GETTIN' INTO THE SWING a' THINGS

...will be the title of a page when I make it of Owen learning to swing on his own. It may not sound like a big deal, but to me, it's a milestone. I still remember when my other 2 boys learned to swing [pump] by themselves -- totally independent of anyone else! They have a really cool freedom in that! Here are just 2 pictures that I've taken in the past week. He swings every chance he can -- even if N & J are riding their bikes.

My little swinger

Let me set up the next photo. Nathan & Jared were doing a coin toss to figure out who would do something -- can't remember what. So, of course, Owen wanted to do a coin toss too. I told him he had 'tails'. He said,

"it's a HOUSE!"

This is so cool!

This is my mother when she was about 10 (circa 1947) with her grandmother!

Donna recently was contacted by an unknown cousin in Australia! Let me try to explain. Donna has been into genealogy for some time now -- tracing family back to the Civil War and the American Revolution! Its so cool what she's found out! However, when it came to immigrants, it was difficult to find information before they came to America.

One day a month or so ago, a cousin, who's family was originally from Hungary (where our great grandmother is from), contacted Donna via email. His grandfather was my mother's grandmother's brother! Paul, our 2nd cousin, twice removed (sorry, Donna, if I got that wrong) is the nicest guy, and he and Donna are in touch regularly sharing family information and LOTS of photos! In fact the above picture of my mother and her grandmother was never seen by my mother! It was sent to Paul's family years and years ago! He emailed it to Donna -- his mother had it! WILD! And my mother had a couple of photos of Paul's uncle that they had never seen! His mother, who speaks Hungarian, has been able to translate several postcards that were sent to my mother's grandmother years ago. I appreciate so much what this relationship has done for our families! Paul is as into this as Donna is!

Until next time...

blessings, joie