Tama comes to visit!!

Christmas week brought a visitor from North Carolina! Tama arrived in the evening of Christmas Eve - we were glad to find Ruby Tuesdays open (one of the only restaurants that was). Christmas Day we had Jason R, Aaron R and Garrett O over for lunch. They went to help Aaron do a job then came back for games! David, Kathy, Dot, Susie and Cindy joined us for snacks and puzzles in the evening! Once again, the camera didn't make it out!

We also had a trip to Branson to see Angie and Doctor Wayne :) then a bit of a tour around the town...

Saturday we went to War Eagle Mill (pictures below). Kyle enjoyed the Butter Almond ice cream cone that he and Mommy shared while Daddy and Tama enjoyed their blackberry cobblers at The Bean Palace!






Frequent phrases since Tama went home are "Where Tama go?" "Where Tama's airplane go?"

Meeting cousins at the "new" mall

Of course, Mommy forgot to take pictures of the cousins! :) Kyle played on the playground while we waited for Shanna, Eli and Addison to have lunch with us! We then walked around to some stores for a bit... They had neat winter decorations, too!

Going to Kendra's...

While Daddy and Mommy went to a Business Association Holiday Party, Kyle went to play at Miss Dawn and Kendra's! Mommy had him dressed and then he found his tie and hat to wear! And the tractors had to go along too! He found that "Drendra" had a couple tractors too which made his night!

Newest Friend!

Here is our newest friend! "Baby Riah" is a hit with Big Brother Kaleb and with Kyle!

Playtime!

Daddy get under the table too! Didn't quite fit but they had fun playing, for sure!

Share with Baby Brother

Kyle is excited to share with Baby Brother! He had me wrap big bear up and then he put him in Baby Brother's bed! He's also planning to share toys and teach him tricks!

Thanksgiving

We had Turkey Dinner at Andy and Shanna's with Del's family and Kari's folks came too! Before we left, Kyle was trying to get Grampa Wayne to give him things off the shelf that he's not supposed to have! Good thing Gramma Dawn was in there to tell what was off limits! We had a wonderful time playing games and visiting and eating! Andy and Shanna had a REAL turkey in a cage outside - Kyle got pretty much everyone to take him out there! Unfortunately it was FREEZING!!! So, the trips to see the turkey were short!

3 Grandpas - Grandpa Wayne, Grandpa Calvin and Great-Grandpa Les

Grandma Dawn helping the cousins with puzzles!

Moving Crew

We helped (well, Del helped while Kyle played and I emptied a couple boxes) our friends Vince, Gigi and Cody move into their new home last night!! The boys had a blast and we had good times & pizza, too!

Making sure the piano works...

Halloween

Kyle was a dragon for Halloween - we went trick-or-treating at Del's office and got lots of candy! Unfortunately, Kyle didn't want to wear his costume... Fortunately, he's so cute they gave him lots of candy! :) When we got home from eating supper, he wanted to "go trick-or-treating" so we told him if he put his costume on we would go to the neighbor's house. So he did!

He played with their kitty...

And their kitty sniffed at Kyle!

Texas trip!!

Stop for supper on the way - Kyle running around, climbing on rocks before getting back in his chair...

Kyle, Preston, Madison - waiting somewhat patiently for lunch Uncle Kent and Baby Ryan

Uncle Kory and Del - reading comics

Aunt Teresa and Aunt Molly

Well, we went to Texas, where we succeeded in not taking very many pictures!! We went to Kory, Teresa, Ryan and Winchester's where Kyle was thoroughly licked to pieces! We were also joined there by Kent, Molly, Madison, and Preston quite a bit, too! We spent a lovely time visiting, eating, reading comic books, eating... and then I think we ate some more! Sunday we went to Kent & Molly's for a yummy lunch and then vegged there until it was time to meet Grampa Wayne and Gramma Dawn and travel through torrential rains to their house! While there, we acquired a 1997 Honda Accord, in GREAT condition (thanks to Kory for his hard work) so we had 3 vehicles in this caravan in the rain. Kyle, Gramma and I had the car and Gramma spent much of her time adjusting the little mirror that suctions to the window so Kyle could see Daddy's headlights behind us.

We went from there to Georgetown Convention where we were greatly fed, once again.

Adam and Kyle listening to Lanelle and the girls visit and share stories.

Del left Sunday after lunch taking the car and traveled with Aaron and Jason, who had come down, too. After convention was over, we had the privilege of attending Marguerite McMahan's funeral - wonderful to think again on her life, spent in God's will. After the funeral, we stayed for some of the tear-down where Kyle was thrilled to see a bobcat/forklift in action - picking up racks of chairs - he still talks about it!!! There was also a tractor/trailer that picked up trash that Del & his brother used to ride on when they were kids! Kyle & Del went one time but Kyle was startled by the tractor noise and wouldn't go again!

Looking for cars before walking to the mailbox with Grampa

Kyle and I went back to Grampa and Gramma's for week where we really didn't do much of anything! We had a wonderful time... went to Angela, David, and Marion's for lunch one day with Connie, too. I had lunch out with one of my previous co-workers. Kyle spent much of his days playing toys and asking "Where Grampa (or Gramma) go?"

Waiting for Grampa to come home

Gramma bought remote control cars for Grampa and Kyle to play with - they were cool!!

Gramma's bunny rabbit wrapped up in Kyle' tag blanket that Gramma fixed...

Kyle and I had an uneventful trip home on Monday - we were sad to leave but glad to see Del/Daddy! :)

Reading bedtime stories

Kyle loves to have stories read to him and he even repeats them later while he's playing!

Birthday party for Del!

Lots of sweets!!

Since we are usually gone for Del's birthday, I decided to do a little snacks/games afternoon before we left for TX! Abe, Lori, Lauren, Emily, Aaron, and Jason were able to join us and we had a great time!! Brenda joined us later on her way home from convention!

Emily entertained Kyle...

Kitchen/Truck/Fridge Trouble

Our cousins gave us a refrigerator to play with - Kyle loves it! I've caught him in the bathroom getting water to put in the sink....
Of course, it is also used for ulterior motives! We have since moved it's location... :)
We also got a great deal on this cool dump truck!!! Kyle takes it outside and fills it with rocks and grass and sticks...

Later in the week, our real refrigerator stopped working! Turns out it was the freezer (defrost timer) but it did create havoc in our housefor a bit - we had to use a cooler for a couple days to keep the milk cold... Thank goodness for Best Buy's 5 year warranty!!!

Time with friends...

As sometimes happens, we returned from convention with colds/allergies which like to linger so Kyle & I spent quality time together at home.

By Friday night we both needed to get out of the house!!! So, we went to Brenda's house and made pizzas, played games and had good visits!

Clever, MO

Well, after Rogers Kyle and I went to Clever, MO. Some friends of ours needed a car returned to MO so we brought it up for them! Del joined us on Saturday afternoon. We enjoyed the days of spiritual rain...

When we returned home, I was in a cleaning mood so was vacuuming the window trays (is that what they are called?) out and heard a noise - It must have been my vacuum because when I turned it off, the noise quit. When I finished the room I was in, this is what I found!!!

The noise I heard was the chair moving across the kitchen floor and Kyle had found my pearing knife and sliced the bananas! So, we made a delicious fruit salad!

Posing for the camera...

Taking pictures...

Rogers 2007

We had wonderful days at Rogers... Kyle loved "bention." :)

In between meetings, Kylie had a cell phone with a camera! :) Smile, Kyle!!
Here's how to get them all lined up! Say cheese!
Say Cheese again!
Cooking burgers in the rain - Nice hat Gary! :)
Kyle helping Daddy hold the umbrella...

Kyle hold it...

Kyle in his rain coat...

With the locust/cicada that he carried around for 2 days... it actually sang in his hands!