Merry Christmas!

OK, OK... I know it has been a while (almost two months to be exact) since I last posted on here... sorry! I've got the somewhat-valid excuse that our digital camera was stolen out of my car as I ran into the post office before Thanksgiving. Grrr... but, Duane's parents were generous enough to purchase a new one for us for Christmas (thanks Mom and Dad!) - so here are some recent photos for you all! God bless!

Duane's Mom was here last week and spent tons of time out in our backyard woods playing with the kiddos - Caleb was the "Weapon maker" with his Boy Scout knife, and what would a fort be without a princess? Colin came out with this outfit to "defend his territory!" We all cracked up!

Caleb's 10th birthday was last week (HOW is that possible?) - and we went to have lunch with him at his school! Here is a great shot of "Oma" and Caleb!

One of Caleb's special gifts was a junior golf set of his very own - very cool! I think he was a little surprised - can you tell? Duane's comment was, "Oh darn, guess I'll have to spend more time on the golf course now!"

We had a dual birthday party at a local bowling alley for Caleb and Clarissa - it worked out really well! These are candy bars that I wrapped in their own "personalized" wrappers as party treats.

Clarissa, blowing out her birthday candles - all 6 of them! We had "tie-dye" cupcakes with lifesavers to hold the candles. Very fun!

Air Force Ball

Last weekend was the Air Force Ball, which Duane was completely in charge of. What a lot of work, and I was so proud of him - 300+ people attended and it was a wonderful evening.

Daily moments...

Here is Clarissa at the county fair last week.. milking a real live cow, nonetheless...

Ahhh, yes, the fashion sense, or lack thereof, of the 3-year-old...

Clarissa is trying so hard to learn how to read... and lucky for her, her younger brother just thinks she knows everything... so it works out well for everyone.

Clarissa may be an athlete,but she LOVES painting toenails and having hers done as well... here she is, doing her great-grandmother's nails. Happy 90th birthday, Granny!

The end result... Great Grandma, Grandma, and Great-granddaughter all with painted toenails!

Colin - giving his best "GRRRRR... I'm a Trojan" look

Here is "GG" - Sally's grandmother, and Colin, both dressed in their USC gear for Halloween!

Sally's parents had bought Clarissa her UCLA cheerleader outfit- and so her aunt/uncle thought it only fitting that Colin be a USC football player... so we played a joke on them and kept it a secret until Halloween evening... here are their expressions as they saw them all come out - it was priceless...

For those of you not familiar with California rivalries, USC and UCLA are severe rivals - and both schools are equally attended by members of Sally's family. So, here we have Clarissa as a UCLA cheerleader, Colin as a USC football player, and Caleb as a referee in between. Granny (Sally's grandmother) is a USC Grandmother.

This is a view from our house the other night - one of those moments that makes you stop whatever you are doing and just take a deep breath.. God is so amazing!

Ooohhh - what a fashion statement! Colin picked out this outfit, and Duane actually let him wear it! Sigh...

We took the kiddos to the zoo last week - it was really hot, but we all had fun anyway!

When did Caleb get so long and lanky? Must be that Lucas/Grandma Henry blood in him! We were wrestling last night and he almost overpowered me (but don't let him know I said that!) - Yikes! - Sally

This is Colin, armed with what he loves best... his "snail" blankie and "Freddy" the frog - he can't watch TV or read a book without these two items accompanying him!

Inspired by my friend Jamie's blog (Hi Jamie!) I captured this sweet moment the other night - Clarissa "reading" Curious George to Colin before bed.

The boys...

Caleb enjoyed having several days of just playing with his good friends - Reagan Cole and Nathan Clark.

North Carolina Trip...

Caleb, Clarissa, Colin, and I decided at the last minute to drive up to North Carolina and surprise my friend Jenny, who was moving at the end of the week. We had a wonderful time helping them pack and just spending quality time together! Extra special hugs go to our friends the Clarks who took us in! :-)

New adventures...

Our little girl on her first day of kindergarten - she's ready to take on the world!

This is our sailboat - not officially named yet, Sally calls it "TDB" and Duane calls it "Why is the rum gone?" (We bought it for a bottle of rum from a squadron friend!) :-) The day after this photo was taken the rudder broke off, so it is out of commission for a while! It is a fun toy, though!

Caleb's New Look

Summer Lovin'

This was completely unposed - our active little guy was actually just sitting there on the sand, watching the water! We couldn't resist capturing it on film!