Opa Norb’s Brags’

Thanks, Cheryl, me bragging? Where did you get that idea??

Here is our latest addition, Kai, now about 1 month old (or close). I just found out this morning that Sydney is going to have a little brother, due December. Our daughter wanted another girl, but so it goes. Three more grandkids will be here this afternoon with their dad from Connecticut for a 1 week visit. And Sydney will come tomorrow from Denver for 3 days. But I won’t brag, they are just a bunch of kids making a lot of noice

[IMG]http://www.ourbluemarble.us/forum/Kai-2.jpg[/IMG]

Norb absolutly beautiful. Keep the great pictures coming, it really gives me such delight and happiness to see a new baby. 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

After the long flight from the east coast and the hour long drive from Denver, we thought we wear them out a bit. They loved the water slide we set up in our back yard this afternoon.

Brandy, you have to wait bit for more baby pictures 😀 this is the older gang, Kaylin (8), Mason (9) and Lanie (4)

[IMG]http://www.ourbluemarble.us/forum/MasonKaylinLanie.jpg[/IMG]

Kai (which is a fairly common name for a boy in Norway) is so sweet with all that black hair. Wonder if it will fall off and his new hair will be blond, that happens all the time with Norwegian babies. And yes, keep posting pic’s, you know I have a special interest in seeing him grow up alongside William!

Norb,

I doubt they will become worn out easily, I think its more like you and Carol feeling that way, I can just imagine!

I am looking forward to seeing the pics of William and Kai as each year passes.

Norb,

the kids are darling !

Stacey

Yes, they are darling, but like Cheryl I get tired just sitting in a corner and watching all the commotion. Now with Sydney here also and four adults besides me it’s constant noise and turmoil. I am sure it would be quite a success if I got on the slide, too. I decided not to. I might shred it to pieces. They are gone this morning to a children’s garden giving me a breather.

Here a sneak preview of things to come in 4 months:

Sydney’s new brother

[IMG]http://www.ourbluemarble.us/forum/babykeay.jpg[/IMG]

It’s a boy. Shot from below. He turned into position for the camera so there would be no doubt 😀

[IMG]http://www.ourbluemarble.us/forum/a_boy.jpg[/IMG]

The three older ones went back to Connecticut today with their dad. Sydney is back in Denver. Here one last shot:

[IMG]http://www.ourbluemarble.us/forum/4grandkids.jpg[/IMG]

[B]Cheryl[/B] Sydney is talking about how she will give the baby a bottle. I am sure dress-up will follow later. She already does that with any clothes she can find.

Sydney is visiting for the weekend. In the first photo she is dancing to “Aenni”. She loved the old movie. Then she beat me to the exercise bike. First she tried the handles sitting on the seat trying to reach the pedals. We kept telling her that her legs weren’t long enough but she kept trying. She is pretty persistent. Then she finally found a way doing both. She is now 2 1/2 and wears me out but I love it:D .

I am still waiting for replacement pedals with pockets to keep my feet from sliding off.

[IMG]http://www.ourbluemarble.us/forum/Sydneydancing.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.ourbluemarble.us/forum/Sydneyexercising.jpg[/IMG]

What a sweet handful she seems to be!

Love your “barne-barn” pic’s, Norb!

I miss Sydney, won’t see her for another week or two.

In the meantime three of the six other grandkids living in Battle Creek, Michigan. We will visit there Thanksgiving.

This is [B]Turner[/B] (7): “it’s a mole, it’s doing bad things to me!”, [B]Salina [/B](17) with make-up and hair done and [B]Ashton[/B] (19 or 20)

[IMG]http://bp1.blogger.com/_wiTbLTP7EE8/RspYGEB1ZSI/AAAAAAAAAF0/hxahQCKYfyk/s400/11aug18+003.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://bp0.blogger.com/_wiTbLTP7EE8/Rs90ekB1ZZI/AAAAAAAAAGs/P04EkxqpTUU/s400/aastephdog+074.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://bp3.blogger.com/_wiTbLTP7EE8/RsNlfC5iDJI/AAAAAAAAAEs/c1TI1cLlGoA/s400/1a14h.jpg[/IMG]

Aren’t they great-looking kids to be proud of, must be good genes 😀

Oh wow! Norb. No wonder you are so proud ~ great genes 😀

Thanks, Judy and Cheryl.

So far I posted pictures of 7 grandkids. I took a count. There are 10 more to come. That’s not counting the one due in December.

Sorry I didn’t see this sooner Norb!

Quite a bunch!

Here pictures of 3 more grandchildren, 7 more to go.

This is Karl. I think he is 20 years old. He lives in Intercourse, Pennsylvania with his younger (camera shy) brother Michael. He makes wonderful fine cabinets. The picture shows a mahogany spice box. I just found out he has his own website showing some of his creations. [url]www.agapewoodworking.com[/url] It’s slow loading. I am going to suggest to him to reduce the size of the photos. His dad is my oldest son.

[IMG]http://www.ourbluemarble.us/forum/Karl.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.ourbluemarble.us/forum/mahogany_spice_box.jpg[/IMG]

The next picture is Jonathon, five years old on his first day
in kindergarten, then Tyrus, 10. They live in Battle Creek, Mi.

[IMG]http://bp0.blogger.com/_wiTbLTP7EE8/RuHd3EB1ZyI/AAAAAAAAAJ0/jysgoNN8iXw/s400/aschoolweek+007.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://bp0.blogger.com/_wiTbLTP7EE8/RuHYAEB1ZvI/AAAAAAAAAJc/CwOSNNZ8ufY/s400/aschoolweek+024.jpg[/IMG]

What a nice bunch, Norb – looking forward to seeing the rest.
BTW – you must have a huge x-mas present budget and start wrapping and sending them all over the continent by October at the latest, I guess – not to mention keeping track of all the birthdays! If your kids keep multiplying like this you’ll soon have to remember two birthdays a month on the average!

But what a blessing it must be to know you have such a large – and great – family!

Well Allaug we don’t really have a huge Christmas budget. Social Security, my federal pension, doesn’t go very far. If anything we just send small gifts.

Here is Stephanie (23), the last and oldest of the Michigan gang. She just wrote “Right now I’m taking classes at the community college and I’m starting a business as a Make-up Artist. I’ve been working with a photographer that starts models portfolios. It’s a lot of fun and once I’m more experienced I’ll be making a descent living. ” She’s had a boyfriend for quite some time and it sounds pretty serious. She actually might be the first one to make me a [B]Ur-Opa[/B].

The first picture is her co-ed look, the second her model look.

[IMG]http://www.ourbluemarble.us/forum/coed.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.ourbluemarble.us/forum/model.jpg[/IMG]

And here’s another picture of Salina, Stephanie’s younger sister. This is the way she normally looks, without makeup.

[IMG]http://bp1.blogger.com/_wiTbLTP7EE8/RtyXZkB1ZtI/AAAAAAAAAJM/6pPgOztfbGM/s400/azoo+007.jpg[/IMG]

Thanks Cheryl, I can’t wait to see them in Michigan. I hope you’re not sorry that you started this thread for me. There are three more in my oldest son’s family I have not seen for quite some time and probably will not see anytime soon. I don’t hear much about them either so I assume they are fine. There’s Rachel who is 27 and Benjamin who is 26. Both of them live in North Carolina. The third one is Michael who is 19. He lives in Intercourse, Pennsylvania. His parents were homeschooling him and his older brother Karl but I guess they are finished by now.

Only two more to go and one more in December.:D

[IMG]http://www.ourbluemarble.us/forum/Rachel.gif[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.ourbluemarble.us/forum/Benjamin.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.ourbluemarble.us/forum/Michaeljr.jpg[/IMG]

What a great family, proud Opa! You have bragging rights 😀

Here are the last two: Sasha and Sophia are my second-oldest son’s “new” step-children. Baby Kai is his own. I posted Kai’s picture some time ago. They live in Raleigh, North Carolina. I will meet all three for the very first time in 2 weeks at the family reunion in Battle Creek, Michigan.

[IMG]http://www.ourbluemarble.us/forum/kids_halloween.jpg[/IMG]

Norb,

Wow, what beautiful grandchildren! 😎

You are truly blessed!

😀

First encounter during family reunion in Battle Creek, Michigan, Thanksgiving 2007. I met Kai here for the first time. He is my youngest grandson, 5 months old. I loved to make him laugh. He was fascinated by my beard. Heading back home Monday.

[IMG]http://www.ourbluemarble.us/forum/Battle_Creek_07.jpg[/IMG]

Norb, Thank you for sharing that photo it made my day! He is beautiful. The holidays are going to be fun for his family. Make sure you post pictures of his first this and that. Brings back so many memories! ENJOY! 😀 [I did have to edit this and change her to his!] Sorry KAI! Aunt KIT did not have her glasses on her face and read the facts first!

How sweet, Norb! It could have been William and Hubby in the photograph you posted of yourself and and Kai. Give him and his parents a hearty hello from Norway!

This was the largest number of grandkids ever in one place during the Thanksgiving family reunion in Michigan

[IMG]http://www.ourbluemarble.us/forum/9grandkids.jpg[/IMG]

1. Stephanie 23
2. Ashton 21
3. Salina 16
4. Kai 5 mo
5. Tyrus 9
6. Sophia 7 (behind hair)
7. Turner 7
8. Sasha 9
9. Jonathan 5

There were also my 3 children from my first marriage (Stephan, Michael, Angela), two of their spouses, Carol and me on the right, behind us my ex and her new boyfriend. It was quite a blast. Enjoyed several HD movies in Art’s (far left) home theater with 19 feet screen, spent many hours updating his home theater website ([url]http://www.artsonneborn.com[/url]) while Carol got lost in Angela’s (between 4 & 5) huge art studio upstairs ([url]http://www.geminiangelart.com[/url])

Baby boy no-name Keay, six plus pounds, born 2:45 a.m. this Sunday morning, grandchild number 18. The photo is a bit fuzzy. Carol must’ve been too tired. She rushed to Denver at 1 a.m. after our daughter called to tell her the water broke. 15 minutes after she got to the hospital the baby was born, how is that for timing. Sydney was sitting next to her mom watching everything. “The baby is coming out now,” and “mommy, he’s going back inside again.” She was quite fascinated by it all.

Sydney came back with Carol today. The others will come tomorow for three weeks.

[IMG]http://www.ourbluemarble.us/forum/BabyNoname.jpg[/IMG]

My most heartfelt congratulations, Norb and Carol!!!

The new grandson has a name: Sawyer Beckett
[IMG]http://www.ourbluemarble.us/forum/XmaxGreetings_sm.jpg[/IMG]

This morning I woke up to a new strange sound in the house. It took me a few seconds to realize what it was.

A closeup of Sawyer, 2 days old.

[IMG]http://www.ourbluemarble.us/forum/Sawyer2days.jpg[/IMG]

Little Sawyer looks like Opa ~ how cool is that 😉 Congrats to everyone 🙂

Here is a better shot of Sydney and her 4 days old brother Sawyer at our house. He doesn’t quite look like an old man anymore, finally getting milk.
Sydney continues to amaze us. At the table she said out of the blue:”You got to do what you have to do.” I think that came from the movie Anni she watched a few weeks ago.

[IMG]http://www.ourbluemarble.us/forum/SydneySawyer.jpg[/IMG]

Christmas fun:
Sawyer (2 weeks) in a Christmas stocking and Sydney (2 1/2) with her fairy princess wings. After 2 weeks with us they all went back to Denver yesterday.

[IMG]http://www.ourbluemarble.us/forum/SawyerStocking.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.ourbluemarble.us/forum/SydneyFairy.jpg[/IMG]

The pic of Sydney holding Sawyer is just precious. They are beautiful children! Do you need a seamstress to put your shirt buttons back on ?? 😀

If I didn’t know better, I’d guess that Sawyer was you greates Chistmas gift, but I would have wondered about the fact that he looks so clean after his journey with Santa down the chimney—-!

Sydney enjoyed the rides with the new power chair. Carol: “You are getting all the attention with your new toy.”:(

[IMG]http://www.ourbluemarble.us/forum/Firstride.jpg[/IMG]

Sawyer almost 2 months: “I had enough to drink. Time for a nap.”

[IMG]http://www.ourbluemarble.us/forum/sawyeryawn.jpg[/IMG]

Wonderful, Opa Norb! I can just say I’m sooo ready for grandchild no.2, but according to the “producers” I have to wait at least two more years…..

I have not posted any photos of grandchildren lately. I don’t see them very often because I stopped going to Denver with Carol until they remodeled the garage for me. Here two pictures Carol took recently, one of Sawyer three months old and one of Sydney three years old.

[IMG]http://www.ourbluemarble.us/forum/Sawyer.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://www.ourbluemarble.us/forum/Sydney08.jpg[/IMG]

They all came up for the day to visit and celebrate Carol’s birthday a few days early. After a delicious lunch with Wienerschnitzel I wanted to take a nap on the couch. Well, I didn’t count on Sydney. She wanted to lie on top of me to take a nap with me. After a minute of pretend nap she discovered my belly and started playing drums. There went my napping and instead we were having fun. Unfortunately no pictures. Here is one of Carol reading a story to Sydney a little later with Sawyer watching intently. On the left our daughter Ryan.

[IMG]http://www.ourbluemarble.us/forum/Oma_reads_stories.jpg[/IMG]

just explored flickr for the first time and found these photo of Kai, Sophia and Sascha

[IMG]http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2048/2492410190_cb5f674454.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3001/2492409210_e3ffdee54c.jpg[/IMG]

How cute they are, Norb! I especially enjoyed Kai’s grin!

On a short trip into the Rockies with Carol’s mom we stayed the night in Golden, Colorado. It’s a fun place to visit with hiking trails along a river. Our daughter and her family joined us to spend some time at the farmers market, get some fresh veggies and go for a ride in a horse-drawn buggy. Here are couple of pictures of Sydney and Sawyer.

[IMG]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3137/2621663835_3c5e5c30ef_o.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3004/2622487424_4bdd8b6a8c_o.jpg[/IMG]

Norb,
You definetly have a nice looking family to brag about.
Great pictures!
Shirley

Norb…thanks for sharing your family. Wonderful!

Norb – any chance you would share Sydney during the reunion in Battle Creek? I’ll even drive down and get her-even for an hour?:D You have a beautiful family, and from reading your posts you and Carol are able to see them alot–your pride must be unmeasurable!! What great pics from beginning to end. Emma

[QUOTE=Emma]Norb – any chance you would share Sydney during the reunion in Battle Creek? I’ll even drive down and get her-even for an hour?:D [/QUOTE]
Thanks. We do enjoy all of them very much. Actually, we wished we could see them more often than once a year or so. The only ones we do see often are Sydney and Sawyer because they live in Denver about one hour from here. A year from now they’ll be moving away from Colorado. Their mom is finishing her fourth and last year of residency (emergency medicine) and may end up in Anchorage for a while to pay off her humongous student loan. She’s always looking for a babysitter so why don’t you swing by Denver to spend some time with the kids.:D
just received this picture of Kai celebrating his first birthday. They live in Portland, Oregon.

[IMG]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3074/2629154920_981239cd2e.jpg[/IMG]

here two more of Sydney

[IMG]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3190/2643759156_c3fd5726ce_o.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3187/2642930785_8138fe1647_o.jpg[/IMG]

Carol just published a cool fun scrap blog about Sawyer , called hugmuffins , lots of pictures

[COLOR=”Blue”]http://www.scrapblog.com/viewer/viewer.aspx?sbid=459511[/COLOR]

Loved the pictures, especially the last one. Guess I will have to drive to Denver to see that gorgeous girl. Hey, I’ll babysit so mommy and daddy can go to a movie!! 🙂 🙂 Emma

[IMG]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3061/2873059986_75c5e81f38_o.jpg[/IMG]
I got to watch Sawyer for half an hour while Carol took Sydney to preschool. He just loves to go around and around in this carousel. How time flies. It just seems like yesterday that Sydney was nine months old and hitting the buttons on this thing. We started going back to Denver again on a regular basis to help out. The new bedroom and walk-in shower are almost ready. There are grab bars for me to hold on to and I finally feel fairly safe again at their house.

Thank you for sharing, Norb! I’s funny how you change when you become a grandparent yourself – before I couldn’t care less about pictures of small children, but now it’s such a sweet joy!

Norb, handsome little guy you have there. Went back and looked at Carols blog on Sawyer, hard to believe he will soon be a year old.
Shirley

Thanks guys, yes, he is cute and so much more even tempered compared to Sydney. We had a monitor in our bedroom and he doesn’t cry much at all. Sydney is now entering the terrible 3 (or is it 4) stage, very oppositional .. and talks and sings all day wanting attention.:D

Hey Norb! What a blessing! The baby is so cute and your other grandchildren are adorable. Must be so much fun watching them and seeing them have so much fun and life in them. Very cherished moments! Thanks for putting a smile on my face this morning and sharing such beautiful moments!

Our first ride together me holding on to Sawyer tightly. He loved it.

[IMG]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3096/2924632577_b1fc9b732e.jpg[/IMG]

Really nice picture Norb! Looks like you and him were racing around the house hug? Looks like he was having alot of fun riding. They sure do grow fast don’t they? He’s so cute! You are cute too Norb! Hugs:D

😀 Thanks, Linda. It feels good at 75 to get a compliment like that 😀 😀

Nice picture Norb! Two handsome fellows. But you cannot be 75, that must have been a typo/transposition, seriously!

[QUOTE=Smiley]Nice picture Norb! Two handsome fellows. But you cannot be 75, that must have been a typo/transposition, seriously![/QUOTE]
Thanks.. born 1933 – you do the math 😀 I get that reaction a lot. Must be doing something right – maybe it’s the wine In drink every day 😉

Norb what kind of wine was that? I have to get me some. 😀 I bet Sawyer loves the rides. I can just imagine the giggles from both of you! :p

Norb!! Your 75! Wow! You need to let us know where that fountain of youth is at! You don’t look 75 at all! I thought maybe early 60’s but not 75! Wow! Wonder what you looked like in your 30’s! 😀 Now your gonna have all these woman chasing you down! 😀

It “fooled” Carol 33 years ago, too:D . She is 16 years younger. When I told her then how old I was she said it was too late and it didn’t matter and two weeks later she moved in with me with her two kids, 3 and 7. Today, we are still very happy together ……. and I couldn’t wish for a better caregiver. She is just wonderful.

Sydney harvesting pumpkins in our garden today. It was cold and rainy.

[IMG]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3271/2931671479_e0b82a9a56_o.jpg[/IMG]

Sydney trying on the Fairie Princess Carol is making for her. Her first reaction: “I don’t like it. It doesn’t look like a fairie.” But she finally decided it was OK when we said: “Maybe your friend Lydia wants to wear it.”

[IMG]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3175/2932530414_f63cbb2227_o.jpg[/IMG]

Page from a real cool Scrapblog Carol put together for Sydney and Lydia: Fairieland

[IMG]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3220/2932582944_4ffb124fa3_o.jpg[/IMG]

link: [COLOR=”Navy”]http://www.scrapblog.com/viewer/viewer.aspx?sbid=696978[/COLOR]

[FONT=”Comic Sans MS”][SIZE=”2″]Norb.
What beautiful grandkids you have.
You truly are blessed. Now [B][I]stop[/I][/B] fibbin’ about your age!;) [/SIZE][/FONT]

Hi Norb! Oh they are so cute! You have beautiful grandchildren. And your wife is very talented. Awesome pumpkins too. I did not grow any but might next year. That huge collard plant I had in my garden.. first harvest! Got four quarts frozen in the freezer today off that one plant. And I planted 9 plants with 6 coming up and growing. Hmm! If the others do as well as that huge one, I might get 24 quarts of collards. Tomorrow, I am picking spinach and freezing that!

What great photos! I love the little guys grin while riding around the house. His Mom is going to have to watch that little guy! You can tell he likes “speed” already! When he can talk more I bet he says “Faster! Faster!” LOL The holiday photos are really wonderful make me feel I was there too! 🙂

Thank you for sharing the wonderful pictures, Norb! I really enjoyed them, and it makes me look even more forward to watching William grow up in the years to come!

Wonderful Pix Norb! Beautiful grandkiddies. Nice job Carol with the scrapblog!

Sydney, now 3 1/2, was dancing and singing “The Wizard of Oz”. We are babysitting her and Sawyer while their mom is interviewing for jobs in Tacoma, WA. They both are having a good time, happy as can be.

Here an animated photo of her and of Sawyer (11mo), our monkey. He just spotted me.

[IMG]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3243/3078645782_5795445cd3_o.gif[/IMG] [IMG]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3190/3077949733_063743d5ed_o.gif[/IMG]

Norb, what beautiful grandchildren you have. Sydney looks like a dancing princess and Sawyer is so cute the way he gets around. I’ve never seen a baby move like that, it works for Sawyer.

Headspinningly wonderful, Norb! (Wish I could do animated photos!)

Wow Norb! What great photo’s! How did you do that? I would not mind learning how to do a few photos of my grandkids in here when they dance. But such sweet grandchildren you have. Thanks for sharing!

Glad you all enjoyed the pictures. Kids are fun to photograph, aren’t they?

Linda, it’s quite complicated. We finally learned how to take videos with our new digital camera. That is the easy part.

1. download video -usually .avi format
2. Use video editing program (there are a number around) and select a short 1 or 2 second segment
3. Copy every fifth frame as a still photo – there are 30 per second
4. Use Photoshop to assemble animated picture in .gif format from the saved frames – this is the most complicated part

It takes 2 software programs which usually are not cheap.

Are you sure you want t learn it? 😮 It takes personal tutoring, so maybe next time you visit here 😀

Opa Norb, you sure do have a right to brag. Those are two great kids. You have a right to be very proud.

The gang is visiting from Denver for the weekend. The girls went to the grocery store, the boys weren’t “allowed” 😀 Here my sil and Sawyer who just turned 1, playing, Travis on the new Wii and Sawyer with his toys. Most of the time Sawyer was fascinated by the game on the TV screen.

[IMG]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3431/3187714773_1271eb215d_o.jpg[/IMG]

What a cute little baby! Nice family photo Norb! Those family pictures really are fun taking and sharing is even much funner! Thanks for sharing! Hope you are feeling more rested now since your trip back from Denver! Saw your Birthday posting to Cheryl that was written in German! Thanks for making me laugh! Only Norb would think of this! LOL! Hugs
Linda H

Some of the grandkids we will see on the roadtrip we are on: the 3 older ones in Connecticut middle of September and the 2 younger ones when we finally get to Seattle early October. I should talk Carol talk into making a collage with the rest of them. 😀

[IMG]http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2617/3865936270_d51dcc291c_o.jpg[/IMG]

What a grand collage of grand-children, Norb! I’m soon in a position to do likewise, but only with two “grand children” though!

All the best to Carol and yourself on the remaining trip from

Thanks Allaug and congrats on the latest “expansion”of your family.

We just had a photo shoot at the botanical garden here:

[IMG]http://www.ourbluemarble.us/forum/Seattle_09.jpg[/IMG]

Norb.
Beautiful picture!
Carol,
I like your hair, the way it is cut and the color.
Shirley