Food Art

We seem to have started a new thing to do after meals....a little food art!
Here are a few the boys created on the cruise.
Our wait-staff loved it!
It's really a lot of fun!

Christmas Day

We started Christmas Day at home opening our presents to each other. We did manage to sleep until 9...I'm liking this kids getting older thing because we're not up at the crack of dawn to open presents. After having some family time, we headed over to Munner & Pawpaw's to open presents with them. In years past, we've gone out to eat Chinese food on Christmas Day but this year, Mom wanted to cook. We all missed Thanksgiving together, so we had the traditional holiday feast complete with turkey, ham, dressing, broccoli rice, twice baked potatoes just to mention a few things. After lunch, the boys played some games then we headed back home. We spent the day watching A Christmas Story & playing with Christmas presents! It was a great day! One to relax, remember the reason we're celebrating this time of year & reflect on life. I hope your day was as blessed as ours!

Christmas Eve Pizza Party

Christmas Eve was spent doing a little running around & finding stocking stuffers. Tom & I went to the mall and several stores before coming home to start the home-made pizza party. We set up all of the ingredients in the kitchen & started the dough and loading the pizzas. They also were delicious! After pizza we went to the movies! It was a fun time & maybe we've started a new Christmas Eve tradition....we'll see!

The Endless Pizza Buffet....as Chandler put it!

Us making Pizza

Tom putting on the sauce!

Happy 10th Birthday Clay!

Wednesday, December 23 was Clay's 10th birthday. He wanted a small party with just a few friends and a Nerf Gun War. The weather here has been crazy & Wednesday started a two-day rain storm that dropped over 10 inches of water in Central AR causing extreme flooding. But Clay didn't care....this was his day, & he played in the rain anyway. The boys started with a little guitar hero, then presents, then a little cake. Clay said..."Mom, this is the best birthday I've ever had!" That about summed it all up!

Clay is a great young man. Very funny, smart & extremely charismatic. We are so blessed that God gave him to us! Happy Birthday Clayman!

Cruise 2009

Our Christmas trip this year was a cruise. It started out as a big family trip, but everyone backed out on us except us & my parents. So we set out to have a great time. We drove to Mobile, AL, to set sail. A huge storm came in and brought in major fog. The ship was stuck out in the ocean, the port was closed, & we lost a day on our cruise thereby losing a port of call. A day late we boarded the ship & finally set sail in the remaining fog and rain.

Our only port of call was Cozumel, and we had a wonderful time exploring. We hired a driver, Freddy, & a limo. He took us shopping & exploring & to a remote private beach where we were able to snorkel, have lunch & lay on the beach. Freddy then brought us back to the pier where we were able to shop a little then board the ship. Freddy was a God-send & definitely made our day better.

We had some extremely rough seas one day, and we were all seasick staying in the bed the most of one day. We've never experienced a ship swaying like this one did. All of the plates fell off the counter in the dining room & while cabin was on one of the upper decks, the water & spray was hitting our windows. It was really unbelievable. On our way back into Mobile, we were delayed again because the storm we were in with the rough seas had detached the bouys from their stabilizers so the pilot in Port of Mobile had closed the port again.

All in all we had a great time because I think that's just our way of life....making the best out of any situation; good or bad.

Christmas in Cozumel



Chandler & Clay @ Three Amigos Dad Sleeping on Beach



Clay acting goofy....too funny Our Limo in Cozumel


The boys beach massage!



Snorkeling in Cozumel



Seasick......not fun..................

The boys on formal night!

Creativity

At lunch the other day, the boys decided to be a little creative..........
pretty funny!


Happy & Shocked!

Sad & Indifferent!

Happy Birthday Tom

Today is Tom's birthday! He couldn't decide what he wanted to do. He didn't want anything big and really wanted to kick back & chill at home. I asked him about a small get together at the house, He was good with it so in 3 hours I planned a quick party. We went to the store, got the appetizer ingredients he requested & had a party. I think a good time was had by all. Tom's Cake!

The Old Man Remote! Took them forever to program it!

Jerri's card was the hit! Tom about fell out of the chair laughing at it!

Happy Birthday Tom!
We love you!

Backyard Beauty

I have this gorgeous Japanese Maple tree in my backyard.
It's beautiful all during the year, but the fall is particularly nice!
Enjoy!

Genesis 2:8‑9

Now the LORD God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. And the LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground‑‑trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Razorback Game

Greg got Papa tickets for a Razorback game for his birthday. It was an exciting day because it was Papa, Chandler, & Clay's first Razorback game. What fun it was to be in War Memorial Stadium! The day started early, but we had limo service and lunch served when we arrived! A great day....and the Razorbacks won...they are undefeated in Little Rock!

Papa taking over Greg's office at Mems!

Final score of the game with Mississippi State!

Chandler & Clay...ready to watch some football!

Papa & Tom during the game!

Tom, Papa & Greg at the game!