Merry Christmas!!

Johnny and Chachi's Christmas Medley

Another winner from the gang at Igniter Media. Click here for a special medly of Christmas favorites by Johnny and Chachi.

Silent Praise

I think I've posted a link to this clip before, but, in honor of the holiday season and to offer one more holiday chuckle (actually several), I give you the Monks of St Francis de la Sissies.

It's the time of the year when a holiday chuckle seems in order. My friend Wendell shared this one with me. You may have already seen it, but my guess is you will still probably laugh a bit. Click here for your holiday chuckle.

With snow on our Antioch hills recently... with really cold weather in Arkansas where I've been looking in on Mom... with blizzard conditions in some places and likely more on the way... I thought you'd like to see this rare image shared with me by a friend.

Know what it is? Are you sure?

It's actually Frosty the Snowman's baby picture!! 8-)

The Times, They Are A Changin'

My mom, now age 91, has finally decided it's time to give up her car, move from her house, and join us here in sunny California. We are excited about her coming and her new "digs" at The Commons at Dallas Ranch. She is now in the hospital in Searcy, recovering from a leg wound. Here's a pic of her in her room... with her new specs. :-)


One piece of furniture among the few that will stay with someone in the family is this old singer sewing machine that dates back into the early 50's. Note the cool wedding photos from 72 and 78. Were we all really ever that young?

Snow on Them Thar Hills

When I talked to Virginia this morning from here in Arkansas, she told me there was snow on the hills in the regional park behind our neighborhood where we often hike. Then this evening one of our church members sent me these pics. This is the first time in our six years in Antioch that snow has accumulated at so low an elevation. Maybe this means a chilly winter!?!

Arkansas Visit

My mom, Ruby Fern, has been in the hospital in recent days for treatment of a stubborn infection on her leg. I came here to Arkansas to hang out with her and get her ready for a transition to Antioch. More about that later. Here are some phone pics I took last night when Kent, Susan and family were visiting.

Here are Susan, Randi and Ryan.

Mom with Kent and Russell.

Mom explaining something... ever the teacher!

Images of Thanksgiving

Jeremy and Amber hosted their first family Thanksgiving... Virginia and I loved getting to know Wesley better... we all had a blast!!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

Quotes

The length of a film should be directly related to the endurance of the human bladder. (Alfred Hitchcock)

Quotation, n: The act of repeating erroneously the words of another. (Ambrose Bierce)

The Girls

The other day Jen sent us a pic that someone took of "the girls" getting ready for the parade that Saturday in Moscow. It's obviously breezy, but I love all the smiles.

And, as long as I'm sharing, I love this shot of Virginia with Hannah.

Greening Hills

Wow, this week has gone by quickly! It hardly seems like a week ago that we were wrapping up our visit with Jen, Fok and the kids. Been a busy week for us both.

The weather right now is really nice for doing almost anything outside... high of about 63 today with blue skies and sunshine. We went for a hike over the hill to the lake late this morning... beautiful! One of the odd things about living here is how, just as trees are dropping their leaves and preparing for the gray winter look in much of the country, the dry hills here, responding to the beginning of the rainy season (such as it is), are starting to green up. Here's what we saw after cresting the hill and descending to the lake.

Moscow Trip, Part 5

Fall in this part of the country means lots of leaves falling from the trees... no, no, I mean LOTS of leaves. In this part of town there are many, many huge old trees, so there are literally tons of leaves each fall. The city even has a huge truck vacuum that goes around sucking them off the streets so you can find the curb. The house Jen and Fok bought does not have nearly as many trees as the one they were renting, but there are still many in the neighborhood and plenty of leaves to go around. Kaleb was out of school today, so he joined his Nanna and Papa in raking and bagging... Oh... and Jen helped a little too. (Claire and Fok were at school and work, so they missed out.)

You can see that we had our work cut out for us.

We all worked hard, but Kaleb seemed to have almost magical powers over the leaves... they seemed to just fly his direction at times!

Creating a large pile of leaves... hard work.

Diving into said pile... well-deserved.

Soaking in the satisfaction... priceless!!

Moscow Trip, Part 4

Leaving no doubt whatsoever that she is a wonderful Nanna, VJ has been taking shots of the kids each day. Here are some of our favorites.

There is a wonderful park just a couple of blocks from their house. Here we have just left Claire and Fok and are headed to the grocery store... all on foot... nice!!

Hannah and her "binky"... much to Jen's chagrin! :-)

Not many tasks more satisfying than this one. Claire is not doing a pirate imitation... that's just her expression when she says "cheese" for a photo.


And Hannah decides she has something to say too!

Already to head out to preschool.

Claire loves to make this boxy car (or truck or school bus) with Lego's.

Kaleb is such a good big brother... and he loves his Nanna too.

Moscow Trip, Part 3

Whew! We've been busy the last couple of days!! Grandkids are great, and then there is also yard cleanup, house repair and upgrade projects, and did I mention the grandkids?? And the weather has been beautiful... down in the 30's at night, but up almost to 60 today!

I'll post some more kid-pics tomorrow after I download them from the camera. For tonight I'll just share this one that our friend Katie shared with us. Talk about getting into the Christmas spirit!?!

Moscow Trip, Part 2 - Homecoming and Halloween

We started the day with the University of Idaho Homecoming parade... which includes all sorts of community groups as well as bands from all over the area. Claire wore her monkey costume and joined with her mom, nanna, sister and many others to make up the University Children's Center entry. They were entry number 11 I think, so they finished early and watched the rest of the parade. Kaleb walked along with other kids from the Youth Hockey Association, and they were entry number 102, near the end of the parade. All had fun, and there were lots of people along the route. Here are some shots from the morning.

Today was also Halloween, so Kaleb and I carved a Jack-O-Lantern, and Nanna and I took the kids out Trick-or-Treating.

Kaleb and I begin the grisly task!

The finished product... totally designed by Kaleb.

Kaleb and his creation, complete with candle.

Claire's monkey costume did double duty today, and she was deemed one of the cutest to hit the Trick-or-Treat circuit tonight.

Kaleb as the Grim Reaper... pretty convincing if you ask me!!

The obligatory front porch photo before heading out in search of candy!!

Moscow, Part 1 - Hannah's Birthday

Our flight to Spokane and drive to Moscow went well. It's a bit cooler here than at home, but not bad. It was really special to arrive today because it is Hannah's 1 month birthday!! Evidence below. :-)

AAhhh... the good old Arkansas chocolate sheet with plenty of cinnamon! Kaleb did a nice job of spelling "Hannah" with the candy corn.

Posing... Claire loves to say "cheese."

One more.


The birthday girl with her Nanna.



And getting a much earned rest.


And Claire decided to celebrate with stickers.