Christmas with Janie, Steven and Madeline

We really enjoyed our Christmas dinner with Madeline, Janie and Steven!


Madeline really enjoyed presents from the Radicchis and her Grandpa and Grandma. We had a delicious dinner of prime rib, Steven's special corn recipe and Janie's traditional fettucine. It was a wonderful day with our loved ones and really "made" our Christmas.
Merry Christmas to all

Christmas Gifts!

Janet and I went to Church and heard a wonderful sermon entitled Christmas Eve in Heaven. I dont ever recall a sermon with this type emphasis on the birth of Jesus and it was very good.

Later we opened presents from each other and from Mark, Sophia and Rebecca. We received two very special gifts from them:

Janet (and I) were very pleased with a calendar that includes pictures of our family neatly placed in the month in which they were taken.



I could not be more grateful for (or more proud of) the gift that I received from Mark that he got in Iraq for me. The pictures (below) do not do justice to this nicely framed collection that includes a folded flag that flew over Phoenix Base in the Internation Zone in Baghdad, Irag in July 2008; a Certificate of Thanks for Support of our Men and Women in the Military and a mounted MNSTC -Iraq coin. This means a lot to me!!

On Christmas day we are visiting with my Mom, my brothers and sisters and look forward to it.

We are also looking forward to dinner and another special Christmas celebration with Steven, Madeline and Janie on Friday!

Thanksgiving!

It was great to have Mark home from Iraq and to have our

family together! We spent a lot of time together and really

enjoyed it. We thank God for his many blessings this year!

Sophia's First Birthday!

This was a very special weekend since it was Sophia's first birthday and we were able to be there. It was especially nice to see Mark's family that we hadn't seen in 10+ years and to spend time with some of Mark and Rebecca's nice friends. We enjoyed making the trip with Madeline and Janie!!

What a Soccer Player!

She is ready to make sure the other team does'nt score!
Playing defense is important to keep the score close! Madeline stays within her assigned territory!
She also gets involved on offense but I will let her mom tell us more!!

I was very proud of our little granddaughter today. !!

What a Girl!

I promised Madeline a few weeks ago that I would take her to get a toy to add to her "My Little Petshop" collection. Of course, she never forgets anything and we finally found time to go out to dinner and to get something. I gave her a budget to spend before going. I have to say that I was very impressed with the way she handled the limit as she kept saying things "now Grandpa you know" that we can "only get small or mid-size toys" or we "can't afford big toy's today". She also said that she had an "imagination" and would make a "Little Petshop Hotel" out of the display case that we ended up getting. She also was sure to point out larger items that she would like for her birthday and Christmas. A lot of kids her age would have asked for the larger items now. This little girl has very good reasoning and negotiation skills as she thinks ahead.

We went to Dairy Queen later and she was very well behaved and went out of her way to make sure that Grandpa was well taken care of.

I know that I am just an "old softie" but times like last night mean so much to me as I love my granddaughters so much.

I did'nt take any pictures to post with this however I just wanted to tell how much this meant to me and how proud I am of Madeline!

Weekend at the Cabin

We really ejoyed having Janie and Madeline at the cabin. Madeline and I had a chance to visit the "secret hiding place" and to enjoy nature.

Fun Week

We really enjoyed the time spend with our family this past week. We enjoyed every minute of it!!

Good Family Weekend

We really enjoyed having our family together this weekend!

New Look For Blog . Do you like it?

My daughters both have nice new blog looks and I am trying to keep up with them which is difficult. Anyway here are a few pictures of our lake.
Another lake picture.

How Do We Find The Secret Hiding Place?

In the forest, a sign that directs one to the "secret hiding place" is a necessity. Madeline took care of that prior to her visit to make sure those needing access such as her Grandapa Grandmother and Mom could find their way. She also displayed "her favorite flag while doing so. What a girl!

Windsor Garden and the Saga of Mr. Groundhog

We will be having a delicious supper from our little garden tomorrow and I can't wait. In spite of Mr Groundhog we were able to harvest beans, cucumbers, zuchinni, cabbage and tomatoes. We have attempted to catch the groundhog (again) but have not been successful. Janet had some new beans growing nicely until he helped himself to them. A funny story - we purchased a trap, as shown in one of the pictures, earlier in the year. We put it out and caught him the first day. We took him down to road a mile or so and turned him loose in some woods. Guess what, a few days later he shows back up in our yard after having travelled across a 4 lane highway and past businesses and houses. . If we can catch him again we will take him to the cabin so he can fish or do whatever he wants. We just want him out of our garden.

Fun in the Sun

I finally found a few minutes to post pictures of our vacation to Destin. I had so many good pictures that it was difficult to select the ones I wanted to post. I may not have found the best ones, but what the heck they were all great! Spending time with our family was the best part of all. Seeing Madeline and Sophia experience the ocean for the first time is beyond words!

Great Summer Family Fun

Janet and I enjoyed having Rebecca and Sophia home this past week very much. The week ended all too quickly however Janie and Madeline joined us at the lake for the weekend and we had a wonderful time boating, exploring with Madeline, watching Sophia in the baby pool and on the boat for the first time and visiting family. We want to do it all over very soon!! We love you guys!!

Happy 40th Anniversary Janet!

Today is our 40th Wedding Anniversary. I am so blessed to have met such a beautiful lady and wonderful mother to our daughters! I thank God for bringing her into my life!

A Great Weekend!

Memorial Day is a special day of Thanks to the men and women who have and are serving our country! We were able to enjoy it with our family and it was a very special time together. We especially enjoyed having our two daughters and granddaughters together. We heard a great sermon and music at church and had a very nice picnic with fried chicken! Were it not for those who have died defending our freedom, times like these may not have been possbile!

Go Lady Bugs!!

We really enjoyed going to Madeline's Soccer game this weekend. She played very well and really seemed to enjoy it! She was the cutest ladybug of all :)

Here's our New Boat!

Our new boat and new swing by the lake. The boat is very nice! The red canvas in the back is the top that we left there for ease in putting it back on.

What a Cutie

Words arent needed with this set of of pictures. We really enjoyed our weekend!

This is our first upload so bear with us :)

Weekend with our Grand Daughter!

While Janie and Steven were away enjoying their 10th anniversary, we got to take the Madeline to the cabin with us. She took along Alena, her new bunny rabbit and all had fun exploring and visiting. I couldnt resist also showing some of the colors around our house as they have been spectacular