A Surprise Trip To Dallas, and a Sad Homecoming...

Over the weekend of January 3rd, we decided to visit my sister in Dallas. Her family was throwing a surprise 50th Birthday party for her, and on the spur of the moment, we gathered up the kids and drove down to visit. We left Friday day, and arrived at about 2:30 am Saturday morning. Her surprise party was not until the evening, so we decided to spend the day at the Dallas Zoo.

After the zoo, we got ourselves ready, and prepared to surprise Carla at the wonderful party set up by her daughters. I think we did!

We had a nice drive home, but had suspected, and actually talked about, the eventual death of one of our old cats, Ptolemy. When we got home, we were informed that Ptolemy hadn't eaten or drank anything since we left. He was having a hard time standing on his own, and was obviously in pain. We decided that night to end his life. Here are the last pictures we have of Ptolemy, with a sad group of kids around him. The kids each wrote a remembrance of Ptolemy, and read them before I buried him in our backyard. May you rest in peace, Ptolemy.

Ptolemy 1994-2009.
Rest In Peace, you lovable little shithead.

Better Late Than Never....

Here are pictures from our churches' Christmas play, in which the kids all participated. Also, Santa visited the church, which would be the source of some debate at some point, were I a pious person.

Next are some pictures of the kids on Christmas morning. The kids are pictured with favorite gifts from Aunt Tanya and Uncle Rick, and Tony, Annie, and family. I hope you all had a Merry Christmas!