Parts of 2011

January 
One of The first Major Snow Storms of The Year

March 
My Moms 70th Birthday Dinner

My Dad and Mom

April
April Flowers in the yard

 June

Jordan Walking the Survivor Walk at the Relay

Tanner's 8th grade promotion ceremony

 July
The fourth of July @ my brother and Sister in laws

August
 A  couple of our family trips

Burnside Bridge, In the lower right hand corner is a picture taken of Ken and myself 18 years before .

Monticello ( Washingtons Home)

December 

Our Tree for 2011

MERRY CHRISTMAS

I was given this candle as a gift and I thought it went perfect with our tree

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas. However you will be celebrating this Christmas, I hope you enjoy your time with family and friends and remember the True meaning of this Holiday Season..

Even Santa knows the true meaning

An unexpected addition.

Last Saturday we had gone to see my mother in law for her birthday which was last Sunday the 11th. While we were there, her neighbors came over and brought her a dog. He is a cute little guy and they really set her up. They gave her food treats, toys food dishes leashes collars a crate and all his updated papers from the vet showing his shots. Now I thought they had just given it to her not knowing if she'd want one but she said she had mentioned that she thought about getting one. Not sure where they got him from. This dog according to the papers is about 7 months so being a puppy still he is very active and playful and he loves to find things to chew on. The boys played fetch with him and he just loved all the attention. Well to make a long story short We now have him... This little guy was just a little to active for my mother in law. As often as he needed to go out, was a little difficult for her being that she had to go down a flight of stairs to do it and her Knees hurt her. That and other things. So we said we would give him a try. That way she would still get to see him and she knows he is well loved. He has been fantastic. Now of course for us 4 it is much easier to share the responsibilities than 1 person. We all feed him and take him out,  it makes a big difference. We hadn't planned on getting a dog but I will say that he is the most well behaved dog that we have ever owned .

Photo Challenge

Thought it would be fun to enter ash in this photo challenge www.iheartfaces.com

this is the picture I entered

                                                                                 


You can click on my  Family pets  page above to see more pictures of him

Face lift

Last Saturday we took down this Aluminum Awning that was on the front of our house. It was on the house when we bought it over 2 years ago and I was never really that crazy about it. Now that it is down I like it so much better. Our next step is to power wash the house and then paint. These are some before and after pictures.

This is the only before picture I could find right now. It's a little hard to see it with the snow.

This is after we took it down. It opens things up A LOT..

Can't wait to re paint the shudders and door a different color other than black.

Any suggestions on a new shudder and door color? The house is staying white.

Family Vacation

We don't get to take take a family vacation that often. We have taken day trips here and there but as far as a family vacation away for a few days, the last time we did that was a few years ago when we went to Williamsburg VA over the fourth of July. We had an opportunity to go away for a few days again this summer so being the history buffs that we are, we took another trip to Williamsburg. This time though we took a day and did Busch Gardens while we were there. Our first full day there was when we did Busch Gardens. We had a really great time. The boys loved the roller coasters. We stayed until closing, They had fireworks and stuff, called it Illuminights. The second full day there we did the Colonial part of Williamsburg. A few things that we did there were the same as a few years ago but for the most part, we did different things. We spent the whole day here too. Did the shops here before we left about 7: 30 or so then we went back to the Hotel and swam until the pool there closed. Unfortunately the next day we had to head home. We decided to make the most of it though and stopped at Mount Vernon on our way home. It was beautiful there. George really had some view from his back porch. Mount Vernon was George Washington's home . I would have liked to have been able to take pictures in his home but there was a no pictures rule. So we are home now... School will be resuming shortly and I will be going back to work : ( . But I am very thankful that we were able to get away. I think Next year, we are going to try for a a few days at the BEACH somewhere...

Jordan and Tanner front and center on the Griffon, over 200 feet in the air.

Jordan on the left, Tanner on the right.

Part of Little Italy in BG lit up for the Illuminights

Part of Little Italy again

Looking down from the bridge at the riverboats , the Lochness Monster and the Griffon to the right in the back ground

Illuminights Sign on the bridge at BG

A local Colonial girl showing Tanner one of their " Games"

Jordan getting his feet dirty in the clay to make bricks

In front of Mount Vernon

On the Back Porch

What A View !!!!

Then and Now.

Back in 1991 or 92, when Ken and I were dating, We took a trip with his family to Harpers Ferry and Antietem . While we were there we had our picture taken at Burnside Bridge in Antietem.

Then

Yesterday Ken and the boys and I took a family trip and went back to Harpers Ferry and Antietam. Of course we had to get another picture at the bridge. We tried to get one as close to the same spot as possible. It has been about 20 years and there had been a flood there back in 1996 so things were a little different but I think we got pretty close.

Now

It was a really nice day, We did A LOT of walking (enough for the next 3 days). Ken did some reminiscing of time spent with his dad and I just love that the boys are at the age now that they can understand and appreciate what went on there many years ago.

This was taken from the top of the tower at bloody lane 2 deer that we just happen to spot in the distance