This is Christmas Eve at our house. I wanted to get some of these cute pictures on. It takes me about a month to do one post it seems. So, here are some cute pics of my family!!

Cassie and Charlissa getting yummies!!

Cassie and Jonny being sweethearts and my hubby, Dan, being so cute!!

Now, it is time for the traditional opening of the one present on Christmas Eve. It seems everyone is pretty much NOT surprised anymore with my choice of gifts.


Jammies for everyone!

BANG.........the obsession!!!

You got to know when to hold 'em
Know when to fold "em
Know when to walk away
And know when to BANG!!!!

This is a very fun and intense game of the wild, wild, west. It is a perfect game to play in Texas.

Can you guess who the deputies, outlaws and the renegade is??? Sheriff Adam ended up being shot and killed by Zach, the outlaw, because he had a Volcanic and 4 shots and Sheriff Adam only had one miss card and 3 lives.

And the games went on, and on, and on!

Christmas - Getting Ready for FAMILY!!!

Setting up Christmas starts with Dan putting the lights on our Christmas tree. It is a hard job because he is very particular as to how the lights should look. After he is done, he supervises us at times as to where to put the ornaments.





Below are pictures that lead to the final picture of our Christmas tree being ready for the holiday season!!

This is the end product of our preparations for our whole family coming to visit us for Christmas. We were SO excited!

Thanksgiving Part 2

Cherokee with his favorite Aunt!! Not from Thanksgiving Day, but from very recently.

Here is Chase doing what Chase is always doing! The boys had a good time playing Guitar Hero while we prepared the meal.

This is a picture of my Dad, Allen Dykes....better known as Papa! He keeps us current on the scores on football games on Thanksgiving Day. It is nice to NOT to have to watch the games. At least for me!

Aren't we cute??

If you look you can see the living room where Dan and I are and the room back behind us is the family room. This is my parents' new home for those who have not seen it. I am so happy they have their own home again!

Zach was busy helping in the kitchen. He is pretty good about that and he helped with taking care of Trevor quite a bit. He loves little kids and they love him too.

The reason for the extra Thanksgiving post is that I had tried for about 2 hours the other night to post all the pics from both posts and just as I was done. ... I did something and all was lost. I was so discouraged I could not even cry. I told Dan I quit and he was so good to get on the computer and at least get some of our pics up.

To Grandmother's House We Go

Thanksgiving 2007 was spent in Victoria, Texas with Nana & Papa Dykes. Cherokee was there as well as Trevor (Matthew and Danitra's son). He is so darling so we have many pictures of him to share!! He likes to play on Grandma's computer and listen to some "tunes" with some supervision. You can see he's something of a "laptop" computer operator (he sits on top of somebody's lap when he plays).

Trevor really likes Cherokee's little dog Racer. They're both pretty cute together.

Trevor kept hanging around while the Thanksgiving day feast was being prepared, and he figured out where all the good stuff was being kept. He's just about the right size to get up close and personal with all the good stuff.

Of course Nana's the chief cook in her house. For the big family feast everyone brings a little of the meal and Nana orchestrates getting it all put together. Nana made a big batch of her cornbread dressing (yum, the best!), and goood mashed potatoes with just the right amount of "ploppyness" to them. Karen brought her famous homemade cresent rolls, some sweet potatoes, a green bean casarole, and a vegetable tray. Dan usually gets to cut up and pick apart the turkey.

Trevor got to be our taste tester for some things. Kind of hard to tell what it is he's testing. It's something green, but not peas...no peas this Thanksgiving.

No big family picture of everyone eating...we were too busy eating all the good stuff to worry about getting it in a picture for everyone else to see. Let's just let is be said, it was a wonderful dinner.

We are so thankful for family and friends and for the abundance of love and life that is ours.