3.4!

HAPPY 43rd ANNIVERSARY, MAMA & DADDY!

Yea, I did it! I made my goal of 40 pounds by the year's end! I was getting a bit worried after last week's "0" but I was glad to see that had changed this week. Now for my next goal ~ 50 pounds by January's end (that's 5 Wednesdays away.)

So Christmas has passed and what a wonderful week it was! I had last Thursday off to finish up shopping and wrapping and the kids came over on Friday to get an early start on the holiday weekend. All night long we had to smell the delicious aroma of Frank's pinto beans cooking in anticipation of Saturday night's Christmas Eve Eve party.

Saturday we got to have a wonderful Christmas breakfast at Mama & Daddy's. Eggs, gravy, bacon and a biscuit with homemade strawberry jelly ... yum yum! I am so glad I didn't have to give that up because I was on a diet! Angie and Gene and all the kids were there and we all had a wonderful time. Brett read us the Christmas story, then Hannah and Katie played Santa and handed out the goodies. Thank you, Mama & Daddy, for the wonderful homemade canned goodies ~ can't wait to get into the beans ~ already opened the jelly ~ think we'll have vegetable soup this weekend! Frank makes really good grilled cheese and that soup will go great with them!



Saturday night we finally got to dig into those beans! Yum Yum, again! Good food abounds during the holidays. Tiffany and Helen brought Harmony over to open her presents ~ the picture above is her with her Opa and the Old Fashioned Top he bought her. The look on her face is priceless! The kids had drawn names and they got to open their presents to each other and then it was time for bed.

Christmas Eve morning they all woke up, opened their stockings and said their "Thank You's" to Mr. & Mrs. Santa and they were off! Frank and I had to get up to Art & Helen's new property to get their sign put up. It was a much better day than the day we dug the hole for it! We let them know about the sign with a puzzle of a picture we had taken of the sign. I think they enjoyed putting together the puzzle as much as actually getting to see the sign! Frank put out another great spread of food at Art & Helen's with parmesan onion puffs, mini deli sandwiches, delicious jumbo shrimp, and more! We all ate 'til we popped! It was nice to have Ethan, Joanna, Harmony, Shawn, Tiffany, and Justin there to celebrate!

I took most of my pictures on film this year, so you'll have to wait a bit longer for the pictures to develop. Will put 'em up soon as I get 'em! Thank you to everyone for a wonderful 3 day Christmas celebration! We love you all and hope you have an equally nice New Year's weekend!