2024-12-25

FUNcle Ramdy stopped by to drop off presents on Christmas Eve 

Sitting down to a small quiet Christmas dinner at the cottage

2024-12-23

Some fun photos around the courthouse square. 

2024-12-21

Spent the day doing area Christmas activities 

Photo by the big bear on the courthouse square after shopping for new Christmas shirts and stopping for "Happy Hour" at the bakery to get cookies.

Gathered eggs at the cottage 

Tea party at the cottage

Then off to Lometa for the Jingle Mingle parade (got LOTS of candy)

 Chips and cheese for dinner before going to the Creek Walk of Lights in Lampasas 

Stopped to read storybook pages that were posted along the way 

The Big 5-0

Lots of celebrations for S this week! 

Started Wednesday at poker at Trailblazer Grille

Happy 2018

Best New Year's Eve ever!

We had a cancellation for the New Years Holiday, so J wanted to go hunting in Doss.  We decided since the weather was going to be cold to get a room in Fredericksburg and at least have a warm place to sleep.  J just called a reservation service and happened to find a whole house that was available for $199 a night.  We got to town a little early and went to a few shops and  had some wine and rum tastings and I bought a bottle of Zinfandel called Pinky Tuscadero and J got a bottle of black rum - made totally with molasses. 
While he was out hunting I looked for things to do for the holiday and found out that there was ice skating and the first-ever "ball-drop" going on in Marketplatz downtown.  We had a steak dinner at KBobs and then went downtown. It was still lit up with Christmas lights and was really pretty.

We went to the ice rink that was being sponsored by a local private school and rented skates and hit the ice.  J had never been ice skating before and was a really good sport -- he went around twice holding onto the rail and only fell once! 

We got a latte at a little coffee cart that was in a pavilion that they had enclosed with tarps on a couple of sides and hung out and listened to the DJ for a while.  He played a pretty good mix of music and even played "Fraulein," "Foot on a Stool," and "Silver Wings" back to back so we could dance.  J and I joked it was like he was channeling our parents playlists! 

Around 11 we went back to the house to grab our champagne and got ready to watch the ball drop. According to the local paper, it was made by a local guy out of some recycled materials -- it was a lighted cage that had a disco ball inside and they suspended it from a fire truck ladder.  Then they started the countdown and played "Auld Lang Syne" and got our midnight kiss.  

Thanksgiving 2017

Donny seated himself at the head of the table

l TRexxing

Thanksgiving 2016

Stocking Stuffer Exchange

Stocking Stuffer Ideas 

Initials	Candy	Snack	College Sports	Color	Month	Book Movie TV Music	Hobby	Decor	NO	Other
SAS	Chocolate	Chips / Dip	UTA	pink	Jan	Sweet Pot Queens Big Bang Oldies	The Verandas HAHAHA	antique black / white toile desk	flamingos
JCS	Reeses	jerky	Tech Lobos	dk green	March	Brad Meltzer books Walking Dead Oak Island Big Bang	hunting fishing woodwork  guns	Man Cave aka roadkill room (hunting theme) room at school - camo	KISS salt and pepper shakers  hot sauce
LCS	Souurpatch Kids	jerky	Army	blue	May	Game of Thrones Series of Unfortunate Events  Dragon Ball Z	League of Legends  fishing football soccer	southwest
ENS	Skittles	jerky	A and M	blue	March	Walking Dead	hunting fishing	southwest
RDS	Sour Patch Kids Swedish Fish	pretzels	N/A	red	Nov (Scorpio)	Marvel, DC comics Dr Who nerdy stuff	Back to the Future Ghostbusters Etc	red black blue checkered
CSS	HEath bars	packs of stick bread and fake cheese	UT	green or burnt orange	Aug	Alchemist, Old Man and the Sea, Game of Thrones, Walking Dead, Stepbrothers	working on cars, geological specimens	soft blues, greens, white, rustic woods
MSS	dark chocolate snickers, gummy bears	jerky  hot Cheetos	UT Green Bay	NOT pink or red	Oct	Night Circus, Criminal Minds, Phantom of the Opera	sewing, crafts (wreath making, etc)	soft blues / greens, white, rustic woods	penguin
JTS	Snickers	beef jerky	UTPB	blue	Aug	cop shows, supernatural, Tombstone	hunting, fishing, cop stuff	southwest, cactus
KNS	Reeses	popcorn	A and M	blue	Mar	Princess Bride, Maverick	horses	barnwood, rustic	wine glass
BGM	any	any	UTPB	green	Apr	Murphys Romance or  Places in the Heart	horses garden	redneck  pickup truck duct tape	coffee mugs
RCM	Sugar Free	Doritos Bean Dip	Tech Yankees Bears		Jan	Quiet Man (John Wayne)	baseball cards, sports, WWII	red and black
MCM	orange slices, dark 70% chocolate, chewy LemonHeads	Williams and COnnor beef jerky	Tech	blue	Nov	teaching / learning	tools	organized mess
DLM	chocolate with nuts	popcorn, nuts	ACU	any	Sep	Christian books, Big Bang, chick flicks mystery action	kindle puzzles and books	warm colors
TJM	Reeses	hot things, chips, popcorn, etc	ACU	red	Sep	The Office, Whose LIne... BLue Collar Comedy, Dr WHo	D and D music  art	red  car is white
CJM	any	any	A and M	blue	May	YouTube	YouTube	blue

15

A few shots on Landon’s 15th birthday (the camera was doing weird stuff in the in kitchen lighting!). 

Thanksgiving Cake Recipe

Thanksgiving Turkey Cake
All in one!  "Icing" is mashed potatoes, filling is dressing and cranberry sauce with sweet potatoes and marshmallow decoration on top!

Happy Veterans' Day

Here is a picture of Uncle Jack in his Army uniform.
Our family is lucky to have had men representing all branches of the services except the Coast Guard.
Now, Corky is also in the Air Force.

Thanks and Happy Veterans' Day to all the men and women who serve our country.

The Christmas Story

Here is the gift Shelli gave her brothers and sister for Christmas. It is a framed copy of the page from their dad's Bible of the Christmas story. He read it to them every year before they could open their gifts on Christmas Eve.

1000 Points of Light

Jesse and the boys hung our Christmas lights today. Randy was the brave one who got on the roof. Justin and Landon took the dizzying task of wrapping the big tree in the front yard.