New Years Day at the Mango's.

New Year's Day at the Mango's is always a day spent with family and friends!  We had 26 people at the dinner table.  We spend the day playing games, visiting, and watching football.  We have done this for my entire life.  I am enjoying continuing the tradition.  All local family is invited and then we invite others who we want to get to know better, or just enjoy hanging out with.  It is a day rich with our family traditions.  It has changed a bit over the years.  We no longer watch near as much football.  We used to have three TVs going at one time, as most of the games were on New Year's Day.  Now they are all spread out.  The people we meet with have changed a bit as some have moved and others have passed, but the good food, game playing and wonderful fellowship continues.  Here is how we spent our day....

We woke up on New Year's morning to fresh snow.  T-Bob manfully got out the snowblower and blew out the driveway.  He did a nice job and did it cheerfully.  I think he's growing up!

Elizabeth decided to try to find a place to sled at the side of the barn.  Not sure why she thought a rake was the right tool to add snow to her ramp with.  Silly Girl!

She did have a good time sledding there on the little hill.  When Levi, Ian  and her friend came over they joined her in sledding.  At least you don't get tired walking back up the hill! LOL

Thomas spent the day speechwriting.  You can't let a holiday interrupt your plans to get something done.  He's a man on a mission!

Paul was around.  He came over mid-morning and then just pitched in to help out.  He has been house sitting for a friend who has animals that need tending while they are on vacation.  He likes the quiet at their house.  Home alone.

My nephew Daniel brought his photo album over from his safari to Zimbabwe.  He is a big game hunter at only 19.  He got some pretty impressive animals.  He holds the record for the largest kudzu ever shot in Zimbabwe.  (Not sure if that is the right animal, but one of those deer with big horns)  He was on a leopard safari and he got almost every kind of animal except for a leopard!  He was sad.  Did I mention that he is an award winning taxidermist?

My three sweet nieces came along with their brother.  It was so good to see them and get to spend time with them!  They are very talented young women.  Today was a treat!

The album of Daniel's trip got passed around and everyone looked at his safari pictures.

Isaac was cheerful today and lived up the meaning of his name, despite not having a nap.  I think he is starting to get used to the farm.

Dad spent the day reading.

The older cousins and our other guests got together for a rousing game of 'spoons'.  I don't think they did the elimination version, just multiple rounds.  They seemed to have a good time.

The guys played 'Loose Change' with the younger set and when the little ones got tired and left, they switched over to 'For Sale' an auction game.

We had our traditional pork and sour kraut with mashed potatoes for dinner.  Later, after a tour of the farm and some target shooting, we served dessert.  Mom made chocolate mousse, tapioca pudding, and  ribbon cookies.  I think she was trying to serve everyone's favorites in one meal.

Michelle made a cheesecake with either cherry sauce or lemon curd on top.  It was totally yummy!

We sure missed our Filippino family, but it sure was nice to have some other older cousins to hang out with.  Too bad they live so far away most of the time also.  Daniel is a world traveller, Julia is on the west coast, Joy is moving to Switzerland for college and Kay is still local.  It was so nice to be together even if it was only for a day.

Here are all the Mango Cousins present today.

These last two pictures are for Grandma, who doesn't always check facebook.  

Happy New Year to one and All!

Christmas Day on the Farm

(Please remember that this blog is written for my family that lives far away.  This is a post that is full of pictures of my family and probably won't be real interesting to the rest of you.  LOL) .

                                             

 I'm dreaming of a White Christmas.... cause  there was only a skiff of snow on the grass.  Can you see the faint trace of white on the grass?  There is some settled on the ice.  The entire pond was frozen over.

We set the kids table up in the living room.  We served buffet style off the peninsula.  This worked well after we shifted the dining room table over.  It worked so well that we did the same thing for dinner.  The cousins seemed to enjoy their table. Everyone is growing up and they are becoming friends, not just relatives. I appreciate that.

These two gals proclaim themselves 'best friends'!  They really enjoy playing together.

T-Bob spent his afternoon shooting his bow and arrows.  He really is enjoying them.

Elizabeth loves being outside.  She really prefers that to hanging out in the house.  She and Levi spent most of the afternoon  playing outside.  They were tormenting the hens.  They had a hen on the end of the pitchfork.  Not impaled, but riding up and down like she was on a teeter-totter.  They were very happy when I got the ATV out and gave them rides out back over our bumpy fields and through the streams.  Things were frozen so at least we didn't get wet, as sometimes happens.

Joel loves his hoodie.  It has changed his image.  He spent the day playing Risk on the ipad with Uncle Nathan and Paul.  I think they spent 8+ hours playing.  And after eight hours I don't think they were any closer to determining a winner than when they started. It was totally equal.  All three had strong positions.  But they had fun doing it!

Michelle and Car had breakfast together.  Car was excited to get to sit at the big kids table.  He spent most of the time during the present opening time sitting in a box, turning his new flashlight off and on.  He showed it off to everyone.  It made noise too, if you pushed a button.  He loved it!

This is my brother and his wife, the other Michelle.  They were late for breakfast this year again, even though they only live five minutes away.  Guess it isn't the distance that makes a difference. Haha! They brought a long an amazing baked blueberry french toast recipe.  It was yummy.  It was the only non-GF thing on the breakfast menu.

Michelle made some amazing GF nut rolls and cinnamon rolls and monkey bread.  Everybody enjoyed them!

Isaac loves to be read too.  He has learned where we keep the board books and gets them right away when he comes.

Mary and Joseph (from the nativity skit) also enjoy time together as friends and cousins.  Ian got his Lego set put together before he left.  He liked his Christmas gift!

Guess what Grandma got for Christmas?!!!  A camera!  She was learning how to use it.  She practiced a lot during the gift opening.

Car kept posing so nicely to have his picture taken.  He is such a cutie.  A very happy boy!

This was the 'hoodie' Christmas.  All the guys, except my DH and Nathan, got a hoodie for Christmas.  This was the industrial model that my brother got.  The metal tips on the strings were like lead weights and could almost take an eye out.  This is a serious hoodie!

My Dad got a T-shirt with a picture of our farm on it.  I got the same thing for my DH and Paul.  I really like them!

Here is T-Bob in his new hoodie.  He has worn it almost non-stop since he opened it. He says it is super warm.  He has been wearing it outside as his jacket and seems to stay warm even though he is outside for a long time.

My sister in law is a happy lady.  She is a good mom and wife.  I am glad she is in our family!

Dad and Sadie looking at the calendar he got from my sister in the Philippines.  We did get to chat with them on facetime before breakfast.  It was good to see and hear from them.  So nice to see family even if it is only on the computer.  They had to sign off and head to bed as we sat down for breakfast.  There is a 13 hour time difference currently.

Miss Sadie and Isaac spent a long time playing with our plastic nativity set.  They kept fighting over baby Jesus.  Something is just wrong about that!  We got this set about 20 years ago when our oldest two kids were little from my Aunt Vernice.  It is neat to have toys that have  long term play value.

In the evening, some people played pinochle, and others played Big Boggle, and of course the Risk people kept going right up until they had to leave.  It was a lovely day!

We had a very Merry Christmas!

Random Thoughts

This post is about life on the farm and what we have been up to...

This is what it looked like TWO days ago.  The snow was lovely and white.  Everything looked beautiful.  Then the temperature warmed up and the rain started and things changed!  Some pictures below will show you what I mean.

Elizabeth found a book on Irresponsible Science Experiments and being a good home schooler she decided to try some.  This was the one where you turn a rubber glove into a balloon filled with carbon dioxide.  Pretty Cool!

Meanwhile T-Bob was making Tuna melt nachos for lunch.  They were really tasty!  That is cheese on top.

We did get the Christmas tree up and decorated.  It looks really nice.  We have it in the living room.  We thought about putting it in the family room where it would get more viewing, but decided to put it a bit out of the way.  It fell down the first day, but it is better secured now.

Elizabeth has had a tummy flu and has been sleeping a lot.  She seems to be feeling better tonight.

Michelle decorated around the fireplace.  It looks so nice when it is burning.  We really enjoy sitting around and looking at it.

This is what it looks like today.  If this rain had been snow we would have about two feet of snow and not be going anywhere.  I am sure the merchants are glad it is rain and not snow.  There is a lot of shopping going on.  I only made one trip to the mall this Christmas season.  The weather has made the chickens happy.  They are once more outside looking for bugs.  (I know this is really random!)

The other evening we had the cousins over and Elizabeth did a photo shoot with the kids without any help.  T-Bob and the Car are buddies!  T-Bob went and put on a matching shirt to the little guy for the pictures.  T-Bob also did the Car's hair so he could look like a cool dude like T-Bob himself.

Elizabeth tried to take pictures of the cuzzes together, but that was a real challenge.  They were not super cooperative, but they had fun.

They liked doing silly faces better.

The Car kid decided to call for a ride and leave, so I will end these ramblings here.

We Miss Katrina

Last month my dear niece, Katrina, had a birthday!  With all our moving issues I didn't get a chance to help her celebrate.  So here a few weeks later is my post in honor of Katrina!

Katrina ALWAYS is quick to smile and giggle.

Katrina and Ian enjoying ice cream.

She has a real heart for her younger cousins.  She has been a good friend to Elizabeth through the years.

She is a princess in her spare time!

This picture was taken just before they left for the Philippines the first time.

She has also been a real good friend to our son T-Bob!  You rarely find one without the other when they are in the same town.

They have been blessed to grow up together.  They are really good buds!

This past year they have grown very close, which has made Katrina's departure that much sadder for our family!

Katrina is a good friend.  She is loving and kind, as well as a lot of fun!

She loves to play games and even tolerates math pretty well.

She is an Auntie to a delightful little boy, Eliott,  as well as a recently born niece, Tessa.

Here she is with her family.

She and T-Bob are bestie cousins.

This summer, Katrina was here to help T-Bob celebrate his 13th birthday.  We, unfortunately, were too far away to celebrate Katrina's 13th birthday with her.  

T-Bob and Katrina, the day they left to return to the Philippines.

We love you Katrina and hope you have an amazing year as a 13 year old!  

We know  we are late with these greetings, but we want you to know that they are no less heart felt.

The Mangos