Good Bye Papa Great

As many of you already know, my grandpa, passed away last Sunday night. Ollie called him Papa Great. Below are some pics of Ollie & Papa Great and his obituary that was posted in the Alton Telegraph.

Papa Great holding Ollie on his birthday.

Always a smile on his face.

Good bye Grandpa, we all love you and you will be missed, but, I know you are happier now that you are back with Grandma and are able to play golf again!

Jack Hartman "Red" Cherry, 88, died at 11:20 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 27, 2009, at Saint Anthony's Hospital in Alton.
Born Sept. 4, 1921, in Carlinville, he was the son of James Elmer and Helen Anita (Gwin) Cherry.
"Red" married the former Virginia Ann Maas on Dec. 20, 1947, in Wood River. She preceded him in death Aug. 26, 2007.
A World War II Army veteran, he was an operator at Shell Oil Refinery for 35 years before retiring. "Red" was a member of Wood River Masonic Lodge 1062 and the American Legion for over 50 years. He had a passion for sports, playing softball, bowling and most of all, golf. He and his wife spent most of the past 20 winters in Clermont, Fla.
Surviving are two sons and a daughter-in-law, Donald and Pati Cherry of Wood River and Jack M. Cherry of Smithton; two granddaughters, Jennifer A. (Chris) Toussaint and Erin L. (Kevin) Thurston; two great-grandchildren, Tyler and Oliver Lee Toussaint; a niece and her husband, Colleen and Steve Abel; three nephews, Thomas (Gail) Cherry, Mark (Beth) Simburger and Doug Simburger; and great-nieces and nephews, Teresa, Trisha, Dylan, Kristen, Tiffanie, Nathan and Ryan.
In addition to his wife, preceding him in death were his parents and a brother, William M. Cherry.
In accordance with his wishes, the body will be cremated.
A memorial visitation will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 30, at Marks Mortuary in Wood River.
Services will be conducted at 10:30 a.m. Thursday, Dec. 31, at the First United Methodist Church in Wood River. The Rev. Mark Milhouse will officiate.
Burial will be at Bunker Hill Cemetery.
Memorials may be made to the Adult Day Care Services at St. Clare's Hospital or the church, where he had been a longtime member.

Sledding

On Monday, while we were at Papa's house we decided to take advantage of the 1/2 inch of snow and the big hills. Papa bought 2 sleds for Ollie. Got get all the snow gear on.

Two big snow balls!

Ollie loves to eat snow.

Papa had to help make a path the first time. But after that he flew right down the hill. I stayed at the bottom to stop him.

Ollie even carried his sled back up the hill all by himself.

Uncle Mark had to try out the board.

He wiped out a few times and landed in the rocks - I can't stop both of them!

What fun, it is just what everyone needed yesterday.

Toussaint Christmas

Saturday evening began the Toussaint family Christmas. Teresa & Lester arrived first with Tyler. Since there was not a lot of people there yet, we gave Tyler his Christmas presents that Santa left for him. Ollie helped him open his stocking stuffers. He got some new games, a game case and a new cell phone which we had to give him a couple weeks early.

This is much later in the evening. Debbie set up her air mattress in our living room. I've never seen one that tall before! The kiddos had a fabulous time bouncing on it! Watch out for the tree! (little do we know, it will be an adult who falls into the tree later on!)

Ollie & Cousin Cloe

Ollie & Cousin Beth

Singing karaoke on Cloe's playstation. There is a video of Ollie & Daddy singing together below.

Papa & Grandma Toussaint & Tyler

Aunt Marcie taking a pic of Aunt Teresa combing Cloe's hair

Uncl Lester, Uncle Mike & Christopher

Aunt Marcie & Ollie taking their own pic!

Merry Christmas!!!

Christmas Eve morning we woke up and immediately made christmas tree sugar cookies and then Ollie found a present in his stocking!

A race car that shoots out of the tube!

In the afternoon we went to Papa's house. Ollie got to open one present as soon as we got there! The biggest one!!!


The Handy Manny Repair Shop! Ollie had a good time hammering the nails!

Ollie couldn't wait to give Papa his present from him! He told him that they were cashews and then Ollie would not let Papa open them, he had to open them for him. Of course, then they needed to eat some!

Papa is helping Ollie get his new Batman Hummer out of the package. They really strap those toys in good!

Uncle Jack got some new shoes.

Daddy is playing with the new gun that Ollie got. Of course it shoots out several orange balls at one time. We are going to have to take some of Ollie's guns to Papa's house to play with them there!

Papa is still working on the hummer! Ollie is being very patient.

Ho Ho came very late at night and left lots
of presents!

Bella even got something from Santa! This bone is too big for her to carry around!

Ollie said "I got lots of presents, that's what I asked for, lots!"

The whole Scooby Doo gang! He got the mystery machine too!

The bumble bee transformer!!!

A new Superman t-shirt - he had to put it on right away!

Stinky underwear!!! Not really but new Batman and Wolverine underwear! Just what he asked for!

Spongebob says "why are you holding my tongue?"

A handy manny view finder.

A batman couch that folds out to a bed and a spiderman hopper!

Ollie was a little overwhelmed with all the presents. He just wanted to play with everything right away. We had to start opening the presents for him and then when he could see what it was he would rip the rest of the paper off. Silly - maybe next year he will have it down!

Afterwards we went to Maw Maw's house for more presents. The biggest hit was probably the 5 rocket balloons. The guys were all blowing them up and then let them go and they make a loud noise and fly everywhere while deflating! We had to do this for at least a 1/2 hour!

















Then on to Aunt Barbara's house. Bel, Vivy & Ollie wrestle!

More presents! Ollie got Batman socks and a batman action figure from Aunt Barb! And....

A batman cowboy hat and skittles from Aunt Patti!

Ollie, Vivy and Baby doll all ride the horsey! Yee Haw Cowboy!

Aunt Barb, Kyle & Chris - getting ready for the gift trade!

Uncle Larry got a lot of Hershey's chocolate!

Erin, got a bracelet, necklace & earrings.

Chris Burke got a face & butt towel!

I got a reese's t-shirt and reese's peanut butter cups!

Then the kids thought it would be fun to sled. Nevermind there is not even a 1/2 in of snow on the ground. They sprayed the bottom of the sleds with Pam so they would go down the hill.

Brrrr...it's cold outside. Ollie went through 2 pair of gloves in just 15 min worth of time. He does not like to be cold!