Do these guys know something we don't know?

We were out on a little drive today and we saw this:

Now, mind you, this is out in the middle of a mountain desert...

A boat.

A house on stilts.

And then at the end of the field is this sign:

We sure got a kick out of this...

hope you did too.

Maybe out there, when it rains, it pours...

Makes me Giddy

I just have to share a music video with you because, well, I love puppets.

I know.

Creepy.

But, I have always enjoyed puppets. Tee hee!

I was so excited when the new Muppets movie came out this year. (I still haven't seen it, but I am sure I will eventually.) One of my most favorite and "have to watch" movies every Christmas is the Muppets Christmas Carol.

When I was a kid I would make puppets and I would put on shows. I have to say that I made some pretty cool puppets. I even remember one time, at a family reunion my mom encouraged me to do a little act with one of my puppets I had made. I wish I had pictures. I will try to find one and post it some day. But, this puppet I made was an older-looking guy that looked like a redneck.

....      ...     ..    .

Wait...

I just found a couple of pictures! Ha ha! I can't believe I am going to post these but, you have to enjoy the laughter along with me. If I can't laugh at myself then it is not fair for me to laugh at others... tee hee!

Here they are:

This was at my mom's annual Halloween Party, hence the blond wig, I mean, not really "hence" because Halloween doesn't say, "blond wig" that is just why I am wearing one... man, I am getting goofy here. But anyway, enjoy the memories if you remember me as a puppeteer and feel free to laugh loudly.

I was quite proud of my craftmanship with this one. He was about 4 feet tall and it took a lot of foam and cloth to make him.

So, yes, if you aren't family this may have been one of those disturbing secrets you just learned about me... oh well, hopefully you love me even more knowing that I can put on a mean puppet show!

Why am I telling you all this?

I just saw this music video from Mindy Gledhill's Christmas album and it just brought back memories and made me smile really big this morning.

Genuine smile

Sister and Baby love to color and they love to bug each other but, I can still get a good picture in between the arguments...

Ya, she wants to share with me... (smile)

Brother's New Puppy

This is the puppy what we got him for his birthday.

I'm tellin' ya, we are all about low maintenance...

he sure loves her though. He is so happy his dog had a puppy!

Who stole the cookies from the cookie jar...

This is how I found Baby after church...

it's my fault for leaving the cookies on the counter, but, I am glad I got pictures.

Making Turkeys

It is tradition at Thanksgiving time to make turkeys with apples, toothpicks, candy and marshmallows.

I had some of those giant marshmallows so I brought those... they were fun.

Kirsten was very proud of her turkey!

What They Said, What I Took

What they said:
I haven't written down all the sweet thing that Baby has been saying lately... bad mommy...

Anyway, this morning she said, "iPod" !!!!

And it wasn't just because!

She saw Sister's iPod sitting on the dresser, looked at me and said, "iPod." (she was bound to love Apple products—remember this picture?) I was so excited! I mean she has been saying random words here and there, but they are not always functional. Although she has gotten pretty good at "mine!" when she doesn't want to share...

She dances to music... well, she turns to the music. In fact in church on Sunday she was up in front dancing to the closing hymn. I hope that gave people a good chuckle :)

Then today at playgroup she said "dah" for 'down.' That was a great milestone too! Oh, the excitement.

Sister has been asking EVERY day where Santa is. She wants him to come so bad. I am going to put up some kind of count-down calendar up to help her out. And I have to chuckle at what she wants Santa to bring her—an iPod—because Baby always has Sister's iPod...

For the past few weeks Sister will tell me these big long stories about kids at school, and I do mean BIG, LONG stories. I know she embellishes them quite a bit, but, oh, how I love to here her weave the tapestry of her story. He intonations, her facial and body expressions, the way she anticipates my reaction. It's absolutely priceless. I am going to have to record her sometime if she will allow so you can all enjoy it.

What I took:
I have to share a few of the pictures I took.

I am so proud.

I guess I have just always seen how awesome the photos are when someone has already been shooting for a while so it is fun for me to share with you my little photography journey. I am so anxious to get better and better. These are the pictures I told you about that I took at my parent's house. My sister-in-law, Chelsea, even took one of me with my nifty-thrifty camera. Oh and I found some great tips at Pioneer Woman's site in her photography section that really helped me understand shutter and aperture, not to mention Rochelle and Chelsea both gave me great tips!

Enjoy.

Melly

MrT

Ya-ya

My mom

Chelsea took these of me... woo woo!

The End