Photo Blogging Challenge (Dec. 2014): ‘Tis the Season

'Tis the season, indeed! Another year coming to a close. Football season winding down. More family gatherings. December is a fun and busy month. My annual trip to NYC got cancelled and that had me a little bummed until I saw the rain and the protests going on that week. Still, it always kicked off Christmas for me. Other than that, it was a pretty usual December in my world.

This was the end of the first season in the new stadium for my Baylor Bears, they became the Big XII Champs for the second year in a row. While we were left out of the final four due to our out of conference schedule, it's fun to see our scruffy little private school team making headlines.

'Tis also the season of parties. My Tulsa office always throws a big shindig. I like that the lady on this one looks like she is dancing like Peanuts characters do in the Charlie Brown Christmas special.

December also brought orchestra concerts and piano recitals along with opportunities to force the boys to pose for me.

And the decorating and the eating and the gift giving... We host the Christmas Day festivities at my house, family, in-laws, out-laws, steps, cousins, nephews and nieces are all welcome. My mom comes in a day or two early and works her magic on the tables. They always look so nice.

Speaking of family, it's always a good opportunity to get a shot of these good looking cousins. We are taking this swing set down this year as it is falling apart; so one last opportunity to ham it up.

We were attempting to relive this photo from 2006 when they were much smaller. Will, the pouty fellow in the vest had recently popped his big brother, John, the guy with the shiner, with one of the swings. Cousins, Lili and Evan, look on.

2014 was a great year that has gone by way too fast. I'm loving the monthly photo challenges and can't wait to see what PJ has cooked up for January. Check out his blog if you want to participate or if you want to see what the rest of the folks have share. It's, as always, a 'lil hoohaa. Until next month.

Photo Blogging Challenge (November 2014): Where the streets have no name

I just remembered I haven't done this yet so I fired up the computer and see the link up closes in 1 hour and 41 minutes. I'm glad I got up. Where oh where does the time go. This month's theme is Where the streets have no name.  Let's see how I did:


I book-ended my month with a trip to my favorite place. My family bought some land about an hour away from here shortly after I was born. I love spending time here. And when I'm with my boys and my dad, it's even better.

My oldest is 14. He loves this Jeep. He has been ready to drive for 13 and half years. He is finally getting behind the wheel and loves it!

This was just a nice quiet spot I was hanging out in watching the sunset.

And another spot that definitely has no name.

John has been giving names to places on the property. And, I'll admit, that over the years I have too. The biggest problem is if no one else knows where you are talking about, the name doesn't help much. We have my Dad's (Poppa's) Stand, Suicide Hill, and Turkey Holler from my generation. John has Bone Lake and the Pig Stand. I've mapped spots using my GPSr in the past. Maybe I should share those with the others one day. Or maybe it's more fun to guess.

Go check out the other entries at a lil hoohaa blog and think about joing in on the fun in December!