Andy was going to help me make breakfast. It quickly changed to me watching him make breakfast. :)

"Grandma! What is your technique? You're invincible!"

Good, clean, old school fun. Johnny bought a re-released version of Rock 'em Sock 'em Robots. Pretty fun, actually.

Andy sporting his new gear.

This was my Grandma's seeing cabinet. My mom gave it to me for Christmas! :)

Our new pet...? He keeps hunting from the boy's swing set. Johnny named him Pecks.

The main event AND bonus pies. Otherwise known as chef's treat! ;-)

My boys and their pups!

The boys enjoyed a night of sleeping under the tree!

Some of Andy's doodling. I love the hat flying off!

Little Jesus

Johnny was asked to write a character sketch in school.  He could base it on any character and use any literary form he wanted. Imagine our pleasant surprise when he brought this to show us. I thought it captured the season well. He wrote it in one sitting right off the top of his head and heart. :)

Little Jesus

A God born a man,

Born from Mary with a plan

To save the world from sin

From the stable held within

To the cross were he died

To the tomb were he lied

Born in Bethlehem

As the prophecy said

As Jesus lay in bed

A manger for his head

A king they thought would be the one

But, no, a carpenter, a man born of a virgin

He's the only one.

Andy was thrilled to discover we have a hatch on our island too...!

Moon walk

Pete looks ominous!

So, how does a spider drink?

A little taste of fencing

Andy's learning how to install a ceiling fan.

Andy on the attack

We took a quick trip back to Bethlehem tonight…

Entry one in the great Saturday doodling contest...!

Dad one, Johnny zero ;) "Draw A goofy face in the corner of your page"

Finished. :)

Fun with RPN calculators at Taco Bell :)

Andy wanted to know how mine "worked"

We are in a state of Consonant Laughter...!

I asked Johnny to come up with a solution to turn down the diameter of my screwheads

This was his idea and it worked perfectly!

Andy's been hard at work doodling...

Fun with french fries! It's surprisingly hard to get them off of there

A line backer chasing a running back. :) The cheese is the ball.

The boys thought this swarm was "epic"

A breakfast reward! ;)

Andy's turned in a nice string of hard work and good grades!

Yum, yum, the time has come!!!

It's Christmas on my desk, once again. :)

Julie's finding spots for some of our "history"

Dressing up the "picture door" with some antiques we found lying around the house :)

We all played Catch Phrase last night. The boys were thrilled to come across this one!

Wow!

Follow the penciled and pink letters... Haha!

Julie and Andy are sending subliminal messages to each other! :)

Greetings from rainy California earlier this week…

This might help get you in the Christmas spirit!

Are you need combination of fall colors and palm trees!

Merry Christmas Aqua

Christmas at the Park

Yay, Pete made it. He's back on his feet again, in recovery mode.

It's always scary to find them like this...! A molt in progress

Andy's been busy getting in the spirit!

This thing is taking over our living room as it relaxes

Johnny's 13th Birthday highlight reel

Happy end to your birthday week, my son! Follow the link on my blog to see all the pictures

You can click the link below to see the festivities from the week:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/dwbarton/sets/72157649430880056/

"Texting about cucumbers"...?

I like our new view. Sunrise this morning! :)

I found some time to work on Julie's I Love You Day present over the break

If you look close, you can see I'm using old barn stall oak to frame it and set it off the wall enough that I can line the inside perimeter with lighting. The old oak matches the age, color and look really well!

Prepping the tree again. Is it that time already?!

Andy noticed and shot a picture of this snow flake on our car window last night

Happy birthday my biggest turkey!

What a crew!