December....already!

 Trees at the Wolford school

 Winter is here :-)

 Bob was on the phone 

when he spotted these moose (meese?)

walking through our yard

 "Frosty" must have been shocked by the meese;

his eyes are jumping out of his head. :-)

"Bigfoot" was here, too

 The choo choo train is on the way to its winter home--

the tracks north of our farm...

Lookie who we found at the hockey game...

Jill, Jerry, and Doug!

 A gift arrived for me before we left home.
It's a nifty weeding tool from the kids.

 First stop: Buffalo, MN
The girls had gymnastics the day we arrived.

 After our rib supper, we went to the historical society
for their tree display and story time.

 Later, we played games

and opened gifts.  The girls made bookmarks for us.

 In Cleveland, Donna, Leanne, Bob, and I enjoyed 
the "Corky's" ribs that DD sent.

 Doug, Sara, and kids arrived late Friday night,
so we waited until Saturday to open gifts.

 Pickleball shirts from all our kids were a big hit!

 Donna, RJ, and Julia...
note the unicorn slippers! :-)

RJ and Julia painted a plate for us.
Saturday night we had a "Smith Family" dinner
with "Aunt Lou's spaghetti" made by 
cousins Mary Anne and Leanne, and grape leaves 
made by Chrissy. Thirty-two
cousins feasted  that evening.

Joe, Sara, Casey, and Nolan

Katie, Mike, Madison, and Macie

 John, Marissa, and Ian

 Ian and Julia, both four, read to each other.

 Marissa and Sara

 Cousin Pat's sons Scott and Brian drove up from the South!

 Brian, Stephanie, and Brian, Jr. came from Daytona Beach.

David and Susie

Tim and Chris

 Mel and Scott came from Nashville to meet the family.

Smith "girl" cousins: Susie, Chris, Diane, Donna, 
and Sharyn who came from Tallahassee.

 Steph and Mel were great support in the kitchen!

 I think they liked the Lebanese food and hospitality! :-)

Christmas Eve we had forty relatives.  Here are all 

seven of the Shalala "first" cousins:

Fran, Diane, Tommy, Donna, Chuck, Bud, and Mary Jo

 Mark and Kira brought Liam,
the newest family member, for Donna to spoil.

 Cousin Michael was the super patient 
driver for Brian, Steph, and Brian, Jr.

 Even Jane got to hold the baby.

 Cousin Bev and Donna

Donna packs up food with cousin Marcia

 Mary Jo and Jane came from New Mexico

 Tommy and Patty chat with Sister Judy

 Bobby and Lyndsi hosted brunch that morning,
and still had energy enough to help us clean up.

Tommy and Patty

We took our first road trip on the Pennsylvania Turnpike
heading to Doug and Sara's and to see Donna's
swearing-in ceremony.

 After a few rainy hours, we arrived in Virginia

Doug's trains are a real phenomenon.  
He had trains running on four tracks at the same time.

We had an early New Year's Eve party with the kids
and some of Doug and Sara's friends.
Happy New Year everyone! :-)

November: Cold and Snowy

 Windy and cold on the first Sunday of the month....

 The snow came....and

never went away...

The sky is awesome

 especially at sunset.

 Tom, Trina and kids came well-prepared

for the snow and cold.

Ari...I hope that isn't gray hair!

Cards kept them busy indoors, too.

Cousin Parker joined the fun on Thanksgiving Day

with Caiden and Matthew

Kelly was the "kitchen manager" 

 Sami had #1 for the gift exchange....
our theme was the letter "L"

but I think Bob's gift was the real prize:

The lilac and lace "teddie"

On Friday we drove to Grand Forks to swim
 and go to the UND hockey game

The guy with the beard is Bob's brother Jerry
who is a goal judge for the team.  Photo on the wall
is from the early 1980's

 Part of "the gang" was here

 Luke was eating his "Dippin' Dots"

and he made some new friends. :-)

 We had 14 seats next to the section
where our season ticket seats are in the Club room

 The kids were excited and hoping for a "win,"
and the team did the job: We won 5-2 on Friday night.

 A bunch of hungry monsters at breakfast on Saturday

 enjoyed the buffet at the Ramada.

 Andrew watched the pancake machine 
produce three pancakes for him.

 Bob and Jerry relaxed before the kids all left.

On Saturday night, the team gave us some excitement...
we were down 3-1 in the third period when they
just exploded and made three goals in three minutes
with about two minutes left after that.  It was a tense
couple of minutes, but they pulled it off and won 4-3!
This is the traditional "salute of the sticks" (my term)
after they "sweep" both weekend games.

Thanksmas 2018:  The gang's (almost) all here! 
Andrew and Jett were outside in the snow!

Sunset

November 30th:  48 Years! Happy Anniversary :-)