Here I Am

Yes, I know, I should just be a summertime blogger. Once school started this thing got hard to keep up with and as the holidays drew closer it was just impossible. I'm not apologizing because there will always be many things that are priorities for me over this blog but I know that those who like to follow along are more than ready for an update. So over the next week or two I will try to catch you up a bit. But remember, we start back to school next week so you never know what might happen. It may be summertime again before you get the Christmas recap.

Well, the last thing I blogged about was Alicia's deer so I'll try to pick up there. The weekend before Thanksgiving Keith took the younger three boys down near College Station to a friend's hunting lodge for some male bonding time. They came home toting three 8 point bucks and some great stories.

Needless to say, we have a freezer full of venison and have enjoyed some yummy jerky since then. The guys had a great time...just don't ask Tyler where Dad shot his deer. Thanks KC and Cathy for your awesome hospitality and for feeding our family for the next year.

While the guys were down south, the girls and I spent the weekend with my folks. We had a great time as well but the time always passes too quickly. Why is that? When you are in the dentist chair the hour drags by but when you are doing something you enjoy the days tick off the clock with reckless abandon. Go figure! I forgot to take my camera along this time so I have no pictures to share of our weekend.

Next up in this whirlwind update would be Thanksgiving. We spent a quiet day at home and really enjoyed the chance to rest and do nothing...except cook and eat, that is. Keith deep fried our turkey once again. I doubt that we will ever make turkey any other way unless forced to. It is so good. Yummo! Here is the end result...before we ate it of course.

Here are the girls on our front porch on Thanksgiving Day. You know you are in Texas when you can be outside barefoot on Thanksgiving.

The day after Thanksgiving I started decorating the house for Christmas. We finally got the tree finished on Sunday afternoon. As is our custom, here is a pic of Keith putting the angel on top of the tree and another of the kids in front of the finished product.

That about sums up November for us. Tomorrow or Thursday I'll dive into December. Here is a sneak preview of our December.

1) Tyler's Senior Pictures
2) Austin's 14th birthday
3) The Girls' gingerbread house
4) MBC's Annual Cookie Exchange
5) Grandma Jan comes to visit
6) Jeremy comes home for Christmas
7) Christmas!!!! Happy Birthday Jesus!
8) Little Chef revisited
9) Emma the Artist revisited
10) Austin breaks his hip...no I'm not kidding
11) Grandma Judy and Papa Wes come for New Year's Eve

Shannon, I apologize for the odd number of items but I'm too tired from all of these events to rework the list. ;)

See...it has been a busy month and it's not over yet. I can't wait to share some of these events with whoever out there cares to follow along. We are richly blessed but I could always use a few more hours in my day to share those blessings with everyone else.

For now, I wish you all a belated Blessed Christmas and a Joyful New Year! Thanks for hanging with me and gently encouraging me to update this thing. You know who you are...and there's more than one of you!