Merry Christmas! Will post a picture of the rest of the family when I figure out how to get them off the digital camera, or when Sean gets home, or when Kevin wakes up, which ever comes first!

The Joy of Christmas

Its the day after Christmas, and we're trying to get back to "normal" around here, still riding on the energy from the day before. We were charged by a 2 year old tearing through gifts for the first time in her precious life. Watching her discover the joy of many surprises was an unexplainable feeling, it made me think of my own childhood, but instead of through my eyes I got to see it from my parents perspective and watching old memories gain new meaning. Instead of rejoicing over my own good fortune this year, I couldn't help but think how incredible it must have been for Cassie, from the first gift to to the last moments of wakefulness will always be a day I will be hard pressed to forget. This simple joy made me remember the large and wonderous family Cassie comes from and we wanted to make sure and to wish for everyone to take a moment to remember the first gift you ever opened, the first gift your child opened and even the first presents you watched your parents open and try to remember with a smile these are the joys that our family characters been built on. Merry Christmas Everyone!

Happy Birthday Charles

Just wanted to be the first one to wish you a Very Happy Birthday!

XxOoxoXo

Love Dan & Cass

We've been updated!

Blogger has been working on updating their program, adding a lot of neat features. Most of these features have to do with the blog administration and how to change the way the blog looks. The new blog also publishes faster (no more re-indexing after you add a post!) and adds the ability to "label" each post. I've been waiting for our chance to get the newer program ever since Blogger announced their Beta program, and we have finally been included in the update.

The next time you sign in to post something new, or comment on a post, you'll be asked to create a new Google account. (If you already have a Google account, you can enter that.) It's very easy to do... just follow the steps they'll give you to create a new sign-in and password.

When you do post, you'll notice that publishing is instant. No more waiting for it to re-index! (I always hated that part; I could never decide if it was better to republish the entire blog or just the index.)

Also, you're going to be seeing labels on the posts. There will also be a section along the side that shows the labels. We'll be able to use a label to find posts with pictures. If anyone has other label ideas, just let me know. (Or better yet, add it to describe a post you write!)

As I figure out the other new features, I'll let you know.

(And my apologies to everyone with December birthdays -- I meant to update the Celebrations page earlier. Happy Belated birthday to both Cheyenne and Micki, and Happy Anniversary to Herb and Gail!)

Granny's Home again!!

Mom / Granny's home after having a wonderful time in Texas with Kelly and family, Louisiana with Uncle Doug and Aunt Lee, then Florida with Ralph, Laurie and Family. Thanks again guys!! Seeing the picture of her on your boat brought back a lot of good memories of being on Pops/ Grandpops boat. Then she was off to have Thanksgiving with Aunt April and her family, except for Cari who stayed in New York. Cheyenne and Amy joined everyone at Orlando and Cathy's house for the big dinner, which we heard was real good. Well of course, after having such a wonderful trip and a great time with everyone, she ran into what Sandi would call her Airport bad luck .Her plane was delayed for a hour and a half because of weather at our end. Sandi and Aunt April were able to get a special security pass to wait at the gate with her till she boarded the plane. They called to tell us she was finally leaving and gave us the new arrival time. Uncle Herb call Newark to double check and found out she was landing a half an hour earlier. Well off we went, got stuck at our end with a lot of traffic, got there with 15 mins to spare and took a deep breath, we made it! We waited where all the gates came through one opening, and watched all the people go buy till we were the only ones waiting, no Granny! I asked where they take people in wheel chairs and were told to luggage. Off we go , Uncle Herb of course was faster then me, I'm not good at going down escalaters, so I lost him. I kept asking where to go for her luggage, when I found a screen with the arrival info on it. As I was reading it I saw her being pushed in a wheel chair so caught up to them. She was very annoyed they didn,t have a wheel chair for her so she had to wait, then the closest elevater was broke so they had to go to another one further away. The girl took her to get the luggage and I found Uncle Herb who was still watching for her. We had parked the car real close to the elevater which was great. Then we had to get in the line to pay for parking and picked the only one that wasn,t moving. Well after we stopped to eat, we had her home at 9:30. She was real happy but tired.! Good night !

Dont know how

To post a link on the link part of the blog but here is the link to my little MSN Space with updates and Cassie pics galore! I update about once a week, so check it out! If you could put it in the links section Sandi, that'd be great!

http://designsbydani.spaces.live.com/

Some more pics

A couple more pics it wouldnt let me post on the previous post....

A day of thanks and reflection

Sorry its been a while since we have posted, (three months) life has been really busy as we all know can happen. A quick catch up, Work has been great between my job and side jobs from my father. Copper has been in demand, and so have I. Cassies growing up so fast, she can say the alphabet, count to 15, name her body parts, and identify many animal sounds. Danielle is doing great, and doing a great job teaching Cassie. When I come home from work, something new is always happening. We bought a new used car finally and retired the red mercury sable. The dealership made a mistake and we made out pretty good. Danielle has updated pictures on her MSN Space blog. Since we have been so busy, today was welcomed and enjoyed. We slowed down just a little for a few hours to break bread with Mom and Dad, good food, good company, made a few phone calls to the siblings, and played with Cassie as the food was prepared. Herb and his family stopped in for some delicious dessert and coffee before we had to retire for the evening. Today I thought about everything I have to be thankful for and I came to the conclusion I am thankful for everthing in my Life these days. Even the downs I have experienced this past year made possible the better moments and opportunities that have come. I feel I am truly blessed to have days like today. We love you all, and have a safe Thanksgiving weekend.

Turkey Day

Well it has finally arrived. :) The day where you can eat TURKEY all day long. I just wanted to start a blog and to find out what everyone is doing on their Thanksgiving, and ask everyone what they are most thankful for.

So come on everyone, don't be slackers and start writing.

Sandi's Birthday Day

Well, I think I have finally recovered from celebrating Sandi's birthday yesterday. As is our tradition, we let Sandi pick what she wanted to do for her birthday. Sandi decided that she wanted to have a "Girls Day" and spend it with Mom (April), me (Cathy), Becca, Nyssa, Amy (who unfortunately couldn't make it) and all of us get facials and have our makeup done. To give you an idea on how seriously we take the birthday person's wishes, Nyssa agreed to do this for her Aunt. (Nyssa HATES makeup!) So this was a MAJOR act of love on my daughter's part. Anyways, I of course couldn't leave well enough alone. So I planned several surprises for my OLDer sister. At Orgins (where we had the facials) Nyssa presented Sandi with her 1st gift...a heart chain bracelet with an "I Love You" charm. After everyone was made to look beautiful, we went out to lunch. I gave Sandi her next gift during lunch...a charm that said "Big Sister". Then we windowed shopped a bit and on to the next surprise. I had arranged for us girls to get our pictures taken (why waste a perfect makeup day?). At the photo studio, mom gave Sandi her next present (a charm that said "Daughter"). We had lots of fun getting our pictures taken. The photographer decided that both Becca and Nyssa were my daughters so she kept calling me "Mama", Becca was "Miss Drama", Nyssa was "Miss Grumpy" and mom was "Gramma". She never really came up with a nickname for Sandi. I did like the photographer....especially after she reminded Sandi that she couldn't choke me. When we left Sandi saw a blood mobile and decided that what she really wanted was for Mom, Sandi and I to donate blood together. So a new tradition has been born. Sandi and I have both donated blood before, but mom never has. We had a lot of fun alternating between trying to scare her and reassure her. I don't the blood team will ever recover from us. Then we finally headed home (to my place) where I had a Carvel icecream cake waiting for her. At the house Becca gave Sandi her final charm that said "Mom".
Orlando and PJ had a good time while we were out celebrating. One of our friends had some trees for our yard, so Orlando had PJ drive over to his house to pick them up. Orlando says that PJ is a pretty good driver, just needs some more practice. So all in all I think yesterday was a birthday that none of us will forget. I hope Sandi enjoyed it as much as Nyssa and I did.

Granny,s Trip

Well Granny ( Marion) left N.J. this morning and she arrived safely in Houston. She enjoyed playing Dominos, and had a Salmon dinner at Kelley's. Her next stop will be at Dougs and Leslie's in Louisiana, then on to Tallahassee to Ralph and Lourie's . She will be enjoying Thanksgiving with April and her family then she will be back in N.J, the first week in Dec. Aunt Robin got a good report from her Dr. her hip healed very good. I know everyone is busy I know I am, but if you have not sent your Reunion pics. to Sandi please do this so we can all enjoy your pics. of the Family Gathering, there are a lot of good Pics. still out there. Sandi has a lot of good pics. on her Photo Gallery, the white water ones that Bob took from his Kayak are great, and Sandi took great ones of the train ride. I,m so glad everyone took pictures at the Water Fall, It was almost as good as being able to be there myself, they were just beautiful. From all of us who couldn,t do those trips, Thanks!! Aunt Gail

You Know Your Getting Old When?

1. Grandma Marian's youngest grandchild turns 26.
2. ?

How To Post *

I've had a couple of people tell me that they haven't been able to post anything because they've forgotten how to do it. Unless you're on the blog a lot, it can be confusing. So here are some step-by-step directions.

1. To get onto the family blog, just click "sign in" in the upper right corner. This brings you to the sign-in screen. If you prefer, you can click the big "B" (in front of "blogger") that's in the upper left-hand corner of the screen. Clicking the "power blogger" button on the bottom of the page works, too.
   
2. On the right of the new screen, you're given two choices: to sign into Blogger or to sign into New Blogger (formerly Blogger Beta). You want the first one (new Blogger), so click on that choice.
3. Then you'll be given a chance to enter your user name (the name you created when you first joined the blog) and your password (which you also created when you first joined). If you have forgotten your user name or password, email me for help. Also, if you don't have a user name yet, email me and I'll send you an invitation to join.
4. If this is the first time you've used the new blogger, you'll have to create a Blogger ID. The screens will walk you through, so just type in the information you're asked for. (Again, if you need specific help with this, just call or email me and I'll walk you through it.)
   
5. After you've entered your username and password, Blogger will bring you to the dashboard. Just click on the big plus sign under "new post" to do a new post.
6. Type your post, and remember to include a Title in the Title box.
7. Add a label to your post in the box along the bottom of the screen. The labels we're using include your name (i.e. Herb and Gail, April, Kelly, Colorado Herb, etc.) as well as "photos." (Don't worry if you don't have a label -- I'll come back and edit it for you.)
   
8. Click on "Publish."

If you just want to comment on a post that someone else has written, you don't have to go through as many steps.

1. All you do is click on the word "people chatting" under the post that is already there.
2. Type your comment.
3. Then add your user name and password in the boxes given.
4. Click on the "log-in and publish" button and you're finished.

I hope this helps. If you still have problems with it, you can always email me. My email is slkilbride(at)gmail.com [change the (at) to @].

*This was updated on 1/26/2007.

Celebrations for October

I finally updated the Celebrations blog for October. Since I'm late, we've missed a couple of birthdays:

Happy Belated Birthday, Ricky! I wish you could have made it to the Family Gathering -- we were looking forward to seeing you and the kids. Please post, and let us know how you all are doing.

Happy Belated Birthday, Cathy. I'm sorry I didn't make it down to Boca yesterday. I would have MUCH rather had spent the day celebrating with you, instead of playing taxi-mom all day for the kids!

Life In Tennessee

I figured I will let you all know what I am upto, since April asked so nicely. I am in my final semester at East Tennessee State University and SUPPOSED to graduate this coming December. I have such a grueling schedule. Mondays are my day off. Tuesday I have Plate Tectonics in the morning, then a strenuous class of Badminton, Two hours off for lunch then my Outdoor Recreation Skills Class, and to end the day my Dance as a Human Experience class. I work in the Mountains of NC on Wednesday's which is more like playing for me, Thursday is pretty much the same as Tuesdays with a Physics Lab II instead of Dance class. I work fridays and Saturdays in NC also. Yeah I know you all feel badly for me with such an intense course load. My Sunday's and Monday's are pretty much taken up with studying or trying to go hiking. I am taking my Land Surveyor In Training test at the end of October. It is the first part of the Test I need to take before I can get my license as a surveyor and it is an 8 hour exam. So I really can't wait for it to be done with. Other then that not too much going on with me.
How is everyone else doing and upto?

Bobby

Hello Everyone

Its almost the end of September already! Where does the time go? We had a great time in Orlando, Cathy arranged a trip for us all and it was great. Just hanging out together is really special. We went to Epcot, of course it rained (this is Florida) but we got to see quite a lot and we stayed for the fireworks show! The best thing about Florida rain is it stops and you can continue having a good time. What is everyone up to? Drop a comment here so we can all keep in touch. Okay? Love you all. April

Happy Birthday

Happy birthday Grandma. On this special day I hope that all your wishes come true.

Let's Have A Family Labor Day Picnic Together!

As I was driving home from work today, I had this really neat idea (at least I thought it was a neat idea). I was thinking that it seems weird that we're not getting together with a ton of relatives for a picnic this weekend. So many of my memories involve the outdoors, lots and lots of food and even more people and fun. So I thought that even though we can't all get together for a Labor Day Picnic like we used too, maybe we can do a long distance picnic together. I figured that between today and Sunday, each of us could post a recipe of a dish that we would bring to a family potluck picnic/bbq. That way the others can add that dish to their actual picnic selection and we can "share" with each other. If there is a "story" behind the dish, you can share that too. Maybe people will even post some pictures of themselves making the different dishes/picnicing etc. Not quite as good as being there, but maybe the next best thing.
Ok, how many of you think I'm crazy and how many think it might be fun?

Charles, aka Chuck, says "hello"

I had a wonderful email from Aunt Kay's Charlie, and he asked me to share some photos with everyone since he can't post anything. (I'm sending him an invitation to join us, so hopefully you'll soon be hearing directly from him.) This is what he wrote:


Hi Sandi

My brother, Herb from Colorado showed me the family website and it is fun to see all the Jersey Neuhaus'es I grew up with, including your Mom, Uncle Herb, and my Aunt Marion.

Just for clarification, I am the Charlie Neuhaus living in Massachusetts, son of Auny Kay and Charles. Some of the family think of me as "Chuck"

Here are some pictures of my wife Roberta, daughter Sophia (17--leaving any minute now for college), and son Nick--16, in high school.

Good job on the website, and sorry I missed the reunion.

Charlie

A question for Dorothy

I was working on the family pictures DVD (I'll post more on that later), and I came across this picture I had taken Sunday morning. I need to know -- how was the car ride home?

(I know that our entire ride home, mom and I just kept reminding each other that at least my kids didn't have a snake with them...)

old souls

New best friends, old souls. My favorite picture of our "baycation". As Ford would say.... " best friend, lets go back to baycation! " I miss you all terribly. We all had such a fantastic time! Until we are together again, take care. Thank-you for these wonderful memories!

Just wanted to say Hello

Hi everyone, What a great time I had at the reunion! It was really nice seeing everyone and remembering why I love you all. (Except now I really miss you all)
I want to welcome MelisSa to the Family Gathering, I saw your name on the list so it great to have you here!
I like the Celebrations page, I think its a good idea for any special occasion, and its an easy way to keep us all informed. For instance - Cathy, Orlando, Nyssa, Sandi, PJ Beckie and me are going to Orlando in September for a weekend

Bits and Pieces...

Now that we're all back into our "normal" lives after the reunion, I just wanted to say how much fun I had getting to see everyone. And that we missed those of you who couldn't make it this time.

Don't forget that we're putting together a DVD of pictures from the reunion. Please send me (snail mail on disk, or emails with attachments) your favorite/best pictures from the reunion. Ralph & Laurie are generously financing this project, so everyone will be getting a copy of the combined pictures. (Thank you, Ralph & Laurie!)

We've already started talking about the next gathering. We've decided to hold the reunions every two years, and it's been suggested that we go on a cruise for the next one (in 2008). Aunt Leslie has offered to head the reunion committee for that one, and I know that she would appreciate any and all help. So let her know if there's anything you would like to do to help organize the next reunion. We're also taking suggestions on how to make the next reunion even better.

Mom (April) and I were talking, and she pointed out that we don't have to wait for the next reunion to get together. Let's get some "Mini Gatherings" going! (For instance, there's a bunch of us living down here in Florida -- we should all meet somewhere for a picnic, just to keep in touch. Maybe a Labor Day Weekend Picnic... let me know if you're interested.) If anyone is gathering together, be sure to post about it here on the blog.

And on a totally unrelated topic: Check out the Celebrations link that has been added to the blog. I thought it would be nice to have a place to share greetings, for those of us who are chronically sending out "belated" cards. I'll do my best to keep it up to date each month. And if I miss anyone, please let me know so that they can be added.

Home again.

Hi everyone. We are home safe, after a very long ride down those mountains. We were all so buzy all the time that I forgot to have Sandi download my camera, so my camera was full. The scenery going down was breathtaken so I hope someone got some pictures. It was so hard saying goodbye to everyone who saw us off. We were already a hour late leaving so we could,nt go say goodbye to the others that were staying and we were sorry for that. We had such a great time, but it wasn,t long enough. I will but everyones name that was there in a bucket and Granny will pick a name to get the aphgan she is making. Also I found a medium Gathering Tee Shirt at the pool when everyone left. Sandi,s going to help me find the owner .

It's been a wonderful reunion!

Tonight's the last evening for our Gathering, and it's so hard to say goodbye to everyone. We've had such a wonderful time catching up, and getting to know, each other.

We've had a lot of wonderful activities, and there are now lots of new stories to share. We've hiked up Mingo Falls (okay -- I didn't hike up the falls, but several other people did). We tubed down the Raven River (again, I didn't but others have the bruised butts to show that they made the trip). I did go on the whitewater rafting trip down the Nantahala River! And of course there have been lots of pictures taken. I've started adding some of them to the online gallery, and will try to get the rest of them online later this week once I'm back home. (Don't forget to send me your photos so we can do The Gathering DVD.)

The best part has been the chance to get together and enjoy being with family. I hate that in a few hours I'll be loading the van and leaving everyone to head back to Florida. PLEASE keep in touch, whether it's through this blog, by emails, phone, letters -- we love you too much to lose touch again.

Warming up for the reunion

Well, Ralph and I with the ladies went down to Big Pine Key a week and a half ago, in an attempt to warm up for the upcoming reunion. I think we did a pretty good job at it. I drove my A/C Cobra down with Amy to have a good time getting there, and Ralph bought his boat down so we'd have a good time once we got there. Here are some pics. Anything look familiar to anybody?

I've started packing...

Mom, the kids, and I are leaving Saturday morning for North Carolina. I can't wait! Mom and I went through my camper this past weekend, and put everything we thought we needed into the van. So I'm already driving around with the van packed up. (The only thing I haven't figured out is what to do when it's time to add the children into the van -- there just isn't any room left!)

Since I've been making list after list, and running around trying to get things together, I was wondering what suggestions you have for the trip. You know, the "don't forget to bring" items, and the "don't bother bringing it because I'll have one with me if you need it" items. For instance, mom's already told me not to pack the stuff for biscuits and gravy because Uncle Dale will have that for us at the campground. (How's that for a hint, Aunt Mickey?)

And by the way -- I've got the t-shirts, and they look great! So if you ordered shirts, be sure to stop our cabin to pick them up when you get to the campground. Actually, be sure to come by our cabin even if you didn't order shirts, because we have stuff for everyone!

Marion Neuhaus & Grandkids

Marion Neuhaus and 18 of her Grandchildren . May 1994

More Old Pictures

Sandi and her GreatGrandmother Agnes Neuhaus. Sorry no date yet! Uncle Charles, Aunt Kay and their son Herb at our famous Easter Egg Hunts.

Herbert A Neuhaus Jr.

Army Jump School - Jan, 1967

Picture: Norm

Norm

It's getting closer!

I'm so excited! I've seen the proofs for the t-shirts, and they look great. The kids and I are making our list of stuff to pack (after all, we've only got less than three weeks before we leave for North Carolina). And today at work I had to reschedule an SP/IP meeting because "sorry, I'll be on vacation then."

Picture: Camping

"Camping at Melville. Rhonda was 13 days old."

Picture: Herbert Neuhaus

Herbert, 1938

Picture: Summer 1959

April, Leslie, Herb, Robin, Ronny Jr, Mickey, Diane

more pics

Picture: Katherine

Katherine Neuhaus

Picture: Verna and Buck

Aunt Verna and Uncle Buck

Oct. 15, 1988

(Herb & Marion's 50th Anniversary Celebration)

Two more pictures...

Here's a couple of pictures that my Grandmother (Katharine) sent to me:

This is my Great-Grandfather Herbert Neuhaus in 1914 @ age 22.




















And this is my Grandfather Charles Neuhaus in 1942.

PICTURE: Dorothy

Dorothy

June 22, 1985

FREAK OUT!!

Am I the only one beginning to freak out, am I crazy, or am I just pms'ing? This reunion is starting to make me feel incredibly old and vunerable. Somebody please turn back time! Just a little bit! I swore I would never want to be in my 20's again or a teenager again, but I would give anything to be with Sandy and Cathy and Renee and hang upside down on the bed waiting for the barbies to come to life or watch Uncle Herbie and Herbie win the canoe race or be at brice park or ride our damm bikes to the school for summer or bring grandpop lunch at the dock or go to the beach and watch the storm come in! or sled down the hill or go camping one more time!! I am falling apart at this very moment, I told you Charlie, {I dont know if I can call you Charles!!!!} I dont run out of tears! What are we going to do???

PICTURE: Lydia

March 1976

Aunt Lydia

Ocean World, Florida

PICTURE: Samantha

Sam and Appie

PICTURE: Dog Cart

Charlie Neuhaus

Fall of 1978

PICTURE: Sept 1964

Ronny Jr's birthday party, September 1964.

Sandi, Leslie, and Herb Jr.

Hello from Georgia

Since Sandi intrduced me, I figured I'd say hello. I live in Georgia with my family: Stephanie my wife and our three children, Wesley, Kylee & Jadyn. We've been in Georgia about eight months and moved here from Sahuarita, AZ where we lived for about 10 years. We moved here to be closer to family (my dad and his family live just outside of Gainsville, GA and my brother and his family live near Suwannee). Here's some recent pictures of us all.

Stephanie, Wesley, Jadyn and Kylee.


Me, my mom and all of my kids.


My kids and my brother Martin's Kids (Amanda and Emily)


Me and Kylee


Kylee and Wesley

Can't wait to see everyone!

One last thing, if you have any documents or family tree history, would you please bring it with you so that we can all compare what we have and share in order to get a (as complete as possible) family tree (with any stories or background) together? I'd certainly appreciate it!!

james

Welcome, James!

I know that a couple of people have noticed a new name on our blogsite. Iamclavo belongs to James, who works out to be my 2nd cousin. He's Aunt Kay's grandson; Jimmy's son. (Okay, I think Jimmy goes by James now, but my mom/April still refers to him as Jimmy. Sorry.) They'll be at the reunion, so we'll get to meet them then. In the meantime, James, why don't you update us on your branch of the family. We'd love to hear from you!

And if anyone is interested, I'm adding a link that will help figure out family relationships. Basically, you figure out what direct relative (parent, grandparent, great-grandparent) etc you both have in common. Then you count up how many "g's" you have in common. That number is the number cousin you are. (If you are both the Great-Grandchildren of ancester "X", then you have 2 "g's" in common and are 2nd cousins.) If there is a difference in the number of "g's", then the difference is how many "removals" you are. (I'm the Great-Grandchild of "X" and you are the Great-Great-Grandchild, then we have 2 "g's" in common with 1 extra "g" which makes us 2nd cousins once removed.) I know, it still sounds complicated. But check out the chart -- it's kinda fun to realize that our reunion in August will actually have third cousins getting to know each other!

kevin graduates!

• 
  Here are recent pictures of the Turner family. Kevin and Mia just graduated.{and had prom} I had no idea I would be so emotional! 2 weeks after reunion, they are off to college!! Who is clav? { iamclav } I have no idea how to remove the double picture of kevin, sorry!