Great Grandpa

Sharing Grandpa with my three sons is a special treat for me.

Two more months and Great Grandpa George will turn 98.

I know that the gift of a Great Grandfather's prayers, love, and history

is an unusual blessing and I am so grateful.

Brody's first blue ribbon!

Yesterday was a thrilling day for the two littlest Brunner Boys and their Mama.

Brody, who has flailed awkwardly down his lane each and every swim meet since November, consistently coming in last, received a first place ribbon yesterday.

I love the picture of him reaching for the edge of the pool, in front of his second place peer two lanes down. To make this even more excited, there were two heats in this race and his time was still first place amongst all 5-6 year old boys!

He looked up, looked around, looked at me and half exclaimed, half asked... "I'm FIRST?!?!?!" It was a marvelous and memorable Victory for our Boy!

Asher also shaved an impressive 11 seconds off of his race time in the 3-4 year old 25 yard freestyle. Here he is with his coach beside him. Look at that "big arm!"

Next month all three boys should also be ready to compete in the 25 yard back stroke. And Brody and Caleb are working hard to master the breast stroke as well.

Caleb was slated to race yesterday but had to stay home due to a bad cold.

Here are a couple of pictures of him from the last couple of competitions.

So Cal in January - HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Christmas Morning 2011

We had such a restful and fun Christmas day. It began dark and early and Brody was the first to shoot down the stairs to spy what awaited them under the tree. To his sad surprise there were very few presents there beneath the boughs. Brody's face was a mixture of shock and sadness. I took him by the shoulders and spun him around to see the loot that we'd stacked against the other side of the room, since Matt's childhood train set was wrapped around the base of the Christmas tree this year.

I think Brody's favorite gifts were the little Lego sets that were stuffed into his stocking. As always, Brody disappeared to play with the first few gifts, while the other boys wanted to keep going.

My favorite unwrapping memory of Asher (3) this year was when he opened two packages of his VERY OWN underwear! He'd only had hand-me-downs with characters that weren't his favorite and elastic bands that were slightly stretched out already. Check out Happy's happy-face! A close second to that gift was his toy Knights.

But the dearest response to a present of all what Caleb's, when he opened his little leather journal from his Dad. The week before was his birthday and all he really wanted was a black leather wallet like His Dads. And for Christmas it was a tiny leather journal "like Dads." The smile came straight from his heart as he looked up at his Dad.

Celebrating with Grandma is also always a treat for me... and the boys! We have had a blessed Christmas season celebrating our Savior's Birth, and enjoying the freedom of love and life He came to give.

Texas Family - December 2011

Caleb's 8th Birthday, Papa's 60th Surprise Party, Cousin Mary's Graduation, and plenty of Cousin FUN!

California Cousins -- Christmas 2011

We had the most wonderful Thanksgiving this year. Highlights were:

• fun time spent with our guests the Andersons
• turkey hunting with Dad and Mr. Jeff
• lazer tag with Dad and Mr. Jeff
• the boys thanksgiving day puppet show
• feasting, of course!
• baking and decorating turkey sugar cookies
• and fishing in the freezing cold
• and while the boys did all their manly boy stuff we moms had a wonderful time cooking, baking, talking, and drinking tea.

Sweet Memories - Thanksgiving - 2011