HAPPY 21st BIRTHDAY AMY LYNN!!!!!!

WE LOVE YOU, AMY!!!!! Can't believe you are 21 years old already!!!!! Hope you have a GREAT day!!!!!

Happy Birthday to everyone's favorite baby sister- Carole Mae!

Can you believe our baby sister is 36??????? She is also the only sister under the age of 40!! :-) She also is the mother of 2 of the cutest girls in the world! She has 5 great sisters, 2 beautiful girls, married to the favorite Brother-in-law! What a wonderful life!! Hope you have a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

The amazing ALLY is 7th in her class!!!

We found out on Thursday that Ally is 7th in her class of 472 freshman! WOW!! She has a 4.18 GPA! This is the first time rankings have come out since this is her first report card as a freshman. She is really excited and motiviated to continue! She blames me for not being ranked higher because I didn't want her to take AP classes as a freshman because she needs to have fun too and not study all the time! She'd have a higher GPA if she had AP classes, right now she is in honors classes that is why her GPA can be above a 4.0. I know they didn't do it like this while we were in HS and I am still trying to understand it all. But wanted you all to know- we are very proud of her - our nearly perfect girl!! :-)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KATRINA!!!!

HAPPY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY

TO YOU, TO YOU, TO YOU!!!!

HOPE YOU HAVE A GREAT DAY!!

ps. the card will be mailed as soon as I find it :) Love Ya!

The New Tripoli Patriots

Ron was trying to think of a nickname for us and this is what he came up with... what do you think?

Considering that Ron is a huge football fan and the New England Patriots have the best record in the history of the NFL and are about to become the Super Bowl champions, we should consider this a huge compliment! :-)

Proposed Date: Saturday, November 29th, 2008

I talked to Mom this morning. Daddy did not like the idea of having in the summer, he said it was too far away from Anniversary Date. They both want it near Dec 6th

I didn't say anything about Thanksgiving weekend. She just says during day for a few hours. She said they wanted to invite former employees including Gary and Phil. I asked if we could get Richard's help with these. She said yes.

(So I was thinking maybe Katrina, you could call him and ask him for help with names. addresses. phone numbers.)

I asked Mom if she would start by helping with names, addresses, and phone numbers of people to invite and give them to Amy and Brock to enter into the computer to get them to all of us. She said she would start to work on that. She was glad we were starting early, the people that would be coming like to plan their calendar early.

So I think that would make the date Saturday, November 29th, 2008. Maybe we could mail out a postcard in Feb/March with a hold this date notice.

50th Anniversary Continued Jan 8th

We had kind of a productive call, we didn't have everyone and we didn't make a definite on the date. But we did get somethings accomplished and had some next steps to take....

• 1. Location that we would like is the place of their original reception in Lenhartsville.
• 2. We would decorate it like it was that day and have a duplicate cake made from a photo with the original cake topper!
• 3. We would display Mom's wedding dress, the photo album and other 'stuff'
• 4. We would invite EVERYONE that they have known over the last 50+ years including classmates, former employees and several generations of family.
• 5. We would limit it to Adults only (except immediate family)
• 6. We would get Mom's help in putting together a list, maybe Amy & Brock could help her with this and they could enter them into the computer so we could easily split them up for the 6 of us to start calling and telling them about the party etc and getting a current mailing address to mail invite.
• 7. Brock or Amy will scan in original wedding photos, so we can all see and think about 're-creating' it for the party.
• 8. Aunt Joan could help with Mom's relatives names and addresses, Richard could help with former employees names and address. We didn't talk about it, but maybe Aunt Carole ? could help with Christman relatives names and address.
• 9. Brock or Amy will help find this location and get us contact info ASAP.
• 10. I will check with this Lenhartsville location ASAP to find out about size and AC :)
• 11. We did NOT make a decision on the date, we did agree that possible bad weather will be a factor in the number of people that attend. Therefore if we want the largest attendance possible, August might be better.
• 12. We talked about rather then talking about monetary gifts for a trip to Germany 2 years away, we should try to get donations for a trip to Hawaii in Dec 08. Maybe with a personal message from us talking about all our family vacations, to the 48 states, they have been to Alaska in 2001, but have never been to Hawaii to complete their goal of getting to all 50 states. During our personal calls too, if anyone asked about gifts, we could mention donations for this special '2nd Honeymoon' Trip.
• 13. We would have reception maybe 1-4 or 2-5 and have light food, sandwich trays, veggies, fresh fruit, ring bologna and cheese :), punch etc.
• 14. We might also want to cook a big lobster dinner at home for the immediate family like we did for I think it was their 45th. Were they took the kids out in a limo so we could prepare everything. (But I think we cooked way to much food options, no one could eat it all)
• 15. We talked about any preparations that need to made that week, that day could be done at Sandy's house.

Please add anything I may have missed. Maybe we can plan to talk next week and take some more steps and make some more decisions. What days could we do it at 9pm and still have Amy participate. I dont' think we should do it any later then 9pm because it lasted an hour tonight.

Our 2007 Christmas Tree

We started taking down our tree last night, so I wanted to get one more picture. This year I decorated with homemade decorations, gifts, candy canes and paper chains that the girls made! We also made about 2-3 dozen salt dough ornaments that they decorated!! That was fun! and messy! For those that have a tree that you decorated, please share so we can see!

Our Mantle (thanks to some Christmas gifts)!!

I put up some of the things I got for Christmas- Jackie's wooden saying, clock (from Mom & Dad- sounds great, by the way!), & the autograph from Elizabeth of Clarence Thomas (if you don't know who that is - just ask Ed :-). I think it looks great. David thinks I need to make another board similar to the one Jackie made that says, "Home of the brave" to put on top of our picture of George Washington (any time, Elizabeth, you want to give me your same picture that is much bigger than mine- I'll switch! :-) and then put this saying above my 9-11 picture. Great idea but not something I am going to do today!!

HAPPY 50th Birthday, ED!!!!!!!!

WOW! You are OLD!!!

Happy Birthday!!!

Don't worry - you don't look a day over 49!!! :-)

Love, the Hodges (your favorite in-laws)

BEST NEW GRADUATE

Yessir. I've done it!! Brock Allen Cartwright has completed high school and will be receiving a diploma from the Cleveland County Community College in May. I am currently applying to Cleveland State University in Cleveland, OH. 3 blocks from the school is Cleveland Browns Stadium!!!! My ACT test date is in February (Thank you E-Beth for the ACT prep book- it will come in handy) My best friend Chris has already been accepted and are hoping to room together in the college dorms starting in the Fall Semester of 2008!!

Elizabeth - Texas style

This is taken in Ron's kitchen.

Ron & Elizabeth

Isn't he handsome?

50th Wedding Anniversary Ideas....

We need to come up with something to do in 2008 for 50th!

Let's Brainstorm ideas...

• maybe do it over the summer while kids are out of school rather then Dec which is so buzy for everyone.

Merry Christmas from Texas!

Home of President George W. Bush!

Ron and I saw this flag this evening while driving through neighbor hoods looking at Christmas lights.

God Bless America!

2007 Couple of the Year -- Ed & Jackie McGuire

The winners of the best couple for 2007!!

Hodges Family

Picture of the family when we were in Utah- Bridal Veil Falls in November 2007!

Jim and Katrina

Jim and Katrina at Chimney Rock National Park in North Carolina in October 2007. We are still a good looking couple after more than 21 years.

The favorite Brother-in-Law!!

The vote's are in....RUSSELL!!!