Photo of the day, Saturday

Ah, that satisfaction that comes from getting home after being out and about for a few days. It's almost a guilty pleasure. I mean, I love being with my Sister and Brother-In-Law, and the chance to visit with Dave and Judy, awesome. But that sense of calm that comes over you when you get back to your own house with your own bed and your own stuff, well, as they say on the commercial, Priceless. Now the reason that I considered this a guilty pleasure was that I was sure that I would offend my sister if she knew how happy I was to see my own house number after visiting her, but, as I have aged, I have been blessed with a wee bit of wisdom. Now I see that she's probably just as happy to see us off and to have her home back again.

Anyway, here we are on the way home. Not bad for setting the camera on the dash for a tripod.

Yesterday I left a bit of a cliffhanger for you all. To recap, Tom and I were falling all over ourselves with glee at the boys hauling out their first tree. And then I was going to waft philosophical and bemoan losing my boys to teenagers, but I, for whatever reason, opted to quit right in the middle of the sentence. Who knows, I might have been called away to an important meeting, after all, pecan pie was on the menu. In other words, I think it was nothing.

I am the subject for tonight's photo. Friday night, as we have a bit of a tradition of doing, we went to the 1776 restaurant for the "beer dinner". This year the beer was from the Rogue Brewery, from Oregon. Their lead beer is one called "Dead Guy Ale", it's a beer I've had before and enjoyed and was pleasantly surprised to hear was the focus. On the way out Holly asked if I wanted a t-shirt. She was bold enough to ask the owner if one was available for purchase, I was too shy. The owner came back with a t-shirt and this hat and as he handed it to me he wished us a Merry Christmas. Very cool! Ian is so jealous of my hat and t-shirt, but I told him that he needs to be of legal drinking age to wear it. The hat is a black one that has stitched into it, "DEAD GUY" in glow in the dark letters, very cool!

Have a great day!

Pat

Photo of the day, Friday

Happy Black Friday! We you one of those that was out really early, after the deal? Holly and Maureen have done the early out the door thing in the past. Or were you one of those that takes it a bit easier? That’s more like Tom, me and the boys. We were all calm this morning, we slept in, by my way of looking at it, and had a nice breakfast all together.

Yesterday was a great day with David and Judy meeting all of us at Tom and Maureen’s for a feast. It was a true feast this year, probably as a result of running out of leftovers too quickly last year we overcompensated. It was one of the best meals I can recall as an adult being a part of. All of us had a hand in preparing, eating and cleaning up. Here’s my annual shot of the table and the guests. Starting at the head, we have Tom, Holly, Ian, Maureen, David, Judy and Spencer. As usual, the thankful rolls entertained us and helped keep the conversations going.

Today Tom, the boys and I went on our annual quest for a Christmas tree. We scaled back the size, for a couple of reasons, the primary one was that the farm that we like the best a funny situation, some trees in the small size zone and some in the super large, community room size zone, but the middle zone, 7 to 9 foot tall, not much at all. We’ve been doing this on the Friday after Thanksgiving for probably 9 years. This is the first year that the boys were able to carry the tree out while Tom and I strolled back to the barn and here is the photographic evidence of that. It was a red letter day to be sure! As we stolled back, Tom, in a mock sobbing voice, remarked that it was tough to watch them grow up. We roared in laughter at his wit, then I thought about the

Have a great day!
Pat

Photo of the day, Thursday

We are getting ready for our traditional Thanksgiving journey to Maureen and Tom's house. I hate the drive, but love the time. The boys won't even begin to consider letting us drop any traditions, not yet and especially not if it involves giving up pie, cinnamon rolls or thankful rolls.

What are "thankful rolls"?


Thankful rolls are a great invention that I think we picked up from a Parent's or Family Fun magazine 10 years ago. We use Pillsbury crescent rolls, a pencil and cheap paper. We tear up enough note size pieces of paper for one to go in each dinner roll. Divvy up the papers equally among the diners. Each diner then fills out each note with a thing that they are thankful for, the diner must not use the same thought each time. Fold up the notes really small and roll them into the center of the crescent rolls. Bake rolls per instructions found on the container. At dinner, as each roll is opened the opener tries to guess the original author. It's fun and my boys have learned from this that it's not things, but people that matter. Sandy, by the way, thanks for the e-card, we cherish our family and friends.



Here's one of my mom from last Thanksgiving. She was an awesome woman.


I may post, I may not, while we are at Maureen and Tom's, who knows? Not me, that's for sure.

From the West Michigan side of the family, we'd like to wish you a Happy Thanksgiving and safe travels.

Have a great day,
Pat

Photo of the day, Monday

It was a nice day, on the drive in to work. At lunch it was a slippery as you can imagine. It's days like this that make me happy that I only drive 2 miles to work and reach a top speed of 30 or so. Even so, I got a bit sideways at my first corner. Holly used 4 wheel drive while out on errands, of course the Kia isn't the heaviest vehicle on the road. In the afternoon Holly got directions on the location of the shovels so that the boys would be able to get the driveway cleared before I got home. You know, some days it's alright to have a teen and a pre-teen

At scouts tonight we worked on rank advancements and some merit badges. It's pretty interesting how I can work with kids, that aren't my own, and have them listen to me right away. It was fun going through the stuff because no matter what the topic, one of the boys knew more than me and wanted to share that knowledge.

We picked up the rest of the popcorn orders tonight so we can deliver at will now. Molly, we'll see you at Christmas, unless you want it sooner. Jean, I dropped yours off this morning when I picked up my shirts. Maureen, we'll bring them to Thanksgiving. Bob, we're holding it for Smithmas. Everyone else is already taken care of, especially those that donated to the military. To all that supported our troop, Ian, Spencer and I are very thankful, because Mom wasn't going to let us buy 2 quota's worth, that's for sure!

Have you ever had a photo that made you smile when ever you saw it? Well that's what's up with this one of Holly. I see this and I have to smile.