Thanksgiving Olson Style...

Sunday was the day we celebrated Thanksgiving with my family... here are some pictures...

Great Grandma Evy with her three great grandchildren, Jack, Sam and Millie.. so proud!

4 Generation picture, Grandma Evy, Donna, Lindsay and Millie

Great Grandpa Vic and Jack...

Great Grandma and her oldest Great Grandchild...

Great Grandma Evy with Sammy.. being silly

Cora Kristine

On Friday November 27th at 7:52 pm, Alex (Tad's cousin) and Sam had their baby girl. They named her Cora Kristine. She is perfect! Here are some pictures..

Bring on the Cards!!

Ok, I am sure some or most of you all love receiving Christmas Cards... I DO!! I receive quite a few actually and love everyone of them. BUT, the last couple years I have run into a situation... where to display them for everyone to see... I would tape them to my wall in the dining room... Kind of a pain. So I saw this GREAT creation that a friend of mine's sister made... (Thanks Jess Newman!) and I decided that this year was my time for the Christmas Card holder... I made this myself with the "manly" parts (sawing, drilling and routering) done by my lovely husband... Ok, I painted and added the sticker :) I am so excited to fill it up!! Here are some pictures of the work in progress...

if you want step by step instructions you can go to Jess' Blog.. very descriptive (although you need to get 1" screws for the hanging kit, they don't come with it.. DAMN IKEA!) http://polkadots-pirates.blogspot.com/

On the left hand side of her site click on the link that says Christmas Card Holder.. it will bring you right to it!

PS, she does GREAT Party Decorations... Thanks Jess, I had to give credit where credit is due!

The End is Near...

On Saturday while I was out 'galavanting' around (as my husband would say) my lovely mil Michelle (for those of you who don't know what mil means... Tanya :) Mother in law) put the final coat of paint on the squares in the baby's room. I was told by Tad that I can't call it a nursery because it reminds him of trees... so Baby's Room... It looks great!! She also took the tape off too, so you can really see what it's supposed to look like! I am so excited to get it all put together. Meaning my furniture. Which is now waiting for the cleaning of the carpets next Saturday by Commander Carpet Cleaning... Then Baby T's room can progress into a liveable space. Can't wait and I will be sure to Post when everything is put together!! Here are the final pictures.

Color Guard Dreams...

Growing up in Litchfield every little girl dreams of being in the Litchfield Marching Band... (big dreams, I know), but I was no different. My goal was to be in Color Guard... guns, batons, flags..you name it anything that could be spun and thrown in the air and caught again was what I was after! Litchfield Marching Band has been a HUGE tradition for over 50 years, and it is still going strong, with the awards to prove it in the picture below....

Ask my mom... I had a cut off broom stick that I would practice with; couple bruises here and there, but well worth it. Well as we all know those dreams didn't ever become a reality as we moved away from Litchfield when we were 13 and I never saw a marching band in Shakopee.. hell I never even saw a Parade with other Marching Bands... Even if Shakopee had a Marching Band (they do now.. for those of you wondering) they would never stand to beat the likes of the "Green Monster"!

Last Friday I went back to Litchfield to visit my cousin Crystal and her fiance Bob. Bob has twin boys Josh and Jacob who are both members of the LFD Marching Band; and last Friday was the notorious (if you live in Litchfield) Indoor Marching Band Concert!! I was so excited it was AWESOME!! Of course we went, I felt like I was 12 years old again! I even tried to take some pictures, but the BEST part of the show is the Drumline Blacklight Show which they have been doing for YEARS.. not sure how many but more than 20... so some of the pictures are goofy, but well worth noting.

Being there felt awesome and it was hard to describe the feeling I felt, but all of a sudden I was excited to have a teenager...(weird I know) to be in activities and feel the comaraderie of being apart of something so wonderful and traditional. I asked Tad if we could move back to Litchfield so our kid could be in the Marching Band.... you all know what his answer was.... "You can Go"... Nice.. So, for now we won't be moving to Litchfield, but I just might have to make the Indoor Marching band Concert an annual event. It's That Good!!

PS, Todd they played the infamous drum cadence we always loved to hear!! It was AWESOME!

I'm a total dork I know.. who gets excited about a Marching Band??? Not just any Marching Band... LITCHFIELD!!

First Coat...

Well, we had some progress yesterday on the Baby's Room!! My wonderful mother in law came over and did the first coat of paint on the squares... I love it!! I can't wait until it is completely finished and I can put the room all together!! Here are some pictures.. now remember it's only the first coat..

Jack's 4th Birthday Party!

Friday night was the night for celebrating!! Jack turns 4 today, it's hard to believe that he is four already. The party was Transformers themed and let's just say that everyone followed the theme! We had a blast last night; thanks Todd and Miss for the great food as always! Love you all!! Here are some pictures of the night. I thought it would be a cute comparison to see how much these kids grow.. Jack & Evy.. BFFs!!

For more pictures, of course go to my website: www.kodakgallery.com/tmphotography/tiffandtadspics

We are Family

Well last Tuesday Todd, Missy, Tad and I made a trip to Al's Sports Bar and Grill in Glencoe. The purpose of the trip was to meet the oldest daughter of our father; yes which would also make her our half sister.. Naomi.

Explanation on what led us to Tuesday... after my doctor's appointment with the Genetic Counselor for my pregnancy I realized that I needed to ask someone about the other children/grandchildren on my dad's side. So I did. My genetic counselor wasn't thrilled that I couldn't tell her anything about my birth defects, Club Feet and Arthrogriposis, so I needed to get some more answers for her and myself. A while ago... I friend requested Patti Carbajal on facebook, knowing damn well who she was, she is the youngest daughter of my dad's four kids with his wife. I was nervous asking her to be my friend but what did I have to lose? NOTHING! So, she accepted my friend request and that was that. We were friends in cyber world and nothing else. Until I decided to get her email after my genetic counselor appointment and email her the bombshell email...

I was very nervous and felt like Rebecca and Ryan on "Brothers and Sisters", I didn't want to be the one to break this to a complete stranger for the first time and throw her whole world in a tailspin. That's me, always thinking of others... kind of.. So I sent the email. It was short and sweet. Apologetic to say the least and just asking her simple questions about my birth defects that I have been told my whole life I share with my half siblings. That was my only motive for the email. Well Patti couldn't email me back, because she was shocked to say the least. But her sister Naomi did and boy was I glad! Naomi and I emailed back and forth for quite some time and things couldn't have been better. I have always had the worst case scenario in my mind for my meeting/contacting 'them'. But that wasn't the case at all. Naomi was very glad and thankful that I decided to make the first move and we set up a meeting date... last Tuesday it was.

Let's just say "We are Family"! It was so strange (good way) to be looking at someone that looks/acts and reasembles me in so many ways! As I said before there are four of 'them'. Naomi, David, Ozzie and Patti. Naomi is the only one that we met, and I am anxiously awaiting meeting the others. She brought pictures of them all including our two nephews and two nieces... Ozzie's son Robby looks just like Jack. Ozzie and David look exactly like Todd and Naomi was telling us a little about them all and it was so weird hearing how much we are all alike and it is definitely a relief to say the least. She even brought a picture of our dad.. he looks the same, just older... after all he'll be 72 in January. So that was interesting to say the least.

Oh and the answer to my questions... Naomi has fingers like mine, hers aren't as "bad" as mine are... whatever that means. And Naomi's son Matthew was born with Club Feet and also has fingers like mine as well. So it's a wait and see if our baby will also be born with this and if she/he is they will be just fine... I have lived 32 years with it and I wouldn't have had it any other way. I am sure glad I decided to ask some questions though!!