I have some sad news… your Great (in many respects of the word) Aunt Margaret died this week. She is Oma’s little sister. And she is your Mommi’s Godmother as well as Aunt. We are all very sad as we will miss her very much, but we know that she is in Heaven with God experiencing JOY beyond our understanding! She doesn’t hurt anymore. She doesn’t feel sad anymore. She is peaceful. God is good, Peanut. God is good. (I pasted her obituary at the bottom of this message as a little reminder for all of us of the amazing person she was… what an inspiration.)

Oma and all the rest of us will miss her very much. To cheer Oma up a bit, I thought I’d post some more fun pictures of you.

New Sneakers

Mommi went shopping with her friends Judi and Meg… We didn’t even KNOW we were trying on the same clothes… hehehehe…

You are SUCH a fast runner, and you LOOOVE to run!

Here are some from last weekend when we went to Springdale Farm for a fall festival and apple picking with Jimmiqua:

And here are some fun pictures of you and I at the farm… Your Opa will probably especially love these!! Hi Opa!!!

We hope these pictures give you a little smile, Oma. KNOW that we are loving you to pieces… Our hearts are hurting with yours…

*Margaret L. Fromm

Margaret Louise Fromm, 63, of Sparta died Thursday, September 27, 2007, at
Gundersen Lutheran Medical Center, La Crosse after a two and a half year
battle with ovarian cancer. She was born on March 23, 1944 in Lincoln,
Nebraska, to Edwin and Ellen (Meyer) Friedrich. As a pastor¹s daughter, she
moved several times to rural Minnesota towns during her youth. She graduated
from Rushford High School in 1962. Marge attended Concordia Teacher¹s
College in both St. Paul, Minnesota, and Seward, Nebraska, graduating with a
degree in Elementary Education in 1966.

She married Wallace E. Fromm on June 12, 1965, in Belevidere, Minnesota.
Marge taught in a rural Nebraska town for one year before they moved to
Williamsburg, Iowa. She also taught for one year in Iowa before the birth of
their first child, Lowell in 1967. For several years, she was the secretary
of their church. Marge and Wally had three more children, Beth, Clay, and
Julie, before moving to Sparta, Wisconsin in 1973.

In 1980, Marge began a lifelong career, culminating as the Library Director,
at the Sparta Free Library. As a devoted employee, she was respected,
admired, and loved by those that knew her. Because of her declining health,
she retired in June of 2006.

Not the stereotypical image of a librarian, Marge loved adventure and being
outdoors. She spent numerous vacations sailing, both on area lakes and on
Lake Superior, biking on trails throughout the state, white water rafting
along the rivers of the Appalachian Mountains, cross country skiing,
camping, and canoeing along area rivers. She also enjoyed reading, playing
card and board games and, more than anything, spending time with her
children and grandchildren.

Marge was a member of St. John’s Ev. Lutheran Church. Her faith in God has
sustained her through many challenges in life. She has met difficulty with
uncomplaining strength, joy and love that could only come from the Lord.
Church attendance, prayer, Bible and devotional reading have all given her
much hope through the hardest of times. We rejoice that she now has met
Jesus face to face and look forward to spending our eternity with her.
She is survived by her husband Wallace, of Sparta, her son Lowell Fromm,
also of Sparta, her daughter Beth (Darren) Pierce, of Marion, Iowa, her son
Clay (LaRae) Fromm, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, her daughter, Julie (John)
Falkers of Viroqua, Wisconsin, and nine grandchildren: Dustin and Cassandra
Pierce, Michael, Benjamin, and Tabitha Fromm, Rachel, Andrew, Joseph, and
Hannah Falkers, her mother Ellen Friedrich of Austin, Minnesota, her brother
Gustav Friedrich of Highland Park, New Jersey, her sister Miriam (Lloyd)
Luehmann of Austin, Minnesota, her sister Mary (Chuck) Rohe of Zumbrota,
Minnesota, her sister Muriel (Gene) Stark of Prior Lake, Minnesota, and her
sister Marilyn Friedrich of Huntington Beach, California.
She was preceded in death by her father, Edwin Friedrich, and a sister,
Martha Friedrich Fendt.

Funeral services will be Monday at 11 a.m. at St. John’s Ev. Lutheran
Church, Sparta, with Reverend Mark Wessel officiating. Burial will be in
St. John’s Ev. Lutheran Cemetery, Sparta. Family and friends are invited to call at Lanham-Miller Funeral Home, Sparta, on Sunday from 3 p.m. until 6 p.m and at St. John¹s Ev. Lutheran Church from 10 a.m. until the time of services. Online condolences may be
offered at www.lanham-miller.com. Memorials may be given in Marge’s memory to St. John’s Lutheran Church Building Fund and to the Sparta Free Library. The Lanham-Miller Funeral Home, Sparta is assisting the family with funeral arrangements.

You started real gymnastic classes for the first time this week. You will have a 45-minute lesson with 3-year olds and Miss Jan once a week. Miss Jan has been teaching at this gymnastics center for over 15 years. Everyone raves about how great she is working with little tykes like you. Many of her students end up in the “accelerated” program called PERKY… that’s gotta crack you up – it does me. So you might be a PERKY next year. Hee hee… can’t even type it without laughing.

Anyway, you had a FANTASTIC time! They have incredible equipment. I think the lessons will teach you how to channel that amazing energy and fantastic strength and coordination that you demonstrate all the time. I’m sure most parents say things like this, but you have always had surprisingly strong athletic potential – you throw very well and quite often very on target. You climb better than most of your peers. You jump confidently and competently off of very tall things… landing firmly on 2 feet. When I take you to classes with other 2 year olds (like at the Little Gym), you are the first in line and you can do the things (like a front roll) without any help. Your daycare teachers comment on this agility as well.

Anyway, I think gymnastics will give you a good start for whatever you decide to do… soccer, dance, football (right Auntie Amy?)…

Here are some pictures I was successful in sneaking from the night:

By the way – they don’t let parents even WATCH you. It was quite painful for me. I so wanted to know what you were doing…. so I sneaked around to the corner of your classroom about four times to peek in on you. I got yelled at once bu the secretary, but that just means I need to also sneak by her next time. It was fun to see you sit on your circle and watch so attentively waiting for your turn to give it a try! You have such an incredible spirit… I love you Peanut Butter!

Okay – so this is the last BIG event that I missed out on blogging about this summer. Early July, Daddy and I went to Niagra-on-the-Lake for a couple days and Oma and Opa flew to Rochester have special time with you while we were gone.

These pictures are from your wonderful time with them… and some others… These pictures came from Oma and Opa’s camera and include not only their visit to Rochester, but also a wedding in Minnesota, and Niklas’s baptism in Michigan.

Opa and Opa, Uncle Mark, Aunt Bi and Niklas (as well as Aunti Bi’s parents) went to my cousin Kayla’s wedding in Minnesota. As you can see, she is a BEAUTIFUL bride!!

4 Generations Again – How GREAT

Niklas’s Baptism at the River and Family Time Following

These are your sweet little 2 and 1/2 year old swimming foot prints.

You couldn’t wait to get out on a boat on the “swimmin’ pool” called the lake.

Uncle Jim is out there in that sailboat!

This is 3-year old little Gracie. You and she had a FANTASTIC time! Let’s seei if I can get this right. Gracie’s Daddy (Tibor) is Jim’s nephew — his sister Andi (& Ti)’s son. Andi and Ti (Tibor II) are the one’s who live in Tennessee. Liz and Tibor, Gracie and Baby Tibor are AWESOME! We had such a fantastic time getting to know them!!

We also had the wonderful privilege of hanging out with Judi’s sister Karen, her husband Dick and their daughter Allison. This is you with Allison!

This little skateboarder is Baby Tibor… Check him out!

This is Lily – Libby’s daughter Wendy’s daughter. Wendy was there too! What a fantastic time!

After Gracie came out in a pretty skirt, Maya and I asked Judi if she happened to have a pretty dress in size 2T. Of course she had a “pretty dress!” She pulled a “pretty dress” out of her closet, grabbed a ribbon out of a drawer, and we were all set! Aunti Judi ROCKS!!

All Judi’s Girls!! Allison, Gracie and you are all Judi and Jim’s Godchildren!

(Still playing catch-up on the blogging…)

The weekend of August 11 we visited Daddy’s family in Ohio – your Grandma Tatro’s family – at Jim and Kelly’s house. We were only there from Saturday to Sunday, but we had a fantastic time and wished we could stay longer.

FOUR GENERATIONS! How Special!

Horses! What fun!

Family… gotta love them!

it’s so hard to say goodbye…

We had the BEST TIME!! Thanks Kelly and Jim and everyone else! We love you!

Let’s do it again soon!

I’m going to try to catch up a bit on the blogging I missed out on this summer. You did so many fantastic things that I don’t want us to forget!

So the focus for today’s blog is our trip to Seneca Park Zoo. You and your daycare friends had a wonderful field trip to the zoo on June 22. You and I drove separate and met your friends there, and we had a fanTAStic time! At the end of the day, you rode back on the BUS!! You LOVE the bus! [Mommi gets a bit nervous about the safety of the bus, but that is a whole ‘nuther story ; ) ]

Here are some picture highlights:

Maya S, your teacher Bonnie, Marlie and you!

You absolutely LOVE the bus!

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Hey there Peanut –
We hung out together today – how wonderful… We didn’t do anythign special, but sometimes that is special in itself. The morning was a bit of a bomb- we tried to check out a gymnasitcs studio for you, but the person we were supposed to meet didn’t show up. Then we were supposed to buy flowers for my graduate student (her birthday is Monday and she has been going through a hard time) but after we found a parking spot, we learned that the florist went out of business and was replaced by a hardware store… looked around a bit, but we realized we didn’t really need anything from the hardware store… so we took the free popcorn and headed on our way. Then we went on a search for a new diaper bag and cereal bowls – also with no luck. We ended up sharing mac & cheese and hot dogs at Friendly’s and headed home. We took a long nap together which was very sweet. When we woke up, so did Daddy!! (What a treat!) We shared ice cream together and went to the play ground before Daddy had to head back to work for one more night.

We had a playdate, a picnic and a mishap.

We met Judi and Jim for a playdate and a picnic. While we were eating, you decided to climb up on a neighboring picnic table, and you slipped and fell head first to the cement floor. You cried a short bit and then you were off playing again.

Isn’t it amazing how beautiful you are even with a few bruises?

I love you to pieces Peanut. You are such a strong, happy girl! What a joy you are to me and everyone you meet!

*Mommi

Today at daycare you read these books:
* The Bunny Book
* The Big Wide-mouthed Frog

Did these activities:
* Puzzles
* Musical instruments
* Threaded pipe cleaners into spools (fun!)
* Outside spray bottles
* Swings, sand box and bikes

And sang these songs:
* Bumble Bee
* Ants go marching
* Swimming song
* A Rum tum tum
* Happy Birthday
* Turtle in the Box

You “enjoyed our lunch – pizza pockets and salad – Maya ate it all!”

Your teachers wrote this about you today:

Maya has had two wonderful days. She loves to swing and spent quite a while at it today. She was an active and fun participants with our instruments and marching songs at circle time. She demonstrated a very sweet side while engaging one of the Beeches (6 – 12 month olds) at play in the sand box – She offered hugs and gifts to one little boy in particular with a kind gentleness. It was a very nurturing attitude. She had no idea she was being watched!

We’re so proud of you! We love you to pieces!