I'm Baaaaaaaaaaaaaack!

Hi to my followers, whomever you may be. I recently had a friend tell me he enjoyed catching up on my family through my blog, so I thought what the heck, perhaps I'll take a little time to briefly recap our lives...We'll start where I left off

January

Aunt Ayliffe Pinkerton passed away on the 12th
Leah was STILL playing Basketball
Leah and Lauren performing with Rockettes for boys basketball

Lindsey working at B-Dubs and going to PNC

I was off this entire month from work, as usual

Lots of Snow with a few days of school called off

Leah's Senior Pix in the Beautiful Snow

February
Uncle Dick Henning Passed away on the 6th

My Cousins had their 1st daughter, Birkley, on the 8th

Aunt Ruby Liggett passed away on the 17th
Still off this month

Lauren and Brandon LaCrosse Semi-Formal

March
Went back to work, which is my normal schedule
Lindsey had spring break and went to Tennessee with a huge group

Sports Awards/Leah Basketball Mental Attitude Winner!

Leah and Lauren Student Council Trip To Tennessee (I chaperoned)

Lauren Inducted into NHS

Leah Drove Papa's Tractor to School for AG DAY


April
3rd Annual Spring break in Tennessee For 4 days (the ENTIRE clan plus some x-tras)
Home for hours then on a plane the next day and flew to West Palm to meet up with our friends for 5 days and flying home with them on their private jet (now I know how Lauren has been treated, all I can say is thank you from the bottom of our hearts, and oh Miami South Beach is GRRRRREAT!) Pigeon Forge Tennessee

Mom*Dad*Suzi*Kevin*Norman*Lori*Lindsey*Leah*Ryan*Lauren*
Richard*Morgan*Mitchell*Madison*
Not Pictured: John* Kelly*Gracie*David*Jamie*Alicia*Austin

another senior picture of Leah (& one of our favorites!)

Miami South Beach Baby!
(You can tell by their faces they miss Lindsey, college girl had classes)

West Palm Beach

Our Ride Home

Johnny the Pilot/Owner/Friend

PROM 2010

Leah*Ryan*Lauren*Gabe

Leah and Ryan

(bought Leah's dress in West Palm!)

Lauren and Gabe (foreign exchange student)

May
Another Prom For Lauren, this time with her boyfriend:)

Lauren and Brandon LaCrosse Prom

Lauren's Herbst appliance off after 1 year
Leah's senior night/outstanding senior athlete!

My nephew, Mitchell made his confirmation

Senior Mass and Breakfast "Class 2010"

June

School Out
Leah's AWESOME Graduation Par-tay!!!

Teamsters (the hubby) were on strike for 3 weeks:(
The Baby turned 17

Then the baby (Lauren) headed to Germany for 3 weeks

Our dear friend Chris Cummings passed away from a long battle with cancer:(

July

Leah started her job as an Assistant

The Baby came home from Germany/along with like 10 others

A girlfriends daughter got married, Norman had a tough time with this (i think for whats to come in our lives)

The LaPorte County 4-H Fair, girls had ducks, pigs, and photography

Leah turned 19

Lindsey made the decision to transfer to West Lafayette, PURDUE, spring of 2011

Grandpa Wolff died on the 29th

August

Leah traveled to St Martin with her employer and family for a weeks vacation

Signed up the last "White Girl" for her Junior year of school

Which brings me to today

I sit here while Norman and Lindsey are working, Leah went with her boyfriend Ryan down to my sisters, and Lauren is babysitting. As you all know we have had such a terribly HOT summer, I have averaged mowing every two days to keep up with this summer grass. I am not complaining, this is what summers are suppose to be like, now the humidity could ease up a bit!!!
I will post this now, then perhaps later add the rest of the pix...

2nd Week Of Vacation

Our last week of vacation has been real nice, the weather on the other hand hasn't...I guess I shouldn't complain about 70 degrees, but it would be nice if the sun was out all the time as well:) I know, call me greedy...

Suzi, Kevin and Ryan went home just after Richards kids, Morgan, Mitchell and Madison, came in. We also had another family come over to be with us for a few days, the Mike Goodwins. Lauren's friend Sydney Satoski came and spent the night with us before leaving with her family to go to Orlando. The kids have gone jet skiing many times, they even had the boat police fly across the gulf to see what the heck they were doing so close to the shore...If you look real close to this picture you will see that the full moon has been out here quite a bit this year! The kids (and Richard) had just come back from jet skiing and were warming up in the hot tub.

My father in law, Stew came as well as our friend Mike Schultz and we have just been hanging out spending time together as usual.

We have seen all the normal faces down here that come for christmas and look forward to seeing them all again next year:)

I have taken more Senior pictures of Leah, here are just a few

I have been blessed with wonderful friends and relatives and look forward to the new year to come!

HAPPY NEW YEAR

FROM OUR FAMILY TO YOURS

Bub, Dianne, Kevin, Suzi, Lori, Norman, Richard, Lindsey, Leah, Morgan, Lauren, Mitchell and Madison

Christmas Vacation Week 1

So this is the day we were leaving, Thursday the 17th, we lined Leah's boyfriend Ryan up to watch the house and take care of the cats for us....As you can see Leah is VERY sad...

Little did she know that her Aunt Suzanne and Uncle Kevin were looking for another driver to help them with the long trip down...Ryan asked Thursday morning from work to get the week off, they said yes, he packed in one day and headed down with them...

What is very nice is that this year we also have the room right next door to us, thats where Ryan, Suzi, Kevin and Richard are staying...

The next morning the SURPRISE was on her:)

I have posted a few pictures of our first week here in Madeira Beach, Florida

This is our 15th year of coming down for Christmas and New Years

Love to see how "white" the girls really were to begin with:)

Hot Tubbin It Up

Lauren*Leah*Lindsey

Then Sunday we headed to Tampa to pick up our little German Daughter Rani

We found a restaurant called the Sea Hag, the owner used to live in South Bend, IN
Love these girls and the beautiful sunset behind them:)

"White" Family Photo

The sunsets really are the best here...

While I was laying poolside, Norman went and bought himself a Christmas present!
This is what Christmas Eve looks like for us...This is our tradition, Pizza and Pasta!


Merry Christmas Everyone

Thanksgiving 2009

Norman and I got married one October and I decided right away that year, that "I" would start a new tradition and have Thanksgiving. That way it gave our Moms a break, made me really learn how to cook after 1 month of marriage, and both sides of the family would come to our home and we did not have to travel when we started having babies...(see how my mind works:)

In the early days my Mom came over in the weeee hours of the morning, and after several calls to my Grandma, making sure we had her recipe just right, our Thanksgiving was complete. And now after 20 plus years, my beloved Grandma gone, the tradition of my Mom coming in the morning still exists, we've tweaked the time and the recipe has changed a bit, but we still make her WONDERFUL stuffing that we all crave. The house smelled perfect, the parade was on in the morning, everyone came, and we had a meal that was scrumptious, as a matter of fact almost every bit of the food was GONE! Not even enough for a turkey sandwich the next day.

Over the years I have learned, we went from making a huge turkey then, to making several breasts now, we all like the white meat...so why not spend the extra money and get what we really want:)

This year was no exception, the meal was so tasteee, the company even better, and to top it all off I write a traditional poem that everyone loves? to listen to.

Early that afternoon, after all the dishes were done, I took little Lauren over to the airport to fly with her "bestie" to go to Vail, Colorado for the weekend. After everyone left that evening, Lindsey went over to a girlfriends house to spend the night, and Leah went to bed kinda early so we could go shopping the next morning.

This Black Friday we didn't go out real early, we left at 6am and went to just a few stores not really wanting much, but ending up with what we had our eyes on, then as I said on Facebook, we finished our trip with going to Starbucks (Tanner's Fav Place)

for some CARMEL APPLE CIDER, YUMMM

This weekend the Christmas lights were finished on the house and I am happy, the reason for my happiness, is because when I was a little girl my Mom always turned her Christmas lights on the first day of December (that happens to be my birthday:)

that always made me feel soooo special, now my husband continues with this.

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend filled with family and loved ones.

I look forward to doing this again in 364 days!

Happy Thanksgiving to Everyone, near and far

Lovin The Fall Colors

Hi (anyone that reads)

Just when you think all is running smoothly....my Mom gets into an accident last Friday, what she called a fender-bender was actually about $9,000.00 in damage to her Nitro. I was running errands in Valparaiso when I got the call, she was in LaPorte, that was the day we had torrential rain and blowing leaves...she tried to stop tooo late for a stop sign, slid on wet pavement and leaves then hit another car, she was fine, air bags deployed and her hands were ripped by it. Of course she was sore from the impact. Yes, its time to move on from accidents!!! We were soooo glad that my Mom was alright:)

I am happy to report that our lives have slowed a bit:) Leah is busy with Basketball Practice, Rockettes, and School....Lauren only Rockettes and School, she has filled out a few job applications, but as we all know, it'll be pretty tough for her to get a job. Lindsey is busy as ever with B-Dubs and School. Since Volleyball got over we have actually spent a few evenings all home together, until Basketball games start up next week.

Our little Lisa made it home safe, all the kids had to stay out of school over there for a week, due to the fact that there was sooo much sickness going on here right before they left. The children all had to be checked out by their own doctor to make sure they were fine, well guess what, Lisa tested positive for the H1N1 virus, her doctor told her more than likely she got it on the plane:( I told her she should have just stayed here where she was well!

.

I have started taking a few of Leah's SENIOR pictures, I love the fall colors, and before the leaves were all blown away, we took advantage of the beautiful morning this past Monday, and got a few shots:)

Leah Meredith White

Our Middle Daughter

Lookin Like A SENIOR!

A Very Fast 3 Weeks

It was time to say good-bye to all our new German friends...especially our own Lisa:(

We had such a wonderful time with Lisa, and she said she couldn't have been with a better family:) (that sure makes you feel real good)...The last week was spent by most of the kids trying to stay well. We went to Merrillville and Lisa spent every last dollar she came with, as a matter of fact, my Mom gave her the extra $5 she needed to buy an American Eagle sweatshirt. We went to the candy store on US #30, ate at Joe's Crabshack, bought pumpkins so they could carve them, they had a farewell party, and we rounded our time out with our very last sectional volleyball game against Marquette.

(If you follow volleyball and know of this school, you know they are fantastic!)

The picture that follows was taken Friday just as the kids were getting ready to leave for Ohare, Germans & Americans:)

Lauren and Lisa are in the center of this picture.

I couldn't have been happier by the way Lauren and Lisa got along:)

I believe these girls will have a friendship all their lives...

Once again, many tears:(

As with all the German exchange girls we have had live with us, Mama (my Mom) went shopping with us and she had Lisa pick out her very own build-a-bear. Lisa named hers Lauren because it reminded her of the Rockettes and her American sister being one :)


Lauren took Lisa to Papa's (my Dad's) company to show her some of our heavy equipment, if you look real close you will see Lauren and Lisa standing with their heads popped out of Lauren's sunroof.

(That's one long stick backhoe!)

Then there's Leah?
No need for a caption...


And finally as promised, Lindsey's new beetle:)

(I am so glad she loves this car, she said it feels like "home" to her!)

I would have to say we have been so lucky to have such wonderful German exchange students that will be a part of us forever...I truly love these girls and look forward to the day I see them again:)

South Central Varsity PCC Champs

So our SENIOR Varsity volleyball player Miss Leah is on a roll, they won their Senior Night...as you will see in the picture below, she was very "sappy" as she was being honored, just like her big sister Lindsey, she cried a lot too, because that is how we roll. But to make things just awesome, they are the PCC Champs! They beat Washington Township AGAIN, which makes everyone very happy!
We took a trip to Chicago to see "Cats" (don't waste your money) and to go up in the Willis Tower, that was really cool, as you will see in the pictures to follow, it was actually pretty scarrrrry! The kids even jumped in the Skydeck Ledge, not me!!!

Then Lauren and her little German friend Lisa went and had their nails done, no they didn't leave them that long!!!

Below is a picture of the South Central PCC Champs! They really gave us a great show! We even missed the neighbor girls wedding reception (Danielle Nichols), we sent Lauren and Lisa to represent the family:)

Instead of going to church Sunday morning, I took our little German friend to my nurse practitioner, she woke up with a fever of 103.9 and I almost died....she had the test for swine flu, thank god it was NOT the flu, she has a very serious case of sinusitis. I know she is in agony with this but I told her it could be waaaaay worse.

But the next day after the Z-pack she is so much better. She told me she gets this infection very often.

The flu is terrible at South Central and there are cases going around, I just cross our fingers and hope everyone gets well over fall break and the school will be "germ free" (yea really....what a dream)

Tomorrow is a day for shopping with Lisa to Merrillville, she leaves already this Friday, I will miss this girl!!!

Hey, Lindsey got a car yesterday...yes another VW beetle, this one is a 2006 and the color is silver, its cute, but what bug isn't! I'll have to take a pix and post after she gets some stuff on it:)