4th of July has always meant family gatherings in Mt Morris IL with my Mom's family. 3 years ago we had our last celebration with all but 1 living family member present. Times change and this weekend some of the family is in Ohio since that is where my Grandma now resides.
My thoughts have gone many times to the longing for the celebrations of the past to continue in the present. So I will start this weekend from a picture from our last Brinker Independance Day Celebration. We have similar shots for many many years past.
Waiting for the parade.
All of you Brinkers out there reading this, know that I love each of you and miss being together!!!
Now for this years celebration!!!
For various reasons Chad's brother Kyle and our sister in law Bethany and her children all needed a ride to Oak Run (the lake house where we were to spend the weekend). It was pretty rewarding to be able to load them all up in our 15 passenger van. So the first picture is of our nearly full "Bus."
"Self - explanatory"
The Biggest (smallest) attraction of the weekend! The newest addition to our family Daisha Leigh. It was observed that the girls couldn't walk by without petting a bit. :)
Daisha Leigh - This is Kirk and Keri's baby. Born 4 weeks early in Jamaica, had somewhat of a rough start, they were able to get a medical transport, and now she is home! Praise the Lord she is doing well!!! She will be 3 weeks old on Monday.
Celebrating Jared's birthday! Grandma always enjoys making their cakes.
Ever since we went snorkling in Jamaica Jared has wanted a snorkling set.
Friday night some of us took an evening ride on the boat.
To preface the following pictures, Independance Day dawned with rain!!! When we realized the weather wasn't likely to change till evening, the first question asked is "how do we keep 12 children entertained all day without going stir-crazy?" We discussed the possibility of finding a museum in nearby Galesburg. One of the men said "why don't we just take the $5 it would cost for each child and go to WalMart - they'd have a blast!!!" So that is what we did.
Aunt Bethany and Tyler walking through WalMart together, I Love this picture and would edit it to crop out the rest, but that is not my skill and I don't have time to figure it out!!!
Picking out their purchases. Treasures ranged from mini-baby doll sets to cars, trucks, or tractors to 5 items from the $1.00 section!!!
The other idea that came up was to buy t-shirts and let the children decorate them. Here they are picking out what color they want. Mom purchased a pack of fabric markers and the children had lots of fun!!!
Check-out - with some of the children holding onto their treasures!
Tyler working on his t-shirt.
Jared
Jolene
Even the little girls got in on the action - here is Emily - age 4.
Because of the rain we did not let them wear their new shirts because it was down to just a bit of a drizzle and they were able to play outside for awhile. We are planning to take Dad and Mom's Christmas picture with all the grandchildren in their new shirts tomorrow. I hope to post more pictures later.
It turned out that both ideas went over very well with the children and we had a nice day together - In The House!!!
Jonas spends lots of time playing with cars, trucks, tractors, and trailers.
He spent many happy hours playing with the toys Grandma brought for the little boys.
Happy Independance Day everyone!
This is the majority of the group. Javan is between Dana and Seth and hidden by Caleb, Jubilee is hidden by Jonas. Matt and Dana were married several months before us and the twins (Joshua and Caleb) were born 3 weeks after Jonas; evening us out at 6 children a piece with 3 - 2 year old boys to entertain us.
The children enjoyed playing several games of Clue together.
Megan and Jolene enjoyed being together and this wasn't the only time Megan did Jolene's hair!
Caleb - in the car, Joshua - sticking out his belly, and Jonas on the tractor. I wanted a better picture of them all together but never took the time. 
