Debbie's Shower For Brianna

to Debbie, from Beth

Debbie, Godmother to Jacob, hosted a Holiday Bridal Shower for Brianna on Saturday December 13th. It was a cozy, intimate gathering in Debbie's home on a very pretty, but very cold day. Debbie's sister, Kathi, had come the day before to help with the shower, plus another very special guest to attend was Grandma Judy. 💕

We played a few (not too intimidating) shower games, but when Kathi walked through with a tray full of items for us to look at and try to remember... wow 

Punch served in a vintage
Princess House Crystal
Punchbowl

of course, Debbie made
cookies!

Debbie served three kinds of salad: chicken pasta, broccoli grape, and quinoa. The desserts were from Truffles & Tortes Dessert Cafe in Anoka (Debbie and I had lunch there once 😌) and consisted of: Concerto, Raspberry Rumba, Andes Mint Rumba, Baileys Rumba, Peanut Butter Rumba, and Red Velvet Cheesecake! 

Brianna's friend, Emily, flew into Minnesota from Maryland for the day. I think it was also a bit of a work trip, but I was impressed all the same! 

Emily and Brianna

Renee, me, and Debbie

Grandma Judy and Kathi

Beth and Brianna

Grandma Judy had a special story to tell about something Jake did when he was little. I think Jake was around 6 years old at the time, and he decided to surprise me by baking me a cake. It was a heart shaped pound cake, a recipe from the New York Times cookbook. 😮 The only thing that got in his way was that he remembered he wasn't supposed to work with the stove, so he woke me up to ask if I could put something in the oven. (I also had to help take it out of the oven) Anyway, Grandma Judy loved hearing stories about Jacob, and wanted to share that one with Brianna. 

Jacob's Heart Shaped Pound Cake

It would have been nice to stay longer, but it started to get dark, and we all had a bit of a drive to get home. I'm so grateful for my sister, and all that she does to bless me and my family. 💕

Showering Brianna

Brianna had a couple of bridal showers and the first one was hosted by her godmother, Carolyn. It was held at W.A. Frost & Company in St. Paul on December 7th. And since that day was also Bruce's birthday, Katie took her dad to breakfast at the Bean first (they both had Eggs Benedict) and then swung back here to pick me up so we could go to the shower together.

It was an afternoon tea with little sandwiches, scones, and desserts. We played a few shower games, ate the delicious food, and watched Brianna open her gifts. Brianna also just had a trial run with the person who was to do her hair and makeup for the wedding, and she looked very pretty. 💕 

With Brianna's mom, Beth

Brianna and
Godmother, Carolyn

The Flu

Katie and Avi's little family have been hit pretty hard with the flu this year. All of them have ended up going in to be evaluated, and Aaron even went to the ER with extreme coughing. He was given an inhaler and albuterol, which helped, and then he went home back to bed. He did go to school this morning, but little Daniel still has a fever and isn't eating much. Meanwhile, Katie's been trying to take care of everybody while not feeling well herself. It's been a rough, rough couple of weeks! 

November Book Club Beauties

The Book Club Beauties met Sunday, November 9th at Mona's. And looking at the leaves in the photo I snapped before going into her place, it sure seems like a long time ago as we're definitely in winter mode now with snow, ice, and frigid temps.  

We give thanks for the 
    Book Club Beauties! 💕

you just never know...

Cathy's Cheese Ball

Mona served German Pumpkin Spice Waffles with a caramel apple compote, plus bacon. Cathy brought her famous cheese ball and chocolate covered Ritz crackers. Kat made chocolate chip cookies, I brought a 5 cup ambrosia salad, and we had hot cider to sip on.

Our next book selection will be the graphic novel Paper Girls by Brian K. Vaughan. This idea was thought of while looking at a newsletter a local senior center sent out, with one of their book club readings being a graphic novel of choice. Of course I was way off base in what I thought that meant! Luckily Kat (and did Cathy also know what a graphic novel was?) educated us and we looked around to find an appealing one to read. The library had copies of this one, and not too long of a wait list. By the way, a graphic novel is sort of presented in a comic book format, but it's not a comic book. That clears things up, doesn't it?

We hope to meet again in January after the holidays and wedding are over. 

that's us!

Thanksgiving 2025

Katie hosted Thanksgiving again this year, and I'm thinking this is probably the new tradition. I love having the family over here, but it's kind of nice to be able to bring over a few side dishes, and just relax. I still plan on hosting Christmas Eve, though! 💕

Dinner included turkey and gravy, special mashed potatoes, stuffing, green bean casserole, yams and marshmallows, lefse with butter & cinnamon & sugar, cranberries, orange jello per Aaron's request, and ambrosia five cup salad. There were appetizers ... shrimp cocktail, cream cheese topped with jelly over crackers, mixed nuts, and hot apple cider with cinnamon. I made pumpkin pie, and Katie made Grandma Joyce's famous apple pie.

Plus, it was Aaron's birthday, he's now six years old! 

Nick was on call for work this year, and wasn't able to be with us. But, I also remember having to work at the hospital on holidays, so I definitely understand.

They both love dragons 

Ready

Khana's visiting!

orange jello with little mandarin oranges

Daniel and Aunt Brianna

cool nightlight from Uncle Nick

trouble 😂

Grandma Joyce's Christmas Dishes
now have a new home