(Almost) Wordless Wednesday

Going....

Going....

Gone!

Beauty AND Brains

Not only is my husband Mr. February in the SPFD charity Calendar, but he was just given the Distinguished Service Award from the Fire Department Union.

I found out about it a few weeks ago, and not only had to keep my mouth shut because it was a surprise, but I had to figure out how to go to the ceremony and dinner without making him suspicious. That was a tall order considering I never had an interest to go to the Installation Party before. But I managed to pull it off by whining that I was so tired of staying in due to him studying for the Chief's Test, that I considered this "date night." And he bought it! Next I had to figure out how to get the family there without him seeing them. And it's a little hard to hide 6'5" Tony. But I did!



Here we are with our 'favorite kids' and surrounded by the Local 21 Union Executives.

Family from left :Molly, Zach , Sarah, Jody and Bob. Unable to attend: Emily and Hannah.
Camera shy: Twylla and Tony

Congratulations Bob. You deserve it. We are proud of you.

Goodbye Girls

A few things I WON'T miss:
stray coffee cups;
too many late nights in a row;
computer hogging;
car-sharing;
waiting............;
a surprise face full of cold water from someone forgetting to turn off the shower knob before shutting off the water;

Many things I WILL miss:
company;
an excuse, any excuse to party;
lots of good food to satisfy cravings;
family;
giggles;
fake fighting complete with arm punches and take downs; ridiculous family photos;
nostalgia;

Things I will always cherish:
guffaws;
out of control laughter;
fake Minnesota accents;
bony hugs;
inappropriate dinner conversation:
in-your-face-foolishness;
having my whole family together in the same place at the same time!



Girls,
You are my heart.
You take a piece of me whenever you leave.
Be safe.
Have fun.
Remember where you come from.
See you soon!

Love,
Mom

Party Mania

Next up on our 4 weeks straight of party time was a Merry MurrayMas party for Sophie and Luke since they were unable to celebrate Christmas with us. Awesome Twylla recreated Christmas on the Saturday after just for them. She made a wonderful spaghetti feast. Gathered together were Hannah and James, Sarah and Tony, Molly and the boys, Zach, Emily, Bob and I and Diane. The kids were excited to see each other, and we enjoyed spending yet another day together.










On New Years Eve Bob, Emily and I went to Como Zoo to celebrate Happy Noon Year with Sophie and Luke. They had a literal "ball drop" at noon. The animal-shaped beach balls caused Luke a little anxiety while he tried to calculate the number of available balls vs. the number of people waiting. But all was well in the end, as I crawled under peoples' feet to snatch one for each of them before giving the rest away. Luke chose an elephant and Sophie went with a tiger. We then celebrated at Culvers.

That night we went to Molly and Jeff's for a real New Years Eve. Emily ended up staying the night with the boys while Bob and I went home early. Hey..it's midnight somewhere.
On January 2nd we met again for a Kippels' Christmas that included the usual suspects with the addition of Bob's brother Rich. We had a traditional meal of homemade pronto pups and chips,plus a few other goodies left from the Holidays. We have GOT to stop eating meeting like this!