Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas. Even though my mom and dad didn't come for Christmas this year we had a wonderful day. My friend, Diana Mildenstein, invited our family over for Christmas Eve. We ate dinner and had a cute program where each family shared some of their favorite Christmas stories. Christmas day was so much fun. I have pictures that I will post later.

Cadaver Lab...Eeeeewwwwweeee!

These pictures are not for the squeamish! Warning! As some of you know, Steve designs shoulder implants. Part of his job requires that he conduct cadaver labs where the surgeons he works with practice "installing" the implants. The focus on the pictures isn't very good but you get the general idea. Yes...that is just an arm hanging there...a really big arm, complete with tattoos!

Shoulder Surgery Cake

One of the engineers that Steve works with loves to decorate cakes. She always makes a cake for whoever in the group is having a birthday. She makes the most amazing cakes. This year she asked Steve what kind of cake he wanted... He said, "oh, how 'bout a shoulder surgery cake." This is the result! The surgeons, table drape, and arm are made of fondant. (Only an engineer!)So cool!

Happy Birthday, Steve

Since Steve's birthday is so close to Thanksgiving we always save the pecan pie for his birthday pie! This year Sam and Braeden made it!

I had Steve college dipolma framed for his birthday. It turned out just beautiful!

Happy Turkey Day!

This year thanksgiving was just us. We didn't have anyone come over. We tried inviting people but it just didn't work out. We had a great day. Over the passed several weeks we have been letting the kids cook dinner. Each person is assigned one day to cook dinner and everyone else helps. Everyone cooks dinner. I got tired of fixing dinner and then everyone plopping down and eating. I find they appreciate dinner a lot more and they really like learning how to cook. So, this year everyone helped cook Thanksgiving dinner.

Lindsey was playing with the napkins after dinner. She got dad to play to...what daddy won't do for his little girl!

Here is our beautiful table. Kylie and Lindsey set the table.

Steve baking his rolls. (my mom's recipe-Lola Bonham rolls) The first year he ever tried them. I was so impressed at what a great job he did...he had lots of help. I tried to make them last time and they were terrible!

Kylie making the sour cream fruit salad.

Making rolls. My mixer wasn't big enough to handle 9 cups of flour so they mixed them by hand.

My truck has no heat!

On the way home from stamping club, I noticed that the heater in my suburban wasn't working. It was blowing cold air...and my thermosat was running a little hot. We found out from my brother that the water pump was bad and needed to be replaced. (the day before Thanksgiving) Steve decided that it would make a great family activity! The kids loved it. He let them each take a turn at doing something. It reminded me of when we were first married and Steve would work on our cars or his parents car and Steve's dad, Wallace, would supervise. He had a bad knee and hip so he would sit on the chair and tell Steve what to do. I'm so greatful that Steve can fix cars! Although, I wish he had learned more from his dad. His dad was a great mechanic and Steve really didn't take advantage of that. So now he has to learn a lot when doing. But thankfully he got that gene from his dad and he is able to figure it out. It saves us 1,000's of dollars in repair bills!

Hutto Fire Department

Lindsey's preschool group had a field trip to the Hutto Fire Dept. The dept. was a volunteer dept. until a few years ago. They still have positions that are volunteer but they have 2 full time and several part time.

Braeden & Lindsey riding the "hippo"mation. I guess they couldn't afford or want a real dalmation!

Lindsey on the back of the brand new engine #1 ladder truck.

Braeden in the driver's seat! He wanted to go so bad. I went and checked him out of school for a couple of hours and then took him back. His friends thought he was lying when he told them where he went! (What a cool mom!)

Lindsey (& fireman Blake) in the ladder truck.

Sick & Tired of being Sick & Tired

It seems as though every time I turn around someone in our family is sick. This year we have been sick more than any other I can remember. I think I have been sick for over a month; first with my surgery and then I finally got the stomach virus that everyone had earlier. It took almost 3 weeks for me to get it. I think it was waiting for my body to recover from surgery and then WAM!! The other members of the family had it for 24-48 hours. I had it for almost a week. I'm looking forward to getting back to normal. It has been 4 weeks since my surgery and I can start doing normal, everyday activities again!