Happy New Year!

It is no secret that 2007 has proven to be a sad and stressful year for me. May 2008 find you (and me) blessed with health, wealth and prosperity.

Good To The Last Drop

"Pistachio cake mix is good to the last drop."

Shades of Gray

Here are my pretty dogs. I love all the different shades of gray.

Coffee shop

We discovered a new little coffee shop on the other side of town. I can tell it will become a favorite. Love that fountain.

Puppies at 9 Weeks:

I am having a hard time deciding which pup to keep. They each have nice qualities. If I could take them apart and then piece them back together, I think I could come close to making a perfect pup.

The Black Boy

The Blue Girl - I find it interesting that her eyes flash different colors.

Santa's Little Helpers

Here are "Santa's Little Helpers" cleaning up the Christmas mess.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

I can be seen if you look closely. One of my Grandmother's stars is in the picture.

Lacey

Lacey has one ear up and one ear down. Guess we will celebrate the New Year with a taping session. I love her raccoon eyes. :o)

Partners in Crime

Christmas Eve at the Galaxy of Lights

A slow shutter speed on the camera produced an interesting effect on the light display.

 The bored back-seat drivers provided a very interesting display too! :o)

Our Christmas Tree

I am pleased with our tree this year. It was a hassle to put up because it is nine feet tall. But I think the tree and the mantle came out quite nice. Side note ... look at pretty Dixie enjoying a sun beam. She always finds them.

Scrabble

"My Mother"

Here is my Mother hard at work, trying to come up with her next word in Scrabble. I can almost see the smoke coming out of her ears from thinking so much!  We have shared a life long love of the game. She started playing it with me at a very early age. And it is still my favorite game. Scrabble taught me how to spell. My Mother is now in her mid 80's but I think the game has kept her mind very sharp.  I have to work hard to beat her! I am not sure how many times we have played it over the years, but I am sure it is hundreds. But most likely, it is several thousand.

More Holiday Traditions

1.) The family still likes watching "A Christmas Story" every year. It is pretty goofy. Even though we have seen it many times now, it still always makes us laugh. We feel the same way about "Elf"' too.
 

2.) Schwerman Christmas Tree Farm is our favorite place to cut down our tree. It usually takes us about an hour to fine the "perfect" one.

3.) My Grandmother taught me how to make paper stars when I was a little girl. My Christmas tree is not complete unless it is decorated with those stars.

4.) We like to go the Candle Light Service for Christmas Eve at our church. This year we will attend services at The Brook at 5:00 pm.

5.) No holiday meal is complete with out the "Family Secret Squash Casserole" on the dinner table.

6.) On of our favorite holiday functions to attend is the HOTC Christmas party. It is a potluck dinner. We have some really great cooks at our club. So much food is brought in, that the tables look like they will collapse. Of course, this is one of Kenny's favorite events because it involves massive amounts of food. :-)

Christmas Family Traditions

My son came home from work the other night and said that he had a discussion with his co-workers as to what holiday traditions they had. When they asked Kenny, he said that we didn't have any. At first I felt like a negligent mother, but the more I thought about it, I realized that we have quite a few that we try to do every year. One of them is to take pictures with our dogs, boys and Santa. Here are few of those pictures:

(Look at Jenna sticking her tongue out.)

2007

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(I found this picture while looking for my Santa picutres. Yea, I know Santa is not in it, but I thought it was a nice one of me, the boys and Dixie.)

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Here are a couple of the older ones that I found. I have them scattered every where and really need to organize them into a collage. As you can see, Dixie has been with us for quite a while now:

2002

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2001

Who won?

The winner of the "Longest Tongue" award is:

"Rush!"

Lacey and Rush

Company Christmas Party Vaun Braun

 Here are a few of my co-workers partaking of chocolate fountain. It was very creamy and delicious. Loved it!! :)

Lacey, My Wild Child

I'm So Full . . .

I can't eat another bite.

Schwerman Tree Farm

Kenny provides the supervision as Mike and Brent cut down the perfect Christmas tree.

Rush's Ears Are Coming Up

I think Rush is trying to tell me that they need a bigger basket.

Lacey

Rush

Dixie & Pups

 Always the watchful mother, Dixie is keeping a close eye on her pups.