Christmas 2011

The holiday season this year was a blur.  Seems like the world was spinning twice as fast as usual.

The week before Thanksgiving and the week after Thanksgiving Craig and I made 2 quick trips to Austin to help Kim and Mark close-in their utility room.  It looks fantastic!

The weekend of December 9th, Kimberly and Chloe came to Houston.  Kimberly took me to see the Houston Ballet's Nutcracker.  We had a great girls night out while Pop (Craig) had Chloe duty.  Mark was unable to come because of work.

Dressed up and ready for the ballet.

While Chloe and Kimberly were here Chloe decorated some Christmas cookies to take back to her Daddy.

Painting icing on the cookies

She wants to do it herself.

Chloe's creations

Of course she needs to try a few.

Chloe loves her Uncle Josh.  (notice Chloe's "cheese" face...she's a natural)



A couple of weeks went by and the whole gang arrived for Christmas. 

The stereotypical family photo in front of the tree

My mom came for Christmas. We were all glad she could make it this year.

Last but not least, here are a few of our goofy photos from Christmas 2011.

Supper time.

My kids are such good sports.  Love my little sock money's.

Chloe in her Mom's sock money hat.

Our tradition is to take a non-traditional family photo at Christmas. 

"Do It Anyway"

a motivational poem by Mother Teresa.

People are often unreasonable, illogical and self-centered; Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives; Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies; Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you; Be honest and frank anyway.

What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight; Build anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous; Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow; Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have and it may never be enough; Give the world the best you've got anyway.

You see, in the final analysis it is between you and God; It was never between you and them anyway.

Pod People?

Anyone who knows me knows I love "scary" movies.  One such movie is The Invasion of the Body Snatchers; not the new one but the 1978 version with Donald Sutherland and Jeff Goldblum.

In the movie, there is a mysterious plant which grows pods.  These pods "grow" the body snatchers.

Over the last few months, we have had a mysterious plant growing around our pool. On this plant we have discovered a pod.

Mystery plant

Is it an invasion?

A tiny pod

Could it be we are being invaded by body snatchers?
The answer will be unveiled at a later date.

While Mom and Dad are Away, Chloe will Play

Kim and Mark celebrated their 4th wedding anniversary with a weekend trip to NOLA.  Craig and I were thrilled to have Chloe all to ourselves while her Mom and Dad were relaxing on Bourbon Street.

Chloe was just a doll while they were gone.  There were no tears, no tantrums, just lots of hours of playing. 

Maybe Mark and Kim will plan another trip sometime soon so we can Chloe sit again soon.

Pop taking Chloe for a stroll.  We put her legs in a pillow case to keep her legs warm.

Blueberry pancacks for breakfast.

"Look Mom, Shorty let me have goldfish"

I don't think Chloe was still for a minute the whole time she was here.

We played ball out front.  She would run with the ball.

She'd carry the ball.

And she'd kick the ball too.

Chloe got a new ride.  Her own "Smart Car".

All she needs is chrome wheels.

Modeling her new threads.

She had Pop hold the book so she could read to him and the bear.

Taking her animals for a stroller ride.

She spent hours walking the stroller around the kitchen island and up and down the halls. 

Key West

Craig and I, along with our dive/travel buddies Laurie and Albert, spent a few days relaxing in Key West.  We had all been to Key West before but not together so we planned a quick 4 day mini-vacation so we could get away and see some blue water we all love.

ready for the sunset cruise

We arrived on a Wednesday and after checking in to the Key Lime Inn we walked down the road to rent our bicycles.  Key West is very bicycle friendly and it's a great way to get around.

Wednesday evening we all enjoyed a sunset cruise.  Key West is famous for their sunsets.

Aboard the sailboat waiting for sunset

Sunset over the blue water

Thursday we headed to Dry Tortugas to tour Fort Jefferson.  It is a 2 1/2 hour boat ride to the National Park over beautiful blue water.  Once at Fort Jefferson we went on a guided tour then explored on our own. 

Headed to the Dry Tortugas

Fort Jefferson

View from atop Fort Jefferson

Rstored canon on top of Fort Jefferson.  It had a 3 mile range.

Grounds of the fort.

 After lunch we snorkled for the rest of the day. There were a ton of jelly fish. Laurie and I stayed clear of them but Craig and Albert decided to swim out to a bouy and swam right into the middle of a swarm of jelly fish. After a quick spray of vinager they were fine; no ill effects.

Starfish we saw while snorkeling.

Friday, Craig and Albert went diving while Laurie and I rode bikes to Duval street to browse.  We had a margarita at Margaritaville, ice cream at Kohr Brothers and finished our afternoon off at Louie's Backyard watching the waves.

Once the boys returned from their dive and cleaned up we headed back to Duval street for dinner.  We went to Sloppy Joe's to listen to a band and ended up at Captain Tony's for some pirates punch before calling it a night.

Relaxing and listening to music on Craig's and my porch.

Saturday was pretty relaxed.  We all went to the Mel Fisher's Museum to view some treasures and then Craig and I went to the beach to play in the water.  Laurie and Albert went back at their room to rest and later toured the USS Spruance, which is a new Navy destroyer that was just commissioned on October 1 in Key West. 

USS Spruance

Sunday came too fast.  We woke up early, returned our bikes and headed to the airport.  We are definately going back again. 

Eye on the Tropics

We officially have our first named storm of the hurricane season in the Gulf.  The name is Don and he is a tropical storm so there is no need for anyone to worry.  Besides they don't know yet where he will arrive but most likely it will be close to Corpus Christy.

He is predicted to arrive somewhere along the Texas coast sometime late Friday or early Saturday and will hopefully bring some much needed rain.

The web-site we use to track hurricanes and tropical storms is www.stormpulse.com . 

Random Photos of Our "Normal" Life

As Kim would say, "Normal is relative."



Sweet photo of Chloe and her Daddy.

Wacky Racer Chloe

Chloe likes to relax.

Hippy Baby

Pop sharing his hammock with Chloe

Kim is picking on Mark

1,2,3...over he goes.

Not much to say here. 

Partner stunt

Kim showing off her butterfly tatoo

Oops!!!  Who knew the moon was on the rise?

Grantham family just chillin'

Playing ball with Daddy

"Motor boat"

Chloe likes to "swim" fast

Another partner stunt

Way to go Mark!!

Cheeto face