Christmas Gift exchange

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

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

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

Ryan/Casey give to Edward/Meridth
Margie/Brandon give to Karl/Emily
Betsey/Richard give to Ryan/Casey
Edward/Meridth give to Margie/Brandon
Karl/Emily give to Betsey/Richard (don't ship to us, send it to Claudia or Emily can wait to bring it in April).

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

Oh ho! The Prodigal returns...

This is a link!

It's about how much I love National Parks and hate cheap consumerism. Guess which one makes me a bad American?

Did You Know that Betsey is now 32?

Betsey Katharine Gimbel Hawkins has turned thirty-two!

And as her mother I can tell you it's true!

She celebrated her day in real Birthday Bird style

With donuts and muffins that were served with a smile.

Richard and Nora and Calvin were all there

With sweet hugs and kisses that they wanted to share.

Back here in the states we are missing them much more

So we say "Happy Birthday" to the girl we adore!

The Sibling Effect

Saw this interview on Colbert and am definitely going to give this book a read...

The Sibling Effect: What the bonds among brothers & sisters reveal about us . It will surely explain some things. I especially think that Ryan will like Chapter 5 -- "The Golden Child"

Miss you all!

-M

Happy Birthday, Chloe!

Today was Chloe's big day! Hope it was perfect little Chlo-Chlo! We miss you and wish we could have had a big slice of cake with you!

Did you pick up your piece from Color Me Mine? Will you post a picture! PLEASE!

YEA!!!

-ryan

Random captionless photo........

-ryan

We missed you, Rusty and Meridth

UTAH

T Minus 10 days until Utah!!!!

What are YOU most excited about in the beehive state?

For me it's the red dirt rocks. and the temple. and seeing the SLC Urban Outfitters. and of course the Hawkins, and Kooman(s), and Gimbels!!!! Okay, and not having to work for 10 straight days. Wa-hoo!

Friday Finds

I found this on Dwell's website. They do a "Friday Finds" every week, which is pretty interesting stuff they find on the web.

A Picture for the Last Post

Okay, so this isn't Meridth. But it is her kid. And I think our kids are both pretty awesome. And ADORABLE!

And here is the birthday girl! Hope your day is WONDERFUL!

It's YOUR Day!

Happy, happy birthday to Meridth, today! For some unexplained reason, I am short on Meridth pictures so someone else with more photos should post pictures. Also, Monday mornings are hectic at school, so I need to get out the door, but I'm hoping things are calm and joyful at the Gimbel household in Clarksville, Tennessee.

I heard there's birthday cake for later, and hope there's donuts to get a real "Birthday Bird" start to the festivities.

Ed and I are counting down the days to see Meridth, Edward, Uschi and Felix over the Memorial Day weekend, where we can celebrate all over again.

Office humor

This commercial made me laugh, because I say all those things probably 10 times on Mondays...

Happy Mother's Day!

I'm going to see if I can tie all posts back to the Bulls...

See below for heart felt thank you from NBA MVP Derrick Rose to his mother. Happy mother's day to all you mothers and potential mothers. We appreciate all you do!

Spring at the Indiana Homestead

Each of these trees on this side of the house are named for our five children. The two white-flowered ones are Karl's and Edward Russell's. The two pink-flowered ones are Betsey's and Margie's. You can just barely see Ryan's flowering apple tree at the northern-most end. They are arranged from oldest to youngest.

This is the area in front of the pool addition. That tallest red tree in the foreground is Margie and Brandon's wedding tree. We plant one for each kid as they marry.

Here's the front of the house. There are so many happy memories of when you all lived at home. We sure do miss 'the pitter-patter of little feet' (big feet, too).

How I wish I could have the grandkids here to share the flowers with, play in the grass, and enjoy happy times.


So I thought you might all be up for some pictures of the house as spring begins to blossom in all her most colorful finery. Sure hope you will join us one of these spring seasons!