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Mothers Day 2015
The day started off by getting Aunt Peg’s phone working which got us off to a little late start but we managed to catch up and have a lot of fun. First stop on this sunny Sunday was Memorial cemetery where we put flowers on the family graves in honor of Mothers day. James did the water pouring and Mom did the flowers while Dad took pictures. Of special note were the flowers we put into Loretta Kleibers vase (James grandmother on his fathers side) because these flowers were actually planted by Loretta years ago. There is one spot in the backyard where these flowers she planted still come up every spring and so we thought we would give her flowers she planted from her own garden. Uncle Raymond’s grave once again had to have some upkeep, we hope to call the cemetery Monday to remind them to give Uncle Raymond a flag since they missed it last year.
After the visit to the cemetery we went to Mary’s favorite place, an antique shop in Flat Rock where Jame’s met a 200 year old cabinet he liked. Finally lunch time rolled around and we went to Red Lobster in Monroe then finished the afternoon shopping at Christmas Tree Shop and Walmart.
Easter 2015
A bit of a chilly day as James did his Easter Egg dyeing in preparation for Easter. James uses a combination of crayon and dye to achieve his rainbow look on eggs, while Mom and Dad enjoy the more traditional method of dropping the eggs into the dye and being done with it.
This year we experimented on a couple eggs because of Facebook posts. One of these experiments was to crack the egg all around and then dye it. Supposedly it will leave a spirograph type effect on the inside of the egg. James also tried stickers on some of the eggs to give them a funny face.
This year we have a Final Four team playing to compete with the Easter Holiday festivities as Duke will play Michigan State this evening.
Remembering Aunt Mary Ann Kleiber 1934 – 2015
We lost Aunt Mary Ann to cancer this year. Aunt Mary Ann is Uncle Don’s wife, Mike, Bruce, and Sandy’s Mother, and James Great Aunt. Aunt Mary Ann was born June 30 1934 and passed away March 26, 2015. Unfortunately James nor his mother could not attend due to a previous scheduled dentist appointment, but Dad made it and it was a beautiful ceremony at Saint Tims church and another nice job by the good people at Martenson funeral home. I should also mention it was by far the best day of Spring, warm sun, cool breeze, just a gorgeous day and really all that was missing was my Aunt.
Most of my memories of Aunt Mary Ann were as a child, she and Uncle Don were my God parents and really about the nicest people you would ever meet. I also remember going over to their house for dinner with Aunt Ginny one time and the great meal she cooked for us, and several trips with James’ Grandfather (who just loved their Schnauzer, it would growl at him the whole visit and he loved the dogs loyalty). Fortunately James and his Mom got to meet Aunt Mary Ann, we stopped in and visited one Sunday several years back and talked for a couple hours with Uncle Don and Aunt Mary Ann.
It was great seeing Uncle Don and cousins Bruce and Sandy again, just wish it was under better circumstances. All our best wishes goes out to them and their families.
Continue reading “Remembering Aunt Mary Ann Kleiber 1934 – 2015”
Snow Day 2015
The midwest got clobbered on Super Sunday (also known as Feb 1st) with about 17″ of snow in one of the largest one day snow falls in our history. James and Dad both shoveled snow multiple times while waiting for the game to come on. We were notified that Jame’s school was closed around 5pm so we had no problem letting James stay up for the entire game, although he was disappointed in the outcome.
We started shoveling snow a little after 7am Monday and were surprised to see the streets already plowed. By noon most of the streets were clear and it was business as usual. Hopefully James will not have too many more snow days this year, but it was ground hog day and the ground hog saw its shadow so it certainly does look like six more weeks of winter.
First Snow of 2015
The first snowfall of the year came during the Lions playoff game against the Dallas Cowboys. Unfortunately the Lions lost despite leading until about 2 minutes to go, but we finally got to see how our snowmen display looks before being put away for the season. James helped with the snow and shoveled about half of the sidewalk while Dad took these pictures. It’s suppose to snow a few more times this week but hopefully they will be light like it was today (everyone still remembers the harshness of last winter). While it wasn’t a white Christmas we can’t say we didn’t get any snow this Holiday season.
Unfortunately it was the Lions out of the playoffs that signified the end of the Christmas/New Year Holiday (24-20), its back to school for James and back to work for everyone else.
New Year 2015
James continued his New Year countdown tradtion as only he can, using his Ipad synced with the television the whole family welcomed in 2015. Mom and Dad shared some champagne while James got some Mountain Dew soda pop. After the countdown fireworks were going off outside and James watched those for a while, then we all settled in and watched some of the entertainment on tv, including a special performance by Elton John. All in all, a long day and night but an enjoyable one.
The next day was spent watching football, good games by Big Ten Teams Wisconsin, Michigan State, and Ohio State set the pace. The Michigan State game was very memorable due to coming back with three touchdowns in the 4th quarter to overcome a 20 point deficit.
Christmas 2014
James and family had a simply awesome Christmas Holiday. James visited both Grandma and Aunt Peg (who both gave him gifts), then got a special delivery from JC Penny from his Aunt Criss and Uncle Ken and this was just Christmas eve. That night we continued our tradition of watching movies on Christmas Eve and Christmas, our number one Christmas movie is “Dead End” (a spooky story about a family driving on Christmas eve to celebrate Christmas with their family). Next is Holiday Inn (not White Christmas), after that comes our two X File shows, Post Modern Prometheus (Moms Choice) and The Ghosts who Stole Christmas (Dads Choice), finally rounded out with Mothman Prophecies.
Christmas Day centered around James and his desk. He had been ordering desk items with his Christmas money and gift certs from Grandma, Aunt Peg, and Aunt Criss/Uncle Ken and was not disappointed when he woke up with a new desk in his room. His friend “Dynamike” got him a printer and sims game so it was probably not the best kept secret that he was getting a new desk, but still a surprise.
Other gifts include a Monopoly game, National Geographics (James collects these), bathrobe, and a cd rom set with all the National Geographics on it. Mom got a new vacuum and Dad got a “Barnyard Butcher” and Detroit Lion Zombie figure. All in all a very fun Christmas.
Santa’s Magical Forest 2014
James returned to Santa’s Magic Forest for the second year now and got to meet up with several of his VIP camp friends. This was one of the few times we were able to surprise James as he had no idea where he was going a 6pm this night (James was under the weather the past two days and we wanted to make sure he was ok before taking him which aided in us keeping it a secret). Unfortunately Mom is now under the weather and she could not make it to the festivities. The decorations were awesome as usual and James simply had a blast this day (I would say winter blast but the temperature was in the low 50’s and high 40’s most of the day). Big thanks to the VIP campers for making this event happen.
Stevens Birthday Party 2014
James was invited to a party from his friend Steven at school and had an absolute blast visiting with many of the kids he goes to school with. It was a first time meeting several of the families for us as well since James has six different classes during his school day which means many new faces. The party was at Pump It Up in Taylor on Northline road and James made sure he was there right when it opened so he did not miss a minute of playtime. After playing on the inflatables for about an hour and a half, the kids moved into the dining room where they were treated to pizza and treats.
Thanksgiving 2014
James picked out the turkey this year and Mom did her usual great job of cooking it up with stuffing and such. Devil eggs kept James happy while the turkey cooked as the family watched the Detroit parade which was immediately proceeded by the Detroit Lion game. We were pleasantly surprised when the Lions won their second consecutive Thanksgiving game which certainly added to the festivities. After the Lions game we began setting up Christmas decorations and by the end of the weekend, our Holiday decorating was complete. James also managed to make one of the first snowmen of the season, although he was limited by lack of snow (lets hope this continues).
