Manor Family Christmas

Our family was fortunate to once again celebrate Christmas together at the Plaza in Eau Claire on Saturday, December 29th. Many of our Manor Family were able to join us, but we sure missed those who couldn't be there this year. We had our usual feast, followed by a nice "program" that was mc-ed and organized by Aunt Paula. It was nice to have Auntie Lou at the piano this year!

Here is a picture of most of the kids joining Grandma and Great-Grandma Lila up front in singing "Jesus Loves Me"

Aunt Paula, the MC

Brett sang a beautiful version of "Silent Night" for us!


Abby played two songs on the piano--"Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer" and "Silent Night"--of course, she sounded GREAT!! :-)



Damara sang a beautiful song from The Messiah, as well as a more lively song to follow--accompanied by the lovely Auntie Lou!




Grandma Lila shared a message with us about the "Text Message" in the Bible that God has sent us asking us to believe in Him so we can spend Eternal Life in Heaven.

Grandma and her six remaining children all sang together--we sure missed Sharon this Christmas...

Uncle Louis shared with all of us the struggles and rewards he and Auntie Lou faced this past year as he battled Mantle Cell Cancer. His testimony was very heart-felt and emotional, and he also reminded us all that for us to all be together again as a family in Eternity, we must put our trust in God and invite Him into our lives as our Savior.

Riahl closed off our program with his new talent--playing the BANJO! He sang about the "Sunny Side of Life"!

Little Abby was walking all over the place at our Christmas Celebration! She loved to hold your fingers and walk around. She can even let go and take a few steps all by herself! She was so cute in her little sweater dress and she was smacking kisses to everyone who walked by!

Christmas Kids listening to the program...

Brett, Andrew, and Austin--trouble????

Paige--I love this kid! (maybe because she reminds me of me with all those boy cousins around...)

Carter and his Silly Putty

Checking out Andrew's cell phone pictures--he has pictures of Sam and Dylan from Thanksgiving saved on his phone!

Andrew and Sam (A.K.A. "Johnny"--I don't know why they call Sam "Johnny"--I guess they think he looks like a "Johnny"!)

Abby, Auntie Lou, and Autumn--the girls were enjoying watching Auntie Lou play every Christmas Carol imaginable!

The big day was too much for little Jordyn--she fell asleep with mom looking on!

Of course, the day wouldn't have been complete without a trip to the pool!

Here are the boys trying to balance on one of the big snakes in the pool..

Austin, Brett, and Dane

Cute little Cruzie

CHICKEN FIGHTS!!!

Carter was on Moriah's shoulders, Brett on Dane's shoulders, and Abby on Woody's shoulders!

Two Brothers!

Carter and Bradley...

Bradley James venturing into the pool

Austin and Carter on the snake!

Abz and Uncle Woody--she was SO happy that he took her swimming!!!!!!

Woody and Moriah tossed Abby in the pool!

Carter's turn for a toss!

Moriah and Woody toss Carter, too! Looks like FUN!

Poor Jack and Sophie had to stay home in the kennel while we had fun at the Plaza....

Thank you, everyone, for a fun day at the Plaza! We are tentatively planning next year's Manor Family Christmas for Saturday, December 27th, so mark your calenders!

Also, please feel free to leave us comments by clicking on the "comments" icon below--we would love to hear from you and know you are visiting our blog! (hint, hint!)

:-)

Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad!

Today is Mom and Dad's 33rd Anniversary!

Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad!

Here they are posing on their 25th Anniversary in St. Felix Church in Wabasha, MN where they were married all those years ago...

Here Mom and Dad are saying goodbye to 2006 and bringing in the New Year of 2007 with some sparkling cider last year...
Happy Anniversary and many more, Mom and Dad!
We love you!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from our house to yours!from the Klimek Family

Christmas Eve with the Klimeks...

Tonight was our Christmas here at home with the kids. We enjoyed a quiet day around home and opened our gifts this early evening. Here are some pictures of the kids with their favorite gifts--the ones off their Christmas Wish Lists...

Austin with his new snowboard and boots--he is just itching to hit the slopes!

Andrew with his new guitar for XBox 360 and Guitar Hero III--his quote for the evening, "I am in love with this game!!!"

Abby and her Dream Life Superstar game--she had asked Santa for this one, so she wrote him a note for this evening so he didn't bring her another one!


The dogs enjoyed their bones from Grandma Pat and Grandpa Denny...



Jack and Sophie snuggling during gift opening...
(picture by Andrew)

The Klimek Family had a very nice Christmas Eve this year with lots of nice gifts--the best gift of all, though, was the five of us (or seven, with the dogs!) being together.

Unfortunately, Christmas Eve started out not so well for Meme, as she has been having problems with her back and not feeling well. This morning, she was unable to get out of bed and had to be transported to the Whitehall hospital via ambulance.

This evening, Deb must have been feeling jealous of Meme's ambulance ride, because she ended up getting sick, too, with a terrible headache, dizziness, and extremely high blood pressure. She, too, had to have an ambulance ride to Whitehall hospital, and then on to LaCrosse for further testing. Jamie drove down to Chippewa Falls, picked up Aunt Bev, and then went to Whitehall tonight to be with his mom. Bev rode in the ambulance to LaCrosse with Deb, and Jamie drove Ken down to LaCrosse, with Nicole following in her own vehicle, where they will hopefully soon find some answers to what is making Deb ill.

Please remember both Deb and Meme (Romelle) in your prayers as they are struggling to feel better for Christmas...



****UPDATE 12-25-07: Deb is home from the hospital in LaCrosse--they brought her home around 4am this morning. They aren't sure what caused her "episode"--we are just hoping she is feeling better soon...

A Christmas Visitor...

Our family was fortunate to be together again this year at Meme and Grandpa Edward's house in Indee. We celebrated our Christmas together on Sunday with Meme, Grandpa Ed, Grandma Deb, Grandpa Ken, Chad, Nicole, Carter, Bradley, and our whole gang. We had a suprise visitor in the afternoon--he came to check in to see if we had been naughty or nice! Andrew replied truthfully when asked, and admitted that he is nice "most of the time"!

Here are some pics of the kids on Santa's lap for your enjoyment...

Santa and the Squirrel

Santa and Andrew

Santa and Austin--Eddie isn't too sure he should be sitting on old Santa's lap anymore! :-)

Santa, Nicole, and Bradley--little Bradley wasn't too sure what to think of Santa, so he went to sit on Santa's lap in the safe company of his mom! Even then, he didn't want to stay up by Santa for too long! :-)

Santa and Carter Mike

Carter and Abby helping Santa pass out some presents...

HO, HO, HO! Merry Christmas!!!

Santa and Grandma Deb

Happy Second Birthday, Bradley James!

We were in Durand on Saturday night to help Bradley celebrate his second birthday. It's hard to believe it has been two years since Chad and Nicole (and I in the backseat) made the trip from Barron/Rice Lake to Eau Claire in terrible, foggy weather the night of December 23rd into the early morning hours of the 24th for Bradley to be born at Sacred Heart Hospital! The Dorwin family--just Chad, Nicole, and Carter, at that time, had been at our house to celebrate Christmas with us and Grandma Deb and Grandpa Ken, when Bradley decided he was ready to greet the world a few days earlier than expected! What a great Christmas present for our family that year!

Here is Bradley showing off by blowing out his candles...

Tasting the frosting... YUM!

Happy to be TWO!!!


Big brother Carter showing Bradley the finer points of gift-opening!

The Kitchen Fairy Strikes Again...

There was more progress made today on our kitchen project. We now have all of our countertops and all of our lighting! We also have all of our WORKING APPLIANCES!!!!! Tonight, my family had a home-cooked meal for the first time in WEEKS! We ate at our new "penninsula" and toasted our kitchen with sparkling cider that Abby bought a month ago in anticipation of this day. There is still more work to be done, but we are excited that we are getting closer to the end!

Austin snapped a picture of Jack and Sophie eating their supper--they both share the bowl, because, heaven forbid, someone may get more then someone else if they each have their own bowls! Sophie is getting quite big already... :-(

Was the Kitchen Fairy Here????

This is the scene that greeted me as I walked thru the door tonight after work! I can hardly believe it, but it seems the room that has stood empty for 2 months now resembles a KITCHEN!!!!

Yes, we have almost all of our cupboards in place, and tomorrow, we should have a functioning sink, a functioning stove, and an installed microwave!!!! This has been a long time in coming, and I almost wept tears of joy to see that we could be nearing the end of this project!

I have been teasing "Bob the Builder" (one of our contractors) that one day I will wake up and the "Kitchen Fairy" will have had been here and the kitchen will be done. Well, now I am calling big, burly Bob my "Kitchen Fairy"--boy, is he thrilled with his new title. Anyway, we can't wait to get our filthy house back in some semblance of order...

I will post more pics as we progress...

A Close Contest with Cameron

Austin had a non-conference C-Team game Monday night against Cameron. The Barron boys did really well the first half of the game--they had the lead most of the first half. Unfortunately, Cameron came back in the second half and the score went back and forth from a tie game to one or the other team up by one or two baskets. We were tied at 40 points with only a few seconds left, when Cameron got the rebound off of our missed shot, dribbled down, and scored--literally-- on a last-second shot to beat us 40-42. What a BUMMER! It was a hard loss to take, as we thought we may get our first win of the season. :-(

Austin, as usual, played well (I thought). Here he is taking full advantage of Hunter's screen and going around the defender...

Another shot of Austin bringing the ball up the court...

Austin also had a game last Friday night that Grandma Pat was able to attend to watch him play. I missed the game, as I was called in. :-(

Next game is Thursday night against Ladysmith--
Go Bears!

Christmas Band Concert

Andrew had his 7th and 8th Grade Christmas Concert last Thursday night, December 13th. Grandma Pat was able to come and listen to some LOVELY middle school music--seriously, they did sound really good! Andrew played "O Come All Ye Faithfull" in the Brass Choir, and then the whole band came together for several Christmas melodies.

Here is Andrew concentrating hard at the music...

You may think Andrew was looking at his mom, dad, and Grandma in this picture, but you would be wrong! There was a large group of girls just to the right of me that caught Andrew's eye...


One of the most fun songs of the evening was "The Chipmunk Song", where the kids all played a lovely piece on their kazoos! Poor Andrew had a hard time playing along on his, as he couldn't quite quit giggling enough to get the tune out!

Squirrel Sightings!

Abby had her last basketball tournament for the season this past weekend in Cameron. Grandma Pat was here to watch her play, and Dad also went in late for work so he could see her work her magic on the court. She played great, as usual, and she also displayed her Christmas spirit by wearing these lovely red santa socks... Abby had the opportunity to take a turn doing the jump ball at the beginning of one of the games--she was thrilled!



Abby's piano teacher, Mrs. Lois Petersen, arranged for her students, the "Peterson's Pine Street Players" to perform at one of the local assisted living/nuring homes in Barron on Friday night--kind of a mini recital for Christmas. Grandma Pat and I were able to go watch Abby play 2 songs--"Silent Night" and "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer". Abby did an AWESOME job with her 2 songs!



Last year in second grade, Abby won first runner-up in a County Conservation Poster Contest. Her poster had been displayed in the Conservation Office all summer, and she just got it back, along with a t-shirt as a reward for her winning poster entry. Here is a picture of the "Squirrel" showing off her beautiful poster....



A close-up of the poster entitled, "Wasting Electricity is Awful!"

Abby modeling her new Conservation T-shirt

WE HAVE A FLOOR!!!!--(kind of...)

Well, it was a BIG day here at our house--we finally had some tile laid in the kitchen!!! (This has been a very LONG process to get to this point!) We are so proud to finally have a floor, that I took a picture for our blog! Of course, we can't walk on it, as it is still setting, and there is no grout yet(it will be mocha-colored), but it is still a FLOOR! (half-way, anyway!)

The next order of business (after the floor is complete), is to hang the crown moulding and then our cabinets are supposed to be in on Monday of next week (this date, too, keeps changing--*sigh*). Our doors and trim are getting stained and painted tomorrow, so they will be ready to hang as needed, and the windows are supposed to be installed with the cabinets. Perhaps there IS a light at the end of this tunnel called "remodeling"???

It is hard to tell the wall colors in my pictures, but they are "Autumn Gray", which is like an Army green color, I think, and "Cobblestone", which is kind of tan/butterscotch in color. I also have painted "Wine Barrel" down the stairwell, which is kind of a rusty burgandy color--guess I shouldn't have picked my colors out in the fall season!!! :-)
Hopefully, I will soon have some more pictures to share and the room will actually look like a KITCHEN!!!!

Tuesday Night Ballin' with the Rails

Tuesday night this week took us to Spooner for basketball against the Spooner Rails. Unfortunately, it wasn't a good night for any of the Bear's teams--all three squads lost, but the games were good ones and were all fairly close. Austin's team probably played the best game they have had yet this year--Austin nailed four 3-pointers, three free throws, and a lay-up for a total of 17 points! I was proud of him, as he has really been working on his shot, and it shows! He had an awesome game (as usual), and his defense and ball-handling was great!

Here is Austin bringing the ball up the court...

Making a long pass from half-court...

Andrew and HIS basketball buddies (they are the forwards, he is the point-guard!) discussing the finer points of the Spooner/Barron game.
Neil, Zack, and Andrew
Austin has another game on Friday night at home against Northwestern--can't wait to see him play again!

Little Jacob Gabriel Dorwin

My little nephew, Jacob Gabriel Dorwin was born on Tuesday, December 4, 2007 at 4:22 pm to Chad and Nicole Dorwin and brothers Carter and Bradley. Jacob was only 24 weeks gestation and had been fighting against the odds his whole life in his mother's womb. He was a "little fighter" in his mom's own words, but in the end, the nasty placenta won the fight, and little Jacob went to be with Jesus in Heaven. Jacob's Heavenly body had already been reunited with Jesus when his Earthly body was born. Jacob's birth weight was 10 ounces, his length was 10 inches. His little body was perfectly formed, just too small to live outside his mom just yet. Please remember to pray for peace and healing for Jacob's mom and dad and brothers, as well as his grandmas and grandpas as they are grieving over the loss of little Angel Jacob.

A photo of little Jacob's hands holding his mom's wedding ring..

"Jesus said, 'Let the little children come to me,... for the kingdom of Heaven belongs to such as these.' " Matthew 19:14