7 More Inches

By the time we got up this morning there was 7 inches of snow on the ground. Tom volunteered to shovel the driveway, so Kinley and I bundled up to watch the show. I actually lost count on the number of layers I put on Kinley. I just wish there was a better way to keep her hands warm. She was like the kid in A Christmas Story. "I can't put my arms down!" She fell down a couple of times and looked like a turtle squirming around on its back. She finally got the hang of walking around. As you can see she figured out all by herself to walk down the tire path. Its only supposed to be in the low 30s all week, so I think maybe we'll have this snow around for a while. I do have to say, I have a really cute little girl.

House Hunting

We went looking at houses in Manhattan for the second time today. We've seen a couple we like, but we don't want to jump in without making sure its just right. Today it was snowing while we were looking. It sure made us get into the houses more quickly. It's such a huge step for us to make this permanent decision. I know its the right one, but financially its huge. Hopefully, the perfect house will jump out at us and we'll know. I think we are going to look at a few more early next week. We'd like to get into something fairly soon. We are so thankful Cliff and Karol are letting us stay with them, but we really would like our own place. So, we'll see what happens.

We Made It!

We left Knoxville on Friday after Tom's workout. I think the clock read 12:30ish when we left the city. Everything was great for most of the drive. Kinley was great! I couldn't have asked for a better little girl. Anyway, around St. Louis is started to rain, and the temperature slowly dropped. About 100 miles from Warrensburg, MO (Kip's house) the roads got pretty bad. There was freezing rain and the roads were icy. No kidding, we must have seen 35 cars in the ditch in the last 2 and a half hours. Thankfully, we made it with no problems (after 11). After this, the fun began. On Saturday we went into Kansas City to Cheesecake Factory for lunch. The guys went to the casino while Teresa and I took the kids to a movie. "Happily Never After" I don't recommend it. Sunday morning there was prime sledding weather.
Everyone bundled up and off we went. Kinley got to ride a little saucer in the driveway, and part of the big hill on Tom's lap. Everyone seemed to be having fun when Mason slid into the pond. Ironically, 20 minutes later Kip came home with a cut on his cheek and wet clothes from a different part of the pond. After warming up and loading the car we set off for Manhattan "The Little Apple". We finally arrived in the late afternoon. Cliff and Karol have given us free run of the basement until we find a place of our own. It has been so cold. It hasn't gotten above freezing yet! Basically, the point of the story is we've made it so far and we've had a lot of fun along the way.

Christmas in Oregon

This year we took the trip to beautiful Oregon for Christmas. So much family and fun! Kinley had a great time playing with so many cousins her age and so many new toys. We were at the Big House for Christmas Eve. There was tons of food and family. After some eating and some singing, Santa came to visit. Kinley was brave for a second, then I think the moment became too much. Tom did manage to get all his workouts done, despite the rain, except one. After it had been raining for a few days, the Big House's floor started to flood. The boys spent the whole day trying to figure out the problem, but I think the rain was getting the best of them. After an other day of trial and error, I think they (mostly Billy) found a short-term solution. You know there can't be a family reunion without some problem to fix. All in all, we had a wonderful time seeing and playing with everyone. I guess it was pretty great as far as a baby's first Christmas. Kinley actually did open a couple of gifts. Mostly because she loves paper. Her eyes sparkled when she saw the new toys and played with everyone else's toys. Who really wants to play with your own stuff? Believe me, Christmas was much better than our trip home.

Thanksgiving 2006

I know this is a bit late, but we're sharing anyway. Thanksgiving was spent in Texas with Kim's family. Thanksgiving day we went down to the lake with lots of food, family and hot weather.

After dark we went to the big light show in Marble Falls, and then back to Georgetown.

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We decided to try this snow suit on Kinley just to see if it fit. It was actually quite warm, but she didn't know the difference. After I stuffed her in, she was just smiling away, so Tom and I set her in front of the tree for a picture. What you don't see is the big fall right after this picture when she tripped and couldn't get her hands up to catch herself.