Monday, October 24, 2011

Hueske Halloween

Every year my family has a family reunion.  The reunion started 56 years ago!  It's for all the descendents of my great-great-great-grandparents, The Hueske's.  They had eight children, about 37 grandkids, and the list goes on and on to the great-great-great-great-grandkids. 

In the past the reunion was hosted by each of the eight children's descendents, rotating between the families.  But I really like to plan parties, so I've hosted the reunion for about five years now, with the help of my closest relatives.

This year's theme was "A Hueske Halloween: A Black Cat Event".  Family members were asked to dress in costume or in their best black attire.  A few were brave enough to wear costumes and others enjoyed dressing up in the costume booth.  For lunch we had "Witch's Brew Stew" and lots of homebaked desserts.  Yummy!  The main attraction is always the silent auction.  This years sildent auction included Halloween decor, baked goods, plants, and homemade wine.  Normally each item only brings about $5 dollars, but the wine sold for for $22!  Someone really wanted that wine.  Each year we have a family meeting which consists of reading last years minutes, the minutes from 50 years ago, handing out prizes for the oldest and youngest in attendence, and adding marriages and children to the family tree.  Door prizes were handed out to those who were sitting in a chair with a black cat sticker.  Twelve people won black cat bags with black cat sugar cookies.  The event ends with family photos of each of the original eight children's descendents.

Welcome!  Come on in!

The photo is of the original couple:
 Frederick and Henriette Hueske

Silent Auction

Costume Booth

Bailee having fun with the costumes

More costume divas!

Brazos and his Great Aunt Barbara
Yes, she is great!

Treats for all!

Festive cupcakes

Black Cat Sugar Cookies

Black cat bags for door prizes

Chocolate dipped marshmallows for prizes

One BIG family tree!

The descendents of one of the original eight childre,
Charlotte Hueske Krause

We'll see you all again next year at the 57th Hueske Family Reunion!

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Birthday Parties

Our family has been blessed with great friends and family.  We've been thankful that they have invited us to celebrate their milestones with them, especially birthdays!

During the summertime, Brazos enjoyed a swimming party for his friend Jake.  Jake turned 3 years old!



A few weeks ago, Brazos was asked to help celebrate Chloe's birthday party.  Chloe and Brazos will be classmates when they start school in a few years.  The two enjoyed playing with toys together, and especially petting the pet rabbit she recieved as a gift!  Chloe turned 2 years old!










This weekend our family was invited to help Caleb, a cousin, celebrate his birthday.  All the kids enjoyed jumping in bounce houses and running around with transformer masks on.  Brazos thought the cake was absolutely delicious!  Caleb turned 5 years old!








May God bless each of these children with a year filled with good memories!

Friday, September 23, 2011

Galveston Vacation

At the beginning of this week our little family of three went to Galveston Island for vacation.  Matt was super ready to be off of work for a few days, and we both were excited to show Brazos the beach.

When we arrived on Sunday evening we checked in to our hotel {Harbor House}.  The building was a warehouse that was renovated into a hotel.  It is located on the port side of the island, so we got to watch all the big ships come in and out, as well as the oil rigs light up at night.



Brazos loved our room because it had so many toys - telephone, alarm clock, microwave, light switches, refridgerator, and more!  He even did good sleeping in a big bed for the first time.

Later Sunday evening we took Brazos to the seawall to see the beach.  Here's his first visit to a beach!






 



On Monday we rode the ferry to Boliver Peninsula and drove on Crystal Beach.  We also played in the sand at Crystal Beach later on Monday evening and visited an old military battery {a place where weapons are stored}.  Brazos enjoyed lunch with the gorillas and elephants at The Rainforest Cafe.  Matt enjoyed touring the Ocean Star Oil Rig Museum.












 



On Tuesday we took Brazos to Moody Gardens.  I have to be honost and tell you that this was not the most enjoyable of our vacation.  Brazos began the day throwing a fit and refusing to hold our hands while walking.  We tried to do Super Nanny on him but it didn't work.  He wasn't interested in the animals, except for the seals for about a minute.  He didn't want to sit to watch the 3D movie, although he did enjoy the 4D movie with Dora and Diego.  We did have some peace when he slept for a short while on the paddleboat ride. I just don't think Brazos was ready for a museum environment, but we tried to make the best of the day.








Wednesday was our last day of vacation.  We went to Seawolf Park on Pelican Island.  Matt tried to do some fishing on the pier but he had little luck.  We could see fish swimming around, but no bites.  He did manage to catch a small perch.  Brazos and I just enjoyed walking around the park.  Later in the day we tried another failed attempt to tour the Moody Mansion.  We got to walk through two rooms of the manion while Brazos was sleeping, but once he woke up our tour was over because he threw a fit.  It's a good thing our tickets are good for a whole year, so maybe we'll make it back to Galveston to finish the tour one day.




Overall our vacation was great and Brazos was a happy camper as long as he could run free on the beach.  Now it's back home and time to practice some discipline so next time we don't have a temper tantrum while in public.  We'll see how that goes.