One Happy Girl

After Hank chewed the foot off of Amanda's doll, she had to be shipped to the Doll Hospital. She has worried every day about when she would be home. What a blessing it was to see the UPS man show up today with her package. 'Sarah' came home in a hospital gown and a certificate of good health. Can you tell Amanda is a 'little' happy to have her home?

Andrew's Recital

Andrew had his first piano recital last night. He played 'Twelve Days of Christmas" He did such a great job - we are so proud of him. (Maybe next time I will figure out how to tape it and put it online.)

More Traditions..

For every Christmas since we have had children, we have always visited with Santa at our neighborhood firestation. It has been the same Santa & Mrs. Santa Claus for that entire time.

Merry CHRISTmas!!

This is an annual tradition - 13 years of Santa photos. They are so fun to look at and see how the Clan has changed. Amanda was the only one that was ever a screamer : ) I have always told the kids that they will always be required to have family Santa photos made every year - even when they are 40.

(I didnt notice until I got home that the photo says 'Happy Holidays' - I should have skipped that border.)

Elf On A Shelf

My grandma gave the kids an Elf On A Shelf set last year. They love it!! The girls have been asking for 2 months when the Elf would come down out of the attic.



Every night the Elf flies to a different hiding place in the house. The girls (and boys) race around the house looking for it every morning. It is so fun to see the joy they have from him. They also love him because they know he came from their Great-Grandma Nell.

Boys ARE NOT bothered by a little mud or rain...

All the boys and Dad went camping last week with some friends. They were up near Bryan on about 100 acres. It rained the entire first 24 hours they were there. They went thru 3 sets of clothes, flooded their tent and soaked their sleeping bags. It was about 45 degrees at night and just a little warmer during the day. Luckly - they are boys and they never mind mud.

This is neat little waterfall they found.


They were able to get some fish caught just in time for dinner.


This pic just sums up BOYS. Adam is hold down 2 fish so they dont get away. BUT the funny part of the pic is that he is barefoot and muddy. That boy does not like shoes - even in the cold.

This one is great too - Dustin is showing Adam how to scale the fish so they can fry them. One of the first things he told me when he got home was that he ate fried fish tails and they tasted like chips.



Who can have a weekend like that without wrapping it up with shooting big guns. The other family was deer hunting but our guys just shot 'stuff'.


This guy with any kind of gun scares me - HA HA

If you can't tell from the photos - they did have a great time!!

Flounder - Its Whats For Dinner!!

The Poppa Bear got to fish near Galveston this week. Unfortunetly, for the month of November, you are only allowed to bring 2 flounders home. AND of course, the flounder were biting well!! Maybe next month when the limit goes up to 5, they will still be as easy to catch.