January
Mom and I spent Christmas 2009 in Seattle - January we traveled to Utah for my brother's ski trip. The area was absolutely gorgeous.
After I got back to Wisconsin the kids came for a play day, in the snow! It was fun (except for the face washing I got from Justyn) - what's playing in the snow without a face washing???
February
I had quality time with my granddaughters.
March
Gracyn turns 3!
April
My spring garden was such a delight after winter.
May
Yes, May was a busy month indeed!
For Mother's Day Jenna/Ed/Ella and Justyn/Rae/Ali/Gracie and I went to the Betty Brinn Children's Museum in Milwaukee - the little girls had so much fun.
I went for a walk about Mauthe Lake with JC/R/A/G and spent a day playing with Ella.
When mom and my brother flew to Wisconsin we took another trip. In 19 days we traveled 6,119 miles, traveled in 20 states (WI, IL, IN, KY, TN, NC, VA WV, PA, MD, DE, NJ, NY, CT, RI, ME, VT, NH, MI, MA) - the District of Columbia, and 2 Canadian Provinces (Quebec and Ontario) and I took over 2,000 photos. Aren't you glad I'm only posting a few collages to show some of the wonderful places we visited?!!!
The first week we stayed at a time share in McGaheysville, VA - I fell in love with the area - the Shenandoah Valley, Virginia Beach, and Williamsburg.
Our second week of time share was spent outside of Bushkill, PA. From here we traveled much of the East Coast - again I saw so much beautiful scenery -----AND----- so many vehicles!!! The interstate was non-stop traffic. We saw more of NYC than expected when we got lost in Manhattan and kept going in circles - it was still a great adventure on our way to Long Island.
June
Since Jonathan was arriving later in the month I had a few projects to tackle.
1) Weed my flower garden, where did they all come from????
2) Tear out the old floor in the laundry room and 1/2 bath.
3) and the fun part - spend time with Ali/Gracie.
July
Jonathan not only worked on my projects, but we were able to visit with JC/Rae/Ali/Gracie.
completed projects:
August
Jenna/Ed/Ella traveled to China to get Violet. We are happy to have her as a member of the family. Ella is 2 days older than Violet even though they joined the Stoll family 2 years apart.
Jonathan and I caravaned back to Idaho, he drove his truck filled with tools and I drove his newly acquired old car. This car has belonged to most of the family one time or another --- first it was mine then Jonathan's then Justyn's and now Jonathan's again. I spent time helping him work on his house and visit with his Moscow friends, then I watched him play in a hockey tournament in Kennewick, WA where my brother meet us and took me back with him to Seattle.
Nory and I visited an art museum in Tacoma and a quaint Bavarian village called Leavenworth. Couldn't miss a walk around Green Lake and breakfast with my niece Christina.
September
Violet meet her cousins when we spent a day hiking and playing at Mauthe Lake and then back to my place. I spent every chance I could going to play with Ella and Violet (letting Violet get comfortable with grandma).
October
The Virtual Twins turn THREE! Ella and Violet. Again this year we started out the birthday celebration with Al's Run and Walk (for Children's Hospital), but unlike last year ---- this year the weather was perfect!
I spent a weekend in Shawano - helped the girls decorate pumpkins, play in the leaves, on the school playground, and go on a lovely walk by a river. It was my last time sleeping with Hunter (their dog) - he became very ill shortly after that and passed on. We LOVE you Hunter! ♥
Violet came through her cleft palate surgery with flying colors. A small hole has formed and will need to be repaired most likely next summer.
I had the pleasure of working on Halloween costumes for the girls. Only a few days after surgery Violet was able to join Ella for "Trick or Treat" - one of Violet's many "FIRSTS" since August.
November
Alicyn will remember this Thanksgiving as the day she lost her first tooth. She was so excited - and the tooth fairy found her at my place and left her $1 - what fun! After eating I had A/G/E/V decorate my Christmas tree - it was the prettiest tree I've had!!
I put Justyn to work on another project -- Jonathan didn't have to do this one - after living in this house for 9 years I finally replace the construction steps with pine steps leading to the basement. Oh what took me so long, they are such a pretty sight.
December
Mom left early Dec to join Nory in Seattle. With a blizzard in the forecast Justyn and Rae invited me to sit it out in Shawano instead of at home alone - and it was a blizzard!!! The girls enjoyed playing in the snow - the snow on the trees was prettiest close to home.
On the 18th we celebrated my birthday and Christmas. We discovered the logging road on my land was the absolutely best hill for sledding. They even made a train with 3 sleds tied together. The girls and parents had such fun! Jenna and Rae enjoyed tromping in the snow in snow shoes - maybe I will have to check into some.
After hot cocoa and soup our Christmas gifts were opened. Much of my Dec. was spent making superhero capes, aprons and chef hat's, and princess dresses - all of which were modeled and played in - Ali and Ella had bed time with new Snoopy in 'his' jammies!
The next day Ali and Gracie made and decorated cookies - wearing apron and hat!
Christmas Day I joined Jenna and family along with Ed's parents and grandmother for another Christmas with the girls. I even helped them decorate a gingerbread house.
♥ ♥ ♥ 2010 was a great year, enjoy 2011 and share LOVE with ALL!
Afterall, LOVE is what living is all about!!! ♥ ♥ ♥
