100th Day of School

Paul showing off his 100th day project.  He put 100 stickers on this paper.

Cousins

Ryan and Rachel came for a weekend visit.  We had beautiful, warm weather for February 20th!  This is a shot of the cousins at a local botanical garden, where we went exploring that Saturday.

Roller skating

A group from church went roller skating one Sunday afternoon this winter.  This was the boys' first time roller skating.  There were a lot of falls, but they still had a great time, and wanted to go back for more!

Bella's birthday party

We went to Wisconsin the first weekend in February to go to Bella's birthday party.  She had the party at a gymnastics place, and invited the girls in her class.

Retirement/65th birthday party

On Saturday, January 9th, my mom had a combination retirement and birthday party for my dad.  The whole family was able to make it, as well as Aunt Marilyn, Uncle David, Jacob, and his fiance, Lesley.    

The crew after church on Sunday.

Display of John Deere mementos and pictures of Dad's life.  Rachel also came up with a quiz, "How well do you know Mel?"  Dad said it reminded him of a graduation party.

Notice a theme?!

We had tractors as centerpieces, which quickly became things for the kids to play with!

Grandpa and Daniel in their flannel shirts.

That night, we celebrated the January birthdays in the family (Dad, James and Bella) with two red cakes.

A gift from Aunt Marilyn and Uncle David--painting of Rock Castle, which was on their old stomping grounds.  It had been hanging in the old bank, and Aunt Marilyn got it when they moved to the new bank.

Wisconsin Christmas

We spent several days after Christmas at Ryan and Rachel's house in Wisconsin.  All of my side of the family was there.  We had fun playing a lot of games, opening presents, going sledding, and just being together.

Seven grandchildren before the chaos of opening presents!

Basketball Hoop

Jonathan's parents and Aunt Mary and Uncle Ken got the boys a basketball hoop for Christmas.  They were very excited to try it out.  It took a while to get it put together--as you can see from the pictures, they are racing against the dark to get it up!  Come spring and the melting of our snow, they'll be a lot of hours spent shooting hoops!