Happy New Year!!

We were blessed to have a day visit with my brother Brent and sister-in-law Amy this past Tuesday at Brenda and Bruce's place in KC. Of course, it's always great to see my sis, Brenda and my brother-in-law Bruce too! Brent and Amy live in Arizona though, so our time together is limited. We all are looking forward to Brent and Amy's first baby, Zella Grace, a special family name. Zella Van Gundy was one of the most loving and accepting Grandmas that I've ever known. She had so many grandchildren that I can't give the numbers, but I knew she cared individually about me and she remembered specifics to be able to tease me with a little inside jokes when I would see her. (She always tried to keep up on my latest crush and tease me about marrying him some day. Sadly, she never lived long enough to meet Dale, back in those days, he was a kid from Yale that didn't live that far from her house!!! Little did she know....) Zella is an awesome name for our awesome newest little Van Gundy!!





Prepare to go backwards in time......












We went to the zoo the day after Christmas with all of our kids.....eleven in all!! It was a beautiful day for a long walk. Cooper took a little nap in Aunt Brenda's old stroller that I used for Mikiah. Sometimes it is good keep a few things around just in case! Let me know, Brenda if you want that back!



Here are the younger Aunts and Uncles making sure Cooper had a memorable day.

I like to just stand back and relish how God has blessed me sometimes. Little did everyone know that I took many pics of my family walking ahead of me. Here I missed Tyler standing beside Lauren, otherwise it's everyone but me!!! (The tall guy in yellow doesn't belong) Squint your eyes and see Mik's pink shirt under Amy's left arm! The gorillas were crazy that day!

Mikiah and Mallory enjoyed some "sister time".

I think it was Amy's idea to stop and get all the kids in a pic together. She knows me pretty well! I'm so blessed to have Lauren and Amy as my daughters!

The kids all gave me the beautiful scarf around my neck. I love it and really am in with the times a little better now! Thanks, guys! Being a Grandma has turned my life upside down!!! I love this little boy with all of my heart!

Cooper wasn't in the name drawing between our kids, so he got a gift for Bella!! She was dressed for the occasion very well...and always begging for food!

Dale had worked the overnight Christmas Day, so as much as he acted like he was doing fine.....he was secretly still needing some sleep. I think he was playing with Cooper here and ended up asleep!

Drew has wanted to take piano lessons for years now, so at age 12, he can!! Cooper liked it too! Drew is pretty money conscious, so he was a little worried about what this thing cost. I reassured him it wasn't $1,000, which he thought it was!

Trey thought he received a magic trick video called "How to Master Money Miracles" , but found an ipod inside the plastic wrapped cover! It was a hilarious time of watching Derek, Tyler, and Trey open their gifts together and Derek and Tyler had theirs open and Trey was still struggling with the wrapping to find this video that looked like that was his gift. I can't explain the laughter and the whole way it happened. It couldn't have been more fun and was just a blessing from the LORD. ( I had prayed while wrapping them..trying to imagine how it would work best.) We went a little big this year on most of the gifts, but we were blessed to be able to do it and although that won't be the norm, it was a blessing this year. We have interesting traditions in our family ......one has been that Derek and Tyler usually open their gifts together and usually get the same things. This year Trey came in the mix!

Cooper is wearing "moose pjs", which the "moose" is a Mleynek thing from way back when Dale used to tell Derek that he was a moose. Derek would return with "Daddy's a moose!" It continued with Tyler as well. Cooper continues to be very drawn to our stinky Golden Retriever named "Jenna". She loves the extra attention.

Mik drew Lauren's name and found these purple shoes all by herself. I was sceptical if they would be ok, but they were in her price range, and she was determined to get them. When we got home that day, she went straight to my room and wrapped them in two different sections of wrapping paper with lots of tape and had it under the tree before I knew she even did it. Lauren knew it was straight from her heart to her. It had Mik's touch and lots of love all over it!!

Everyone worked on a fun puzzle again this year. Thanks to Christa Williams, we have this fun tradition to put together a puzzle on our Christmas celebration! Christa gave us a 3-D puzzle last year that was quite a challenge. I bought this one of Times Square....the signifigance for me was the fact that David Wilkerson's ministry and church is right there on Times Square!! Praise the LORD. Oh....Bella added to the memory this year.....she got ahold of one piece of this brand new puzzle and ate 1/2 of it!!! It was just above Tyler's arm on the outside edge....you should be able to see the missing part. Everyone was very forgiving of this sweet, little trouble -maker!!!