Monday, December 21, 2009

July thru December of our year in review

July thru December was a very busy time for us, especially October, November, and December. July 1 was Jimmy's birthday. We celebrated the Fourth of July at Barb and Brett's with family and friends. July 6 I spent a few hours with Carter at A Latte Fun, an indoor play place for kids up to 6 years old, so many things to do, we had a great time.

July 10 left to spend the weekend with her friend of about 48 years Edna, they had a great weekend.

Martha's birthday is July 21 but we went over on July 19 to celebrate with her, a wonderful day, she got loads of cards, phone calls, and visitors a very fun day.

July 24 Christopher out of school came to spend some of his vacation time with us, he had a great time with Carter and Griffin. On July 30 Joan and her dear friend Jenny went on a weekend church retreat, great fellowship, just a great weekend.

Not a lot happening in August, just gearing up for the rest of the year.

September 12 Martha, Jimmy, and Jessica came over and we all went to a wedding of a daughter of a great family friend, great wedding and reception.

September 18, my birthday we drove over to Clearwater Beach as Barb put on a wedding shower for her friend Beth who is getting married in November.

On the 23 rd we celebrated Joan's Mother-in-Law Dot's 90 TH birthday. She especially enjoyed getting to spend time with Carter and Griffin.

October was a wonderful month for us. On October 12 we left on a cruise joined by our dear friends Bernadine and Butch. We had stops in Nashua, Paradise Island, Coco Bay, and Key West.We had so much fun we hated to see the cruise end.

On October I re connected with a long time friend who I had lost touch with for a few years, we have had such fun catching up about the time we were disconnected, Joan and I took Carter and Griffin to the Pumpkin Patch, a very exciting day and for Halloween Carter was Scoobey Doo.

November we spent lots of Saturdays at Carter's soccer games. November 10 Joan and I celebrated our 8 TH wedding anniversary.

We spent the weekend of the 14th, 15th, and 16th in St. Petersburg for a beautiful beach wedding of Beth and Greg, Barb was the Matron of Honor and Carter was the ring bearer, the wedding and the reception was wonderful, great time was had by all.

On November 17 we checked into a condo at the Hilton Vacation Club for a very exciting week. We spent many fun hours at the pool and spa, went to the Arabian Nights show, we were joined by Barb, Carter, & Griffin and Joan's sister Debbie and her husband Mike.We went to the ICE show at the Gaylord Hotel, went back there for a great Christmas show. Spent time at Downtown Disney and Christopher met us there and came home with us for a few days visit. Joan hosted Thanksgiving, wonderful day of great food, great time spent with family, we all had so much to be thankful for this year.

December isn't over yet but another very busy month, the high light so far was Carter's Christmas Pageant at his school, great show, the kids were wonderful. Saturday the 19th was Carter's last soccer game and trophy presentation.
Still a few more good things coming this month including of course Christmas, Barb and Brett will be hosting this year, for family and friends.

I told Joan the other day that 2009 has been such a wonderful year for us I almost hate to see it end. Griffin we born 6 weeks premature and had a rough couple of months but he is doing great now and Carter just loves the role of big brother.

We hope that 2010 will be a good year for all our family and friends, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and may God look out for us all in the coming year.





































































































































































































































































































































Wednesday, December 16, 2009

After Joan and I had dated a few times and were getting to know each other she told me one day that her goal in life was to wear out, not rust out, little did I know she was not kidding, she likes to stay very busy. But then I thought that fits in with my philosophy which is we not be able to avoid growing older but we can sure delay growing up and that's me I don't want to grow up.

Those of you that have received our Christmas letters in the past know we like to stay busy and we do. A quick recap of some of the things that have kept us busy in 2009.

On January 16 I told Joan we will be going out to dinner tonight, I took her to Mama Leone's Italian Restaurant where we went on our first date on January 16, 1999, 10 years to the day.

We have season tickets to the Maltz Theatre, we see 5 shows a year usually about one every month for 5 months we went on January 17.

On January 25 Joan and I spent about 6 hours with Carter at the South Florida Fair, don't know who had the most fun him or us.



















January 30 Christopher came for a visit and for Carter's birthday.

January 31 Celebrated Carter's birthday a day early with just the immediate family.

February 1 Carter's fourth birthday party with his friends and other family. The party had a Fireman's theme. The firemen came with two fire trucks, gave the kids a show of what they do and gave them all plastic Fireman's Hats. Great party, fun for young and old.


Other February happenings, Joan's childhood friend Elaine and her husband Fred came for a visit, Joan and Elaine did a lot of reminiscing.
Carter started T-ball which kept us busy for quite a few Saturday mornings, such fun to watch them and see them develop from week to week.


Joan and her dear friend Jenny went on a weekend church retreat, they had lots of fun and fellowship with other church members.

The Palm Beach Count Women's Bowling Association had a bowling tournament to honor the women in the Palm Beach County Bowling Hall Of Fame of which Martha is enshrined, Martha couldn't make it so I stood in for her. A very emotional day spent with women who bowled with Martha and Bubba for many years. They kept coming up to me all day with wonderful stories about Martha and Bubba.
March seen a couple of really nice baby showers for Barb as we awaited the arrival of Carter's little brother.

March 26 Barb had to go to the emergency ward. March 27 Griffin was born at 6:49 PM, 6 weeks premature, a very exciting but also scary day.

March 29 Barb left the hospital and had to leave baby Griffin there. She said it was one of the hardest things she ever had to do. He stayed 12 more days, a lot of that time in the incubator.







March 3 , celebrated Joan's birthday.

April,
Easter at Barb & Brett's with family and friends..

Carter started soccer:


April 19 did my first BLOG

24th Barb's birthday

30 th got sad news my brother-in-law and great friend Frank Strawderman passed away.

May 9, five years since Martha had her stroke

May 10 celebrated Mother's Day.

May 11 joined The Staying Alive Fitness Center, been going 5 days a week since then, trying to stay in shape to keep up with Carter & Griffin. LOL

June 21 great get together for Father's Day, a really fun day.

June 26 A wonderful family member Maria Johnson came to spend a few days, she got to see Griffin for the first time, she is a kinder garden teacher and she and Carter had so much fun together.



June 27

A wonderful party for TJ to celebrate his marriage and a farewell party for him as he was shipping out to Iraq were his is now serving. A good time to remind every one to keep our troops in our prayers.





That is just a part of our year so far, the rest of the year from July until now we really got busy. As Joan says she wants to wear out, not rust out. LOl

Monday, December 14, 2009

December 2008

December is always a very busy but a fun month. Living in Florida I always hear people say they have a hard time getting into the Christmas spirit because of our weather. Trust me we do not have that problem, this is just the highpoints of December 2008 for us.

On December 5 we went to the Christmas get together at Palm Beach Atlantic University, Joan's work place, great fellowship, great food and very festive.

December 11 the annual Christmas presentation at First Baptist Church in West Palm, it gets better and better each year.

December 12 a beautiful Christmas pageant at Carter's pre school, Carter loves being a part of it and the kids do a fantastic job.

December 13, we have season tickets to the Maltz Theatre in Jupiter, we see 5 shows a year and this was our night.

December 15 found out Joan and I are going to be Nana and Papa again. Very thrilling news.

December 16 another Christmas party for the Stevens Ministers, and their spouses, Joan has been a Stevens Minister for a few years and finds it to be very rewarding.

December 19 Joan's sister and brother-in-law Debbie and Mike came to spend a few days for Christmas,we all got together with Russell and Joan, brother and sister-in-law on the 20 TH.

December 21 another Christmas presentation at Christ Fellowship Church, they put on a spectacular presentation every year.

December 24 we spent the day with Martha, Jimmy, Jessica, and Anita in Sebring. That evening the Christmas presentation at our church First Presbyterian.

December 25 Barb and Brett hosted the family get together at their home, a great time was had by all.

December 26 Christopher came to spend a few days.

December all of that action for the month we spent a quite New Years Eve at home, watched a movie, watched the ball come down and said goodbye to 2008.

With a month like that you can see we have no problem being in the Christmas spirit