Contest Winner!

Christine participated in a contest at THE DOLL MAKERS, a doll and toy shop in Old Towne Monrovia. She won the clothes designing contest resulting in a handmade dress for her American Girl doll based on her design. Way to go Christine!

Visit to Gilbert Arizona, May 2011

It's not often that the 3 of us get together .

One of the angels Daddy made when I was a little girl. That would be at least 40 years ago!




My mother's painting of The Little Match Girl/Das kleine Madchen mit den Schwefelholzern
Now I understand why I'm such a crafter! My parents have always been creative.






Mutti gave me a ton of treasures: an old coffee grinder, acrylic paints, scrap book paper, ephemera, glass beads from Italy, roseries from first communion over 100 years old and a rosenthal vase, and an old pair of spectacles. Not yet pictured is the giant plush evergizer bunny!

We stayed at the Hampton Inn. Great breakfast and nice swimming pool. We went swimming in the evenings and mornings. The weather was perfect for it.

Swimming with Friends

Swimming with friends after school. From left to right Christine, Evelyn and Sylvia.

Superbowl Sunday 2011

From left to right: Brett, Christine, Mike "Cheesehead", and Josephine "Assistant to Cheesehead"; above is the one and only Pittsburgh fan. That was his defiant expression BEFORE the Steelers lost!

New Year's Day at the R-Ranch

Snow, snow and more snow!! When the flash is used it reflects off of the snowflakes for a wonderful effect.

New Year's Day

Falling snow

Christmas 2010

We saw 4 versions of "The Christmas Carol" this year. Once at Hollywood Presbyterian Church, the second, our traditional Albert Finney video version, the third was an animated version with Jim Carrey at the ranch, and the fourth at the Sierra Madre Playhouse with Ellis and her mom . Here are the girls just before we left for the Sierra Madre play.

Oreo enjoyed sitting under the tree and drinking the water from the tree holder.

This is one of Nana's (Tom's grandmother) homemade Christmas ornaments.

Gwen gave us a sackload of kitchen goodies for Christmas. This is only half of it!

On a sad note, Biscut died December 23rd. Here she is in hospice. We miss her.

Halloween 2010

Each Halloween, Christine invites her friends over to trick-or-treat, then dump candy on the floor and trade. It started out with one friend and has grown each year. Ellis (geek), Brett (Hobo), Christine (bat girl) , Madeline (Grrr) , Charlie (Star Wars), Abby (Glenda from "Wicked") and Gabby (Dorothy).

Oreo sporting the Halloween sweater she was forced to wear for a short time.