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The kids constructed a gingerbread house Thursday morning, patiently waiting to get started until after they were dressed and had breakfast
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All done, but the house is already sliding apart. Yikes!
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Quick! Take a picture before the whole thing collapses!
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Eat fast, Piper and River! The roof is separating!
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Laying claim!
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| Piper preferred the candy decorations to the gingerbread. |
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Evelyn came over to hang with us and the kids while Ryder and Brandy had dinner with friends in Cedar Park
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The kids chased each other around and around the island playing keep away with the purple bouncy ball
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Roy came over to hang out with us too
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Barbecue dinner from Dickey's and lemonade, lots of lemonade
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Catching Disney's "Moulan" after dinner
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Jade leading Piper in to watch "Moulan"
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Never mind "Moulan." Cracking pecans with Papa Tom was a lot more interesting.
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Getting ready for bed
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Time for "Little Red Riding Hood," a group effort at storytelling
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Last hurrah before calling it a night
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River got the ball to go down the whale's throat on the first try. River and Papa Tom had a tie winning score after Papa Tom gave River a 10-point handicap for being 3 years old
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The whale killed Mya and me! We quit counting after about 15 tries apiece to get the ball down the whale's throat. Argh!
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Amon concentrates. It's harder to get the ball through the arch than you would think!
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Where, oh where, did our balls go?
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Mya and Captain Hook--or maybe one of the nicer pirates?
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We picked up poinsettias backstage after Emma's winter concert
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| Emma, comfy after Midway High School winter concert and changing out of her formal dress |
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December 7, 2014: Emma, Amon, Joyce, Al, River (with Griswold on his shirt), Brandy, Mya, Piper, Ryder. Loved being with everyone; wish everyone else could have been here too!
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Early Christmas for River and Mya. Thanks, Joyce, Emma, and Al!
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Early Christmas present for Piper from Al, Joyce, and Emma. Thanks you guys, for getting the holidays off to a merry start!
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| River went to town on Amon's punching toy. Uh, knocked a hole in it . . . . |
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Cracking pecans. Amon, Mya, and River gathered pecans. The kids were intrigued with the pecan cracker. Well, River doesn't look so intrigued in this particular photo, but I promise you, he was.
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Budding guitarist, Mya.
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| Got to borrow Janae for a couple of hours on Saturday and have lunch at Spider House. She was in town to spend the holidays with Finlay Scanlon, her roommate on the trip to Shanghai last summer. Janae, who's a sophomore this year, is applying to spend her junior year attending high school in Beijing. She's been studying Mandarin Chinese at her school in Phoenix and is already fluent enough to have gotten around Shanghai without an interpreter. |
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| It was so warm and sunny outside we decided to have our pie and coffee on the deck. |
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| Stylin' Evelyn and Papa Tom! |
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| We had an easy, low key Thanksgiving dinner: smoked turkey from Costco, pies from HEB and Central Market, dressing from Kerbey Lane. Amon made two types of cranberry sauce: one with cranberries only, one with cranberries and blueberries. I made mashed potatoes and green bean casserole. Almost a disaster when I couldn't find the mixer beaters (tells you how infrequently I use them) but the VitaMix was prefect for whipping the potatoes. Whew! |
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| Papa Tom fixed Grandma Evelyn's plate. Jade likes to tease Grandma Evelyn by calling her Grandma Elephant or Grandma Elevator. |
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| Amon and Jade |
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| I wish the flash hadn't washed this photo out. You can barely make out "ORYGUN," on a Texas plate, with the Oregon Ducks license plate holder. I think someone misses their home state! We parked next to this SUV when we took Jade to see "Big Hero 6," a Disney animated film which I totally recommend. The film was playing at the very, very upscale IPIC theatre at the Domain. One of the seating options is a couch with your very own pillow and blanket. We chose "regular" seats, which were as wide and cushy as recliners. |
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| Catching rainbows. We have a sun-powered prism in the kitchen window that turns and causes rainbows to fly around the room for a magical half hour or so in the afternoon. I used to tell Jade those were the rainbow fairies visiting us every afternoon. Sadly, she's outgrown that story, understanding that the prism divides the light. But I still think of the rainbows as fairies! |
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| Jade helped Papa Tom repair the handrail out front. |
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| Happy Birthday to Sassy Sista Donna, born on Mom's 29th birthday. With Martin. This photo HAS to be from the 1980s. . . . |
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| Picnicking, not sure where. Mom and me, around 1956, I think. Is that right? Mom? Dad? |
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| Happy Birthday, Mom! Here are Mom and me, Galveston Beach, circa 1955. My best Joe Pesci impression! |
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Best buds from class of '69, Tascosa High School, Amarillo, Texas: Papa Tom, Pat, Bob, Dave, and Tim.
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The guys check out photos of Pat's art. Pat and Dave spent Saturday at the East Austin Studio Tour, showing Pat's art to local gallery owners. Pat still lives in Amarillo; Bob lives in Dallas; Dave and Tim live in Austin.
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| Pat says people drop "parts" off at his house for him to create sculptures. |
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Photo of one of Pat's paintings.
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| Amon, Jade, Anjanette, on their way out the door to ice skate at Northcross Mall. Jade put on her "sad" face for the picture. |
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Jade drew cat whiskers on her face to be "cat girl."
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| Mommy and Jade |
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While Papa Tom and Amon constructed the greenhouse, Jade caught Lizzie peeking up between the floorboards. She played with Lizzie for a while, offered her some chips, and wanted Lizzie to lie down with her at naptime, but Amon convinced her to let Lizzie run around outside instead.
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Emma, complete in flapper dress, long beads, and headband with feather, belted out "Forget About the Boy" in her solo from "Thoroughly Modern Millie" in one of the Broadway show tunes featured at Broadway Night by the Midway High School choir. Great performance, Emma! Afterwards, we had dinner at Fuji, a Japanese steakhouse.
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The chef prepared dinner tableside, including stacking onion slices grilled from the inside out, volcano style.
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