Christmas 2014

 

We had several very nice Christmas celebrations. On Christmas Eve we went to Dennis' mom's house with his brothers, their families and a family friend and his family.  We had a nice meal, played silly games and then opened presents with no names on them.  It was interesting to say the least!

and a Partridge in a Pear Tree

Seven Swans a swimming

The whole Griffin crew except baby Mackynly who will be born in February

Sandra with the three boys: Brent, Dennis and Kenny

opening presents from each other

And then it was Christmas Morning!!

Before...

Preston got us started and was in the mood with his Auburn Santa hat!

Grant was very happy with his Manziel jersey

Ryan got a keyboard!

Preston opening a huge snicker bar and wearing most of his presents all at the same time!

and then they crashed!

later we set up Ryan's keyboard

After!!
We got to talk with Frankie and Janet via Skype and watched them open presents from us.  Then we went down to my parent's house to open presents and eat (again).

silly socks that look like shoes and a bar of soap with a mystery amount of money inside.  You have to USE it to get down to the money.  Great gift for smelly teenage boys!!  Plus they wear socks like shoes anyway...

shop sign for dad since Dennis is always borrowing his stuff

"Mother's bracelet" for mom with all our birthstone colors on it

Wish I had a picture of our dinner...rib roast!  It was huge and yummy!!  Then we all crashed again for awhile before we went home to set up the ping pong table!!

We played until Christmas was officially over and they stopped playing Christmas music!  When the music switched...I went to bed!  Christmas was over :(
We did have a few more small "events"...one with Dennis's Uncle William and Aunt Jean, cousin Leslie and her family!  It is always great to see them.  And then my Uncle Pleas and Aunt Diane came to visit, bearing gifts and visiting for a few days!!
**Farm notes: Lil Swaggy P is growing and doing fine.  His mother did not recover from the birth and he is now hanging with the rest of the flock**

It is now time for a Redneck New Year's Eve...stay tuned!!

Happy Holidays

"Happy Holidays, Happy Holidays..
May the calendar keep bringing
Happy Holidays to you! "

I love Christmas music and have been listening to it since early NOVEMBER!  I have to get in the mood before BLACK FRIDAY with  my notes and lists and plans....all of which I did not have this BF and therefore I was scrambling to finish up the week of Christmas.  It all turned out great-as always!  We had a great Thanksgiving with my parents, Dennis' mom, brothers and their families along with his cousin Leslie and her family, his Aunt Jean, Uncle William and Aunt Mary.  Lauren and Autumn came over to make "acorns" as a special dessert for Thanksgiving.

After stuffing myself I shopped for about 16 hours straight!  I tell Dennis it is like hunting but he still does not get it.
Speaking of hunting...Dennis killed a 9 point buck. Which is now sausage :)

We had a really nice December.  A mix of being very busy and sleeping late and relaxing!  We had several events...our Sunday School Christmas Party with a great Dirty Santa gift exchange,  our church's annual dinner with music and gifts for a local home for troubled teenage girls with much basketball in between.  I also spent a weekend in Huntsville with Dennis meeting his co-workers and going to a holiday reception at the general's home.  Dennis was pretty sick with a bad cold while I was there and then I spent the next week fighting it as well! The "farm" kept up busy too.  We have had two lambs born so far, one that needs to be bottle-fed so I was up late taking the late night feeding and up early taking the first feeding of the day for awhile until Dennis made it home.  Luckily Preston was home from college and did all the feedings in the middle.  He named the bottle fed lamb, "Li'l Swaggy P" after a pro basketball player.

Swaggy's first bottle within hours of his birth

Swaggy P @ 2 weeks old

Knowing how busy we were going to be, I wanted our tree decorated while Dennis and Preston were home for Thanksgiving so the day they had to head back this is how our tree got decorated!! 8 teen-aged BOYS! It was done in record time!

Then I had to re-arrange a "few" things :)

 Rosie missed the tree and was glad it was back!  I wonder what she thinks.

Since this post is pretty long (and it is almost midnight) I will continue tomorrow with Christmas Eve and Day. So stay tuned!!!

Heigh Ho..

sing with me...Heigh Ho, Heigh Ho, it's off to work I go!  Yep this year we (my" costume buddies and I) were Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs!  I was Happy!  Our Principal was Snow White!  We were very cute and a hit at the parade.  However when we were without each other and Snow White, all the little ones called us Santa Clauses!  Just this past week a little boy looked at our speech therapist (Bashful) and said, "I see-d you with all the santas"...well he actually probably said "me" see-d you because that is one of the things we have been working on (I instead of me) but I digress... I also need to add that the oldest kid at our school is probably seven (preschool through 1st grades).

I just LOVE Fall at a Primary school!  We have had a really nice Fall here this year...some color to the trees cool weather and no rain.  Last weekend both of  my beloved football teams lost!  Our high school team made it to the playoffs but lost in the first round to the #2 team in the state!  Our defense looked good but we could not get an offense going.  Grant had an excellent fake punt from the goal line...he threw a pass on the money for the first down but I think we fumbled soon after!  He played QB for a few plays also.  Late in the game he got his SEVENTH INTERCEPTION and almost ran it back!  He also got blindsided one time.  As he laid on the ground he said he thought of his name and the day of the week and knew he was ok!  Then on Saturday, Auburn blew the first few minutes of the game and the last few minutes of the game!  That was enough to lose by 3!
We are now heading into basketball season.  It starts next week!  Ryan will play "B Team" and Grant will be on Varsity which means LOOOONG nights on hard bleachers several nights a week!  But I love to watch them play!

**QUICK post because it is December 30th and as I was going to "blog" about the holidays I saw this DRAFT...uh oh! ALSO a quick note that Grant ended up making the first team ALL STATE 2A defense!!  He was very excited.