Christmas Pics Part Deux

Here's some more of our holiday pictures. This first one is Maddy Moose. Check out her bed-head. lol My three sons (Nick, Kaleb and Jacob) all lined up on the couch Christmas morning.

Nick and Kara, checking something out. The look on Kara's face just makes me smile.

But this look really cracks me up. She was fascinated by this little Snow White baby doll. She pressed her little face right up to the package to try and get a closer look at it.

Here's Kara and Jodie, working on unwrapping something. Just look at Jodie's hair...should anyone really have hair that looks that good first thing in the morning?? lol

This is Kara with the Elmo doll Nick and Jodie got her. She LOVED it. I've never seen one so young get so excited over a toy.

Now check out the look she's giving Jacob.

This is a favorite of mine: Maddy wearing her Harry Potter glasses (and her Harry Potter Time-Turner necklace). She was opening up the last of her gifts while Sydney the Wonder Dog supervised.

Maddy loves Texas so Randey and I had to get her this shirt when we saw it.

This is Maddy crawling up under the tree to dig the presents out Christmas morning.

This is me with the Darth Vader statue Nick and Jodie got me. Way too cool. Love it. (And what granny wouldn't, eh?)

This picture cracks me up...Kaleb and Jacob, first thing in the morning. Not looking too spry, are they?

They started perking up the more gifts they got to open.

Kaleb's "big" gift this year was a GPS system for his car. That boy could get lost in his own backyard so this was a darn good gift for him. Jake asked for an X-Box 360. I had no intention of getting him one of those...Kaleb already has one and so does Randey. How many 360s should live in one household, I ask you? Apparently three, because Randey thought getting Jake one was a primo idea. And, I have to say, Jake was sure surprised. He really didn't think we'd go for that particular wish. I told him he really had his father to thank (or to blame, depending on your point of view. lol).

Here's Sydney the Wonder Dog supervising Randey's gift opening technique.

Finally, Desiree', Russell and Skye arrived, laden with gifts!

Here's Skye, opening her Batman toy from Nick. Nick thinks every child should have superhero toys. lolAnd here's Skye opening one of her barbies. She was so thrilled with everything she got. It was just precious to watch her excitement.

And finally, here's Sydney the Wonder Dog enjoying his Christmas dog biscuit. (How cute is this little guy????)

Okay - I guess that's enough with the holiday pictures, eh? I can't wait to scrapbook about this holiday. It was special like no other one has ever been.

Tomorrow we'll talk Weight Watchers. Yee-haw!

The Merriest of Merry Times

I'm about over my "fit" of this morning. I'm still disgusted by what passes for "news" in this world, but I'm working through my feelings of anger and frustration. That's my New Year's Resolution...to work really hard at not popping a blood vessel over the abject stupidity of so-called "journalists". Yeah...looks like I may need to work a little harder at that, eh?
Anywho...as promised, here's some of our holiday pictures. This first one is from Thanksgiving. I only show it because it's me, in an apron, smiling. It bears posting, believe me. This is not a common sight, nor do I really ever expect it to be. Since I've joined Weight Watchers, I'm learning more and more about how to cook, but it's still not my greatest joy in life, that's for sure. Here's my three gorgeous granddaughters together. That's Skye on the left, Maddy Moose in the center with Kara on her lap. God, I love these three girls.

Here's Moose again, showing off her candy cane striped socks. She's such a character...born to put on a show.

This was taken Christmas Eve. Everyone was playing Skip-Bo. That's Skye smiling at us, Maddy concentrating and Russell (Skye's daddy), discussing Kaleb's next move.

Here's Moose again, showing us the gift she was going to open on Christmas Eve.

This is me with the three beauties again.

That's Jake opening his gift, while Nick (holding Kara) looks on, as does Randey there on the right.

This is Jodie opening her gift. There's a story behind those pajamas. Jodie loves gingerbread men - always has, as far as I know. She also calls Kara "Monkey" (yeah, well, most of us do...she kind of acts like a little monkey sometimes. lol). When Randey and I saw these pajamas at Target, he insisted that Jodie had to have them. They're sock-monkeys shaped like gingerbread men. The look on Jodie's face says it all. lol But she was a great sport and wore them that night.

Here's Kaleb, holding his Christmas Eve present.

Here's Nick, helping Kara open her gift.

This is Randey, holding up his present.

Here's Skye, showing off her Thomas rug (she loves trains). That's Russell sitting behind her.

Here's Skye, helping Kaleb open his gift.

And here's Skye, helping me open my gift.

And now here's Skye, helping Randey open his gift. Skye really loved unwrapping things (and she was pretty darn good at it, too!).

What holiday is complete without brothers wresting, right? This is Nick, showing Kaleb some brotherly love.And here's Maddy, acting like she was going to scratch Nick's face off in an effort to get him off of Kaleb. It didn't work. Nick just kept showing that love.

Here's Sydney the Wonder Dog...exhausted from all the Christmas Eve festivities.

Here's both trees and a big portion of the presents for everyone to unwrap Christmas Day.

This Christmas was, without a doubt, the greatest Christmas I can ever remember having. It was just perfect. And it would have been just as perfect without all those presents (although I think we all got some pretty cool stuff!!). Just having all the kids there and the 3 granddaughters was wonderful. Getting the group picture was fantastic, going shopping with Jodie was tons of fun, holding Kara for the first time, watching all three girls interact and enjoy each other....the whole entire thing was beyond perfect. Speaking of perfect, let me share this picture of Nick (he "adjusted" my computer so that this was my desktop background. lol).

That's my baby, in all his military glory. I can't begin to express how proud I am of this kid, really. I know what went into him earning those medals he wears on his chest. I know how much he's grown as a man and as a member of the greatest defenders of freedom on the planet. And I know what an all-around great person he is. (Do I sound like a mutha who's proud of her son? lol)

And finally, let me end with this little gem. It's my senior picture from high school. Talk about a blast from the past. I came across this a day or so ago when I was getting some things moved around in the guest room. I just started a page on Facebook to reconnect with some friends from high school so running across this picture just seemed fated. Check out the hair and the serious expression. Eeeeck!! LOL
Okay, that's probably enough pictures for now. Don't worry. I've got tons more to bore you with later (although no more of me in my youth, thankyouverymuch!). Happy January, everyone!!

A Helpful Hint for the Man in Your Life...

A New Face to Love

Meet Skye, age 3.She is my daughter's boyfriend's little girl. Her father only found out about her right around a year ago maybe. He missed out on 2 years of this little girl's life because he didn't even know she existed. How sad it that? Even worse, since he wasn't aware of her existence, he didn't know the circumstances of her living conditions. This baby has been through some turmoil. I'm not sure what her mother's issues are, but it's my understanding she had fallen on hard times and that perhaps drugs played a huge part in her losing custody of little Skye and her siblings. My daughter's boyfriend was given custody of Skye a couple of months ago and I have to tell you, she's stolen our hearts. She is such a precious little thing...so smart and so funny. Here she is yesterday, Thanksgiving, after Randey showed her the fun of sticking olives over her fingertips:

Here she is with Randey. Look at that smile!

Here she is posing in front of the trees. She knows all the details of the Christmas decorations...what makes noise, what sings, what dances, what lights up. Every time she comes over, she plays with the remote controlled Grinch car, the spinning snowman Susan just gave me, Yule Burner (the talking log) and the bubble blowing Santa. Thank goodness she got bored quickly with the giant Grinch (listening to him too often can make even me crazy. lol).

And here she is, sitting on my lap as I sang the Twelve Days of Christmas to her. She was getting just about sick and tired of all the picture taking and the interruptions at this point. Isn't she just adorable, though?

My heart aches at the thought of all the turmoil she's been through in her short little life. I just want to hold her close and make sure that nothing and nobody ever hurts her again. She's just the sweetest little thing.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We had a great one...Skye was our main source of entertainment, but we also went and saw the new Vince Vaughn movie "Four Christmases". There was kind of a freaky scene early on in the movie (couple's role-playing, but that's all I'll say about it), but it was pretty good anyway. I laughed my brains out during the scenes at his Dad's house...the "brothers" were hilarious. I also, for the first time ever, ever, ever, cooked a wonderful dinner with NO disasters. Everything came out great. You have no idea what a feat that is for me. And by the way, I tried my friend Susan's WW friendly pumpkin pie recipe and it was FANTASTIC!!! No kidding - it was the best pumpkin pie I've ever tasted. I'll share the recipe with you guys soon.

In other news - BIG NEWS - we will be meeting our youngest granddaughter for the very first time right around 6:00 this evening. Jodie and Kara are flying in from Okinawa today. YAY!!!!! They'll be staying here for a couple of days before continuing on to Florida to visit her family and friends (but they'll be back here for a couple of weeks before and during Christmas!). I'll post plenty of pictures over the next few days and weeks. Kara is a real beauty - can't wait to get my hands on her. (I hope she likes me. lol)

Now get out and start shopping, people! Let's work all those calories from yesterday off and keep our economy going at the same time!!!! LOL

Busy, busy, busy....

Hey guys! Just a quick note to say where I've been lately. I took a trip to Oklahoma City to visit my dad. I also managed to get in two very wonderful lunch dates with two very wonderful people. On Friday, I met with Annie (My Life as Annie) at the Cheesecake Factory. I'd never been there before and boy, have I been missing out!! What a great place. I'll go on and on about it later. I'd love to show you pictures, BUT I FORGOT TO TAKE ANY!!! Can you believe that? Talk about a missed opportunity! Anyway, after I left my dad's house Sunday, I met up with a dear friend for lunch at Santa Fe, a nice little restaurant there close to Dad's house. Penny is someone I went to junior high school with and I don't think we've seen each other in over 25 years! You have no idea how great it was to see her. And sitting there talking to Penny was just like it was way back in junior high and high school. She's still the same sweet, funny, all around wonderful person she was then. And I have to tell you, the years have been extremely kind to Penny. Her hair has turned this gorgeous, envy-inspiring shade of white. Everything about Penny just glitters...you know what I mean? She's got a sparkle about her that no amount of make-up or artifice could ever give. I can't believe it's been so long since we've gotten together. It's amazing how so many of us let things go for whatever reason...too much distance, too many address changes, life gets too busy, your butt gets too big...the excuses are endless, aren't they? For any of you out there who have been contemplating getting in touch with an old friend, but have put it off, STOP PUTTING IT OFF! Go for it, contact that friend and enjoy each other! Oh, and by the way...I'd love to show you pictures of Penny, but again, I FORGOT TO TAKE ANY!!! I'm so ticked at myself for that. I guess I need to wear my camera around my neck, just so I can remember I have it. (Penny, the next time we meet, remind me to take some pictures!!! Please!)
I have to get ready for a shopping trip I'm taking with my daughter this morning. This is going to be another busy week. I can feel things stacking up already. I think I need to buy a planner or something, just so I can keep track of life for the next few weeks. I know I'd be better off if I could at least feel like I was more organized. lol
Hope everyone is preparing for a fantastic Thanksgiving! Right after you call those old friends you've been meaning to get in touch with the past decade or three, get out there and buy those turkeys, eh? And pick me one up while you're at it. I can't seem to remember to get one and if I don't start remembering soon, me and mine may be dining on Progresso soup for Thanksgiving. LOL (Yes, Kari, you DO need to buy yourself a planner...add that to the Wal-Mart list!).