We are home!

Well, we are home. We got home last night and I was just too tired to put pictures on here. I am at work today, but will try to add pics tonight. Or one of my kids may see this and add a few pics. (edited to say pics have been added.)

We had a fantastic time. We skied, snow tubed, skied, shopped, played Scene It (friends version - Dani is a pro), laughed, cried, went to movies and just had a fantastic time.

We knew it was supposed to snow us in Friday during the night, so we decided to celebrate XMas Sat. since we couldn't go anywhere. We just opened presents and hung out together that day, which was very nice. We got a lot of snow. It was awesome.

Everyone of our kids take to skiing so well, it is so exciting. The resort is real small, so the snow runs were not extremely long, but the nicest thing was there were usually no lines. On XMas day, we ran into lines for about 1.5 hours and that was it, usually we skied down and went right to the lift. Everyone of us could ski this resorts "Black Diamonds" which were not really black diamond, but it was fun to do it. CJ was fearless. He tucked in and went plowing straight down. He also learned to spray his Dad with his skis.

Ok.... falls, where should we start. Most of the time, we did not fall. I had 2, Dani had 1, Alex had 1, CJ had a few (as he would try to learn new things) and John had a ton (but only the day he tried snowboarding.) The girls falls were kind of stupid and funny. Alex fell once as she was getting off the ski lift. She had lost her ski and was trying to do it with one ski. They had to stop the lift and help her ... and she kept falling as he was helping her. Dani was getting on the lift with me beside her ( she was actually already sitting in the seat) and her pole got caught and her wrist was still in the strap, so she .... kind of fell out of the lift. It looked like she had done a face plant, but she didn't. We couldn't stop laughing. One of my falls was just because I was trying to be fancy and it didn't work. I then couldn't get myself up, the ski wouldn't let lose. The other fall was a bit more dramatic. I was standing behind my family waiting in the ski line and....... I was totally not paying attention and just lost my balance and fell down. The family turned around and there I was on the ground. It was pretty darn funny. It is so HARD getting up with skis on. John was there to help me, but it is still very hard.

Well, gotta get back to work. I will tell more later... Love and miss you all.

A little fun!

The Fantastic Four?

Let it Snow

This is us getting ready for our trip.

Let it snow Let it snow!!

I am a terrible blogger...

Okay, I am sorry, I am such a terrible blogger. I followed Ashley's example and added the site meter and all it does is make me feel bad when I see people looking and seeing no change. Uuugghh

Okay, since I have no new pics to really share, I will tell you what we have planned for XMas,

We are going to a cabin in Wisconsin Dells to a privately owned ski resort named Christmas Mountain Village. It will just be the 5 of us and we will be family bonding. We will ski, tube, play games, watch movies, laugh, cry, fight. ha Open XMas presents and just have a fun time being together. We are very excited!!

We have friends staying at our house housesitting for us and taking care of the dog and getting the mail.

I have almost finished XMas shopping and am so ready for some downtime with the family. Dani comes home from college tomorrow. She will be finished with midterms and ready for a month break. I love that girl. Alex and CJ get finished Tuesday next week and are ready for their winter break.

Tata for now!

He thinks he is a lap dog!

A Tragedy in Oldham County

Alex's friend, Megan(wearing blue jacket), was killed last night when her car hit a deer and was thrown into the path of a semi truck. The driver was also a friend and has been in the hospital with fractured skull and other injuries. Jordan (in black sweatshirt) does not remember the accident, but fortunately witnesses have said it was not her fault. A large deer jumped in front of the car and after hitting the deer full force their Ford Focus was thrown in the path of a semi truck.

Life in Oldham County is very somber for these teenagers this weekend, as they are all getting together to plan ways to remember Megan. Her parents have asked me to make a video for the memorial service.

Please pray for Megan's family and Jordan as they try to heal as best they can.

Looking Ahead to the Holidays

Click link for our holiday message!

Happy Birthday Dani!!

My girl is 20 today. I surprised her by going up at lunchtime and walking in on her in the cafeteria. She seemed very happy to see me. She had told me that her roommates and another girlfriend were all going to dinner and a movie. I knew they wouldn't mind me going with them, so I decided to give Dani a surprise. What I didn't realize was that they had 20 people sitting at O'Charlies waiting for her tonight. She was surprised and I was happy to be there and see all the love people have for her there. It was very nice.

Happy Birthday my little girl!! Makes me sad, you are all grown up!!

Momma

Soups On!

Okay, I am not going to be able to post much the next 2 weeks as we have a big Head Start (Federal) review next week. As soon as that is over, I will be back to my former blog posting maniac. haha

But for now, I will just post a few soup day pics every now and then. You never know when you may see a picture of you on here. We had a great two days hanging out with my Indiana family and also with Mom who came for a quick visit.

PS... I loved the messy eater comment from Leslie below. Too funny.

I see a resemblance, do you?

I may be nuts, but I think they look alike here.

Babysat tonight!!

Happy Anniversay to Us!

23 years ago, I met a man at a bar. I thought he was cute, but possibly not very smart. My friend told me that he HAD to be smart if he went to the Naval Academy, but I thought they might have made a mistake --- he kept repeating the same questions to me over and over, like he had no memory. (Found out later, it was the many, many drinks that caused that.)

He said that night he and Jeff each thought the other had gotten our phone numbers .... well there was no way I would have given a guy from a bar my phone number. I worked a week of night shift and then we went to a wonderful little town in Indiana to celebrate my Pappy and Granny's anniversary. That would be a time shown in one of the pictures in previous blog posting. Came back in town and worked more night shifts before I was able to go out again. Funny thing was that I had lots of friends tell me that guy John kept asking them about me. He apparently kept going back to several of the local "dancing spots" looking for me. :)

Finally, I had a night out and was looking for my girlfriend whom I was supposed to be meeting. As I rounded the corner, I saw that hunky looking naval aviator turning around from the bar. I said, "Hi!" and he just stared at me and didn't say anything. I then said, "I'm sorry, I thought I knew you" and turned, embarrased, to walk away. My arm was grabbed and he said, "Lorie, where have you been?"

Well, I didn't know it, but my single days were over from that time forth. I fell and I fell hard. I used to wonder if a certain guy was the right one and wonder if I was really in love. Well, I have told my girls, when it is the real deal, you know it. After 3 months I was so in love with him and fortunately the feeling was mutual. Once he told me he loved me, he opened the faucet and I told him, and told him, and told him. It is a wonder he didn't turn tail and run.

Today, I still tell him over and over and over. I mean, who couldn't love this hunk of macho man?

Happy Anniversary John, in case you don't know....... I love you!!!!

Little Cuties

And a little more... and I am done.