Christmas 2008

Here are a few photos from the Bennett house on Christmas Day 2008. We celebrated with breakfast when Andrew got off work. Julia and Alyssa came over, as did Amy Grace, and Matt and Em made the long trek down from upstairs.

People here on Christmas morning:

Emily was feeling kinda lonely, and got stuck by herself with the "old people" on Christmas afternoon and evening.

Things we did (in addition to eating, exchanging gifts, listening to Christmas music in the background, and enoying one another's company):

We burned some 40 year old candles from my mother's house. It took all day. My siblings had some similar candles and had agreed to do the same.

We played Russian rummy and nertz.

And even burned a Yule (sort of) log. We had to start the fire early since the temps got into the high 60s or 70s on Christmas Day:

We hope you had a Merry Christmas!

Thanksgiving

We had the whole family together for about 50 minutes on Thanksgiving. We had lots more time with various members, especially those from Illinois, over the weekend. Here are some photos:

The whole lot of us:

Gathered for some (posed) singing time aroung the piano. I love the study the expressions of each person in this photo. Why is Andrew hiding?

Ellie loved playing the piano. I'm just there to keep her from falling off:

Andrew's Branch:

Daniel's Tribe:

Better Pic

Here is a better picture of our beautiful little granddaughter. She was maybe 1 1/2 hours old when this picture was taken.

SHE'S HERE!!!

Alyssa Faith Bennett arrived by C-section at 1:04 PM today, Thursday, September 11, 2008. She came in at 8 pounds, 4 ounces, and 20 1/4" long. She has a round little face and dark, curly hair. She is absolutely beautiful and absolutely adored. Here are some pictures.

Grandma's New Gears

Carol published a post about selling the sparrow (the name for her van), and if you haven't read it you need to do so. We also purchased her a replacement vehicle, a 2007 Toyota Avalon. It is one cool automobile, and she is one cool grandma driving around in it. Here are some pics. You may notice my red pickup truck hanging around close, but maintaining a respectful distance behind.

My Mom's Birthday

On Monday, July 21, my mother turned 89 years old. The weekend preceding, Carol, Emily and I went to see her, along with my sister, her husband, and her daughter. My brother and much of his family also live in the same town as my mom. We gave her a party on Saturday morning with all of her children and their spouses, her sister, two grandchildren and a couple of great-grand children present. I got to feed her some of her favorite foods - watermelon and a vanilla milk shake, which is about all the present I could think to give a person in her condition that she might enjoy. It was a good time for me, and I think Mom and the others enjoyed it, too.

Out with the Old

Out with the old......















And in with the new:

After 15 or so years of dedicated service to the household (and we bought it used), we decided it was time to replace the old lawn mower. All of the Bennett boys and some of the Bennett girls have interesting memories of mowing the lawn with the old Craftsman, which added interest of acting like it almost almost ready to conk out on 5 second intervals to an otherwise dull task of cutting grass. Farewell, old Craftsman, hello new Toro.

A happy PS: A neighbor from down the street took the old craftsman to tinker with it, and return it to good working order. Let's hope it makes in another 20 years!

Arkansas Road Trip

Last week, Carol and I took a 3 day road trip through Arkansas. Thursday afternoon, we hunted for diamonds at Crater of Diamonds State Park, billed as the only diamond mine in North America. Somebody must have gotten there before us. We found some nice jasper and quartz, but no diamonds, then we spent the night at DeGray Lake State Resort Lodge.



Here are some pictures of Diamond Daryl, and my most precious find.





Friday and Saturday were spent in Heber Springs, having a great time checking up on my mom and visiting with my siblings and siblings-in-law. On Friday afternoon, I swam for about 20 minutes doing easy back strokes in the motel pool, before it had any other guests using it. One of the more interesting aspects of the trip was improvising arrangements for me to sleep in firm, inclined position for my back in the motel/lodge rooms.

And here is a picture of my Sis, my Mom, and me. I have seen that look before.

Getting Back Into the Swim of Things

It's been over a month since I have been swimming (since April 22, to be exact). That cracking the back that got me hauled away to the Emergency Room by ambulance in the middle of the night on May1 - 2, really curtailed a lot of activities, foremost of which was swimming, and the pre-fracture pain had slowed the swimming down prior to that time, also. Anyway, today I made it back into the pool for a mixture of walking and easy stroke swimming. Not counting the walking, I only swam a very modest 200 to 300 meters, but it felt like a wonderful start. Hurray for swimming!

By the way, I will probably have to stay in my brace for another couple of months while the back finishes healing, but it is healing nicely. Thanks to all for your prayers and concern. - DWB

Spring Break

Carol had the week off from her job at the Junior High School, and we went to Peoria to see our kids and grandkids there. We had a wonderful time flying kites, watching The Rescuers, swimming, telling bedtime stories and just hanging out with the grandchildren, attending and visiting with friends at Bethany Baptist Church, working on the 100 year old farmhouse that is to be converted into offices for the new church plant, and, of course, getting to spend time visiting with Daniel and Whitney, and catch up with some of what is going on in their busy lives. It was also our first opportunity to meet Ellie, our newest grandchild, who arrived into the Bennett clan from Guatemala just 7 weeks ago.

After Peoria, we stopped off in Arkansas to see my

mother, and my brother and his family. The last day of winter was filled with deluge and devastation as we drove through flooding in Missouri and Arkansas, but the first day of spring was a fine morning in Arkansas, and we were able to take my Mom for a stroll outside in her wheelchair at the nursing home.

Leave Comments Here

For now, use this post for saying hi and leaving comments. Thanks. - Daryl