"Yesterday is already a dream and tomorrow is only a vision, but today well-lived makes every yesterday a dream of happiness and every tomorrow a vision of hope." Sanskrit Proverb

Merry Christmas :)

Monday, December 8, 2008

25 Christmas Questions
1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper, I agree Beth it is more fun to open, plus it is sooooo fun shaking the box trying to guess what the gift it is.
2. Real tree or artificial? Real, really I love the real ones. I have both though. The artificial one in the living room and the real one in the sun room
3. When do you put up the tree? The Artificial one goes up the first or second week in November. Yes, I know that is early but Christmas goes by so fast. and the second one goes up the first Sunday after Thanksgiving. It is a hoot looking for the tree. This year as we all got out of the car and Scott started to run and yelling, "There it is I found it, I found the perfect one!" Jarom was running behind him yelling ,"Trip him, Trip him,"....ha, ha, ha, I like the way he thinks.
4. When do you take the tree down?Between Christmas and the day after New Years. If the tree is really dead, it goes down day after Christmas.
5. Do you like eggnog? LOVE IT, but it loves my bottom better, have you ever looked at the fat grams in that stuff.
6. Favorite gift received as a child? My Cheerful Tearful Doll. Santa brought me and my sister Pam the doll and a cradle a piece and tons of clothes. I found out later that Mrs. Santa sewed a long time while we was at school making the clothes. That was a fun year... of course they all were.
7. Do you have a nativity scene? Yeppers I do. My dear brother Jeff made me the stable and I bought the rest. Love my brothers... and my sisters too.
8. Hardest person to buy for? What about the hardest gender...Men, women love everything, men are tricky.
9. Easiest person to buy for? My girls, especially Katie bug. Sorry Bethie, you don't like my taste in a lot of stuff.
10. Mail or e-mail Christmas cards? One hundred percent Mail. It's fun to go through the old ones from year to year.
11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Beth I hear ya about the school gifts, for two years in a row Angela C. got my name. She received elaborate stuffed animals and I got a ten cent pack of crayons and a twenty five cent coloring book....I never was crazy about A.C.
.12. Favorite Christmas Movies? Santa Clause and Christmas with the Kranks...I think I like anything that Tim Allen is in.
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas?Black Friday
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?....Every year... that is part of the fun.
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Piling up on the couch with my loved ones and eating popcorn and Christmas fruit and the eggnog.
16. Clear lights or colored on the tree? Colored, for me whites are pretty but colored is beautiful.
17.Favorite Christmas song? Mary Did You Know and O Holy Night.
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Home Sweet Home.
19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer?Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen, Rudolph...?
20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Star
21. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? The time, it races by.
22. Favorite ornament theme or color?I love green and red...
23. Favorite for Christmas dinner? I agree Beth, The whole spill... ham, deviled eggs, casseroles, sweet potatoes, mac and cheese, greens, rolls, j. p. salad, dessert.
24. What do you want for Christmas this year? A camera, mine is broke and really I don't care, whatever the kids and Don comes up with, I am easy to please.
25. A favorite Christmas Tradition?Finding and cutting the tree. Christmas Eve, Christmas Day. This year we are starting new traditions with Addie, one night while Beth and Jarom go out Gramps and Grandma is going to take Addie shopping for her parents gift at the dollar tree, (that is an old tradition when my kids were little) and out to eat. Yeah for being a grandparents! For all of you grandparents out their with lots of grandchildren, I envy you.

Happy Birthday ADDIE!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR ADDIE, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!

Happy 1st Birthday our precious Addie! It seemed like it was yesterday that we were anxiously awaiting your arrival. We knew we would love you angel but we had no idea that our lives would be turned up side down with the joy and happiness you bring to all of our lives. What can I say but thank you sweet baby for making me a Grandma!

(P.S. I would have published more pictures but my computer is not cooperating. )

HAPPY BIRTHDAY !!!!!!!!

Happy Birthday To My Sweet Sisters!

If we got to choose our family than I get an A+ for mine! I am so lucky to have the two sister's that I have. Remember: Joan, 1105 E. Clinton St..... "If I had a hammer, I'd hammer in the morning, I'd hammer in the evening, all over this world....." . You taught me the power of unity in rough times. Or maybe getting rid of my uni brow, or letting me borrow tons of your clothes. Maybe it is the fact that I was spoiled rotten and I had all my brother's and sister's mad at me...(mom and dad was gone somewhere) and I went out side and sat on the front porch. You told, I think It was one of the brother's that is enough and came out and sat beside me and put your arm around me. Sis, I didn't deserve that hug but it sure was appreciated. You taught me, compassion. Possibly it is for the fact that you have always been there to listen, to laugh, to sympathize to encourage me, and all the rest of your siblings. You are a fantastic Sister, and I love ya tons, so Happy Birthday Sis, I hope it is one of your best. Love you, Sherry

Joan

Pam

Hey Pam, You can not believe what a hard time I had posting, so I didn't get to blog on your birthday a couple of weeks ago. Even though I miss that chance to blog I don't want to miss this one: Remember Pam: "A sailor went to sea, sea, sea, to see what he could see, see, see, but the only thing he could see, see, see was the bottom of the deep blue sea, sea, sea.... ,Or the long hot summer nights setting up eating cucumbers and watching old movies like "Seven brides for seven brother's. You shared with me the joys of being young and carefree. I remember one time setting something on fire when I was a little girl in the bathroom and dad was mad, when he asked who did this you looked at my frightened face and said you did. I know dad knew better because I remember the look he gave me. When I tell you my dreams and my inner thoughts you believe in me and bought me my beautiful necklace that has believe engrave on it. It has come to symbolize so much to me. And I also remember the laughter, tears and confidence we always share. I miss you tons sis, the light in this tunnel is that I know that it will be soon that you are going to move back to Huntsville, Yeah!!!

Pam

Joan with our brother's Danny and Jeff

Pam




Sherry

I am glad I have You two for my sisters!



My sister's are the wind beneath my wings, love ya sissies. I hope we have many, many, more years of laughter, long talks and sharing. HAPPY, HAPPY, BIRTHDAY'S

Fall, At last!

These last few weeks have been stressful to me until my husband brought me back into focus when he ask me to read Alma 10:22 -23. At that point I decided to put my trust in the Lord and enjoy this world we have been given. We have a tree that is always the first to change every fall, and the first to loose it's leaves. This tree has always brought us alot of joy. It's old but never fails to delight everyone with it's beautiful leaves. Here are some pictures I took:

Boggie

This is pictures of either Boggie or one of her brothers or sisters as a pup. The two bigger dogs are Boggie parent's. Aren't they gorgeous?! The next picture is of the Dad. Boggie has been with us for a week and she is a sweet, frisky, adorable pup! Scott thinks she is his but honestly she loves everyone she comes in contact with. :)

Good ol' days

Okay, Look at that adorable face, what is not to love. So, I was thinking the other day at church, "hmm, Addie is now ten months old, pretty soon she will be in her twenties. " With that thought I looked around and realized what a lucky girl Addie is... there sure are some cute, adorable little boys out there. One may laugh and think, "gees mom, don't rush it,"
but it was just the other day (or so it seems) that my two little girls were just babies. Hold on to these hectic days girls, they are wonderful, packed, and exhausting, but they will be something you will smile at as you get older.

"And we headed off into the sunset"....

Saturday was a fun filled day. We, (Don, Katie, Scott and I) were going horseback riding but first we met Beth, Jarom and Addie and had breakfast at IHOP. Happily, with our pancake filled tummies we headed off to the horse ranch. When we got there, the place was full of people so we were not going to make our appointed time..... No problem, Don felt the call of nature and so had I, so Don ask the cowboy where the public bath room was. The guy looks at us with a smirk and pointed up into the woods at the....outhouse.

You have got to be kidding!

Now listen folks, I am not a snob and I actually have used an outhouse when I was a little girl visiting my relatives in Illinois but this place was a dump. IN outhouse ratings on a score from 1 -10 it was a sub zero. But ya gotta go, ya gotta go, if you know what I mean so my hero goes trudging off while I do the two step waiting to see what the Out come was. Hee, hee.

Don comes back out in a few minutes and he isn't grinning, as he walks past me and heads to our suburban. I watch him perplexed as he comes back and hands me a butt load of napkins from Subway. "Your going to need it", he tells me as he rubs disinfectant on his hands. In the meanwhile, back at the ranch, there are two people, (Husband and Wife) waiting in the dump pile for their time at the horses. The guy is looking at the ground with a grin on his face but heck if Don can do it, so can I. When I walk past him I smell the place before I get to it and this is what was waiting on the other side.

Now, the place must have been visited from a lot of unsuspecting, happy campers, with pancake filled tummies just waiting to come out. Puts a whole new meaning on PROJECTILE if you know what I mean. I look over thinking I am going to see Sears and Roebucks, nope,..... BEll South. Don, I love ya man, for giving me all those napkins. Has anybody read the experience of the woman going to the bathroom and didn't line the toilet, as her fat thighs trembled with the exertion of staying away from the toilet. Yep, I was there..... Finished, I go past the husband and wife, who are both now grinning looking at the interesting trash on the ground.

At last they are ready to start saddling everyone up on the horses. A whole bunch of people get saddled up and then Katie, Scott and Don...... but there was no horse for Sherry :( I was going to have to wait. But heck, I am an adult and so I paste a smile on my face and smile as everyone heads off into the sunset... there they go....

First I walk around with my camera swinging on my arm but I notice that the man and woman that was sitting in the dump pile had left so I go and find a place and sit down waiting for my turn at the horses. ( I was supposed to get an hour but instead got only thirty minutes). In the meanwhile this party of very classy women come up with about 7 little debutantes for a party and they ask the same cowboy if there is a table they can set up for the cake and gifts. (I wish I had taken pictures but didn't). I look where I am sitting at, ( a bunch of logs circling a dump site) and realize I am in the only area with a place to sit up. So I mosey on up and walk away while the woman starts kicking cans and trash into a circle. ( I really wanted to sit there and watch all the women's reaction to the place and when the little girls needed to go to the bathroom, but didn't). There is an old card table to the side and they spread a plastic table cloth over it and bring out this adorable cake with all kinds of plastic horses on it. I leave them to their problem and I decide to take pictures and this is what I took.

A Picture of this friendly horse.

Here is another picture of the friendly horse.

Okay, now I am getting bored.

I take one last picture of the friendly horse and see Don, Katie, Scott and rest of group heading back. I finally get to saddle up and take my ride which I had to admit was a lot of fun. I had a sweet horse named Lace and she was an angel. Needless to say, this is one of those trips that you look back on later on and laugh about. I grin as we walk off and I see a woman with a grim look on her face headed back from the outhouse.

the horse.... after a whiff of the breeze from the outhouse

WELCOME!

Scott and Boggie, they both look pretty pleased with each other, don't they!

Today we added a new member to our family. Jordan, Scott's girlfriend, gave Scott a beautiful, white, German Shepherd! Her name is Boggie and she is quite the little charmer. Already we have fallen in love with this smart puppy. Of course if her ears, paws and tail are any indication she won't be small forever.

Addie fell in love with the newest member of the family, she stretched her arms towards Boggie and said "dag":)

UAH

Okay, sometimes I think if you voice a wish out loud their must be angels around listening. Every time my children start a semester at college I am so proud of them but also I would give my eye teeth if I could be going. Years ago I went directly from school to work, but when I started to work at Motorola I was able to go to college with the company paying for it. I loved it, and unlike school I was totally devoted and made A's until I met Don.... My A's went down to a B and I did finish the quarter but went after and received my MRS degree. The next 25 years, as all stay at home mom's know, were devoted to Husband, children, family and church. Don't get me wrong I love doing that also but now..... Now I get to start doing a little something for me. My sister Joan told me that mom was telling her about a program that is called Con't. Education at UAH. The teacher's are retired teachers, professors, etc who donate their time and talents. They offer a whole range of classes: French, Spanish, German, Economics, etc. My sister Joan could not go, she has a lot going on and already takes art classes, but I called my friend Sandy, who I must say is adventurous and did not hesitate to say YES, she would take the class with me. Of course, at the moment she thought I meant like the next year or so, but in less than four days we were going to our first class which is the 7 habits of Highly Effective People by S. Covey. I love that Class and Sandy did too so she called Diane another great friend and told her about it now we all three go. Sandy and I are only taking two classes, and Diane one, but we love it a lot. We laugh a lot and it is just fun being me without a title for one day. Just learning and hanging with the girls.... Oh, and Sandy and I also signed up to volunteer at the Republican Headquarters. That's an exciting place to be. So my busy schedule just got a lot busier but I couldn't be happier. I ask my World Lit. teacher if she would teach a class on creative writing and she said she would seriously think about it. I can't wait till the next quarter. The fact is life is what we make it, how we perceive it, and what dreams we let catch flight. :)

From the time that Beth entered Kindergarten I would take a picture of their first day of school, so here is mine and Sandy's.

CHICKEN SCRATCH

CHICKEN SCRATCH!

My sissy Pam came down from Oklahoma, which was really exciting since it has been two years since the last visit. A llllloooooonnnnngggg time ago Pam showed us how to play chicken scratch. Your using Dominions but instead of getting as many points as possible the trick is to get as few. We usually have a present for the winner and the looser but this time we had so many gifts that each time we played a round the person that won got to select a gift. I won the first hand, (A big wooo hoooo!), so I got to pick from the gifts first. Pam donated fantastic gifts, and so I pick a spice rack which I will show at the end of this blog. Next round I won again and picked a floor lamp. (Now I wasn't being greedy, I was joking as each time I brought in one of the big gifts, and planned on swapping at the end but everyone said keep them and now I feel silly.) After that my streak of luck went East and Pam won three times. Katie won once, Beth once, mom twice and my mind is such a fog I can't remember if Margaret or Joan won one. Nevertheless everyone came away with a gift. :)

Pam was the over all winner of the day! Of course that wasn't a surprise she is one smart cookie when it comes to that chicken scratch.

Addie woke up from her nap and wanted to get in on the game. She is looking to see which domino she wants to lay down.

Don't look at my domino's!

Hmmmm, which one should I lay down next.....say these taste pretty good. :P

The matriarch of the family!

Joan and Margaret didn't win a round but heavens knows they were good sports about it. Seriously, it seems sometimes as in games like Rook that the luck will go to one side of the table or the other.

Pam, it was great having you back home sis. Can't wait for you to come back to fun, drama, and thrills of being part of this wacky family. Positive thoughts about the houses. :)

Last Friday night Beth and Jarom went on a date without Addie, which doesn't happen a lot. WE were thrilled to get her for the evening so Addie, Aunt Katie, Grandma and Gramps went to Cracker Barrel and afterwards shopping. Addie made the evening fun with her sweet antics.

Here is a video from Addie's Aunt Katie, needless to say we, (Katie, Gramps and Grandma) are new. LOL, for one thing we couldn't get the dog gone thing to stop recording. Either way around Addie was way excited to 'rock' the rocker all by herself.

This is a picture of my beautiful daughters Katie, Beth and granddaughter Addie. They are some of my best buddies. That is the beauty of when your children grow up, You may feel empty nest until you realize that they are some of the best confidantes you can have around. One thing for sure they can sure make you laugh and laugh at yourself. It's funny to go over the years and see it from their perspective. Young mother's beware! Daughters love to bring up old stories. Grin, oh well, Crazy works in this family. Ha, Ha.