Happy Birthday Jim! (12-24)

Tomorrow is Jim's 60th birthday.  Happy Birthday, Jim.  I love you :)

Sunny says, "Happy Birthday Daddy!"

Have a great day!

Christmasing Early

We try to have Christmas on a different day than the 25th.  This time of year is always so stressful.  So a few years ago - I said the heck with this and talked to Jim about having Christmas at a time when it is not so stressful for everyone.  I hate to only get to see everyone for only a few hours and they are stressed because they have to be somewhere else or don't want to drive in the dark or ...........
This works much better for us.
The only down side... having to get shopping finished early.  So here are some pictures from our 12-20  Christmas celebration.

Beth & I bought each other sister gifts this year. Don't you think we are starting to look more alike?

Bernie's family came.  Amilia is now 16 and Lisa is in nursing school.

Mom and Bob joined us.  Seth and Mckinley were busy checking out their gifts. Jim is opening one of the many presents he received.

The Stephens and Sassmanns were here.  Mark is on the left. Helen came for the second year.

We are so glad you joined us again. John spent the day making sure Logan was not getting too rough with Jackson. Seth wrestles now and is teaching Logan, so Logan was practicing his moves on Jackson.

There was lots of laughing going on all day.

Wayne, Lisa's husband, Seth, and Courtney's sons, Tyler and Nicolas.

They ate their dinner, but really liked the cookies and mini chocolate candy bars.

Jackson & Mckinley eat at their new kids table.  They are old enough to have their own table so it is "just their size."  See Allison your plates are great for the kids to eat out of at Grandma's house. Logan was way too excited to eat.  Maybe next time he will sit with Jackson and Mckinley to eat.

Jackson plays with one of his new airplanes.

Travis, Sara & Harrison.  Sara enjoyed holding Harrison.

He is 7 weeks and over 12 pounds.  He is a very good baby.

Opening presents can get kind of wild.  Hailey watches Seth check out his iPod.

Sara watches across the room and Mckinley opens gifts.

Sunny hangs out with us in a safe place.  He still has to share the shelf with gift boxes.

He thinks thats okay because it provides more cover for him.

Mckinley not so crazy about her Momma holding another baby.

But her dress is so cute!

Mckinley, Jackson & Logan had a wonderful time all day.  They ran up and down the steps, through the living room, dining room and kitchen.  They ate cookies and candy and played with their new toys.

All in all it was a very good day!

HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY SARA!

Sara, Happy Birthday.

Here are just a few pics of you...enjoy

Sara & Jim reading the Sunday Paper

Sara in pre-hiphop mode (1989)

Sara - summer 1993 - she's growing up

Sara @ Pios for her 13th birthday - 1990

She loved chocolate then, too.

Sara - all grown up - making memories for her little girl.

Have a wonderful day!

Saturday After Thanksgiving

Jim cuts up turkey I baked Friday night.

It was very good. We ate after returning from some

afternoon adventures.

The Kuhls were here. We slept in and hung out at the

breakfast table a little longer than usual.

Mckinley enjoys her pancakes, but insists on a napkin

for her sticky fingers from the syrup.

Jackson poses for Grandma with that sweet smile.

Lexi and Sunny hangout hoping Jim will give up some

turkey.

Mckinley didn't sleep to well Friday night (that means

Sara & Travis didn't either) so after they went through a

couple of our empty rentals and joined the K&N Patriots

for awhile Mckinley crashed in the car, then took a nap in

the office before heading back to Kansas.  I'm sure Sara

& Travis would have liked to join her.

Doesn't she look just like Sara?

A Tea Party Protest - Family & Friend Style

Sara, Travis & Mckinley stayed in the background
but watched with interest and read lots of the signs.

Jackson and my friend, Nancy protest. Jackson

waves an American flag. Jim is in arms reach of

Jackson, on the right.

Nancy and Judy, sisters and now fellow protestors.

Nancy and Jackson again.

You can see our banner "K&N Patriots"

There were about 80 protestors there today and

4 counters protestors across the street.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. We wish you a wonderful day.

John was the main cook today. Thank you.
The 3 Sassmann kids + Jim, John, Seth, Logan & Harrison. Hailey, Sara, Travis, Jackson, McKinley, Allison, Geoff, Lanie & Larry are missing.

Mark came up to hang with the Seth. Mark saw Seth wrestle earlier this week.

Logan made a turkey at school. It is very cute.

This is the turkey John made - yummmmy!

This is my first pumpkin pie of the season. It was really good!

My New Nephew

Meet Harrison, my new nephew:) Logan is checking out his new little brother.
Seth is now living with Beth and John. Hailey is the oldest. Nothing like having your kids double in 2 days.

Tayna's Wedding Shower

Tanya is marrying Andrew Mearz January of 2010. Andrew is working on his PhD in Chemistry and Tanya has two years left in law school. They plan to end up in St. Louis or Chicago, but who knows at this point, that is 2 years away.
Today, we celebrated with a wedding shower.

Tanya and MaryJean

Tanya, MaryJean and Grace (Andrew's grandmothers)

Tanya, her Mom (on left) and Myrna

The cake, mmmmmm good.

Tanya & her Mom

Cardinals Playoff Game

Jim has always wanted to attend a Cardinals world series game. So this year the Cardinals were on their way with winning their area division. Unfortunately, they lost the first three games of the overall division and were out. There is always next year!

Bird Houses and Hummingbirds

This is a gourd bird house at Ray and Carol's. Ray grew the gourd

I noticed this bird house on the garage on a rental in Owensville.

I was able to get this shot of a hummingbird eating out of our feeder.

This red throated hummingbird posed nicely for me to get his picture several times.