Greens Get To Open Christmas Gifts

Jennifer created these two beautiful quilts to give to Addie and Jasmine in their favorite colors. We traveled to the Green house to open these gifts.

Addie liked her quilt and posed underneath it for the blog.

Jazz also posed for a picture.

Stella wanted to be photographed so another picture was needed.

Alex added to his beer making equipment. He was just practing with the big glass flask. Where quality was the focus of his early attempts as brew-meister . . . quantity is now available with the larger brewing containers.

Miriam received sewing classes, but declined to be photographed, wishing instead to show off her new book. We are all expecting homemade ties and underwear for Christmas next year. Check back in 12 months for an update.

Old Folks Having Fun

Pictured above are some old folks I know having fun. Let's get together for dinner and lots of great talking and laughing. (Must also serve health food fish, rice, peas etc. ...)

Then we will break out the Sequence game and play a round or two of men against the women folk. As so often happens, the men are able to carry the night with four wins to the ladies lucky two. They were good sports about their situation.

Good Friends - Ron and Sue

Good friends, Ron and Sue, came for a visit today. They live in Livingston, IL. We became friends when we were working at Zion in Staunton, IL. We went to the Urban Flea Market (former Charlie's) where Sue found a book about Ron written some 25 years ago. What a find! Sue also got a metal table.

So much interesting stuff. The girls found more to purchase than the guys. Don't they look like they are having fun? I often see items from my youth as I walk the flea market.

Paul almost got this fur lined coat, great for our cold and snowy winter weather. Jennifer was styling in her red hat. Isn't there a group for ladies wearing red hats???

Cousin Janet

We were able to make connections with Jennifer's cousin, Janet. Janet is a school librarian in the south east part of Missouri. She was visiting her daughter, Melanie, and we met up for lunch.

This is a Lutheran sandwich. Two Lutheran surrounding a sweet Baptist girl. What fun to see relatives. We are looking for a job for Janet so that she can move to town. Anybody got openings? As you can see she is in pretty good shape for work...

Christmas in Texas

Attended Sarah and Andrew's church for their Christmas Eve Party. Here are the Texas Bakers in front of the tree.

Christmas morning the kids discover the stocking table. Oh what fun!

Let the opening begin... Lots of new things to play with...

Kitchen time... Lots of mouths to feed during our stay...

Finn and Jack are always eager to interact and explore. Not many pictures of Sawyer as he was not feeling himself this visit. Merry Christmas to all and to all a good day...

It's All Relative

Jennifer's mother, Lois, had three sisters making four Tinsley girls. When her Lois' father, Ralph died, her mother remarried to Ferdie Haas and had two more children -Jerry and Linda Haas. Ferdie had been married twice before (both wives died) and brought to the marriage 7 children. Yours, mine and ours added up to 13 sibs and step sibs. As you might imagine, this is a bit confusing for an outsider (Paul) to keep straight. Pictured above are Jennifer's cousin John with his wife Jean and their two children, Kyle and Hannah.

This is Jennifer's cousin, Alan, and his two kids and two grandkids... Alan is so much fun at a party. He is often is the bingo caller at family gatherings.

Uncle Bill, Aunt Eva and Aunt Louise are pictured here. Eva and Louise are sisters of Jennifer's mom, Lois. Is this posting clearing up for the family tree for you?

Eva and Bill have three children. You've already met their son John. Here you see their daughter JoAnn and her two kids, David on the left and Jennifer in the middle. Erica is David's girl friend. Jennifer is holding her son, Will, while Joann is holding David's son Colin.

Here is Jerry, Jennifer's uncle. His last name is Haas. Pictured also are his wife Elaine and a street urchin who was wandering the neighborhood. No, really, Hannah is pictured above with her grandfather Alan, but she loves to be photographed.

Here is Jennifer's brother Norm and his wife Sandy, and us with sweet girl, Stella... Any questions?

We all had a great time and I'm doing my best to remember everyone's name and relationship status until next year.

Traveling Home To Bountiful

Jennifer and I had the honor of traveling to Rolla to share a meal with family on her mom's side. These are part of the Tinsley/Haas group. This gets a little confusing because her dad side is also a Haas group. Really Jennifer had two sets of grandparent with the same last name Haas, however her mother and father were definitely not blood relatives. You would think she grew up in Arkansas. We took Stella because the big girls had two birthday parties to attend. Stella was great on the trip and a hit at the party.

When we returned from the Rolla party we were invited to stay for supper at the Green house along with Dan and Mary Magnus. Dan and Mary brought Christmas gifts (outfits) for the girls and here they are modeling in front of Miriam's retro Christmas tree... Ain't it great? Or as my mom would say "nuts is trump!"

What An Honor

What an honor to be named a power couple of Springfield. I am sure most people in 417 land are saying, "Who are they?" What a joy to have such a wonderful woman at my side. My ten minutes of fame are about over. I think the red sofa warms my skin tones?

Phil and Mary Come to Town

Phil and Mary, Jennifer's sister and brother-in-law, stopped by for a quick Christmas visit today. We wanted to have them experience some of Springfield's finest, so we had lunch as the Gastro Bistro Pub and then visited Obelisk--a furniture design store owned and operated by one of the Power Couples. Above you can see Phil, Mary and Jennifer at Gastro Bistro and below you will find Nathan, Jennifer, Mary and Phil at Obelisk.

We were privileged to get a tour of the furniture display space, as well as to receive an excellent explanation by Nathan of the entire design process. It was fascinating, even for someone like me.

Surprise Visit to See Santa

I was minding my own business at the school on Saturday morning when Ms. Carter call and said,"Bring your girls over to the Forest Clinic - We have Santa here and not many kids have showed up." I checked with Alex who said the girls were available but he was cooking for a party. So Papa loaded up the three muskrats and headed over to see Santa. Cross paths with the Wanners while there. The twins wanted very little to do with Santa and Stella wanted nothing to do with the "man". Maybe next year.