Christmas 2009

This season has been a busy one. Parties, food, friends, and good times.

Kind of feels like this:

Good thing Dad has his festive shirt to bring joy to all!

We celebrated Christmas with traditions with the

Anderson's Christmas Eve dinner and reading The Polar Express with the Clark's.

Dad with the bell - good thing we can all still hear it.

Christmas Day:

 

Sophie

We had breakfast at the Anderson's and opend gifts. We also played this fun game called Bananagram. FUN!

I didn't take pictures over at the Anderson's. I was just having to much fun with the girl above!

At the Clark's we opened gifts and munched on goodies.

Angie, Pat, and Tommy.

(He is blind so yes his eyes always seem to glow in the dark)

Mom and Dad

Grandma Bonnie

If one of your family spends 3 months in the Middle East you might end up with an Arabian Christmas headwear. It really made things festive through out the day! Thanks Angie!!

These two were everywhere and did everything. The second they sat down they were out.

Clayton is sporting his new coat though!

Katy got me the cutest sheep! I can't wait to switch over decorations to see these guys everyday!

I hope I get to go visit Katy & Clayton really soon and add to my collection!

Angie got us a nativity out of olive wood.

I love the grains of the wood and the different colors.

Christmas was magical and wonderful! It was so good to see all the family throughout the Holidays!

I hope you had happy holidays as well!

Merry Christmas!

Love, Jen & Pat

ANGIE IS HOME!

Angie came home tonight!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Angie is back the United States!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We were all excited at the airport

Dad was waiting patienly until he saw her ...

And we were excited too....

ANGIE IS HOME!!!!!!!!

To My Family......

Happy December 15th!

Much love!

Hello..

A little bright spot in my day:

Hello little guys.

Pat says they only like me because I feed them.

oh well, they still are fun to watch

Zoo Lights 2009

We bundled up and braved the cold to go see the animals and lights at the Hogle Zoo.

 

(Trent and Pat were wearing matching coats so they thought they should have a couples picture)

Did I mention it was cold? We had to get a hot chocolate before we ventured out. It turned out to be a cold chocolate. We were all quite disappointed. But we still had animals too see!

Luckly they had heaters all over the zoo.

This is Travis half hiding and trying to warm his face at the same time

Well, animals like people do not like the cold. Plus for these poor guys - when the sun goes down they go to sleep. So it wasn't really fun for them to have billions of flashing lights trying to get a picture or see into an enclosure. While I was trying to show that the monkeys were actually inside on the trees - I snaped this picture that looks like the kid is floating in the monkey enclosure.

AHHHH!!!

Well most of the animals were alseep so we moved very quickly.

 Quick shot!

The zoo would not be complete unless there was a stop at the lion fountain:

But it had to be out of lights of course so the water wouldn't freeze

We decided we need to come the minute the zoo opens for the evening so the animals will be active after they have had dinner.

Happy Holidays!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a small Thanksgiving tonight. Katy and Clayton hosting the Pratt's in Lake Village, AR, and Angie is in the Holy Land. So it was just Mom, Dad, Grandma, Pat, and myself. I helped with the cooking this year. I was all about taste testing as I went. The stuffing was a fight with what to do with the celery. I am going to have to side with Dad and say that the celery is not supposed to be huge chunks - sorry Mom! - but we comprimised and put in a few big chunks and a few small ones. Who knew the size of celery can make a difference. Grandma made her famous rolls. They were size of a small loaf and amazing as always!

I also made the Banana Cream pie. Well, Mom made the crust and I did the filling. I need to work on the banana's on the bottom to be more even. Good thing there is next year!

The next few days will great because I will not have to cook since we have a fridge full of yummy leftovers!

YUM!!

The End to the Season is Here....

The Bengals made it all the way to the end of the season and into the first round of playoffs. They ended with 6 wins and 4 losses.

The weather all season has been great! There was one overcast day and one really really cold day Other than those two days it was beautiful and hot!

Pat - you are an amazing coach and these kids love you! It has been great to see how these kids have changed from the start of the season to the end and I know they couldn't have done it without your hard work.

The kids have one more season before highschool ball begins but since our vision of the future seems to change around here with the change of the wind - Pat doesn't know if he will be able to coach. I know he wants to - but we will have to see...

GO BENGALS!!