My year in pictures … briefly

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My year in pictures … briefly

The end of 2023 has arrived, so time for an abundance of year in review pieces and posts all around the blogosphere and beyond.

Naturally, I have mine to add.

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Since I last wrote

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Since I last wrote

Hello friends!

I hope everyone is well and enjoying fall, my favorite time of year.

Since I last wrote, a fair amount of this and that has happened for my family and me.

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Home Happenings: October 2022

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Home Happenings: October 2022

Looking back, October marks the most mellow month of the 2022 for me. At least in terms of getting out and about. Our typically wild and crazy Callie had ACL surgery — technically CCL in dogs — near the end of September, which meant she had to lay low and go slow, rendering us pretty much homebound for most of October.

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Scenes from Summer 2022

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Scenes from Summer 2022

Welcome back! I hope everyone enjoyed their summer, making memories and more with loved ones.

I was blessed with memorable moments with many a loved one since pressing pause on Grandma’s Briefs for the season.

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The good, the bad, and the fun of 2021

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The good, the bad, and the fun of 2021

It’s New Year’s Eve as I write this final post of 2021. With mere hours left before we collectively not only flip the calendar page to a new month but begin an entirely brand new calendar, I want to reflect on the good, bad, and fun of this past year.

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Rockin' PawDad's party

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Rockin' PawDad's party

The recent weekend in which my family was all together—a relatively uncommon occurrence even in the best of times—featured not only Robert’s baptism, as I previously shared, but a milestone birthday celebration, too. That milestone being Jim’s sixtieth birthday.

The birthday festivities, organized primarily by Megan, revolved around a rockin’ theme as …

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Take me to church: Small steps toward normalcy plus baby Robert’s baptism

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Take me to church: Small steps toward normalcy plus baby Robert’s baptism

Jim and I have attended Holy Cross Lutheran Church for about 35 years. Not every single Sunday during that time but certainly more often than not.

That all changed in March of 2020. For exactly one year we didn’t walk through the doors of church one single Sunday. Or any other day, including my pre-Covid monthly volunteer shift in the food pantry.

Thanks to Covid—and my immunocompromised status thanks to my MS medication—our church attendance was restricted to …

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2020 Christmas

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2020 Christmas

I hope everyone managed at least a smidgen of comfort and joy during their holiday festivities. As with most families, Jim and I drastically limited our time gathering with our …

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Three for two: Celebrating Benjamin's birthday

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Three for two: Celebrating Benjamin's birthday

My youngest grandson (not counting the one due in November) turned two years old on Saturday. Benjamin celebrated his big day in the most fall-like way with a visit to the Pumpkin Farm.

Being a fall baby comes with the benefit of fabulous weather for marking the occasion, and Benjamin got full advantage of that, with his official birthday outing to the pumpkin farm bookended by a couple other outdoor festivities.

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On my big sister

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On my big sister

My big sister Becky (Rebecca to many) and her husband, Rick, visited me on May 28 ... despite minimal Covid restrictions in place at the time. We all felt safe about it; they’re pretty much part of our “pod.”

Becky brought me some homemade cookies that had relatively recently become a favorite of her kids and grandkids. She also brought me a jar of yeast. I’ve been baking bread nearly every single week for years, and the Covid craziness made it impossible to find yeast. But Becky found …

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