Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

 Our November/December started out with wishing Miss Kayla a happy birthday.  All of a sudden she is seven years old. 

 Lots of fun gifts, but nothing as special as her new doll!  With some birthday money she chose a special outfit and glasses for her new doll that she has named Emily.

 We loved having Stephen's family here for Thanksgiving.  How did we let the entire time get by without taking "organized" photos?  Here is Richard with Emmy, Camden, Lena, & Max.

 All the kids sat around the table....and the only adults were Brian and Carly!  They handled it just fine!

 The older ones are just now beginning to enjoy games like Monopoly.  The guys looked for a spot to set up the game and they played away.  I think Joshua actually won this particular game.

 We celebrated Christmas with Stephen's family on Friday night before they had to leave on Saturday.  What fun!  Henry, Lena, Enny, and Max.

 Richard sat still for just a little too long and went fast asleep.  (Monopoly money still in hand.)

 Joshua's 9th birthday came next.  A third grader.  The kids are growing up so quickly.

 The cupcakes had Monopoly symbols on them.

 Tyler was just too hot!  Just strip that shirt off to cool down.

 Jordy and Rebecca.

 Back to the "project."  The insulation was "blown."

 Just a funny incident.  A tree at the corner of our yard in the right of way had died, so the road crew came in to cut it down.  Think we have it covered, men!

 The dining room wall is now officially down, the drywall up.  Beginning to take shape.  The spots you see aren't snowflakes.  It was actually that dusty in the house!

 Looking into the "mud room" and closet.

 Jordy is ready to help Grandpa and it's absolutely necessary to get on your tummy to get a closer look.

 Look at my tape measure.  It fits on my pants just like Grandpa.

 This is such an awful picture.  All the kids had come up and we decided to have pizza.  I sat a couple of boxes in the bathroom counter to get ready to throw away, and Joshua sat his stuffed animal on top!  It looked a little bit too real for me!

 Our annual "thank you" Christmas gift to our Sparks leaders.  Yes, it's a lot of little loaves of bread, but even more, each little loaf represents a leader that faithfully comes each week to Sparks.

 More project pictures!

 On Christmas Eve Richard got the shelves installed in the closet so we could hang up coats.  How nice!

 Our Christmas tradition....we read the Christmas story before we open gifts and the kids dress up to be the characters.  This year:  Kayla was "Mary" and Joshua was "Joseph."

 Rebecca got HOT.  Off with the sweatshirt!

 Richard feels if he eats a Rice Krispie bar he's eating a "breakfast of champions" because, afterall, he's eating cereal....right?  Well, this is one King Size Rice Krispie Treat from Brian & Carly!

 Pecan Pie, Chocolate Fudge, Chocolate sheet cake, and peanut clusters.  Have enough goodies!

 Camden - 5 months old

Westin - 2 yrs old December 28.

Just Catching Up

 For those who have been asking me what in the world we are doing, well, here it is!  This is our existing kitchen, half bath, coat closet, and door going out into the garage.

 

 And this, my friend, is what we are hoping to accomplish:  an extended dining area, a mud room for coats, shoes, etc., and a half bath that will have a shower added.

 The first task was to empty the garage.  And yes, there were some things that had been placed from Dad's garage in Houstonia that were still waiting to be gone through.

 Emptying everything on the rafters was a dirty, dusty adventure.  What a mess!  There were things that we had never seen before.....like.....

 this head on this pedestal.  It was abit freaky when this head came tumbling down from the rafters!  All we can figure is that it was either used for a wig or was a hat stand.  It was pretty startling at the time, but we had a good laugh.

 Richard removed all the siding from the wall and we are ready to begin!

 That white box hanging in the air....oh, dear.....that is the router that gives us internet out in the shop office.  Can't let anything happen to that!

 The lumber was delivered, so I guess we really are going to do this project.

 Beginning the framing project.  The ladder is where the dining room table and china cabinet will eventually be.

 This gives us an idea of how it will be turning the 2-car garage into a one-car garage.  Haven't had any surprises yet.  Looks just like how the plans were drawn.

 We have hired some of the work done, but Richard is doing a lot, too, as you can imagine.

 Beginning to get to the point of knocking out the existing dining room wall.  That will be a big day!

Yep....we keep the plans scotch taped to the door.  It's like our new art work!

Lots of This and That!

The end of August, we made a trip to Indiana to deliver a car, but it was great to work in visit with Stephen and Freya.  A little work needed to be done on their van and it's been a long, long time since a tree was used to do some pulling.

 

Freya was ready to document the entire process and Lena and Emmy cautiously watched.

 

As did Max and Henry.  It tickles me the way Henry was holding his hands to keep out of trouble!

 

And wouldn't you know work on the van was done at lunch time, so that called for a trip to eat out at Dairy Queen.

 

It was sunny!

 

Sunday morning after our lunch.

 

One more picture with Grandma and Grandpa, then we were off to the airport for our leisure trip back home.  Oops.  Forgot to document that experience with pictures.  We missed our flight; I got on the next flight; Richard missed the next two flights; he arrived in KC at 11:45; we came upon a road closed for bridge construction;  arrived home at 1:45 AM.  Yep....could have driven home faster.

 

The baby quilt that I finally got done for Camden.

 

Brian's newest babies.  Yesseree....genuine Texas Longhorn cows.

 

Feeding time.

 

Gotta  protect those horns.  That's was makes them valuable.

 

Jordy is looking kind of sleepy.

 

Camden just starting to smile.

 

It's next to impossible for me to get a picture of Westin.  He's always on the go.

 

This is the story behind this picture.  Richard was headed out of town and called me on his cell phone to take a picture.  These 5 highway workers were all sitting on the bank watching the backhoe at work in the ditch.  Forty minutes later they were still sitting on the bank watching the backhoe operator!  It was a hard afternoon for them.

 

I did the Bible lesson for our Sparks when we had "Ice Cream Night!"  This ice cream sundae is about 4 feet tall and the colored toppings and green spoon are removable.  I did a "Wordless Book" lesson using the sundae.  We had 152 Sparks that night!

 

Lisa made this little bench for me from the Smiley baby crib.  I haven't made the cushion yet to put in it.  It's pretty neat.  It's strong enough for the little ones to sit on to put their shoes on.

 

Tyler spent the day with me while his mommy went on a field trip with Kayla.

 

A couple of weekends ago John & Donna, Marilyn & Barry, Jim  & Susanne and Richard & I all met in Houstonia to attend the high school reunion.  It was a very good time together!  Can't wait for the next time.

 

Marilyn, Susanne, and Bev

 

 

John was so anxious to show off the key of the rental car he was driving.  I'll be jiggered.....we had one just like it!  Both of us driving Mazdas that weekend!

 

 

Happy Birthday, Brian.

 

 

Tried to get a picture of Jordy's curls!