VW Sibling Christmas Name Draw

Hey fam,

Here's the Christmas name draw:

Max has Traci/Kurt
Kara/Jeff have Valyn/Chad
Gerret/Myrna have Jeanine/Bart
Marty/Lori have Wendy/Matt
Traci/Kurt have Max
Valyn/Chad have Kara/Jeff
Jeanine/Bart have Gerret/Myrna
Wendy/Matt have Marty/Lori

Also, will everyone please use the link to the right to go to the VW family Google calendar and put in your Christmas travel plans to the Farm, please. It will make it soooo much easier to coordinate schedules.

Love to all,

Wendy

Becoming a Mommy

Hey family! As most of you know already I am pregnant!!! I am very excited (and a little nervous). I am so glad to be a part of this family. I have had a blast making calls and sharing my joy with all of you. I can't help thinking how lucky I am to have so many people who are truly excited for me and care about what is happening in my life. I am one lucky girl. I love you all and will keep you posted. I promised Ken's sister I would track my pregnancy on my blog so look for that. XOXOXO

Jen, Ken, & Baby to Be (I rememeber when Jeanine used to do that)

Halloween

Here are some cute pics of grandkids from trick or treating.

Mindy showed me how to post pictures, so here goes:
I'm including a couple of other cute ones besides just the baby.

Okay family, I've finished the latest revision of my middle grade novel, It's Coming Down!, and I thought I'd share my "jacket flap" copy with you. I am going to be sending this out to try and get an agent to sell it for me. I have sent a previous version to several editors who liked it but not enough to buy it.

I hope this snippet captures your attention and makes you want to read the whole book. The drawing is mine, I did for fun to help me get the feel for the characters.

Love ya all!

Traci

All the other 13-year-old boys around have been working the coal mine since they were 10, and where has Mitch Thomas been? In school with the girls. Times are hard and knowing the three Rs doesn’t buy food for the table or seeds for planting, so Mitch defies his father’s wishes and signs up with his pa’s boss at the mine. Faced with dangerous and backbreaking work and the constant popping and creaking of the mountain, not to mention rats, Mitch’s courage wavers. Worse, Pa’s gruff cold shoulder dashes Mitch’s hope of growing closer to him and becoming one of the boys. On payday, the only bright spot of the summer so far, Mitch’s ma and sisters are accused of stealing from the company by picking coal from the slag pile. Mitch stands up for them and lands himself and his pa in the boss’s office where Mitch watches his father cave in like a beaten dog. Later in a heated argument, Mitch calls his pa a coward. Now, with Pa and Mitch not speaking, Mitch feels more alone than ever. When a deadly cave-in traps Pa, Mitch is faced with the stark reality of the life of a coal miner, the life from which his father had tried to protect him--every day you go in, you may not come back out again. Mitch must gather his courage, go in and save his pa.

Pics from Utah Trip - 6/09

Check out these adorable pics of the cousins from our last Utah trip. Love the one of Kierra under the waterfall. And, no, that is not what you think on a crying Austin... It's carnage of another type. Austin got a hold of some of Kenzie's ruby red fingernail polish. These pics are of him after he was halfway cleaned up. You can imagine. Hope you're enjoying your new bedspread, Kenz! ;)

Utah Trip 6/22/09 9:18 PM

P.S. I LOVE seeing posts from the fam. Keep them coming!

Eggsellent

We found a baby fish in our tank yesterday! So in honor of my birthday, the baby fish has been named Traci (if it's a girl) and Tracy (if it's a boy). It is about 1/4 inch and weighs, ummm, not very much.

Happy Birthday to Marty!!! You are the most adorable little brother. I hope you have a most excellent day.

And in case I'm remiss, happy birthday on Sat. to Traci, Gayla and McKell.

Good news: Eggs are good for you

In response to all the family emails regarding eggs being considered to be good for you now. Whew! This news came just in time! Our tiger barbs (that's fish for those non-aquarium types) are chowing down on plenty of them right now since one of them (one big fat mama of one them) is swimming around dropping eggs all over the place! Slurp, munch! Yum... Eggs benedict. Eggs florentine. Deviled eggs...ha, ha, ha (evil laugh)!

Next time on VW Times: Eggs are not just for breakfast anymore.

Traci

Welcome Van Wagoner Clan!!

Hey family,

Welcome to our new VW family blog. Hopefully, this blog can serve as a good central location for our family to congregate via online. I'll get it so that each of us can post on the blog, including pictures. We can even put the pictures we want to share with each other (like from family get togethers) on picasaweb.google.com and easily link them to this blog so that we can have access to copies of each other's photos.

We can post any news, add silly (or serious) comments, etc. It will be like our perpetual online Van Wagoner newsletter in which each of us can contribute. I will also include links to each person's individual blog site, so we can just have one place to go to easily click over to each family's blog. Also, I'll put a link to the Google calendar I created for the family, so we can plan annual Willard & Marilyn Van Wagoner family reunions by having one calendar location that each of us can post our family's goings on to find an appropriate weekend.

Let me know what you think!

Love to all,

Wendy

Wendy's pics of VW fam - 2007

VW blog - 2007

Wendy's pics of VW fam - 2006

VW blog - 2006

Wendy's pics of VW fam - 2005

VW blog - 2005