O Tannenbaum, O Tannenbaum!

How lovely are our branches!!
My mom generously donated a lot of new ornaments to us, so our Christmas tree is looking sweet. Check it out:



See pictures of some of the ornaments here.

babies and naps

There really is nothing better than shaking rocking a baby till it falls asleep. They're so warm and soft and cuddly. Here is another picture in the continuing series of babies taking naps on us.

Here, Simon and Kelly relax together at the bev and the don's house.
Enjoy!

labor day run

Laurie, Cortney, and I all ran the labor day 5K at Covington Park.
My time was 26 minutes and 30 seconds, which is my best ever, but not good enough to crack into the top 100.





Tomorrow I'm off for Election Day, so I thought I might run again.
I might be really healthy if only I were unemployed.

me and a cute little girl.

Baby Ada naps after wondering how someone could possibly hold her so awkwardly.

I do my best!

DV knows your horses!

Lazy Thursday

Simon came over for the season premiere of The Office a few weeks ago. I think he had a good time, but most importantly, he honored his mother's tradition of falling asleep early on the couch.


Add this to the lengthening portfolio of photos of me awkwardly holding adorable babies.

5 a day, the tasty way!

After a relaxing couple of gluttonous days in Florida visiting Kelly's sister, we've decided (again) to start cooking at home and eating right. This is the second day in a row I've eaten fruits AND vegetables!

Below, Kelly proudly displays her handiwork, vegetable stir-fry!

Day 5: Total Chaos

I looked up a few minutes ago and realized that all the kitchen cabinets, closet doors, the washer and dryer, EVERYTHING is open. There are clothes, magazines, pillows and various piles of papers scattered all over the floor. It looks like I had the Tasmanian devil over for dinner.

If I keep this pace up, there will be no way to do a last-minute scramble to tidy up the night before Kelly gets home. So, I've decided that the only way for this place to keep from getting any messier is to get out for a while.

If anyone needs me, I'll be eating a veggie burger and dough nuts at the Smokey Bones from now until Monday. I don't want to go, mind you, but Kelly deserves to come home to a clean house. I'm doing it for her.

Day Two: I broke the toilet.

It's making a funny splattering noise when I flush it, and the handle doesn't go back to normal. Not only does Kelly kill all the bugs in the house, she also fixes everything. Until she gets back, here's where I'll be pooping.

First Day Alone

Today Kelly took off for Alaska, and already I've fallen back into my old bad habits. Come home soon!

nearly hiking ourselves to death

Last weekend Kelly and I met up with some friends of the OIP (Office of International Programs) and went on a Mammoth Cave adventure.



WE were planning on a nice, cool 57 degree, leisurely 1/2 mile cave tour. Everyone else had a bit more adventure in mind. We ended up hiking 5 miles or more in the blazing heat. We crossed creeks, dodged horse poo, and prayed for the end of the trail to be around every corner.


She seemed to be fine afterwards, but I could hardly walk.




Then we celebrated our return to civilization with some hearty Cracker Barrel followed by Blizzards. (ps- this is the face I make when I have to wait for hashbrown casserole.)

dangerous youths!

Sure, these Spanish elementary students look cute, but the graffiti behind them reminds us to keep our distance.
author's note: I hid behind this tree so that this gang wouldn't know we had trespassed onto their turf.

Hoppin' Through Europe!

I spent the past few weeks jumping around Europe with these three fellows (and one more that doesn't care to have his picture taken). We saw Big Ben, the Rosetta Stone, the Eiffel Tower, the Mona Lisa, the Alhambra, Picasso's Guernica and so much more, yet somehow these are the best pictures I have to show for all our travels.

Side note: I told everyone that "¿Cómo estás?" means "Please jump off these steps with a crazy face!" The old people behind us were unimpressed.

Shocking!

I did some home improvement over the weekend. My biggest project was changing the old thermostat...



to a new thermostat...



This is a dramatization of what could have happened had I not used my handy little "is this going to electrocute me?" checker...



Th-th-th-thanks to my d-d-d-dad who ch-ch-ch-checked on me (and l-l-l-laughed at me) while I p-p-p-performed this surgery to m-m-m-make sure I hadn't d-d-d-died.

What bulls?

This is in honor of David's being in Spain right now. Actually, today he went to Morocco. How jealous are the rest of us? Very! He's having a good time though, which I'm very happy about. I don't know about the rest of you, but I can't wait to live through his pictures and stories when he returns! I'm sure those posts of his will follow shortly...

Fishing with Father

My dad took me fishing on his boat today. We got up super early. Well, 5:45AM was super early for me, I guess that was sleeping in for my dad. I am grateful to him for baiting my hook so that I didn't have to touch those nasty nightcrawlers.

In honor of the day, I wrote a little poem:
We didn't catch a single fish, but it was still a blast.
He even let me drive the boat really, really fast!

Walking on Broken Glass

David is gone for one day and already I have caused trouble. We have double deadbolts (that means a keyed lock on the outside AND the inside), and I left my keys hanging in the inside lock when I locked the doorknob and closed the door. To get back in, I had to break a window with the sprayer from the garden hose. Sheesh!

UPDATE: My dad came and fixed the window. It cost less than $7 plus my dad's time. Thanks, Paw!

Dinner with the Bashams

Laurie and Cortney came over to our house for the first time last night and brought little Simon with them. The food was surprisingly good and the conversation was even better. It's good to have guests! We hope they'll come back over for dinner again soon.

Thanks for Dinner. Now Eat Our Dust!

The Don and The Bev came over for their first visit to our house. We chatted, ate pizza, drank coke and then participated in a friendly water race. It was a photo finish, but we think you can tell who the real winners were.

Kentucky Royalty

I took a random Thursday off work so that David and I could spend the day at Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom today. Man, do we love roller coasters! And apparently water slides too! It was a great day with extremely short or nonexistent lines. We rode the regular rides for a while until we just got so hot (92°F!) that we had to jump into the wave pool. I wish we had a few more pictures, but we were busy living it up!

Breakfast of Champions:

The Greenest State in the Union:

Treasure Map:

Our Entertainment:

First Ride of the Day:

Two Chicken Littles Didn't Ride This:

Two Happy Campers: