Christi's Shower

I went to a baby shower last weekend for my future great-niece. Pictured above is my niece-in-law Christi who flew in from Arizona for the shower. She is modeling a large ring baby sling.
Christi's mother Susan made this "diaper cake".
Susan on the left with Christi's Grandmother Bear on the right.
Susan seemed to have a "Bear" theme to half her gifts.
The other half of the gifts were baby things she'd saved from when Christi was a baby. Above is Christi with her blanket---the dress, cap and receiving blanket seemed more re-usable.
Susan wasn't the only one to give "gag" gifts---I gave her the video "Awesome Trains" which Doug (my nephew) so admires.

Leah (friend and cousin) gave Christi a hat that Leah thought was hideous---the snozz of the hippo is a flap that covers the baby's forehead. Christi looks like she's trying to smile.Leah and Christi

From Auntie Lynn, Christi got a burp cloth and blanket. It was great seeing Lynn who flew in from Ft. Worth.

Rebecca (cousin) gave Christi a Mizzou tiger and several outfits with a matching headband and socks.
And Rachel (another cousin) gave little Goldilocks Provost a cute outfit that wasn't pastel pink and yet was cute and feminine. Christi appreciated the chocolate, too.
We all had a great time.
I actually won the baby food challenge!
Thanks to all of the hostesses: cousins, sister, childhood, high school and college friends.

Creativity in Kansas City

Although many know my daughter Rachel is an artist (Click here for her web-site), she is not the only creative one in the family. Rebecca is very creative and painted the canvas over her buffet table.
Their children also showed off some of their creative efforts.

Libby loves stickers so this was a great activity for her---putting hearts on the letter H.
I loved the organs on a paper bag that Davis made---AND, he can tell you what each organ does, too.
Surely, you knew that above are the kidneys. . .
The Twenter children went to a birthday party where they decorated plates---Libby's above.
Davis shows off his swirls---the smiley face is Brett's plate

They especially like eating dinner off the plates they made! (Brett above with his smiley face plate)Roman needed no guidance or instruction for his creative urges. Above is the giraffe his mother had as a child.

But, the real challenge will be the Sharpie art on the ceramic tile! :-) No, this creativity does not come from their grandmother. . .

Sitting??? in Kansas City

Last week, we went to Kansas City to baby-, dog-, house-sit for our daughter Rebecca and her husband. Just before we got to the Lewis's house, Louie broke his toe running around the yard. He spent most of the time at the vet while we were there.
Roman and I spent a lot of time outside---here he is with his "gal-pal" Ava.
Roman and Grandpa had a great time reading stories to each other.
Roman read to Grandpa, and then Grandpa read to Roman.
I was a little concerned his pajamas would keep him up at night since they glowed in the dark.
If you know Roman, you know I didn't do much sitting unless he was taking a nap. At 9:50 AM, I'd already clocked over 5300 steps.He went to the Y one day, pre-school one day and we went to "The Grove", an indoor play area another day.
For some reason, this scared a few of the Mom's. Come on Ladies! Did you really think those flowers were for decorations? I did put my foot down when he wanted to hang from that shelf above his head. I tried to find balance between giving him some freedom and keeping him from doing something dangerous. I did have one misstep when I lost track of him for about 10 seconds: he was on an elevator pushing buttons as Grandma came around the corner and stuck her foot in the elevator to keep the door from closing.

Happy Birthday, Donna!

My sister-in-law Donna is such a creative lady. She made the giant pillow for us (above) that we call "Lie-on" at least 35 years ago. I dug it out for the grandchildren, but had to make a few patches.
Here was the Morgan Family all sporting T-shirts which she made (Donna is the woman kneeling on the right) for our first Morgan reunion.
She also made tote-bags for the occasion (pictured above). Dave's parents were married in 1940---so this would have been their 50th anniversary had Eloise lived.
They were all based on the design she'd made earlier (1983) for the Fry Reunion.
In 1997, we had our last Morgan Reunion (if you don't count weddings and funerals) in the Smokey Mountains. I love the design which is on a golf towel.
Many years ago, when we were first married, Dave decided to make wine. Donna made these wine labels for us and gave us the block to make more if we needed more.
You can see that she hand carved out the tile to make the block. Donna is such a talented lady and I tip my visor to her on her birthday.

Happy Birthday, Lynn!

A recap for those of you who missed Rebecca's happy birthday blog. Here are my sister and I in August.
Here is Jane with Rebecca (3 weeks old) on Sept. 18!
Here are Lynn and Rebecca---already bonding in October!
In December, Lynn and Becky were christened together. You took your time in coming, Lynn---you and Becky were supposed to be born at the same time---but you were worth the wait! Happy Birthday and we love you!

Long Family Reunion

The Long Men: Wayne, David, Bill, Paul, Curtis, Bill, Van Alen

The Long Reunion was held recently at the Walther Park in De Soto, Missouri. I don't know how long we've held the reunions, but we do have a photo going back to 1931. David and Bill are the only ones present at this reunion who were at the 1931 reunion also. Click here for that photo.

I won't try to name everyone (Dave and I are in lawn chairs---when did we become the "old-timers"---it's true that I am Roy's oldest living grandchild. . .). But, if you'll look below, you'll see the sign-in sheet.
Wayne brought this DeSoto High School photo from 1941.
It has photos of Clyde and David Long---Clarence Long's son.
All of us descend from Thomas Henry Long and Mary Reiter Long. We are the children and grandchildren, great-grandchildren, great-great grandchildren of the following: Roy Long, Clarence Long, Curtis Long, George Long, Johnnie Long.