Our Whirlwind Christmas Parade Promoting Tour....

As some of you already know, I help the city of Wagoner promote their

Christmas parade each year. This is my 5th year to participate.

I begin at the crack of dawn by drinking my coffee and trying not to drink too much....because we all know how easy it is to get all bundled up like Randy on The Christmas Story movie....then have to go Wee Wee....

My sister, Terri, has participated every year with me....we are a team you see.

During the hectic getting dressed in the ONLY dressing room at the city office, we

pause to remember this moment.

Pausing again....at this point, I am realizing I might have drank too much coffee...see the blurr?

Here is the rest of the room in their panic frenzy to get ready to leave by 8:15.
(Picture taken at 8:27a.m.)
Notice Carly to the left.....no frenzy there! She is so patient.


Here is the group picture....oh wait, see the GIRL penguin in the back...
something is terribly wrong here...


We COULD blame it on the early morning frenzy...
but I'm going to say it is GLOBAL WARMING...
Our little penguin is just "not right".
Magic somehow managed to put on the body BACKWARDS...ba haaaa.

Here we have the The Three Musketeers...Tiffani, Regan and Paige.
AKA, Elmo, Hello Kitty and Tigger.

Here is the rest of the bus....ready for take off.

At the first stop, we gather for prayer...the big blue guy will lead us in prayer.

Quick shot of our tootsies. Did I mention that Terri and I are BAREFOOT in those shoes.....OUCH! We felt every bump, rock, heavy foot in those shoes.

Our regular shoes wouldn't fit inside them.....OUCH, OUCH, OUCH!

The elves are POPULAR...we have a fan club.

Thanks Chelle for being the PRESIDENT and only member!!

OH NO! The EVIL DUCKS are BAaaaaAAckk.

To learn how these sweet looking ducks are really evil in

feathers.....CLICK HERE.
Although, this year I admit....they were subdued somewhat....might be

because there was no BLUES CLUES to mess with.

Ok, here we are at Kids Day Out.

Can you find Waldo, er uh, Terri in that crowd?

Some of the children decide the big very friendly characters are just not that FRIENDLY looking...so they stay in the room and protect themselves behind their

very brave teacher.

By the way, the two adorable red heads are my great nephews....don't ask me which is which....one is Jayson and one is Noah. I still can't tell them apart.

Sign #1 that I drank too much coffee.

In between stops, we play the ever popular "Balance a candy can between your lip and nose" game.

Signs of the times....Kids just aren't that into Santa when compared to Elmo and the Mouse couple.

Why did the cat cross the road?

Nope not a scarecrow...

nope, not an elf that got his hand under Santa's sleigh...

just my silly sister trying to get the semis to honk their horn.

Clue #2 that I drank too much coffee.....
More balancing of the candy cane......

More "see who will honk at us".......and hopefully

not rear end the car in front of them.....

Our littlest visitor....my other great nephew, Tristan. I know that it IS Tristan because there is only ONE of him. I'm good like that.

Please don't judge him for what his parents dress him in....

he can still turn out good.....I know he can, I know he can.

One of our favorite stops..no, not the bathroom...is the local nursing home.

These people are awesome. We go there just in time to catch most of them

having lunch. One swore that it was poison, the other said it was miracle food.

This is NOT Sydni's favorite place because....some of the residents really like short dresses....well, some are just fascinated to find what is UNDER the short dresses.

Just ask my other daughter, Carly, why she was VERY glad she wore jeans under her Minnie Mouse dress one year.

Sydni chooses to NOT WAVE....her hands were pre-occupied.

Here are my girls with their Great grandparents, Coy and Anna.

Mr. and Mrs. Baker have been married 72 years. Usually Great-grandma is

a little cranky when we come. This time was extra special....she very excited to see them and smiled and smiled and smiled. Alzheimer's had reared it's ugly head to her, but she is not going to let it rob her of happiness.

A very tender moment with Carly and Great-grandpa.


Back to the bus and more candy cane balancing.....

One last "get rid of the coffee" stop....

and we are DONE (about 7 hours later) for 2 hours....then we start all over again dancing the jig

through the parade in 32 degree weather...and believe it or not, we SWEAT.

Baker Farm

We are getting into the season around Baker Farm...aka Baker's Acres.

Take time to slow down and enjoy the season. Know that Jesus Christ

is the reason for this season.

Special memories are made by time

spent together, not by the dollar amount spent.

I can recall a handful of special presents from my childhood, but the

traditions and family are what are in abundance. Ask your children today what you gave them last year for Christmas....share their response with me.

Was it easily recalled? Did they even REMEMBER what they got?

Now ask them their favorite memories of Christmas. See if it isn't something with traditions and people.

I TRIPLE DOG DARE YOU!!

We Were Going to Use a LIVE Tree, But I think It Got Swine Flu...

This is a tree in the pasture which faces the main road by our house.

I've stared at this tree for years thinking that it looked ALIVE.

When I happened upon some plaster eyes, I knew EXACTLY

what to do with them.

You might have to click on the picture to get a better look.

Looks like a sick tree, doesn't it?

Thanks to my sweetie who braved a TALL ladder...just to

bring a smile to my face and many passerbyers.

If I get creative, I might make some bigger eyes...and some teeth. :)

More of the College Road Trip to College of the Ozarks

This the Keeter Center/Hotel/Lodge/Restaurant/Classroom/Museum/Gift Shop

We stayed here...for ONE night....busted our budget.

This is the lobby. The Keeter Center is located at the entrance of the College of the Ozarks. It is run by the students of the college. If you've never heard of this college or it's other name, Hard Work U, CLICK HERE.

Students graduate DEBT FREE.

This is Madeline putting our breakfast menu/order outside the door.

We arrived late and still hadn't had dinner...so we headed to Branson and ate at Dick Clark's....loved seeing the 80's American Bandstand and reliving it w/ these girls. When we got back to our room, we had warm cookies and fresh milk from college dairy waiting on us.
The WELCOME is written in CHOCOLATE....Sydni, my chocolate freak...figured it out and ATE IT.

The milk is fresh from the college dairy, Jones' Dairy.

Notice the bottle says PROPERTY OF....otherwise, that

baby would have been taking a road trip to OKLAHOMA.

We breakfast delivered to our room....part of the package.

A continental breakfast is free with the room. We chose to get a

more substantial breakfast for $6.00 a person. That is much cheaper

than IHOP. Last time I checked, IHOP didn't deliver either.

This is the college chapel. We could see it from our room.

We had a huge balcony...isn't this a beautiful view?

College of the Ozarks is an agricultural college...right up my hubby's alley.

This is the school farm as seen from our balcony.

Forgive me for not knowing this river....I'm too lazy to go look it up.

This is the view from one of the college buildings. They have a patio in which

the students can sit and admire God's handy work...and study I guess.

A closer look at the chapel.

Breathtaking......

We were quite impressed with this college. It seems like

a perfect fit for our daughter.

Stay tuned....

Teens are Possibly Harder to Photograph than Babies...Just Sayin'

We recently took a college road trip to Point Lookout, Missouri.

I mistakenly thought it would be a great time to take some

more Sr. pics of Sydni and her friend, Madeline.

Yah, notice I said MISTAKENLY???

If College of the Ozarks happens across this post....

BEFORE they send their acceptance letter....

SERVES THESE GIRLS RIGHT!!

This sign is "Honk if you think I should go to college here".

Yep, I had more goofy pics than I did "serious" pics.....TEENS...

who invented them???

SERIOUSLY!