Christmas Eve

Each Christmas Eve our grandchildren enact the nativity story which this year was read by our oldest grandson, Chris. We eat way too much then open presents from each other and the younger children put on their new pajamas so they're ready to jump into bed as soon as they get home so Santa can come. Our two granddaughters alternate years being Mary or an angel. This year Kayla was Mary and Alena did angel honors.

Merry Christmas

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a happy new year! Love Rich, MJ, Brandon, Normie and Puma.

Merry Christmas from the Sperry family

I'm not doing a Christmas letter this year. Shocking I know. This is as close as I get! Merry Christmas everyone.

Stolen Christmas pt 2

Stolen Christmas is now available at Amazon!!! It's also eligible for free shipping.

Stolen Christmas

As some of you know, I have a short story coming out in a Christmas Collection (YAY!) I might even get paid if it makes any money! LOL
If anyone is interested in a fantastic Christmas present that will be cherished for years and years (and years)...you can get it here. http://ldspublisher.blogspot.com/2005/11/pre-order-your-copy-now-buy-now-stolen.html

My story is called Too Old For Santa. It's about a little boy who is too old to believe in Santa but isn't too old for the true magic of Christmas.

Puma

So with the loss of Taluma we got a kitten. Her name is Puma (cougar). She is so loving, scared of her big brother (Norman) and loves her other big brother (Brandon). Norman is one ticked off cat (we love him anyway). As you can see here she loves her daddy (he loves her too).

Taluma

Our wonderful dog Taluma has passed away. We love you and miss you!

Something isn't working

I suppose this reveals my ignorance of how these things work, but I posted a blog here a few days ago, but it doesn't show as update to the blog in the past month on the link to my other blog. All of the other blogs I link to show every update and this one used to. Those of you with more computer savvy than me, please tell me how to fix this.

Halloween Pictures

Some of you have already seen these pictures on my other blog. For those of you who haven't, have a good laugh!

A New Addition!

Rio (short for Oreo) is the new addition to our family. He has a white mark up the middle of his face with black on either side. He - yes he - has been with us for a little over a week. He doesn't seem traumatized that we called him a girl for a while. LOL. He enjoys climbing up legs, constantly commenting, a hug, playing and tuna fish!

PS David had his personal best record in cross country at 22:30. YAY!

Nathan and his football team haven't lost a game yet. They may make it to the playoffs. BRRR!

Chris is snowed under homework, and he found a job. Whew!

Circus time

So last week we went to the circus. Brandon had a lot of fun (we all did). Looking foreward to going next year.

I PROMISED

Calton and Brandon caught me taking pictures of them so I promised I'd post the pictures so they could see themselves on the computer.

Belated summer pictures from MarJean

Here are some pictures I should have posted sooner. The first is Ron spreading sunshine. Brianna getting a haircut.

These are Wendy's little girls on Nora's third birthday.

Ed, Darrell and Ed's boys fishing.

Mecco's back to school haircut.

Katie is about to get a hair trim too.

Oops! I already posted this one.

News Flash: BRANDON STARTS KINDERGARTEN

Yes, it's true. My little baby is all grown up (sniff, sniff) he started kindergarten on tuesday. Here are some pictures.

Looking good!

What a cute little boy!

Got'cha! Lunch after school.

First Day of School

Here's a shot of Spencer and Alena on their first day of school. They're both sporting their new glasses. Alena only has to wear her glasses to see the board at school. I hope she hasn't lost them. The second picture is the cornerstone choir Jason sang in. He's somewhere in the front row. Calton sang along with the choir from the audience but he used his own unique lyrics.

Vada isn't the only one with a new do

VADA

Our cousin Colleen and her daughter sent Vada two hats that look almost like hair, except one is purple. She loves them and posed so I could take a picture of her modeling the blond one. She says she's going to wear it when she leaves the hospital---until it gets too hot.

She's doing much better now that her doctor has taken away two antibiotics that were causing her some serious negative reactions. She's beginning to eat a little bit and is even going for short walks down the hall. Yesterday Chuck and I took her for a long walk. We took along a wheel chair and when she got tired she sat down and Chuck pushed her the rest of the way while I rode herd on her IV tree. We went outside for a few minutes and she was shocked by how hot it is was, but remember she arrived here at the end of June when we were still getting rain and cool weather. If she can eat and keep down what she eats she'll get to go home in a few days. She's in remission now (that's a miracle!), but her drug reaction is seriously interfering with her recovery. She'll have a short time after she gets home to decide whether or not to continue with the treatment and begin a stemcell transplant. This type of leukemia always comes back, usually between two and twelve months after going into remission. She's been so terribly sick and close to death for so long she isn't sure she can face the long transplant procedure and long months away from home.

Say sorry

In an effort to find all the missing library books (at least all the ones that are due today) I informed the kids that they had to help me look and that they had to clean their rooms. Calton informed me that I was being annoying. I told him to sit in time out until he figured out a better thing to say. So Alena went to tell him that he should say he's sorry. He came to tell me that he was sorry and I asked him if he knew why I sent him to time out. He shook his head. So Alena, the ever helpful sister, told him to say that he needed to tell me that he was sorry he said that I was starting to be annoying. Calton, in typical Calton fashion, shortened the apology and said he was sorry that I was starting to be annoying. Sigh.

More Pictures

Here are a couple shots from Alena's baptism. The first one is of the whole family before the day. The second is of Alena the day after in her dress at home.

Here are some more vacation shots. There is Double Arch in Arches, Spencer climbing one of the ladders in Mesa Verde, and the last one is of the family in Dinosaur National Monument. We're all leaning up against a dinosaur bone in the rock.

Idaho Weekend

We had a great time in Idaho this past weekend. We went up for Stormy's wedding. She looked lovely, the room was decorated beautifully, and the food was delicious. It was fun to visit with family. I don't know if I was lazy or just too busy talking, but I didn't take many pictures. This first one is of Stormy and Bentley. The second one is a five generation of MarJean and Darrell, Dudley, Wendy, and Wendy's two little girls.