Catching up???

Time is flying by.  Literally. I look up every week, expecting it to be Monday, and it is Thursday already.  WHAT is Happening?  Is this the way Time behaves when we are 60?  I thought this was our "slowing down" era of Life....

ANYway...This is my *excuse* for not having posted in several months.  I just neeeeed to sit down and write.

 Prosper and I went to several dog shows this fall. Here he is getting a point. We did not achieve our "goal" of finishing this year, but hoping that we will in the next few months.

The Pendergrass Family came over for Thanksgiving. My dear friend, Denise, invited the children out to go horseback riding.

They also went ice skating at our local ice skating rink! Quite amazing to see them taking to it so quickly.

Of course, the boyz and I rang the bells for Salvation Army again this year. We raised over $400 in the cold, winter weather.

 

PetSense offered a picture session for Santa and our pets. The boyz posed like movie stars...Santa fell in love, too...

Christmas, as always, was a wonderful, idyllic occasion, and full of wonderful memories. 

We all converged at Branson, MO and stayed in a very nice house with FIVE bedrooms on the lake! Mostly, we just enjoyed the time together and ate lots of yummy food. We toured a cave, spent an evening at Silver Dollar City, and took several walks in the woods, discovering treasure and collecting rocks.  

Here's my boys solving important problems of the world....And, of course, there is always a Collie in the picture.....

 

 

Kathryn planned on "not getting out of my pajamas" all day.....So far, she is succeeding.












Santa Claus came for the children. The adults' "gift" to each other was the time spent together

"What th HECK is This?!!" they all wanted to know! Itsa sun catcher made out of those big chunks of glass and beads.....Okay, so Mom has too much time on her hands.....

We did not do the "after Christmas" sales as we have in the past.....Instead we went to Talking Rocks Cavern.

As you can see, this was Emily's very Favorite activity. I think she will remember this for years to come!

 







It was truly a magnificent place The Creator built for us on this planet.....I am sure that He just couldn't WAIT for us to see it! Here's hoping He has the same anticipation for us to see Carlsbad someday (it's on my Bucket List). 

Samuel is still pretty little, so his dad got to carry him thruout the tour. Reminded me of my family telling me that MY daddy carried ME thru Mammoth Cave many years ago when I was a baby, in spite of his morbid fear of closed in spaces (he'd been buried alive several yrs before during WWII....drs said he'd never walk again....He went on to father 2 more children---AND earn a living as a postman).



Put Bailey Rose anywhere Near me, and she will do whatever I do....She loved the cave as much as I did......

Grace will probably always appreciate a good cape....or any other piece of costume....

We also took a trip to Silver Dollar City nearby. Stayed till after dark, when the Magnificent light show! came parading down the street! I did NOT want to leave, even tho our hands and feet were frozen solid, and we were all ready for a Good Meal of something besides corn dogs and fry bread. I LOVE Branson at Christmas!!!  The tree is as tall as the one on Rockefeller Square!

 Ah! Yes! Kathryn DID get out of her recliner every once in a while! 

And the Food! OH! I wish I had taken pictures of the burgeoning kitchen! We ate SO well....Mikey got up every morning (well, the first 3 of the 4---last one we were packing up) and cooked breakfast for us all. I had brought several pounds of Blue and Gold bacon, and that is all the incentive he needed to become fry cook! The last day, Grace perched up on her bar stool, and told Uncle Mike she wanted "bacon, eggs, and some chocolate milk." I'm thinking she just got very accustomed to his taking her breakfast orders....after 3 mornings of doing her bidding.