I tried so hard to reverse this order but it still didn't work so please read from the bottom up.

The INFINITY logo with crab and shell. And all the gang on the beach and on the life guard tower. Congrats go to Coach Jeff, Assistant Coach Caleb, Marie, Cassy, Ed. But most importantly to the parents that made this experience a reality for their girls

The Infinity team beach pictures. Jeff on the cell, and working with his team. Dad cooking .

Cooking, Eating and Socializing! At beautiful Doheney State Park

This is a very different Thanksgiving! Jeff signed up a 16 year old soccer team to play in the Harvest Cup soccer tournament held on the UCI campus in Irvine. The girls arrived by plane and car Thanksgiving day and they wanted their thanksgiving meal on the beach! Definitely not your routine Thanksgiving meal venue. All they asked for was hot dogs and hamburgers so that is what Marie and I prepared to serve them and their parents. In all about 30 people plus a serving staff of 5. When I asked Cassy to join us she was gracious enough to offer to do Turkey, Dressing, Candied Yams (the girls really wanted marshmallows on top so she reluctantly obliged ) Gravy and Cranberry sauce. There is so much more about the prep I need to tell but it would bore you. One side note- it never rains in California and it hadn't for a long time. On Tuesday it started to rain then on Wednesday it was on and off but on Thursday morning it just poured rain right over Dana Point and San Juan Capistrano. I was trying to prepare for a plan B but Jeff said don't worry dad it is going to clear and all will be fine! It cleared about 11 am but about 11:30 as we were getting ready to leave with all the food it started to sprinkle again and Marie stood at the open garage door and just said please stop and it did! It was a clear beautiful warm day from that moment on. There are lots of pictures that are basically for Jeff, his assistant coach Caleb (he was such a fantastic helper for Marie) and the wonderful parents and girls of TEAM
INFINITY that show the wonderful Thanksgiving meal and fun we had at the beach November 27, 2008
I won't say much about the photos but the ones of Cassy and her burnt marshmallows is special. She was trying so hard to please by putting the marshmallows on top and browning them but the broiler was a little too hot- she left for a moment- when she came back her kitchen was ablaze and she was sure the house was going to catch fire but she was able to blow out the flames. The resultant burnt marshmallows were scraped off and what was left added a nice crunch to the yams - they were all eaten so I guess Cassy has developed a new taste treat. Thank you Cassy for all your hard work and wonderful cheery spirit.

Thanksgiving Weekend

Thanksgiving with the cousins

Thanksgiving at the Ginn's

Putting the Christmas lights up!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

Have fun everyone. Can´t wait to see pictures of everyones yummy meals.

I hope it doesn´t rain for Jeff and his girls.

We´ll have Thanksgiving on Saturday with David´s family and other people.

Love you all.

HI ALL! Hey, remember those gift certificates I FINALLY sent to Shawnna and Drew for their 2008 birthdays? Well, Drew enjoyed a ‘Guys’ day out with his Dad this past Saturday, and FINALLY got to put his certificate to good use, as you can see by the pics of the toys he picked out. Of course, Drew wanted everything in the store. Especially the transformers! But he's learned from experience the transformers toys are not good quality these days and are just a big plastic mess. So, he decided on the Speed Racer car and a copy of the new Star wars animated movie - Clone Wars. Looks like he’ll have fun with those choices for some time to come – YEAH FOR DREW!!

Love, Grandma TaTa

Happy Birthday Bobby!

Bobby's birthday was on the 16th. The kids love be involved so I let them do almost everything. They saw a question mark candle awhile ago and they decided that it would be perfect for dad's cake so nobody would know how old he's getting! Haha :)

The kids also each picked out their own gift to give him. Lauren got him his favorite cookies.(okay, I might have helped with that one)

Stacia picked out a soccer calender.

Landon got him some Mini Charleston Chews

and Milli got him a glittery bouncy ball!

All of the kids decorated a mug for him.

Bobby and I, went to the Thai House for dinner with the Bender's and we also went to the Real Playoff game with Jeff, which would have been a better birthday present if they would have won but it was still a really fun game. I hope you had a good Birthday babe! I can't wait to celebrate mine in Hawaii!!!!

We survived the fire storms in Souther California. The ones in Corona were the closest
and that is about 20 miles north east of us but the wind was off shore so we got some smoke and ash. Monday I went down to Doheny State Park to reserve a site for Jeff and the thirty infinity soccer kids that are coming down for the harvest tournament on Irvine over Thanksgiving weekend and the weather was spectacular, bright, sunny and 80 degrees. It was better than most summer days at the beach. I hope it stays nice for their Thanksgiving day picnic at the beach. It will be way different than any Thanksgiving day I have ever celebrated. I am looking forward to seeing Jeff his buddy and all those kids and their parents. Here are some pictures of Doheny beach to show the girls Jeff. Also, good memories for those of you beginning to get cold and snowy.
Finally, Love all the posts on this blog and the ones each of you have. Keep them coming! Thank you Cassy for your pictures --- love the hat --- and the kids --- you to Bob and Nathan
love y'all Dad

HI ALL! Well, sometimes it takes Grandma’s a while to get those birthday presents to the grandkids, especially when they live soooooooo doggone far away! Such is the case with Grandma TaTa getting this year’s birthday presents to Shawnna and Drew. Actually, I didn’t do too bad with Drew, but I’m sure Shawnna had long thought she wasn’t getting anything from Grandma TaTa for her 7th Birthday (her 8th is right around the corner) – Anyway, I finally got the ‘Toys-R-Us’ gift certificates in the mail and you can see by their faces, they're happy about it and probably wondering when they can get mom and dad to take them to Toys-R-Us to spend those gifts!

The same goes for Jocelyn’s children, only really even more extreme. The time and cost for postage all the way to Luxembourg can be daunting, so Grandma Cass seems to take even longer to get the presents to the Dufforts. Thankfully Patrice was in the states the last two weeks on business and was willing to fill his second suitcase with b-day presents for the kids, which means they'll get to open their ‘birthday presents’ before their ‘Christmas presents’ – YEAH!! And I know one little munchkin that is really happy that her birthday present is FINALLY ON THE WAY HOME! Hope you enjoy Margot and hope Mom takes pics of all the kid’s expressions when they get to FINALLY open their birthday presents.

I love all my grandchildren and wish they all lived closer so I could hand those birthday gifts to them and watch them open them and make wonderful memories of the excitement and smiles of those moments! Oh, well, the life of a GRANDMA!!

Love you all,
Grandma TaTa / Grandma Cass

PS - If you're wondering, that's Grandma Ginn's taco casserole for dinner. Made my mouth water - YUMMMMMMEEEEE!!

HI ALL! Jocelyn sent me an email today with this message "this is the hat for you - a must have for Thanksgiving!!!" She knows how much I like this time of year, the Thanksgiving Holiday and all that goes with it, so, I just couldn't resist seeing what I would really look like wearing this 'SPECIAL TURKEY HAT' - I hope you all get as big a laugh out of it as I did, especially YOU - JOCELYN!

I want you all to know how 'THANKFUL' I am for all of you, MY FAMILY, and that I wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving Holiday!

Love, Cassy

Happy Birthday Bobby.
I remember that day pretty well. Your mom was very calm as we
walked the halls of the hospital in Durham North Carolina. It was
early afternoon on a very bright and sunny day.
I can't remember how long we walked or what transpired to get
her ready but the next thing I remember is that I was in the delivery
room and your mom was prepped and ready. Your delivery was not
without pain, but it seemed to go quite quickly and without much stress.
It was special to hold you in our arms that day. You were a
cute little guy from the beginning. It has been,for the most part,
easy and fun to have you in our family.
The obstetrician believed in hypnosis and used it on your mom in
the months prior to your birth and also on the day of your birth.
We believe that is what caused your birth to be as easy as it was.
Hope you are having a great day!!!!

38!!!.....and I thought I was old! Love you Bobby, hope you have a happy happy birthday!

My mouth is watering just thinking about rolls. I think that the next time I make rolls I am going to try your recipe Marie. I can still remember the rolls with bits of orange. I always thought those were the best and always hoped you had made those too whenever you were bringing rolls. Wow, it has been a long time everyone. I just want you all to know how thankful I am for all of you. I love you all.

Marion

HI ALL! Thanks Marie for taking the time to post your wonderful roll recipe. I've always wanted a copy and was so easy to print from the blog. And to see your original recipe card was very special too! To know how many times you have used it to make those 'scrumpuous' rolls for us was awe inspiring!
Love you,
Cassy

Here is the original copy of mine. I don't think you can read it so I will enter it in a more useful form. Ed thought it would add "something to the blog" to see the original card.

What's Cookin' REFRIGERATOR ROLLS Serves 3 Doz.
Recipe from the kitchen of: Nona Moffat (Bartlesville, OK)
1- Combine 2 yeast cakes with 1/4 cup lukewarm water and 1 Tbs. sugar

2- Heat and cool 1 cup of water, 1/2 cup shortening, 1/2 cup sugar, and 1 tsp. salt

3- Beat 3 eggs until fluffy

Combine numbers 1, 2 & 3. Add 4 & 1/2 cups of sifted flour. Stir well.
Let rise for 1 hour. Stir down, cover with waxed paper and put in the
refrigerator for at least 8 hours.

Three hours before using take out of the refrigerator and
divide into three equal parts. Flatten each piece and roll into a
rectangle (at least 3 inches by 12 inches )

Spread with melted butter and sprinkle with sugar & roll up like
cinnamon rolls then cut at one inch intervals to make 12 pieces.

Put in greased muffin tins and dot with butter. Let raise for 3 hours.

Put in pre-heated oven at 400 degrees and bake for 5 to 10 minutes.

Instead of just butter and sugar you can make variations:

Orange Flavored
3/4 sq. butter melted
1/2 cup sugar
grated rind of two oranges
1 tsp of concentrated orange juice

OR

Cinnamon Rolls
Add cinnamon and boiled raisins to sugar
Frost after cooking


It takes some time but its worth it. I usually make three or four
batches so I have plenty left over. Have fun and enjoy!

This is the second revision because we don't know how to make
the format so it makes sense. If you have printed it out before
please reprint it. This was edited once again Sunday the 16th
at 4:30 pm PST

Marie, I was wondering if you would post your Thanksgiving roll recipe? I have a copy of it that I jotted down on a piece of paper (I can see it in my mind) when I made them for my seminary class 20 years ago. I know I have never thrown the recipe away, and I run across it every so often, but I just can't put my finger on it at the moment. I had thought about making the rolls for an informal Thanksgiving dinner that we're going to tomorrow but might have to take the easy route and stop and buy some rolls on the way! I still thought I'd take the opportunity to ask for the recipe while I'm thinking about it. It's a must-have, must-keep recipe, in my book.
Thanks so much.
Jocelyn

HI ALL! Not to be left out, Tina wanted a pic of Jocelyn and her brood, so this is the pic I took and hung on the wall at Tina's place. This was taken on Jocelyn's last visit to SoCal - everyone is waiting at LAX to leave. I really love this picture and I have it on my home computer desktop. I know everyone in the picture has grown up since then, but looking at it always brings fond memories of this special time! And hopefully, that's what most pictures do for all of us - help us to remember fond memories!

Love, Grandma Cass

HI ALL! Long story short - a couple of weeks ago, my neighbor Tina, went into the hospital and then, to a senior assisted living complex, here in SJC. Because she was a little 'foggy,' all of her friends brought over pics so she could recognize and remember us all. She kept asking for pics of the Normand gang, and so these are a couple of the pics Andy shot, that I printed and hung on her wall. Thought I would pass them along, so you could see how everyone's doing in VA.

Love you all,

Till' next time,

Grandma TaTa