A Special Day at Great Grandma's

The day before Easter, the Reeder family (well, most of us!  it's hard to get 61 people all in the same place at the same time!) got together for some family fun!  We had all of Grandma's clothes, jewelry and furniture to go through and 3 new babies to meet.  We declared (ok, I did) it "Reeder Egg-stravaganza" and just might make it a yearly event.

It was so special to gather together one last time in a home we all love so much.  Grandma's house was always such a wonderful place to be and is filled with memories for all of us.  What a special treat it was to come together for lunch, an egg hunt and making new memories.  

Audra, my mom and I meet there the day before to get the house organized and ready for the family to come over.  We had rooms set up to look at jewelry, decorations and furniture throughout the house.  On Saturday everyone was able to take something special home!!

After lunch, the great grandkids got to have an easter egg hunt in grandma's huge backyard.  They loved it and what fun it was for all of us to watch!  I don't know why we hadn't done this sooner.  The yard was perfect!

Here they all are, all gathered together!  We're missing two that were napping and a handful that weren't able to make it.

The kids had a blast checking out all there goodies.

Here are the 2T's at 5 and almost 5, having a great time together!

8 of the 12 best cousins ever!  It's such a blessing to be a part of a family that loves the Lord and are just great people!

After all the gal cousins got a chance to explore and take some of Grandma's fun costume jewelry, we let the great girls get a look and take home some fancy jewelry.  They were so cute!  Some of them ended up with big sparkly earrings and pretty glamorous necklaces.  Another special treat!

As the party settled down, we got a chance to just enjoy the house and get a couple special pictures!  The boys are hanging out on a counter where I enjoyed countless bowls of ice cream, cookies and fun conversations with my Grandma!  Speaking of which.... we came across her wallet while cleaning things out.  It had $33 in it.  Just the right amount to by ice cream treat for the whole family!  It was such a little but huge thing.  Grandma's freezer was always full of ice cream treats and it was so cool that she got to buy some for us just one more time!

Here are my sister and I on the patio.  A patio we cleaned and vacuumed (yes, vacuumed) many, many times!  We learned so many things from Grandma, valuable lessons we've taken to our own homes.  No, I don't vacuum my patio, but I do know how!

I'll miss this house!

Sweet Moments on a Hard Day

I have a big post running through my brain that I just can't seem to post.  My sweet beautiful Grandma went to glory just a short 4 weeks ago.  It was the most difficult joyful situation I've ever been through.  I have so much about that week, her service and her that I want to share and just get down here for memories sake, but today is not that time.  soon.

In the meantime, here are some pictures that I love from those days:

The boys looked so cute and so big in their dressy clothes, I just had to get a picture.  They were more than happy to climb all over the rocks for me to get a few.

We had a luncheon and managed to get all the little ones in close for a picture!  There are 24 great grandkids (missing a few here), all under 9.  There are such a fun group of kiddos.  The babysitters that watched over them for the service were impressed with our sweet little group! : )

There are also 5 more on the way!  So we couldn't miss out on the photo op here.  L to R: My sister, due in Feb, Oldest cousin, Monique due in Feb, Nicole, due in Feb., Cyrena due in April, Molly, due in May.  All, but Audra, with their 3rd child.  Grandma knew all were coming and could tell you their correct due dates just the week before.

My Thomas and his buddy, Timmy.  Always have such fun together!

This day was such a tribute to the love shown and given by Grandma.  A testimony to the love that the Holy Spirit filled her with and that grew out her love for the Lord!  Such a beautiful blessing!!

Reeder Christmas Extravaganza

I know I've written about these get together before and how much I love them, but seriously!! How can I not proclaim how much I love getting together with all the loud and crazy Reeder's. This year there was somewhere around 50 of us. There were 19 great grandkids present (of the 23), 20 of the 24 grandkids, all the kids and of course Grandma! My mom's cousin and his wife joined as well. They loved being apart of all the excitement and couldn't believe that everyone really came and that everyone got along. See, my family really is the best!

This year was no exception to being great! My aunt and uncle had their garage all set up for the kids. Full of toys and kiddy sized tables. They even invited Santa and one of his helpers to pass out presents and tattoo our children! : ) The kids loved it!! Here are just a few snap shots of all the fun:

This is Miss A.. Saying that she loves babies is an understatement. She was so excited to met Benjamin and to get to hold him. I think she could have sat their all night! She was beyond thrilled to get to hold Ethan at the same time. She was so sweet with them. She even helped me feed him and get him up from his nap!

Here are some of the little ones putting on a Christmas show for us. They got to pick all sorts of Christmas songs to sing and lead the adults on. They are hilarious! Notice Thomas isn't one of the ones up there. He much prefers to sit and watch and take pictures. He did pretty good, don't ya think?!

All the cousins singing the 12 days of Christmas. There are 12 of us, so we each got a day and even had to make up motions to go along with the day. Almost everyone went along with it. Such fun!!

Timmy, he was the one running the show. Watch out world, this guy is going to be running something someday! He is so organized and has no fear being up front making sure everyone is doing what they are suppose to be. I love it!!!
This is my mom and her sister. They have 6 grandsons between the two of them. My aunt has a wonderful granddaughter through marriage as well, but we love that these two have mostly boys between them. Mom is holding my son, Benjamin, and my sister's son Ethan. Then Timmy, my cousin's son and Thomas in the middle and Jake, my cousins son, on my Aunt Mary Ellen's lap.
And finally, here are Thomas and Timmy hamming it up for the camera. Once everyone left the room, Thomas was all ready to sing Jingle Bells with Timmy and then all they wanted to do was make silly faces for the camera! Love it when these two get together!!

My Cousin's Wedding

On my mom's side, I am one of 12 grandchildren. We were all born within a little less then 20 years of one another, so mostly just a year between each one. We all lived within 5 miles of each other growing up and it remained that way for most of our lives. We grew-up together. My Aunt lived right down the street from us, blessing me with the privilege of my cousin being my best friend. Every year we all gathered together for Christmas Eve. Since I've been alive, there's only been one year we have not done this (with the exception that now we get together the Saturday before Christmas). In the last 10, another joyous occasion we get the joy of celebrating together have been the weddings!! A couple of weeks ago, the youngest and last cousin was married. It was a blast. Everyone was there, well not the kids, just us "grown-ups. Everyone now is 33 people from aunts & uncles to us cousins, throw in our kids and you pass 50! It has been such a blessing to grow up with family surrounding you. Even more of a blessing that almost all of my cousins love the Lord! I look forward to every time we get together, it surely is a party and a very loud one!

Here is the beautiful bride, Ali, my cousin and our new cousin, Adrian. Such a great couple! She had 11 bridesmaids, 7 of which she's been friends with since Elementary school. Isn't that awesome!!! How cool to have so many lifetime friends.

Here we are enjoying our night away from both kids! Awesome!! (sorry boys!)

Me and My beautiful cousin Molly. The one I grew up with, my best friend and a constant blessing to me! We now live almost 2 hours apart. I so miss our last minute trips to the grocery store and morning walks to Starbucks. But what a special time it is when we get our two families together! Our boys are each 9mos apart. What a blast that's going to be as they get older! yikes!!

Shhhh.... here we are enjoying some awesome drinks! Smoking Pomegranate Martini's. Those white things are bubbles from the dry ice they put in the drink. It made them smoke!

My handsome hubby and his second date! The Video camera. He's such a great guy, he video-taped the wedding and some of the reception for the lovely couple. He took this little guy everywhere. Such a nice guy!!

Reeder Family Extravaganza

Every year since before I was born, there has been a Reeder Family Christmas Eve celebration. Usually we would get together at Grandma & Grandpa's home and then rotate between all the Aunts & Uncles. Everyone came. Everyone when I was little was Grandpa & Grandma, the 4 siblings and their spouses and the grandkids, totaling 12. Well, the last couple of years we've usually gotten together, but occasionally chunks of the family were missing. About 4 years ago we switched to a weekend before or after Christmas, started bringing in catered food with the grandkids bringing the snacks. Then, there was talking of not doing it anymore. Maybe we'd get together in the summer at a park. There are after all almost 50 of us now. 11 of the 12 cousins are married, the last one will be in 2010. There are 21 great grandkids with 2 more on the way.

Well, not getting together lasted one year. Auntie Mary called us all together again this year and what a blast it was. Only 2 cousins and their families were missing.

My Aunt and Uncle are wonderful, maybe a little crazy, because all of us were there at one time with all those kids under 7 running through the house. Huge blessing on them for having us all in with smiles on their faces and wonderful food.

Thankfully it was a sunny, December, California day. We filled the backyard, the family room, the kitchen and even the living room and the front yard for parts of it. Their were babies sleeping in the different rooms and someone always in the bathrooms. It was a great Christmas get together. Below are pictures of the groups.

Grandma with all her grandkids and their spouses.

The second half of the grandkid picture! We don't all fit in one anymore! The couple in the bright blue and orange are getting married this year!! Congrats!!

Here are most of the great grandkids. One little guy was sleeping and this took about 10 minutes from start to finish. Remember, they are all under 7, so they don't all stay put at the same time. This process was entertainment in and of it self!
I hope there will be many more Reeder Family Extravaganza's in the years to come. We just might have to move to a park and switch to the summer, but we'll all find our way back together.

What a tribute this is to the blessings of God!! Also, to my grandparents, how they raised their children and their love for each and everyone of us. It is Grandma's love that brings us so close together!