A great show....almost as good as you two

The other night we attended a "Peter Mayer" concert at the United Church of Christ in Hollady. It was a great show. If you have never seen him before you are missing out on a great show. Peter has great tallent. He writes beautiful words to go along with his catchy tunes. He also is very fun to see in show. He makes you feel like you are friends and it is up close and personal to see him.

These two are so much fun to go to a good concert with. Alan and John make you love the music as much as they do. Feet tappin, fingers strummin, head noddin, and mouth movin makes for a great show. We had a great time after the show and made Peter take a family photo with the whole group of us. Then off to Dee's to grab a bit of dinner.

Almost too much fun for people to be allowed on a Friday night. So glad to have a fun date night with the Jacksons. Thanks again.

Got Milk?

I think the question is "Want Milk?" Today I learned that the hard way. Skyler was awake when I got to his house today. He brought his turtle out to see me and we had a conversation. After a while he said he wanted to eat. This usually means malt-o-meal but not today. Today it meant Cocoa Roo's. We carefully poured cereal into a bowl being careful to not pour too much but with the help of a three year old you need really small bowls for that. I got the milk ready to pour and mid stream was greeted by the hand and fingernails telling me "No Milk". That immediately turned into big tears because the milk was making the cocoa roos yucky. So quickly we rectified the situation. I sat with Skyler and told him we could talk but that hitting was not ok. He kissed my cheek better. That's when it happened.

He sat up and had blood on his face. I said "Skyler, you are bleeding." He said, "M, you bleeding too." Wow I was bleeding. Facial cuts are good bleeders too. I spent the rest of my day in meetings. People were really interested in what happened to my face. They were a little disappointed when it was all over milk and nothing to exciting.

Night Owl

It seems that there is a little insomnia running around out house. The good news is it only hits one of us at a time. The bad news is it hits one of us at a time. Today it was my turn. I think part of my sleeplessness is that the wind is blowing so hard it sounds like a freight train will come through our house any moment. I know it is supposed to be blowing in a huge storm to lay down 4-6 inches by my commute time but every time I have looked out the window since 12:00pm there is NOTHING. Not even wet windows for goodness sake. So being that I can't sleep I have gotten some blogging done, caught up with a few of the last photo down loads, played with the cat, folded rendezvous registrations, watched all of the MONK episodes I can stand, been sad that all of the insta view WEEDS episodes we have seen, planned a vacation, hoped someone out there is getting 6 inches of snow, ironed my shirts, turned tv off, turned tv on, solved some of the worlds problems, made tea, preped the coffee pot because FRIDAY is an early start around here, read a book, and watched the clock. The worst part of this whole story is that I have a busy few days coming up and I could use some sleep when the rest of the world sleeps. Thanks for listening to me tonight. Sweet Dreams, Sour Dreams I just want to Dream.

Happy Happy Birthday to you from US

Josh and Jake, Happy Birthday. We hope you enjoy your day and have a good time looking at the photos here.

Hug, Hug

It's national Hug day! make sure you find someone vary special and HUG them. You could find a stranger and hug them also. If you do that make sure you explain that it is national HUG day.

September Dog Soldier Uniform

We ran across the new uniform for Labor Day Rendezvous. Now we will be able to find out who shot off those loud canons last year.....

A great start to the weekend

Skyler wanted to hold Sage....




Sage was happy on the floor.....

Skyler wanted to put his "Thomas" costume on.....

Sage was happy while M and Skyler played Hi Ho CherrieO

Sage laughed and cooed all morning long until his nap at 9

Where is the dog?

It's not very often that we can loose Bella. She is quite big and she likes to stay right by your side. Saturday afternoon we were cleaning house and just hanging out. Bella was chillin with us and then, we couldn't find her. For a moment I thought about finding her and then I forgot she was missing. I kept on vacuuming and dusting. After I finished my chores I asked where Bella was. John didn't know. I checked out back. No Bella there. We checked down stairs. No Bella there. Where would/could she go? I went into the bedroom to watch a movie. Soon I could hear her.

She was under our bed. This used to be her favorite spot. She could usually find the cat under there and she likes to lick the cat. I tried to get her to come out from under the bed. She just looked at me. Dad had a great idea. Let's get her a cookie and lure her out. My job was to lay on the floor and lure her out. She started moving but she would put her hips up to get out and then she was too tall to get out. She figured it out sooner than later but first she stole the cookie I had set by the edge of the bed by using her long legs.

It was so funny to watch her wiggle and worm out from under the bed. Simple minds, simple pleasures. What a great way to spend 20 minutes on a Saturday night.

Silly Bella. Maybe next time you will not choose to go under the bed.

You wanted to see the New Year?

C is for Cookie

John makes the best cookies. Today was the day. A few days ago he bought all of the ingredients for cookies but we ran out of time to get them done. Today, football must have not been as good as he hoped. Soon I could hear the mixer and bowls and spoons banging together. Making a trip upstairs this is what I found....


A man on a mission. He wanted Neiman Marcus cookies so badly that he was making them. I teased him a bit and then left him to his cookie making.

Bella helped with the mixing and then she was sent out back to play while dad got the cookies out of the oven and onto a cooling rack.

When they were out of the oven I was invited up again to get a cookie and a glass of milk. Thanks goodness we had milk. It was a terrific treat for today. On my next trip upstairs, the dishes were done and the cookies were all put away. I couldn't ask for more.

Good Family Fun

Friday was our first Family Fun night. We made Sugar Scrubs at Lori's house. Taco based food was on the menu. It wasn't planned that's just what showed up. Thank goodness Aunt Connie came over and brought sweet bread. We had a great time. It was a lot of fun just getting together and hanging out. I am sure Brent & Lori were hoping we would all leave but 11:30pm came so quickly. We can't wait for next month.

Six string music

Ampa and M had a hard time this year trying to find the perfect thing for Skyler for Christmas. We found cute clothes, but we really wanted to find the perfect toy for Sky to play with. After a long day of shopping there it was. Ampa rounded the corner and didn't need to look any further. It was in our hands and we were checking out. Wrapping it was a chore and then fitting it under the tree was another story. I think Ampa wanted Skyler to open it early so he could see it and enjoy it. The suspense soon ended. Skyler opened it posed for a few photos and then wanted to be left alone. He and Ampa spent some time in the basement playing and then it happened.

Ampa played his guitar and Skyler got his guitar. He was very intent on watching what Ampa was doing. He is a born natural and plays with all ten fingers. Classical could be in his future but if history or "Gene" has anything to do with it, he will figure out folk music is where it's at.

Guitar playing is a lot of hard work. Lots of hours are spent in this very position. What a better way to start learning than to play with the big boys.

Happy Bubble Bath Day

Today treat youself to a bubble bath. It's National Bubble Bath Day. Bella enjoyed getting in the tub tonight.

A peek at Christmas

Feed the birds, tuppence a bag

This is national bird feeding month. Break out your bird feeders, preferably the ones that take seed or suet and fill them up. "Feed the birds, tuppence a bag tuppence, tuppence, tuppence a bag" Unless you live in a warmer climate than I do the humming birds won't be around. Start watching. Birds will start appearing. When we lived in St George we loved to put out bird feeders and watch what would appear. You may have to check out a bird book or two from the library so you can tell what kind of birds are in your neighbor hood. A few of my favorites are blue jay's and finches. There are lot of different kind of finches that live around here. See if you can tell the difference. I will post soon with pictures of the birds at the feeder. Happy watching.

A boy and his toy

Last week we had a large snow storm. It snowed enough that we couldn't open the back door onto the deck. We really needed to shovel. Oh wait..........
John got a new toy. Boy did it come in handy last week. I fell and hit my head the day before this huge storm so I was not able to shovel the walks like usual. Good thing this was in the garage so we could keep up with the white stuff.

There was so much snow. Bella isn't sure if she likes the snow blown to her. She would rather that we have to use the shovel!!

Celebration of Life Week

We are in the middle of National Celbration of Life week. I am very happy to be alive. Even if things are hard, busy and crazy at least we are still here. So today, CELEBRATE LIFE. I will light a candel and let it burn to signify my life. This year my new years resolution is to take time to make memories. Today my candel is my memory. Enjoy your life.

One dish, two dish, red dish, blue dish

This year at our mountain man Christmas party my gift in the gift exchange was a new box of enamal ware and Doug threw in a year of dishes washed. Wow, how could you pass that up right. Being camping and now I don't have to worry about my dishes. That's a great present and I can hardley wait so DOUG can do my dishes. I can count 10 months out of the year some with multiple weekends that we will camp that my dishes are gonna get done. Thanks again and see you in a few weekends:)