Christmas 2009

A few pictures for you from Christmas 2009

Eddie got a lego kit to make this front loader from Judy and Marty. It had over 1000 pieces. He put it together in 3 days! He did a good job.






As usual we went to church on Christmas Eve afternoon and then came home and opened presents from Grammy, Pop, Aunts and Uncles.


































Ed and I got the kids a new Wii game, Ultimate Party Challange.










Ethel is all ready for Santa to come!













The kids helped me cut out the sugar cookies. Each child cuts out one gingerbread man and then the rest is their choice of the Christmas cookie cutters.













Unfortunately we still have not decorated the sugar cookies. I guess we will have to do that this week!













Eddie even tried his hand at rolling the dough out and did a good job.













Eddie was a big help with baking most of the cookies with me. He did alot of the scooping, moving around in the oven and taking off of the cookie sheet.

















Shelley came a couple of days before Christmas to spend it with Dustin. How do you like Eds hat? Helps to keep his bald head warm. He now shaves his head every day. Just like Pat!







Cheers to everyone for a very Healthy Happy New Year!

Fred the Elf has Returned

Fred, our mischievous elf has returned for another Christmas season with us. Eddie wrote a couple of notes to Santa asking for him to come back to us. Since Fred is one of Santas best elves he was busy helping Santa and his returned was delayed. But two nights ago, he returned!

The first morning Eddie found him hiding behind the Nesquik in the cupboard.






This morning Fred was hiding again and Eddie had a hard time finding him! He was hiding in the freezer!! He was a little cold when he came out, but he did have a hat on, so at least he is a smart elf!









I took a couple more pictures of the tree with out the kids in front of it so you could see the whole tree. We have tons of ornaments on it and even some that we dont put on it because there is no room. Every year I threaten to get another smaller tree to put up, but I have not done it yet!

Here is the tree in the dark with just the lights on. We did multi colored lights this year.

Christmas Tree Decorating

We put up our tree yesterday and put the lights and garland on it yesterday, but Kelli was not feeling well, so we did the ornaments today. The kids did a good job with them.

Ed always puts the angel on top!

Kelli decorating the tree.

Eddie decorating the tree.

Kaila decorating the tree.

Senior Night and Performing at the GA Dome

Tonight was Kailas last football game Color Guard performance. Before the game, they introduced all of the Senior football players, cheerleaders, band and color guard members and their parents. There were 45 senior band members! Ed and I escorted her across the field.






Kelli was in the stands taking pictures of us as we crossed the field.









Last weekend, Kailas band performed in competition at the Georgia Dome in the Bands of America competition. They performed on Friday night in the preliminarys and made it to the finals and performed again on Saturday night. Ed and I went down to watch the Saturday night performance. In the Preliminary competition the band placed first in their division, and got awards for best music and best general effect. On Saturday they placed 8th in the finals out of 42 bands! In this picture, Kaila is the middle flag that you can see.




Kaila was exhausted when we got home around 1am! She recieved another medal (she has two on, wore the one she got last year as good luck).

Next week they head to the Grand National Band Competition in Indianapolis! Stay tuned for those results!

County Fair

The County Fair is in town this week, so we took the kids to it today. Ed and Eddie rode this ride twice. The car spin around and upside down.








Kaila had a friend that went with her. Kaila was upset that the Steelers were not on TV in our area today. But after riding a few rides with her friend, they found a TV at the fair that had the game on and they sat in front of it for while to watch it.









Kelli and Eddie rode alot of rides together.







I rode one ride with Kelli while Eddie rode a ride with Ed. It was a beautiful day for the fair.

Letterman Jacket and Mini Golf

Kaila got her Letterman jacket this week. The one shoulder has the Flash of Crimson logo for the band. The other shoulders has her graduation year and "bars" for years in the band.






The "F" on the front is for Forsyth High School. She can't wait for the weather to turn cooler to be able to wear it.












Shelley is in town this weekend. We went yesterday to play miniature golf at the Pirates Cove putt putt golf course.







The kids posed with the pirate












It was a nice day and a nice course. When we left there we went to Taco Mac for dinner.

This and That

It has been a busy couple of weeks since school started.

Ed and I spent a weekend in Helen, GA. Dustin watched the kids for us. We left on Friday evening and got to our cabin around 7pm. Our cabin was a one bedroom with a screened in deck. It was in the woods, but thankfully we had airconditioning because it was a warm weekend. We went to into the town of Helen on Saturday. Helen is a German town and we had a great dinner at a German resturant. We left Sunday and went to Anna Ruby Falls in Helen on the way home. The falls is the result of three rivers that come together. We walked the half a mile up to the falls.



I planted a tomato plant on the back deck along with some herbs. The herbs did really well and I cut and froze them all summer. The tomato plant finally produced some tomatoes a few weeks ago. They were not the prettiest tomatoes, but they were tasty. I still have a few green ones on the plant.







Ed and I became a great aunt and uncle again the end of July. Catharine was welcomed into the world by Ed's sister's daughter and son in law, Carrie, Jeff and their daughter, Claire.







Kelli made the volleyball team this year and started practicing before school started. She had her first game a week ago. They did not win, but it was the first game for most of the girls.

Kelli had several good hits, but doesnt like to serve at all, so she needs to practice that.





Dont pay attention the the number on her jersy because they had a mixup with the numbers and her number is now 30!

So now everything is caught up. Kaila has her first football game on Friday and Kelli has another game tomorrow, so I will try to update again soon!

First Day of School

Today was the first day of school for the kids.

Kaila is starting her senior year at one of the county high schools. She is again this year involved in the band as part of the color guard. Yes Kaila is holding her spiderman lunchbox!!

Kelli is starting her freshmen year at a different high school then Kaila. (Our neighborhood was redistricted so that is why Kelli is going to a different school then Kaila). Kelli is playing on the volleyball team.

Eddie is starting this year in 6th grade at one of the countys brand new middle schools. He is still very involved in Boy Scouts. Eddie did put shoes on before he went to school, I just got the picture before he put them on!

The first day of school went well for everyone. I had a ton of papers to sign for each child!

At my school we had a fire alarm that went off because of the new oven in the cafeteria. We evacuated the building in a very timely fashion and everything turned out fine.

It is going to be a great new school year!

Happy 17th Birthday Kaila!

Happy 17th Birthday Kaila! It is hard to believe that she is 17 already! It feels like just yesterday she was born!

She got a new camera for her birthday.








She picked spaghetti for dinner with a yellow 4 layer cake with chocolate icing for her cake.









She also got some 3-D chalk from Grammy and Pop. Her and her friend Katelynn drew a picture. It really does look 3-D when you wear the glasses!









Her camera was wrapped in a Steelers tote bag!

Summer Trip to PA

The girls and I headed to PA in the car the beginning of July and Ed and Eddie hopped on the motorcycle and took several days to get there. The girls and I did the interstates and got there the same day we left. Ed and Eddie took route 19 all the way into PA from GA. They traveled 870 miles in three days.

In PA Mom and I took Kelli and Eddie to Parker Dam State Park for the annual picnic the night before the reunion. Eddie said the water was cold and Kelli didnt want to get in. (Kaila was already on her way home, more on that in a bit)

Ed did some tile work for Mom and Dad in their bathroom. Of course there always has to be a supervisior and Mom filled that position for this job!

On July 3rd, Mom, Kaila, Kelli and I went to watch the fireworks in Clarion. It was a chilly night!

Dad had his own supervisory postion. He supervised the building of the new shed in the back yard.

And here is the shed!

The dogs went with us and for some reason, Roxanne inisted on sleeping in the suitcase each night. Not sure why. Maybe she was afraid we would leave her behind!!

I had lunch one day with two high school friends I have not seen in 26 years. It was a nice lunch and nice to meet up with old friends.

On the way back home, Kaila and Ed took all back roads including the Skyline Parkway and the Blue Ridge Parkway. Some mornings it was really foggy and some times they ran into cold weather.

Here is Kaila and Ed getting ready to leave Clarion and head back home on the bike. It took them three days and approximatly 1000 miles.