Sydney turns 6 ! !

On December 14

Sydney  . . . 

turned 6 years old!!

Sydney is the only one of our 16 grand kiddos

 that has the same beautiful color of hair as her grandpa!  

AND ... she has a winning smile.

She often stops by the shop with her mom after her kindergarten class is over.

Sydney had a "Brave" cake and  --- it was soooo good.

I pray Syd will love the LORD God with all her heart!  

And that her life will be lived for His honor and glory!

"For God so loved the world He gave

His only begotten Son,

that whosoever believeth in Him

should not perish but

have everlasting life."

John 3:16

Friends

Christmas Baking

Christmas baking was

enjoyable as usual.

Jill tried her now 'famous'

new recipes ....

some of which we like ....

others ... not so much!!

This year Julia was decked out

in her "Princess" apron.

She tried 2 new recipes

which were both 

"keepers" in my book.

Mainly because they both 

contained chocolate!

 Jeshanah was gifted with a 

"Humbug" shirt ...

She decorated some

lovely cut out cookies

and cleaned up 

at least after me!!

 JoAnna had her hands full

trying to keep track of her

four little kiddos.

 Lois made some very

good caramels.

 The kids were

all very good ...

They played 

dress up

and watched

movies.

At the end

of

a

very  long day

I 

think

we 

all

maybe

felt

like

Nolan

but 

only

Nolan

acted out

on 

his feelings!

Oh yes,

we simply 

CANNOT

get together to bake

without some sort

of mishap.

This pan of bars was put

on the floor by the open

patio door to cool ...

can you see the footprint in it???

It wasn't big foot ....

it was little footed ---- Selah!!

Selah's Golden Birthday

On December 2nd Selah celebrated her 

Golden Birthday.

Two years old on December 2nd.

The kids all made their own

gingerbread houses ...

with lots of licking of frosting

and sprinkles and candy!!

Here are some of the kids' creations.

Selah had more fun eating 'stuff'' than making a house.

Carly

Lindsey and Nolan

Anna, Lydia, Jeshanah and Elly 

Alyssa and her gingerbread house.

Philemon smiles now ...

Love this pic of Lucy

Here's the Rockhold family.

Happy Birthday Selah. 

Praying that you will come to know
the LORD Jesus as your Savior 
while you are still young! 

Christmas Parade

Following our yearly

tradition ....

we met for pizza at

Little Ceasar's,

stopped at Starbucks

for coffee,

then headed off to the 

Christmas Parade.  

Here are my wonderful

daughters in law!

And my daughters!

JoAnna organizes this tradition

each year and I'm thankful

for her desire to make

traditions for the family!

Carly and Chloe


Lydia and Anna

watching all the

floats go by.

The weather was

beautiful that night.

Grandma Martinson 

with her 

FIRST EVER

Starbucks Coffee

and 

Samuel.

Sydney and Alyssa,

enjoying

the

cousin 

time.

Selah all

tucked into her stroller!

A good time was had

by us all

as we welcomed the

Christmas Season!

BEST mother in law ... Hands down

Myron's mom came for a visit.

Besides being the

BEST mother in law,

she is a good gramma

to my kids and a 

good great gramma

to my grandkids!

Her family has grown

so much.  

I think she said there

were about 70 now from

her 7 kids.

It was fun having her 

with us for several weeks

over Thanksgiving.

We did a lot of things ....

We rang the 

Salvation Army Bell together.

We shopped.  On Black Friday!

We watched movies.

We went to the

Christmas Parade.

We delivered

Christmas Child Boxes.


We peeled potatoes,

almost 20 pounds of them,

for Thanksgiving ...

and she almost cut off her finger.

But she got out of

peeling the rest of them!


We cleaned windows ...

as she always helps me do

when she comes.

One of my favorite memories of

long ago times concerning my MIL 

is ... when I was just a young

mom and we would go to

Stanley, ND for a visit to

see g'ma and g'pa my little

kiddos would stand at her

patio door and get slobber and

fingerprints and lip prints

all over the glass.  

(You have to know

that my MIL is a 'cleanie'.)

Being a good daughter in law ...

I would always try to 

clean the glass on the 

door before I left.

After all, they hadn't had 

any young children in their 

home for many years.


 She would always

stop me from cleaning the glass,

saying, "when you leave I

sit and look at all those finger

prints and remember all

 those little kids!"

And ... maybe ... sometimes ...

she even cried.


Now that's a treasure of a mother in law!!


I, personally, have never understood

all the jokes about MILs.

Because mine is a 

treasure to me!

Below is a picture of my mother in law

with some of her great grand children.

Briann, Cody and Sydney are missing from the pic.

Can You Believe It . . .

Samuel

is

ELEVEN ! 

He celebrated

with a really cool

LEGO

Birthday Party!

From the scavenger hunt

to the edible LEGOS ...

it was a fun evening.

Oh yes, I forgot to mention

the red, green, yellow and blue

licorice and M and M's.

Sam loves animals.  All animals.

And he knows a ton

about dinosaurs!

He takes very good care of the

two dogs and four cats

that roam around our neighborhood.

He's pretty quick to lend a helping

hand to gran'pa too when

he sees him working outside.






My prayer for Sam ....


"How can a young man keep

his way pure?

By guarding it according 

to your word.

With my whole heart

I seek you; let me not

wander from your commandments!

I have stored up your word in my heart,

that I might not sin against you."

--Psalm 119:9-11




I love you Samuel!

Happy Birthday JoAnna!!

Another

girl night.


To celebrate

JoAnna's Birthday!

I've heard some talk

of combining the

fall birthdays...

but ...

I

don't 

think

so ! ! !




JoAnna picked

Johnny Carino's

for our dining pleasure.




We have so much

fun together

eating,

talking,

laughing,

remembering !



Lucy and Philemon

joined us too !

It is sooo fun to get

them to smile ...

they just love looking

into your eyes!


JoAnna is a busy mom

these days.


I pray these verses for her ...

"Trust in the LORD ...

Delight yourself in the LORD ...

Commit your way to the LORD ...

Be still before the LORD ...

Fret not yourself ...

Wait for the LORD and keep his way ..."

      --from Psalm 37

and from Proverbs 4:23 ...

So thankful for JoAnna

 who is not only 

my daughter ...

but always  my friend.

I Love You JoAnna ! !