Chess

While on His Lastest Adventure to China,

Spouse picked up a Cool little Chess Set,

as a Gift for Someone.

As we took it out to Admire it,

9 yr Old says He Knows how to Play Chess.

No.

None of Us Know how to Play Chess,

in this Household.

I Stand Corrected.

9 yr. Old Taught Us All How to Play Chess, Today.

Says He Learned How in First Grade.

And Yah,

The Kid Knows how to Play.

We Played All Day.

[Reckon' We'll be Keeping the Chess Set]

You've Had a Birthday!

Birthdays at Our House,

Always Start with Breakfast in Bed

with the

Whole Gang!

[Can You Tell Who the Birthday Boy is?]

Fortunately for Me,

I got to take the Birthday Boy on a Hot Date.

We Spent the Evening with Friends,

Eating Yummy Italian Food,

at a Fun Table Set Up

In the KITCHEN of the Restaurant,

Wolfing Down Chocolate Cake,

and Then Laughing Till

Our Eyes Watered and Our Sides Ached

With the Humor of Brian Regan.

{Happy Birthday!}

On a Side Note:

The Boys Graduated

from their High Blue Belts,

to Their Brown Belts.

Uh, Their Mom, Just hasn't Uploaded her Pictures, Yet.

iSpace

...Here We Go!

Football-ers

Game Faces

{RAWR}

After School One Afternoon,

C Asked Me to Play a Round of Football with Him.

Um,

After I Got the Ball back from My Horrible Attempt at a Drop Kick,

that sent it Over the Fence the Wrong Way,

We had Ourselves a Good Little Game.

I Didn't Go Easy on Him,

and I Tackled the Dicken's Out of Him!

However,

He Won Me.

19-21.

[Good Times]

Tray Makeover

Been Wanting to do a Paint Job-y on an Old Breakfast Tray,

First, I Tried to Remove the Legs,

but They didn't Budge,

So I've Just Secured Them Underneath,

(You May have Better Luck with Yours!)

Then,

I Sanded The Whole Thing,

Just Enough to Remove the Shine,

and Scratch it Up a bit to Give the New Paint Some Grip,

Then I Primed it,

Painted it a Light Gray Color,

and Used My Tinted Glaze to Add the Ever Loving Details!

[I Use a Tintable Glaze,

that I had Tinted the Color: Fired Earth by Valspar.

Same Thing I've Used to Antique My White Cupboards,

and other Furniture!]

Decided I Could Use Some

Aqua

in My January Decor

So,

I Grabbed Some Ribbon,

Some Spray Paint,

and

Some Miscellaneous Items,

that I Thought Could Use a New Splash of Color.

HaPpY NeW YeAr!

We Hosted a New Years Eve Party

And When the Clock Struck Midnight

[Eh-Hem..9:30]

The Place Exploded

{CONFETTI}

Christmas

It is Tradition at Our House,
that When It is Your Birthday,
You Get Sweet Rolls and Breakfast in Bed;

Hence,

Christmas Morning

Always Starts with Sweet Rolls,

and Singing

"Happy Birthday" to Jesus.

Because We had Church at 9AM,

We Got All Fixed Up and Sweet Roll-ed,

Before We could Peek at What the Jolly Ol' Elf Brought!

{SURPRISE!}

After Checking Out the New Goods and Stockings,

I Pulled Out a New Christmas Tie for Each of My Gang

[And Then We Went to Church]

And Upon Our Return Home,

This is How We Christmas-ed:

{Merry Christmas}

*

We Were Glad to Have Grandpa T and Aunt K Join Us

for Christmas Eve, Church, and our Christmas Day Festivities.

We Ended the Day with a Trip Out to the Cemetery,

To Wish Merry Christmas to Ryan's Mom,

Whom We Lost

just 12 Weeks Before Christmas.

We Sure Missed Her

*

Christmas Eve

Traditions:

{Christmas Eve Morning Breakfast & Family Gift Exchange}

{Christmas Eve PJ's}

{The Nativity Story}

{Milk & Cookies for Santa}

{...And His Helpers, Who Stayed Up till 2AM Putting Stuff Together!}