Christmas

Christmas morning was pretty quiet here. Adam woke up early but wasn't real excited about opening his gifts from Santa or his stocking, he could just pretend. We always get our picture taken before going to Gayle's but my boys really would rather skip it, they still humor me but when I run back to get into the picture they do something silly, drives me crazy!! This is the best we got this year.

Here's my dad relaxing in the Christmas chair.

Adam and Uncle Brad have a very special relationship.... when the first snowflake falls to the ground Adam is bugging Brad to open the trails. This is his attempt to talk Brad into opening them up by Friday night. When Adam was in grade school he called Brad to ask if he would open the trails and Brad asked Adam if he thought they were ready and then he said "okay if your sure I'll open them up tomorrow". Adam was so proud that he opened the trails, he told all the kids at school that he did it and listened to the radio just to see if Brad mentioned his name. Good thing Brad has a sense of humor with Adam because he can be somewhat of a pest.

This is Whoville. We all eat in the garage, Lynn calls it cafeteria style like in school. We have 5 pans of lasagna, 1 ham, cheesy hashbrown potoes x5, lots of salads and tons of deserts. Gayle goes through a ton of work for this day and we all appreciate it. This is the right side of the garage.

And here's the left side. This year there were 43 of us... there are 16 missing.... don't quote me on these numbers I may have missed someone.

Troy even made it from Iraq... we had a live feed for awhile.

Here are the brothers... missing 2. All the boys live right here in the area and they are never all together for a picture. Dad, Wally, Brian, Rusty and Randy

It seems this post is all about the boys so here's Garrett with his new hat made by Aunt Peggy. It's Alpaca fur, hair, fuzz.... whatever they grow. These are the warmest hats ever and so cute.

Christmas was great and ended with a bit of a snow storm. Here is John using his polish snow blower on the patio.

There was too much snow that he had to start a trucking company to haul the rest of it away.

Cookie Baking

Here's a couple more pictures from our cookie baking day.

The rule is - if a cookie is broken you must eat it.... how many times do you think they break on purpose?

Miss El concentrating on her decorating skills. She likes the decorating tubes and this year actually knew how to use them.

The cinnamon rolls before the rising... I think at this point I can freeze them but I'm not sure yet. I have never made anything with yeast so this was all new to me. When I was growing up mom made 16 loaves of bread a week.... what I wouldn't do for a piece of boughten sliced bread. Call me crazy but bread was our filler and mom never, I mean never let us help make the bread. She said with the yeast and that many loaves of bread to mess up, she needed to do it. Scared me right out of trying anything with yeast, until today.

School is creating a monster

Elly is in Kindergarten and she's becoming a spelling, reading, letter writing monster. She has never liked toys... ever, her passion has always been having someone read to her, color with a number 2 pencil, learn new letters, count, and count again and again..... Well now since she is learning how to read it's become worse. She reminds me so much of her mother when she was little. All Shan wanted to do was read and learn and it all came so easily for her. Elly is the same way, here she is trying to find something to do on Friday before we go see the lights. She doesn't have a clue what to do with herself unless it involves paper and pencils. She also has the same hair as her mother.... thick and long.

Grandma do you wanna write me a letter so I can copy it? Grandma do you wanna watch me read my Candy Cane Book I made at school? Grandma do you wanna draw me a picture so I can cut it out? Grandma do you wanna count the carpet fibers with me?

Here's the letter I wrote her..... I didn't know she would want me to read it over and over again until she knew all the words. Then she wanted to write it all on another sheet of paper. In this picture she is showing it to Adam and having him read it to her.... she gets to read the words she knows.... and she lets him know which ones she can read.

Adam and Elly reading her letter.... Adam eats this time up but why does she have to like reading????? this is his least favorite thing.

Now she talked Adam into reading her the paper, she points to all the words she knows while he skims for the good stuff.

"Oh Grandma please can I have a cup of hot chocolate, you haven't made me one in a hundred years. And I'll have it in a snowman cup since it is winter"

She's spending the night so we'll do this all over again in the morning.

Whitetail Gun Season 2008

Hunting season at the shack is going a little slow, the deer are staying bedded down and with 3 guys they are having a hard time rustling them up so a few of us decided to do a drive for them today. Okay so let's give you a little history first. It's me, Ed and Josh that are going to drive the center of the woods, we need radio handles so Ed wants to be Batman, Josh is Robin and I'm Little Bo Peep. None of us had a clue what we are suppose to do.... so we have lots of questions before we leave the shack.

Can we carry guns - NO

Can we run through the woods yelling back and forth at each other - NO

Can we walk together so we don't get lost - NO

Can we have a radio - NO

What if we get lost - keep the sun over your left shoulder

What if we're in there so long the sun goes down - You'll come out on a trail somewhere

Can we have a radio - Okay fine

Can we have fun radio names - NO

We're gonna anyway

Can we talk on the radio - NO

What if we get lost - URGHHHH

Okay so here we go.... Batman, Robin and Little Bo Peep ride the 4-wheeler and wait for the Okay on the radio to let us know to start...... We wait and wait and then finally John (he wouldn't pick a fun radio name) says on the radio "Adam let me know when your up your tree".... I start to get bored so I am trying to take pictures of all 3 of us in the same frame. It didn't work this is only Little Bo Peep and Robin... Batman is too far down. Batman says on the radio "Bo Peep are you taking pictures of yourself"

Adam says "Okay ding and dong you can start"...... what who's ding and dong!!!! That's not our names. We all enter the woods and seriously that is the last time I seen orange..... Bo Peep is lost and so are her sheep. Seriously how am I gonna walk through this woods, there are branches in the way.... I can't walk straight north the paths don't go north.... where was the sun suppose to be.... where's Robin, he doesn't have a radio.... oh no I don't like this what if I have to spend the night out here I didn't bring toilet paper.

Adam says on the radio "Ed turn to your left".... "I mean right"... no maybe your left".... Batman says "right or left".... "Left". Oh I'm feeling better I hear people on the radio, it still works. Ohhhh no I see the path to the east, I turn to the left and try to remember where that darn sun is suppose to be.... why does it keep moving. "Ken 3 deer heading your way"..... "There all big does, take them all".... "boom".... I dive to the ground (just kidding). Ohhhhh no I see the path to the west..... "Little Bo Peep is seriously lost and I'm not talking about her sheep" I turn and start to head north east or so I think.... John says on the radio "Bo Peep turn to your left".... "You can see me?", "Yes", "Where am I", "turn to your left", "Stop", "Turn", "Okay now go straight"... he says that like it's easy.

Oh no that's the shack, I'm not even half way there.....

"This is Little Bo Peep, copy to Shepard.... where are my sheep and where am I?"

12 or so hours later......Oh there is my littlest sheep...

What.... he gets to sit on the picnic table on this big open path..... there's something wrong here. That's the last time I worry about my little sheep, he can take care of himself... But this is where I was suppose to end up and I did. I'm not lost

John says on the radio "anyone seen my Little Bo Peep yet"..... ohhhh he loves me!!

Here's the deer that Adam saw running past him this morning and he didn't get a shot at it.... but the neighbor girl did!!

A girl must have shot it... it's tongue isn't hanging out.... I think she tucked it away after they put it in the truck.... It's a girl thing.

Here's the only antlers Adam will get to drive around with for today.

Garrett's Announcement

This is the reason for Garrett being naked in a basket on the last post. John thinks I may be in trouble when he's older but for now he makes the cutest knick-knack on my old dresser.

Grandchildren Pics

Okay so Lynn here is a close up of the kido's. What did you do when El was little and you lived in Oregon??? Oh that's right we kept a video camera on her every second and sent you the tapes with a box of Kleenex. Now you haven't seen them for a week and you need your picture fix. Of course I just happen to have some to share....

Here is what he does best.... sleep

Miss El posing with her new hat from Granwma, you gotta love those blue eyes.

I can't tell you why Garrett is lying in a basket naked.... you'll find out soon. :) And of course we can do anything with him and he'll just sleep through it.

My little man in the clothes Grandma bought for him... inspired by Grandpa, I think Grandpa may spoil this one with boy stuff!!

There you go Lynn, and I know your waiting for the secret pic.... be patient.... soon you will see it and it will be so worth the wait.

Emmerich Soup Off

The 7th Annual Emmerich Soup Off was held on Nov. 1st. This year I was only going to make 1 soup, no practice runs either.... yeah right. Friday night I am making two different kinds of soup and having John taste test for me to decide the winner. One was Spicy Chicken Tortilla Soup from former GMA co-host Joan Lunden and the other was the famous Olive Garden Tuscano Sausage Soup. Both are very good but the Tortilla soup is the winner.

With 6 different soups as the cast of characters with lots of taste testers the winning soup was DiAnn's Creamy Broccoli. As they were counting the ballets and crowning the winner I was busy getting the news from Shannon having a baby so I missed this whole process. John said as we were headed to the hospital, don't worry Gayle and DiAnn used your camera and took pictures..... hummmm they must not know how to turn it on because there are no pictures on my camera. They wanted me to send in the crowning to the Emmerich Reporter because the 2008 winning soup DiAnn stole from the Emmerich Cookbook submitted by Tabitha Poyda.

Our next event was a 22 shoot, the closest to the bulls eye wins a prize. Starla won the first round. The 2nd round Adam's friend Shawn stole it away from John and the 3rd round was won by Adam. It was suppose to be open sites and as you can see Adam cheated.

Uncle Brad helping Adam's girlfriend Sarah to shoot, this was her first time ever shooting a gun.

Brad helping Shawn's girlfriend Robyn, this is also her first time. After we were done Adam and Shawn had these girls shoot at the own target 3-4 times and they got to keep them. They were so excited that they shot a gun and they hit the target.

Gayle used my camera while I was shooting, I must have left it turned on.

Another first time shooter this year was Joanne. She has never shot a gun, we talked her into trying it this year.

DiAnn's first time shooting.

Our first time to the hospital I forgot my camera (I know how could I forget my camera?), we left Elly there for about an hour and when we went back to pick her up I remembered it. Here is Shannon, Elly and Garrett.

Shannon looks a little pale, she must have worn off all her color in the birthing tub. She was in there for about 3 hours. Shannon likes to pick days the Emmerichs are all together to have her babies. Last time it was Kristi's graduation party and everyone knew at the same time and now this time the Soup Off. All are doing well.

Happy Halloween

Here's more of Elly's Halloween Costume. She was the cutest little ladybug ever.

To her it wasn't about the treats it was all about being able to come visit. But then there was the "No honey you can't spend the night, but I'll see you tomorrow" and I get this face.

Then Grandma gives her the whole bowl of treats and she's a happy girl again.

Trick or Treating makes this little ladybug very tired.

Baby Sprinkle for Shannon

Last Sunday we had a baby sprinkle for Shannon. It was a sprinkle since she has already had a baby but there was no time for a shower. 20 minutes to prepare for being a Grandma didn't give us much planning time. : ) There were about 25 guests and everyone had a great time playing Lynn and Shawna's games and enjoying the great chili meal.

The cake was so cute and made by my aunt Susie. She did a fabulous job and everyone loved the taste. Our theme was pink and green with polka dots.

Among the drinks we had punch and Hot Cranberry Tea..... while with the Hemmers and Emmerichs we like to add a little kick to our suppose to be alcohol free drink so I brought along a bottle of Hot Damn Cinnamon Schnapps. What's wrong with that? Well as guest started to arrive there were many making fun of my bottle of booze at a baby sprinkle so I covered it up so no one could see. And I'll have you know that this bottle was almost gone when the shower was done!!

Since we have Elly already we set up a picture area with Shannon and Elly's pictures. It's amazing how much Elly looks like Shan now and when Shan was little.

Cute job on the decorations girls, love the green and pink. We gave everyone a nickle when they got there. To introduce ourselves we had to give our name, how we know Shannon and then say something we have never done. Then from the other guest if they have ever done that they have to give you their nickle. My niece Jody started the game and she had a great "never done" she said "I never sent a child to school" Well that cleared out most of our nickels.... Elly's never was "I never drove a car".... she now has all the nickles. A few more people went and didn't want to take the nickles away from Elly so they said things they never did but Elly never did them either..... until...... there is pesty Aunt Gayle she's not afraid!!! She said "I never wore a polka dot dress"..... ohhhhh there goes all Elly's nickles to Auntie Gayle.




Lynn and Shawna are giving the rules for the bag over their head. You have to put the bag over your head and when Lynn says take an item off your body they have to hand it to their partner. This game was hilarious and some people were getting down to where they couldn't take anything else off....

The best was Grandma Fran with this bag on her head. She was ready to take her teeth out but the game stopped just in time.

Here's Shannon with her cake. She is so cute, we tried to get belly pictures of her but that wasn't happening.

She wanted Elly to get her picture taken with her.... so this is what you get when pesky Auntie Gayle gives her a mask that she loves. She wore this all day. Good thing Gayle had a make-up gift for taking all her nickles away!!

Shannon opened up the gift from Grandma Fran and it's the famous variegated baby afghan. All the grandchildren get them. During my niece Jody's baby shower Elly got upset at Grandma Great for giving her blanket away!! We prepared her for this one.

Lynn wrote down all the babies gifts in a hard page story book. She had a bunch of different color markers and each person had a different page in the story book. It was so cute and something Shannon and the baby can read for many years.

What a great sprinkle and what great family and friends we have.

Shannon wanted a picture of her with Elly and Lynn so here are my three girls... so far...... maybe baby will make four!!

Update from Shannon's doctor appointment this last Thursday.... nothing!!! Baby is still high and nothing is moving. She's not due until the 3rd of November and I was 3 weeks late with all three kids so I guess it may be awhile yet. Don't worry you'll be the first to hear the news.