Cousin Love!

The troops were here for dinner tonight. Most of them anyways! The highlight of the evening wasn't dinner...

and it wasn't Wii......

No...the highlight was baby Maggie, the newest cousin!

Top photo is the very capable and experienced Linnea holding her.

Middle pic is Caleb and Selah holding her.

And the bottom photo is Selah (and Luke and Linnea) when mommy took the baby!

Fall Fun!

Uncle Nathan & Olivia having fun on a sunny fall afternoon.

What is it about kids and leaves???? They just can't leave them alone!! LOL

One last look at the lake........

Two Questions....

First question - How many Schultzes does it take to hold Maggie???

Question two - How many dogs does it take to guard Maggie????

Another Weekend Up North

Tom & I went up north for the weekend. And it wasn't nearly as exciting as last weekend....but it was pretty heart stopping when I pulled up the living room blinds Saturday morning and was greeted by Bambi and her friend hanging there in the neighbor's tree. We arrived the night before well after dark...which is just as well. Can you imagine bumping into this in the dark??? EEWWW!

The next day we took a long golf cart ride and Tom spotted these birch logs laying in the woods. They were from a tree that had blown down in the road and had been cut into the chunks you see in the photo. He rolled them out of the woods and loaded them onto the golf cart. I hope they didn't belong to someone!! Anyways, we'll have some great campfires next summer. Think of the slippers I'll be able to melt!

Then we got home and look at this cute little pumpkin we found !!

Maggie @ 3 weeks - already!!!

My Big Fat Lebanese Sunday

Our youngest daughter, Angela, is adopted. Her birth father, Ali, was deported to Lebanon about 15 years ago. He is currently a Canadian citizen with a home in Windsor. Angela reconnected with him this past summer. Yesterday we went to Canada to see him and meet the rest of the family

The very minute we drove down the street I could spot the house by the Lebanese flag hung on the front porch and I was reminded of the "Big Fat Greek Wedding" movie with its Greek flag painted on the garage door. That was only the first time I would compare the day to the movie!! If you've seen the movie you'll remember the scene where the guys parents meet the girls big Greek family and they are sitting in the house completely bewildered, getting sloshed on ouzo - that is exactly how I felt! Only I was getting a big caffeine buzz from all the tea.It is hard to believe that you could be one short hour away from home and not only in a different country but in a completely different culture! Most of the people we met spoke fairly fluent English but some spoke only Arabic. Angela told us about some of the customs so that we wouldn't be completely stupid. For example - there is a hose in the bathroom because they don't use toilet paper (no comment =>) Dogs and cats are forbidden (haram) so they all had birds. All the women wore head scarves. Her birth father is haj which means that he has made his pilgrimage to Mecca. It is a great honor for him but it means that he can't even shake my hand. (During dinner he asked if I'd breastfed Angela because if I had then he could shake my hand. Weird, huh?) He did shake Tom's hand and his wife and mother and sisters could shake my hand but not Tom's. I'm a big hugger so yesterday was a little strange for me. This is a picture of her birth dad and me at one of the homes we visited. They are all very social and friendly and we were offered a beverage and tea at each home we visited. Also pastries. Remember in the Big Fat Greek Wedding the dad used Windex for each ache and pain?? This family uses Kleenex for every paper product imaginable! Coasters, napkins, plates, etc..... If you've ever had Arabic pastries you know how sticky they are. Can you imagine baklava on a Kleenex????

After we'd been there about 4 hours and met many family members (whose names I can't pronounce let alone spell!) Ali announced that it was time to go eat. Yikes!!! I was stuffed with pastries and tea! Since they have to eat food that is prepared a certain way - halal - we went to a Lebanese restaurant where he ordered for us. Good thing since we don't read Arabic! There was so much food we could've fed an small army! The good thing is that he explained to us what everything was. I actually ate kibbe and it was pretty good. There was a plate of raw quartered onions on ice on the table. He said you eat the onions so that you don't get sick from the raw meat. Hmmmmm. I don't know about that but no one got sick and we were on our way home shortly after dinner. And we are invited back next Sunday for a family barbecue!

Boys and Babies

This is Nicholas - with Olivia and Maggie. Remember that he has never held a baby until about 2 weeks ago? He looks pretty comfortable already doesn't he????

Last night Chelsea went out to dinner and a movie with 2 of her friends and Nicholas watched Maggie. Actually he and his friend Derek took Maggie to Red Lobster for dinner. By themselves. Just 2 guys and a baby. And.......this is the best part......the manager bought their dinner!! I guess babies are right up there with puppies now, huh??

This is Luke. He has a little brother, a little sister and now 2 little nieces. He looks like he knows just what to do doesn't he??? He actually held her and kept her happy for about an hour last night! Yay Luke!

Blah Blah Blah ........

It has been quite a week!

• Baby Maggie & Chelsea are well. Chels actually weighs less now than before she got pregnant. (I had heard about girls like her .... but I never met one before!)
• We went up north and tucked the place in for the winter. Unless I can talk Tom into one more weekend!
• Work ........ well let's skip that topic for now!
• Nicholas got a JOB!!!! True it's at Tom's competitor but hey, it's a tough job market out there. Yay Nick!!!

So now without further ado .... the week in random photos!!

These are my melted slippers. Really!! Tom built us a nice fire and my feet were near that fire when I noticed that my feet were smoking! Can you see the grass embedded in the rubber?? I did a little dance in the grass to stop them from spontaneously combusting!

And then we found the bluebird of happiness!!!!

Unfortunately he was a little dead=(

We made scarecrows with the kids at school last week. Mine is the one holding his head.

Birthday dinner with Cindy & Judy at TW Amigos. Yummy!!