Visiting Grandpa in Nashville

With time running out on summer it was now or never if we were going to make it to Nashville to visit Grandpa and Uncle Bill. Fortunately we made it thanks to the Michigan law which stops school from starting earlier than Labor day. James got a chance to see his Grandpa and also Uncle Bill and his family. Uncle Bill is rebuilding his home after the flood and it is coming along beautifully. As we visited various places in Nashville you could find buildings and businesses still closed from the devastating flood. In fact the hotel we stayed at near Opryland was discounted because the Opryland mall, one of the major attractions in Nashville, was still closed and not due to open till November.

One good thing that came out of the flood was that Uncle Bill found an archive of old family pictures when going through the flood damage. Mom hopes to scan those pictures in and upload to this site in the near future.

Grandma came down on the trip as well and had a chance to visit friends from her previous home for the first time since moving to Michigan back in November 09.
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Edited: August 31st, 2010

Toy Story 3 Arrives

James has been on a Toy Story 3 kick since the movie came out this summer. He plays the Wii version of the game quite a bit and his favorite character is Woody (and also Rex because he is such a dinosaur fan). He likes Buzz but calls him Buzz Lightweight instead of Buzz Lightyear, a reference to Toy Story 2 for those who have seen the movie (the Kelsey Grammar character (stinky pete or something like that) refers to the Tim Allen character (Buzz) as Lightweight).

Today he got a package in the mail from Aunt Peg and it was a Toy Story play set with a pull out “Andy’s Room”. A very cool toy and James has been playing with it since it arrived. James wanted to say thanks to Aunt Peg so here are some of the first pics from the play set so Aunt Peg could see how happy this made him.

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Edited: August 3rd, 2010

New Cousin

Meet Nicolette

Edited: July 18th, 2010

James Promoted to Second Grade

We were thrilled to learn James would be promoted to the second grade, but shocked to see how he did it, with 6 awards. Last year he got one for being a student in Kindergarten. James’ teacher was very proud of the progress James made, especially since Christmas which seems to have been the turning point. James still has issues from time to time but is talking much more and has a very large vocabulary. We contribute a lot of James success to the Wii game he got for Christmas which he really interacted with very well. He had always liked video games but the Wii had wireless remotes, in the other games his jumping and playing usually eventually broke the wires in the remote. (more…)

Edited: June 15th, 2010

Tennessee Visit 2009

Mary, James, and I visited Tennessee to see how everyone was doing. The photos were taken at the West Meade nursing home where James Grandfather Howard, resides. The folks who run this nursing home are great and the deserve all the praise we can give them. I also got to visit my cousin who is in the same nursing home, she is doing very well. What an incredible coincidence that a member from each side of our little family would end up in the same nursing home. It is indeed a small world after all.
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Edited: July 26th, 2009

James Promoted to First Grade

It was a very tough school year for James but he hung in there and completed his work and passed Kindergarten and will be in the first grade next year at Hoover Elementary.

Edited: June 10th, 2009

Renee’s Vegas Wedding

These pictures were sent from Ron and are of Renee’s wedding in Las Vegas. It looks like a great time was had by all and we wish them all the best in their new marriage. Both Renee and her husband are in the military and have done several tour in Iraq, the entire family is so proud of them. Later on in the year, Renee had a reception up in Gaylord MI for those who could not make it out to Las Vegas. The last few pictures are of the Gaylord event and they were taken by Peg on her visit up there.
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Edited: August 30th, 2008

Landis Family Reunion 2006

This was the first time James met alot of his Nashville relatives and he really responded well to the wonderful hospitality we were shown while in Tennessee. Mary got to meet up with a new niece as well. We spent alot of time with Mary’s mom who lives in a huge apartment complex that can be seen from downtown Nashville. We also spent alot of time with Mary’s dad who is in a Nursing home but is sharp as a tack. We thought it was wonderful that James got to meet his Grandma and Grandpa along with a Uncles and a bunch of cousins. Thanks to everyone for making this such an enjoyable visit for our family.
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Edited: September 25th, 2006

Sandy in California

Sandy sent us these pictures of her family out in California. Sandy is the daughter of Joe and Teresa Graf, cousin to Peg, Mark, Criss, and Chuck, and 1st cousin once removed to James.

As a kid I remember going camping with Sandy and her family (Uncle Joe, Aunt Terese, Terry, Sandy, and Joey, aka little Joe). They had a big trailer that had all the comforts of home in it, including a TV (nowadays you have TV’s on your phone but in the 70′s it was pretty cool) which I remember watching Tiger baseball games. We camped at Silver Lake and Proud Lake if I remember correctly and my folks would come up for a day to check on me and spend some time with the family. Mark was usually up there as well and sometimes I camped with him. Usually the campsites (Marks and Uncle Joe’s) were right next to each other so it didn’t really matter who you stayed with.
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Edited: June 22nd, 2006

James Expressions

We took these pictures when James was around 4 months old, he showed many different expressions then. Its the middle of winter here in Michigan so there is not a whole lot for a 4 month old to do. He keeps himself entertained pretty well with the toys and stuff so he seems content.

According to the baby book, most of the smiles and expressions come from babies having gas, but how would they know that? I am sure once the winter ends and we start going places that he will have a blast and it won’t be because of gas.
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Edited: December 29th, 2003