Easter at Brobergs': Boy oh boy, X 7!

Clockwise from left: Teddy, Zachary, M., T., N., A. and Z. what a handsome bunch! Wonder how photographer Mary got them to stop playing Wii and pose?

Easter at Brobergs': The Miller kids sit still a minute

The scrapblog editor's nieces and nephew, all of whom, she likes to think, look exactly like her: H.B., Izzbee, Mo and Zachary.

Easter at Brobergs': The Kirkwood-Hagberg clan

A couple of nice family portraits taken by Auntie Mary Miller: Kate and Charles (John) Kirkwood with two of their grandkids, Teddy and K. Hagberg. Clockwise from left: Jane, Katie, John, Ted, K. and Teddy.

Easter at Brobergs': Grrrrrl talk

Grrrrrl power was strong as Mo, K. and H.B. posed for a lovely portrait... Then, brrrrrrrrrrrring! Who could be calling? Everyone they knew was there! Talk talk talk talk talk talk! Good grief! Could those be boys calling our innocent young grrrrrl cousins? Quick! Bar the doors and let the pit bulls off their leashes! Ha ha! Nope, not this time ... they were just calling each other! Not to be left out of the fun, youngest grrrrrl cousin Izzbee joined the text-messaging frenzia.

Easter at Brobergs': Bess and the boys

Izzbee, the littlest cousin at the Easter gathering, had a great time. Some snapshots: In this photo of beautiful and delicious desserts, you may also notice some young cousins. The handsome young men are Z. and A. Notice how Izzbee admires the handsome young men even more than the beautiful and delicious desserts. She's got her priorities straight! Cousin T. didn't make a peep as Izzbee walked all over him during a hot game of Wii. Cousin N.'s cool concentration was not broken by her charming antics. Izzbee is already an expert Wii player.

Happy Birthday to a young cousin!

Happy Birthday to bright and shining young cousin N. Broberg, who turns 14 today! N. is good at building snow castles, tapping trees for maple syrup, chopping wood, running, art, math, thoughtful conversation and caring for his beloved dog, Rosie. We wish him all the best!

Happy Easter, cousins and elders!

Is it just us, or are there 2 feet of new snow this morning and is it still snowing? Happy Easter, anyway! Here is an old photo of suntanned little Millers to get you in the proper sunny mood:

Close encounters in Centerville

The scrapblog editor, who has to work Easter Sunday, had a very nice alternative family day on Saturday at cousin brother Chris' place in Centerville. Mary made a delicious light lunch of lasagna, healthy elbow macaroni hotdish, fresh bread, cream of carrot soup, Jell-O with bananas and ice cream. Then some hot games of Memory were played, which the scrapblog editor inexplicably did not win. Some snapshots from this highly formal affair: Wee Bess signaled something or other to her peeps. As divine entities looked on proudly from the mantle, Mo showed off her National Honor Society award and Hannah her Most Improved Gymnast award. Very impressive! Wee Bess didn't have an award, so showed a pretty box instead. Someday she'll have lots of awards, we feel sure (or someone will be in big trouble). Given how large Miller faces are, it's pretty impressive that there are three in this picture. Cousin Zachary, who was home from UW-Stout for the weekend, had been working since 6 a.m. and spent the entire visit curled up fast asleep in a pink sleeping bag on the living room floor. Once in a while wee Bess would jump on him, to no avail.

Hagberg-omania

Cousins Ted and Jane Hagberg are plenty proud of their terrific teenagers, Katie and Teddy. Katie is a star player on the Woodbury sophomore basketball team though she's in eighth grade. At the Woodbury varsity basketball banquet, Katie was honored as most-improved player on her team and for a 3.6 grade-point average. Most impressive. Below, Teddy, who turned 18 that day (March 19), and Katie.

Happy Birthday to two cousins!

Happy Birthday to cousins Cindi and Teddy! Hope someone is baking them large, delicious cakes. Teddy is turning 18, and judging by the photo, Cindi is, too, although we seem to remember having seen her somewhere in the 1950s.

May 31: Be there, baby

You should all receive this impressive, professionally done invitation in the mail soon. (Click on this version to make it bigger and easier to read.) Put it on your refrigerator and start chronicling those bloopers now!

A really Wild birthday

Alex Broberg, who turned 12 on Feb. 19, got a very special greeting at the Minnesota Wild game. We bet Marion would have been very proud, and we don't mean Marion Gaborik.

A new tradition to replace priceless blue plates??!!

Just between you, me and the entire blogosphere, cousins, Sam and Bridget really pamper their button-eyed boys. Just look what they got them recently! A gold Corvette each! Whatever happened to family values, such as sharing one priceless blue plate amongst three children at Christmas? What excess! Say, can we arrange to be adopted by Sam and Bridget? OK, OK, maybe they were just visiting a car show. But, still!

Brush with celebrity at the Mall-O-Them-All

Cousin Sam submitted this intriguing photo of sons A. and T. (that's T. up to his chin, anyway) on the Ripsaw ride at the Mall of America. Sam confided that the dudes in front of them were "Fall Out Boy." When the scrapblog editor Googled "Fall Out Boy," she was duly impressed. They're a band! As best we can out, they play rock-punk-emo music. Sweet!

Cousins kibbutz

In this photo of delicious salads and bread and delightful spinach-brie-apple pizza artfully arrayed on an immaculate linen tablecloth, you may also notice some cousins. Yes, cousins and long-ago high school classmates Pam and Jane had lunch at Muffuletta's in St. Paul yesterday and chatted up a storm, including talking about all you cousins, so your ears were probably burning. A reminder to the cousins that you're all invited to Aunt Alverna's little Lake City townhome, soon to be Pam's party pad, on May 31, so save that date. Sounds like we'll have a great turnout!

A sweet sign of spring

Cousin Dan and his boys were out in the woods near Waconia, Minn., last weekend drilling holes in maple trees for the launch of the 2008 syrup season. Can spring be far behind?

A cousin in Manhattan and D.C.

We're delighted to present these shots from cousin Kelly Turner's recent vacation to the East Coast, where she visited an old friend in New York. They also took the bus to Washington, D.C., for a short visit. Congrats to Kelly, who started a new job as a stylist at UltraCuts in Nacogdoches, Texas, right after her trip! Kelly made a stop in Manhattan's bustling Times Square to buy gifts for all the cousins. Nice of her! Kelly also stopped by the White House to fill the prez in on all the cousins' points of view. Thanks, Kell!

Sweet-P.

Joe and Mavis took this snapshot of their lovely granddaughter Tanya with her littlest one, P., last weekend in Eau Claire. P. turns 2 on March 25.

Winter blues

The scrapblog editor's favorite son, Noah, showed up unexpectedly at her home last week, very blue and homesick. After many long talks and tips on how to handle the deep blues that sometimes come with winter, he's headed back for Duluth tonight. Remember that Dante quote, Noah! Love ya! After a few days, Noah felt good enough to smile and go out to Tara's restaurant, the art museum and ice skating. Here he showed off his new haircut.

Mo, a dear, a female dear

We thought we'd post a few photos of our beautiful green-eyed Mo to let her know she means a lot more to us than just her skill in basketball: Among the people who dearly love Mo are older brother Zack and small sister Izzbee. Mo, casual... ... and Mo, glamorous.

Our champs, no matter what

Mo and her Centennial High School Cougars basketball team did their mightiest, but they won't be going to the state tourney Saturday. The mighty Cougars, unbeaten this season, were upset tonight by the Osseo girls team in the Class 4A, Section 5 game at Anoka High School. We know Mo is sad, but we're incredibly proud of the fine, fair athlete she is and of her wonderful team. Go, Mo!

Onward ho, very slowly: Pam's Month 2 report

Your scrapblog editor may live to regret promising to post a report from her "weight-loss journey" every month, but for now, she'll comply. February brought a loss of 2.8 more pounds on the Weight Watchers scales, leading to a total of 10 lost since Jan. 1. You can't really tell, because the scrapblog editor is still large enough to make up two whole normal-sized cousins, but at least she's headed in the right direction, though verrrry slowly. (And yes, she knows that Tab isn't good for her, but one vice at a time.)

A salute to dear old Dad

"Beware the ides of March," said Shakespeare's soothsayer in "Julius Caesar." For the scrapblog editor, the ides of March come not the 15th, but March 1. It's one of my least favorite days on the calendar, because 12 years ago today, on March 1, 1996, I watched dear old Dad, Uncle Bill to the cousins (William Alton Miller, April 13, 1924-March 1, 1996) breathe his last. We miss the old lifeguard and soldier still. Some photos: Pvt. Bill Miller, 18, about to head to Europe and the battleground in early 1945. Our favorite "egg"head, Dad, in his civies. Dad's head had that odd shape because it was compressed between his twin's knees in the womb. When he was born, his parents (Clyde Clifton Miller and Mamie Louella Jackson Miller of Winston-Salem, N.C.) feared he was brain-damaged, and swaddled his head in bandages to make it more normal-looking. They needn't have feared. Brother Miller was smart as a whip, though he had trouble finding a hat that fit. Dad, who was a delightful mixture of extreme experience and complete innocence, grew up believing that alcohol was evil, and maintained that point of view through three wars and well into middle age. This was the first time I ever saw him drink, at sister Chats' boiling-hot graduation from Georgetown University Law School in 1985. There was no water, and we were thirsty as could be. Dad swigged champagne like it was water, not realizing the effect it would have. Whoa! The scrapblog editor was happy to help hold her very startled papa up. Meanwhile, Alverna kept trying to trot over to "greet" Dan Rather, whose son was graduating with Chats. The Millers weren't used to such high-class gatherings! Weeeee doggies!

Fish-o-rama

In the years when Joe and Mavis lived on Ida Path just north of Lake City, Minn., granddaughter Tanya would often come to visit and go fishing. Across Ida Path lived Jeff Halvorsen, son of Barb and stepson of cousin Joe Kirkwood. The two would often compete for fishing honors. Looks like Jeff got the most fish here, but Joe allows that in general, Tanya was the top fisherperson, but the he WOULD say that about his granddaughter. "She sure outfished me," says E.W. That's something! Tanya and Jeff are all grown up now, with beautiful kids of their own (Tanya has three, Jeff two) to take fishing.

One baseball player who hasn't taken steroids!

The other day, Noah said to the scrapblog editor, "Mom, why haven't you posted my old baseball photos?" Here are three photos from one of the happiest times in young Noah's life, during his early 2006 stint with Robbinsdale Cooper High School's junior varsity baseball team, the Hawks, with teammate and good friend Spencer Kennison, also pictured below. Noah doesn't play organized ball at UMD, but he plays in the street and fields whenever he can, and is excited about spring and baseball season coming soon. (He's already gotten his spring haircut; photos coming soon!)