Thanksgiving

This is the first time that I've been able to get on and blog since Thanksgiving day. We had my family over for Thanksgiving. My brother (Calvin) and his wife, my mom, my sister (Regina) and her son (Tristan), my brother (Ernest) and his girlfriend (Amy). We had lots of fun. The food was great!!! My mom cooked and I cleaned with the help of my sister in law. All in all it was a very pleasant Thanksgiving and that's saying something with my family.

Timmy did real good with everyone here. He was being his usual cute and charming self. He pretty much steals the show. We tried giving him a tiny bit of mashed potatoes but he didn't care for them at all.

After everyone was fed and full some of us sat around talking while others sat and watched the latest Indiana Jones movie. Alvin and the Chipmunks was also watched. A good time was had by all.

Scottie got to relax for a change. He needed it because he's been working a lot lately. Thanksgiving day was all he got because he worked a big commercial project yesterday and today. He's actually finishing it up as I write this to you now.

We are looking forward to going to church tonight and spending Sunday resting and having family time. After all the action over the past few days it will be nice to have some time to ourselves.

As I've sat back reflecting about everything I've thought about how blessed we are. We have family and friends to share our lives with, a roof over our heads, heat for when it's cold, a/c for when it's hot, running water, an awesome church family, a handsome baby boy, two dogs that give us lots of laughs (mainly b/c one is a pup and the other an adult), money in the bank, and a deep love that binds us together with bonds that can't be broken.

In a time when so much is going on and so much is changing it's nice to think about all that we have to be thankful for in our lives. Take time to reflect and realize how blessed you are today and everyday.

Things that make you go HMMMM

I will start out by saying that this is a story only the members of my family will be able to relate to. Because several of us have lived it before.

Today, I started a 2 day commercial carpet cleaning project. I took every precaution to make sure I had all of the supplies I needed and to make sure all of the equipment was in good working condition because it is a Holiday and supply stores are closed.

The day started out great and we were making good progress. When we took a break for lunch, I noticed that I had used most of the water in my supply tank. I decided to connect to the building water supply. Initially, everything was fine. After several minutes, the pressure pump on the machine stopped. This usually means that the cleaning solution tank is empty or the small water tank on the machine is empty. When I got to the machine, I found the water tank on the machine was empty and a safety switch had shut the pump down.

I knew that the water supply was good, so I thought it must be a stuck check valve in the input line. After taking the water system apart, the check valve seemed to work correctly. I put the system back together and I still have no water getting to the machine. I then decided to take the check valve out of the system entirely. Still no water.

My mighty carpet cleaning machine that has taken on and beaten the toughest Chinese Restaurant carpets, the nastiest rental house carpets and the most disgusting pet contamination you have ever seen is for the moment a boat anchor.

At this time, I started to reflect on some of the methods I have seen used to get things to work. I and several others have witnessed the execution of these methods and they are a sight to behold. I must say that the correct tools must be used to get the desired result.

The first repair method came to mind, so I looked for the correct tool. My carpet repair tools are still on order so I didn't have a 22 oz claw hammer. Darn.

I thought some more and the next repair method hit me. This one was good, I have witnessed great success with this one. I think to myself, this is a carpet cleaning truck, I am sure I have the main tool for this one. I look franticly, I can't find it. I say to myself "What kind of carpet cleaning truck doesn't have a throw rug on it?" At this point, I think to myself that it probably would not have worked anyway because I am not sitting on the shoulder of I75 somewhere in Georgia during rush hour and it isn't raining.

At this point, I decided to take all of the brass connectors and pipes apart. When I got the last two pieces separated, I found the problem. What was it that temporarily defeated my mighty carpet cleaning machine?

An acorn!!!!!

At this point, all I could do was laugh. Acorns and peanuts, small but powerful.

Even More Christmas Pictures

Here are some more of the Christmas pictures that we had done at Lundies Photography. The first one is what we have chosen as our main Family photo and what we are giving out to the entire family. To look at these pictures you would never know that we were dealing with an extremely fussy baby that day.

"P.U., What's that smell?"

Timmy really loaded his diaper last night. I couldn't resist getting a picture of his daddy's scrunched up nose as he was taking him to get changed. If you look closely in the pictures Timmy is smiling and laughing. He thinks his daddy is funny.

More on Christmas Pictures

When we went to choose what package we wanted from our Christmas photos we were able to bring some prints home but are waiting for the bulk of our prints to come in that we had to order. This is one of the pictures from the photo shoot. Scot scanned it into our computer with our new printer/photo printer/copier/scanner.

Charlie and Timmy have never been this close before. They were checking one another out and Candia just had to get a shot of it. What a great picture! We will post more of the photos later. But for now enjoy this one.

Christmas pictures

We went and had our Christmas pictures done on Nov. 15th. We get our pictures done at Lundies Photography by Photographer Candia. Timmy was very fussy the day we went and had them done and we thought for sure that we were going to have to do another photo session but to our surprise they turned out great! To look at the pictures you would never know that Timmy was very fussy that day. The pictures are on order now and we are getting a couple of them on disc so we will post them as soon as we get them.

Santa v/s Grandma

Nan bought this for Timmy and he got to wear it for the first time today. I wanted to be sure to post a picture of him wearing it for his Nan to see. He wore it proud Nan!

TSO (Trans-Siberian Orchestra) Concert

For my birthday my mom got us all TSO tickets. It was my first time to get to see the concert. I had heard how great the light show was over the years but had never had a chance to go check it out for myself. The light show was phenomenal! We all had a great time watching the show. Scot and I were both surprised at how well Timmy did. We were expecting to have to take turns with getting up and walking with him but he did great!!! He loved the lights and watched most of the show. He took a short nap half way through the show and then he was ready to go again. Tristan (my sister's little boy) on the other hand was on the move the whole time. Getting him to sit still was hard and eventually my mom and Gina just went up top with him where they could walk around with him and still see the show. It was the opposite of how we thought it would be with the kids but regardless the show was a blast. TSO really puts on a great show. It still doesn't compare with the TSO Christmas Concert that Living Word (our church) used to do. We have some great vocalist at our Church that are better than the TSO vocalist by far!!! It's too bad :-( that our church doesn't do the concert any more b/c I really prefer them over the TSO concert even though TSO was great. If you have never seen TSO in concert and they are coming near where you live be sure to go see them. You will love everything they do and it's well worth the price you pay to see the show.

Q: A Mini Van v/s A Sprinter? Which do you think won?

A: The Sprinter of course.

This is what happened to our work truck yesterday morning when some idiot driver that was late for work couldn't see a mile long line of stopped traffic with the Sprinter being the last vehicle. He was driving too fast and lost control of his vehicle and of course it was an old van.

Minor body damage to the Sprinter. The front of the mini van had to be replaced. There is something to be said for large vehicles.

"You couldn't see this...They can see it from space."

Sitting

This afternoon I thought I'd try letting him sit without my help. He did good for his first time sitting by himself. He's still not stable enough to do it for any long period of time but with practice he'll get there. Here are some pictures of him sitting. He's such a big handsome boy!!!