Cardinal Happy Hour at the Bird Feeder

The New Manny Nanny

At Christmas time there was lots of kidding about Bobby moving to Colorado to become Matt and Kelli's new nanny.  He joked that he could be their manny!  After all, he's retired with plenty of time on his hands, loves Lucas and Eli, and loves the Colorado mountains! 

In February he traveled with Teresa and Charlie out to Steamboat Springs for the 100th year celebration of the Winter Carnival and to officially apply for the nanny position (just kidding on that second part).

 

Here's a picture of Bobby and Charlie snowshoeing on a portion of Matt & Kelli's 27 acres.  Dang, look at that gorgeous view, I want to be the manny's assistant!

As you can see, Bobby wears shorts in all kinds of weather!   

 A few days after they returned home Matthew posted the picture below on Facebook and said that Lucas and Eli were 'pulling a Bobby' by insisting that they too could wear shorts and sweatshirts in the Colorado Rockies!

 

The Day After

Sitting here on this December 26th morning enjoying the play of sun and shadows on the fireplace while reflecting on the good times of Christmas 2012. 

This year was a combination of old and new traditions.

   

Friday night we had chili and decorated sugar cookies.  There was one major departure from tradition; Josh did not make any inappropriate sugar cookies.  His creativity must have been limited because there were no bear or ginger man shaped cookies to be bloodied and mutilated.  Or perhaps it was because Sara beat him to the punch with her three dimensional teachers love winter break but miss their students cookie.  :)

 

Since Teresa and Charlie moved to the Lake of the Ozarks there will be no more Christmas Eves spent at their Lexington home.  Their new lake home was not quite ready for occupation so they rented a five bedroom home with plenty of room for everyone to gather. 
We joined them for the weekend. 
Heading out on a bright and sunny Saturday morning.      

Whether it's her own home or a rental house Teresa does Christmas magic to perfection!
 

Here it was a playhouse tent set up in the corner of the living room.  The playhouse was in constant use while we were there; as an overnight sleeping space for Clara, or a hiding spot and play spot for Lucas and Eli, or an afternoon nap spot for a tired college student!  FUN! 

A large table for everyone to gather and visit. 

And everyone's favorite foods being prepared in the kitchen.

Evan with a soon to be upside down Lucas!

Charlie enjoying the sunshine and 50 degree temps in his KC Chiefs snuggie he stole from Stephen in the gift exchange! 

This picture of Lucas and Eli was taken after we left but it was so cute I just had to steal it from Jenny's Facebook page!

We headed back home Sunday evening.

Christmas Eve afternoon we had runzas for lunch, exchanged gifts and had a good visit before the kids headed off to the Lawhorn's and the Rapp's for more food and fun!  Josh had to work Christmas day. Sara and Evan joined us for leftovers and a competitive game of Scrabble where Bobby got 64 points for the word 'jihad'!

 

 

 

More Fall Colors

A rainy Saturday morning, the leaf colors are so vibrant and the trunks of the trees stand out dark against the flashy colors!  

Life is good!

Keeping Score - The Fall Version!

The friendly competition continues:

Spring = NCAA Tournament March Madness

Fall = Fantasy Football

I should have posted this screen shot last week when my team was in 5th place not 7th!

 

Thanks Josh for setting us up with a league of our own!

Fall Colors

The Panoramic View

The new version of the iPhone operating system allows the camera to take panaramic shots!

I think that's pretty darn cool!

 

 

Bobby put down 1,000 pounds of fertilizer and 400 pounds of grass seed last weekend  and you can't tell from this shot but baby grass is starting to fill in some of the bare spots.