Bunco Cheese Board

Thought you might like to see these pictures from my "Bunco" style cheese board.  They are not great but it gives you an idea.  It was fun that John and I worked together as a team on this project.  The girls really enjoyed it.  Melissa, thanks for the idea.  Pinterest, thanks for the pictures!

I spoke too soon

You know how I said 1000 times one or twice over Christmas that the last thing I needed was a dog?

Look who showed up on our porch this morning - hungry, tired, scared, and as cute as can be.  We've named him Ernest. As in Ernest Hemmingway.

Thankfully, we have sweet neighbors who loaned us a collar, leads, and a crate for the night.  And, one of my friends wants him and is okay with giving him back if his owners show up.

He's the sweetest dog we've ever met - he loves, and I mean, loves, Vale and let her hold him pretty much all day without trying to get away from her.  We wish we could keep him, but we know it's a truly bad idea.  Giving him up tomorrow, however, will not be fun.

And a Video

Climbing Dome!

We* worked hard this morning to put the dome together!  I'm not sure which was more difficult - tightening a ba-jillion bolts or keeping the kids off of it until it was good and secure.  We were so thankful for the gorgeous day. We spent about five hours building the dome and playing on it.  The Brooks even came down to join us for about an hour.  It's certainly going to be a fun neighborhood attraction!

It didn't take her long to get the hang of it. Ha ha.

Even Beck tried his hand at climbing with a little help from Daddy.

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, Happy & Pops!! What a wonderful Christmas present to both them and me.  You've given my furniture and cabinets another 10 years of life.

I'll post a video a bit later today.

*And by "we," I really mean Thomas. I helped a tiny bit.

Some Christmas Eve Pictures

These are pretty much the only pictures I took all weekend. If anyone else got some good ones, do share!

Tuscaloosa Gala

I told a few of you about the Gala we attended in Tuscaloosa the week before Christmas to celebrate the opening of a new Federal Court House. Here's a picture of us all dolled up!  We were definitely in the youngest 1/10 of the 300 people there, and we got lots of sweet comments about and sideways-glances at my huge tummy.  Definitely the only pregnant girl there. 

As I was getting ready, I had a bit of deja vu.  The first Chi O party I took Thomas to was in Tuscaloosa in December - 11 years ago!  We both look back on that night with fondness and a realization that it was the day we fell in love.  The sparks were definitely flying even though it took us about two more months to become an item.

I believe he wore the same tux with a different tie.  I, however, would not be able to fit in the dress I wore...for obviously reasons :) 

Oh, how much has changed in 11 years!  One thing's for sure - I love the man I get to get dressed up with more and more as the days go by.  I'm so thankful for our history, and I am giddy about our future!

Another Update from Afghanistan

Update from David:

It is starting to get colder and feel more like northern Afghanistan should, I guess. I'm still doing very well. We have received many care packages from people we don't know. In them there were many letters that people across the country wrote to deployed soldiers. I found one from a 3rd grade class at Mountain View Elementary School in Marietta and have started correspondence with those kids. I have a pen pal (I guess multiple pen pals)! It's pretty neat to see people close to home reaching out to those of us over here. I also have been receiving care packages and letters of my own, which I am very thankful for. I want to say a special thanks to the Bishops for their kind letter and my parent's Sunday school class for a care package. Thank you all for the continued thoughts and prayers for Claire and myself. It's hard to believe that I've already been gone for almost a month. Time seems to be going by pretty fast here so far. I hope everyone is doing well back at home and has a wonderful Christmas season! Merry Christmas.

And here are some pictures he sent for the blog:

These are the planes they fly (when weather permits). It sounds like they're going to be able to fly today. I imagine that the wings end just outside of the frame of the picture, but it's a lot more fun to imagine that they go on a lot farther.