Christmas 2011

 When there is a puppy involved, the wrapping paper becomes the best part of opening presents.  Come to think of it, my kids enjoyed playing with the Christmas paper when they were young too.  They'd pile it up, throw it in the air and run around with it.  They've been a little too old for that silliness for years now, but the puppy came and gave them an excuse to do it all over again.  The guy in blue is my son, Matthew.  He's working on his doctorate in physics.  Look how fast the dog appears to be going.  Someone in the physics world should study that---the Christmas Paper Frenzy...

We had a wonderful Christmas 2011.  The kids are all grown up now and in their chosen fields of study.  My son is working on his doctorate in Physics, my oldest daughter is teaching Algebra I and Geometry, and our youngest is working toward her goal of Landscape Architecture.  Even though we are all in different places in life we can get together play family games, eat and reminisce.  There is one thing that I found that has to change for me personally, however.  The entire family is in excellent shape except for me.  We were thinking about family vacations and everyone wants to do climbing and hiking, etc.  That can't include me at this point being I'm completely out of shape.  Sooooo---I'm officially training for a family vacation.  Wish me luck!

This scene out my back door was shortly after Christmas.  I woke up and saw snow coming down.  It's exciting to see snow!  I know everyone complains because of the slippery roads, but I think it's beautiful.  It brings up so many memories too.  Both my husband and I grew up in Minnesota where snow was not a rare sight.

I don't think the birds on our feeder are cardinals, but we did get cardinals shortly after this.  There were about eleven or twelve feeding on the ground and on this feeder.  Naturally when I crept up to take a picture they all flew away.  Talk about camera shy--they're worse than me!