daughters. (Didn't work)

                                         Thanksgiving at Jay & Karen's

We spent Thanksgiving day with Jay, (Helen's brother), and Karen in Buffalo Grove. Karen prepared a fantastic meal as she always does. The pictures below are of Jay, Karen, and their three daughters,....Jana, Krista, and Kara. Also guests for dinner were Kara's fiance, Joe, along with his parents, Joe Sr. and Susan.

                                   

We were all full but still had room for desert                    Had to plan some dumb card game after we ate.

                                                                                                                 I wanted to take a nap.

                                 

         Jay, Karen, and the girls.                                                                     Kara and Joe

 

 

Hope that you all have a great upcoming holiday season!

 

                          

                    Jerry

2nd post.

Hope that you all got the first post and found it interesting. Going to try another.





Here are four of our Grandchildren, Maddy, Mikayla, Paige, and Ashli. Don't they look happy?




Maddy had a program at school. I'm sure that you can all tell that she was a seahorse.








Ashli stays with us one night a week while Mary works. Here she was helping me make brownies for Sarah to take to school. She thought that they tasted pretty good.







We've got a small, narrow back and side yard. We've been doing some landscaping this summer. Here is one "before and after"...........














Here's the four grown children together at our family wiener roast. Sarah, Michele, Mike, and Mary.











Matthew and Ashli joined the grown ups around the fire. Pay no attention to the large frog at the back of the group. As much as it may surprise you, ......NOBODY had been drinking at this party.







Sarah has started her teaching career. She was hired at St. Louis School in Princeton. She is teaching 6th, 7th, and 8th grades Social Studies and Science. She has been putting in some late nights and is up VERY early most mornings. She's still living at home for now.








Helen is at work at the Hallmark store in Princeton. I'm retired.
I don't have to work. Poor Helen.....













Another retirement project is building in a fireplace in our bedroom. The fireplace box has been in the garage all summer. Helen thought that it's time to get it done. Here are a few pictures of the progress along the way...



Here the box is framed in, gas line
connected, and wiring done....















Here the granite tile for the hearth and two
sides of the firebox has been installed.....the
2x4 braces are holding the granite in place..














Not done, but close. Have to finish the trim
around the hearth, paint the walls, etc.

First edition Our Family News

Cyndi Cook has inspired me with her blogs. I'm not going to try to match her skills, but am going to attempt to keep you informed of our family happenings with these little blogs. To catch up, I'm going to start with some events early in the year.

We had our annual Easter egg hunt with my brothers and sisters. Here are a few pic's...

Some of the crew getting ready in the garage...








The Easter Bunny and fans, Tommy & Samantha (Bryan and Christi's)...


The "harvest"...











Drew, (Travis & Cyndi's youngest), is a little young for the hunt....









Sarah did her student teaching at Liberty School in Danville, Il




















Michele graduated from Sauk Valley Community College with an associates degree in Radiological Science. Sarah graduated from Eastern Ill. University with a bachelors degree in elimentary education. We're very proud of both of them.....(Shown with Sarah is her boyfriend Justin)













Had a little graduation party for Sarah and Michele. Picture of "The Three Girls" on the left, (Mary, Sarah, and Michele), and on the right is three of the grandchildren. Maddy, Matthew, and Ashli.







We took a trip to Charleston South Carolina in May. Had a great time.








Just a shot of Maddy, (Mike and Nicole's youngest) with Sadie on Grandma and Grandpa's front porch swing












We had our first Perry reunion in July thanks to Julie and Dave Sampson. Perry was my Mother's maiden name. The group pictures are of all my first cousins on Mom's side of the family.











A few pic's from our Heininger reunion. Heininger was my Dad's Mother's maiden name.