Part 2

My parent's diningroom can sit, well, way too many people. And somehow, it usually ends up being the men's side and the other side is the women's side. Not on purpose. But one usually gets in the mix. This year, I sat next to my love and invaded the men's side. :)


Back to the hawk/eagle watch. YES!! We saw some!! It was awesome.

Chloe & I walked back to the car to wait on the boys.

Normally, one just walks to the car and sits to wait.

Not my daughter. She twirls and leaps. lol. Walking, sitting and/or waiting are lost on her.


Hoops swinging on the vines.


John swinging. Yes he is 43. But that never seems to stop the thrill.


We take Shelby-girl whenever we can. She is a great dog for that. :)


So, these past few weeks, whenever we went wedding dress shopping, (and we went quite often) I dropped off Samuel at Joe's. Because who wants to take a 10 year old shopping for that for 2 - 3 hours?? And really, what 10 year old boy WANTS to????

One day, we were stuck with taking him. He asked me for my camera so he could take a picture.

Here he is, taking a picture of himself, as he says,passed out with boredom.


Then he discovered the mirrors!! I have a load of pictures like this. At least he was entertained...

And so were we.




And though we are good Southern Baptist, we still dance.

And play cards during the holidays.


And so next time, I am in here, it will be the new year!!

We wish you all a Blessed New Year. Fill you heart and home with HIS presence.

Week in review!!



Did I mentioned it snowed?

It did. Our puppies love the snow. Except I really think Daisy needs a sweater. I can't stand to see dogs in swearters. It a ridiculous idea thought up by man ( probably woman) that is pathetic at best and obnoxious at worst. Except Daisy loves being out there and is always shivering. I may have to eat my hat and get her one.


Christmas morning. Notice my stocking over flowing. Samuel asked me this year what I get in my stocking. Usually nothing, unless I think of something I want and stick it in there. This year, he made his daddy take him out, and took the job of stuffing quite seriously. :)


Yes he is 10. Yes he still loves Playmobile. And yes, I encourage it as long as I can.


Wesley and Chloe trying to give the Puritan look. They couldn't. They kept cracking up.


All the grandchildren. For real this time. No one was missing. And Josiah.


We went hawk & eagle watching. It was a crazy warm day, so we went out. I think it went up to 50. We decided to take a hike, also, since the trail were calling our name.


Chloe. Always the dancer, always stretching.


Hoops found a hunter's platform. Or whatever that thingy is called.


John & Samuel found a real nice one.


A boy & his dog. Shelby doesn't need a leash, she is a good girl. If we had taken the beagles, they would have been a mess. And if they were unleashed, we would never see them again.

There are so many more pictures. Maybe I will add some later.

We Wish You a Truly Holy and Merry Christmas

May you and your loves ones know the joy, peace and wonder of our Saviour's birth.



And so our infinite GOD stepped into time, so we can understand.

Seek HIM today... so you could understand.

And live.



Have a holy and joy-filled Christmas.

How much do I love thee? Let me count the ways....

This is totally not Christmasy, but it is fun anyway.

I got this from Marsha, who is a precious woman with a beautiful faith.

How well do I know him?

1. He's sitting in front of the TV, what is on the screen? Nothing. He hates the tv, and we don't allow video games in our home.

2. You're out to eat; what kind of dressing does he get on his salad? Blue cheese. ( ewwww) He actually loves his salads, and looks forward to them.

3. What's one food he doesn't like? Rice. And yet, he married a hispanic.

4. You go out to the bar. What does he order? Um, well we don't do bars. But he sure loves his Coke with his free refills.

5. Where did he go to high school? Parsippany Hills High

6. What size shoe does he wear? 10

7. If he was to collect anything, what would it be? Board games. He LOVES playing games.

8. What is his favorite type of sandwich? any one he doesn't have to make. But if he was askin'. he'd ask for a BBT. Bacon-basil & tomatoe.

9. What would he eat every day if he could? Chocolate

10. What is his favorite cereal? granola with berries. Or oatmeal in the winter

11. What would he never wear? Speedos, tight pant, cowboys boots

12. What is his favorite sports team? NY Mets. duh

13. Who did he vote for? He didn't, and we won't go there.....

14. Who is his best friend? me. :) but his other best friend is Mike. Or maybe Antonio.

15. What is something you do that he wishes you wouldn't do? Lose stuff. I need to organize better.

17. What is his heritage? Irish, with a little bit of irish. : o

18. You bake him a cake for his birthday; what would it be? Ew. chocolate, with chocolate chips and chocolate icing.

19. Did he play sports in high school? soccer & wrestling

20. What could he spend hours doing? sleeping. Other then that, anything outdoors.

21. What's something cool about him? His patience, his work ethic, the love for his family.

Let me know if you end up doing this tag as well.

Dance Concert & NYC Part 2

Chloe is graduating on Thursday. She is thankful she already has a job lined up doing what she has always wanted to do.


She got a job being a dance teacher!!!!


This is her last college performance. It was bitter sweet for all of us. It was sad that it was the last time, but at the same time, it was lovely to see her dance once again. This child has been dancing since before she knew what dance was....

She is the one in the middle. I don;t remember what she was doing, and I couldn't figure out how to make my camera do what I wanted it to do. Cool picture anyway. And she wouldn't stop moving!!


2nd one in.


More NYC pictures....

At the museum, we poked into the Central & South American section. By accident. We were trying to get out of there. But seeing some stuff was just to tempting not to imitate. Josiah & Chloe going at it.




My future son-in-law. While waiting on line. Yup, thats my 30-pounds-worth-of-mom Vera Bradley he is carrying for me. When you go into the city, you can't forget ANYTHING. It just costs too much.



I FOUND HIM SMILING!!!! He was bummed that Heather was sick, so I was happy to get this shot.




And if I don't get a chance before Christmas...

May your Christmas be holy, beautiful and joyous.

Christmas in New York

These pictures show just how untalented I am in keeping order. lol.




We started the day off going to The Museum of Natural history. This is the front, which has a statue of Theodore Roosevelt. He is probably my personal favourite president, ever. What a cool guy. Don't be fooled by Samuel not wearing a jacket. It was about 25 degrees outside. WE GOT A PARKING SPACE RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE MUSEUM!!! We left the jackets in the car so as not to have to carry them around.




Have you ever seen Night at the Museum? The Dum-Dum!!!




This is in Central Park. Which is right across the street from the museum. There are rocks all over the place. And as the blood running in my family dictates that if there is a rock, you better climb it, there they are. I call this shot " The Album Cover" Now if we only played music.




Josiah and Chloe in front of The Tree. The whole family skated except for me. My joints can't take being on top of ice. They can't take the cold either, but HEY, but don't make it worse with ice. So I found myself a nice couple from Texas to talk with, while their child skated. They were visiting the city for the weekend. They have always dreamed of Christmas in New York. Reminded me AGAIN, how much I take being here, for granted. Let me tell you, though, I picked their brain clean in getting all sorts of info on TX. :)




Waiting on line to skate. Too bad Heather was sick, it would have made a lovely & complete picture.




Museum picture again. The theme for the Christmas tree this year was " The museum in origami" They have everything in the museum on the tree, just made out of paper. It was sooo cool!! We loved going around the tree picking out familiar things. My boys (men)....




Whats wrong with this picture?? We were in the rock/gem room. Samuel was bugging his brother. So he lost his shoe. Don't ask. I didn't.


Final highlights,The Tree this year was BEAUTIFUL. It is probably the best tree in about 10 years. It was huge & full and have more lights them I remember. It took forever to get parking in midtown, I wanted to take the subway down, but John wanted to drive. Well, we won't go there. We went inside St Patrick's Catheral, again. There is no need to be a catholic to appreciate it. You just can't walk by it and not go in to see the amazingness of it all. Is that a real word? We didn't get home until past 11:30pm. But it was lovely and I am once again thankful for the opportunity.

And can you believe I am still not done with my shopping?????

Preparing

What a week!

Thanksgiving was nice, Black Friday was great, and the Love of my Life turned 43.

First news, Chloe picked out her wedding dress. And the vineyard for the reception is a go! Which means I can relax about the wedding until after Christmas.

In theory.

And now, Advent has already begun. Lord, prepare Your people's heart to rejoice in the Gift of your Son. Let us not forget the only real point of Christmas.

Both my future in laws are sick. I mean dog sick. Like, just shoot me sick. Bless their hearts.

And don't forget. TOMORROW IS THE LIGHTING OF THE TREE!!!! I am going to miss it. But I will have Samuel watch it for me. I am going to watch Chloe's dance show. She is a dance major, and there is always a show, every semester, for her final. I usually go Wednesday by myself, and then the whole family goes on Thursday.

I just can't imagine no one in the family not going to see her. But I also can't imagine making the whole family sit through 2 hours, twice. lol. All that testosterone couldn't take it. lol.

And Friday, Lord willing, is our Christmas in NYC day. And I can't wait. Except I am SO cold all the time. And I AM INSIDE!!!!

Yeah.

And Saturday we go to Christmas on the farm, and them to cut down our tree. Its going to be a busy COLD weekend.

But I won't complain. (too much). Because God is gracious, and truly, all these activaties are precious to my heart.