Fading Embers

Make a Joyful Noise . . . until Grandma offers you pumpkin pie!

Christmas Spirit?

Family Fun :)

A couple of other cute photos from the past few days . . .

 

 

Aidan is in the basket underneath Gabrielle's hand . . . I think she wanted to keep it that way!!

Thanksgiving Kick-Off Party

Photos from the bash at the James's, as promised!  :)

 

Bob and Shelly -- who graciously agreed to get the Wii cords from our house! 

 

Doug had a blast playing with the kids; I can't explain why Mike looks like that . . .

 

Maggie, either declaring Victory or wishing for Peace. :)

 

Best buds, Donna and Shelly, who don't get to see each other nearly enough.

 

Eatin' some salsa??

 

This is Doug's wallet.  Seriously -- how does he sit with that in his pocket??

Trying to Figure Things Out . . .

"Now, how does this thing work?"

"Inger"

Aidan asked me if I knew what an "inger" was.  I said that I was unfamiliar with the term, so he enlightened me.  He said, "It's a special kind of Mommy with short hair." I asked if, then, I was an inger.  He thought about it for a moment before saying, "Well, actually, ingers live in castles, so you aren't an inger." 

So close . . . if only I could get a castle!  

side note ... kinda cool

If you go to the article that I linked to about Black Friday and scroll down to the section of the CNN site that says "From the Blogs" and click on the link, you can see a link from CNN to my blog!  I was wondering where all these hits from CNN were coming from.  What a neat world we live in, when we really can enter into a global conversation of sorts.

Our Birthday Girl!

What a fun party!  Thanks to Grandma Tina, Pappy John, Aunt Michelle, Uncle Adam, Uncle Calvin, Aunt Mary and Nanny and Pappy Connor for making the night fun!

Happy Birthday, Gabrielle!

It seem impossible that you are 2 years old, but I suppose we'll trust the calendar.  We love you!

 

Is it really worth it?

I'm sure you've heard by now about the Black Friday deaths that occurred today: one employee was trampled to death by the crowd of people herding into a Wal-Mart; two people were shot in a Toys-R-Us.  Read the whole sad story here: http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/11/28/black.friday.violence/

News items like these make me sick.  They make me ashamed of America, to be honest.  Are we really so consumed with material possessions that we'll stampede like a herd of cattle and actually trample a human being to death?  Gosh, I sure hope those thousands of people got the "deal" that they just "had" to have! 

As for the shooting, it hasn't been released as of right now if the men involved were in gangs or fighting over a toy.  Honestly, we've all seen the incredible reports of road rage violence; it wouldn't surprise me if the shooting was over a toy (remember the Tickle-Me-Elmo craze?)

I had to go into a store today for the first time on a Black Friday since I worked at the mall when I was in high school.  I went to see the doctor about a lingering sinus problem and she gave me a prescription, which required me to go to the Target pharmacy.  Thankfully, there were not many other seeking medication on this Black Friday, so my wait was relatively short...but the line I passed on my way out was insane -- the end was at the freezer section at the end of the store. 

What got me was how many people I overheard saying, "This is crazy!  Look at this line!"  I was thinking, "Do you hear yourself?  Why are you here if it is crazy?"