(Great) Grandpa's Birthday

My Grandpa Robertson turned 90 last weekend.  We all gathered at Gastof Amish Village earlier today to celebrate, and it so so wonderful how many family members turned out for his party!

Sugar loved the fried chicken.

Little Miss and Big D loved the ice cream and desserts!

They also had an awesome time playing with their cousins

As well as meeting the newest ones

Near the end of the party, we gathered everyone around the birthday boy for a few photos...

Standing L-R: Uncle Dave & Aunt Carol (my dad's sister), Teresa (Ma-maw) & Jim (Pa-paw), Aunt Marine & Uncle Joe (my dad's younger brother), Aunt Joyce, Uncle John (my dad's youngest brother) & Aunt Kelly
Seated L-R: Aunt Mary (my grandpa's sister), Grandpa Ward, and Uncle Dayton (Aunt Mary's husband)

 Grandkids & Spouses

A few of the 21 Great-Grandkids

Until next time...

Thanksgiving Weekend

Doug and I did something different this year for Thanksgiving Day.  He and Dallas went to be with Gram's family, while the girls and I went to be with Pa-paw's family.  We each had a wonderful time with great food and excellent company, but we decided we didn't like being apart on the holiday.

Before everyone parted ways at the Robertson gathering, I was able to capture this picture of the little girls that were in attendance (L-R: Julianne {almost 1}, Bria {21 months}, Grace {4 years}, and Reba {5 years})

While staying at Ma-maw's, Julianne found the Tupperware cabinet

And Dallas found the scotch tape

Reba was also able to continue her birthday celebration.  Since Aunt Katie and Uncle Brian weren't able to make it to her party the weekend before, they brought her gifts with them.

Until next time...

Granny's Surprise Birthday Celebration

This summer my Grandma (also known as Granny and GG) will turn 80! We thought it would be wonderful to have all the grandkids and great-grandkids "home" at the same time to have a birthday dinner.  When my mom shared the news with Granny a few weeks before the party, she was beyond excited to have everyone there.  But what she didn't know was that we were also have a surprise party for all her extended family and friends after lunch and pictures!

This weekend was the best time to get everyone together.  We met at the Putnam Inn in Greencastle for lunch, and then we headed to a local park for a few pictures.  

One funny story I have to share is this: My sisters and I met my aunt and uncle before lunch to decorate and put out the cake, plates, snacks, etc.  My aunt had purchased a balloon bouquet, with one of the balloons saying "Happy 80th Birthday".  Fast forward an hour or so - while eating lunch, Aunt Katie and Dallas are talking with GG.  Aunt Katie says, "Dallas do you know how old GG is?"  Dallas answers, "Yeah, she's 80. Didn't you see the balloons?"  Luckily, GG didn't hear the latter part of the statement and didn't ask anymore questions!

Here are a few of the wonderful memories we were able to capture!

GG and her great-grandkids

L-R: Dallas (6), Julianne (6 mo), Hailee (3), Owen (10 days), GG, Reba (4), Brinley (3), Sariah (5)

The whole clan!

My three kiddos with GG

The grandkids.

That photo was inspired by this one from a few years ago...

As I mentioned earlier in the post, after pictures we headed to the Farm Bureau building where Granny was completely surprised to see friends and family waiting for her!

I didn't take too many pictures at the party, but I did catch the little girls gathered together watching a Tinker Bell movie!

Until next time...

Easter Weekend Shenanigans

Our Easter shenanigans started on Saturday with Doug's family.  Doug ended up working rather late Friday night, so we didn't head north until early Saturday.  Thankfully, it was an absolutely beautiful weekend, and we were able to spend a lot of time outside.

The kiddos with Gram and Aunt Josie getting ready to "go hunting".

My favorite picture of Reba from the weekend... she was so excited to find a pink egg!

Taking a break to make sure they were getting the same amount of eggs

Dallas' tractor basket got full, so he started using Julianne's caterpillar basket!

Reba still loves it when Daddy tosses her in the air (Dallas loves to be tossed as well, but he is getting too big to fly)

Easter morning started with Mass at Pa and Gram's church.  Reba was over the moon excited about Julianne and her having similar dresses.  Thankfully, I was also able to convince Dallas to wear a purple shirt and tie to coordinate.

We were finally able to get a picture of the 5 of us (the only other one I have is from the day Julianne was born; all piled in my hospital bed) 

After church, we headed over to Pa-paw and Ma-maw's house for breakfast.  Then, we loaded up and headed to my cousin's house.  After lunch, everyone headed outside for the big egg hunt.  I was able to get a quick photo of the hunters before they were released out into the yard...

It was so much fun to watch all the little ones roam the yard and find all the treasures.

Little Miss taking a short break - or supervising the boys?

I thought this was too cute of Vivian - "Wait! I got to fix my shoe"

I was able to get these two sweeties to pause long enough for a photo - Grace and Reba

Dallas, Aunt Lisa and Reba

After the egg hunt was over, someone brought out a bubble machine.  The kiddos LOVED it!

Waiting patiently for the bubbles to start...

I was busy feeding Julianne, but Ma-maw grabbed my camera and got this video of the kiddos running about.

Until next time...

89th Birthday Party

My Grandpa Robertson (also referred to as Great-Grandpa in our house) turned 89 this past Sunday, so on Saturday many of the Robertson Family gathered at Gasthof Amish Village for the celebration and dinner.  It is Great-Grandpa's favorite place to go, and we enjoy it because there is a large banquet room for us to use that gives us the space to move about once we are done eating.

It didn't take the great-grandkids long to finish eating and dig out the toys.  Yep, that's Aunt Katie in the mix; they all love it when she makes a surprise visit back to play!

Our numbers have increased since the first time we went to Gasthof's in 2011!  

These 4 were the only great-grandkids in attendance in 2011.  This year there were 11 greats!

That's the birthday boy in the front with 3 of his children 

L-R: Uncle Joe, my dad, and Uncle John

The grandkids (10 of the 15) with the birthday boy

L-R: Craig, Kathleen, Brice, Lisa, Jerry, Katie, Trace, Me, Brooke and Dori 

Great-Grandpa meeting his newest great-grandbaby, Julianne (#21)

This was the best picture I got of Great-Grandpa and half of his great-grandkids! (plus a few extras to hold the babies)

After the party, Pa-paw, Ma-maw, Aunt Lisa and Aunt Katie followed us home to spend the rest of the weekend at our house.  Little Julianne got just a little bit of loving and cuddles...

Until next time...