Chris & Connie's birthday this month too!

Well, this month is Connie & Chris's birthday month, they did an awesome job on the reunion and making everyone feel so welcome! Since I have started telling stories on the birthday people, I am going to tell one or two on the girls. As you know they are exactly one year apart in age and Chris had to compete with Connie on everything. Chris was the entertainer of the two, she would stand in her high chair and sing at the top of her lungs. Always something made up, always with lots of hand gestures and always loud. That is our Chris, still the life of the party.
Connie on the other hand was the sportsman, loved to play many sports and went into the right profession. She is organized, smart, awesome mother and I stood up for her at her Confirmation. I'm just a little prejudice you think?

Mary Ann's Birthday Month! And a few others!!

Well, Mary Ann is celebrating her birthday in Heaven this year, but we all still miss her zest for life. How much she loved life, a good joke and lots of fun. She was sandwiched between Virgil and Bernadette and was dubbed part of the 'Katzenjammer Kids'. (The 'Katzenjammer Kids' was a famous cartoon strip created in 1897 and consisted of German children's stories featuring the adventures of twins, Hans and Fritz. They were fellow warriors in the battle against any form of authority, it is the oldest comic strip still in syndication.) Virgil and Mary Ann were the "twins" in the family and when they were living in DeWitt the Priest used to call almost daily to get Hans (Mary Ann) and Fritz (Virgil) out of the goldfish pond in front of the church. The two grandmas came to live with us about that time and of course Grandma Umthun came when Virgil was a baby and became attached to him, and Grandma Holtkamp came when Mary Ann was a baby and that was her girl. So when trouble came calling, they knew to run behind the grandmas for protection, and protection they got. One time, the grandmas got into an argument about their little angels and one ended up having a wet wash rag thrown at her. Grandma Holtkamp always took a hot brick and Mary Ann to bed with her, one to keep her feet warm and the little body of Mary kept the rest of her warm all night.
We come from many generations of strong women in our family, but especially Mary ann who was a woman who had lived her life with humor, grace and faith.