Christmas Day

As we drove up to Karen & Mike's house on Christmas Eve we found that everything north of Springfield was covered in a layer of ice.  We hate to see that happen, but I have to say that the sun shining through the icy limbs of the trees was sure beautiful.  I wish I had gotten a picture of it, but we didn't stop anywhere to do that.

The Jacobs kids are growing fast.  When we compare pictures taken in February when Charlie was born to what the kids look like now, there is a big difference.  We spent Christmas Day at Karen & Mike's before heading home to do laundry in preparation for the further trip to Amy's.  On the 27th we drove to Amy & Mike's to meet with the whole family for a belated family Christmas.  A big thank you to Amy and Mike for letting us all converge on them.

On Christmas morning the family checked to see if Santa and his reindeer had eaten the treats that they left for him.

Andrew was excited to check his stocking.

Emily loved the Fisher Price train and her stocking.

This picture of Emily reminds me of Karen when she was this age.

This guy is just happy most of the time.

They were waving at each other; that's why their hands are fuzzy.

One of Andrew's favorite activities of the day was sitting with his daddy while ripping up wrapping paper and then throwing it up into the air.  What a good daddy!

Here is the kitchen crew at Amy's house.

Here is what Amy was making.  They were called "Grinch-kabobs".  Cute, huh?

Daniel and Zach are such clowns when they get together.

I really like this one of Dominic -- except for the fact that it looks like Michael was about to snap him in the ear with something.

Here is Michael holding Sawyer.

46th Anniversary

The 23rd of December was our 46th wedding anniversary.  I can hardly believe we are old enough to have been married that long.  May it continue for lots more years so that we will look back and think that 46 is such a short time.  We thought of several things that we might do to celebrate our anniversary this year.  We finally decided to go to Silver Dollar City.  The weather looked pretty good online so we figured we would be safe to walk between the many shows and activities there were to do.  We were able to make our hotel and park reservations online, making it all pretty easy.  As we continued to check the weather during the week before going, we found the predicted temperature would drop a couple of degrees or so each day.  It changed from 36 degrees to 23 degrees with a substantial wind chill.  We still had fun even though we found ourselves looking for shops, etc. where we could stop for the heat to avoid freezing.  There was to be a light show at 5:30 and a light parade at 6:00.  We thought we would go to those and then go back to the hotel and enjoy the hot tub.  Every time we needed to stand in line outside for a show it started snowing.  The shows were good though, but by a little after 5:00 we decided the hot tub sounded a lot more inviting than the lights so we hopped on the shuttle that would take us to our part of the parking lot.  It's a good thing we made that decision too; the driver made the announcement that the parade had been cancelled due to the cold.  Boy, did that hot tub ever feel good.  Sorry, no pictures of us in our swim suits at the hot tub.

I can't put my arms down!!

 

This is the entrance to the park.

Santa was waiting for me near the entrance.

This guy was picked from the audience to be in a skit.  He was a really good sport.

I wish this showed how really beautiful the lights were on the trees, but you get the idea.

Did we have a blast?  Yes, we did!

Cold . . . or not??

I took this picture of the bushes in front of our house.  I think it was Saturday afternoon when I took it.  Today is Monday and the temperature was up to 60 degrees.  We have the craziest weather!!

Here is a picture of my new friend.

Alan and I have begun a new health regime.  There's no way we could do this without doing it together.  We are exercising and counting calories.  Sometimes we take walks together, but in this snowy weather we have been using the Nordic Track. It's a good thing we invested in it so long ago.  I was so used to just eating whatever sounded good at the moment.  It's so different to record every little thing you eat.  It really makes you think.  My doctor was thrilled.  She asked if I had been sick that month and was happy that I was just being sensible.  Lots of fruits and veggies in my recipes.  I dropped 8 pounds the first month.  We'll see if that continues.  I am being very good about sticking to my calorie limits.  Maybe by this summer I can actually wear my swimming suit??