Christmas Tea

My mom started a tradition a few years ago where she takes a to tea for our annual Girls Christmas Party.  This year she was able to find a beautiful tea house in Long Beach.  It was a very enjoyable time with my sisters and a couple of my mom's friends.  We were only missing one of us...my sister Ronnette.  Wish she could have been there.

 Phylis and Mom

 Me, Susan, Mom and Cindy

Tree Trimming

The Christmas season officially begins when the tree is trimmed!  When my kids were younger I used to like the tree decorated a certain way, then I realized that it meant a lot to them to do the decorating.  I handed it over to them and now I am the photographer capturing the moments.  I wouldn't have it any other way right now because I see how quickly they are growing up and becoming less interested.   It will be a sad day when I have to decorate the tree again!  I will miss watching the joy it brings to them.

Thanksgiving

We had Thanksgiving in Las Vegas this year.  Kevin's brother Pat made an amazing turkey!  It was a very relaxing time.  I got very few pictures because I wasn't the photographer that day.   I let the kids shot away so we missed some of the crowd.  Like I said, I just relaxed that day!

 Pat is retired now from construction so he started using his carpentry skills to make the game "Corn Hole."  It was a big hit!  

 Two of my beautiful nieces, Megan and Katie.

 Pat with the beautiful bird.

 Tom making the gravy.

Family Portraits

A friend of mine is a photographer and has been for seventeen years.  She offered to fit us into her busy holiday schedule and take some portraits for us.  I just love her work.  (I personally think it helps that I have such great looking kids.  LOL!)  We had a great time taking the pictures.  This is one of the first times we have had formal pictures without someone making it difficult by not wanting to smile (Garrett)!  She was very quick with the pictures, only about 20 minutes, so the kids didn't get bored.  She knew exactly where she wanted them and posed us quickly.  I love how they turned out.

Garrett Age 15, 9th grade

Morgan Age 13, 8th grade

Justin Age 12, 5th grade

My Birthday...again

I just can't believe how often I have a birthday!  It seems like it happens at least every couple of months now.  When I was a kid it seemed like they never came along.  I guess it is a sign of old age!
Our family has a reputation for some good singing!  I really can't believe that I would share this with the world but here you go!  We are all looking our best because we didn't have cake until late in the evening and we put our pjs on.

We let Garrett practice his filming techniques on us.  He is taking TV digital at school.

Mom's Birthday Party

We actually had a double birthday party for my mom and Justin on the same day.  We had Justin's party earlier in the day and my mom later on.  I made my mom a peach crisp for her cake.  It was delightful!  I am so blessed to have such a wonderful mom.  She has been so thoughtful throughout the years and I am so grateful for her and a happy to honor her on her birthday!  

Justin's 12th Birthday (October)

I know I am really, really behind in my blogging!  I thought I would try and catch up before Christmas!  

These pictures are from back in October when we had Justin's 12th birthday party.  He had several of his friends over and we started out having a sock wrestling tournament.  The idea of this game is that you have to get one sock off the other kid.  Who ever gets it first wins!   It was a big hit with the boys. They loved it!

 The Birthday Boy with his 12 candles on his cupcake.

 This was another of those disturbing games that boys like to play.  Well, I guess at least one girl enjoyed it too.  The idea is you have to get the water out of the bowl with your mouth and carry it across the yard to the other bowl.  Who ever gets the water to the other end first wins!

The boys all got fake teeth as one of their party favors.  As the boys were leaving they all said they wanted to play those games at their next party.