Former Fridays: A Happy Birthday Post!

I know, I have been absolutely awful about keeping up with these.  Blame it on a mobile baby :).  However, I had to make sure to wish my sister (the oldest, she keeps us in line) a happy birthday.  Every time I see this picture I marvel at how huge that cake is!  She deserves that and more!  Love you, Millie!

Former Fridays: A Salute

 

I know, I know... how many times am I going to post today?!  But I realized it was Friday and I didn't want to forget.  So, today's picture is dedicated to all soldiers (especially Miss Tara)!  This is my maternal grandmother, Bernice.  I was never able to meet her as she passed away before I was born, but I have always thought she was absolutely gorgeous!  This was probably taken in the late 30's or very early 40's.    

Former Fridays: Every day's a pool party

Yep, we totally had a pool when I was little.  And here we all are (can you find all 6 of us?), hanging out.  We definitely didn't take advantage of this pool like we should have and eventually it was taken out in favor of a backyard that didn't require constant cleaning and chemicals.  Still, it was a good life :).  I have a lot of memories of Millie beating us all out in breath-holding contests (she was amazing!) and races up and down the pool. 

Former Fridays: Brotherly Love

I absolutely love this week's Former Fridays.  Matt hasn't made an appearance since the very first, so I thought this one of him sleeping in Tom's lap would be perfect.  This was taken in the fall of 1993, so Matt would have been 3 and Tom would have been almost 10.

Former Friday: A little summertime wave

So, cute!  Millie and Katie enjoying the summertime at Adventureland.

Former Fridays: Firemen's Day

This weeks "Former Friday" is brought to you straight from 1957 and my mom's childhood.  Each year the town she grew up in would have a parade on Firemen's Day and they would all get dressed up for it.  [My mom is the cutie on the right.  I think my oldest niece looks just like her.]

Former Fridays: Colorado

You thought I had given up, hadn't you?  Nope, still kicking... just buried under work and obligations.  This picture is of my dad in Colorado (note the mountains).  The assumption is that this is from when he was in the seminary in Denver right after high school (late 60s).  An interesting note: my dad hates heights and therefore driving or traveling into the mountains.  When I look at this picture, I see my brothers' resemblance to him even more.

 

Former Fridays: Happy Birthday, Katie!

Today's Former Friday is in honor of one of my big sisters.  Yesterday was her 29th birthday!  Happy Birthday, Katie!  This was taken in 1983 - so she was somewhere between 1 and 2 years old.  Cutest little redhead ever!

And, yes... there will probably be quite a few of these birthday Former Fridays as time goes on... I do have 5 brothers and sisters.

Former Fridays: Tommy's Baptism

Today has to be a quickie without much explanation - traveling has kept me from scanning anything new or thinking too hard about today's picture.  However, I thought this one would be apt.  Yesterday was my brother's baptism anniversary.  His Godparents are our Uncle Tom and Aunt Paula - enjoy.

Former Fridays: Christmas!

Merry Christmas Eve!  This comes from the archives of my dad's youth.  (He is "Bob, 17").  I hope you are having a wonderful Christmas Eve!  We always light a ton of candles and my dad reads us The Night Before Christmas.  I love it!  

Former Fridays: Snow!

We finally had a little dusting of snow this morning.  While none of it stuck, it was beautiful coming down.  It floated all fluffy and lovely in the sky and made for a few happy moments dreaming of a white Christmas.  In honor of that - today's picture is from my mom's childhood (the winter of 1958).  She grew up on a farm in Nebraska, so this would not have been an uncommon sight.  Due to the quality of the photograph (and the fact that they are wrapped up to stay cozy!) I'm not sure which of the three sisters these two are.  Let's not worry about details, though.  What are your favorite snowy memories? 

Former Fridays: The Advent, almost to Christmas edition

In honor of the countdown to Christmas, I had to share my two big sisters telling Santa what they want for Christmas circa 1985.  I love Katie's confiding little hand on Santa's shoulder, as if to say, "Here's the deal, I know you work hard, but..."

Former Fridays [Happy Birthday, Tom!]

So...I know I missed last Friday.  Thanksgiving kept me happily busy with family, food, showers, etc.  However, I think you'll agree that this weeks picture is worth the wait.  In honor of my older brother's 27th birthday coming up in a couple of days, I had to dig through the box and find a suitably adorable picture of him.  This photograph is from the summer of 1984.  Isn't he the cutest, chubby baby boy?  He was even a blondie for a few years.  Now this was before my time, but I bet I'll hear back some good stories from my sisters about baby Tommy.

Former Fridays

Recently, I decided to digitize the boxes of family photos that have been gathering dust in my parent's basement.  I wanted to be able to document them and organize them while we could all at least vaguely remember stories, names and dates.  So, thus begins probably a multiple years long project of scanning and organizing.  Every Friday I'll share a fun find with you (and the story if there's one I know).

So, this Friday, you get my siblings and I circa 1991.  Aren't we adorable?  My favorite are my two baby brothers - Jake thinks whatever the photographer is doing is hilarious (cutest laugh award!) and Matt is completely bemused.

This was probably our last formal picture in Nebraska and for quite awhile (I remember an attempt at one a few years later that sorely failed...) 

So there you have it...new project and all!  Aren't you excited for the fun to follow?  Of course, I spent an entire summer scanning my alma mater's archived photographs in preparation for it's sesquicentennial (yeah, say that 10 times fast) celebration and had an absolute blast rooting around in basement archives and finding photographs of gypsies and their bears visiting campus... so my idea of fun might be a little different than everyone else's :). 


Story update: My big sister, Katie Z., added some more to the story of this picture:

katie z. said...

And, and, and... Don't forget to mention!! Mom totally made my vest and skirt (although you can't see the skirt), and I think that is still my favorite outfit ever. I made a pin cushion for 4H out of scraps and coveted that piece of fabric FOREVER. I love our mom!

Thanks, sis!

Another update from my oldest sister, Millie:


These were actually taken at the town bank (I'm pretty sure a place with only 300 people can't be called a city).  Also, Jake's adorably huge smile is actually just what he did when we told him to smile.  Annnd... one more little tidbit: the dress I'm wearing was a hand-me-down from both of my sisters.