CHRISTMAS EVE 2017

We celebrated with our Arkansas family today and will be traveling to Branson tomorrow to meet our KC family and celebrate with them.


































Jack figured out how to open his gifts.  After opening his first gift he figured it out, that if he unwrapped it, a toy was going to be inside.

I think Jack liked his chair from Momo and Pap-pa.

JACK/ABBY

This was Abby her 1st Christmas.

Jack in the same outfit his 1st Christmas.

KARLIE/UNION STATION/KC

Michelle and family make a trip to Union Station in KC every Christmas. Karlie looks like she is enjoying it.

JACK'S PHOTO SHOOT

SANTA AND GRANDKIDS

CHRISTMAS/2017

This will probably be the last year for this tree.  We have had it for over ten years, time for a new one.  One that is slimmer and will fit better in front of the window.  I tried to add a little more red in this year.  Even was able to get some live pine branches from trees in our back yard.  A nice perk to living back in Arkansas.

OUR THANKSGIVING/2017

We didn't have our KC crew  this year but will meet them in Branson on Christmas Day.

Jack looks like he is excited over the food and can't even eat any. The food was delicious.  Hubby cooked the turkey.  I made the cornbread dressing and we ordered a pecan pie to be made and picked it up at a local restaurant which was really good.  The rest was done by Tracy and Kim.  I couldn't do it anymore without them. I did use to do it all without any help though.

Jack and his Pap-pa.

LAKE WILLASTEIN

This lake is across the boulevard from us and is beautiful this fall.

TRIP TO KC

We took a quick trip to KC this weekend to help Karlie celebrate her 8th birthday.  Tracy, hubby, Abby and I left Friday morning.  Saturday morning was Karlies last soccer game.  Her team won and Karlie scored two of the goals.  After the game Karlie went to Chuck E Cheese for her birthday celebration.  She didn't have a party but she did get a cake and Chuck E brought it out to her.  Tracy worked at Chuck E Cheese for several years when she was in high school and in college.  She brought a few of those cakes home when she was working there and they are just as good now as they were  way back then.

We got up Sunday morning and packed and headed back to Arkansas but stopped on the way out for a photo shoot.

OUR VIEW

This is the view we have from our breakfast room table. I love being back in Arkansas and having trees again.

HALLOWEEN 2017/KC CREW

Wonder Woman and Panda Head.

HALLOWEEN 2017

A unicorn and a little Jack in the Box.

FINALLY SEEING SOME COLOR

We are finally beginning to see a little color on the trees. The tree with the most color is a scaly bark/Hickory Nut tree.  It is on the property line between us and our neighbor.  Not really sure who the tree really belongs too.

 While growing up in Northeast Mississippi,we had several scaly barks trees on our 150 acre farm. The nuts would begin to fall close to Thanksgiving but we were always busy picking that last little bit of cotton and didn't have time to gather them. We would sometimes look up from our picking and see people on the hill gathering them and putting them in large sacks. The rich ladies from town would bring their maids out to gather them while they sat in their cars and watched. No they did not ask permission from us. My mother did use them. She made a scaly bark cake that was delicious and also used them in our fruit salad for Thanksgiving. These same women lived on a main street in our small town that had huge pecan trees that covered the sidewalks. If anyone came and picked up just one of their pecans, they would run out and yell at them.

 We sold our farm when I was 10 but it is strange how some things stand out in my mind.

PUMPKINS/HUBBY/JACK

JACK/KARATE KID

JACK/ABBY

I don't think Jack was too fond of sitting on the hay.

KC PUMPKIN PATCH

Our KC crew at the pumpkin patch.

FALL PHOTO SHOOT

Kim brought Abby and Jack over today for a little fall photo shoot.

FALL/2017

It finally felt a little like fall today. The high was 81. Last week it was still in the 90's.  So, it put me in the mood to do a little fall decorating.

We finally trimmed our sweet potato vine back.  I think we were letting it grow just  to see how much it would grow.  The one on the right died.  Not sure if we are going to get any mums to go on the pots or not.  But I do need to get some pumpkins to go on our porch. I didn't put a wreath on our door last fall because we didn't have the door painted yet.  It looks so much better painted.