The "Hambergulars"

Baby Charlotte Learns How to Blow Bubbles...

2011-12-30T21:37:00.002-05:00

This Christmas was extra special because of a certain little baby named Charlotte. In this video, she is discovering how to blow bubbles....

Charlotte's Bubbles

Where in the World is Carmen Santiago - I Mean Jean Hamberg?

2011-12-08T18:32:00.001-05:00

Chalk it all up to my advancing age and the fact that I'm a new grandma, but I haven't posted in a long while, so here's a bit of an update. Ah, by the way, there are others in our family who could also use a nudge - it's really fun to read the updates, but I know it's hard to find the time sometimes to do it. I think Jen definitely takes the prize for being the most reliable about keeping us updated on her darling family - thanks, Jen!

Anyway, as you know I've been spending lots of time in Chicago lately, and that has been great - Charlotte changes by the day, and it's always exciting to see what's new with her. Right now she's at the stage where she is beginning to smile a lot - especially for mommy and daddy, and she's also starting to coo and make those cute little sounds like she's trying to communicate with you. Of course she IS a genius, so that helps - haha. Also sleeping 8-9 hrs. a night, so that really helps Rachel and Dave to get plenty of rest. They have arranged for Charlotte's daycare situation, and Rachel is already dreading having to leave her each day, but it sounds like a very good situation - a referral from friends of Dave's, who have a young son who goes there, and in a couple of months they'll also be bringing their 2nd son there. It's in a woman's house where one floor is completely set up for the children, tons of toys, special place for the babies to sleep, and run by a really sweet woman in her late 40's or early 50's and her licensed helper. Just a few children in her care, and Dave & Rach can drop her off right on their way to work (just a few miles from their house). She actually lives in Oak Park, where Dave grew up. Still, it will be hard to leave her, especially at first. Here are a couple of current pictures:

Kate and I had a great time at the play "A Christmas Carol" at the Goodman Theater in downtown Chicago last week. Here are a couple pics:

A couple of the Macy's windows, decorated for the holidays.....

A few pics from Thanksgiving at our house, that I think were mostly taken by Carol - thanks, sis! Hope everyone had a good time, even though the Lions lost.

Food coma....

It's amazing - dad can sleep anywhere....

It was so nice to see Bren, Jen, Mace and Kels in Chicago a few weeks ago, too. Those little ones are beyond adorable, as usual, and so polite. I think they had fun going to the Lincoln Park Zoo (below) and also meeting baby Charlotte.....

Haven't taken a picture of these 4 beauties all together for like 10 years....thanks, girls!

These pics are a bit out of order, but who feels like moving everything all around - not me, haha...

Looking forward to seeing "The Wizard of Oz" at Holland High with Carol and Rachel tonight. So for now, I'll just say, "Love to all, and to all a good night.".....

There's a Very Pregnant Lady Living in Riverside, IL.....

2011-09-14T19:42:00.000-04:00

And here she is!

Thought you might enjoy seeing what Rachel looks like these days - she has just one more day of work and then will be starting her maternity leave, and of course the baby is due in about 2 weeks!

Katie and I had a blast attending the Renegade Craft Fair this past Saturday! She found a really cute handmade dress there, and I picked up a few cute things like handmade stationery and soap. Good times...

We started the morning with a nice breakfast outdoors at a restaurant near Katie's apartment. Bella came too!

What a happy girl!

Awwww

Love this picture of my girl, if I do say so myself....

Bella loves grammy, too!

Fun at the Fair

After the fair we drove to Riverside to see Dave, Rachel and Ally and their beautiful new house. They have been working hard to update a few things, get the nursery ready, etc. Just a couple of photos below....

Part of the living room and dining room...

Living room looking into the sunroom....

Two buddies....

Thanks, girls - for a fun weekend!

So, anybody have a guess as to what day the baby will be born? (Due date is Oct. 1.)......

3 Weeks and Counting....

2011-09-09T12:30:00.000-04:00

It's been 2 months since I've posted, and here we are anxiously awaiting the arrival of Baby Schwartz in only about 3 weeks from now! Rachel is feeling good and now going to the doctor every week. Everything looks fine with the baby and we are very grateful and excited beyond words to greet our new grandchild. Rachel and Dave will call us when they go to the hospital, and of course we'll head right out, pick up Katie on the way, and hopefully arrive in plenty of time for the birth. Dave's parents will be driving in from Colorado on her due date of Oct. 1, unless the baby comes sooner, at which time Dave will call them to hurry on up here - haha! An ultrasound was done yesterday to confirm that the baby is in the right position for birth and it's "all systems go!"

This pic was taken at Ottawa Beach when Dave, Rachel and Ally visited for a few days while waiting to get in their new house - so this was in early August.

I'm excited to be going to Chicago this weekend! Katie and I will attend the "Renegade Craft Fair" (Bella gets to come too!), and then we'll drive to Riverside to see Dave & Rachel's new house. I'm glad to be able to spend a bit of time with Rachel one last time before she delivers. The kids have been going non-stop since they moved to get some things done around the house before the baby arrives, even taking on the big project of renovating their kitchen! I'm glad that Rachel's last day of work will be next Thursday, so hopefully she'll have a few days (but not TOO many - haha) to rest up and enjoy a bit of downtime.

Scott and I had just a delightful, fun time with Katie and Bella in Door County, WI on our camping trip a couple of weeks ago. Keith and Brenda were nice enough to let us borrow their big tent so that Kate and Bells could sleep there.

One of the countless things I love about Katie is that she is not a diva, and loves to get out there and camp, be outdoors and just rough it. The weather was wonderful, warm or hot and sunny almost every day. We took lots of walks, Bella did a lot of swimming, and we just drove around to do some sightseeing and shopping. I have posted all of the pictures from our trip on Facebook, if you'd like to see them. Just a couple more of them below...

Good girl, Bella! She was so cute - on the days we took her swimming, she would just conk out at night. Whenever she was ready for bed, she'd head over to the tent, use her nose to unzip the door, walk in and lay down as if to say "see ya, I'm ready for bed now."

Giving grampy a kiss....

Love this pic of Katie and Bellsie sitting in an oversized adirondack chair at the restaurant we stopped at....

Don't know where the summer has gone and that fall is upon us. I'm now working part-time, which I love! Monday-Wed. each week, so I have a nice long weekend. So many new things happening in the Nykerk/Hamberg extended family these days! I'm so grateful that dad is now living with Jim and Rachel and that the boys are staying at his house; Dave and Rachel have a new house; Carol will be moving home next week - even Jean H. has a new house, too! Lots of movin and shakin going on! The baby's coming soon; Macey has started kindergarten; Katie has new roommates - it's all wonderful! I'm sure there are many more things going on that I haven't mentioned.

We will keep you all posted about the baby, with pictures and plenty of details to follow...

Love you all!

2011-07-03T11:37:00.002-04:00

Summer is flying by, and I can't believe we'll be meeting our new grandbaby in less than 3 months! Looking forward to Rachel's baby shower coming up in a couple of weeks, too. Dave and Rachel have been extremely busy in the last couple of weeks. They decided to put their condo up for sale in hopes that they could buy a house in the suburbs before the baby comes. I"m so excited to tell you that they sold the condo after only a couple of weeks on the market! As you know, in this real estate market, that's rare indeed. So now they're starting their search for a house, most likely in Oak Park, where Dave was rasied. We're keeping our fingers crossed for them. Ally has been staying with us recently, and we're really enjoying that, too.

Katie has moved to her new office in the loop, and is loving her shorter commute. She has a very busy summer going on. Next month, Scott and I will be camping with Kate for a week in Door County. Of course Bella is coming, too! We're also going to Chicago for a Journey/Foreigner/Night Ranger concert with Kate at the end of July. She's also been casually dating a couple of guys who actually live in Chicago (as opposed to Michigan) so that's keeping her busy, too. Last but not least, her roommate Justin and his girlfriend (who moved in a month or so ago) have decided to get their own place, so guess what? Time for 2 new roommates. I'm happy to report that Katie has already found one (a girl) and is sure she can find another one soon, too. All the excitement just never ends...

Dave, Rachel, Scott and I had a wonderful week up at Clam Lake in June (at Loon's Landing). Since I've posted all the pictures of that week on my Facebook page, I don't think I'll post them here, but if you'd like to see them, check out my Facebook page....

Rachel had another 3D ultrasound last week - the pictures from that are so exciting to see. She said that baby was being a little stubborn that day and so they couldn't get a lot of pictures, but here are a couple of them...we can't wait to meet our precious grandchild in person soon....

Hope all of you are enjoying the summer that's going by way too fast...lots of love and hugs being sent your way, and hope to see all of you soon.....

Pictures of Baby Schwartz - Already!

2011-05-05T20:04:00.001-04:00

Rachel is between 18-19 weeks pregnant right now. Time is going pretty fast, although I can't wait to meet my new grandchild in person! One thing that's kind of neat is that Rachel is participating in a pregnancy study that Northwestern Hospital (I think?) is sponsoring. That's the hospital where the baby will be born. Anyway, one of the things that they offered her was a 3-D ultrasound! (She will also be able to get another one at 28 weeks.) She will also get her regular ultrasound(s) at her doctor's office, but what's nice about these 3-D ones, as I'm sure you'll see, is that you can really get a good feel for what the baby looks like - it's quite amazing, I think, for this stage of the pregnancy. Below, you'll see just a few of the pictures of the little peanut, who is developing just fine and getting bigger and more complete every day.

See how the baby is sucking its thumb?

Here's an arm coming across the baby's face....

Baby has its arms crossed!

The last couple of shots are regular ultrasound, which was also taken that day.....

Taken from above - see the head and a hand, I think.....

Katie will be planning a baby shower for her sister that will take place in Holland, probably in August, so hope all of you can come!

Time for another family breakfast soon, huh? (Bren, that place you went to in Grand Haven would be great - wish it was a bit closer. I think Dave & Lynne Hall go there every time they head up north; I know they love it....)

How about we go sometime after Tulip Time - I'll send everybody an email with a suggested date or two.....

Happy Birthday, Rachel and More.....

2011-04-19T19:33:00.000-04:00

We were happy to have Dave, Rachel and Ally home this past weekend to celebrate Rachel's birthday! Dad was here for Sunday dinner, so he was able to see them, too. He and Ally are buddies, as you can see, below:

Dave and Rachel are two of the best puzzle put-together-er's (word? whatever...haha) that I've ever seen. They finished two of them over the weekend:

It was a good weekend to sit by the fire and hunker down, what with the cold, rainy weather...

Rachel picked Pereddie's for her birthday supper; we enjoyed a nice meal there and then came home for some birthday cake from Alpen Rose....

Just a little bit of a "baby bump" starting to show (Rachel is 16 weeks along).......Ally loves to help get the paper off the gifts...

Ally and her pal, Rufus....

Last week, Dave Hall had successful kidney surgery again! This time the donor was his sister, who was a perfect match. (Long story, last time she was not able to donate.) So, he already looks and feels much better and everyone is extremely grateful. I stopped up to see him/Lynne and Chelsea at St. Mary's a day after his surgery.

Already looking more chipper...

My dear friend, Lynne (relieved at last)

Chelsea

Can you tell we were all in a festive mood?

Just a couple of pictures from our trip to Savannah and Charleston - had a great time!

Old church in Bluffton, S.C. - built during the 1700's..

What a good boy - going to church, even on vacation....

Azaleas in bloom everywhere....

Buildiings like these are one of the reasons I love Charleston...

We had our own private tour with our very own pirate, and his parrot, Captain Bob. This guy told us all about the pirates that used to roam around the coast of Charleston - a few were even women - it was fascinating!

Before ending this post, just a quick shout out to our darling little Kelsey, who will have her tonsils taken out on Thursday - what a big girl you are, Kelsey - we'll be thinking of you that day, and Silly Uncle Scott and Aunt Jean love you - hope to see you soon!

The Wizard of Oz and "Scott-In-Stein"

2011-03-11T21:21:00.005-05:00

What fun we all had at Macey and Kelsey's birthday party last weekend! They looked so cute, and Jenny and Brenda put in a lot of work to make everything so festive - loved the birthday cake, the rainbow fruit, the ruby slipper cookies, and the adorable Dorothy and Good Witch Glinda costumes, too. And, I was happy that our Rachel was visiting from Chicago and could join us, too! I'd say the girls are all set for awhile when it comes to pretty dresses!

Pretty Aunt Brenda with "Dorothy"....

Adorable would be an understatement....

A close-up of Keith's ear, ha ha.....

So pretty, Macey!

I just love the crown.....

Another pretty dress!

My favorite - Great-grandpa in his glory.....

So pretty, Kelsey!

Brenda, this cake was fantastic!

I'm not kidding when I say these ruby slipper cookies were some of the best I've ever had - delicious!

Aunt Brenda went all out with her birthday preparations - some more yummy cupcakes!

The girls with Uncle Dave....awwwww

This one makes me smile....

The inside of the cake was even more fun than the outside, and that's saying something....

Macey, how did you get to be so big already?

And now, we go from all the cuteness to a poor soul who had a rough day at the doctor's office.....I know, it's a little scary.....

"You should see the other guy..."

Scott had a spot of skin cancer on his nose that was removed this week. He is fine, and it was all removed successfully, but he did end up with quite a few stitches along the way. They'll be removed next Thursday, and we're told the scarring won't be bad. We're very thankful all is well.....

Awwww, poor baby (no worries, I'm taking good care of him).......

Just Because....

2011-02-16T15:33:00.002-05:00

Just had to post this picture and web link because the books and cards on this site are so frickin' adorable!

http://laughingelephant.com/

Mom would have loved these. She had all kinds of books and cards that looked just like these when we were growing up.

Adventures in Chicago

2011-02-13T13:34:00.002-05:00

Last weekend Scott and I headed to Chicago for Katie's birthday. Usually we drive there, but both girls advised us that we'd never find a parking spot with all of the snow that had fallen. Boy, were they right! We chose to drive to Michigan City and then took the train to the Millenium Park Station, where Katie met us; then we just used taxi's for the rest of the time we were there. Scott enjoys sitting in the front seat and talking to the drivers. It's so funny, because none of them seem to be from America, they're all from somewhere else. This weekend our drivers were from Morocco, Pakistan and Egypt. They were all very friendly and talkative - I find it amazing that so many people from the Middle East move here, and then send money home to support their families. As you can imagine, the man from Egypt had lots to say about everything that's going on in his country right now. I asked him if he was afraid for his family (they live in Cairo), but he said no. His wife is actually a professor there, but here he has to come to the U.S. to help support the family. Guess that's why the people are revolting there!

So, anyway, we had a delightful time visiting, as usual. Katie chose to go to "Joe's Seafood, Steak and Crab" Restaurant downtown for her birthday dinner. It was very good and a lot of fun.

Katie and our friendly waiter, David.

Our beautiful birthday girl.

Me and my gal....

A couple of weeks ago Scott and I enjoyed seeing some old friends that we've known for over 30 years - Doug and Marlin Prins. They live in Palmer, Alaska and were in Holland for a month or so after the holidays. Our plan is to the take our RV (you know, the "P-Mobile") to Alaska for a couple of months after Scott retires, so they had lots of tips for us. Of course we plan to see them while we're there, and maybe even take a couple of short trips with them. Dad was interested to hear about our trip, because we'll be near where he was stationed during World War II - the Aleutian Islands. Don't know if we'll actually get there or not, as these island are over 1,000 miles in length, and the only way to get there is by plane or boat (on extremely choppy waters)! We will see.....

Doug and Marlin Prins

Old buddies, Scott and Doug (they have actually known each other all their lives, as Doug's parents were friends with Scott's parents)

We enjoyed having Perkins Restaurant practically to ourselves that night.

As I write this, the snow is melting outside and it's just about mid-February. Makes me feel like Spring might finally be on its way! It was great seeing some of the family at DeBoer's for breakfast recently. Hopefully we can do that again soon......and by the way, HappyValentine's Day!!

Facebook Connects You With the Greatest People....

2011-01-25T01:44:00.000-05:00

It's amazing to me the people I hear from that I haven't seen in years - and I mean YEARS! Today I got a "friend request" from a gal by the name of Linda Beukema, who I haven't seen since GRADE school - for some reason I don't remember ever having her in my high school classes, so I'm guessing she must have moved. So anyway, of course we're now "friends", and later in the day she posted this picture of me and several of our friends at her 9th birthday party. I don't even remember this, but I remember her, the girl sitting next to me (Kathy Wolf), and another girl in the picture (Carol Lassiter). I know none of those names mean anything to any of you, except maybe Bill might remember one or two of them. Our old neighbor, Barb Hoffman, will remember Linda Beukema too, so I'm going to forward this picture on to her, and now all three of us can be friends - just like the old days! What fun. (Barb and I still stay in touch a bit - I saw her at our 40th high school reunion last year.)

Well, it's late and time for bed. Just this quick post and picture, and a reminder: HOPE TO SEE ALL OF YOU AT DEBOER'S FOR OUR FAMILY BREAKFAST THIS SATURDAY AT 8:30! Love you all.....nighty nite.

Happy Holidays & Nykerk Family Pics From the 1950's

2010-12-17T18:22:00.002-05:00

Carol and I had a fun day at Dad's house going over boxes of old pictures from the "good old days." I brought along a small hand-held scanner that I used to scan in some of our favorites. Many fun memories were shared, and good laughs along the way. We sat around the kitchen table, and Dad joined us for several hours - he finally started to nod off, and returned to his chair, but not after amazing us, as usual, for his recall of events that happened during his military days and later, when we kids were little. I'll share just a few here, but there are more if you're interested. I wanted to be sure to digitally save these pictures, so that we can pass them to the next generation of the family. Enjoy!

Quite the bathing beauty, or at least she thinks she is....

Mom looking beautiful in her high school graduation picture. Did you know that it only took Dad a few months of dating mom before he asked her to marry him? From the time they met, to the wedding itself was less than one year. Guess he knew what he wanted!

Dad looking extra dapper; Billy and Jeanie sitting along with mom and dad on the front steps of the family home.....

This picture of Bill cracks me up! I call him the "Great Hunter, along with his intrepid helper, Carol the Wonder Girl. And then, of course, there's baby Jimmie.

Why was it always so crowded in the Nykerk family pool?

Thanksgiving, Christmas Decorating, and More...

2010-12-02T15:19:00.001-05:00

I couldn't resist - I'm such a sucker for nostalgia - I picked up these Christmas candles at an antique store while I was in Omaha - they're from the 1940's.

It's been 2 months since my last post - where in the world does the time go? In a nutshell, it's been busy at the Hamberg's - with the help of Carol and Katie, (and Scott, for putting up the tree and lights!), I actually have our Christmas tree up ealier than ever this year! It's a good feeling to decorate the house a little earlier than usual, in order to make time for other Christmas events. We spent a nice Thanksgiving with Scott's family, but of course missed seeing all of you! If you haven't heard the word yet, we'd like to invite you to our house for the Nykerk family Christmas this year - Pictionary and bingo will definitely be on the agenda, but stay tuned for more info once I get it figured out! (Would welcome any of your thoughts or suggestions, too....)

I think I'll post some pictures at the end of this post, but before that, here are just a few things that have been happening lately.....

1) Katie's landlords defaulted on their loan and have to sell the apartment she and Justin are living in. They had until yesterday to find a new apartment; after lots of looking, they've decided to take the 3-bedroom apartment on the 3rd floor of the same building they're living in, and they're moving this weekend! In other big news related to that, Dan will be their 3rd roommate! Katie is looking forward to welcoming him to Chicago.

2) Dave, Rachel and Ally spent the week of Thanksgiving in Conifer, Colorado visiting with Dave's folks. They enjoyed a "huge" Thanksgiving dinner, and a couple of side trips around the nearby area. Two of Dave's friends live close by, and they were able to see them, too.

3) I attended a great crafts weekend in Omaha, NE a few weeks ago, called "Silver Bella", but unfortunately Carol got ill just before she was supposed to join me there. I still had a good time (considering everything), but as you all know by now, a couple of days after I got home from that, Rachel and I flew to Portland to visit Carol. We are so happy that she is doing much better, and looking forward to even better health for her this coming year.

4) Scott is swamped at work, and some huge project there is taking most of his time. Let's just say he is looking forward to retirement. Speaking of working, it looks like I will be looking for part-time work after the first of the year, if you hear of anybody who needs a brilliant retiree who is very gifted in many areas; or, if they don't take her, maybe they'll consider me - haha!

5) So looking forward to having all of the kids home for Christmas this year; Scott and I are greeters at the Christmas Eve service, so our clan hopes to see you there. It's my favorite service of the year.

More to come on Christmas plans; in the meantime, enjoy some pics below.....

Katie was home for Thanksgiving week; it was great fun having her and Bella around....

My two elf helpers...

The Hamberg Thanksgiving - Shelley's daughter Megan, Mom Hamberg and Mark's wife Julie (sorry some of these pics are out of order; too much trouble to fix.....)

Seeing this one come off the plane in Michigan was a bit scary for children under 12. Haha.

Candles from pic above, plus an old antique nutcup/brush tree Christmas assemblage and postcard from the 30's. They make me smile.

While Katie was in town, she attended our "Hamberg Cooking School" - haha, don't laugh, she made a lot of very tasty dishes! One nite, we invited Carol over to sample a wonderful pasta dish that Kate made; and afterwards, Carol stayed to help decorate our Christmas tree....

This and That.....

2010-10-05T23:56:00.001-04:00

Even though I haven't been working all summer, it seems like I've been busier than ever! As you know, Scott and I have been traveling quite a bit, starting with our trip to California to pick up our Pleasure Way RV. Let me tell you, that was QUITE the experience! Although we love the van, we had a few challenges on the way home - haha. Turns out that someone put on the wrong shocks (which we didn't know until later), and about midway through our trip, we noticed that we seemed to be bouncing around quite a bit (understatement)! At one point I was in the back of the van, laying down on the bed, and I bounced so high that I almost hit my head on the ceiling! You should have seen us when we stopped in Chicago on the way home to show the kids the van. We bounced our way in, and then picked them up and stopped in a Wendy's parking lot for a quick chat, before heading home. (It's hard enough to drive in Chicago, but in a malfunctioning van, it was quite the experience - Scott did a good job getting us to Holland.) Long story short, after some repairs and numerous telephone calls, now all is well, and we've taken the "P-Mobile" on a couple of more trips. The trip back from California itself was wonderful - we just loved Sedona, AZ and of course the Grand Canyon, and then we went to Santa Fe and Taos, New Mexico; followed by a short stop in Denver, Colorado to see Cousin Dave, Mary, and even our cousins Nancy and Laila (Dave's sisters). I hadn't seen Laila in like 40 years! Great fun - I think she looks just like Aunt Lu - what do you think (she's in the purple shirt)?

Here's just a couple more pictures from that trip, but if you'd like to see them all, I have loaded all them on my Facebook page: RVing Out West

Below: The P-Mobile near Sedona, Arizona - Red Rock country....beautiful!

What can you say about the Grand Canyon? Absolutely breathtaking....

Then came our trip to Tuscany - are you KIDDING me? Beyond gorgeous! (only downside for me: the driving! We have many stories to share, including some driving escapades, at our upcoming Italian night - stay tuned for date and time....)

Here are my wonderful traveling buddies - we're visiting Cortona, an utterly charming hill town, where the film "Under the Tuscan Sun" was filmed....

Another shot of Cortona:

The Duomo (main church) in Florence:

Our last night.....(ahhhhhh, Rach, not sure what's up with that expression, haha.....) Guess it was a long day...

We had a wonderful time - can't wait to show you all of our pics on "Italian Night" at the Hamberg's! (If you want a sneak peek, mine are also posted on Facebook: Tuscany

Stay tuned for more in a couple of days, but for now......that's it!

Visit to Colon a Delight!

2010-08-12T13:33:00.003-04:00

Brenda, Sis and I had a super fun day in Colon yesterday! It was so good to meet sweet little Taylie, and to see Jen, Jason, Macey and Kelsey, too! We enjoyed going to the Amish store and picking up some bargains, and then out for ice cream - I have NEVER seen such BIG helpings in all my life! The girls were delightful as ever, and brought many smiles to our faces throughout the day. I am in awe of new mom, Jen, who looks like she just spent the day at the spa, and who balances her care of all three girls with humor, love and patience. It was a wonderful day!

"Aunt" Jean was delighted to meet darling little Taylie. I think she liked me!

Playing Memory with Aunt Brenda (see her legs?) and Aunt Sis.

Macey had such a pretty smile for the camera!

Kelsey is talking SO much more - she is a total trip.

Those pretty eyes are just starting to open up....

Macey and Kelsey love their new baby sister SO much. I saw a lot of kisses all day. Here, Macey wants you to see how she just gave Taylie a big kiss, and, not to be left out......

...so did Kelsey!

Jen, with her gigantic ice cream cone - all this for a little over $2.00!

Mace and Kels shared a bowl....

Bren - what did they call this concoction again? I remember that it had peanut butter, fudge and bananas, and obviously just a little whipped cream - all for like $2.50.

Back at Jen and Jason's, "Spice" dropped by with her new baby girl, Eliza - so cute! Here are Sis and Jen holding both cuties...

"Bren, the phone just rang. Can you answer it please?" Ha ha...

Here's where you can see that Taylie still has a bit of jaundice. She looks like Eliza's new friend who just returned from her Florida vacation.....

Jen put both girls together in a bouncy seat while they were napping. Need I say more? Cutest thing ever!

So innocent....I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship!..

Kels and her upside-down sunglasses. She is too funny for words. What a complete delight!

On our way out of town, we stopped for gas at the same place we got ice cream earlier in the day. I asked Brenda to take this picture, where the sign verifies that they are indeed "home of the big ice cream cone." No kidding!

Thanks, Jen, Jason, Macey, Kelsey, Taylie, Brenda and Sis, for making this such a great day! Love you all....

The Doobies + Check Out Our Italian Villa!

2010-07-24T15:19:00.001-04:00

I have to admit, I'm pretty psyched about the upcoming trip to Italy that Carol, Rachel N., Jean H. and I will be taking - it's only about 6 weeks away! Can't believe it. Thought you might enjoy seeing the villa where we'll be staying - it's called "Fattoria Degli Usignoli", and here's the link: http://www.usignoli.it/EN/index.php (click on "ENG" on the right to see English version).

Last weekend while in Chicago we attended a Doobies Brothers and Chicago concert on Friday evening. It turned out to be a perfect night weather-wise (so glad we didn't go this weekend!) The two groups were fantastic, and the outdoor venue was awesome - had SUCH a great time! Below are some pics of the concert, followed by a couple of pics from our trip to the dog beach the following day, and then breakfast at Rachel & Dave's on Sunday morning (where the doggies enjoyed getting blueberries and grapes out of the kiddie pool), just prior to our leaving for home. It was a wonderful weekend - thanks for everything, kids!

Dinner at Moonshine's, near D/R's condo, prior to the concert on Friday eveing.

Charter One Pavillion on Northerly Island, near the museums

The 4th of July, Doggie Fun and Somebody's 60th Birthday!

2010-07-06T19:38:00.003-04:00

Happy 4th of July, Everyone!

To Dave's amusement, Rachel's just not so sure about holding this hot sparkler!

Ally and Bella are SO happy to be in their favorite place - the water!

Taking a flying leap.....

Yes, we can be friends when we try.....

Awwww, dad with one of his favorite girls.....

And here, with BOTH of his favorite girls - home to celebrate dad's birthday....

Fun with the bumpers....It's "grampy" with the doggies!

And on the way home, look who gets a front row seat? Why, it's Bellsie!

On the road again......

Decorating birthday cupcakes!The finished product...

Goofball daughters......

Katie woke up on this morning with her eyes almost swelled shut and her feet burning when she walked in the grass (this hasn't happened to her before) - we think she must have inherited my allergies to trees, grass, mold, etc., poor thing! (She's beginning to look better by the time these pics were taken in the afternoon....)

"Hey, mom, don't put frosting on my nose!"

Celebrating Scott's 60th (!) birthday with his mom and the rest of us....

Cutie Pie!

"Happy Birthday to You....."

"You know you're 60 when getting lucky means a short wait at the doctor's office."......

He's still her baby boy.....

Katie and I gave Scott tickets to a Doobie Brothers and Chicago concert IN Chicago in a couple of weeks. We'll all be going together....

My charming son-in-law is such a goof....

"Thanks, Dave and Rachel, for the great gift!"

He's kind of cute, really.

Awwwwww.....

And, to match her sparkling personality, here is Katie with her very OWN sparkler.....

Hope all of you had a Happy 4th of July! (Isn't it about time for a family breakfast?)

One more pic - this is a shot of a mousepad I ordered for Scott that shows all of the family - I was pretty proud of myself for thinking this one up (from Snapfish). I love that site. What do you think?

Summer "Heats Up" with Family FUN!

2010-06-26T12:31:00.024-04:00

Hey, loved ones! I'm finally sharing some pics from recent (and a few NOT so recent) family events. Sorry for the delay! First up: What a great summer evening we spent at Jim and Rachel's last week, before Carol headed back to Portland. It was a great surprise to have Jenny, Jason and the girls there, too. Rachel, as usual, thanks for putting together all the great food! It was so much fun to see Macey having a blast riding on the moped with Bumpa. Wish I had some pictures of that, but I DID get a few other winners, below:

"A picture is worth a 1000 words...."

"My guess is July 10, 7lbs. 2oz........"

Aunt Jean: "Macey, what pretty dress did you wear when you were with Rachel?

Macey: "A wedding dress!" Close enough - great memory!

What a peanut!

Two buddies.

"This was fun, Uncle Keith, until I got hit on the head with the ball!"

Cute as a button....

Family bonding......

Love this one! Isn't this what life is all about?

To change gears, the following few pics are of our combined outdoor church service with our church plant "Embody", held a couple of weeks ago. Loved being outdoors for the service!

Our friends Ellen Moes, Loretta Horn, Peggy Ebels and Karen Collings.....

Dad patiently waiting for his plate full of picnic food......

Jimmy boy!

....And, a few pics from Tulip Time that speak for themselves......great dancing, Brenda!

And, for the big finish, a couple of pics of Scott, the girls and their doggies (going after bumpers) when Rachel and Katie were visiting recently....

Birthday Surprise a Hit!

2010-04-11T17:50:00.006-04:00

It took a bit of doing, because Rachel always wants to know "why?", but Dave was able to get her out of the house twice on Saturday so that Scott, Katie and I could get ready for the surprise 30th birthday party. He and Rachel went to G.R. to look at a car in the morning, which gave us enough time to make some food, fill the candy jars, get the deck cleaned and ready, make a Happy Birthday garland and a few other odds and ends. Then, somehow he managed to get her to go clean and vacuum their SUV and pick up pizzas (couldn't get away with not ordering food or she would have caught on), right at the time when we needed to hang decorations, get food out, etc. and guests started to arrive.

Dave: "Let's go wash the car now."

Rachel: "Why are you in such a hurry?"

Ahhhhhh - ha ha - that's the kind of questioning that nearly sunk the surprise, but we DID pull it off - she was COMPLETELY surprised!

Mom (looking a bit red in the face from all the rushing around), Katie and the birthday girl. I have posted all the rest of the pictures on my Facebook page. Have a look!

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?v=wall&story_fbid=1289680281094&id=1202847487#!/profile.php?ref=profile&id=1202847487

In other big news, Bella learned how to swim this weekend!

Way to go, Bellsie - They'll be no stopping you now. Counsin Ally is always there to help, too.

Seinfeld Rules!

2010-03-26T12:37:00.002-04:00

If you don't watch Seinfeld reruns, just skip right by this post. But - if you do, you may get a kick out of what Katie and I did for about 1/2 hour last night. We both found ourselves on Facebook, and so began IM'ing with each other. Somehow we got on the topic of Seinfeld (we both love that show), and started going back and forth with just a few words, which reminded us of various episodes. I don't know about Katie, but I was laughing out loud (lol, right?) to the point I was in tears by the time I finally had to stop and go to bed.

See if a few of these ring a bell for you:

The man purse
"Hello, Nip"
The soup nazi
The Summer of George
"They're real, and they're spectacular!"
The low talker
The high talker
The pirate shirt
"I was in the pool! I was in the pool!"
Chocolate babka
"Hello, NEWMAN"
"If you control the mail, you control INFORMATION!"
George as a hand model, Kramer as an underwear model
Shindler's List
"I am NOT an animal!"
The Pick
"Serenity Now!"
"That's a Shame"
Mr. Pitt and his sock
The germophobe

(Katie - We had at least another 10 or 20 - I'm sure you can add some. Anyone else?)

Dogs, Dogs, Everywhere!

2010-02-28T15:32:00.015-05:00

Talk about a photo-op! Couldn't pass up taking a picture of Ally in this cute pose. She is watching from her favorite chair as all of her loved ones put on their coats to go away - she's no dummy - it's almost like she's asking "why can't I come, too?" Well, the answer is - because there are already going to be 100's of doggies where we're going! Yes, we all went to a big dog show which was held at the McCormick Center in Chicago yesterday. What fun!

The kids had all gone last year, and thought that Scott and I might enjoy going with them this year. We certainly did! We could get up close and personal with many of the dogs, but they also had dog rings where the handlers of various breeds would "show" their dogs - run them around the track, etc. That was fun to see - we had a lot of laughs and a very good time.

Katie scored a free ticket just because she's so cute! (Really, some woman came up to her and asked her if she'd like a free ticket. Nice!)

This picture cracks me up. I call it "Gals at the Beauty Parlor."

Of course we looked for the Chesapeake Bay Retrievers. We enjoyed meeting this woman and her big boy "Splash." Some of you may remember that that was the name of OUR first Chessie. She owns several Chessies, males and females. Rachel asked her if she notices any differences in temperment between the two sexes. She said, "well the males are dumber." How about that? Just like in the human race! Ha ha - just kidding. Of course we were rooting for Splash, who seemed more interested in kissing his owner than anything else - but guess what? Splash won a ribbon! Good for him.

Katie and her favorite brother-in-law, Dave.

This kid was one of the more interesting dog trainers. He would put dog food pieces in his mouth before sharing them with his doggie. What? Don't get it. Katie and I had a few laughs over his crazy little gestures and commands. Had to take a picture - just for the memories....

It's very interesting to watch the dog handlers with their dogs. Combs are flying to groom the doggies up until the last minute; fur is arranged and re-arranged, legs and tails are put into position - it's quite a science!

Like the old Dick and Jane books said "See Spot Run."

Don't you just love her pigtails?

As you can tell, I was fascinated by the grooming stations.

"Can I pet him?"

As much as we enjoyed seeing all of the different breeds, we loved the Chessies most of all.

Family Birthdays, Family Breakfast, and TUSCANY!

2010-02-13T13:56:00.010-05:00

Happy Birthday, Katie (celebrating a few days late)

The kids are all home this weekend to celebrate Katie's birthday (a few days late)...

Rachel and her best pal, Ally...

Fun in the snow with bumpers and my "cousin" Bella...

Family breakast at DeBoer's - a nice waitress took a picture of all of us.

Dad enjoying his blueberry pancakes...

Having fun.....how old are you again, Brenda? (inside joke)

Family birthday party for Scott's Dad -his 82nd. Time for cake!

Scott's brother Mark and his wife, Julie.

Grandpa got a new game from his granddaughter Amanda (Mark and Julie's daughter)

The host and hostess with the mostest....

Nice shot of Mom and Dad Hamberg...

Scott's sister Shelley and husband Mike.

The ice cream man....

Hold the presses! Alert! Carol Nykerk, Rachel Nykerk, Jean Hoffman and Jean Hamberg will be traveling to Tuscany from September 2-9, 2010! In a brave move, the four ladies decided to fling caution to the wind and take off on the adventure of a lifetime!

We can't wait! On a whim I sent an email to Carol last week about a great deal that had come through my "TravelZoo" weekly email - 6 nights in a Tuscan villa, airfare and car rental - the trick was that we needed four people in order to get the good price. Well, Carol was on board immediately. We checked with Rachel, who of course was getting ready to go on a cruise (have fun!), but when she found out we could go in the Fall, she was excited to go, too. I then called Bill, and asked him if he thought Jean might be interested. I told him to give her a couple of days to think about it - no pressure - we just needed to book by Friday (of this week). Well, an hour later, guess who calls me? Jean has been wanting to visit Tuscany for a long time, so needless to say, we had our fourth person! We are all looking forward to it - this will give us plenty of time to get our passports, and to do some checking on what we want to see. We will be staying in a villa in the area known as "Reggello" - it looks to be a couple of hours north of Rome. The villa is called the Frattoria Degli Usignoli. Here's the link: http://www.usignoli.it/en/info.htm

The kids are home this weekend for two reasons: To celebrate Katie's 28th birthday, and Dave/Rachel are dropping off Ally - we'll be having her here while they go to Florida next week for a wedding, which they're also making into a vacation. They'll be staying in Naples, on the gulf side of the state. Hopefully it will be warmer there than what it has been. I'll be making a birthday dinner for Katie here in a little while, followed by a few hands of canasta, unless we're too busy watching the Olympics.

Since I haven't posted in awhile, I'm also including a few pictures of Scott's dad's birthday celebration at our house a couple of weeks ago, and then some of one of our family breakfasts. The waitress was nice enough to take a group shot, which turned out nicely.

Scott has suffered from a chest cold all week, but is on the mend. He's got a REALLY deep voice - you know that commercial where the mucus guys get kicked out by Mucinex? Seems to be working for him.

Hope all of you are safe and cozy in your warm houses, and that Jen and Jason's family is over the flu. Stay well, everyone - just a few more weeks till Spring! Lots of love being sent your way - Happy Valentine's Day, too!

Back Home Again...

2010-01-17T20:33:00.002-05:00

Sorry, no pictures to post, just a quick update. Scott and I were in Chicago on Friday and Saturday, for the main purpose of bringing Bella back to Katie, who is now in her apartment. But, of course we always enjoy any reason to visit with Katie, Rachel and Dave, too. We were able to have dinner all together on Friday night at the Adobo Grill, and met up again for a late lunch on Saturday at Moonshine before Scott and I left town. Rachel N. - I think you ate there with Dave & Rachel once. It's close to where they live.

Katie has done a great job getting her apartment ready for her return. She painted her bedroom, the bathroom, and just last night (after we left) she painted one of her kitchen walls a deep red, which picks up the red accents she has in the room. Wish we would have still been around to see it, but spoke to her today and she says she likes it, so that's good. She is very happy to have Bella back, and of course that's where she belongs, but I have to say, I miss that little pup! She is definitely a "keeper" and is welcome to visit Grammy and Grampy anytime - as is Ally, oh, and you kids, too of course - ha ha.

This will be a busy week at work, and of course that makes time fly. Now that I'm in the Staffing Dept. at Hawoth, one of my jobs is to call to get references for people who apply for jobs. I'm one of those annoying people who call you when someone lists you as a reference on their resume. Actually, most people are very nice. I'm glad I do some other different things in my job, too, though - I don't like talking on the phone all day unless it's with my friends or family!

Scott and I have been attending a 4-session retirement planning workshop that Herman Miller is sponsoring on Tuesday evenings. We have two sessions left. Learning a lot, so hopefully we'll have all the money we need in retirement - I've always considered money just a means to an end, but of course we at least would like to have enough to be comfortable. What I'm really looking forward to is having the time to do what I WANT TO DO, like volunteering, traveling (especially anxious to visit Tuscany), and maybe even starting my own little business. I can't believe we're this close - we both hope to retire at age 62, so only a few years to go....

Well, loved ones, have a good week. I just commented on Brenda's blog that it's probably time for another family breakfast, maybe not this coming Saturday, but maybe the next? That would be January 30. I love DeBoer's, or maybe we could try the "new" Jackie's Place? Let me know what you think.....

That Silly Bella

2010-01-04T22:15:00.006-05:00

We've enjoyed having Bella at our house recently. She's quite a character, and has been giving us lots of laughs. Now that she's getting older, she sleeps through the night, and is usually very good, and quite the cuddler. But most every evening she still usually behaves like a "whirling dervish" for a few minutes before she settles down for the night. She also has a bit of a tendancy to leave the yard occasionally when we throw bumpers for her to retrieve. (Chessies are known for having a stubborn streak, even though they make great family pets.)

So, for her protection and to train her not to leave the yard, Scott bought a shock collar that he puts on her when she goes outside. Let's just say that she is a quick learner. Just hearing the beap that signifies a (harmless) shock might be coming is usually enough to get her to behave, so Scott rarely has to actually push the shock button. Well, ordinarily we don't use the shock collar when she's in the house, but last night she happened to be extra feisty and we decided we were tired of telling her to leave my resin angel alone (she likes to put things in her mouth). So, we put the shock collar on her and when she went for that angel one too many times, she got a nice little poke, followed by a yelp on her part. I was sitting on the couch and she ran straight for my lap and there she sat, as if to say, "I'm sorry." Then, she headed Scott's way. He was sitting in his chair. Not only did she want to get on his lap for comfort, she wanted to crawl on his head, and actually lay around his neck like a fur collar! She sat that way for about 20 minutes. It was too funny.

I've also added a pic of her when she was younger - look how much she's grown!

I KNOW - It's Been Forever.....

2009-12-29T11:38:00.013-05:00

Decorating Christmas cookies....

Good morning loved ones. Scott and I are enjoying a week off (both our companies are shut down) to enjoy taking our time to clean up from the holidays, start some projects and get a few things done around the house that we haven't been able to get to.

We really enjoyed the relaxing couple of days with Dave & Rachel, which we spent mostly at home, except for a visit to Scott's mom and dad's prior to the Nykerk family party. Scott's dad is doing quite well from his chemo & radiation treatments, but of course is very tired. A feeding tube has been inserted so that he can get some nourishment, and so he is beginning to look and feel better. His surgery (cancerous growth near his esophagus) is scheduled for Feb. sometime.

As per normal, the Nykerk family Chistmas party was a blast - I think Pictionary needs to be an annual tradition - Jim and Bill cracked me up the most. Also so good to see Jen, Jason and the girls - they are too cute for words, and so polite! I was happy that Macey remembered me. Dad will be all set for awhile, now that he has four word search books to work on. (He'll probably call me in about two weeks asking for more.....)

We spent about 1-1/2 days in Chicago, leaving late Saturday morning and returning late evening on Sunday. Had a wonderful time seeing Katie - we spent most of the time at Dave and Rachel's, where we enjoyed playing canasta in the evening and just being together. Katie has such great taste, just like her sister, Rachel - they both got me the same beautiful sweater that I love, but in 2 different colors (neither knew about the other), so now I can wear what I love twice as often! We went to Woodfield Mall for part of Sunday and found a few bargains there, too.

Well, laundry is calling my name, so time to go. I have posted some pictures from Christmas below. I'll try to do better with keeping up with my blog (ahhhhh, Carol?)....

"God Bless Us Every One!"

.
When I visited Minnesota recently, I stayed in this charming B&B. The house and the women who run it (81 y.o. mother and 53 y.o. dauther, Lois and Sally,) reminded me so much of Grandma Millard and Mom.

They were Swedish, and so I found out all about their customs, including Saint Lucia Day, for which they made me a special breakfast (below).

Here they are, the lovely Lois and Sally.

Back in Holland - decorating Christmas cookies....

Not too shabby.....

Bella and Uncle Dave....

Christmas Day breakfast...

Don't worry Ally, there are presents for you, too!

It just wouldn't be Christmas if Dave wasn't working on a puzzle...

Thanks!

A new drill, perhaps?

The Nykerk Christmas party at "bumpa's" house....

Kelsey - what a darling!

Just plain fun all around....

I know Jen - that pencil could be dangerous! Sorry about that - Mace - please don't poke anybody in the eye!

"Thanks, daddy, for helping me with my new sticker picture book."

And in Chicago.......Love those MAC cosmetics....

Doesn't she look adorable with bangs? Gotta love bingo - we can stock up on lotions and gels for the whole year, right Kate?

Helping dad with a computer question.....

What a guy - Dave offered to watch both of the dogs while the rest of us went shopping - thanks, Dave!

"Don't Put All Your Nykerk's in One Basket" (+ the Nykerk Reunion)

2009-09-26T10:41:00.016-04:00

You have to admit, this is pretty cute. Longaberger Baskets had a display at the Country Living Fair last weekend, and our new friend (Carol, was it Marcelle?) took our picture. He is one of the basket weavers.

My two sisters looking fab in front of one of several Fall displays throughout the grounds....

Just to give you an idea of the historic village where the fair was held...

We COUNT NOT stay away from the delicious desserts at the Columbus Fish Market restaurant! That cheesecake was enough for all three of us to enjoy back at the hotel. I'm holding a creme brulee, with a burnt sugar topping...yum!

Carol - "hotel concierge extraordinaire." Let me just say that we received hot chocolate chip cookies and many extra bottles of shampoo, shower gel, etc. thanks to her "due diligence" after we had called down for towels on more than one occasion and never received them....as "per normal", Carol was on the case.....

We had had beautiful weather, and outside of a blown tire, everything went smoothly. Thanks for the great time, Rach and Carol!

NYKERK FAMILY REUNION

We also had the reunion at Cousin Dave & Mary's cottage last Monday. A few shots are below. Other than Scott and myself, everyone else seems to have aged a bit? I don't get it. Anyway, had a nice time, lots of laughs over old memories, and even Jack behaved himself for the most part (at least he recognized me). He and Dave had lots of old pictures of the Nykerks from way before our time that I had not seen before, and the one I scanned below is my favorite:

Uncle Chet, Aunt Lu and Dad: This was taken on Griggs Street in Grand Rapids - no date, but I would guess around 1932.

Dave and Mary are really pleased with the painting of their cottage that Scott did for them...

All of the "first cousins" that were there....

Most of Harry's kids - missed you Carol and Rachel! Just so you know, Scott was there, but he must have been getting seconds on dessert....

And, of course Uncle Chet's girls and spouses...

And last but not least, Aunt Lu's boys and spouses - am I the only one who thinks Loren looks just like Aunt Lu? No one else thought so....

We talked about everything from the Minnow ponds to how Carol and I used to collect the money for Jim and Bill's paper route. Lots of laughs.

Katie Works for Habitat for Humanity...

2009-09-23T21:22:00.004-04:00

Katie's finance group at Thomson Reuter's spent a day volunteering for Habitat for Humanity a few weeks ago, and they published this nice picture and story on their website. (Click on picture to enlarge). Thought you might enjoy - it was hard, but satisfying work! (Stay tuned for update soon on the Country Living Fair weekend in Columbus Ohio that Carol, Rachel N. and I took last weekend, and a few pics from the Nykerk Reunion at Cousin Dave's......)

Help the Bella Boomers Chicago Canine Rescue Team!

2009-09-06T15:40:00.003-04:00

Next weekend, I'll be in Chicago and Katie, Bella and I will be participating in the Chicago Canine Rescue Organization's "Mutt Strut" on Saturday. (Carol, your work with the rescue greyhounds and then our kids' love of animals has really helped to make me more of a real "animal activist!") Our team is called the "Bella Boomers" and if you feel compelled to donate to this very worthy cause, here's a link to our team website:

http://www.gifttool.com/athon/MyFundraisingPage?ID=1531&AID=801&PID=95087

For more about the organization and what they do, click below.

http://www.chicagocaninerescue.org/

Ally on TV!

2009-09-03T18:12:00.003-04:00

Ally has been on TV in Chicago! First, click link below:

http://www.wciu.com/udog.php?section=vote

Scroll down page - you'll see "Vote for Top Dog" - scroll until you find "Meet Ally from Wicker Park"

Click on picture of Ally to view video!

You will see that she is a fan of the "Everybody Hates Chris" show. That's her running thru the picture at the end, too. What fun.....

Treehouse Island Vacation Wonderful and Relaxing....

2009-08-24T12:19:00.028-04:00

Need I Say More?

Just returned from a wonderful week on our "private island", where we spent a relaxing and fun time with Katie & Bella and Rachel, Dave & Ally. Occasionally we went to "the mainland" on our pontoon boat, which we joked about, because it was a 5-minute water ride to reach the shore. Bella learned some very good swimming skills and will be giving Ally a run for her money in the near future. I'll let the pictures do the talking, because I think you can get a good feel of our trip from those. Suffice to say, Katie & I made one terrific canasta team, (to be fair, Scott & Rachel did too; Dave, trooper that he is, was the dog sitter during our matches), and so we are now ready for all takers. The hard part is always coming back and getting back to it. It was so great to be all together for a week that now I miss my kids more than ever!

First Church Softball, Art in the Park, etc...

2009-08-02T19:45:00.012-04:00

I had taken a picture at one of the boys' 1st Church softball games, of all the Nykerk's who were there that night to root them on, which I totally forgot to post, so here it is, better late than never. What an exciting tournament game it was last week, with the team coming from behind for a BIG win! Looking forward to the action this Wednesday evening. I've included a few other shots of scenes from the games....

Art in the Park was yesterday, and it turned out to be one of our best shows of the summer, even though a lot of the artists (including us) left around 3pm because of wind and rain (the morning was beautiful). It is always fun to see lots of people we know at the show, some of the locals that we sometimes only seem to see at that particular event. Brenda stopped by early, on her way to Colon with Keith for the adults to spend the evening there together. Dave and Jannelle Geertman happened to stop by just as we were beginning to pack up for the day, and they were kind enough to help us wrap up pictures and load them in the truck, etc. Scott actually sold two original paintings yesterday, which was very nice, and of course Tiger Stadium and Wrigley Field continue to be of interest to people.

I'm also posting a couple of pictures of our trip to Traverse City with Lynne and Dave Hall (prior to the pneumonia incident - they are now back home and Dave is doing better), and our grandpuppy, Bella, who has been lots of fun to have around. Katie is busy packing for her move, and looking forward to having her baby back home!

Life Always Seems to Throw a Curveball......

2009-07-28T09:36:00.002-04:00

Without going into a lot of detail, sorry I haven't posted in a long time. We unexpectedly went to Chicago the weekend before last, and ended up bringing Bella home with us. (Sorry we missed the family breakfast!) Katie has decided to move into a bigger apartment, and will have a roommate - a guy this time. His name is Justin, and he works in the suburbs (I think he's an engineer?). After meeting him and his current roommate (a girl) who has known and lived with him a long time, she feels very comfortable that he is a laid back, nice guy. The only reason this girl is leaving is she lost her job and feels she needs to move back to Georgia. Katie will enjoy not having to pay full rent by herself, as it's so terribly expensive to live in Chicago. The apartment is actually pretty much in the same neighborhood where Rachel and Katie first lived together - a couple of blocks south of that. It is further from Dave and Rachel than her current one, but still within a 15 minute walk. All this moving wears me out just thinking of it, but Katie will be packing over the next couple of weeks and having a moving company actually move things for her. In the meantime, we will have Bella with us, and we are enjoying her company!

Then, last weekend we had an art show in Traverse City, and our friends, Dave and Lynne Hall met us up there. We were going to spend a couple of days in a B&B and enjoy each other's company. Let's just say things did not turn out as planned. As you know, Dave had a kidney transplant 3 years ago, and although his health has improved overall since before the transplant, he is always very vulnerable to disease and illnesses of any kind. Unfortunately he developed pneumonia while we were up there, and had to be hospitalized. Scott and I still managed to do the show on Saturday (which wasn't very successful anyway, but whatever....), but the rest of the time was spent getting Dave to the hospital (on Friday nite) and comforting Lynne, who was very concerned about the whole thing. He is still at Munson Hospital in Traverse City. One bright spot was that the owner of the B&B, a wonderful lady named Judy, is letting Lynne stay there for free (other than the nights we had originally booked), so that is great. I'm sure we'll hear within a day or two when he'll be released and returning home. As you can imagine, it's always so much harder to be sick when you are away from home.

I'm also worn out from all these art shows. Suffice to say, next summer will be very different. We have not had the chance to be home and just enjoy the summer. Just thought I'd better send a quick update; I've been reading all of your posts and enjoying the pictures, too. Didn't want you to think that we had fallen off the face of the earth......

Summer Flying By....

2009-07-08T12:18:00.006-04:00

It's been a busy and fun summer so far; last week was the best because Haworth closed down for the week, Scott took a few days off and we were home just enjoying life. Scott finished his shed, now he just has to move things from the garage into it. It will be nice to have more room. My friend Lynne and I were just discussing last night how the older we get, the more we enjoy downsizing our lives, getting rid of clutter and making less work for ourselves!

Speaking of Lynne, Scott and I are delighted that she and her husband Dave will be joining us in Traverse City July 24-26 while we're at Northwestern College for an art show. We're going up a day early and staying until Sunday to enjoy some time with them. They also have a love of that part of the state, since their family has gone to the same resort - "Chimney Corners" in Beulah, for like 20 years or more. Reminds me of when Bill and Renee and their kids used to go to Northaire Resort every year. Ahhhh, that's what family memories are made of. We'll be staying at a nice B&B called Yorkburg Manor - http://www.yorkburgmanor.com/. The more we go up to the Traverse City area, and especially Glen Arbor, Suttons Bay and the Old Mission Peninsula, the more we love it up there. If you ever have the time, check out a couple of these places when you visit:

The Old Mission Tavern: http://www.oldmissiontavern.com/the_tavern.html

Great restaurant, with an art gallery attached. Try to go in the spring, when the cherry blossoms are in bloom....drive the whole Old Mission Peninsula up to the lighthouse for some beautiful sightseeing. Remember to stop at the Old Mission General Store, complete with pickle barrel. More info: http://www.oldmission.com/.

Black Star Farms: http://www.blackstarfarms.com/

Wine tasting and cheese making; large working farm with beautiful grounds; horses. Only downside is you have to pay for their wine glasses (then free to refill whenever you come back, like remembering to bring your wine glasses along is ever going to happen); but I digress. Still fun to visit. But for free wine tasting and excellent prices try Leelaneau Cellars, just north of Suttons Bay in Omena.

The Cherry Republic: http://www.cherryrepublic.com/

In Glen Arbor. I think most of us have been here; if not, a trip up north is not complete without it! I love their cherry chicken salad sandwiches and cherryade for lunch.

I could go on and on, but you get the idea.

This weekend we'll be in Pentwater on Saturday (I think maybe we overdid the art show scheduling a bit for this summer! - we're doing 8 in all; this will be our 4th one). All of the kids are attending a wedding in Manistee, and so thanks to Brenda & Keith for watching little Bella on Saturday. (Ally will be at our house, but she's fine by herself for the day.) Then, on Sunday, dad and Scott's parents will join us for lunch at our house, where they'll have a chance to see the kids and meet their new great-grandpuppy! Katie is really enjoying little Bella, who sleeps with her every night. They are becoming fast friends...

Looking forward to our family breakfast at DeBoer's next Saturday, 8:30am. Be there or be square!

Baby Bella!

2009-06-21T16:12:00.006-04:00

Just a quick post for those of you who aren't on Facebook (where more pictures are posted): Baby Bella has arrived and is as cute as a button! Proud Mama Katie is over the moon with excitement - looks like this one is a definite keeper!

This and That...

2009-06-17T22:51:00.013-04:00

Just a few random thoughts from happenings around here during the last couple of weeks....

Garage Sale = Good weather Friday, bad weather Saturday, but overall sold around $300 worth, and also gave lots to Goodwill after all was said and done. Best part? Dave, Rachel and Ally were home for the weekend! So good to see all of them. Rachel was a big help during the sale, and Dave was nice enough to help Scott start building his shed in the backyard on Friday. As is usually the case with those kinds of projects, what Scott thought would take about 4 hours is still a work in progress. Of course the weather on Saturday made it impossible to continue working on it, and so he has been fiddling with it over the last couple of days. Getting close to being done - way to go, dear. It will be nice to have some extra space for all that clutter that accumulates in the garage... We also enjoyed seeing Brenda at the sale both days - thanks, honey, for all your help, too!

We also enjoyed going to the movie "Angels and Demons" with the kids (it was excellent, even though Scott fell asleep in the beginning), and then out to Pereddie's for a nice meal. We hadn't been to that restaurant in a long time, but then took Rachel there for her birthday; she thought Dave would enjoy it, so we all went Saturday (and he did). Grandpa enjoyed seeing the kids on Sunday, when we had him over for dinner after church. It was a perfect day for a barbecue!

Prior to Katie starting her new job, she was in town for a few days, and we met up for supper at 84 East with my friend Lynne and her daughters Katie and Chelsea. Had a night full of laughs and literally shut the place down. The waitress was nice enough to take a picture of all of us (see above).

Speaking of Katie's new job, she has now been there for almost 2 weeks, and so far is really enjoying it! She loves her new boss (night and day difference from her old job with "The Senator") and she is loving the casual work environment. She is meeting lots of new people, who she says are all very friendly, and her boss flew in from Seattle for two days this week to spend some time with her. Her other big news is that little Bella, her puppy, will be flying in from Iowa this coming Saturday morning. She can't wait, Dave & Rachel can't wait, and even we can't wait - we're all very anxious to see her. For those of you who went on the website to see the pups, hers is the light brown female (there were also two darker brown ones). Those pictures have now been taken off the site, though, with only pictures of the 3 remaining male puppies that are left.

Scott and I will be at the Reed's Lake Art Festival in East Grand Rapids this Saturday. Come on over if you're looking for something to do!

Cousin Dave Nykerk is in town for the month of June. He called to let me know that he's hoping to put together a party for the Nykerk cousins out at his cottage - probably during a week night evening, so will let you know...

Enjoyed seeing First Reformed whup up on the other team at the Monday night game. Of course, the Nykerk boys did a fab job! Great idea of Jim/Rachel to bring dad in his wheelchair - that's quite a walk for him to make, otherwise.

That's about it for now - keep those great family blogs coming - the pictures and tidbits that everyone posts are SO much fun to read!

Enjoy the weekend - love you all!

Check It Out! Our Garage Sale Info on Craig's List

2009-06-08T12:12:00.001-04:00

I'll also publish something in the Holland Sentinel to run later this week, but here's the Craig's List Posting:

Huge 8-Family Garage Sale - 4641 Pine Drive in Holland (southside, w. of 64th b/w 146th & 147th)
Reply to: sale-ccxbq-1211184463@craigslist.org [Errors when replying to ads?]Date: 2009-06-08, 11:57AM EDT
Huge 8-Family Garage Sale! Items accumulated from last 15 years. 4641 Pine Drive (south side of Holland – Laketown, just west of 64th St., between 146th & 147th Ave.). Friday, June 12 from 8am-6pm; Saturday, June 13 from 8:00am-2pm. Vera Wang wedding gown – size 10; assorted bridesmaid dresses, duck decoys, painting tools, many baby and child items – including high chair, toys & clothes, beautiful (some designer) clothes for adults & children, furniture, camping equipment, tent canopy, weed whacker, wet vac, books, CDs/DVDs, jewelry, home accessories, dishes/silverware, miscellaneous way too numerous to mention… We’re cleaning house - everything must go – great prices!
Location: southside, w. of 64th b/w 146th & 147th
it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests
PostingID: 1211184463

Great News! + Could One of These Cuties Be Bella?

2009-06-05T08:54:00.008-04:00

We are SO happy and relieved to announce that Katie has received a job offer from Thomson Reuters (http://www.thomsonreuters.com/) in Evanston (10 miles outside of Chicago), and will start her job next Monday! Her job will be very similar to her old one at AON - as a sales analyst - and she'll be working in their HealthCare division. Whew! In this economy, we feel very fortunate that she was able to get something so quickly after leaving AON, but the last month has been difficult, as you can imagine. Katie is JUST as excited about her other big news - she's getting a puppy! Yes, a chesapeake bay retriever. She will be getting one of three little girls that are left from a litter in Iowa. Here's the link to the kennel: http://goldeneyeschesapeakes.com/Puppies_TRPX.php

If you scroll down the page, you'll see puppy pictures listed under "Puppies of Jenny & Tator." Two other people have dibs on the puppies, and Katie will be third to choose, but she can't go wrong, because all of them are adorable. She hopes to have the puppy home within the next week or two.

Also, a reminder that next weekend is our garage sale! If you have anything that you'd like to sell, just drop your things off at our house during the week. Dave, Rachel and Ally will be coming home on Thursday evening to stay for the weekend, so they'll be available to help (thanks, kids!) and Brenda and I think maybe Rachel N. will be helping out, too!

It's been a busy week. One more thing that happened is that we bought a new car, and are trying to sell our red Grand Prix. So, if you happen to know anyone......

We should try and have a family breakfast again within the next couple of weeks. What do you think?

"On the Corner of Michigan and Trumbull"....

2009-05-17T00:19:00.003-04:00

I remember when Ernie Harwell used to say that phrase when he broadcast the Tigers games on the radio. This is a short post, but thought you might enjoy seeing Scott's latest picture - Tiger Stadium. I think it turned out well. We're hoping it will be popular with all the Tiger fans out there! Enjoy the rest of your weekend.....

Art Fair and Tulip Time Fun!

2009-05-08T10:23:00.004-04:00

Last weekend Scott and I had a booth at the Tulip Time Art Fair, and we had a great time! Could not have had better weather - sunny and warm each day, and we were located right on the corner of 12th and Central, conveniently right by where our delightful niece Brenda happened to be dutch dancing! Then, last evening, we went downtown to visit Lake Effect Gallery in it's new location (in the old Hutchinson's childrens' store); as you probably know, Scott has some of his art there. Great new location, and the gallery is beautiful! The owner, Carrie, happened to mention that she had met my brother Bill the day before. He and Jean were there, because she has sold a few furniture pieces to Carrie that are now in her store. Anyway, after that we went to watch Brenda dance (great job!), and enjoyed sitting next to Jim and Rachel - good to have you home again, sis! Enjoy the pictures, and I've even added a short video from Brenda's dance last night....

We're Home!

2009-04-26T12:16:00.025-04:00

I'm on vacation! Here's a shot of me taken on the porch of the first placed we stayed, the Ashley Inn, in Charleston...

We got a kick out of LaVerne (on the left), who took good care of us at the Ashley Inn in Charleston. She had many a story to tell....

Getting ready for the Battle of Charleston...

Old graveyard next to a church in Summerville, near Charleston

Typical houses in Charleston....

Our friend, the gator. She's a big girl, huh? Thought she might have me for lunch.

Walking in the "low country."

Breakfast at the "Rhett House Inn" in Beaufort

Me and my buddy, Paula Deen, y'all.

The place we stayed in Savannah - The Ziegler House Inn.

Well, we had a wonderful vacation in Charleston, Beaufort and Savannah, and made it home last night a little after midnight. So much to tell - we experienced so much, it seems like we've been gone forever! You know how it is when you're on vacation, time seems to be suspended, and even though we were only gone a little over a week, it seems like more, even though at the same time, the time flew by! Let me start by saying that the weather was picture perfect every single day - 75 to 80 degrees and sunny without fail. That alone made the trip seem like a vacation. Our drive down and back went very well, too, so that was nice.

We started in Charleston, which is really our favorite place of all. It's like stepping back in time to the late 1700's, early 1800's every place you turn in the downtown area, as the entire town is listed on the National Historic Register. Most of the houses look like they did 200 years ago, and the dates when they were built are on little gold plaques attached to the house. There are moss-draped trees everywhere, and the original cobblestone streets are still intact - really the only way you know you're in modern times is by the cars parked on the streets. Gas lanterns line the streets and light the houses, even during the daytime. Horse-drawn carriages are always around, as this is one way to tour the town. We enjoyed doing that last time we were here, but this time we just walked around. There also happened to be a Civil War battle re-enactment going on last Sunday outside of town, so we took that in - very interesting, with soldiers in their gray and blue, cannons, horses, the whole thing. We stayed in the Charleston area for about 3 days, and then on to Beaufort, a tiny town between Charleston and Savannah.

Beaufort is beautiful in its own right. They call the whole area down there "low country" and that's exactly what it is. Lots of little islands off the coast, with lots of swampy, marshy area to drive through. On the way there we drove through a place called "The Botany Bay Plantation", which used to be a cotton and rice plantation back in the day. Old slave quarters and the ruins of the plantation were still intact. (Actually, there are several plantations in the area that are completely restored, but we didn't stop at any of those on this trip.) Our girls will understand when I say that we went on "one of dad's little nature trips", which is what we used to do a lot of when they were growing up - exploring little out of the way places in nature. The place we stayed at in Beaufort looked a bit like something out of "Gone with the Wind" - it was a lovely old historic home with a wraparound porch, where we ate breakfast. Far and away the most memorable part of our trip to Beaufort took place on one of our "nature trips." Scott saw some white birds (egrets, I think) that he wanted to take a picture of, so we stopped along the road. I stayed in the car; all of a sudden he ran back and said, "you've got to see this!" As he was taking pictures of the birds, all of a sudden he looked down, and about 10 feet away was this 6-7 foot alligator, along with two little baby ones! Yikes! We were standing a couple of feet above her on the road, and she was in the marsh below, standing like a statue looking at us. She never moved a muscle for like 10 minutes; I kind of felt like she might charge us at any moment, but we were confident we could get to the car in time. It was exciting!

On to Savannah - another lovely old historic place - a lot like Charleston, only smaller. My favorite part about it is that the town was laid out like a grid and every two blocks they have what are called "squares" - little parks with fountains, statues and such, including plenty of old oak trees. Good thing to be able to get some shade, because it was blistering hot there - in the 90's, even though it's only April. We took a trolley ride there, to see the sights, and we ate at the "Lady & Sons" restaurant, which is Paula Deen's restaurant, where she serves lots of southern dishes liked fried chicken, grits, collard greens, etc. The eating was great everywhere we went, and of course I gained back a few of the pounds I had lost, but back on the Medifast diet today. I wouldn't have passed up those pecan pralines and all the great food for anything! It was worth it.

We relaxed and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, but of course it's true what they say - "there's no place like home." We are happy to be back, and glad to see that Spring has Sprung in Holland, too!

Easter AND a Birthday? Lots to Celebrate This Weekend....

2009-04-13T23:30:00.021-04:00

"Hello, gorgeous!"

There's nothing like celebrating family traditions....

Fun at Aunt Jean's house - that Easter Bunny was BUSY this year!

"Bumpa helped me find some bubbles!"

Kels working hard for those eggs!

Even Rachel got into the act - Ally helped her find one of her favorites - Peeps!

Ready for church....

A good time was had by all....

"My baby is HOW old? (29.....)

"Happy Birthday, Rachel!"

Watching the Tigers when they were still down 0-4. Everyone had left by the time they rallied with 6 runs in the bottom of the 8th - hope they saw the ending!

And, another shot of our sweet Rachel.

What a great Easter Sunday, lots of sun and fairly warm weather this weekend, and we were delighted to have our darling Rachel home to celebrate the holiday as well as her birthday! Of course we missed our other dear ones, Katie (in L.A. for training) and David (in Chicago working on the deck and also at his job, so he could go to the Cubs Opener today - how did that turn out?..I forgot to check...

Anyway, I took Friday afternoon off, and Rachel and I enjoyed a bit of shopping in downtown Holland. Then we picked up Scott and headed to Pereddie's in Washington Square for a very nice dinner. They have great Italian food, although I stuck with salmon - Medifast diet you know. I must confess I cheated on my diet a bit this weekend, though. I had a taste or two of a great appetizer that Rachel ordered - baked brie and crackers - and then, I even had a piece of birthday cake when we celebrated Rachel's birthday at our house on Sunday. We so enjoyed seeing everyone at church (and also at our house for the egg hunt the day before). I thought it was an especially nice service. The Halleluia Chorus always makes me cry a little bit. I always think of mom on Easter - it was four years ago on Easter Sunday that we took her to the hospital, never to return home again. Like Rachel N., says in her blog, what a blessing to know our loved ones wait for us in heaven!

As you can see, Rachel got a rockin' cute haircut and highlights at Panopoulos Salon on Saturday! In my opinion, it's her cutest cut ever (although she always looks beautiful - oh, mom!)....having her home added so much to our weekend. She is such a dear. We enojoyed having our dad and mom & dad Hamberg over for Easter dinner and Rachel's birthday celebration, too. Rachel helped me make several yummy Easter dishes (if I do say so myself). We had a brown sugar glazed ham, and made a potato casserole and a spicy corn dish that seemed to be a hit. The chocolate mousse cake from Alpen Rose was delicious, too. I have never had a bad cake from there. Of course that reminds me of the wedding, too - it's been almost a year already since that happy day!

Seeing Mace and Kels of course is always a highlight, and being surrounded by others of our dear family this weekend made me realize again how lucky we are to have each other. To top off the weekend, I talked on the phone with Katie and Carol. I'm one lucky gal. Love you all!

P.S. Scott and I leave for Charleston and Savannah early Friday morning. We'll be gone until the 26th, but will take our laptop and of course our cell phones with us. Call us any time if you need to - 616-405-1487 (me)....

Family Breakfast/NCAA Tournament - Go Brenda!

2009-04-05T09:00:00.007-04:00

OK, how about our NCAA basketball guru Brenda? If I'm reading the tallies correctly, she is the only one who predicted that the finals would come down to UNC and MSU. Way to go! Even though I know basically nothing about college basketball (could you guess?) I'm pretty proud of myself to have selected MSU as one of the finalists (of course that had nothing to do with my knowledge, only that I'm rooting for our home-grown boys to win)! Anyway, for tomorrow night - Go State!

On the homefront, yesterday morning many of the Nykerks got up bright and early to enjoy another breakfast at DeBoer's Bakery. I love this new family tradition - it gives us a chance to catch up, and we always have a great time!

Looking forward to next weekend, when Rachel, Katie and Ally will be home for Easter. We'll miss Dave, who has to "make hay while the sun shines" working on their deck (which was torn up due to the leaks in their roof). Rachel and Katie may be staying until Monday, and with that being the Home Opener for the Cubs, he is also hoping to get to the game with some last-minute tickets. I CAN'T WAIT for the season to start tomorrow! Even though it still feels like winter around here on some days, Tiger baseball always signals spring in my mind. And speaking of the Tigers, I was sad to hear that legendary broadcaster George Kell passed away last week. What great memories of George and Al on TV (and of course Ernie and Paul in the radio booth)....

Random Thoughts

2009-03-22T23:48:00.002-04:00

Just a few random thoughts/things that have been happening (or will happen shortly) in our family.....

1. Scott and I will be leaving for a 10-day trip to Charleston and Savannah in a few weeks - we'll be gone from April 17-26. We've been to Charleston before, and loved it. We need a s-l-o-w, relaxing pace for awhile, and the lovely spring flowers, old plantations, and cobblestone streets sound perfect for that...

2. Rachel was in the audience of the Oprah Winfrey show one day last week. Harpo Studios is located right near where she works.

3. 19 lbs. down and counting on the Medifast diet. I am now in Week 5. Many thanks to my great coach, Brenda! (I'll be taking a few days off when we're on vacation, but then right back at it!)

4. Katie will be in L.A. for a few days during Easter week (for work). Grandpa Nykerk says it's OK for her to go (he says she must clear these things with him first).

5. Dave and Rachel leave for 3-4 days in Austin, TX this Wednesday. Gee, I guess quite a few of us are traveling these days! (As far as I know, that's OK with grandpa, too - ha ha.)

6. Scott's been working on our taxes this year. Thanks, dear.

7. If you happen to be downtown during the Tulip Time craft fair in Centennial Park, look for us. We'll be having a booth there this year. It runs the Saturday and Sunday of the week prior to the main festivities and parades.

8. Why is it that when it rains sports on TV, it pours? I couldn't decide what to watch today - the Pistons, Tigers, MSU, and U.S. Baseball Team were all on. I caught a little bit of all of them.

9. We cleaned part (not even all!) of our basement this Saturday, and filled 3 giant garbage bins and still had lots of other loose odds and ends. Although I swore when we moved 14 years ago that I would never hold another garage sale, I started a pile of items to sell while we were cleaning, and I've decided to have one this spring. What doesn't sell goes straight to Goodwill. Anyone else want to join me?

10. Happy Spring, loved ones!

We Pulled It Off!....

2009-03-07T14:28:00.007-05:00

First, let me apologize for not posting any pictures of Rachel's surprise party last night, but in a typical Jean-move, when I thought I had charged my camera battery, I had put it in upside down, so needless to say, it was dead on arrival. Thank goodness I can rely on Brenda to always bring her camera; which she did. I'm sure she'll be posting soon. So, on to the fun! For the last week and a half or so, Karen Collings, Brenda and I have been planning, scheming, inviting and preparing for a surprise 50th birthday party (at Karen's house) for Rachel. Well, we pulled it off, and everything came together beautifully. Jim and others who were in contact with Rachel during the last few days managed not to spill the beans, so that when she arrived at Karen's last night in her soccer gear, she really thought she was there for coffee with a few friends from church who were supposed to be there to surprise Dave Ebels (whose birthday was the same day as hers); and then she was planning on heading for her game. Jim and Chad were in Detroit for the Pistons game (nice win, Pistons!), so she drove over by herself.

When Ellen Moes greeted her at the door, we all ran out from our hiding places and yelled "surprise!" and from the look on her face, I think she really was (surprised that is). From there we had a great evening of sharing some of our memories of Rachel over the years (everyone had written, or in my cased typed - hey, it's faster) on index cards and she read them aloud - lots of poignant, funny and wonderful memories of our dear sister, aunt and friend. She then opened a few gifts, and through the course of the evening, we enjoyed plenty of good food and wine, and many, many laughs. Speaking for myself, I think we all had a grand time. A special thanks to Karen for coming up with the idea in the first place, and for sharing her beautiful home with us. Happy Birthday, Rachel, and many, many more!

Great to See the Sun!

2009-02-28T11:58:00.005-05:00

I am SO sick of winter! It seems great to see some sun today, but I thought I'd also throw a little color on my blog. Not much happening in Hambergland, kind of a quiet week - that can be a good thing! It's Saturday morning and I'm procrastinating from cleaning the house. I've talked Scott into cleaning our scuzzy shower stall for me this weekend - it dawned on me this am that when there's no yardwork, gardening, etc. he might as well help me clean the house, right? Ha Ha. I can't complain. He's one who easily starts the laundry or throws the dishes in the dishwasher, etc. without being asked. In fact he teases me about the pile of magzines, mail, food dishes that tend to accumulate around my favorite chair by the end of the week.

I'm back to working 5 days a week - kind of miss my three day weekends!, but of course in this day and age we feel lucky just to be working! I think my brain and body are already gearing up for retirement, though. I enjoy having my time at home so much. Haworth just instituted a few more cost-savings measures, like taking away their company match to our 401K and beginning next year, they will "pro-rate" our vacation time - accumulate it as you go, rather than getting it all upfront.

I spoke to both my darling girls yesterday - had to get my "fix" - I have to hear their voices if more than a few days go by - ha ha. They always brighten my day. Katie is going out with her old roommates tonight to celebrate both of their birthdays. Unfortunately, Rachel was frustrated because their condo roof is leaking - no fun to pay for repairs on top of everything else. But, other than that, all is well with our dear Chicagoans. The girls and I usually take a short mom/daugher weekend somewhere together at least once a year, so I'm trying to come up with a fun place to go not too far from home. Is anyone else getting STIR CRAZY?

Wonderful Time In Colon.....

2009-02-20T11:40:00.011-05:00

What can I say? A picture speaks a thousand words. We had such a wonderful day with Jen, Jason and the girls in Colon yesterday. Dad was delighted with the whole thing, and did very well - didn't seem to be tired at all, even at the end of the day. He enjoyed every part of the day, and as Jen said in her blog, we arrived in Colon around 2:00pm. First off, he got a real big kick out of the GPS system and how it took us right to the front door of Jen & Jason's house. (It came in very handy on our way home, which was after dark.) Then, when we got to the house, the girls were napping, so Jen showed us around - the house looks great, freshly painted and so spacious!

Then the REAL fun started. Little Kels got up first, with those rosy cheeks. Had to stay on mom's lap for a bit, but then warmed up to us. Same with Macey, when she got up a bit later, but it didn't take long and she was herself - I had brought some paper and crayons and asked her to draw some pictures for me and great-grandpa, which she gladly did. She proudly showed me her very own room upstairs and her playroom, where we enjoyed a bit of the Veggie Tales and a couple of books.

Great-grandpa was in heaven when Kels sat on his lap to watch Miles and Otis, and later, without my even asking her, Macey went and gave great-grandpa a kiss (and me, too)! Then we enjoyed a nice supper of BBQ's and brownies (that Macey helped make) and on to the game! Jason is a calm, cool and collected coach, and his team did a great job - didn't quite pull out a win, but it was a very good game. It's cute how Macey knows exactly where the concession stand, the water fountain and vending machines are - she enjoys her "skittles" and wanted to be sure that each of us had a candy bar! We headed home after the game, arriving in Holland around 9:00pm - Dad talked a lot on the way home about how much he enjoyed the trip. He got the biggest kick out of little Kels always shaking her head "no", how she walked along with her carriage - she looked so proud - it looks like she'll be walking on her own in no time. And of course Macey was just a delight the whole day - I couldn't get over how well-behaved the girls were for the entire BB game.

Thanks, Jen, Jason, Macey and Kelsey - for a wonderful day!

Just a Quick Post....

2009-02-17T11:19:00.000-05:00

....To let you know about another coupon site that I found:

http://www.couponcabin.com/index.htm

25 Random Things About Me

2009-02-17T01:37:00.001-05:00

And, taking my cue from Brenda, below are 25 Random Things About Me.....

This was fun. I tried not to think about it too much - it's funny the things that came into my head....

My favorite font is "Franklin Gothic Book"

I would love to fly in a hot air balloon

I plan on going to Tuscany within the next five years

I wore braces on my teeth a few years ago

I once dated a man who drove a hearse (for fun – it’s not like he worked at a mortuary or anything)

When I was in high school I worked as a "pinkie" at Holland Hospital

I once took a walk around the Haworth pond with Ernie Harwell

I used to be able to ice skate

I was a member of the West Ottawa Vocalaires

I just ordered the soundtrack from the movie "The Man in the Iron Mask"

I adore vintage childrens’ books

I have a bunion the size of Texas

Sometimes I cry in church when the choir sings certain songs that remind me of my mother

I’ve always wanted to go up in outer space

I have the most wonderful children in the whole wide world – no, really!

I usually stay up past midnight

I’m completely annoyed when people don’t use their turn signals

I laugh hysterically every time I watch Seinfeld

My husband and I once carved our initials in a tree near Beulah

I love the taste of lemons so much that I’m growing my own lemon tree

To me, heaven is watching a Tiger’s game

I’m happiest at home

I got fired from my first job

I love the smell of new books and rubber dolls

I have a scar on my kneecap that looks like a smile

Nykerk Breakfast, Katie's Birthday and More....

2009-02-13T00:38:00.014-05:00

"Ahhh, my tummy is full!"

Bill looking great, and Brenda Lee looking fabulous!

Here's one happy guy who went out for breakfast with his family recently.....

We always have fun, don't we?

Here's our birthday girl! Happy Birthday, sweetheart.

I may be biased, but aren't they the cutest couple ever?

"Just what I just wanted!" (that's an inside joke....)

Loving sisters....I'm SUCH a lucky mom!

Chocolate covered cherries and cherry frosting for our birthday girl!

Can't forget Ally! She's one great dog....

We went to Chicago last Friday and part of Saturday to see the kids and to celebrate Katie's birthday. Had a wonderful time, "as per normal." (I always think of my sister when I use that phrase - how ya doin' Carol?) So, we enjoyed a nice dinner in a new Italian restaurant that Katie had selected (I can't remember the name!) and then went back to Dave and Rachel's condo, where Katie opened a few presents and we had some cake. We left early Saturday afternoon, and took our time going home, stopping at Michigan City to go to the Lighthouse Place Mall - they have a few new stores there, since I've been there last - including a Bath & Body Works outlet - great deals, there. We also each got a pair of shoes and I loaded up at the Pepperidge Farm store. By that time we were famished, and we dug right in on those goldfish crackers! We also drove through the backroads in that area for a bit, because we wanted to explore the area along Lake Michigan near there that they call "Harbor Country." There are several little towns just a few miles apart from each other - New Buffal0, Union Pier, Sawyer, to name a few. Quaint and cute little towns with lots of shops, galleries, etc. We wanted to see the area because we're thinking of renting a cottage in southwestern lower Michigan this sumer, so that our kids can join us and we can meet somewhere halfway between where we live. We'd like to find a nice cottage on an inland lake - someplace where Ally can come, too!

After we left, Rachel and Dave had a surprise planned for Katie! Under the pretense that they would be taking her out for supper, Katie showed up at their condo, only to be greeted by a room full of friends who were there to surprise her for her birthday! They all went out to celebrate from there - kudos to Rachel for taking the time to plan such a nice surprise for her sister!

I don't think I've posted since our last Nykerk family breakfast, so you'll see a few pictures here from our visit to DeBoer's Bakery. What a great place, and delicious food! How about the picture of dad? He cracks me up.

I'm looking forward to having lunch with Brenda tomorrow, and then going out with our friends Lynne and Dave Hall in the evening. I have 2 more Fridays off before Haworth goes back to a 5-day work week - I'm really going to miss these 4-day work weeks. The company is laying off about 150 salaried folks over the next week or two - I've been told my job is safe for now. This whole economy thing is getting to be a bit much, don't you think?

Happy Valentine's Day to all of you, and especially to the darling little ones, Macey and Kelsey! We received the most wonderful Valentine's Day card from them in the mail today (and I have a feeling all of you will get one, too!) They are beyond precious - thank you little sweethearts! We're looking forward so much to their upcoming shared birthday party at Grandpa Bill's house.

Vote for Ally!

2009-01-27T22:25:00.003-05:00

Rachel just called and asked me to add this to my blog - it is a contest for Ally - please vote for the cutest dog in the universe and maybe Ally's face will be put on a Bissell product - Rachel will be picking a new picture each week. She loves her Baby Girl!

What's Happening?

2009-01-22T11:33:00.004-05:00

Well, I can hardly believe how cool I am! (Of course you know I'm kidding.) I have started a page on Facebook.com. We have been trying to think of ways to promote our Etsy.com store and lots of folks seem to endorse having both a company blog and also getting on Facebook. It's actually been kind of fun to find friends out there from my past and from work, church, etc. My lovely nieces and nephews have even invited their aunt to be a friend, so thanks, kids! Katie Kat, too! (Rachel is considering starting a page, but I don't think she has decided one way or the other just yet. And I think Carol might also be interested?)

So, anyway, what I'm finding is that between Etsy, Facebook, a company blog and our family blog, the big challenge is keeping up with all of them! Truth be told, I still think of our family blogs as the most important, and checking out Brenda's, Jenny's, Carol's and Rachel's blogs is one of the first things I do online (ahhhh, Carol, that would be 4 weeks for you, even worse than me)!

So, we'll see how it goes. As for what's new, Haworth has decided to close down on Fridays for the next 3 weeks, so I'm looking forward to a few 3-day weekends! Having said that, it seems that every day I hear something new, either at work or on TV, about more layoffs, company closings, etc. It's a sad time for folks. Herman Miller started their production worker layoffs, too. The new boss I just started working with a couple of months ago tendered her resignation this week (a surprise) and so now my "new" (new for me anyway), department - Staffing and Diversity - will have ANOTHER new manager - at least temporarily. He's a really nice guy, but it 's like - enough already! I'm too old for all these changes.

In Chicago, Rachel has a bad cold, and David and Katie are both working extremely long hours - partly because of the time of the year, and for Dave - he has accepted a new work assignment within Orbitz, and so is getting up to speed for his new position. Congratulations, David! We are so thankful that the kids have good jobs in this day and age.

I'm thinking it's about time for a family breakfast again! How about NEXT Saturday, Jan. 31? Personally, I'd like to try the DeBoer's bakery that I've been hearing about. I think there are two, right, and we went to the "wrong" one last time. Does 9:00am work for everyone? What do you think?

Happy New Year!

2009-01-01T15:06:00.032-05:00

Happy New Year to loved ones and friends near and far! I have been so far behind on the blog lately that I won't even attempt to catch up with the news, other than to say that we all enjoyed the holidays very much; we celebrated with Dave & Rachel before they left for Colorado and then attended the Hamberg Christmas party, we had a great (and somewhat painful - ha ha) family sledding party, Carol surprised us by coming to town, Rachel and David returned safely back from their fun trip to Colorado, where they enjoyed a relaxing Christmas with Mom and Dad Schwartz (Alec and Joanne), the girls and I had our annual after-Christmas shopping spree in Chicago (see our goofy video below), and we enjoyed seeing some friends and family at Jim and Rachel's last night (New Year's Eve). I've really enjoyed being home for almost two weeks; will return to work next Monday. We send good wishes to Brenda for her surgery tomorrow - all will go well, I'm sure!

(Sorry, these pictures and video are sort of mixed up and backwards from when they happened, but I'm not able to figure out how to move text around after adding pictures, without moving all of the pictures instead. Won't cut and paste my text - anyone know?).....

2008-12-18T11:16:00.005-05:00

It's Ally, the Christmas Dog! (See below for more shots.)

Answers to Brenda's Christmas Survey:

Favorite Christmas movie (cartoon or children's)? It's a Wonderful Life and White Christmas

When do you usually start Christmas shopping? The day after Thanksgiving

Favorite Christmas present? When I was a girl, my mom and dad gave me a baby doll one year. But not just a baby doll - a baby doll that had all handmade doll clothes and she came in a hinged case that my dad made for me. My eyes were as big as saucers. That baby doll is still in grandpa's attic. Also, when Rachel was a baby and I was working on our family tree, my Grandma Millard gave me a wonderful scrapbook (before scrapbooking was popular!) of pictures from her whole married life, of my mom and uncles growing up, etc., that included several pages in the back that she wrote all about her life. I'll always treasure that.

Real or artificial tree? Right now, artificial (I'm allergic to real) - but I loved having real up until a few years ago

Colored or white lights? White lights

Favorite Christmas memories? Going to my Grandpa & Grandma Millard's for Christmas dinner - Grandma would always have handmade placecards, there would be a great meal, and the men would do the dishes! At our house (when I was little), I remember making popcorn balls and all kinds of Christmas candy. Since our girls have been born, I have always loved their excitement about Christmas, even now - when they were little it was especially fun to watch them open their presents - their eyes would get real big, and they would say "this is just what i just wanted!" Now, I think my favorites are the Christmas Eve service and our traditional fondue meal on Christmas Eve, our special Christmas breakfast, opening the stockings, and Christmas morning at our house.

Favorite Christmas song? The First Noel

Do you like eggnog? Yes!

Peppermint candy canes or fruity ones? Peppermint

And Now, for some Christmas Cheer, please say hello to Ally the Christmas Dog!

A Happy Christmas Lunch.....

2008-12-10T18:30:00.010-05:00

Macey just loves her little sister....

Well, it was a complete pleasure having a Christmas lunch with Rachel, Bren, Jen, Mace & Kels at Alpen Rose today. Macey was darling, as usual, and it's so much fun to listen to her now, as she is talking all the time. Kels was a little bit leery of Aunt Jean at first, and who can blame her - who in the world is that woman who wants to hold and kiss her, anyway? I can see how much she's grown as she is now much more aware of which people are NOT her mom! But, afer a little bit, with Jen sitting nearby, she was all smiles.

Macey tells me that she has a blue house, and a blue bedroom. She noticed that I had brought along a small bag that happened to hold a little stuffed moose and a little stuffed cow. She saw a head peeking out and said "who is that peeking out of the bag?" Of course she soon found out!

We enjoyed our lunch very much and talked a bit about Christmas. We confirmed that we'll be having bingo as usual, but also decided to add Pictionary to our game list this year. (Bren - I think you said you'd check on a paper & stand for the game at your office? If not, just let me know and I'll bring home a flipchart stand and paper from mine. Thanks.)

It was a very stressful day (outside of the nice lunch we had), until I found out aroudn 3:00pm that Scott has KEPT his job at Herman Miller, and so we can breathe a sigh of relief again, at least for now. Haworth just announced yesterday that they are closing down their entire Allegan plant and all told 350 people will lose jobs - I think I'm alright for now, too, but I feel a lot better knowing that Scott has kept HIS job at least. Whew!

Here's a fun idea for our family Christmas party that I'm totally stealing from Brenda and Keith (if you don't feel like participating, no biggie, but could be fun.) I love the idea of wearing the ugliest Christmas sweater you can find - it could be hilarious to see what we all come up with - from the thrift store or an old person's closet - although it will be hard to top Keith's getup. So, if you're so inclined let's have an "ugliest sweater" party! Of course pictures will be taken, and maybe even prizes awarded, who knows?

I'll get back with everyone soon about our menu - still thinking about that....

Enjoy all of the pictures from today. We had a very good time!

"Ho Ho Ho!"

2008-12-04T09:04:00.004-05:00

I know, I'm pathetically behind on my posts. It's like I said to my friend Lynne last night - "Christmas is barreling down on us like a freight train!" - and I haven't even cleaned up from Thanksgiving yet! I hear there could be a lot of snow this weekend, so probably a good thing to snuggle up inside and get some work done around the house. I know we'll put up our tree for sure, and I'll wrap some of those great buys we got on Black Friday.

I think Lynne and I will be going to the Christmas Home Tour (that the Holland Garden Club puts on every Christmas) later this afternoon/evening. There are 5 homes on the north side of Holland that will be decorated to the hilt for Christmas. It's those huge mansion-type homes out by the lake. I'll probably been insanely jealous afterward, but it still puts me in the Christmas spirit! And truth be told, I feel very lucky to have my house.

Scott and I took Dad to buy a new TV set on Tuesday night. He is pretty excited! I'm happy to say that we found him a nice 47" one at Sam's Club. It's HDTV and he will be getting all set up by Charter Cable today. I talked to him last night (he's already watching the reguar channels) and he told me he could see the score from the Piston's game more clearly than he has been able to for a long time. So, that's great. The man spends most of his hours in front of the TV - I'm happy we are able to make it a little nicer for him.

I was thinking - should we do a quick update via "comments" to my blog as far as how we stand with our buying for our adopted Christmas family? I'm sure we don't want to duplicate items. We should have everything bought by next Tuesday, so that Rachel and I can bring the gifts to Brenda next Wednesday. Here's what my family has so far:

Christmas-themed wicker basket for non-perishables

Christmas gift wrap, scotch tape, bows

1 set of blue full-size flannel sheets

Gloves for the mom

Insulated gloves for John

Earrings for Sarah

Hair straightener for the mom

Black bath mat

Long-sleeved top for Sarah

I still plan on getting a few canned goods and Katie will be getting a gas card. I was also thinking that the mom probably doesn't get too many luxuries for herself, so I plan to buy her a couple of things from Bath & Body Works. How's it going with everyone else?

On the subject of Christmas, I'm excited that we'll be having it at our house this year! Rachel and Katie and I have been talking about what we might want to do that's fun and maybe a little different from what we've done before, but so far we haven't come up with any brainstorms. Of course we will still want to stay with some traditions, and I think everyone still likes to play bingo, which is fine, but I'm just wondering if anyone has any other thoughts/ideas of fun things we might do? I'll also start thinking about the menu soon and probably ask you to bring something, OK?

Ta Da!

2008-11-26T16:28:00.003-05:00

Now Announcing! (drum roll, please) Scott and Jean's new and improved Etsy site! Yes, we were inspired by my sister Carol, who at last count had sold 18 items on her shop - way to go!), to post some of our stuff on our site again as well. We originally opened up an Etsy site like two years ago, but only posted a few items and then more or less gave it up.

However, we've decided to try again. "If at first you don't succeed, try, try"....you get the idea.

If you 'd like to check it out, go here: http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=73278

Also, about Friday morning - Rachel N., so wish you could join us for breakfast! Bren/Jen, we'll give you a call on Bren's cell phone (I'll bet we'll run into you somewhere, too!) sometime after 8:00am.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

What? Thanksgiving Already?

2008-11-22T21:47:00.009-05:00

Everybody wants to get into the act! My little buddies and I wish all our friends and loved ones near and far a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Scott and I tried a new restaurant last night called JoJo's Supper Club - It's in Douglas. We had driven down to Saugatuck to pick up my favorite dressing at the Butler Pantry - and by the way, Saugatuck was having their Christmas Open House and the little village looked absolutely lovely - Christmas lights everywhere, and balls of lights that seemed to be suspended from the trees and floating in the air. It was magical! I highly recommend that if you have a free evening it's nice to just drive through - kind of gives you a nostalgic feeling. Although I haven't mentioned this to Katie yet, I'm hoping that when she comes home for Christmas, we might take a carriage ride in Saugatuck this year. I read that it costs only $5 per person for a 15 minute ride. Anyway, we also decided to drive through Douglas - also very nice - there's something special about the little towns/villages that are decked out for Christmas. I love it! I digress. I had seen this JoJo's place online and we decided to give it a try. All in all, not super great, but like I told Scott, it's always fun to try new places! Actually, I did have a very nice curry carrot soup that was very good, but Scott was not overly impressed with his burger, which was served up on raisin bread! Gourmet, I guess? Oh, well...

Today we went to Sam's Club to stock up on some things before our current membership runs out next week. Got some good deals, and ran into Karen & Gary Collings and our neighbors from down the street there. I think by the time we chatted and got through all of the aisles, we were there for over 2 hours!

I've really enjoyed seeing all of the pics and reading the blogs from the rest of the family. Bren and Jen especially keep up with things so well, and always have entertaining tales to tell, and pics to show. And I'm proud of Carol and her work on her Etsy site! It looks great, and things are beginning to sell, too! Way to go, sis.

Some of you may have heard that Herman Miller will be letting go quite a few workers in the next few weeks. Although we feel pretty confident that Scott will keep his job, it's still a bit unnerving. All those who will be let go will know prior to the Christmas holiday, so that's good. The company has been very good about keeping everyone informed. They offered a "buyout" to whoever was interested, but we decided to wait it out and see what happens.

Can't wait to have the kids and Ally home for Thanksgiving! They arrive on Wednesday, and will be staying until Sunday morning. You know what THAT means! Whoo Hoo! Friday morning shopping! There should really be some good deals this year. Hey, I was wondering - would any of you like to meet the girls and me for breakfast somewhere around 9:00am or so? Where would be a good place? It would be great to see you, since we'll be at the Hamberg side of the family for Thanksgiving this year. How about sharing your ideas either on your blogs or via email?

Are You In The Holiday Spirit? I Am.......

2008-11-16T18:44:00.000-05:00

Greetings one and all!

http://mistletoemakeover.com/?79576d0ed9e910acc8b0dd882c95a5d6

Cute As Can Be!

2008-11-14T09:02:00.002-05:00

OK, Rachel forwarded this on to me; she had received it from Dave. For those of you who love cute little puppy dogs, check it out!

http://cdn1.ustream.tv/swf/4/viewer.45.swf?cid=317016

Dave - Where did you find this?

Cold in Chicago, But Warm Hearts All Around...

2008-11-10T00:11:00.006-05:00

Welcome to Shedd Aquarium!

Katie and "friend."

As "per normal" we had a great time in Chicago visiting our wonderful children. Dave and Rachel bought a bed and dresser for their 2nd bedroom, and we brought back a mattress set that we had been storing for them. So, they now have a very comfy 2nd bedroom in their condo, which Scott and I used this weekend - and we slept like logs. It was great! We also stopped at Katie's place to see her new couch - she picked out a very nice one - it looks terrific!

The pictures above are from our trip to Shedd Aquarium, where we went on Saturday. Had a great time there, and especially enjoyed the show they call "Training the Shedd Way" - where they had some rescue dogs which they have trained to do tricks using the same methods they use with their dolphins, seals, etc. It was very entertaining. We also really liked the "Planet Earth" presentation entitled the "Shallow Seas" - we had to wear 3-D glasses for that - you know, where everything on the screen looks like it's coming right at you. Plus, there were really cool effects like wind blowing, things poking you in the back of the head, swishing around your feet, etc. - great fun! We really enjoyed ourselves! Then, on the way back to the condo, Dave stopped at one of our favorite places - Choppers! They have the best chocolate shakes I've ever had, plus great Chicago "dogs." Very good food, lots of it, and for a good price, too. Rachel was all prepared to make lasagna for us last night, but we ate too much at Choppers, and so we decided we couldn't eat that much (she made it tonight instead, I hear...), but she made some of her delicious guacamole and chips for us, and that really hit the spot. We even played a fun round of Trivial Pursuit before heading off to bed. What a fun day!

Dave went to the Bears game today, and so he left early with his friend Chris Gall (one of the groomsmen - remember?). It was really cold out today so he had to bundle up. Rachel made waffles for Scott and me, and then it was off for Holland. We made it home by early afternoon, and so were able to relax, watch the Lions for about 5 minutes before I got totally disgusted, and then watch the Pistons lose to the Celtics. Let's just say that the earlier part of the weekend far surpassed the later part.

We'll be dropping off the little red sports car at Dad's tomorrow to store in the garage for the winter (boo hoo). That means it's getting cold out! Since we missed having him for dinner here today, we're taking him out to Russ' tomorrow night. I think maybe I'll have the turkey dinner that they have this time of year. I have to admit that I do enjoy the foods that are typically served in the fall, like baked squash, pumpkin pie, etc. Yum! Hope all of you had a good weekend! Looking forward to hearing about Jim and Rachel's trip, too....

What a Lovely Day!

2008-11-06T12:38:00.003-05:00

What beautiful weather we're having! I'm enjoying the Indian Summer. I have put out my cute little Thanksgiving pilgrims that I bought up in Glen Arbor when we were there. Decorating the house always gets me in the holiday spirit.

It's been a big week for "change" - new president, and new Detroit Piston (which is more important - ha ha?). I was initially VERY disappointed to hear that both Chauncey Billups and Antonio McDyess were traded to Colorado (for Allen Iverson, just in case you've been living under a rock or have been in San Francisco for the last few days). However, I trust Joe Dumars, and from what I hear he wants to make room in the salary cap for LeBron James down the road. But, I'll miss "Mr. Big Shot", that's for sure. He and Dyess are both class acts. I wish them well.

Katie called me from her office this morning to let me know she had returned safe and sound from her San Francisco trip. She had a wonderful time, but didn't get home until midnight last night, so she's very tired. I told her to rest up tonight, because Scott and I will be going to Chicago tomorrow around noon, to stay for the weekend. Rachel and Dave were trying to think of some fun things for us to do, and we decided it would be fun to go to Shedd Aquarium on Saturday. They have some kind of a show about training animals, including dogs, and so that will be fun. http://www.sheddaquarium.org/new_at_shedd.html.

They also have an IMAX-type thing there, where when you go to view the movie, there are also sound effects, wind, smells, etc. Cool. http://www.sheddaquarium.org/4Dtheater.html

I'm looking forward to our family breakfast next Saturday, at 9:00am at the Biscuit. For those of you who need to know, it's located in Washington Square, right across the street from Pereddies. See you there!

Is It Halloween Already?

2008-10-29T00:32:00.003-04:00

I got such a kick out of seeing Dolly in her "hotdog" costume (see Brenda's blog)! How cute! It got me to thinking about last Halloween when Ally spent Halloween evening at our house. She sat out on the front porch with me all evening as the trick-or-treaters came and went, and of course everyone loved her and had to pet her. She helped me pass out candy and was very polite to everyone who stopped by. That was fun! This year of course she'll be in Chicago with Dave and Rachel - hey kids, will Ally have a costume? If I remember right, I believe Macey will be a fairy princess this year - how about little Kels? Of course I can't wait to see pictures! I think the weather is supposed to warm up, so that will be nice for the little ones. It's so much cooler today that even I was chilly! Ha Ha. You KNOW how often that happens - like never. I really love this time of year - putting new flannel sheets on our bed, lighting the fireplace and burning candles in the house. Puts me in the holiday spirit already! I always feel like once Halloween is over, the holiday season is really upon us.

Katie called the other night to say that she bought a new couch for her living room - I can't wait to see it. She has really decorated her apartment so cute. She will be leaving on Saturday for a few days in San Francisco, to attend a conference for work. It is quite a big event that occurs each year, with special speakers and such. She was excited to find out that the Foo Fighters (I'm so hip, right?) will be there one evening. Have fun, honey!

Well, I can't wait for the Pistons to play their first game of the season this week - finally, a team that can actually PLAY pretty well. What a pleasant change. I miss my sports - can't get too excited about the World Series, and of course the Lions don't count.

Aren't these felt Christmas ornaments adorable?

I'm thinking of buying the kit to make them: http://www.rosylittlethings.com/ornaments.html

Not much else going on at the moment, so will sign off for now. Happy Halloween everybody!

Well, Here I Am Again (Finally).....

2008-10-22T20:02:00.006-04:00

The trouble with not posting for awhile is that I can't remember what I last wrote about, but oh well, no matter, I'll just give you a quick update of what's happening my way.

I think we all enjoyed Dad's 90th birthday cake/coffee celebration at church last weekend, followed by a BBQ lunch at our house. As you can see, I have attached a few pics. Speaking of Dad, I took him to have his hearing checked this week. As you know, he is one of the most lovable and even-tempered seniors around, but he still has a few feisty bones in his body - he was irritated, (I was too!) because it seems like every other month or so one or both of his hearing aids seems to need repair. Well, when we went in for the appointment, I asked about that, and we learned that even though his hearing aids were still under warranty, every time they were sent for repair, OLD parts were used to fix them! Duh! That's like using an old light bulb to replace the one that just burned out. Suffice to say, we left without him having his hearing tested - in his words (and he said this to the woman there) "I've had about enough of this outfit!" I had to laugh.

I'm watching the World Series tonight, but of course it doesn't have the same excitement as it would if either the Cubs or the Tigers were in it. I'm rooting for Tampa Bay. Also looking forward to the start of the Pistons season next week.

Scott and I went to our last art show for the season last Friday and Saturday - at the Little River Casino in Manistee. We also stayed there for the night. Very nice rooms, and we enjoyed a nice prime rib and seafood (well not me for the seafood) buffet there on Friday night. The art show ended up being pretty much a bust, and I quickly lost my $20 limit in the slot machines, but we still enjoyed ourselves a lot. On Friday we drove back up to the Beulah area, and I stopped at Mecca - the store that Carol raved about. It definitely was very cute and I spent quite some time there (while Scott slept in the car, as per normal). I picked up a cute little glittery red bird. Had pleasant memories of our stay up north as we also drove up M-22 to enjoy the colors, and went right past good old Herring Road. The colors were just perfect last weekend, and the weather cooperated nicely.

It was good to see most of the family over the weekend; we haven't seen Dave in awhile, and are really looking forward to all three of the Chicagoans (I guess I should say 4, including Ally) visiting for Thanksgiving. For those who don't know, we'll be having Thanksgiving with the Hamberg side this year; but the Nykerk Christmas will be at our house on Christmas Day! Thanks to Brenda for checking out the idea of our family sponsoring another family that's less fortunate - that should put all of us more in the Christmas spirit!

Have you heard? Ally got enough votes on the "Save the Chessies" site so that she will be a pin-up girl in the 2009 Chesapeake Bay Retriever calendar that the organization puts out. She is such a pretty girl! (A little bird told me that we will be receiving one from Dave and Rachel for Christmas....)

Hope Carol is starting to feel better soon....love to all!

A Good Time Was Had By All....

2008-10-06T19:09:00.004-04:00

Well, we did it! Our trip up north was a success, and I think everyone had a good time. Hopefully dad enjoyed it too, although I'm sure it will take a few days for him to recover! He may need some extra sleep for awhile. I have to give him credit - he even tried going out on the pontoon boat on a chilly day. What a trooper!

Rachel and Katie have just left to go back to Chicago. I'm so glad they were able to come, too. I'm posting a few of my pictures here, and the rest I've posted to Snapfish.com (shamberg@charter.net, password: nellie, to access).

Thanks everyone, for making our family trip a success - it meant a lot that so many of you made the trip, and I know it meant a lot to dad.

By the way, our last crafting time will be Thursday evening at my house. Come one, come all!

"The Craft Extravaganza" and More.....

2008-09-30T13:01:00.006-04:00

Carol in front of Zingerman's Deli - our trip to Ann Arbor

The "Craft Extravaganza" - don't worry, you can all join in on the fun when we go up north!

Well, it's been quite some time since I've posted to the blog, but with sister Carol in town, I've been extra busy! We've really enjoyed spending time together - going to Colon to visit Jen and the girls, then to Ann Arbor one day, and of course the big "craft extravaganza" that took place for a full 2-1/2 days at my house over the weekend! We were crafting fools - Carol spent most of her time working on "altered art" objects - things that can be hung on the wall, journals, etc. I made mostly gift tags, journals and jewelry - charm bracelets and necklaces. What fun! Brenda joined us for awhile on Saturday, which of course we enjoyed immensely. She has got the crafting thing down pat, and left the house with some adorable magnets that she made. (Bren - I'll take the journal you made with me up north.) Don't have any pictures to show you at the moment, other than one of the three of us working at the table (above). As Carol would say, "suffice to say" the days flew by, and even Scott helped out by cutting up matboard and helping us drill holes in scrabble tiles. He is quite the artist himself, of course. Hey, Carol - did you know there are two kinds of art?......inside joke....)

Well, I'll bring some supplies and samples of what we made up north - that way, anyone who wants to can work on some simple crafts during our vacation, too. Can't wait - Rachel N., Carol and I will be leaving tomorrow morning - we'll get the cottage all set up and ready for when the rest of you arrive! See you soon - we will have great fun, I'm sure! (Little Kels, please get better soon, doodlebug!)

Great Fun in Colon!

2008-09-18T17:16:00.019-04:00

Jen, Mace and Kels were most gracious hostesses as the "Nykerk" clan invaded Colon yesterday! Bren & Jen's friend "Sis" joined us, too - what a lovely young lady she is! We all enjoyed seeing "my cottage" as Macey put it, and then seeing Colon itself and a couple of the houses that Jen and Jason are considering buying. We went past Jason's school (we saw his yellow locker) and drove to an Amish general store - you see all of us sitting in front of it in the picture above. It was so nice to see everyone and we all enjoyed the day so much - the weather was great and the girls were absolutely adorable, "per normal." Too bad we missed Kels starting to crawl by only one day, but we could tell it would be any day - go Kels!

Having breakfast at "Remember When Cafe" - to start out our day with full (and I do mean FULL tummies!)

"Hi From Colon!"

Just a Few Quick Pics.....

2008-09-14T10:41:00.014-04:00

Had a nice time at Megan's wedding last night, and wanted to post a few pictures of that, as well as my fun lunch with Bren, Jen and M&K this past week! Sorry not much time for news, but we'll be leaving for Chicago shortly...can't wait to see Carol! Love to all.....

Try as we might, we couldn't get little Kels to look up! Aren't these little ones just darling?

Poor Kelseroo! Aunt Jean just HAD to hold her and make her pose for a picture!

All the rest of the pictures are from Megan's wedding last night.....

Can't Wait Til Brenda Gets Back On-Line!

2008-09-10T09:06:00.009-04:00

These journals are kind of like one of the things that we'll be making at the "Craft Extravaganza" - cool, huh? I know, it's pretty exciting (at least for Carol and me, ha ha!)....

I don't know about the rest of you, but I really miss Brenda's blogs! (She has not been able to access the internet since last week - thanks, Comcast!) Hopefully she'll get back online soon, because that girl keeps all of us clued in on what's happening - I think Comcast is supposed to get to K/B's house today to correct the problem.

Well, I can't wait for the weekend - CAROL'S COMING! First, our kids come home (yay!) on Friday night to attend Megan's wedding on Saturday. Then, on Sunday we drive back to Chicago, where Carol will already be waiting. We girls will attend the Renegade Craft Fair Sunday afternoon and evening, and Carol & I will be staying overnight. She and I will then return to Michigan on Monday (after checking out Crate & Barrel, Dick Blik and the Paper Source first of course!). We have a few more supplies to pick up for the "craft extravaganza" that will be taking place on Pine Drive throughout the next month or so. To whet your appetites, here are a few of the things we'll be making (hope you can join us for part of the time)!

1. Halloween tags and other goodies

2. Charm bracelets

3. Necklaces made from scrabble tiles and bamboo tiles

4. Journals

5. Collage and altered art

6. Much more.....

I know, pretty amazing (ha ha). We figure we've spent about 20 hours on the phone over the last two weeks figuring things out and finding sites on etsy.com to order supplies from. What a blast. I'm going to try to sell some of the things we make at our booth when Scott and I have one more art fair to attend in October. Other stuff we'll sell on Etsy and other stuff will be just for fun.

Katie went to a really fun event over the weekend in Chicago. It's held throughout the country and it's called "Flutag." She told me that different teams of people try out for this - they make these wild flying contraptions and then see who can fly the farthest - Katie's boss Chris was on one of the teams - their flying machine looked like a pizza - and they actually flew over 100 feet! See below for a crazy "duck" that took a nosedive into Lake Michigan (like I guess most of the machines did). Too fun!

Keep going - Katie sent me some pictures of her boss' team and their pizza contraption!

Just General News.....

2008-09-03T11:55:00.005-04:00

Halloween is just around the corner! How about these darling cards from www.etsy.com? Carol and I are nuts about this site. See more below...

Well, Jen's blog postings have been so great to see; so glad all is going well for Jason at his teaching job. The pictures of the girls have been unbelievably cute lately. That little Kelsey is keeping right up with her big sister. How about the pic of Macey feeding her? Those two are going to be great pals growing up, just like the other sets of girls in our family!

Not too much news to share these days. Everyone is doing fine and keeping busy. Katie is enjoying her new apartment and it's so nice that she lives close to Dave & Rachel. Carol will be spending the night there in a couple of weeks - thanks, Katie Kat! Ally got to go the dog beach again on Labor Day. What a lucky pup she is! I don't think there's another dog alive who gets so much love (except for maybe Dolly!).

We'll all be attending my niece Megan's wedding in a couple of weeks (Sat. 9/13) and then I drive to Chicago to attend the Renegade Craft Fair with the girls and Carol. Our "craft extravaganza" will be starting later that week at our house! Ha Ha - we're having tons of fun ordering supplies and thinking of novel things to make. Etsy.com is our favorite website and we've spent hours on the phone telling each other about our favorite new sites that we find there!

I'm sure we'll be planning for our trip, meals, etc. soon, too. Stay tuned for more on that.

Hope the boys are enjoying college and that eveyone's doing well....love to all!

I Guess It's Official....

2008-08-26T19:42:00.005-04:00

I guess it's official, because it will be going in the paper!

"Rachel Marie Hamberg and David Andrew Schwartz were united in marriage on May 31st, 2008 by the Rev. Dr. Daniel Gillette, at Dimnent Memorial Chapel in Holland, MI. Parents of the couple are Scott and Jean Hamberg of Holland and Alec and Joanne McC. Schwartz of Conifer, Colorado. Katie Hamberg was the Maid of Honor and Christopher Sisco served as Best Man. Also attending the couple were bridesmaids Mealea Chhong, Dana Taylor and Jamie Vandenbrink and groomsmen Christopher Gall, Michael Powell and Christopher Waco. The flower girl was Macey Burgess, and the ring bearer was Jacob Adrian. Assisting as ushers were Keith Hollenkamp and Dan Nykerk. Also assisting the couple as mistresses of ceremony were Brenda Hollenkamp and Rachel Nykerk. Music was provided by Deb Koopmans. Following the ceremony, a reception was held at AlpenRose in Holland. The couple honeymooned in Spain. The bride is a graduate of Holland High School and Western Michigan University and is employed at Avenue A/Razorfish marketing agency in Chicago. The groom is a graduate of Oak Park & River Forest High School, the University of Minnesota and the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota, and is employed at Orbitz Worldwide in Chicago."

By the way, to now reach Rachel at work, her "new" email address is:

rachel.schwartz@avenuea-razorfish.com

Time To Catch Up....

2008-08-21T20:44:00.008-04:00

This is my dear friend, Lynne - We went for manicures (at "Smooch" in Holland) - for her birthday. Girls! It's a fun place - we should all go! In this pic, we're having dinner at Alpen Rose - that brought back wonderful memories for both of us, as our Rachel and her Katie both had their wedding receptions there within three weeks of each other!

How's everyone? Summer is flying by - I've been negligent in posting lately, so really can't even remember what I've told you recently. A couple of weeks ago I had a bridal shower at our house for my niece Megan, who is getting married in a couple of weeks. (Ahhhh, I think a few of you heard the stories about that one....) Anyway, it turned out really well, and Megan seemed pleased. Below are a couple of pictures.

Last weekend we were in Chicago for an art fair in Oak Park (Dave's hometown), while he was actually up north with some of his friends at a cottage. So it was us and the girls - as "per normal" we totally enjoyed the weekend and spending some time with them. Scott sold one of his original paintings (the one he called "Cottage Row" - based on a picture he had taken when we were at cousin Dave & Mary's cottage for one of our Nykerk reunions). So that was very nice! Speaking of Dave, he is in town again - he called me last night and is going to try to arrange another get together at the cottage for a week night sometime in the next couple of weeks. I think they have use of the cottage until the end of August. So stay tuned on that one....

He is interested in having Scott paint a picture of their cottage, so we'll see how that goes.

When we were in Chicago we were delighted to see Katie's new apartment! The Katie Kat has done well for herself - her place is beautiful! She is now in the process of decorating, unpacking, etc. Scott left for home on Sunday morning (we took two vehicles), and Rachel had work to do, so Katie and I had a fun day together going to IKEA to pick up a few things for her apartment. She called me later that night to let me know that she had already put together a red metal stand that we bought for her kitchen. Carol - she called to get your address last night and will be mailing you a key to her apartment in the next day or two (Carol will be spending the night there when she arrives in Chicago in Sept - meanwhile, we'll all be in Holland at Megan's wedding).

We've been lucky lately to see the kids quite a lot. In fact, the girls and Ally are driving home tonight because they are both standing up for Jamie (remember her as one of Rachel's bridesmaids?) at her wedding this weekend. It's in Ludington, but they'll be spending the night here tonight and driving up there tomorrow (and Dave will join them on Saturday).

OK, that's enough for now. I'm thinking of all of you - REALLY looking forward to our trip up North!

See below for a few pics of "this and that" from the last few weeks.....(I CAN'T believe I forgot to take pics of Katie's new apartment! Kate - you'll have to post some...)

At the bridal shower - Megan and her mom, Shelley (Scott's sister)

My sister-in-law, Julie, her daughter Amanda, Megan and Me

A couple of pics from the Block Party at First Church - look at these beauties!

Look at this little doll. She's saying, "where's all the candy?" (Cool shoes, Mace!)

How about this get-up that we saw at Art in the Park? Check out the doggies and their matching sweaters. Ha Ha.

Weekend: Art in the Park = Good; Tigers = Bad

2008-08-04T11:11:00.004-04:00

All in all, it was a lovely weekend. Picture-perfect weather for Art in the Park, and as usual, it was fun to be there and visit with lots of people that we don't often see. Sales were also pretty good, especially considering the economy. Many people ask us if we have a website, and I have to confess, "my bad" (that's the current lingo, right?), in that I haven't gotten around to doing that yet (I promised Scott I would). We want to be able to post new artwork and let people know about shows we're doing, etc. We also may eventually try to sell online, or maybe put a link in our site to http://www.etsy.com/, the site where tons of people sell their homemade wares online. You can set up a site there for free. I think Carol is thinking of selling some of her crafts on etsy.com, too - right, sis?

Rachel and Katie made a "pitstop" at home late Saturday night. They had been in Kazoo for a bachelorette party, and then had a bridal shower in Zeeland on Sunday, so they spent the night at our house. It's always so great to see them! Rachel N. was nice enough to drop Dad off at our house after church (we had "skipped" to spend some time with the girls in the am), and so he had blueberry pancakes with us and was able to see the girls for a little bit before they had to leave.

I'm already looking forward to Carol's visit! She will be arriving in Chicago on Saturday, Sept. 13 and will spend the night in Katie's new apartment. The kids will all be Holland that day for my niece Megan's wedding. We'll drive back to Chicago (I'll take my own car) and then I'll spend a day or two in Chicago with Carol prior to driving back to Holland. We'll be attending the "Renegade Handmade Craft Fair" on Sunday, located right around the corner from Dave and Rachel's condo. http://www.renegadecraft.com/# Carol will be staying for about a month, so that ROCKS!

Do I REALLY need to say anything about the Tigers? I think not.

"Top Flight" Weekend in Chicago!

2008-07-27T18:16:00.015-04:00

What a Super Sister - She Made Katie a Cake!

Just returned from a wonderful weekend in Chicago - as my dear sister, Carol, likes to say, "It was top flight." First off, our host and hostess, Mr. & Mrs. David Schwartz, were delightful. Not only did they open their home to us, they also cooked for us (delicious salmon that Dave caught in Lake Michigan, a yummy fruit salad, and other goodies, including a chocolate cake that Rachel made to celebrate Katie's new apartment (see pic above. You will notice I went a little nuts with the pictures in this post....) Next, we also had the company of our sweet Katie all weekend. And to top things off, the weather was great and Ally went everywhere with us!

We got into Chicago early Friday evening and met Katie at the Dick Blik art store on State Street (Scott wanted to check out that store). From there, we decided we wanted to eat outside, so Katie suggested the Park Grill in Millenium Park. Great fun and good food. The Tiger/White Sox game was on, and fortunately for us, we left before the disastrous last couple of innings. Next, I talked Katie into showing us her office in the AON building, right next to the park. That was great fun - she works on the 10th floor, and has a great office space - I kidded her that it's even bigger than her boss'. Ha Ha. I am so proud of her!

Then it was on to Rachel and Dave's place, where we were welcomed with open arms - their condo looks so beautiful, and we were able to see all of the lovely wedding presents they received. They also bought a terrific new china cabinet to hold all of their china and silver and it looks gorgeous sitting in their living area. Miss Ally seemed very happy to see us, too!

Most of the weekend was spent relaxing and enjoying the Wicker Park neighborhood. We drove past Katie's new apartment on Saturday. She showed us some pictures of the inside - it looks great! - but we weren't able to go inside just yet because she won't be moving for a couple of weeks. But, we saw it from the outside, and it looks very, very nice. I am just tickled with the location, because she is just a few blocks from Dave and Rachel's place. Then we walked around at a neighborhood sidewalk sale and street festival. We took Ally to a dog park on the way back to the condo. That evening, Katie left to attend a going away party for her friend Leslie, who will be moving to L.A., but Scott and I spent a lovely evening with Dave, Rachel and Ally. After the delicious dinner on their rooftop deck, we watched the fireworks from the Venetian Festival. We could see them quite well from there!

This morning, Dave drove all of us (including Katie) to a dog beach on Lake Michigan, not more than 15-2o minutes away from Wicker Park. What a sight to behold! Tons of dogs from all over, all shapes and sizes, were scampering in the sand and swimming in Lake Michigan. Of course Ally was in heaven. She fetched her ball until she could hardly swim anymore, and then of course we knew it was time to go. She will sleep very well tonight, I'm sure. We ended our visit by going out for brunch at a resturant right around the corner from the condo. What a totally fun, enjoyable weekend we had! It was just great.

The older I get, the more I treasure family times together. We are so blessed to have such wonderful children, and extended family too! Love to all of you!

"The Bean" at Millennium Park - picture taken from our outdoor table.

Katie with Dad.....

"Here Dad, see the pictures of my new place!"

Katie Kat and Me.

Ms. Hamberg, at your service...

Anyone who has their own printer must be someone special!....

Sidewalk sale in Wicker Park....

That Dave - he fits right in with the family, doesn't he?

Lucky me.

Dog Beach

Ally could stay here all day....

Fun times.....

Awwwww......

One of the "apples of his eye..." (brunch at "Moonshines")

The other "Apple of her Dad's Eye". What does that make Dave? The core? Ha Ha. We love you, Dave!

I did it! Below is my first attempt at posting a video.....