Photo of the day, Wednesday

Happy Birthday one last time this year to brother John. It's bound to be a good year!

Really busy at work again/still. I know that this project will eventually be done, but for now it's killing me. They just realized that the time lines are too long now and so I have to see what I can do to pull things in faster. Stress is driving my hair whiter and whiter.

One last shot of John. Not sure when this was from but it ended up in my laptop. I don't normally use the laptop to post these, but I was working late and didn't want to get off the couch. The photo is probably over 2 years old since I think that it was taken in the Mantorville abode.

Have a great day!

Pat

Photo of the day, Tuesday

First some great bragging news, Spencer made the honor roll and we now have the window cling to prove it. We are pretty proud of him. Holly won the arm wrestling match and so the window cling is heading to her car. Here it is. Way to go Spencer!


On to the big news, my brother John is having a birthday Wednesday, December 3rd. Let's see, he's my older brother, actually the oldest brother. I am still pretty much a juvenile so it's all I can do to stop from trashing him. Instead here are some shots of John, not an exhaustive montage, but one that shows growth. If you have his email, spam him, I mean send him an e-greeting! Happy Birthday Big Guy!

Mom, Dad and Jack when he was way, way younger.


Dave, Jack, Pat and Mom. Jack has an eye for the camera.


Wally Cleaver, oh, I mean Jack at 8.


Jack in high school, senior?


Dave and Jack by Owens' Ice Machine Van, note the white belt.


Dave, me, Jack and John, all of us older and hopefully wiser.


Jack and Jim Bell, note that Jim, while a bit older, more hair on the roof.


Have a great day!
Pat

Photo of the day, Monday

Why is it that when you get used to technology someone, somewhere decides it's time to obsolete or "improve" it? It drives me nuts. I have begun to wonder if it's just because I'm over 50 and so technology is like so much junk once I come in contact with it. My iGoogle home page recently went wacky, then I lost my daily funnies and now something seems to be up with Blogger, where I record these random thoughts. Oh well, let's hope it's a phase, like the teen years.


I know that the message is getting out though since many of you have weighed in on David's reason for the glasses. Most popular reply, "carving the turkey", most humorous; "that's funny. I'm sure I put socks on this morning." Thanks for playing along. David, any recollection?


This is a shot of a "loaner" dog, one that was being watched by Tom and Maureen while the owners were away. Angel took over this dog toy for the weekend and was often seen carrying it around like a large stogy. When bit, a most disturbing noise could be heard, not a squeak, more of a earthy sound, if you catch my drift. Good dog though.


Have a great day!
Pat

Photo of the day, Sunday

Here we sit, in the first "major" snow storm of the year. We joined the lemmings and headed to the store to stock up with a few items, but nothing major, after all, we're Michiganders! Ian and Spencer played out their superstition of; if you wear your PJ's inside out and backwards and flush an odd number of ice cubes down the toilet, you get a snow day. We'll see how far that gets them.

This morning the little kids sang in church. Pretty cool song, not one of your standard Christmas tunes, but a new one called; "He Made a Way in the Manger", this is a You Tube link to a video that has the song, I did watch the whole video, It's not like when I watched lots of little kids sing this song, but the music is very similar. I really enjoy working with kids and when we do the "Big" productions, I really get a kick out of watching the kids that I have worked with and see how they deal with life on the stage. Some make it, some hang back and a few grab the spotlight with both hands. It's always interesting watching kids on stage.

One of the bonuses of coming back from a trip is that I have extra photos. Spencer was my main photographer on this Thanksgiving and here is one of his shots. Uncle David is reading something, as evidenced by him wearing his glasses. Other than that, I have no context for this shot. Let's make one up! Post a comment on what you think Uncle David was reading, remember this is a G rated blog. I think David was reading...

Have a great day!

Pat

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