Life in January 2020

Greetings, readers!

 

We are now 31 days into this new year, 2020.  Time slipped by so fast that it is already February!
I'm delighted to say that we had a very nice new year with family down in Pennsylvania.  It's a tradition to have a gift exchange each year.  This year's theme was "Something Edible", which I very much enjoyed, since food is one of my favorite things. 
Each child age 1 and up gets a stocking which we all contribute to filling up.  Gwendolyn got one for the first time.

 

 

 She loved the "candle canes" and bouncy ball and book especially! 
After those things, she spent time playing with her cousins. 

We headed home the day after New Years so that we could be home for church that evening. 
Unfortunately, Gwen came down with the flu, bronchitis, and RSV, which she then passed to Lucie.  After two weeks with it, not knowing what it was, I finally took Lucie to a clinic to be diagnosed.  They said that because it was viral, they couldn't give us an antibiotic.  So it finally went away on its own. 

Last week, Dan went with three men from our church down to Virginia.  The girls and I kept ourselves busy and out of trouble by planning something fun to do each day.  Dan very much enjoyed his time.  On Friday we went to the Nursing home and sang and talked with the residents.  Then we drove to New Hampshire to spend a little time with some friends.  Dan came home Saturday evening late.

I mentioned in a post awhile back that we had been having some troubles with Dan's truck.  The troubles were caused by a mechanic we'd taken it to, so they said that they would fix the problem at no cost to us.  Because it was at no cost though, they didn't make it a priority to finish.  They had it in their shop for over two months.  In that time frame, Dan needed a plow truck and to have a truck to haul his trailer with work tools for a job.  So when we flew down to Georgia in November on a very quick trip, we bought a truck from Dan's brother.  It's a Ford, and bigger than the Dodge.  Anyway, the mechanic finally finished the truck here in January and we just sold it this week. 

It's been a good January!  I'm looking forward to what February has in store!  Stay tuned for my exciting update in the next post! 

Bring on the New Year!

Well hello after all of the holidays, readers!  I We had a great Christmas Eve service at our church, both morning and evening.  On Christmas Day, Dan went and plowed since we got some snow on Christmas Eve.  I got the house cleaned and finished wrapping Dan's Christmas presents. 

 

This year, we both decided that we didn't want any expensive gifts.  So Dan made me most of my Christmas presents!  I will post pictures of them in my next post.  The other presents we got came from the Dollar Tree.  Honestly, you can get a lot of good stuff at the Dollar Tree- needful things that you will actually use.  So we did that this year. 

 

Dan's mother flew into Albany on Christmas afternoon and we picked her up at the airport, brought her home and ate Christmas dinner.  It was a nice time. 

The week passed very quickly, even though the temperatures were verrrry low.  

 

On New Years Day, Dan and I drove down to Pennsylvania to spend the day with my family.  It was a great day. 

I took tons of pictures, so please bear with me!  I rarely get to see my family, so when I do, I go camera-crazy! :D

 

Mark, holding Charlotte, his daughter. 

Oliver, holding Isabelle, his daughter!

 

And Ryan, holding Caroline, his very newborn daughter!  She was only born the week before Christmas!

 

I got to hold little Caroline as well.  She is so tiny and cute!

 

 

My mother, holding Charlotte.

 

Since the number of nieces and nephews grows every year, we don't buy each child presents.  Instead, each child has a stocking and we all bring some small things to fill the stockings with.  It seems to work very well and I think the kids really enjoy it. 

I got a few pictures of them, sifting through the Goods!

 

Sawyer



 

Little Willy

Tabitha and Abigail

 



 

 



 

After that, the children went to play with toys or eat their candy from the stockings- I'm not sure which!  :)  Then the adults did a gift exchange.  I think this years exchange was the best so far!

 

Sarah, opening her present.

 

Lizzie, with Oliver and Isabelle looking on.

 

Daniel picked an awesome present!  Turned out to be women's lotions and body wash! :D

 

Martha, opening her present.

 

Mark's gift was funny. 

 

Daniel had brought the gift Mark opened, and each box contained another box which contained yet another box.  After unwrapping five boxes (I think), Mark thought this was his present.  Of course, it was just the box and the present was still inside yet another box. 

 

Billy found the one gift card!

 

Lydia, opening her present.

 

Annnnnd, she got ratchet straps!  The really nice kind!!  :D

 

I really wanted to take this picture, because this past year (2017) was the first year that all five of us (Keckler sisters) were all pregnant at the same time.  So from the Left to the right...

Lizzie had her baby in August

Lydia had her baby in October

Katie had her baby in December

Martha is due to have her TWIN babies in March

Sarah is due to have her baby in April

And I am due in May. 

 

Pretty amazing. 

 

Then of course, our traditional family group photo!  The lighting wasn't very good on the camera, but at least you can see all of the faces! :D

It really WAS an incredible New Year.  Of course, this post is rather late, since it has already been 2018 for a week now. 

Though late, I wish you all a happy 2018!