What a Christmas!

We had a great time this Christmas with Ryan, Casey and the girls, and wish we had taken more photographs. Here is Chloe descending the staircase with her new Christmas dress. Do you get a sense of the 20-foot ceiling? This angle really dwarfs the Christmas tree in the background.

This shot shows Chloe lounging in a pool of bubbles in the master bath. I can't imagine anyone not wanting to lounge in the luxurious tub at the end of a long workday!

We had a wonderful time, and wish we could have spent time with all of you. Is it too early to start planning a big reunion Christmas for next year?

Love you all! Mom and Dad

Happy Birthday Nora!!

We hope the Birthday Bird brought you plenty of books and donuts to enjoy on your birthday! We love and miss you so much!

Mom books

Saw this article on NPR and thought of our teen-book loving mom. Need ideas for a Christmas gift for mom? I think a nice teen novel always makes her happy! :)

Miss you all so much, especially because it is Thanksgiving day! I'm so sad that I won't be eating turkey and pie with my family!

Someone was going to post this earlier, but never did. Not sure who it was...

It was fun for me because I recognized many of these processes, because I worked them or around them.

"I saw this article in the Chicago tribune and thought I would share...

General Motors invited Cars.com editor Kelsey Mays and photographer Ian Merritt to its Fort Wayne Assembly plant off Interstate 69 in Roanoke, Indiana. Here they watch a GMC Sierra pickup truck come together."

http://www.chicagotribune.com/classified/automotive/chi-gmc-sierra-assembly-102110,0,3558724.photogallery?index=chi-gmc-sierra-assembly-d

Christmas Time!

Christmas is coming people, and we have to get on the ball! It is time to figure out the exchange!

According to the blog, this is what we did last year.

Ryan/Casey give to Margie/Brandon

Margie/Brandon give to Betsey/Richard

Betsey/Richard give to Edward/Meridth

Edward/Meridth give to Karl/Emily

Karl/Emily give to Ryan/Casey

So, I'm shifting everything up this year. So, here we go.

Ryan/Casey give to Betsey/Richard

Margie/Brandon give to Edward/Merdith

Betsey/Richard give to Karl/Emily

Edward/Meridth give to Ryan/Casey

Karl/Emily give to Margie/Brandon

How does that look? Let me know if there are any problems

Thank you for the Birthday Post Aunt Betsey!!!!

Love and miss you.

Amazing Ashley

Happy Birthday to our dear Ashley! Your birthday was great here in Hong Kong, I hope it is great for you in Utah! XOXOXOXOXO

Starting off with a little vintage Ashley.

Look at these two cute girls!

From our last visit to Utah. I like that Ryan is eating Nora's head. She does taste delicious.

We LOVE you Ashley! You are brave, smart, funny, talented and kind. Enjoy this year!

Early Birthday Wishes

Time zone differences make this only a couple of hours early, but I want to wish Richard a very happy 31st birthday. This Far East family will just be getting ready for bed when this is posted, while the rest of us will be getting up and going for the day. What will you do to celebrate Richard? I hope Betsey can find a place that has donuts for your visit from the Birthday Bird!

There may not be a home-baked birthday cake (no oven!) but I hope you can blow out some candles one way or another. We will eat some cake in your honor.

By the way, the Weather Channel is talking about Typhoon Megi that just ripped through the Philippines. I sure hope it doesn't have any impact for you this week. We'll be keeping you all in our prayers.

Love from Grandma Claudia and Grandpa Ed

Betsey's Oriental Birthday

Right now in Hong Kong it is 9:00 in the morning on October 4th, and Betsey is officially 31, even though here it is still October 3rd.

She says they celebrated Saturday by going to Disneyworld, there in Hong Kong, and when Richard gave her a card a short time ago, Nora said, "you already had your birthday". Isn't she a smart little girl.

Anyway, we are happy to celebrate with you across the miles, Betsey, and we hope your day is wonderful. (We hope Richard's first day of work is wonderful, too).

All our love,

the Decatur Gimbels

New Temple in Indianapolis!

Okay my family, this is exciting stuff! Maybe just for a few of us, but I was thrilled to hear that they are going to build a LDS temple in Indianapolis, Indiana! This is a great blessing for the people of Indiana and for our family! I love the temple and am excited to have on a little closer when I visit Indiana. Yeah!

Thirty-seven Years

At 7:00 in the evening, thirty-seven years ago, Edward and I were married in Austin, Minnesota. It's hard to believe that many years have gone by. I can remember celebrating our first anniversary. Your dad bought me an ironing board, and a big metal bowl for mixing up homemade bread. I no longer have the ironing board. It broke ages and eons ago, and I now have two--a little built-in-cupboard one that Ed uses, and a larger stand-alone board that I use (albeit less frequently!). I still have the aluminum bowl, and since I seldom make homemade bread anymore, I use it most frequently to mix up the apples for apple pie and for mixing the stuffing for Thanksgiving. Sometimes I use it for salads if I'm taking a salad to a carry-in dinner because it holds a lot, and I can feed more people.

For our second anniversary, we took our friends, Gary and Sally McDougall, out to dinner at the top of the John Hancock building in Chicago. At the time, our dinner tab was over $100. I wonder what that would be in today's dollars. Weren't we the big shots!

Please don't worry that I'm going to list our activities for all the anniversaries. I just wanted to mention the first two, and then tell you what Ed and I did after work today. We went to the Granite City restaurant in Fort Wayne with several of our dear friends, and enjoyed a lovely evening al fresco. It really was a perfect night. I wish I could have shared it with you all!

Anyway, no pictures. You'll have to imagine what Ed and I looked like in 1973, him in his cute bowtie, and me in my homemade wedding dress.

Pictures from Sammy's wedding

Some fun ones... I don't know about the jumping thing or the casually walking down the road thing, but whatever.

Testing new flip video

Mom got a flip video. What are the odds she actually uses it?

Labor Day Weekend

I am sitting around today on my day off, doing laundry / getting ready for a trip to Decatur tomorrow, and I am so excited! I always have so much fun when we drive up to visit. Honestly this time I'm more sad than excited, this will be the last Betsey&co visit before they leave for HK and that's seriously heartbreaking. I am going to miss our terrible movie nights and overindulging SO much. Anyway I was thinking what things we should do this weekend, and obviously food was the major focus. I wish Margie was coming so I could try those delicious looking pizzas she made (or stuffed shells, or breakfast casserole)... Recently Karl's been on a pancake kick at our favorite restaurant Farm because he likes the lemon syrup they serve with them and yesterday a blog I read posted THIS recipe for Lemon Ricotta Pancakes and I thought it was very serendipitous. Don't they look delicious?
So maybe we can make some of those this weekend... But even as good as those look I don't know if anyone would pick a different pancake over Claudia's homemade buttercakes.

As I'm writing this I am watching Rachel Zoe, and they're talking about Fleetwood Mac and I have to post about it because I had forgotten how good they are. It's nice to be reminded:






Another thing Karl and I are doing this Labor Day weekend is going to see Vampire Weekend in concert. I am a little more excited about the opening act Beach House:




And now that I listen to them back to back, I think Beach House's lead Singer sounds kind of like Stevie Nicks!


Well that's what we're up to this Labor Day weekend, how are the Utah & NC Gimbels spending their 3 day weekend??

Happy Birthday, Chloe!

A little belated, but we're hoping you had the best day ever, Chloe! We love you!

A Fun-Filled Weekend

The Hawkins Family invaded Raleigh this past weekend and we had an absolute ball. Betsey and crew arrived on Thursday night. We had chicken enchiladas and waited for Brandon to get home from NYC. Friday was a little overcast but we managed to have a great day -- hanging out and not doing much. Saturday was a bit more fun with Brandon and Richard taking the kids to Monkey Joe's while Betsey and I set forth to prep for the big Pizza Party! And when I asked Betsey what she would say about her trip to the RTP, she said, "I did a lot of cooking." Though, I would say, Saturday night was a big success! Nine Gourmet Grilled Pizzas from the recipe book Ryan and Casey got me for Christmas. Pizzas included: All-American Pepperoni, Blistered Corn, Asparagus & Pesto, Fire-Roasted Veggie, Pineapple & Pancetta, Pulled Pork Pizza, Blue Cheese - BLT, Pulled Pork Pizza, King Pao Cashew, Bacon Cheeseburger and Nacho Libre. Sunday was a Sushi making class for me and Betsey and church for Richard and the kids. All-in-all, a great weekend. We also determined that we'll be going to HGK for Valentine's Day 2011 and I'm so very excited. We're booking tickets this week.

Much Love to all!

-M

Miming Angel

Here is a picture of Mom and her rolling, miming, angel friend from Chicago. He saw Mom coming from a mile away...

The Koomans at the Drake

Thinking of you all and hope you're having a great summer.

Much love,

-M

Exciting news!

First, we're pretty sure Edward's going to be done on the July 30th which puts us in Decatur around the 1rst (ish). Hooray for seeing all of you. We can't wait. Second, for the more exciting news, visit our blog.

Hawkins Family Schedule

Claudia was worried that not everyone in the family knows our schedule for the next few months. Just in case you are in the dark and/or care, here it is!

July 20-25: Visit to upstate NY. Richard has a Continuing Legal Education (CLE) course in Albany on July 21-22. I'm going to be visiting a friend in Rochester. We are going to spend July 23rd in the Rochester area visiting church history sites. We will travel on the 24th to Niagara Falls (Canada side) and return home on July 25th.

July 28: Betsey leaves the Cleve' for Decatur. Bye bye life in the Cleve'.

July 30: Richard's last day as a law clerk.

August 2: Richard loads up the moving van with our stuff for storage and to move to H.K. and heads to Decatur. This may happen over the weekend, but because we live above a restaurant, it is tricky figuring out when we can do this without disrupting the restaurant's schedule.

August 6: Sam Fenning gets married! Karl and Emily are going to be up from Bloomington for the wedding. We are going to crash (okay, Sam did invite us...) and are excited to celebrate our honorary Gimbel, Sam!

August 10: Hawkins family is having a family photo taken by Erin (Curry) Hoffman. Thanks for the recommend, Margie! We are so excited!

August 11-12: Hawkins family travels to North Carolina. We'll arrive in the early evening of the 12th.

August 12-17: Hawkins family in North Carolina with the Koomans. We will leave on the morning of the 17th.

August 17-20: Hawkins family in Washington D.C. visiting friends and our nation's capitol.

August 21-23: Travel to Pittsburgh and enjoy the sites of Pittsburgh. We are hoping to go through F.L.W's Falling Waters House, but they don't allow children to go through. We will have to stagger our visit.

August 23: Hawkins family leaves for Ireland!

August 23-31: Hawkins family in Ireland. We are still trying to figure out our itinerary. We will probably post it on our blog.

August 31: at midnight. Hawkins family arrives in Pittsburgh.

September 1: Pit stop in the Cleve' on the way back to Decatur. Calvin has his six month wellness visit with his doctor. Poor guy has to get some immunization shots!

September 1: Back in Decatur.

September 3: The moving company picks up our stuff to ship to Hong Kong from Ed and Claudia's house.

Some date after this, we are flying to Utah. We aren't sure the exact date yet. It depends upon when we are going to be moving to H.K., which depends upon how long they will put us up in a hotel in advance of Richard's start date. Richard begins work in H.K on October 4th.

Okay, so hope we get to see all of our dear friends and family before we go. Edward, any word on your schedule? We haven't heard any firm plans from you and Meridth about when you will be in Decatur. Ryan, are you guys making a trip to Decatur? I just heard this as a rumor...any plans? We will see you in Utah if we don't get to see you in Decatur.

Hope you all are having a wonderful weekend. I just talked to Margie and she had a great 5 mile run along the beach in Hawaii. I think she wins the prize for best weekend. We spent the morning shopping for work clothes for Richard. Running on the beach in Hawaii totally trumps wrangling two kids in Filene's Basement.

XOXOXOXO

Random Thoughts in July

One of the best parts of having the summer off is being able to catch up on some of the reading I never get to do during the school year. Whether it's professional reading designed to get me excited and enthused about teaching math to seventh graders, (and believe me--I've read three books so far, and several blogs and I'm actually started to feel excited and enthused) or scriptures and other religious readings designed to get me off my spiritual butt, and start acting like a follower of Christ, I have really been elevated by the things I've read. Even the many magazines to which we subscribe have provided fodder for increased contemplative musings, (although I may need to index the articles I want to quote from, so that I know which magazine and which author I'm quoting).

Anyway, despite all that (and please don't analyze that last paragraph for sentence structure or length), nothing surprised me quite as pleasantly as a cute little blog titled, "Flunking Sainthood". I don't remember the blogger's name other than Jana, but she is an LDS writer who shares some of her own (sometimes unorthodox) ideas about faith. I found her ideas interesting and yes, refreshing, and was a little jealous that she was able to express ideas so much better than I. So, I will provide the email address (my last link attempt was a disaster), and you can check it out for yourselves. Her first name is Jana--can't remember her last name, but she lives in Cincinnati, and has a non-member spouse.

http://blog.beliefnet.com/flunkingsainthood

I would love to hear your thoughts and opinions, even if they're different from mine (REALLY!)

Love you all, Claudia

A Year Ago!

Here is everyone,

waiting for Edward

Russell to march on by.

Here we are,

enjoying the beach.
Here is Chloe with her

daddy. Isn't the ocean

beautiful?

Since today is the last day of June, I started thinking about where we were last year at this time, and we were in Utah, just about ready to take off for Monterey, California. So.... in honor of the fourth of July, here are some pictures I stole from Ryan's facebook page to help us remember the fun times.

What are YOU up to this weekend?

I just wanted to post this short blog (with no pictures) to let you know what us old fogeys are doing this weekend. Some people think we oldsters must have such a boring life and sit around doing nothing all the time, but we DO get around.

This weekend Dad is down in Bloomington helping Karl install (did I get this right you guys?) a new bathroom sink/vanity. He left work on Saturday (more overtime--YAY!), and drove down there Saturday afternoon, and should be back to Decatur by 5:00.

Claudia is in Merrillville, attending the yearly conference for her Psi Iota Xi sorority. She gets to find out how cool her sorority is with all the incredible work they do donating nearly a million dollars to causes such as cleft palate research, cochlear implants to improve the hearing of children, supporting the Indiana Arts Council and symphony orchestras around the state. And you wondered where all that cheeseball money went!

Anyway, I should be home around 5:00 also. Then we'll turn back into old fogeys again. Maybe you'll want to give us a call, and hear more details. We love to hear from our children and extended friends and family. We love and miss you all. Claudia

Post for Marjorie...

cause I know how much she loves Joakim Noah...

Late Dad Day Post

Happy Father's Day to my wonderful Dad, Ed. We love you. We literally and figuratively wouldn't be here without you.

Ed and Nora, Thanksgiving in North Carolina 2008.

Ed with Jack and Justin, Memorial Day 2010.

Ed and Claudia with Calvin, Chicago 2010. Right before Mom's sad fall.

My favorite picture of dad with Nora. Heading into Lowes. An Ed favorite.

And who can forget the other great men in our lives? Here is Papa Richard with his first little son, Calvin.
Playful dad, Ryan with a little Christmas bow on his head...snuggling with little Chloe

The newest dad of the bunch, Edward with baby Uschi. Look at that smile! She is one happy baby, with a fantastic daddy.

Future dad, Brandon. A great uncle and friend...we are all blessed to have him in our family.

And finally, Karl. Snuggling with one big baby Nora. Karl is an awesome uncle, we love him so much!!!