Major Milestone

On June 22, my parents will be celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary!  We have a Troyer family (mom's family) reunion, so Todd and I are attending.  That way we'll be around to help Mom and Dad celebrate a little early.

Here they are on their wedding day:



And this picture was taken a little while ago for church:


We are having a "card shower" for them, so if any is interested in sending a card to them, send me an email at:  jylslife@gmail.com and I'll send you their address.

I can't tell you what great influences they have been to me and my siblings.   I'm so anxious to see them later today!!!!

Baby bluebird

Yesterday afternoon we  had a little show in the backyard.  Brute saw a squirrel on the ground, so (of course) he wanted outside to chase it.  The squirrel ran up a tree, but apparently chose the wrong tree as there was a adult bluebird in it.  The squirrel was caught between Brute at the bottom of the tree and the bluebird on the top of the tree.  Each time the squirrel tried to go higher in the tree, the bluebird would swoop down and attack it.  It was really funny and Todd and I laughed watching it for about five minutes.  Finally the squirrel made it high enough in the tree to jump to another tree and get away.  He had to run down the trunk of that tree to get to another clump of trees in the backyard and Brute totally missed him. 

This morning we got up and were sitting outside having coffee and noticed a bird nest in the tree the squirrel was in.  Todd saw there was a baby bluebird in it, so I ran in to get my camera.  More to see it better from the ground, but then I decided to snap a few pictures.  I actually took quite a few, but that was because I was playing with the different settings on the camera.

Anyway, here are a few pictures:

The adult male was around, and actually fed the baby before I ran in to get my camera.  I was hoping he would come back while I was watching, but he didn't.  It was fun watching it for a little while. 

Tyler had another birthday!!!!!!!

He's 6 now and we had a party for him at the pool of their apartment complex.  We had the usual grilled Hamburgers and hot dogs, chips and dip, etc.  It was a lot of fun!

One of his presents from Sam & Jason was a scooter.




Todd enjoying a hot dog.









Angel and Alyssa trying to play baseball with a beach ball and swimming noodle.  lol






Alyssa got cold so went to sit by Todd for a while.  They looked like they were have a very serious conversation.  (She's growing up so fast!!!)  LOVE this picture!!!!

Easter Egg coloring!!!

As anyone who know me can attest, I like to have "Traditions" that we do with the kids and grandkids.  One of those is Easter Egg Coloring.  (We also do pumpkin carving and decorating Christmas cookies every year.)

We did it yesterday, a week early, but we always do it BEFORE Easter.  So of course, I had to snap some pictures!!!!  We had over four dozen eggs to decorate.






Gosh, Alyssa is really growing!


And so is Angel - he doesn't have a pudgy face anymore!!!!


Todd and Jason didn't help this time, they were watching TV.  I bought the newest Harry Potter (Deathly Hallows Pt. 1) when it came out, so I think that is what they were watching.  Either that or "Judge Dredd" - worst movie EVER!!!! lol

But they did take time to go hide some plastic eggs I had filled with Robins Eggs, Jelly Beans and Bubble Gum.   The kids were so excited!!!!!




Angel and Tyler were so funny.  Right before I took this picture, they walked up to each other and tried to peek in the others bucket and bumped their heads.  It was so funny - I wish I wasn't the only one who saw it happen.

So Brute got a haircut last week,

then we had a short cold-spell come through.  The poor little thing was sitting on the floor shaking, so I decided he needed to have a shirt on.  (I have a couple sweaters for him, too.)  He didn't like having it on much, though.  He stood in the same spot in the office for a good 10 minutes before he took any steps, so I snapped a quick picture.


I guess I need to put making him a sweater on my "Things to Knit" list.  lol

I am so far behind.....

And I can't believe our oldest Granddaughter, Alyssa, turned 8 last month!  We all went over to Tab's apartment to celebrate.  It was lots of fun !!!!


The birthday girl!!!!!


We had pizza before she opened her gifts.  Angel really liked the pizza, I think.  lol


Then she opened presents

(We gave her earrings and a bracelet.)





Aunt Sam gave her a snuggie, which she loved!!!!


And she left it on the rest of the time we were there.  She even left it on to eat her cake!!!




She's getting so big!  (well, really, they all are.)  And just to Tyler isn't left out, he was there, too.  (Nice haircut, right? lol)


I'm getting down to just a few weeks left before my boss closes the agency and I'm out of a job.  Todd and I are planning a trip to Las Vegas the first week in April, so that will be fun.  It's nice to have a trip to look forward to!!!!

Christmas is finally over!!!! lol

Last weekend we had our last Christmas celebration with all four girls and their families.  Our SIL made it home safely from Iraq (PTL) just before New Years, so this was the first time we could all get together.  McKenna is getting so big and it was great to see everyone together again!


Todd passed out the stockings


And everyone opened their presents



Then we had a late lunch of ham, prime rib, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, etc.  The prime rib was EXCELLENT and everyone ate lots.

The weather was so nice, we all sat outside and visited for the rest of the day.  Lots of FUN!

Todd and I had been thinking about getting another vehicle.  My 2003 Mazda Protege LX has over 98,000 miles on it and the 2001 Dodge Ram PU is getting lots of miles put on it with Todd driving it to and from work every day.  So Saturday night after we took Kate and Brandon out to supper at Joe's Crab Shack in Round Rock, we stopped at the Mazda dealership (same one where we purchased the Protege).  We were looking at a used CX-7 when one of the salesmen came out to talk to us (it was 10 minutes before closing, so I thought we'd get lucky and they would leave us alone).  He told us he had a 2010 that had a reduced price, so we looked at it.  It was nice and we said we'd think about it, then ended up going back Sunday before everyone came over for Christmas to see it in daylight.  Anyway, to make a long story short(er), we ended up purchasing it.  So I have to share pictures!!!!

The color is called Black Cherry Mica - in the sun it looks purple with specks of red, but in the shade
it looks almost black.

Not trunk, and LOTS of storage space in the back.  This will come in VERY handy on our trips up north.

We wanted something to protect the cloth seats, so I made some seat covers.  No pattern, just winged it!


 
LOVE IT!  Todd finally got to drive in last night when we went to Olive Garden in Round Rock.  It's getting pretty good gas mileage.

Today is the super bowl.  We aren't fans of any sport, really, but we're planning to watch it for the commercials.  lol  For supper I'm making some good snacks - hot legs (not wings, Todd likes legs), steak bites and onion strings.  They are all Pioneer Woman's recipes (where the links take you) that I've made before and we really liked.

Christmas 2010

We had our first Christmas celebration on Christmas Day.  Tab and Sam and their families came over for lunch, Todd deep fried a turkey and it was GREAT!  We had the usual green bean casserole, sweet potatoes and jello salad (it seems like I'm forgetting something).  Anyway, after lunch dishes were done, we opened presents!
We had the kids all pass out the presents


Dom received a nerf-type gun from my parents


And so did Angel


Alyssa received an Easy Bake Oven!


Tyler received a camo back pack (and gloves, which I didn't get a picture of)


I gave Tab and Sam stained glass that my sister made:



We gave the grandkids clothes, so they weren't too excited, but it was a need. lol
After the presents were open, we had cheese ball and crackers, and punch, then everyone went home and Todd and I could relax for the rest of the night.

We don't use our fireplace for wood very much, so I put a bunch of candles in it.


Later in January we'll have our Christmas with Megan and Kate and their families.  David is getting home from Iraq today, so we are all excited for that.  I'm planning to make Prime Rib and a ham when they come, yum!

We did have some bad news on Christmas Eve, my brother-in-law in Nebraska had a heart attack and open heart surgery that morning.  He's doing well and still in the hospital, but this was the second year in a row that we've had family in the hospital over Christmas (last year Brandon, ours son-in-law was there after his bad fall).  Jerolyn was hoping to take Dave home tomorrow, but the doctors say he's not ready yet.  Hopefully he'll be home by the weekend. We're keeping them in our prayers.