The Gift of Family

I really wanted to have a family portrait in my Christmas card this year. It just didn't happen. I have many excuses as to why it didn't happen. But it boils down to I over plan and not everything gets done. I opened many beautiful cards containing awesome pictures of my friends and their families. As I treasured each one, I was saddened that I didn't have an equally beautiful photo to share. In the last few days, I have made good use of my new camera and if I had it to do over again, I would choose these pictures to place in my Christmas cards this year.

My girls on Christmas Eve! All dressed up and ready to visit with Omi and PopPop!

I love that you can see the excitement in their eyes.
Mom with her girls in front of our new tree. It ROTATES! I love our tree and our new house. We are really feeling at home here and making use of all the space.
My handsome husband with my darlings. We love having Daddy home from work with us for a few extra days. He works hard during the week and with his long commute we often miss having him around with us. Holidays give us more time with him. Yeah!

Our Christmas always starts at the Bradner's house on Christmas Eve. Our German tradition is to have a nice sit down meal in the early evening and then open gifts. The last gift is for whoever can find the pickle ornament on the tree. Then we sip wine and eat some more while we play with our new toys. The drive home is always long enough to rock the kids off to sleep. Ray and I tuck them in and then prepare the house for Santa's visit.
Our greatest gift this year was Oma's fantastic recovery after a major health scare. This day we found she was back to being her old self. Christmas is her favorite holiday. We all agree that she is the biggest kid in the house. She loves tearing open the packages as much as Ella does. After spending her 93rd birthday and Thanksgiving in the hospital, we thank the good Lord above that she was able to spend Christmas at home with us. She is our own Christmas Miracle.
We traditionally spend Christmas day with the Goulden family. This was baby Adam's first Christmas. The chaos continues to grow with the addition of each grandchild. It took us over four hours again this year to get the gifts open. The three ring circus provides lots of laughs and many memories for each of us. Considering that as our families are growing, our schedules get more and more complicated; it was wonderful that we could all be together in the same place at the same time! No school. No work. Just quality time together. Priceless.

I look at each of these photos and smile. Christmas gifts are not always found under the tree. The greatest gifts are the love we share. I want to share these pictures because they depict the love I have for my family and the love they have for me.

The greatest thing about having this blog is that it gives me a second chance to send out my Christmas pictures. So, here they are. Take your pick as to which one you like the best. I love them ALL. Merry Christmas!

Little Holiday Celebrations

The month of December finds us celebrating Christmas in many ways. We bake cookies. We trim the tree. We hang lights outside the house.

We attend the family social at our church hosted by the choir. This year I was asked to read the Night Before Christmas story to the children just prior to the arrival of Santa.
The youth choir did perform one song! I can't remember the song, but I thought this picture was funny. The children are all motioning "asleep." Perhaps it was Away in a Manger??? Take notice that Ella is right out in front, center of attention, performing her little heart out. The child loves to be on stage. She is already talking about going to theater camp again this summer. She is only 5!!! Marley is in the background cracking up laughing because the older kids were making up their own lyrics to the song. I don't think I want to know what the lyrics were.
The last week at school before Christmas break is filled with fun activities. On Thursday, I was invited in to Marley's classroom to help out with the second grade Polar Express Event. Each class traveled to six stations where they participated in different activities related to the book/movie. The students were encouraged to wear their pajamas. I did not wear mine.
Assistant Principal Mr. Rudisill joins Marley's class at one of the stations. The students are eager to answer the teacher's questions when he is in the room. Marley is concentrating hard on her crossword puzzle.
This is Marley's teacher Mrs. Abrisch. She had the best Polar Express station. It was the reading station. Doesn't sound that great until you find out that not only did we read the book, but we served hot cocoa and donuts! The children really seemed to enjoy the activity and I was glad I could be there to help out.

On Friday the kindergarten class performed in the school caroling event. Ella's group did Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer. This carol included costumes of antler hats and lipstick painted noses. This is Ella with her boyfriend, Sam. They are such a cute couple.
And not to be out done...is cousin Abby and her young male friend, Tyler. It is fun having Ella and Abby in school together. What a special treat it is to get to see two of my favorite kids when I go into help out.
And here is our favorite kindergarten teacher, Ms. Gunther. I caught her taking pictures of her adorable students. No doubt she is making special memories as she reaches the half way mark in her first year of teaching. Ella loves her and I enjoy volunteering in her classroom. I was very happy to be included in this day as the kids were so excited for Christmas and for sharing special gifts with their teacher and treats for their classmates.
It was a crazy kind of fun!

I am Thankful for.......

I found this in my daughter's book bag tonight. She said it is her homework assignment for Thanksgiving Day. She is to read this to the people with whom she spends Thanksgiving.

This just made my heart melt.



I was sitting in on Ella's Daisy Girl Scout meeting on Monday night as the girls went around the table and stated what they were thankful for. Ella was the only girl in the group of 9 to say she was thankful for her family. The other girls mentioned mostly material goods such as toys. I was so proud.



I already know I am going to have a great day. I am thankful that I have such thoughtful and appreciative children.


I wish for you and your family to have a wonderful Thanksgiving Day!

Camera Broken

I feel lost without my digital camera! I was having some troubles with it and called the manufacturer because my warranty runs out this week. I ended up having to send it out to Illinios for repair or possible replacement. I won't have it back for at least two weeks. I am afraid this will put a huge damper on my blogging. I guess I can try to be creative with some previously taken photos that are loaded into my computer. Don't be surprised if you don't see much from me in the mean time. Keep your fingers crossed that they can have a camera returned to me before we start attending our holiday parties. Anyone else having problems with the Kodak EasyShare? I am learning that it was not the best choice to buy. So much for all the time I spent last year researching cameras and for listening to Consumer Report!!!!!

Learning to Read and Write

We are 50 days into the school year and I am already seeing that Ella is learning so much in kindergarten! It is fascinating to watch a five year old learn to read and write. Ella displayed two interesting episode this week that I feel I want to share with those who love her.

First, she was taking a shower Wednesday morning in my bathroom as I was getting dressed for work. I could hear her sounding out letters on the assortment of bottles that were in the shower with her.

As I hear her sounding out "KKK.....Kkaaa..... CANdi.... CANdi.... CANditoner.......... Sh...Sha......Sham.....Shampoo......"

I am beaming with pride.

She suddenly calls out, "Hey! Mom, if you add a 'P' to the end of shampoo you get shamPOOP! Hee! Hee! Hee!"

I am now beaming with even more pride.

Shampoop and Canditioner and she is only 5!

Then later that same day after we finished dinner, she asked for a pen and paper because she needed to write a letter to Madi J. Madi is Ella's least favorite friend in Miss Gunther's room. She explained to me that Madi thinks that Sam is Madi's boyfriend! Well, everyone in town knows that Sam and Ella have had an on again/off again romance for over two years. Apparently, Ella thinks that the relationship is currently on again. And she told me she wants Madi to keep her hands off her boyfriend and that Madi should get herself another boyfriend. She proceeded to write this note.

In case you can't see this clearly or aren't fluent in Kid Writing, let me interpret:
Maddy Do Not touch My Boy FRieND Sam. And I MEaN it! By Ella.
She had drawn the frown face before she began writing so that Madi could tell that Ella was mad.

She then packed the note in her school folder and gave it to Madi the next day. According to Ella, Madi has agreed to get her own boyfriend now.

I am so proud of my little girl who is not only learning how to read and write but also how important it is to stand up for herself.

Marley's first post

This is me, Marley. This is my first time making a post to our family blog.

Here is my sister, Ella. She likes to dress up in fancy clothes. Today her outfit made her look like a french girl.
So mom made us french toast for breakfast.
As you can see, I'm the one with all the style.

High School Musical On Ice

We have been waiting for months for the big day to come! Last night it finally happened! Disney's High School Musical on ICE came to the Giant Center in Hershey. Aunt Kim had invited us to join her family and friends for this big event. We took three cars, 10 kids and 5 adults. As all things that are Disney, it was a FABULOUS event.


Here is half of our group seated in our wonderful 3rd row seats! Each child is enjoying a highly overpriced snow cone. Special nights call for special privileges. The cups are great souvenirs. The one style even lights up.
These extra special snow cones lit up the mouths of our children too! Abby had a red one. My kids both had rainbow snow cones, so their mouths were black!

Eventually, the lights went out and Troy and Gabriella took to the ice. All the skaters were extremely talented. The first act was all HSM the first edition and the second was HSM 2. Each act was about an hour long.
Here is Ella's idol, Sharpay!

The show would not be complete unless it included the famous roller coaster scene.

It was an absolutely FABULOUS night out with my girls!

We recommend you catch the show if you can!

Saying Good-Bye

On October 31st we were celebrating more than just Halloween. We were also celebrating selling our old home on Prince Street. Settlement was at 1 pm, but the girls stopped on the way to school that morning to say good-bye to the house. Here they are hugging the house. They loved that house.
I wanted to have this picture with the tree. We planted this tree about three years ago and I took a picture of the girls helping Ray plant it. I am hoping to find that picture and post it here so we can see how everyone has grown.
And we couldn't leave until we gave the other tree a hug too. They are really going to miss this tree. Our new yard has many trees, but none are as good as this one when it comes to climbing.
The new owner was kind enough to tell Ella that she and Marley are invite back to climb whenever they want. I am very thrilled to have finally sold this house. I was also thrilled to meet the new owner and hear her express the things she loves about it. I so appreciate that she sees the same charm in it that we did. I wish her years of happiness there. I know the house will be good to her. It was good to us. But it also feels very good to say "Good-bye!" This sale now allows us to be very happy in our new home. All is GOOD.

Trick or Treat

We celebrated our first Halloween in our new house last week. The festivities kicked off Sunday night with each member of the family making their jack-o-lanterns. Ella's was a moon, star, and bat stencil we found on-line. She is putting on the finishing touches with a Sharpie marker. Ray's was a big spider and mine was a cat sitting behind a jack-o-lantern. I failed to get pictures of the family's complete set. I also failed to get a photo of them lit at night. I was really slacking on my blog commitments.
Here is Marley with hers. It was a haunted house! Very Cool. This stencil is from the same website, BetterHomesandGardens.com. They have awesome holiday decorating ideas. Notice Marley's hair still looks great from the wedding. This is a good 30 hours post salon. We got our money's worth out of this hair-do. She also has bloody red scars painted all over her face. Earlier in the day she and Ella were making scary faces with body crayons. Ella had a complete jack-o-lantern painted on her stomach. I couldn't get a blog appropriate picture of that. I did try. Here are the kids in their costumes and in character. I love this picture.

My entire family was invited to join us on Weds. night for our first trick-or-treat event in the new neighborhood. Everyone contributed to our potluck dinner and to our treat bowl that would be given out to our new neighbors. We were worried about having enough candy because we had been warned that we get a TON of kids. Well, we bought a TON of candy.

Marley is ready to hit the streets with her official Hannah Montana tote bag but, first I make her pose in front of my new scarecrow and mum display.

Sweet and cat-like, Baby Jaguar offers this playful pose.
Baby's First Halloween.

Tod gets Adam ready to head out in his new Tigger costume.

Ready or not, here we come! The whole gang is ready to go. My parents stayed behind at the house to hand out all the candy. Trick-or-Treat is from 6pm-8pm. Adam lasted about 15 minutes and Tod had to take him home. I don't blame him for not liking it. It was chilly out and the streets were full of weirdos ! To much for the little guy. The bigger kids wore out about an hour later. At 7:15 we headed home to see what was happening there. We found we still had a TON of candy to get rid of. Mark and Ray took over the job of candy disbursement and the rest of us went inside to play with the baby. Somehow, in the last 45 minutes of trick-or-treat, the guys gave away ALL the candy (with the exception of the pieces my dad was sneaking into his pockets and into my mother's purse. Some kids never grow-up!)
Here is Marley with a much happier Adam.

I'm not sure who finds who more interesting????

I am sure that they REALLY like each other.

P.S. Kim heard at school today that the rumor is my house is very generous on Halloween.

Now we will have to live up to this again next year.

The Wedding of Amanda Sentz and Nathan Walton

OCTOBER 27, 2007

My cousin Amanda honored me and my daughters by asking us to be in her wedding. I was matron of honor and Marley and Ella were flower girls. We had a wonderful time and would love to share our photos.

Our day started by meeting all the girls in the wedding party at

9 a.m. at the hair saloon.

Ella kept herself busy by listening to her MP3 player and

making faces at people sitting under the dryers.


Finally, at 10:20 a.m. it was time for Marley and Ella to get into the chairs.


Now it is 11:20 and here is Marley's head complete with rose bud clips. She really wanted to have the flowers in her hair. She looked so grown-up.

We rushed off to get dressed. Here is Ella helping Amanda put on her shoes. It may not look like a very interesting picture, but this was a special moment in the day. One of Ella's first words when she was a baby was "shoes." Amanda always loved the way she said it and often will remind Ella of her first word. The day of the wedding, seeing Amanda almost fully dressed, Ella spontaneously went and got Amanda's shoes. She then bent down and started trying to help Amanda put them on. It was so cute to see Ella and Amanda in this moment since they share a bond over "shoooooeessss!"

There were four flower girls for this wedding. From left to right: Alissa & Regina (nieces of the groom) Marley (cousin of the bride) and Ella (god-daughter of the bride). They each carried miniature replicas of the brides bouquet.


Aunt Wanda steals a moment with her niece just before walking down the isle.


The Bradner Family outside the church.

Don't we look nice!

Big moss covered "W" for Walton; Amanda's new last name. There were two of these hanging on the doors as you entered the church.

My favorite shot of the day!

This is the reflection in the limo window of the bride and groom as they were leaving the church.

I got this shot and the photographer didn't.

Here is the shot the photographer was concentrating on at the moment.

Mr. and Mrs. Nate Walton.

Bridesmaids Jess (friend of the bride) and Mary (cousin of the bride).

Clowns to the left of me! Jokers to the right! Here I am stuck in the middle of a limo!

Proud Pappy with his beautiful granddaughters at the reception.

The bride could not resist this photo opt. A patron of the bar at the reception site offered to let the newlyweds use his bike for this picture.

Father of the bride dances with his daughter.

This daddy watches the father/daughter dance and holds his little girl extra tight.

Ella's dance card was full all night. Here she is taking a twirl with cousin Justin.

Cousin Jason can't resist a hug from the bride.

My cousin Justin and his lovely LONG TIME girlfriend, Sarah.

I predict another family wedding in the near future.