Sigh...

Supposedly, the last time there was snow on Christmas Day in these parts was 1882, I haven't actually verified that, but have seen it in enough news stories that I'll assume it's true... :)

Taylor, a few minutes ago, trying to find something for her to use as a sled...

View from the back...

Pool, yeah, that thing runs 24/7 now, and likely will until March... :(

Back area we recently cleared out...

Taylor trying out the various items we tried to use as a sled, when I say "we", I mean Taylor, I have zero interest myself, it's all I can do to be outside to take a picture... Oh well, the kids LOVE it, and with any luck, the next few months will fly by and then it will be Spring!! :) In case you are wondering, a trash bag appears to work the best...

Merry Christmas!!

Sadly, my digital camera situation is not good, I need to have my good one repaired, so note to self: get that done soon!! So yeah, not many pictures were taken, and the ones that were aren't all that great. Of course I've been sick for the past three days, so didn't really care much... Hope that everyone had a fabulous day with friends and family!!

Getting ready to tear into the "loot", the kids have been anxiously awaiting this morning, as I'm sure kids all over the world have... :)

Cory spent the night last night, so was here this morning for the festivities, Jessica came over a little later to enjoy the "Christmas feast" with us. Taylor (I think) made those ornaments for Cory's tree...

Chance wanted some dumbbells for Christmas so he can start working out, and yeah, that's one of the few pictures of Tanner that even turned out, sigh...

This has pretty much been me for the past three days, hopefully it is nearly over... :(

Merry Christmas Eve...

I hope everyone is doing well, we've been passing around a bug of some sort here, I've felt like shit the past two days, starting to feel better now though. I got it from Chance, hopefully no one else gets it... :) Although, Tanner, sadly, isn't sounding too good... Marci called earlier and was going to come over, yeah, I told her to STAY AWAY! :) Everyone is still in a good mood though, and we all have the holiday spirit going, the kids are all about to go to bed, because they cannot wait until tomorrow morning...

Carolyn's sister Linda, and her husband Mike came up a few days ago, we had a great time. Exchanged presents, Cory and Jessica came over and we had a good dinner.

All the kids... This was when Chance was feeling like crap, hopefully no one else gets it!!

I'm sure you can tell from this picture just how GREAT I feel, but whatever, I try not to let sickness kick my ass, but it's been a struggle. I AM feeling better now though as I am typing this, thankfully!!

Uncle Mike and Aunt Linda with the kids...

A good time was had by all, always enjoy the fellowship with Mike and Linda. Now, it is time to get ready for the morning... Although, I think the only thing I have left to do is go to bed, we've been done for some time now. Looking forward to the AM, it is GREAT watching the kids on Christmas morning... Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!!!

I Love Christmas...

Such a fun time of year, especially with excited children running around, of course the older the kids get, there really isn't all that much of a "surprise" element as the kids knew exactly what they wanted, so they kind of know what is in each and every box under the tree... Oh well, it's still fun! I would rather they get what they want, than something we 'think' they want... :)

Attempting to take Christmas photos with my pos camera... I REALLY need to either get a new one, or get my other one fixed...

Ditto!

I'm not even sure I got all that good of a shot, we shall soon see... :)

What else is going on you might ask? Or maybe not, but whatever... Work the rest of the week, then off Christmas week. Got company coming this weekend, and other than that, just trying to stay warm. Which isn't working out all that well, but Spring is right around the corner... (I hope!)

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas...

Well, I'm not, but my children are... They did get a taste of snow yesterday, and you never really know in GA, week before last I could still get in the hot tub and it was 70 degrees, here barely a week later, it's cold and there are still snow flurries out there... Sigh.

Oh well, I am excited about Christmas, it's a great time of year, particularly when you have children, it's so exciting watching them, and even when they get older and know EXACTLY what is in each box under the tree, it is still quite exciting... :)

Yeah, I'll try to take some actual pictures to put up here, we'll see how that works out... :)

I do hope everyone is enjoying the season, as well as remembering the actual reason for the season... Speaking of the reason, the next person that tells me Happy Holidays, I shall tell to piss off...

I Love The Holidays...

Except for the cold, and really, I was just tired of looking at that Happy Thanksgiving post... ;)

Happy Thanksgiving...

Again...

So yeah, I had about six or seven more trees to cut down, but I was too scared to do it as they could have easily crushed the pool house I've spent three years building, so my friend said he would come do it...

Luckily he knew what he was doing... :)

This is the mess we were left with...

Zac clearing some of the debris, there is still a lot of it out there, so perhaps this time tomorrow I'll have a picture of it all gone. Although we burned most of it yesterday. I guess I better get off of this PC and get out there and get to work... :(

Kids LOVE Fire...

Yeah, we've been clearing the area behind the pool house, and burning the trees we cut down, so the kids all had to have their "own" fire, which was fine with me, because the more kids running around finding sticks and whatever to burn, the less I have to pick up... :) (I'm getting rid of all the pines back there and clearing an area for a garden next year - in case you were wondering :)

So we have basically burned everything there is to burn back there now, grading it is next... :(

Oh wait, I have about six or seven more pines to cut down back there, but am too scared to cut them myself, so my neighbor is going to drop them for me next weekend...

This Is What I've Been Up To...

Cooking chili... A fine meal if I do say so myself, I make so much of it because I do not know how to cook in small quantities having grown up in such a large family and how can you cook chili in small quantities???

Anyway, that's my post, the chili is AWESOME and everyone loves it. I made so much of it though, two days, two pots that size, we have a freezer full and have shared plenty of it with neighbors and friends. Still have a freezer full. The stuff is excellent after it has been in the freezer for a few months...

Halloween...

Taylor cleaning out her pumpkin for carving... Yeah, I didn't take any other pics for some reason... :(

Trailer all set and ready to go once darkness arrives... Everyone's pumpkins they carved are attached (obviously), the "mummy pumpkin" didn't used to be a "mummy" but somehow the face got smashed in, yeah, I'm sure it was an accident, but anyway, the cloth strips came in handy... :)

Nearly ready, yeah, I was basically the same thing as I was last year, to be honest, I'm not even sure why I "dress up" since I rarely get out of the truck... :)

Shot right before we left...

Sigh...

Has it been that long?? I suppose it has... Oh well, life, you know? I really have nothing to post, but I'm tired of looking at that last post, so I'll give you some pictures of the Air Show we went to last weekend... :)

Tanner in one of the helicopters on display...

Taylor and Carolyn...

I think this was inside of a C5, massive planes I might add... Believe it or not, I used to repair hydraulics on these...

The kiddoes...

Our intention was to stay and watch the Blue Angels, but you couldn't park on the base and had to take a bus to the show. The Blue Angels performed last of course, and we decided we did NOT want to wait in the massive lines once it was over to get back to our vehicle, so yeah, we stayed for about two hours... Now it's off to breakfast and to pick up something Tanner is buying off of Craigslist with his birthday $$, hopefully that works out...

Before And After...

This is the before shot... :)

This is the after shot...

Kids trying to see who can build the biggest fire... :)

So yeah, that's what we have been doing all day. We are going to have a garden next year, a BIG one! Carolyn will can some green beans, and whatever else we grow, so hopefully we will be eating like kings next year! I'll have to build a fence around the area, but we are excited about it! I've already ordered the seed catalogs, the soil is rich, so here's to a good harvest next year after our work... :) Now it's time for bed!!!

Day At The Fair...

Left early this AM (well, if you call 9:20 early) so we could get in free (saved $30 by doing that) at the fair... The kids were so excited. I keep hearing about the economy being bad, and I know it is, but there were a boatload of people there just throwing money away on everything that goes along with most fairs, rides, games, food, etc, etc... Must not be as bad here in North GA as some places... Luckily! Anyway, the kids had a blast, and Carolyn and I did as well...

Taylor with her face painted...

Chance, Tanner and Taylor... This is the only pic I have of Chance and Tanner, because the moment we got there, they ran off with their friend Cody and I never saw them unless Tanner called me because they needed $$... :)

Taylor and I on a ride, and yes, I am well aware of the fact that I look ridiculous in a hat, but I won it and got tired of carrying it around... :) I gave the hat to Tanner the next time I saw him...

Taylor at the petting zoo. This year, they had all sorts of animals there, including elephants and tigers. We were going to stay for the tiger show, but the kids were ready to leave by 3:00 (thankfully!!)

Taylor and I riding the carousel... Which is why the boys went off by themselves... :) Taylor is not interested in riding all the "scary" rides, so I rode the rides she wanted to ride with her. Carolyn rode a few rides in the beginning when the rides were free, but she isn't much on riding them either. All in all, had a good time. Glad to be home now eating and watching the UT game with Carolyn, which is something I don't normally do... :)

Happy Birthday Tanner!!

The party participants!

If you are wondering where all the presents are, Tanner wanted a dirt bike, a new helmet and a new Xbox 360, so none of the presents are here yet... :) So Tanner is anxiously awaiting next week when he gets it all... :)

Taylor's 'New' Bedroom...

I hate to think how many times Carolyn and I have "redone" these kids rooms, sigh...

Finally finished the headboard, and realized yet again how much I detest painting...

All setup, kind of hard to take a picture in an 11 x 11 room... :)

Taylor LOVES her "new" room, which is why Carolyn and I keep redoing them I suppose... I'm sure it wouldn't have taken two days to do it, but I ended up having to repaint the room... :( Oh well, Taylor is happy, I'm happy... :)

Taylor's New Bed...

Our neighbor gave Taylor a queen mattress set and frame, but no headboard... So I decided to make her one... :)

There is my "board" I got at Home Depot this AM...

In progress, just making it up as I go along...

There you have the finished product... Of course tomorrow I'll have to paint it and put it and the bed in Taylor's room... We'll see if I have that picture up tomorrow night... :)

Not Much...

Going on that is, well actually, there is a LOT going on, but I don't have any pictures or anything of it... ;)

Carolyn and I did go garage saling (is that even a word??) and got all of those pots for $10, love garage sales!! They really look great there by the pool, it was missing something, that was it!!

Our neighbor's son is getting married tomorrow, so we downloaded a bunch of pictures of him and his girlfriend from FB and uploaded them to Walgreen's to print, then stuck them all in frames. The idea is to put them all over the place where the reception is at... Now I think I want to do this anytime anyone gets married that we know...

We also made them this candle, someone made us one for our wedding and we loved it, so we figured they might as well... :)

Now I've got to go reclaim my garage... Hope everyone is having a good day (no matter what day you may read this... ;)