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

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!

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!

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!

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:

1. The man purse
2. "Hello, Nip"
3. The soup nazi
4. The Summer of George
5. "They're real, and they're spectacular!"
6. The low talker
7. The high talker
8. The pirate shirt
9. "I was in the pool! I was in the pool!"
10. Chocolate babka
11. "Hello, NEWMAN"
12. "If you control the mail, you control INFORMATION!"
13. George as a hand model, Kramer as an underwear model
14. Shindler's List
15. "I am NOT an animal!"
16. The Pick
17. "Serenity Now!"
18. "That's a Shame"
19. Mr. Pitt and his sock
20. The germophobe

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

Dogs, Dogs, Everywhere!

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.