Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving Everybody! I have to work Thanksgiving Day but that's OK! I leave at 2pm and go to my sister's and eat leftovers! No worries! Friday is Joe's birthday...he will be 36!
Mom leaves to go spend some time with Ernie in Florida on Friday...which is nice...'cause now I will have an excuse (again) to go to Florida to bring her home in the Spring!
I miss our big Thanksgivings that we had at Grandma's house every year-- Grandma and Mom cooking a turkey all night, lots of pies and salads, playing with my cousin Barbara Ann, Uncle Virgil making castles and moats and whole scenic land sculptures out of his meal on his plate before eating it (trying to impress us kids...I was impressed!). I guess I just thought Grandma and Mom would be around forever to make Thanksgiving Dinner. Boy, was I ever shocked first time I had the dinner at my house! Believe me, I scolded myself many times for not helping more in the kitchen while growing up! I always had more important things to do-- like watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade! I still like to watch it-- it's tradition! And speaking of tradition-- tomorrow at 8pm Levi will put Christmas music on the stereo and we will all listen to our first Christmas music of the year-- because it is tradition. Then Friday, we will go to St. John, Ks and get a Christmas Tree at Delp's Christmas Tree Farm...tradition! Tradition, tradition, tradition!

Kiowa County Wind Turbines

These are pictures I took last evening of the wind turbines they are putting up south of town.

Roses

Dennis met me at the airport in Wichita Monday and gave me these roses! They're so pretty! I had a good trip to Terri's. It was so fun to see Kale and my, how he has grown! He is a good baby and has such a sweet smile. Quinn is a good mommy. And I got to meet Kale's daddy. His name is Brad and he loves his baby. Now I need to stay home for a while and get some work done in my house-- you think that will happen?!?

Quinn, Kale, Terri and Me

Kale and his momma Quinn

Guess where I'm gonna go? Yup, to Roscoe, Illinois to see Terri and her little baby grandson Kale! I haven't got to see Kale since he was a little tiny preemie in the hospital! Now he doesn't even look like a preemie! See you later!

Halloween 09

Here's a scarey picture of Levi and I. Greensburg had a trunk-or-treat for the kids and Den and I dressed up (Den sqeezed into an old baseball uniform) and walked around. Levi and his friend Tim went as The Blues Brothers. This is not a good picture of Levi. I had told him not to squint because he squinted in the first picture! (I usually say Levi can't take a bad picture, but this one just isn't very good!)

I have to show off my pretty little great-neice Camille and her little brother Taden. Aren't they cute?!

Old pics of Mom and Dad

These are pictures of my mom and dad when they were in their early 20's. Dad always wore long sleeve shirts because he was a "tube bender" and worked over hot flames (he made neon signs). He also always wore a shirt with a pocket-- always. He carried pens and pencils and a pack of cigarettes in that pocket. He smoked like a train until Levi was a baby then he quit cold turkey. Never smoked again. Thank God! It was a answer to prayer! I hated taking Levi to their house when Dad smoked 'cause he would wreek of smoke (and so would we of course) . Dad also use to drink and quit that when Joe was a small child. We use to find liquor bottles in the tank of the toilet or in-between the towels in the bathroom when we were kids. I was so suprised when I got older to find out people kept alcohol in plain sight in cabinets in their homes! It's sad that none of us ever learned the tube bending technique. Dad could make anything out of glass. He made two beautiful doves for our church-- they had been broken by hail before the tornado and were waiting to be repaired but you know the rest of the story. I don't have anything neon that Dad made but I think Relena has a neon cactus. I miss my Dad-- he was a good guy and had a good sense of humor and would do anything for anyone if they needed help. He had alot of common sense. My Mom used to complain about his smoking (everyday) and when he quit I told the people at our church there had been a miracle and a wonder with Mom and Dad-- the miracle was Dad quit smoking and the wonder was it took Mom three days to notice! Dad was a WW2 Vet. He is buried here in Greensburg.