Some recent pictures

Some recent pictures for Project 365.


This is all of what is left of our 18 foot cedar Christmas tree. I'm glad that we have tile floors, it makes cleaning up the needles a little bit easier. But, it still took all day to take all the decorations off, cut up the tree, and put it on the curb. Our garbage men didn't take it, so we had to cut it up some more, and we will be putting it out again this week.


It was cold and rainy, so we decided to bring in Ewok, (the dog), inside for a little while. We tied him up to one of our pillars in the front room, so he had limited range of motion. Oreo, (the cat), doesn't really care for Ewok very much, but we think that he liked that he could just stay out of Ewok's reach.



Saturday morning, Quin woke up to his bedroom flooded. Water had even leaked out into the rec room area of the basement. We dried it up as best as we could, then called somebody on Monday morning. They told us that the floater on our sewage pump had gone bad. The floater is the part that causes the pump to kick on when the water level rises, and pumps the water out to the street sewer. So, obviously, we couldn't keep the carpet, even if we had been able to get all the water out. We will proably put tile down, in case something ever were to happen again.



Two of Ivan's partners, Rick & Jay Mohler, came out for a few days to meet and discuss things. I took this picture from our balcony.

This is Nicole after her all city concert. She was fifth chair.


This is not a very good picture of me, but, I think it shows us having fun on a Sunday evening, playing spoons.

More tree story, and other stuff

A litle bit more on putting our tree up. So we tried to hoist it up in front of the window, but we couldn't get it more than a few feet off the ground. Lukas, Nicole, and I were trying to keep the bucket (what we used for the tree stand), from sliding, as everyone else tried to lift it up, but the bucket kept sliding further and further along the wall in front of the window. At one point Nicole got trapped between the tree and the wall. So, then we went to plan B, which was to have a couple of boys stand up on the balcony, tie a rope around the tree, and have them lift the tree, while the rest of us pushed and arranged it in the bucket, then trying to scoot it over in front of the window. Well, once we got it upright, we started to scoot it, but it was too tall, and wouldn't make it under a part of the vaulted ceiling. So, then on to plan C, and that was to tie it and leave it right where it was. It is tied to the pillar with tie-downs and ropes. The whole thing was actually quite funny, and we were all laughing. All in all I think the tree looks pretty good, but I think the one we get next year will be a few feet shorter.

I am ordering a scrapbooking kit called Project 365. You are supposed to take a picture everyday of the year, and write a little note about it. So, I am going to try and keep up with that on here.

This picture was taken on Dec. 28, 2008. (I took two of them, and mom's eyes were closed in both.) We had my mom and J.R. over for dinner. We had pulled pork, corn, baked potatoes, and brownies & ice cream, to eat. While we were in the great room visiting and talking, Patrick was driving his remote control Hummer he had gotten for Christmas, up and down ramps he had made. Marshal also got out a remote control car, and was driving it around. So, it was kind of loud, but nothing too unusual for a house full of boys. J.R. came from a family of mostly boys, and my mom kept saying, that she just wasn't as used to this, meaning all of the racquet.

This picture was taken Dec. 29, 2008. It is of Rebecca, (9 years old), and my niece, Ella Kate Cooper, (4 1/2 years old). We had my dad, Arlene, my brother Timmy and his wife, Jennifer and their daughter,Ella Kate, my brother Daniel, and his girlfriend Megan over for dinner. We had Papa John's Pizza and pineapple cream cheese desert to eat. It was fun to sit around the table and talk, and laugh. Ella Kate had a lot of fun playing with Rebecca, and was upset when it was time to leave. It's so nice having family close by to visit with and see.