Kailey's things to share

Kailey drew this not too long ago. I thought I'd share and in turn have it documented. This is what she thinks God looks like.
Ahhh, God to a kindergartner.



The next pictures are the Family Tree she had to make for school. Of course, Mom waited until last minute because of the pictures and search of the some of the harder ones. And we didn't have a picture of Zoey, the other "cousin dog".

My New JOY Item

I tend to find a new JOY item every holiday. There are tender memories associated with JOY (see here) but I wouldn't trade those memories. I actually re-read my post about my JOY ornaments before writing and had forgotten about the bookmarks. When I saw the JOY item I instantly new exactly where I was going to put it. When I get past all the "birthday" and get to the "Christmas" decorations, I will hopefully get another picture up. I hope I am able to keep the meaning of JOY in the forefront of my mind this season. 

 

I have a Mom story to share. One of my college roommates has returned to SBU as a professor in the Education Department. On one assignment, a student wrote about a "spelling hangman" game that she remembered. She had to give a reference for her game and she wrote, "Mrs. Osterberg." Our God is a God of details. This student had Mom in 3rd Grade and remembered this game for her assignment. (Who remembers that!) She is now in college, with a teacher that had met Mom. She could have gone anywhere and had any teacher! My roommate posted on my facebook wall, "Your Mom's legacy is still living on!"

 

Don't worry Katie. I got one for you too.

Happiness in November

There's a little girl in our life that is very special. Her name is Lexi. And she made November happy for us. Dad called  her a turkey when she was in my belly. He'd say, "She's having a turkey." Due on Black Friday....of course, her parents have worked retail for years. She's a compliant second child in many ways. But can beat to her own drum in many other ways. She's precious. She's our Lexi and she's now three.
Happy 3rd Birthday Lexi! (She was so funny...I don't know if you can see her expression before we started to sing. She had said "Are you going to sing Happy Birthday to me?" Partially thinking she might not get sung to, but also HEY YOU NEED TO SING TO ME!

Kailey's Birthday

Wow! I'm really behind! I'll try to catch you all up. I know my extended family enjoys reading and seeing the girls. I'm trying to keep up! Kailey is 6! I can hardly believe it. Oh, I haven't done first day of school yet, either! ok, one at a time. So much has happened since the day Kailey was born. She is very kind and compassionate (we believe she acquired the compassion trait from helping take care of Mom.) While she does have a few really good friends, she is a good friend to many. She is starting to show some leadership characteristics at school. She knows the answer to most questions her teacher asks. Her teacher will call on her when no one else knows the answer because she will not boast about answering.

We had two birthday parties for Kailey. One was a family party, and one with her friends. One of the things she wanted was her "WHOLE" family together. Well, she got it mostly...we didn't get Uncle Darrel. She was pretty excited to have Aunt AJ around for a couple of days, as well as Grandma Connie, and Jason, Katie, and Papa.

Halloween and Trunk or Treat

We had to great creative with our Halloween costumes this year. For school, Kailey had to be a "storybook" character and bring the book. We spent a lot of time this summer reading books from the library, especially Eloise. Eloise is a 6 year old girl that lives at the Plaza Hotel. Kailey and Lexi have enjoyed the books and a movie we found on the Disney channel. So we had the idea to be Eloise for Halloween. Shirts were found. Shoes bought by a fill-in Grandma "Mor-Mor" and shirts made by Grandma Connie....who did a wonderful job!

We took our Eloise idea a little bit further...BMPC's 2nd Annual Trunk or Treat event. (A trunk or treat is where people gather in a parking lot and decorate their trunks and hand out candy. They are a big hit because they are a safe alternative to door-to-do  trick or treating. We had a great time in our "Plaza Hotel". I've not heard totals from church. However, I would say I handed out over 300 pieces of candy. Our red carpet didn't work with the traffic flow....

 We had special friends join us. This is Molly, the princess bride, in the middle. Molly lives in Florida, and came to spend the week with her family and Mor-Mor, her real Grandma. We had so much fun having them around to play.

"Mor-Mor" was lined up because last year it was SO COLD and WINDY!! This year was BEAUTIFUL!! So she came to church to hold and love on Tyler. Thanks Mor-Mor!

November 5th

This year marked 4 years without Mom. Hard to believe its been 4 years already! Thanks Phyllis and Ruth for your emails. We had our "memorial" meal Thursday evening at Ventana's with Margaret. I couldn't go on Friday (the actual 5th) and they only serve lobster bisque on Thursdays. Lobster was one of Mom's favorites and she really liked the girls' at Ventana's bisque. I'm actually starting to like it!

 This is Tyler's first visit to the cemetery.