The holiday season is upon us and I am so excited!!! I'm planning and working fast and furious for all the people who will be joining us for Thanksgiving dinner!! Lots of lists and checking this and that and rearranging the basement for guests! I love it! There will certainly be people we'll miss this year! Eric and his family out in PA. (Sorry Cambree I couldn't bring up a picture with you in it!! You're still there in spirit!) and for the first time, our oldest grandson, Austin. He'll be celebrating Thanksgiving with Grampa Koehler and the other great aunts and uncles. He will have a great time I'm sure, but there will be some tears shed on that day for him and the spot he has held for 18 years.

LADIES' EVENT

On Friday, Oct. 7th we had a great ladies' night at our church. It was really fun! I was in a play that they put together and guess what? The lead characters in the play were Frank and Judi!!! I played Judi, the grandmother and Frank played the grampa. We was so, so cute and funny! We had a great time doing it. Looking back on my life, I said, I realize just how blessed I've been!! How true, how true. There's been some really hard times and some really incredible times!! Those incredible times included, birth of our 4 children, weddings of our 4 children, births of our 15 grandchildren, and the birth of one coming in February!!!!! And lots of other things in between! Seeing 8 of our grandchildren come to know Christ as their savior and all of them being baptized!!! WOW, really, what more could one ask for???

HAPPY 9TH BIRTHDAY RYLAND!!

Hope you have a wonderful day Ryland!! You're getting so big! I still remember the day that you came home from the hospital. You came into such a great family and you are such a great kid :-) It will be the best day on September 26th!! Can't wait to celebrate with you!!

Also we know it's your 4th spiritual birthday!! Wow, so exciting to think that you accepted Christ on your real birthday 4 years ago! The best decision of your life! Happy Spiritual Birthday Ryland!

TREND SETTERS!!

So, Aaron and Jenni have finally broken the mold! All 15 of our grandchildren have been opposite genders. boy, girl and girl, boy, now they are having another baby boy!!!!!! Two boys in a row :-) How exciting is that? We are all thrilled for them and Carson is happy to be having a baby bwover!! Now we only have 20 weeks to wait to find out his name :-) So wonderful to be thinking about our 16th grandchuld coming in 2012!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AUSTIN!

Feb. 24th is an historic day. . . at least in my book :-) Our first grandchild came into the world on this day. What an exciting, hard, long, stressful day it was. I'll never forget seeing my daughter in such agony and wanting so bad not to have a Csection. But then she did. And then there was Dennis. Such a patient man! Only wanting to help Kym and knowing that there was nothing he could do, except rely on God. And together they brought forth their first born son!! What a day!!

WELCOME BABY CAMBREE MADISON!

Well, she finally arrived on Monday, Feb. 7 2011!! She's absolutely adorable, of course, and I can tell already that she loves her family! She's a dark haired, dark eyed beauty and she looks just like a Koehler! How could she not :-) All her siblings adore her and can't leave her alone! I had such a wonderful time while I was in Philadelphia visiting with all the family. What a privilege to be among the first to hold our 15th grandchild and cuddle with her and kiss her rosy cheeks! My grandmother arms were full and my heart was overjoyed! God is so good! Psalm 9:1-2 says, "I will give thanks to YOU, Lord, with ALL my heart, I will tell of all the marvelous things YOU have done. I will be filled with JOY because of You, I will sing praises to Your name, O most High!!!!!!!!!

Happy Valentine's Day!

It's the month of love!! Today, Feb. 2, is our youngest son's 31st birthday :-) That's love ~
We are anxiously awaiting the birth of our 15th grandchild :-) That's love ~
Soon it will be Valentine's Day :-) That's love ~
Yesterday we had the biggest snow storm ever in February :-) Is that love??
Well, this month is loaded with fun things and I intend to enjoy them! Thank you Hallmark for making up Valentine's Day!! That's love!!!!

IT'S THE NEW YEAR!

Happy 2011 to you all :-) January will be a good start to it. . . Granny celebrates her 85th birthday, mom and dad celebrate our 44th wedding anniversary and we are expecting our 15th grandbaby!!!! So that's a good start, huh?

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Hi Family! We just want to wish all of our wonderful children, children-in-loves, and 15 awesome grandchildren a very Merry and Blessed Christmas Day!! Can't wait to meet our newest little grandbaby in 2011, Cambree Madison!

IT'S CHRISTMAS TIME!

It's an okay picture, right? Well hope your Christmas is bright and cheery and that we all remember that it's Christ's birthday that we are celebrating! Sure wish all the Philadelphia Koehler's, all 8 of them, could be with us this year!! You will be missed!! Onward to our celebration!!

LOVE THIS MONTH!

Did you know that I love the month of December? There are lots of reasons, so let me list a few:
1. It's my birthday
2. Everything is so festive
3. Snow
4. Holiday celebrations

And certainly not the least of these but the first, it's Jesus' birthday. We all love celebrating Christmas. It is indeed a great family holiday. It's so wonderful, fun, memorable and exciting getting together over the holiday and exchanging gifts, making memories, talking, sharing, celebrating! Thank you God, for sending your Son to us!!

It's Thanksgiving month! I'm so happy it's finally here! It's fun to already think of all that we'll have on our Thanksgiving table. In fact my grocery list is done and I'm ready to shop. One thing I'm waiting for is the turkey to go on sale. But Frank said that he read that turkey's are going to be more expensive this year, go figure, what isn't? Who cares, I'm still thankful, even for an expensive Turkey. It will be a wonderful day, but we sure will miss our family in Philadelphia. It'll be different that's for sure. We'll be thinking of you all and hoping that your first Thanksgiving in PA. will be your best yet!! How can it not be with a new baby to be thankful for :-) We'll have a very thankful day too with all our dear ones with us. I'm so thankful for my family and all the blessings God has poured on us. You 25 people are my life and I love you all!!!!

GRANDCHILD #15

Of course this post is going to be about the fact that grandchild #15 is a GIRL!!! We just found out on Sept. 16th!! It's so exciting!!! So 3 boys and now 3 girls for Eric & Tonia. How delightful!! And for the grandchild chart it's still the boys beating but the girls are catching up!! ONE MORE granddaughter and it would be equal :-) 8 grandsons and 7 granddaughters!! Who could ask for anything more??

WE'RE HAVING GRANDCHILD #15!!!

Happy days are here again. . . just this week we learned that another Koehler baby is on the way!! Eric & Tonia are having their 6th baby and we are so very excited, for them and for us :-) We love babies that's for sure!!! We will pray for this new little one every day for health and strength while he/she is growing in the womb :-) What a beautiful thought!! We will pray that he/she grows to love God with all their heart! And we will pray that we can get out to Philadelphia very soon after the birth!!! I think I need to get a job :-) Thank you God for giving to our family another child to love and cherish and grandparent along the way!!

CAMERON'S COMING!

WOW! It's so exciting! Cameron is coming "back home" to Illinois for a few days!!! We'll even get to celebrate the first holiday of the summer with him! We're so excited! Thank you Eric & Tonia for letting him come. It is such a special 8th grade graduation gift to him. . . and to us :-)

POMP & CIRCUMSTANCE

Congratulations Austin Alexander Ray!! You have successfully completed 9 years of elementary school and 4 years of high school! We are so very proud of you! You, being our first graduating grandson, have a very special place in our hearts!! You'll always be #1, that's just the way it is!!! What an honor and privilege for us as your grandparents to see this day come to fruition. It's a celebration for our whole family!! We've been the rounds through 4 of our own children and now starts the next generation ~ only 13 more to go. . . at this point :-) You are loved beyond measure forever and always!!

HOME AGAIN, HOME AGAIN, JIGGETY JIG!

We are so glad to be home from all our travelings over the past month! We feel like we've been gone a long, long time! It's always good to be home. Even though I love going places, and I really do, it's good to be back where you belong :-) I'm so amazed at all the "spring" things that are going on around us!! Our whole yard is in bloom now! I love the trees, what are left of them, out my office windows that block the neighbors house and the barn!! And we have 2 new green additions to our front yard, an arborvitae and a flowering plum tree! They're like our new best friends!! It's fun even after almost 36 years in a house to have something new to add to the landscape! It's never really "done!!" So, welcome home to us!!

SUPER BIRTHDAY MONTH

I just want to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Joshua, Emerson, Eric and Malia!!! Four birthday in one weeks time!! Whew, it's unbelievable!! And throw in there Kevin's birthday and Cameron's spiritual birthday and don't forget Aaron & Jenni's 4th wedding anniversary, well what can I say? It's an amazing month full of memories and special events!!! Hope that each one enjoys their special day!! We'll be thinking of you!

HAPPY DAY!

It's all about the rain in spring, remember April showers bring May flowers!! I actually love the rain, and thunderstorms. I'm supposing the storms cause a lot of my grandchildren stress, but hopefully someday they'll like them too :-) I'm glad I don't have that SAD problem!! Don't get me wrong, I really like the sunshine, who doesn't? So come on SUN!!

HAPPY SPRING!

I love the month of March! It means spring is here! Now I can take down my snowmen from winter, the ones decorating my house, and put up "springy" things. I'm crazy about spring things! So on Monday, March 1st I'll be dusting and cleaning and decorating! I like doing those things, call me crazy! Never mind!!