Mini Bike Christmas

Looks like grandpa is trying to get the kids to visit more often. He purchased a mini bike for the grand kids to use when they visit. First thing Stephen said after seeing the pictures; "When are we going to visit?"

View the photo slide show

Christmas 2010

It was a quiet Christmas this year. We had a nice morning open gifts and just hung out as a family. I took a few naps as well!  Check out the slide show of a Christmas gift exchange

Prep and Landing

We watch Prep and Landing the other night. It was a cute little special with great imagaes. I took the liberty of adding in my kids to a poster :) Happy Holidays!!!

Christmas 2007 Videos

OK, so I just realized all the videos I took with my 35 mm camera where never uploaded. I planned to incorporate them into one movie with music, but do not have time.

Click on the Family Videos link listed in the top right of this page to view them. They are listed as Christmas 2007. From Chloe dancing, Lisa singing, to electric shock treatment.

Below is one I plan to show Caitlyn's boyfriends... Check out Grandma Jill, not knowing the words does not stop her!

Christmas in Florida

We made the migration south for Christmas and visited my parents on the east coast and my in-laws near Gainesville. We had lots of fun and came back with a van so full we had to exit off and weigh in with the truckers :)

I hate driving so long but it was worth the trip to see everyone. The kids really love family and I want to make sure they have that connection, even if our family is crazy :)

Click below for photos from our get together:

• Christmas at my parents house
• Christmas at my in laws house

I have some funny videos of the shocking game, I will post in the new year....

Santa Came Early

We are traveling to Florida for Christmas and decided to write Santa to see if he could come early this year. The kids did not know till Friday night that Santa was coming early. They went to bed so fast it was amazing. It is so fun to see Christmas through their eyes.....

I remember being 16 or 17, like Caitlyn and feeling bad because I was excited but it seemed like the excitement was short lived. The innocence when your younger and excitement is something when you hit a certain age it just stops cold turkey.

Ok, so enough about Santa and presents. I am more excited then ever for Christmas. Our church emphasized Advent and it made a difference. In another post I really need to explain some of my thoughts around faith. Long story short, I feel like I found a part of faith that has been missing and I am excited to find a church home that will help me connect and be apart of a true church community. Merry Christmas........

Here is a Christmas video clip. The video has 3 video clips and the rest are photos you will see in the family photo page.

Click here for our Christmas pictures, more to come after the Florida trip....

After Thanksgiving Thoughts

It was a massive migration to Durham, NC. We were so glad to have most of my family visit for the long weekend and celebrate Thanksgiving. I wish my oldest brother could have came but work calls.

We had a good time. We played with the kids a lot, went for a tour of UNC/Franklin Street, took a few walks to burn off some fat, and ate a lot of food.

It was tight fitting everyone in our home. But the new bedroom and a few pull out beds did the trick. I am glad the weather was mild so everyone enjoyed fall outside.

Sad but funny story. My brother and dad were using my computer and somehow jammed a CD into it . They fessed up hours later and as I tried to pull out the CD, I found a gift card stuck in there as well. Dad and my brother looked so guilty it was funny. I am not sure what happened but I am now looking into a new Super Drive for my Mac Mini.... It reminded me of when I was a kid and broke something, guess it is payback time :)

See more Thanksgiving photos in my Kodak Gallery I used an auto timer and tripod to take this picture.

Christmas we plan to do one, so we can include my oldest brother and his family as well.

Thanksgiving

Well, I am gonna try and use the blog more often. There are thoughts and stories about the kids I really need to document and this will be the perfect place.

Thanksgiving is a few days away. I took off this week to spend time with my kids and get ready for family coming into town. Here are a few things significant to me today:

1. I was cleaning upstairs and my daughter bounced in the room and said "Daddy, I love you. Dance with me". She turned on the Hookey Pookey and it was all over, I jumped up and we started to dance. Being 2 she has no idea how much that made my day.

2. Stephen came home from school and received a free Chik-Fil-A dinner for reading.
I took him to Lowes on the way to pick up some stuff. After realizing I was ignoring him, thinking about work stuff, even thought I am off this week. I dedicated my thoughts, talk, and attention to him and we had a great time. He has such a sense of humor.

3. Caitlyn came home and let us know she got past the first selection / round for Governors School, which is a big deal. She also CLEANED her room and did her LAUNDRY and was PLEASANT about it.

4. My wife loves me in spite of me being me. She talked about fried green tomatoes for 2 weeks. In my rush to get all the yard work done for winter, I pulled up the plants and threw them away. Needless to say she found out in less then 5 minutes.... I was able to recover some of the tomatoes and am amazed she forgave me.

This Thursday we’ll will be centered around family & friends celebrate Thanksgiving. We’ll try to express our thanks for the blessings of this life. I am humbled and blessed for my family. They forgive my shortcomings and lunacy and love me anyway. If you know our situation you will agree that they are truly precious gifts to me, all of them...

Here is a link to a thoughtful sermon on Thanksgiving http://www.wattsstreet.org/n/gratefulness-3.html