The Christmas Pickle

• The Christmas Pickle is an old German Tradition. The pickle is the last ornament hung on the Christmas tree. On Christmas morning the first "child" to find the Christmas pickle receives a special gift.

  Here they are waiting in the kitchen for the big hunt! On your mark, get set....................................go!
  I think I see a big person hunting for the pickle this year. Could it be Richard?
  Some try the approach of looking up from the bottom.
  And the winner is.............Nicholas. The guys finally broke the ice! I think the girls are pouting!

I will probably get in trouble for this post since every one just crawled out of bed and looks their best!

Christmas Day

Time to wake up . It is Christmas! The guy cousins camped out downstairs.
These are Aunt Carol's favorite Caramel rolls. No one makes them better!
Jeff opens a present. Sweatpants from his favorite state....FLORIDA.
Everyone is checking out their stockings. Your never too old for stocking stuffers. Did Santa come?????
Looks like a good game of Settlers of Catan. I think the youngest cousin Kimmie won!

More Christmas Memories....

M
Mom and her siblings. Lindsay and her Aunt Paula... the women in gold.
There is never a lack of food!
The men are on clean up duty but I think there is a lot of playing going on.
After we all attempted to recite the Christmas story by memory, opened presents and had more treats there was still time for a little guitar hero.

Christmas Memories

Here comes Grandpa. Grandpa loves the color red and he is dressed in his red sweater for Christmas.
Here is Grandma with Allyson. I think they are discussing wedding plans. We are excited for Allyson's wedding in March!
Where there is lefse the crowd will gather. Here is Jeff with some of his cousins.
Richard got voted to make the gravy this year. It was very good!
Grandpa is supervising Den making lutefisk. Yes, we still make lutefisk each Christmas. Den is talking to my nephew Nate. He is in Iraq right now.

Happy Birthday Jeffrey!

Happy Birthday Jeffrey. It was 19 years ago that you joined our family. We remember you entering the world that day and you did not cry. Your dad asked the doctor if you were alright and he said we had a healthy baby boy. Now you have grown to be a very strong young man.

This week I was going through your baby book and I thought you might enjoy some of the memories I found written down.

Do you remember ..........

• Playing for hours with your farm set lining up your cows, pigs and horses.


• Getting mad at us and crossing your arms and saying "you go"!


• Saying your prayers at night and thanking Jesus for Mommy, Daddy, Grandma, Grandpa, Kiki, baby Nick, Bingo, the tractor, wagon and the combine.


• Your favorite foods when you were little were waffles, mac and cheese, chips, popcorn and pop-tarts. Some things never change!


• This is a quote from your baby book . At 15 months it said "Jeff is a very sensitive and loveable lttle guy. He gives hugs and kisses to everyone including the girls in the nursery." Some things really don't change!


• In Kindergarten you quoted your memory verse as follows. "Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever. Brewers 14:8. You always did like baseball!

Happy Birthday Dear Jeffrey. May you always pursue Jesus with your whole heart. He is the author and finisher of your faith. Live for God and others, pray, be teachable, respond to the Holy Spirit's promptings, and stand firm on God's word.

I remember shortly after you were born your dad holding you . It seems just like yesterday. We had no concept of the blessings and lessons that you would teach us. We are so proud of you Boogie. Always remember how much we love you!

A Snowy Day

Today is a beautiful snowy day. School got out at 2:00PM and Nick is in his glory snowboarding with friends on their "homemade" snowboard course. Oreo (our puppy) and I went for a long walk. Oreo has a great time hunting for squirrels. Yesterday he got one!

Thanksgiving Fun

We were not very good at taking pictures over the Thanksgiving week-end but here are a few pictures that we did take. On Thanksgiving Day Denise had her family come for the day. Richard also got to take a ride in E's firetruck over the week-end.

JAZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ CONCERT

Tuesday evening found us in Moorhead at Minnesota State University Moorhead. Lindsay had a Jazz concert. The name of this group is Snowfire. Here are a few numbers they performed.

A Jeffrey Original

Here is a football that Jeff designed and made in his Engineering and Professional Development class. He was learning how to weld metal together for manufacturing processes. I wonder if this quarterback has been throwing this football on the football field?

Happy 65th Anniversary Dad and Mom!

Sixty five years ago on November 7th my parents were married in Wisconsin. They are the parents to five children , grandparents to 15 grandchildren and great grandparents to 3 great-grandchildren. Not many people have the privileged of celebrating 65 years of marriage so we celebrated twice. We celebrated once on the day of their anniversary with their friends where they are living in Moorhead and again this past Sunday at my sister's home with family.

Happy Birthday Dad!

Dad-

Today is your birthday. Thank you Dad for all the special memories we have shared with you. Who can forget the Chicken Noodle Soup Parade around the house before we ate Chicken Noodle soup, or playing the piano while we sang. How about teaching us how to make cotton candy or those trips to the State Football tournaments. The memories are endless Dad and they mean so much to us. Thanks for teaching us about Jesus Dad and for your encouraging words and unconditional love. We are so proud to call you our father!

Happy Pumpkin Day

Who doesn't remember the fun of carving pumpkins in October! Well,it looks like some of our children still think it is fun. Actually, Nicholas had to do pumpkin carving as an art project for school. He chose to carve The Last Supper in his pumpkin's face. If you can see it, the carving has 3 different layers to it. Some of the carving of the Last Supper is all the way through the pumpkin and another layer such as the table is just carved partially through.

Then there is Lindsay and Sam who made pumpkin carving a date night.

Nick claims he took first place and is looking for better competition amongst family next year!

"Nice try Sam and Lindsay" - Niz

Football Finale

The football season officially ended last night. Nicholas played his last JV game as quarterback last week and they ended their season with a 6-2 record. Nick also kicks for the varsity team and last night they ended their season in a play-off game. What a great bunch of guys! We will miss this group of seniors and their leadership.

CO2 Car Race in Intro to Engineering

This past week Jeff competed in CO2 car races in his Intro to Engineering Class. His car is called shooting star. Thought you might enjoy seeing the race. Here it is. Looks like fun Jeff. Keep up the good work!

He Passed!

Nick passed his Drivers test on Tuesday morning. That was his first attempt. So,two of our three children passed on their first try. We won't say who failed the first time but SHE is a good driver now! Well, here is a picture of the practice session early in the morning prior to the big test. Congratulations Nick. Up, Up, Up goes the insurance rates!