Jo & Denny's 50th!

Denny and Jo celebrated 50 years of wedded bliss on Saturday! We are planning a big family trip this summer to celebrate, but couldn't let the actual day pass without a little celebration as well.  We rented the letters to "Card their Yard" (similar to Grandma Cheryl's birthday) and I think it turned out great! 

We got Joy & Scott's house all decorated for the momentous occasion with posters, balloons and personalized beer steins for the happy couple.

We did a Mexican theme for dinner and had a great margarita bar for our guests.

Grandkids pic before all of the guests arrived:

Grandpa Denny was telling a funny story about their wedding day and had Grandma Shirley cracking up!

It was also Oliver's birthday so we let him go through the food line after the guests of honor.

Their wedding album was so much fun to look through.  Grandma Shirley loved seeing the pictures, as we all did.

Here are a few pics from that album.  Grandma Shirley was only 38 years old when they got married; crazy!

And look at these crazy love birds today!

I made a poster with pictures from throughout their marriage and everyone enjoyed seeing these, also.

We didn't hijack the party or anything, but we did sing a quick "Happy Birthday" to our newest 17-year-old. He was given the honors of cutting his own ice cream cake.

What a wonderful night celebrating this wonderful couple I get to do life with!  I'm so thankful for their example of Christian marriage for us and for our kids.  They are truly a gift to all who know them!  Happy 50th Anniversary, Jo & Denny -- we love you!!

Happy 17th Birthday, Oliver Joel!

Oliver's birthday is always a time for great reflection and thanksgiving in our household and this 17th birthday was no exception!  The evening before the big day, our Wellsville Eagles played in the football sub-state game, which Calvin was able to be home for, which was awesome.  After the game, we had all of the snacks prepared for our movie-watching tradition.

Ty was able to join us, and Oliver had picked out several movies at the library after school.

As it turned out, the first movie was almost 3 hours long, and since we didn't start it until after 10:00, "Interstellar" ended up being the only movie we watched this time.  But it was a very interesting movie!

We did have to take a break from the movie at midnight to toast our new 17-year-old boy!

On his birthday morning, we did the usual muffins and kid wine.  Yay for Calvin being home to celebrate with us!

Singing Happy Birthday and blowing out that candle (he only wanted one)!

His gifts consisted of boring, yet necessary, clothes.  He got lots of new socks, a new belt, a nice jacket, sweatpants and a sweatshirt.  I think he was okay with his boring gifts.

That evening at Grandma and Grandpa's anniversary party, we had his real birthday cake.  We went with a "Viva Las Oliver" + KU Jayhawks theme since he'd be leaving for the KU/Duke game in Vegas a couple days later.

I love this boy SO MUCH and I'm so, so thankful to be his momma.  What a gift he is! Happy, happy birthday to my Oliver Joel!

Eagle Football 2024

As I've mentioned in previous posts, Oliver joined the football team this fall as the manager and drone filmer.  I know he had a great time spending every afternoon at practice with his friends, helping coach on the sidelines, and of course, attending the traditional Thursday night team dinners. With Calvin graduating last year, it was great having a son on the sidelines again this year.  Wellsville football has such strong tradition (this year's seniors never had a practice after a loss!) and I love that my sons have played a part in this. I'll turn the rest of this post over to Oliver to tell you more. 

This football season I was the manager/drone filmer. It was a lot of fun to be at practice and fly the drone for them.

Most of the time I was standing on the sideline talking to Austin and Pete 

(when we were on defense), giving them some pointers.

My main job was getting the kicking tees for Matt, since he played the whole game and couldn't come to the sideline.

Everyone always comes out to the games, and they are a fun time for the community.

After the games, we would always sing the school song, which is pretty cool.

It was our most successful season in 10 years, as we made it to the semi-final game, going 11-1. I'm glad I was able to be a part of it.

Happy Birthday, Grandma Cheryl!

My beautiful momma had a big birthday last week!  To get the party started, we rented some fun signs to dress up mom and dad's front yard.  Evelyn helped get everything organized. . .

. . . and then we snuck over while they were gone to get everything just right.

We even spotlighted it so she'd definitely see it when they arrived back home.  She loved it!

Her birthday was on Friday, but we kept her through the weekend.  Kyle took her to a fun charcuterie class in Eudora on Saturday morning. They ate some yummy food as they learned how to plan a charcuterie board. And look how pretty that board is that she got to bring home with her! 

Mom came home from Eudora and met up with Joy and me.  The three of us spent the afternoon celebrating with a Girls Day Out at White Tail winery.  I didn't get pics of the activities inside, but we got some pretty ones outside.

Our final event to celebrate our wonderful mom was a "Sip and Glaze" at the Baldwin Brewery last night.  When Joy and I decided on this event, I think we may have had temporary amnesia regarding a previous ceramics gift we'd given Jo for her birthday a few years ago.  While glazing these trees wasn't quite as stressful as that nativity set had been, it was still a bit more intense than we'd planned.  All-in-all, it was a fun night, though, and we'll all have some pretty vintage Christmas trees to help decorate our homes.

The trees were much larger than we'd imagined and there were lots of detailed presents, trains, bears, etc at the bottom. I'm glad I brought Evie along for help!

What a gift that my sisters all live nearby and we can have a fun evening together (on a weekday, no less!)  celebrating the amazing, beautiful, selfless, godly woman we are blessed to call, "Mom"!  Happy, happy birthday, Mom -- We love you so much!!