Almost the New Year!

Hoping that next year will be a banner year for everyone!

Christmas Eve at Our House

Joe likes to prepare the meal for the family on Christmas Eve and it's almost always quite delicious!  His specialty is French Onion Soup and we look forward to it every year.  This year, he wanted breadsticks to go along with it, so he and Rachel made a batch of regular breadsticks and another batch, just for him, that were gluten free.  I honestly could not tell the difference between the two!

David was a huge help in shredding and then chopping for the salad that I made! He was Joe's assistant in putting on the final touches for the soup.

Just about ready to come out of the oven.  When Joe cooks, he insists that everyone, and I mean everyone, is at the table immediately and ready to eat!

I made "1905 Salad", which no one will understand except for my parents!  There is a wonderful restaurant in Florida that we have gone to for years.  One of their specialties is this salad and the year commemorates when the restaurant opened.  Of course, they serve it all tossed together, but  we do it buffet style because some like more or less of the ingredients.  The secret is the salad dressing and the salad tastes exactly like the one in the restaurant...............amazingly delicious!

After the clean up, we drove around and looked at some wonderful light displays.  The boys were sound asleep by the time we got home, so they went to bed right away............followed very quickly by the rest of us!

Before the presents....................

Great photo of the children, all fed, dressed, and ready for the fun to begin! More updates coming soon of Christmas Eve and the festivities of Christmas Day.

Mary Did You Know?

This is one of my all-time favorite songs, and I love the video that goes with it! Merry Christmas to all and remember that Jesus is THE REASON for the season!

A Cold Day at the Farm!

Yesterday we all went to Willcox for the day.  But of course, we had to stop at our all-time favorite Mexican restaurant along the way.  Delicious and authentic Mexican food!  Courtney says there are not any good Mexican restaurants in Huntsville, so we were happy to feed her full!

Lucky Joshua!  All this attention from both sisters.......I guess this makes up for his distress at being small the other day!

This dad is so glad to have his firstborn home!

Then, we went off to the local meat-packing plant to pick up our Christmas ham.  David and the boys were very entranced with the pigs waiting for ........um.......slaughter.  This also brought up a family discussion about "pig's ear sandwiches"...........don't even ask.  It's an Alabama thing.

We did our necessary chores at the farm and then ended the day with a bonfire.  It was really cold but "most" of us thought ahead and bundled up.  You can guess from the pictures who thought ahead!

Hot dogs and s'mores.........a bonfire tradition!

Cold Sisters!

Well, as usual, I am not in any of the pictures since I am the photographer!  We got home late and my little cough has turned worse.  I am trying to get healthy for Christmas Day!

Joshua and the Battle of Jericho

Well, poor little Joshua has had a rough day so far.  He was crying this morning - very upset that he was still "small".  I reassured him and told him that in due time he would grow up and be as big as his daddy.  However, he continued to sob and said, "But I was big when I was at Jericho!"   Hmmmm........how to explain to this boy that he was NOT the Joshua that lived thousands of years ago and fought the Battle of Jericho!



December Fun

Well, we are settling in for the month of December and enjoying having Courtney home.  She has been catching up on her sleep and letting her brain rest.  We are feeding her good food and enjoying her company immensely.

Isaac and Joshua are so excited to have big sis home and have enjoyed some good snuggles with her!

So glad to have my special girls back together again!

David has enjoyed having his sister analyze his writing skills for essays in school.  She has given free advice about the "no mercy" attitude at the university regarding classwork.  We are trying to give David a heads up on what is coming his way once he enters his high school years.

A happy papa to have his special daughter back!

Joshua..........age 4 1/2.....so very cute!

Isaac........age 5 1/2...........quite the perky boy in our family!

She's Home!

After four long months, our eldest is back in the fold...............first semester wrapped up in fine shape for her in Alabama!  Joe and I took off this morning for Phoenix to await her arrival.

Her plane was on time and everyone at home was anxiously awaiting her arrival.  The first order of  business was for Courtney to be a part of cutting off the last link that the little boys had made..........such excitement!

We had Courtney's requested dinner and Joshua, who sat by her, just kept stroking her arm.  He said he was "petting" her!  So cute!

That's a quick update...........more photos will appear in the coming days.  We get Courtney for a whole month and we are so very glad she is back with her family!

Just a Little Heart Attack!

My dad sent this to me and it was so good that I posted it on Facebook.  However, I  wanted to catch any women who might not have seen in there.  This is an easy way to remember the heart attack symptoms.

The Knack!

This has made the rounds for some time, but with Joe being an engineer and Courtney being surrounded by engineers at UAH, I just had to post this.  So true!!

A Blessed Thanksgiving!

We do not have family close by, so we open our home every Thanksgiving to other families we know that are also alone.  The number we have varies every year, but we always have a good time!  This year we had 15 for the actual meal but had two other families that stopped by throughout the day as their schedule allowed.  It was truly a blessed Thanksgiving!

Twenty-one pound turkey this year!

Here I am working on the mashed potatoes!  Missed having Courtney here - the mashed potato queen of the Southwest!

Very dear ladies from our church!

Isaac and Joshua were so excited and had fun playing with the other young children.

Rachel enjoyed visiting with the older girls!

Mrs. Webster takes on KP duty!

We went to the nearby park to walk off our meal and enjoy the beautiful weather!

All in all, it was a great day to give thanks for all that we have and to enjoy the fellowship of good friends!

Counting the Days!

Isaac and Joshua are SOOOOOO very excited for big sister, Courtney, to come home from college!  We decided to make a chain so they could visually see how many days were left.  What should have been a quick little project as part of preschool, turned into a big ol' competition between the two boys.  And when I added the camera into the mix, things deteriorated quickly.  But we did capture the basic idea!

Isaac began to be very distressed that Joshua would DARE to hold an orange strip - Isaac's favorite color.  Time for Mom to intervene.............

Rachel heard the sounds of distress and came into the kitchen to assist with the picture taking.  Not only was Isaac upset about the orange strip, Joshua kept trying to hold it in front of his face!

Notice the change is Isaac's demeanor?  Well, the orange strip has been removed from Joshua's clutches................so all is well once again.

Joshua, not one to really get worked up, decided to clutch other colors to make Mom and sister happy!

Wow, that was an ordeal!  Courtney, I hope you appreciate your beautiful rainbow chain now hanging in the kitchen to mark the day of your upcoming arrival!

Later that evening, Isaac was the first one to cut off a link - of course you recognize that it is orange - and that the next one is green, Joshua's favorite color.  What I go through to make these little boys happy!

All done!

Counting the days, beloved daughter, until you walk through the front door!  I know two little boys who will be the first to run into your arms!