The First Snowfall

I believe in the old folklore that the date of the first measurable snowfall correlates with the number of times it will snow this winter.

November 30th was the first snowfall which means we'll have 29 more days of measurable snow. Why couldn't the snow gods have waited one more day which would have been the 1st of December leaving only 1 more day of snow.

This was 2 hours after the snow started to fall. The total wasn't much and the next day all the snow was melted. Typical Missouri weather. Snow and temperatures in the 20's one day and sunny skies and temperatures in the 50's the next. Why do I even live in this state? Oh yeah, my family is here!

Thanksgiving

I take advantage at Thanksgiving to have everyone help set up my outdoor Christmas decorations.

I was running back and forth between the yard and the kitchen and forgot to take one single picture of everyone working. Bushes were cut down, lights were put up and the whole menagerie of flamingos, geese, the pig and even the dinosaur was set up. If you look real close, you can see me sitting on the bench next to the tree.

I blame my forgetfulness of taking pictures to making the perfect Thanksgiving meal. No dry turkey over here. At least I can still cook!

VIP Day at Mason

I've been going to VIP Day (Grandparent's Day) for the past 7 years starting when Violet was in Kindergarten.

Violet has moved on to middle school so now it's Hazel and Lincoln.

The donuts are the same, the picture booth changes just a bit, but I swear these desks keep getting smaller and smaller and lower to the ground.

Happy Birthday Lola & Khloe

Lola and Khloe are celebrating their 13th birthday.

They may be losing their hearing and arthritis is setting in but bring out the bacon and they're just like puppies!

The Magic of Christmas

I can remember as a child we didn't start decorating for Christmas until after Dad's birthday (December 15th).

As I got older, I would wait until the day after Thanksgiving to put up my tree. Now you barely get through Halloween before the decorations come out.

Add to that if you have children, most of them have their own tree in their bedrooms to decorate. Maybe the magic of Christmas isn't the one you create but the one you find along the way. In other words, "Just wing it"!

Birthday Shopping

I've given up on trying to buy present for my kids and my grandkids. So instead I set up a date to take them shopping and let them pick what they want.

Lincoln has always been my hardest kid to buy for but this buying trip was actually fairly easy. We had our annual lunch at Taco Bell where Lincoln showed me how he can eat the hottest hot sauce they offer. I, on the other hand, have trouble with their mild sauce. We then headed to Dick's for new shoes, a shirt, a rubic's Chiefs cube, socks and sunglasses. We finished up at Target and headed home. While he had the biggest smile on his face, I had to come home and take a nap.

Lincoln's 9th Birthday

Birthday number 9. Why do I remember so much of his birth like it was yesterday?

Melissa has this tradition of taking a picture of her kids the night before their birthday. Like magically they'll have this great change overnight. Maybe in a few weeks it will happen to me...only I'll look years younger!

We had a family birthday party at Fun House Pizza. What a place to have a kid's birthday party. The adults sit around the table and talk while the kids go through rolls of quarters. Best birthday party ever. Happy Birthday to my grandson, Lincoln. What a pleasure it is to be your Ma!

Trip to Vegas

What better way to get out of the house than a trip to Vegas to visit my friends. This time I stayed at the Red Rock Casino and Spa. It's a little northwest of the strip in Summerlin, NV, but it was gorgeous and HUGE! There were at least 5 upscale restaurants, a bowling alley, a movie theater, a food court, an arcade for kids and many, many slot machines!

Of course, as usual, I forgot to take pictures of my friends but I did get a somewhat nice picture of the Red Rock mountains outside my VIP suite. Joe, my casino host, suggested this would be a great place to bring the family. Now who wants to bring kids to Las Vegas 🎰

Lincoln's Flag Football Super Bowl

Lincoln's flag football team, the Vikings, made it into the Super Bowl again this year.

While they didn't win, they made a big come back in the 4th quarter but it wasn't quite enough to beat the other team. I was in Las Vegas so I missed the game. Sure is a good thing I didn't put a sports bet on them 😄