The Osborne Family

Since it can be hard to tell when I create a new album or upload some new pics I thought I would write a new post to let you know there are some new pics. I also figured that I could tell you how our Christmases were. Yes that is right I said Christmases. I am pretty sure we had four in total, Bluffton, Curtice, and Oak Harbor, Ohio and St. Joseph, Michigan.

We had our Osborne/Benroth Christmas this year the weekend before Christmas. We all traveled to the Menenite home in Bluffton, Ohio so we could spend Christmas with Grandma Phyllis. We had lots of food, a fun gift exchange, and some heated Bingo. It was good to see everyone and catch up. Afterwards my parents, brother, and sister drove back with Colleen, Ali, and myself to our house. My Dad, brother, and I had plans to watch Avatar in 3D the next day at the Dublin theaters just off of Sawmill. On a side-note, Avatar in 3D is probably the best movie experience of all time. You must see the move in 3D if you still can.

The following Thursday (December 24th) the three of us traveled to my parent’s house in Oak Harbor, Ohio for Christmas where we met up with my brother and Sister. I don’t think there was anyway that we could have stuffed one more item in the Highlander, it was packed full of clothes, baby gear, and gifts. There was no seeing out the back windows, that was for sure. (On a side-note I just ordered a new hitch and a 2′x5′ cargo tray that slides into the hitch for the highlander to give us some extra storage when traveling.) On Christmas morning the seven of us each opened one gift before heading over to Big G’s house in Curtice, Ohio for the Hays/Osborne family Christmas.

Christmas at Big G’s house started off with a good breakfast. We had a lot of people in attendance. I will see if I can name them all continue reading…

We started off Halloween this year with a camping trip to Maumee Bay State Park with Big G, Bumpa, and Aunt Sandy. We had lots of camping fun even if the weather was a little colder than normal. While we were at the campground Ali was able to march in their Halloween parade and walk from campsite to campsite dressed as a kitten begging for candy with all the other campers. She caught on pretty quick and really seemed to enjoy the entire experience. The idea of people giving her something to put into her bucket was a real hit with her. She was even able to have a sucker after it was all over, which was a first for her. Ali also had her first Pie Iron Pizza on this camping trip. She scarfed down a peperoni, ham and bacon pizza and then moved on to eat some of her cousin’s cheese pizza. Needless to say she liked the pizza.

A couple weeks later on the Thursday before Halloween we went to Chad and Erin’s house in Hilliard to trick or treat in their neighborhood. Even though her parents forgot to bring her Halloween bucket, Ali quickly remembered what to do and was walking up driveways in no time asking for candy to put into her grocery bag. She walked quite a bit (more than a block) and again seemed to really enjoy the whole experience. She is happy to hold your hand and walk down the side walk between houses but when it comes time to walk up the drive she wanted to do that herself. Ali also enjoyed studying the other kids costumes as well as the costumes of the people handing out the candy. None of the costumes seemed to scare her, she just acted interested in looking at them and then moving on to the next house. continue reading…