The blink of an eye....

35 years ago when Greg and I got

married he was 5 years into his

job working for shopping centers.

He was young, trim, capable

and enjoying bachelorhood.

 That all changed.

These 2 boys were part of the package when he married me.

And they were quickly followed by this little sweetie.

So he gave up bachelorhood and took

on the responsibilities of a family....

mortgages, car payments, taxes, groceries,

tennis shoes, college tuition, weddings

and more...

He drove 50 miles one way to work,

traveled the country, took phone calls

at dinner and at 2 a.m., negotiated with

unions and bosses, took on more

and more duties and built a solid

career.

The family in Oct, 2014 

Today he takes his last trip to Rosedale and turns

in his keys....it's his last day of employment. 

Earlier this month his co-workers hosted a riverboat

cruise retirement party for him.  

 Something tells me he's going to be ok with retirement.

Thanks for all your work and sacrifice and making

our life together possible.  It's time to have some fun!

Can't get much cuter....

Believe it or not this little guy is almost

11 months old.  He's a happy boy

and much loved.

time at the camper

GU Jeff...."this little piggy"

GG and patty cake

Foster Gene Leroy Ketcher

A quick slow paced weekend in FL

I took an extended weekend and made a quick

trip to Florida to visit the boys.

We ended up at an AirBandB house in

Orlando (pictured below).  There

was a lot of pool time, game playing

and eating (of course).

As you can see from the last pictures I

am quickly becoming the shortest

one of the group.

Thanks for a lovely few days....

Inside, Outside

Now that Andrew and Everleigh are out of school

they both want to have a "project" when I'm with them.

On this morning, I had a project of making "lava lamps".

Andrew decided to make a "volcano".  Not

quite what the instructions indicated, but he

had fun with it, albeit a mess.

Ethan and Andrew make "farms",

One recent beautiful morning, the four big kids

could play in the Swenson driveway...just like old times.

Then inside for costumes.

Andrew is Spiderman, Everleigh is a dog,

Briggs is the green dinosaur and Ethan

is the kitty on the floor.

I was lucky enough to be able to watch

Briggs and Everleigh at their soccer games,

Briggs is in the white sweatshirt running

towards his coach.

May Days

May has had some wet, cool days and we've

been indoors quite a bit.  

Here is

"Disappearing Obi-wan"....Briggs

walked around with this blanket and then

the blanket would be a pile on the floor....

I think he saw this scene in the Star Wars movie...

Obi-Wan disappears.

Ethan and Briggs made a "bear cave" on the sofa.

Everleigh grabbed a broom to clean up after one

of our projects and started singing

"It's a Hard Knock Life".....

has she watched some "Annie" scenes on youtube?

I don't think she saw the movie.

Ethan, Briggs and Andrew work on puzzles.

Now that they're both in alternate days of pre-school

Everleigh and Andrew don't see each other as often.

But on this day they had most of the afternoon to

play.  Here they are playing on the train table

but I'm not really sure of the scenario.

But they played like this for a very long time.

I don't mention Greg's grandchildren on this blog

very often.  Greg's daughter Shelley has 2 children;

an 18-year-old son, Christopher, pictured below

and a 12-year-old daughter, Taylor.  Christopher

has joined the Army Natl Guard and

recently invited us to attend a Family

Day with his unit.  He completed basic

training last summer and this summer will have

10 weeks of training in Mississippi before

starting school to become a border

patrol officer.  He graduates from high

school at the end of May.

what a great kid.....young man.

What I Don't Know...

A few weeks ago, a water main broke in front of

Jesse and Ben's home in Eagan.  The street was

torn up to fix the pipe and then temporarily

patched over til spring work.  This past Friday

the work crew returned to fix the road and

lay new asphalt.  The boys were transfixed

as workmen worked these big pieces of

equipment and as I watched it occurred

to me that I would have no idea how to

make these repairs.  These guys managed

these big machines like chefs in a kitchen with

kitchen tools.  It also occurred to me that

there are a whole host of things I know

absolutely nothing about.  I can't operate

heavy equipment or even figure out how to

rebuild a road, how electricity works, how

to change a flat, fix a toilet or about a

million other things.  So, I have newfound

respect for all the people that do.  The

world needs these people and I'm grateful

for their work.  By the way,

the new road looks great....not a hint of

the work that was done.

So Big!

Everleigh, Andrew, Briggs and Ethan are

"Big Kids"...ages 5,5,3,3.  So how does

a baby fit into the mix?  Foster is just 8 mos....

They love him and interact with him

in many ways.

The "big" kids help encourage little Foster

to be "So big!"

It worked.

Andrew shares a laugh with Foster.

Ethan and Foster share some thoughts.

The four "big Kids" put on a puppet show for Foster.

They love him so....

One in a Million....or at least in 9

I have 9 grandchildren.  8 of them are boys.  I love

little boys but this girl has always been special.

Everleigh Drew....about 2 weeks old

6 months...looking a lot like her brother Foster

Sitting pretty at about one year

2nd birthday

about 3...dipping her toes in the Mississippi

always looking glam

projects, projects, projects

She painted the bird house and bird feeder

pom-pom bugs

Everyone loves her.,,,her cousins

her daddy

her mommy

her brothers

Princess Ethan

and especially me.