Grammy with the twins

These were taken just as Elijah & Elizabeth were warming up quite nicely to "Grammy" We had such a good time with them , as always

Happy Birthday DeEtte !!! Yesterday :)

This would be so much funner if I knew what I was doing, Scanning pictures doesn't work very well, they are so little, I will have to get some schoolin from John maybe, I hope you all can see them. I think they enlarge if you double click on them.

I have no idea if I have these in order, I am the worst at trying to remember ages. These are obviously School Pictures from Elementary, My favorite is the second one, so serious :) just precious.

DeEtte in various group's pre school age

Sometime during this age group, I had all 4 of my Wisdom teeth pulled and DeEtte came to take care of me, such a sweetie, one of my fondest memories of her as a child.

And as an adult, looking as happy as anyone I have ever seen on her Wedding Day. Jason & Jordan seem to have found something more interesting to look at. The last one of DeEtte looking really annoyed and seeing the reflection of the annoyance in the car window is by far the funniest I have of her.



In all seriousness..is that a word? I hope you had a great Birthday. Mom and I were talking about how absolutely beautiful you have become...not that you were ugly before, it was so nice to be able to spend some time with you. Hope Lily is feeling better....Love you

My Favorite Christmas Decorations

Hi Everyone,

I know it's been a long time, and you may have noticed my blog is a mess. I got so annoyed with it and haven't had time to really fix it. Anyway Sarah tagged me a while back so here goes.



This is our favorite and we received it from Jamie one year that he spent Christmas with us. It seriously is the crowning jewel of all our decorations. Below you get a better idea of how it looks above the fireplace :)


Next is an ornament that Jeremy made in elementary school !

This next one of the Last Supper, it was a Christmas Gift that Jason, with the help of one of his friends made for me in Middle School. I realize it's not a Christmas Decoration, but I love it, and I think I may have just inadvertently expanded the qualifying tag items to include gifts:)

Who could resist this one of my precious little Jordan at 6 years old

I don't remember who gave me this next one so we are going to pretend it was Rachel.

This next one we received from Terry's Brother Gery's Wife Karen

The "LI BIEN" ORNAMENT
In Chinese, the phrase "Li Bien" means "inside". The Li Bien Ornament showcases the age-old skill of inside painting. Through a small opening in the ornament, the artist repeatedly inserts a miniature brush to paint the artwork. The process is painstaking and time consuming requiring two days to paint each ornament. The resulting ornament is a beautiful, one-of-a-kind keepsake we will treasure for years to come.

I think my sister Lori gave me this angel, if not it was Bonnie, Terry's sister. Sorry...the memory is failing me.

This Santa & Mrs Claus belonged to my Dad's girlfriend Eddie and the kids, Jeremy & Rachel just loved them so she gave them to us :)


I don't remember who gave this to us either, nativity ornaments are by far my favorite.


So there it is, sorry there are so many. I tag Jamie. I think everyone else is out of town already, I also challenge the Perkowski's/Bank's to start blogs so we can stay in touch better.

I am sorry to link everyone by their relationship but it helps people to know who is who, like Terry's family if they log on to see what's up, which they do, but they don't comment.

Random Old & New

Talked to Mom this morning and she and Lori went to see Grandma Carrie, who if you didn't hear had a nasty fall and possibly a mini stroke, details are a little sketchy at this point, but she is in a Nursing Facility as she can not get up by herself. Mom said she was in good spirits but pretty frail looking, said Jamie, Cory & Naomi went with Lori last week to see her, and Naomi sang a song for her. If Lori had a blog she could bring us all up to date...hint hint. Just kidding, I know you are busy and I am so thankful that you are visiting with her so much, we all appreciate it.




This is Jason at last years prom, that tells you how long it takes me to figure things out, He's so handsome :)



This is a picture from last Christmas with "Nothin but love" in Jason & Jordan's eyes for their mother and sweet little Elijah in the middle :)



Jordan my little Rock Star in his most Polish of outfits. Jammies with collared shirts are all the rage in Poland !!



Our Christmas Lights, Jordan Terry and Jonas put them up, can't really tell how superb they are in my photo.



Jonas after the hard work :)



Jonas at the Park several months ago...FYI - I did not dress him. He was looking at a little girl :)


Showing off for Gramma



The Birthday Party !!!!

I know I have been tagged but we are really behind this year, haven't put up the tree or any inside decorations at all. The boys...All of them, went to get the tree so I should have something by Wednesday or Thursday as I will be out of town on Business for a few days.

Thanksgiving Blessings

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving !!

We had a wonderful couple of days together. Little Elizabeth was so sick, but so good, she just wanted to be held on Thursday when the gang arrived from Vegas and Dza Dza (Polish for Grandpa) was happy to oblige. She just slept on his shoulder for what seemed like an eternity, while I got to happily play with Elijah. He was such a good baby, just played and talked and entertained us most of the day. Jonas arrived at about 1:30 PM and was overjoyed as always to see the babies. He even got a smile out of Elizabeth, which the rest of us failed to do. I finally got a chance to hold her for a while. It's so awesome to hold babies when they are asleep, obviously it's better if they aren't sick but you know what I mean. Jason, Jordan and Jeremy had a blast together, as they usually do, I love to hear them laugh, they all have such different laughs and they are all contagious. We had French Dip sandwiches that were nummy and then the kids went down to sleep, very easily. Jason tried to get Jonas to sleep but he wasn't having any part of it. We all did a craft together, courtesy of Jeremy & Sarah, which was so much fun. Terry even participated, which shocked us all. Jason was the only one who didn't paint but he took pictures so that we could share. Rachel got home to collect Jonas and we played a game of Monopoly, which I detest, but it was fun. Jordan has a rather unique strategy for the game, far to complicated to explain. Jordan also sold his bedroom to Jeremy & Sarah for some WOW gold and slept on the couch. Jason tried to outbid him but the deal had already been struck so Jason got the mattress on the floor, but no one was complaining.

We celebrated on Friday because Rachel was off. We had Turkey, Stuffing, Sweet potatoes, Rolls, Green Beans & Carrots, Cranberries, Mashed Potatoes & Gravy and Pumpkin Pie. We also had an Artichoke, creamed cheese spinach dip that Terry made in a Sourdough Bread Bowl that was delicious while we waited for the dinner. Jeremy, Jason & Jordan all helped with the cooking duties which left Sarah, Rachel & I time to visit and play with the kids. We played Cranium when the babies went down for a nap. Jordan & Rachel, Jeremy & Sarah , and Jason and I were teams. Some of us were caught cheating...we won't mention any names but I think you all know which team it was. At the end I am pretty sure Jason and I were in the lead.

Since the boys cooked...guess what the girls got to do, that's right we got to clean up...yay !!!! So Sarah came up with a little game of making up Christmas songs. That sounds very odd, but it was a blast. When it was Rachel's turn she refused so we switched to singing actual songs, much to Jordan's dismay, but it truly made it fun. Jeremy was just happy to have some video game time, and anything that kept us happy was OK by him. Jason slept through the whole thing right underneath on the other side, so it couldn't have been to bad. Next year Sarah isn't washing though, she is too maticulous, not that I don't enjoy a clean dish as much as the next person but wow. No we do not have a dishwasher, well we do but we don't use it...I'm kinda creeped out by it.

The babies just played and entertained us endlessly, and I kept saying how nice it would be if we all could live in the same town (Dayton), which fell on deaf ears, but I wont stop trying. Thank you Mom...We love you :)

Thanksgiving is a bit of an odd Holiday for me because as all of you know, we lost our Joshua on Thanksgiving in 1976. He was 2 months and 10 days old, and my thoughts often drift to him on Thanksgiving. It was really hard for many years not feeling guilty about celebrating on this day. I have so many blessing though, and I focus on them.

I know it was a difficult year for all of us, especially Mom, Lori, Mikal, Amy & Chelsea. We are all here for you and love you very much.

My Baby has his License !!!!!

Well It's official. Jordan passed his driving test!! My last baby on his first step toward independence. He really is quite a good driver. They have restrictions now in the State of Nevada that limits him to driving the first 6 months either by himself or with siblings in the car. No friends for 6 months, which I think is a really good rule, although I am not sure how they enforce it. His best friend Taylor didn't pass, which is a bummer because he is the one with the car.

In other news, Terry's Birthday was Yesterday, we will be celebrating it with Thanksgiving this year, he is 52 same as Lori--1955 was a good year. We also received news that he has been placed on the Liver Transplant List as of November 12th, but will likely not need one for a couple of years.

As most of you know I have applied for a job with the City of Mesquite and they have not made a decision yet. It's a long shot, but who knows.

Love you all

The Democratic Debate

I watched the Debate last night on CNN, Thanx Mom for reminding me. I am a little confused. I am a political beginner, I mean I have always voted but never really had great conviction one way or the other. I know I am the lone Democrat in the group, or at least I think I am, and I am not really sure why I am except for they appear to be more humane and less corrupt.

I was listening intently about what they all had to say about the rising cost of oil, because that does affect me personally in a huge way, and I was really annoyed when several of the candidates said it was because of the threat of going to war in Iran, there is a $30.00 per barrel risk charge or something. I really wish I would have stayed in school and learned about economics, but for some reason this was very believable to me, leaving me more convinced than ever that I am for a change in the government.

Today I drove to Ely and was listening to the Talk Radio shows of both Rush & Shaun Hannity, as I like to hear both sides and we all know they are very Republican. They claim that the fault of the oil prices is the Democrats because they wont let us get the oil that we have, apparently plentifully supplied in our own country because of global warning concerns. So now I was annoyed at the Democrats.

Finally my point. How are we supposed to discern who is lying to us? I am not a scholar, but consider myself of average intelligence, and frankly am a little afraid of how people actually decide who they are going to vote for. I'm pretty sure they all lye, just to get our votes and I am inclined to vote at this point for whomever is the least "connected" in Washington or Corporate America. But then there is that pesky keeping America Safe issue where I would want the most experienced to take the helm.

I think most of our family isn't really political, but if you have thoughts I would love to hear them.

Tagged !

What a fun idea. I really don't have 6 interesting things to say about myself and Terry doesn't do blogs....weird I know :) I will do the best I can.

1. I played Girls Roller Hockey as a teenager. I had to be the goalie for an away game that we played in Sacramento. I had to put on about 100 pounds of gear and it was the most disgusting sweaty experience of my life, but I had a blast. I can't remember if we won or lost which probably means we lost right?

2. I was a car hop on roller skates at "The Big Deal Drive In" when I was about 15. It was the funnest job I ever had and I thought I was pretty cool. My brother Danny also worked there which made it even more fun. One night my friend Ramona, brought her Dad in for milk shakes and I fell and spilled it all over myself. That was the only time I ever fell.

3. Lori, Debbie, Danny & I used to go to houses and ask if we could do various chores for people to earn money to go horseback riding or some other adventure. We usually only ended up with enough to go get candy bars and drinks so we decided it might be better to say we were raising money for various reasons. If I remember correctly I don't think Lori participated in that part but it did increase our success.

4. I love to have a friendly debate.

5. I tend to over analyze.

6. I loved being pregnant. People are so kind and it was such a wonderful time.

OK that was more like memories really wasn't it? I am expanding the theme, memories qualify and I tag Mom and Marty when she does a blog. I really wish my other siblings would get with the program and blog.

I Want to play too !!!

Hi all, I wish I could say that people were begging me to start a blog but I would be fibbing. Apparently everyone knows how exciting life can be here in Mesquite. I love that everyone does this now and I can post pictures of Jonas because Rachel doesn't have a computer. This picture was taken at our annual Church Festival and is just to precious not to share. If I ever figure out how to use my digital camera I will share more. I hope you all take part in my poll of the week.

Love you all
Linda