Christmas 2016

Having all my children and grandchildren over for Christmas is the most special day of the year for me.   Our tradition has been to have a brunch about a week before Christmas so the families can spend Christmas Day itself with their kids.

This year I invited my Dad and his girlfriend Emma as well.  Dad doesn't get to see the great-grandchildren that often and he told me afterwards that he enjoyed himself immensely.

My son Doug showed up in his jammies.  He likes to get goofy....it's no wonder his daughter Emily is a silly girl too!

Luckily, Doug and Kara gave some jammies to Jamie so she could join in the fun!

We started out the day with brunch.   We had to be a bit creative in fitting twelve people around the table!   And Elise got her own highchair.  We feasted on egg and sausage casserole, hash brown casserole, pecan sticky buns, raspberry coffee cake, veggie quiche (thanks Kara!) and fresh berries.

Then came Emily's favorite part of the day - opening presents!

After the inevitable wrapping-paper-ball fight, Elise helped me clean up!

Jamie enjoyed reading one of Emily's stories

And helping Elise play piano!

Kelly and Audrey check out a gift

Kara and Emily relax in Hubby's recliner

Emily and Audrey play on the floor 

Elise found all my Christmas decorations and carried them around the house....including a penguin bigger than her!  ( a note....my Dad gave me that penguin the Christmas after my Mom died, "to help me not be sad.")

Tag and I open a combo gift while Jamie wonders what we got.

And my Dad finished off the day by telling a few really bad jokes.......as Emily would say...."Nooooooooooo!"

This day, for me, was heaven.  A houseful of my loved ones around my table, and enjoying the holiday season as a family.  Life really, really doesn't get any better than this.

Elise's First Birthday Party

We celebrated the First Birthday of our youngest Grandbaby - Elise Victoria!   She got all decked out in her fanciest birthday dress for the occasion.

Big Sister Audrey was excited for the party as well!

We gathered the cousins together for one good photo before the partying began.

I joined in for a Memere photo with my girls.

Elise checks out her Great-Grandpa

Elise is quite excited to get the party started!!

The "Before Cake" photo

Why not just eat it all in one bite??

Daddy lets Audrey help blow out the candles

The "After Cake" photo

Which Emily thinks is quite amusing!

Audrey got her share of birthday cake too.

Aunt Jamie starts a game of "Whack Each Other with the Balloon"

A perfect family photo!!

Time to open gifts!

I was delighted that Elise seemed to love the babydoll and sock monkey I gave her.

One last group photo with Elise, the sock monkey, the babydoll and Audrey!

A very happy Memere!

Birthday Surprise

Way back in March, I saw an ad for a play called, "The Million Dollar Quartet".   When I saw that it was a play about Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis, I knew it was the perfect play for Hubby.   And when I saw that the play was going to be on his birthday, I bought tickets!

The show was playing at the Ogunquit Playhouse, a venue Hubby had never been to before.

I was successful in keeping it a surprise for seven months!   (Mostly by avoiding the dreaded "Twenty Questions" - a game at which I am never successful in keeping a secret!)

My plan had been to go up early and walk the Marginal Way because, let's face it, you cannot go to Ogunquit and not walk the Marginal Way!   However, it was pouring out, and continued to rain all day, so that part of the adventure was nixed.

I kept Hubby in the dark right up until we pulled into the parking lot of the theater.   He was thrilled to see what the show was about!  And also so happy to be visiting the theater finally, after passing by it many times on our forays up to Maine.

The show was phenomenal!  It was set  in December 4, 1956, and tells the story of the four young musicians and their struggle to make it in the world of music at Sun Recording Studio in Memphis, TN.   

It was amazing, funny and heart-wrenching.  And the music was just out-of-this-world!

The four actors who played the parts of Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins not only had a good resemblance to the real singers, they sounded just like them!  

We could not have been happier with the show.   And then, because we were in Maine after all, we went to a wonderful little hole-in-the-wall seafood restaurant and ate a heaping plate of fried seafood.

Happy Birthday, Hubby!

Apple Picking with Audrey

Our little Grand-daughter Audrey is 3 this year, and finally old enough to take out on an apple picking excursion.  Unfortunately, our usual Apple Farm decided to take a year off so we had to find someplace new to go.  The place we picked was "just okay" - but it did have almost all the necessary options to make our apple picking day complete.

Some nice pumpkins.....Audrey picked one just the right size to bring home.

There was a ginormous scarecrow we had to climb for our photo op.

Audrey really loved her little purple sunglasses.  She wore them all day.

Finding apples was pretty difficult - and they were tiny - but just her size!

She picked just about the whole bag herself.

With a little help from Memere!

We always shine up one apple to eat while we pick.  Audrey ate hers in a straight line around the apple.....then she was done.

There was a wagon ride....with, disappointingly, no hay!

Pepere and Audrey waited patiently for the wagon to come.

And they were nice and comfy cozy on the ride

After the wagon right, we went into the store for my favorite - some apple cider donuts.   And they were all out!!!!!  WHAT???    That should be against the law!

But they did have a little ice cream stand.  Again, when we went over asked for Audrey's requested chocolate, they were all out!  But she settled for "purple" ice cream.  And enjoyed it very much!

It was a perfect sunny fall day and a wonderful time spent with our sweet little Audrey!