TO HANNAH

Happy Birthday!!

We Miss You!!

THE DEVIL MADE ME DO IT!!

Hey, Gisselle!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

BIRTHDAY WISHES

Today is Major Dad's birthday and we want to wish him a very Happy Birthday!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HANNAH!!!

We love and miss you!!


pimp myspace

P.S., check your email!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY UNCLE MICKEY!!!!

LSU - 38 OSU - 24

Just so ya know!

WELCOME TO 2008

First, a belated Happy Birthday to SIL-O. I'm sorry I neglected to comment earlier. We hope you had a great birthday on Monday!

It was a quiet New Year. New Year’s Eve found Linda, H2 and I at Applebee’s Neighborhood Grill and Bar for dinner, after which we returned home and spent the evening watching TV and listening to the fireworks around the neighborhood. H2 hooked up with Big Boy and BBB, and went out for the evening. Our excitement was hearing a loud “CRACK!!!” against the front window and running outside to find that something (still unidentified) had struck our front window and cracked it. We don’t know if it was a rock, or an errant firecracker, or what.

We spent a couple of hours going through boxes of photos with KenEllie. Some I hadn’t seen in years. It was really fun to reminisce and relive some past experiences.

New Year’s Day started off beautifully. The sun shone and the temperature was not too cold. At noon Linda, KenEllie and I went to the new IHOP for “brunch”. It was crowded with Hawaii fans in for the Sugarbowl. Although our service was only fair (the waitress seemed to be in another world most of the time) the food was good, and the opportunity to just sit and chat was really nice.

Later in the evening I made “orange chicken” for dinner for Linda and KenEllie. Not a favorite of Kenny’s, it was the first time Ellie had tried it and she seemed to like it. After dinner H2 and Brenda came by and we sat and went through the old pictures again, mostly looking for pics of H2. We were able to find a few “embarrassing” pics that gave Brenda a good laugh.

Today is BILB’s (Brother-in-law Bill’s) birthday. We wish him a Happy Birthday and a Happy New Year, and the hope of many more to come!!

10-Q, 10-Q, 10-Q

Just a quick note to say

to everyone for their birthday wishes.

ADVENT,CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEARS

The next few days will be pretty busy beginning with a wedding rehearsal tonight. Tomorrow evening I will hopefully be putting the finishing touches on the wedding homily, and then the wedding takes place Saturday evening. Sunday I will probably spend the day trying to NOT feel a year older!

Speaking of Sunday, I was hoping for a birthday trip to The Shed, but it looks like the weather isn’t going to cooperate. I’m open to some suggestions for dinner if the Shed doesn’t pan out. I know we all like Outback, but we DID go there TWICE last week!

I think we’ve got most of Christmas covered, as far as gifts are concerned, which is very good. It leaves time for reflecting on the season and what it means to us as Christians. As the KC motto goes, we need to “Keep CHRIST in CHRISTmas”! And let’s not forget another favorite Christmas catch phrase, “Jesus is the REASON for the SEASON”.

We have only two weeks left of the Advent season. As we look forward to Christmas, we still have two more weeks to look back on the past year and ask ourselves if we’ve done our best as Christian brothers and sisters. Advent is the time to prepare ourselves for the birth of our Lord, much like Lent being a time of preparation for Easter. Some suggested areas of contemplation: Have we been more considerate of others? Have we been more patient with others? More forgiving? Have we put ourselves first, before everything or everyone else?

And while we’re on the subject of Christmas, you know what really chaps my butt? The “12 days of Christmas” begins on Christmas day and goes until January 5th, ending with the Feast of the Epiphany on January 6th. They are NOT the 12 days BEFORE Christmas, as the merchants who commercialize this most Holy day would have you believe. THOSE 12 days are still part of the Advent season, not the Christmas season.

A-A-A-A-A-A-A-nyway. That’s my two cents worth for today. May you all enjoy a very Merry Christmas, a wonderful Christmas season, and a Happy New Year!!

HOW OLD R U, G'MA?... I'M 23, BB

H2 has added a musical element to his vast array of entertainment that is really a lot of fun. He has the XBox 360 and recently bought Guitar Hero III and Rock Band. The game controller for Guitar Hero III is wireless, in the form of a guitar. Rock Band adds controllers that resemble a Fender Stratocaster, an electronic drum set, and a microphone. To play the game, you select a rock persona, and a song. As the song plays, "notes" appear scrolling down the neck of a guitar. You try to play the "notes" as they hit a certain fret by pressing buttons on the neck of the controller or striking the right "drum" of the drum set. It's actually a lot of fun and the songs that come with the games are pretty good, too. Even the "old man" got into the act along with KenEllie!!
Last Monday was L's birthday. She's once again!!! Monday for lunch we went to New Orleans Food and Spirits. We go there fairly frequently, probably once a week, at least, so we know some of the wait staff pretty well. When Marcy, our waitress, took our food order I mentioned that it was L's birthday. We had a nice lunch after Marcy told me that I didn't really want the red beans because they weren't very good that day, so I switched to Hawaiian porkchops which was an excellent choice. A-a-a-nyway... we were waiting for our check when suddenly all the waitresses, and even Mr. Mike (he does the seating) showed up at our table. They sang "Happy Birthday" and gave L a small bread pudding topped with whipped cream and a candle. Now, I've been going to NOFS for probably 5 or 6 years, at least, and I've NEVER seen them sing Happy Birthday before! She's just so SPECIAL!
Monday night the family (sans H1/DIL1 and Major Dad) went to Outback for her birthday dinner.

Now fast forward to Friday. H1/DIL1 are in town for their office Christmas party. Major Dad is back from Baton Rouge. Since Monday is H1's birthday but he'll be back in Houston, we decided to celebrate with dinner at the restaurant of his choosing ('thanks, DIL1') so here we are at Outback! This time we are sans KenEllie, as they were with her parents for the evening at a special annual Hispanic event which I will try to describe after I get the scoop. Or, maybe Kenny will post about it on his blog. Dinner was excellent, as usual.

That's about all the exitement for this week. Oh, yeah. The Navy program I've been working on the past four years was "shelved" yesterday. No money to fund it any longer, probably due to the high cost of the "war on terror", so I'll be moving to a new job (same place, just different work assignment) in the next couple of weeks. Wish me luck.

Hopefully the next post won't be too far into the future. Until then, wishing you all a spiritually fulfilling Advent season. As you prepare for the coming of our Lord, may your hearts be filled with peace, love, and joy. May God bless you always!!