Kiwanis Pancake Festival

Tom and I attended the Kiwanis Pancake Festival this year.

11,689 visitors. Amazing we were in line only 20 minutes from door to pancakes.

56,520 pancakes and 36,000 sausage patties. All you could eat.

Some of the best pancakes, I have had.

Tom enjoying his pancakes.We had a great time, good food and the CD playing Willie Nelson's "Milk Cow Blues". Yes, we are in Texas! We love Willie.   

Thanks Daniel for the tickets and encouraging us to go.  

Gone With the Wind

In January we had a big wind storm, reminded me of my youth when we had dust storms. Daniel and Ashley had a big tree in their front yard, that they had been thinking of getting cut down since it was dead.

Now it is gone with the wind. The windows in front of the house are Chloe and Caleb's bedrooms. Chloe was asleep in her room when the tree fell.

Let the cutting begin.

Thankful, that the tree came down perfectly. I believe in angels. Did not hit the house, cars or any power lines. And several people got some free firewood, including us.  

Memories of Christmas Past

One of Tom's favorite memories as a child, was his mother taking him downtown Cincinnati to see the miniature train display at Christmas time. Since we were not in Cincinnati, it would be hard to recreate that memory completely. But found a good substitute here at home.

Jim Huges' Santa Express Train Show

Tom had a great time.

The exhibit features mountains and valleys, a large town, farm and ranch lands, an amusement park, zoo, airport, circus and much more. 19 trains, 340 automobiles and trucks. 250 and 1850 people. 1000 feet of track.

Santa's Express is truly a labor of love, and a gift to our community from the Hughes' family.

Thanks for the memories and next time you are in town will be bringing the grandchildren to add to their Christmas memories.

Precious Memories of Christmas 2011

Precious Memories of Christmas 2011

The right size and color.

Little Chloe with new pj's and new kitchen.

Caleb with his Safari Train.

Here Chloe and I are looking at my favorite gift, a picture book of this past year.

Precious Memories!!!

Hope you all had a Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year.

Afternoon with Caleb

 While Caleb was out of school for Christmas vacation Tom and I got some special time with him. First, we went to Chuck E. Cheese's for lunch and games.

This is our Caleb loving having his picture taken by Grannie.

Pappy and Caleb

One of his favorite things is to climb through this area hanging from the ceiling. Grannie is made a little nervous by this.

After a couple of hours, we moved on to the Mall and Lunar Golf. Pappy thought this was really cool.

You can barely see Caleb feeding an orange golf ball to this extinct flying reptile (pterodactyl) that was painted on the wall above him. After 36 holes of putt-putt, Pappy and Grannie were tired, but very happy to have spent time with our Caleb. One last stop before leaving the Mall. The photo booth of course.

Pappy and his buddy making faces, Grannie trying to get them to take a good picture.

Now, that is what I call a sweet picture.

Thanks, guys.

Christmas Visitor

Now, I am not the kinda of lady to check out strange sounds in the night. Usually, elbow the hubby saying, "Honey, I hear something." But, last night I was awaken by the slightest sound of a bell ringing. Not a scary sound at all, so I crept out to the living room, cell phone in hand ready to dial 911.  And what did I see...

Santa ...

Startled he dropped the package in his hand and tried to ...

 hide behind the Christmas Tree.

He ran to the fireplace, trying to get away. I was snapping pictures all the way.

He shushed me!

He was gone in a flash, and I heard him exclaim,

"Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night."

"And , Lord protect me from those Scrap booking Grannies tonight."

Sister Sunday

Now usually on Sister Sunday, you will find my sisters and I scrap booking. This one we decided to go to the movies and see Twilight: Breaking Dawn. Really good movie, so I won't ruin it for you. If you don't know anything about the Twilight series, let me tell you it is a romance between Bella (human), Edward (vampire) and Jacob (wolf). Now the good part is you choose teams.

This Debra and Jane, they are on Team Edward. That is Edward on the poster, did I mention he is a vampire?

Cathy and I, belong on Team Jacob. That is Jacob on the poster. Did I mention he is the warm blooded one?

We had a great time and a lot of laughs. Can't believe we have to wait months now to find out the end to the series.