te te dup

I wote a littl pume te te dup te te dup It's a merr Christmas.

This is on my refrigerator, yes on my refrigerator, and every time I walk by it makes me cry. Of course that wonderful poet is now 24 years old, and living half way around the world in a foreign country. Ok, maybe a few thousand miles in California, same difference.

Thankful

I have so much to be thankful for and have had such a good year. I will save that for the end of the year though. I am thankful for Dennis and how good he treats me and makes me feel so special. I am thankful for Toby and Kara-Kae and how proud I am of them. I am thankful for my daughter-in-law and son-in-law and how happy they make my children. I am thankful for Tallie and her special new sibling that is on the way. Most of all and foremost I am thankful for God and His many blessings.

Proud

I try to think of words that describe what being a parent is all about: fear, joy, pride, excitement, worry, faith, cheerfulness, etc. These are the words that describe feelings you have when finding out that you will be giving birth to a child, as well as the feeling you have when your children are adults. I have two adult children that I have all of these same feelings about. I am so proud of the adults they have become. Toby is a wonderful son, great husband, terrific step-dad, and going to be a wonderful father to his child that is due in May. I saw how good of a parent he could be when he had a foster-child and was such a good parent to him for the few months he had him. Kara-Kae is a beautiful, kind daughter, wonderful wife, and great parent to Jack (the dog). She is in the process of moving to California. Even though it makes me very sad that she will be so far away, I do admire her courage to pack up and head out there. I wish that I could be the type of person to throw caution to the wind and just go and do. I will just have to live vicariously throught her. I do expect them to move back to this area when it is time to have children that don't require 4 legs to walk.

13 Years Ago Became Barn Dwellers

We moved into our (barn) house 13 years ago today.

The picture is from a snow in December 2007.

Toot and Puddle

Toot & Puddle (a creation of the real Holly Hobbie) are best friends, even though Toot likes to travel and Puddle likes to stay at home. There are several books about their adventures. My librarian friend and boss was Toot, and I was Puddle for Halloween at school.

Happy Birthday, Tallie!

We went to Stephenie's parents' today for Tallie's birthday, which is really on the 29th. We ate a yummy lunch, had cake and ice cream, and watched Tallie open gifts. Later we went to Toby and Stephenie's and had a nice visit.
Stephenie had done some Christmas shopping over the week-end, and it about drove Toby crazy that he couldn't tell us what she bought. It cracks me up how he can be so mature, and then is like a kid when it comes to gifts.
There is no way he can not find out the sex of their baby.

Book Fair is Over

Every year our librarian has two book fairs, one in the fall and one in the spring. She decorates (with help from Tammy), and makes it all look so special for the children. Every year there is a theme, and the decorations go along with the theme. This fall it was a safari theme. Here are a couple of pictures from the fair.

I just never realized how much work went into putting on a good book fair. There were many mornings we were at school before seven o'clock getting ready for it. We had "muffins with mom" one morning and "donuts with dad" the next morning. Since there are now two libraries we had to do it a second week at the intermediate library. There were even a couple of evenings that we had to stay late for parents to come in.

The setting up takes a lot of work, but the tearing down is almost as bad, because all of the books that are left have to be boxed and ready for pickup.

Donna does an excellent job and never get enough credit for all she does.