KEEPING IT ALL STRAIGHT

It's a bit of organized chaos around my house these days - organized because that's how I try to be - and chaos because there's too much to keep organized. 

Two big reunions are coming up, as I've mentioned before, but now they're just one week and three weeks away and the biggest source of chaos is trying to organize all the family pictures and keep them straight. 

The first reunion is with my husband's Croatian family, and there will be six main families represented, all related to each other by birth or marriage.  The names of the six families are: Gavran, Domancich, Bezmalinovich, Ozurovic, Eterovich and Yeseta.  Keeping the spelling of the names right is difficult enough.  Try figuring out how to pronounce them!  I've been putting together a slide show of as many family members as I can, and creating the program.  We'll be having Tamburitza music, Kolo dancing lessons, a Croatian language lesson, a great meal at a winery, and plenty of time to socialize and become acquainted or re-aquainted with other family  members.  We'll have 135 people there - ranging in age from a few months to 90 years old. Here's a few pictures from those I've gathered.  The first is my husband's great grandmother, Antonia, who remained in Croatia.  The second is of the wedding of a distant cousin. 

In addition to getting all of those pictures together, however, I've been gathering pictures to share with my relatives in Ohio, where we'll be visiting in just 3 weeks.  These are folks I haven't seen in over 30 years.  We have a lot of catching up to do, and I have been organizing pictures of 4 different families:  Brennan, Shaw, Mueller and Schulien.  Here's a few:

 

 

The first picture is of my Brennan grandparents's generation - with my dad as a child in front to the right.  His twin brothers Tom and Bill are next to him.  The second picture is also my dad's family.  His father is on the left and he is sitting above to his father's right.  My grandmother is next to him and my mother is behind her.  I am third from the left in the front, the kid with the bangs.  My uncles Tom and Bill are to the right.  Sadly, my uncle Bill (on the top right) died last week, but I hope to visit my uncle Tom. 

Here are a few pictures of my Mueller Schulien family:

The first picture shows my Grandparents, Alfred and Mary Bernadine (Schulien) Mueller with their oldest three children (before my mother was born).  The second shows my Great Grandmother (on the right, holding a baby) and my Grandmother Mary Bernadine Schulien to her left. 

I love these pictures.  Some bring back memories and some just pique my imagination.  Maybe on my trip to Lima, I can gather even more pictures, to put in a future family history book. 

Stay tuned!