Phone Photos

Dallas and Reba had a little photo shoot with my phone today!  Believe me, this is just a small bit of what they took.

Dallas went first...

Then, Reba had a turn...

Gotta love their point of view!

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...

Wordless Wednesday - Photos by Dallas

Ma-maw let Dallas use the camera in the barn one day...here is what he saw!

Until next time...

Just have to share...

I was originally going to put this in the the Fun Friday Fotos, but I thought it deserved its own post. 

On Tuesday evening, Doug, the kiddos and I headed to Shelbyville.  On Wednesday, we celebrated the life of Doug's Great Aunt Emma.

Aunt Emma passed away on Saturday morning at the young age of 102.  She was such an amazing woman, and she had sooo many wonderful adventures in her life.  Just check out this picture:

That's Aunt Emma at Mount Rushmore!  Yes, Mount Rushmore is in the process of being constructed!

You can see that President Washington's head is completed, and they are working on President Jefferson's head.  After a little research on the Internet, I am guessing the picture was taken late 1934 or early 1935 (explains the quality of the photo).

Another thing, look closely at the above picture and then look at the picture below of how Mount Rushmore looks now:

Did you notice that in Aunt Emma's picture President Jefferson's head is being sculpted to the left of President Washington's?!?!  According to Wikipedia, "Before the head was complete, Borglum [the sculpture] ordered that it be blasted off due to poor rock quality. Jefferson's head was started again to the right of Washington."

How cool is that?

Until next time...

Rest in Peace, Aunt Emma.  You will be missed.

Various Pictures of Dallas

Where's Dallas?

A new "ride on" toy...

Which shoe goes best with this outfit?

Dad's shoe...

or Mom's shoe...

Snack time...

That pudding must have been tasty

A little rest and relaxation...

Until next time...

My Camera Drives Me Crazy!

I'm sorry for not having posted anything in a few days. Something is going crazy with my camera at the current moment. Each time I turn it on, it says that I need to format my card. It has done this before, and I have solved the problem by either removing the battery and/or memory card for a few moments. I have done this multiple times for the past 3 days, and it is not working. I am scared to format the card because there are pictures from our afternoon at the Grinnell Ag Appreciation Day. They had a petting zoo, and there were some great pictures of Dallas with the animals! I have even tried downloading the pictures to my computer, but the computer won't recognize that the camera is connected. {frustration!}

In other news, Doug and I have been busy over the weekend working on the bathroom closet. We did not worry about it for the Labor Day reunion...so it was still showing the studs and subfloor when all our visitors were here. Over the weekend, we were able to lay the new vinyl floor and hang the drywall. I have been able to complete the spackling (which I'm afraid looks better than the rest of the bathroom) yesterday and today. Tonight, Doug and I finished hanging the supports for the new shelves. With a little luck, I will be able to paint it tomorrow. We still need to cut the shelves and paint them, as well as paint the new door.

Today, I canned more tomatoes while Dallas napped. I did 9 pints of whole tomatoes...they will taste great in chili this winter! We have a few more tomatoes; not sure what we will make next, but we are leaning toward more salsa!

Dallas and I even found time to go to the chiropractor and play outside today, too! Needless to say, I'm tired. With that being said...I'm going to bed.

Until next time...

Pella Tulip Festival

Some of you may remember us and my sister Katie going to the Tulip Festival last year. We had such a wonderful time, we all went back this year! To start off...a little then and now action!

Dallas in his first pair of wooden shoes...

They fit a little better this year!

Our family at the 2008 Tulip Festival

2009 Tulip FestivalThe weather was awesome for this year's show. Unfortunately, the tulips were getting close to the end of their blooming stage. There were still many beautiful flowers to see...like these:

This year Grandpa and Gram Bergman were able to join us and Aunt Katie... Doug liked this tractor the best in the parade

Dallas having a ball at the festival

Before the parade started we enjoyed a good Dutch treat called poffertjes. They looked like tiny pancakes, but are sweeter. We had them with powder sugar, strawberries and whip cream...Dallas loved them as well!

This year in addition to seeing the tulips, we decided to take a tour of Vermeer. Think you have heard that name before? Does this help ring a bell?

Yep, they are known for their round hay balers. They are also very well known for their trenching and ditching equipment. The Vermeer Company world headquarters are in Pella, IA.

The founder of the company, Gary Vermeer, just passed away this past February, at the age of 90! His wife still lives in their small, non-air conditioned, one-story home across the road from the Vermeer plant. Anywho...they have a wonderful museum at the plant.

I didn't take too many pictures, but they have this awesome wall mural showing the different products Vermeer makes.

(The house in the above picture is Gary's home)

Well, that's all for now. I have a short video of some Dutch street dancers, but that will have to wait until another day for me to upload it.

Until next time...

Pictures

I promised pictures, so here they are. I appologize for typos...I currently have a sleeping baby in my lap, therefore typing with one hand!

How big is Dallas?
A beautiful sunrise over the weekend

Getting cleaned up after a snack

Dallas likes to help Mommy in the kitchen

Dallas has discovered the things on the fridge come off!

Until next time...