We are a happy family

Just a few of my favorites!

When the Family Gets Together

Here are some more shots from Grandma's Party.

The party winds down

After the Terrill Family Party, Robbie and David got a real kick out of "Dance Party" on the Wii.

A real kick out of Phoebe and Hannah that is!

Of course, Christmas vacation is a great time for seeing family and friends - and Kelly is one such friend!

Another fun day was Wednesday when Heather and Karen came over for the afternoon and early evening. It's good to be together again!

Matt, Eliza and family arrived Thursday.

And Bonny, Bruce and crew joined us also - Sully became everyone's favorite to hold!

One of our gifts from 3 of our kids were these Adirondack chairs - here's David "assembling" them, since "assembly is required!"

Ella, always ready to hold the baby!

Friday a.m. we had a series of group photos taken - for a brief period of time, every child, spouse, and grandchild was here! (Harry had to work most of the holiday, but he joined us for the pictures!!) So after the strenuous effort of taking photos, we fed the kids lunch - and a fine time was had by all!

More Wii "Dance Party" activity ensued!!

And the chairs did get assembled - and added a cheery note to the day - and the yard!

I was encouraged to act on the bright idea I had last year when we were all crowded into our little house on New Year's Eve - rent an RV and park it in the driveway!! It worked like a charm! And it was a big hit - kind of like a giant, furnished playhouse!

The kids were pretty excited - and it sure beat the floor for comfort!

After pictures and lunch, we headed out to the bike trail for the Second Annual Terrill Bike Ride. Bruce brought his collection of vintage bikes - he was unloading them and we were gathering round when a man stopped and came over - wondered if there was a bike sale going on!

Not all the bikes were as old as Bruce's are - but this one was once Harry F.'s bike, so it isn't brand new! My $10 special made the cut too!

Tandem bikes were on the agenda.

Eliza and Ella made a good team. Matt and David were at the playground with those too young to pedal.

Bruce is a true handyman with the bikes.

On the way we saw this bench dedicated to Emily Reeves - a nice tribute.

Theo especially enjoyed the slides.

Teens and tweens enjoyed the playground too.

Eve has some great moves.

Another "sisters' shot - reprised from last year - this time featuring the Terrill Tilt!!

It's a lot of work to load and unload the bikes - kudos to Bruce for being such a good sport about it!!

Robbie is in serious contention for "Uncle of the Year" - he's so great about getting in there and playing with the kids.

The Terrill New Year's Eve Party added a pinata this year!! And the Kerksiek Number Game - and I didn't take one picture of it - but the kids had fun with both of them.

Tetherball is always a hit! (Pardon the pun!!) Who is that masked man??

Once again the kids' table in the kitchen was the scene of much hilarity!!

The adult tables were fun too.

Hannah provided lots of props and party wear to give the evening a certain "je ne sais quoi" - if you follow my drift!

Bill, Marjorie, and Helen joined us too. We had predictions, cousin exchange gifts, and Santa Babs' gifts - as well as customized rolling pins for each married household. No pics of those either!!

Just about everyone stayed up til 12 - no party poopers in this crowd!! (There were 29 of us in the house!! And Harry F. was at work, so we could have been bigger!)

We sang and counted down the minutes. And it sounded like we were the only ones awake on our whole street!!

But we managed to get up the next day for the morning workouts at Santa Anita - and breakfast at Clocker's Corners - another Terrill Tradition that is worth hanging on to!

It was a beautiful winter day - especially with the heat lamps!

We were excited to have Harry F. with us - but Dad had to go do triage at Grandma Helen's - her water heater burst a pipe and she had water, water everywhere!! He needs to email me the pictures - since Grandma told him to have me blog about it - watch for details!!

Noah and Bonny - color co-ordinated!!

Some family shots in front of John Henry.

More family shots. Theo was loving the mountains and the horses - and kept advising me that we don't have snow here - but he'd come from Utah, where they do have snow - he was letting me know about that too!!

Matt, Eliza and fam are here - as are Robbie and Hannah - but Bonny's family and the Fillmores headed home. It's a bit quiet around here, but we're happy we're not all alone just yet.

The holidays are busy, crowded, hectic, chaotic - and thoroughly the best!! It brings a bit of melancholy to think that it all went by so quickly!!

But before we know it, it will be Christmas 2011 - and we'll be saying the same thing!!