Christmas 2008 - Final

As you can tell Ryley must be gone. He and his Mom took off this evening, I'm kinda sad. TC is also sad, his boy is gone, Ryley shares all his meals and snacks, and wants all the other dogs put away.

His ear infection was cleared up, so we were able to go to Chuck E Cheese on Sunday, Grandpa Sam even took him on a driving tour over the Lynchburg Ferry. He loves riding in the Silver Truck.

I can honestly say this is one of the best Christmas Holidays ever...but I think I'll get some sleep now.

PS....we had a female Teal Duck in the pond all day on Saturday, she just swam around and chatted to the decoys, she thought they were good listeners.

Christmas 2008 - Part 5

Friday the 26th was spent at the ER with a really bad ear infection. Ryley received very good care the Anahuac hospital, we tried to get in local Urgent care facilities but they were all packed. So we opted to go to the small town of Anahuac then go downtown Houston. You can see that TC is his dog, and that he took very good care of him.

Christmas 2008 - Part 4

Christmas Day Brunch with Mary, Owen, Amanda and Granny Pat along with Ryley and family. I love Mimosa's.

Sam received more Duck decoys and a Goose decoy. Imp was not thrilled at the scary white Goose in the pool, and she let everyone know about it. I do hope ducks don't land in the pool.

Christmas 2008 - Part 3

Part 3 Christmas Eve! I went to work this morning, really I did

Granny Pat, Ryley's family, Gary and Jo....WOOOOHOOOOO more table setting, more cooking, more presents. I'm really having fun!

There aren't many times you'll see Mom speechless, but she was when she saw that her gift from Sam and I was a trip to Israel. We're going in April.

Sam received duck decoys from Chris, and now more decoys from Gary and Jo! I got what I call a bunny cam (no not even close to what you might be thinking), it's a Timber Eye. I have bunnies that come up close to the house around midnight, so now I have a bunny cam. We have the decoys setting out in the pond, hoping the kids driving by on 4 wheelers don't shoot them. Now we have ducks in the pool and ducks in the pond.

Christmas 2008 Part 2

Part 2 started off Tuesday Morning the 23th with the arrival of Nicholas! My Christmas Surprise.

The weather turned off nice, so the boys had the opportunity to play outside.

Keegan was able to get a little Duck Hunting in, and Ryley chose to play ball.

The Keegan Family took off to the other side of town for Christmas with other family members. It was a joy to have both familys for a couple of days.

The Ryley Family stayed on, and that evening we went to Granny Pat's. My adopted bro & sis, Kirk and Rhonda, along with Gary, Jo, Sam and I went in for a flat screen TV for Mom! So event #2 had taken place!

You might be thinking, am I on vacation this week....no not really, just not going to work. But I do work from my Blackberry!

Christmas Holidays Part 1 - 2008

Part 1 of Christmas Holidays 2008 started with the arrival of Ryley and Sarah on Friday the 19th. Ryley likes flying to Houston, Tx.

Grandpa Sam Ryley sat while we did some last minute shopping on Saturday, he had agreed to 2 hours, I just didn't tell him when the 2 hours was going to start. They did just fine, and Sam discovered a cartoon called Toots and Puddle on the Noggin Channel I think Sam has a favorite cartoon now.

Sunday brought the Coast Guard crew up from Portland, Keegan, Roni and Christoper. And the cousins got along famously, which was good because the weather did not cooperate and the boys had to stay in all day.

Monday night brought Gary and Jo over for the first of our 1st get together. Ryley received a new game for his Nintendo DS and Keegan had fun with his Giant Bugs.

Snow the next day 12/11/2008

With such a bleak week, it was nice to be able to wake up to such a beautiful day yesterday. I was so glad stayed it until morning.

Traffic on the way to work yesterday, well what usually takes about 15-20min, took well over 2.5 hours!

Snow 12/10/2008

OMG, do I not pay any attention to the weather or what?? Did they forecast this?

If I knew how to make a snowman I had enough so to do so, but uh, never made one. It was beautiful, I hope it's still around in the morning. At 2230 it was 31f and still light flurries so maybe it will be. I'm going to bring a thermoprobe home tomorrow to ck the pool temp, my frog thermometer is only reading what's up top and it was 42f two days ago.

Imp surprised me, she ran around like a yahoo, so did Bess and Chuy, TC on the other hand thought they were weird and he went back inside.

Turtle Rescue

As I was shutting the gate yesterday I saw this guy trying to get in, but he wasn't having much luck. He was attempting to get in the pond, he heard we had a cool turtle couch to hang out on. So I assisted him in the gate, he wasn't very big, maybe a ft long? This was before the cool front, so I'm sure he's buried in the muck with friends!

Last week, I counted 11 turtles on the couch. We have all sizes!

Am I just getting to weird, I love watching all the pond wildlife (except for one kind). Soon I'll be eating Grape Nuts.

Ducks

We had 2 ducks in the pond! A male and female Hooded Merganser! Why does the male always look so girly girl?

We may work on duck feeders and decoys. Do you know that not only do they sell the duck decoy, but they sell duck butt decoys.

The things I've learned.

Quiet

Everyone left on Friday the 27nd. Oh My was it quiet! No more reading bedtime stories, I'm sad, and so is TC.

Saturday the 28th, off to Portland, TX for a PARTY! Keegan's 2nd! It was baseball themed, cake and all! His birthday cake was in the shape of a baseball cap. Keegan loves to play tee ball.

This week ended with a friend from the UK coming over for dinner. I haven't cooked as much as I have in the last 2 weeks, in over 2 years.

Back to normal I suppose, and planning for Christmas, and all the boy's will be here!

Thanksgiving 2008

Started early with Sam leaving for the airport at 5:30AM, off to cold Montreal!

Sarah made her Luscious four-layer Pumpkin Cake and when she was done I started on the other stuff. Other than me pouring boiling water in a glass pitcher which exploded the day was perfect.

Mom, Kurt, Rhonda and the crew in from New Mexico sat down for a late lunch, yippee we pulled it off!

Later that evening, Sarah and I left Nicholas to baby sit, and we went to the movie to see Australia we like it, and anyone that knows me, knows I really liked it! For the scenery of course! I'm all for seeing that movie again.

Thanksgiving Week - Starting November 19th

I'm so far behind!

Ryley, Sarah and Nicholas arrived via Southwest Airlines on the 19th, and Ryley was ready to visit "the Farm"!

Mom, Sarah and I shopped on 20th, while Nicholas and Ryley helped Sam at the grocery store. Ryley's basketball goal and tee ball set was already for him. TC remembered him, and didn't leave his side the entire visit.

Ryley went on a visit to the Houston Zoo this week, but always said let's go back to the farm.

Sunday they drove down to Portland (TX) to visit Keegan, Roni and Christopher! Look at the size difference in these 2! Ryley is 4, and Keegan just turned 2! This was a first time visit for the cousins, and they hit it right off. In fact, Ryley got a time out, and Keegan pulled his chair in the kitchen with him and waited for him. (something that their dad's wouldn't have done.)

Ryley enjoyed hiking out in the field, and down to the lake at the end of the road. He called the bridge that seperates our east and west field the Troll Bridge!

Wednesday before Thanksgiving, Mary, Owen, Amanda along with Nicholas, and Sarah came over for a pre-Thanksgiving meal since Sam was going out to Montreal early the next morning. Lot's of wine and beer tasting going on.