that's one big kitty

Michelle took this photo of Daulton with her mancoon cat, Bailey. As you can tell, the cat is huge. I think it's funny because her other cat, Lacey, is so tiny she still looks like a kitten. I refer to them as 'extra-large' and 'extra-small'. Not really clever, but very fitting.

early morning commute

My drive to work is about 50 minutes door to door, but it's almost all highway driving, so I really don't mind it much at all. I get to listen to music or talk radio and just kind of relax.

One of the things I really love about my commute are the sunrises and sunsets I frequently get to see. The colors are often just beautiful, and sometimes even the cloud formations are pretty spectacular.

This is just one example, wanted to share. :)

over 450 pieces

So Daulton got a Spiderman puzzle for his birthday last year. After much prompting from me to get him to start it, I finally started it myself sometime in November. The three of us finished it rather quickly, and Daulton actually seemed to get some enjoyment out of it, much to his surprise I'm sure.

Chris found our next puzzle on eBay, and it arrived in December. We finally got it out this month. Since it was a used puzzle, I decided to take it upon myself to count the pieces to be sure they were all there. I counted 468, but when I looked at the box I realized it says "over 450 pieces."

So, fingers crossed, we started on the outside edge. We got that done in just one or two days. This photo is of that feat. Oh, and there was one edge piece missing!

It took me a week or so to get going on the inside, which started to seem considerably harder than the outside. I went several days just finding one piece a day. Just recently I finally sat down and got into it. I don't think the boys have touched it at all, but I seem to be on a roll (5 or 6 pieces a sitting?)

I'll have to send puzzle photo updates as progress is made. Maybe we need to bring a new puzzle on each yearly excursion to your place?

christmas day 2007

Happy 2008!

Chris and I planned a 'German night' for New Year's eve this year. Daulton was NOT happy about the prospect of saurkraut, so he didn't eat too much of the kielbasa we cooked, but Chris and I enjoyed it with potato latkes and applesauce—and plenty of wine! We all enjoyed a German chocolate dessert bar sometime later (compliments of the grocery store).

We played cards and watched the celebrations on tv. Chris and I are big fans of Alicia Keys, and she performed on MTV in New York. It was so fun to see her in Rockefeller Center and be able to say, 'Hey, we were just there!'

Christmas 2007

Well, it's long overdue, but here is a bit about how our 2007 wrapped up. Daulton spent Christmas Eve with Michelle, so Chris and I spent it at my parents' house. My brother and his fiance and my sister and her boyfriend were all in town, so we played board games and had visits from friends, too.

Chris and I were at my parents' for the morning, we had dinner around 1, then we opened presents with Daulton at home that evening. The photos here are the gifts from you, he loves them all, of course! He got through everything pretty quickly, but then got right into them, too! I think he got the helicopter put together first.