Family Photos

In early November we had family pictures taken by a good friend and coworker, Jessica Goudy (https://www.facebook.com/goudyphotography).  We didn't publish this post sooner because we wanted to send out Christmas cards using some of the photos (if you didn't get one, it must be lost in the mail).  Anyway, here are a few of our favorite shots.  Thanks for doing an awesome job, Jess!

Ready or Not!

 Yesterday we received our first snowfall of the year.  Not much, but enough that it actually stuck in the grass and on the cars.  This snow won't last, but winter is on its way!

Couldn't get the little stink to look at the camera, he was more interested in the leaves and falling snow.

Sure is cute though!

Notice that the neighbor kids built a snowman.

Bruderer Reunion

Just found this post in the "drafts" section on blogger.  Apparently it never got published.


As always, the first weekend in August is the Bruderer Reunion. This year was our first camping experience with Eli. Overall he did awesome. Now that we have Eli, Dan and I thought we should start collecting camping gear so we can take care of our family. This year we got a new tent, a camp stove, a 5 gallon water cooler, and a big cooler. Looking at everything we had, we knew we couldn't get it all in our car. We are lucky to have such great family members. Missy and Curtis let us borrow their car. With Dan's excellent packing skills (which he inherited/learned from his father) we got everything in with a little room to spare. It is always fun to get together with family and this reunion was no different. This was the first year all the siblings out West were together. Dan and I had our first experience cooking on a camp stove and Dan did awesome. We learned a few tricks from Keri and Tyler and next time we go camping we are going to be eating a lot better. Here are some pictures throughout the weekend.

Calin and Kenzi were battling in the bow and arrow. They had to shoot arrows at milk jugs filled with water on a pulley system. The first one to empty enough to raise their milk jug and drop the opponents jug won, in the end I think Calin won.

Xander had a lot of expressions but this one was my favorite so it made the cut.

Grandma and Grandpa Bruderer's posterity. If I counted correctly 32 of us.

Sawyer enjoying the dirt, he sat there playing happily for quite sometime.

Eli getting his first 4-Wheeler ride. Dan has been wanting to do that for a while.

Eli seemed to enjoy himself. Of course Dan did too!

I love my boys!

The Brothers, Gilmore

On Saturday, the 24th, Darin, Calin, Curtis, Ivan and I went golfing at the 9-hole Municipal Course.  The girls took their girls to some princess thing at the high school, so Ivan got to tag along with us.  He did surprisingly well for a 2 1/2 year old at a golf course.  Overall it was a good day.  Darin and Curtis ended up with a tie, while I trailed a little further behind.  Calin's a pretty good little golfer, with the exception of the pictures below.  Kid spent more time in the sand than David Hasselhoff!  

Thanks, Darin, for letting me borrow your extra clubs and Curtis, for the golf balls.  I started the day with three golf balls and finished with 16, thanks to the canal, the tall brush and the grassy area on the other side of the fence you can see behind Calin in this first pic.  That area happens to be the airport, which curiously lacked "No Trespassing" signs.  Well, at least it did in this particular section, I later saw one of said signs and felt bad for hopping the fence.  

It is kind of funny to watch the progression of the disturbed sand as he tried to get his ball out. He was getting frustrated so I encouraged him to just chuck the ball, and he happily obliged.

His club looks bent in mid-swing.

Ivan got in on the action.

Check out that form!

Now check out that form!

And this one, too!

Bottles, Bottles, Everywhere...But Not a Drop to Drink!

Jess and her mom have been toiling in the garden all summer.  Here is a shot of some of the vegetables of their labors.  

Tomato juice, green beans, carrots, pears and peaches (last two were purchased for bottling)

We went and picked fresh sweet corn tonight.  A local farmer had someone contracted to harvest his crop, but the person backed out, so the farmer is selling it off for $1/dozen.  So, we bought several dozen to blanch, remove from the cob and freeze.  We did save some for just eating.  It doesn't get much fresher than from the field, to the stove top, to the table, in a matter of about two hours.  

Unless you're Eli, who opted to skip the stove top and gnaw on a cob while I was shucking.

He's finally standing on his own, this ear of corn actually helped to balance him.

Hard to resist that smile.

Roll Over, Beethoven!

Forget Mozart, this kid's got talent!  Someday he'll make mom and dad a lot of money!

Blood Curdling

Eli has developed this terrible little scream.  He does it when he's happy, mad, hungry, having fun, during church, whenever fits his fancy, really.  He was kind enough to demonstrate for you while waiting for his mother to fix his dinner.

Summer Vacation 2

After our week in Chicago, we got to spend a week in Ohio. We had a blast just relaxing and spending time with family.

Dan loves and misses the thunderstorms in Ohio. While there, we got to enjoy a wonderful rain/thunderstorm.

Dave, Patricia, Gavin, Ken, Dan, Eli and I went to the Indians game.Two baseball games in eight days. Wow! At least this game wasn't as hot as the Cubs game. We had a fun time hanging out with family. The game was amazing and we won! If you want details you will have to ask Dan. All I can remember is that we won.

Dan was excited to be able to take Eli to an Indians game. Eli looks pretty excited too!

Silly boy.

A walk-off win!

The grill was out of propane and we needed a quick fix!

Another silly boy!

It had been many, many years since Dan was home for his birthday (9 years - 2002, to be exact). This year, he was home. Happy Birthday Love!

We enjoyed an ice-cream cake. Poor Eli wanted it for himself.

Adorable Gavin!

Eli was being a stinker during the pictures. He was going through a phase where if he saw me he wanted me to hold him. So during these pictures I was hiding in the other room. It was hard to get him to smile.

Pretty cute picture!

I just loved this picture so I put it on.