Jacob had basketball practice this afternoon. We dropped him off then went to Smyrna to visit Kim/Jason/Kim's family at the hospital. Thankfully, Kim's mom is doing much better. Please continue to remember her in your prayers. 
Here are Mark, Jacob and Scott playing Rock Band on Christmas day.
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Martha, being the magnificent cook that she is, always comes to Nashville for Christmas armed with a new cookie recipe for us to try. She is credited with several successful cookie/candy recipes in our repertoire. This year she exceeded our expectations with a cookie that mimics the Girl Scout Thin Mint. The cookie is made by dipping Ritz Crackers in melted chocolate bark mixed with a 1/4 tsp. of peppermint extract then garnished with any mint flavored candy. As you can see, they are very pretty. Easy, pretty and delicious...they're a definite "make again"!
Mark, Karen, Tara & Colleen sing Karaoke.
Every year we play a rousing game of Dirty Santa. This is a picture of Joseph modeling several of the Dirty Santa gifts brought by our very creative family, including bubba teeth, pirate eye patches, a beautiful stretchy shirt and cowboy Steve. We usually have a good mix of real vs. gag gifts. This year we all went to the dark side and brought gag gifts. Very entertaining!
This is the look I got when they asked, "What's for dinner?" and I replied with "I'm trying something new". You see, I get tired of making the same dishes over, and over, and over, and over--you get the point. Occasionally I'll go through the cookbooks and try a new dish...sometimes they're good and sometimes they're a flop. My latest experiment reminded me of Peter Brady and the "Pork chops and applesauce" episode. Do you know it? I figured if it's good enough for Peter Brady it's good enough for us. WRONG! (By the way, I always thought Peter was cuter than Greg) The recipe called to layer apple pie filling in the bottom of a 8X12 casserole dish, pork chops, and top with prepared stuffing--bake for and hour. It wasn't horrible but it rated a "don't make again" on our family scale. Scott and the boys were sweet, looking for positive things to say. (I like how the stuffing is a little crunchy....)
Scott and the boys strung Christmas lights outside this afternoon. It was a balmy 71 degrees, not exactly the type of temperatures we're used to this time of year. It sure would be nice to have a light dusting of snow.
Jared isn't really as into hanging lights as this picture appears. He was camera shy and wouldn't pose for me today. 
Jared's basketball team played in a tournament this weekend. They went undefeated, sweeping the competition and taking home some hardware. Congratulations boys!
A big thank you to Karen who took some pictures at Jacob's game on Tuesday night. All my indoor pictures turn out either dark or blurry. I've been blaming it on the camera but it may be the camera operator. Here's Jacob playing some defense..jpg)
Jacob has "ups".
Watched Jared play ball on Saturday. He has such an intensity, you never wonder if he's giving it all he has. He loves the game and it shows. It's so good to see him back on the court after his surgery earlier this year. When he came out of his cast, the doctor couldn't give any guarantee that the surgery had worked and told us to let pain be the guide on which we gauged the success of the surgery. So far so good--Jared says that his "bad" ankle feels better than his good ankle now.
Gabe has been eagerly awaiting the moment when we put up the Christmas tree. That's a nice way of saying that he's asked to put it up four bajillion times--give or take a few. Well, today was the day and he was thrilled. It's certain to be a magical Christmas!
We had an evening at home tonight so we had an amazing dinner (if I do say so myself). I tried a new recipe for baked ziti. It not only had red sauce, but homemade alfredo sauce topped with mozzarella. If you're familiar with Painturo's, it was similar to their Baked Confusion but instead of chicken it had hamburger. Mmmmm, yummy! It could be that it's been so long since I've actually cooked a true home cooked meal, that anything would taste good. After dinner we baked and decorated Christmas cookies. Now, to try and get to bed early...aaahhh.
Anyone who has ever had the privilege to eat at Martha's table or happen to be at a potluck where Martha brought a dish, knows that she can throw down in the kitchen arena. That is why it was so uncharacteristic for there to be a five alarm fire in her kitchen Thanksgiving morning. Martha began preheating the oven for a full day of cooking and began to smell smoke. Upon further inspection, she realized that she forgot to remove some desserts that she was storing in the oven (that's another story). Have no fear, fireman Don and Scott arrived on site to put out the fire and restore the oven to it's impeccable condition. There were no casualties in the fire except for a couple of pies and a moist orange cake. We mourned their loss but carried on with peanut butter pie and dirt pudding. Luckily the Floyd family insurance agent was due to arrive for dinner. He assessed the situation and convinced the Floyd's that it wasn't necessary to file a claim.
What a wonderful weekend. We started it off right, getting all our chores finished and behind us so we could have a little fun (oil change, haircuts, groceries, etc.). Jared is playing in a basketball tournament. They won big yesterday. (35-8 & 45-13) The Commanders were unstoppable. They play today for the championship at 6pm.
Gabe woke up Thursday morning and went straight outside and rode his new bike. Here he is ready for school and off to the races!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY GABE! I can't believe how time flies. Before you know it they'll all be moving out. In fact, we were on our way home from school when Gabe says, "Mommy, I'm going to miss you when I go away to college." I had to laugh, thinking...he obviously hasn't hit his teenage years yet.Last night we celebrated the birth of both Romayne (a.k.a. Grandmom, Sugarbug) and Gabe. If there's one thing the Williams clan can do, it's sing a rousing rendition of Happy Birthday. It's guaranteed to make your dog (and maybe you) howl. Feel free to sing along.
Dad was the chip leader of the night. He even won Scott's watch...only kidding, but it made the picture more interesting didn't it?
Thanks for a great visit Grandma & Grandpa!
Grandma & Grandpa brought Gabe's birthday presents and we had an early birthday party. Gabe was really happy with the idea of opening his presents early.
Jacob took off trick-or-treating with a friend before I could get his picture but he was batman with an afro. I guess that makes him batfro. (ba-da-bum) Jared is the hairy guy on the left and Gabe dressed as a ninja. We covered a lot of ground. The picture below is proof that trick-or-treating is hard work. They're all in bed now, so I'll start rummaging through their candy. If they're lucky, they'll still have some chocolate in the morning.
Yes, I had a moment of weakness. We were in the store, I was in a hurry and I said yes to the recorder just to get out of the store. It wasn't until we were in the car on the way home that I remembered the sheer torture of the recorder. This is just a snippet of the enjoyment it's sure to bring. The worst part is I know better. Every year in fifth grade the music teacher distributes recorders to her students and every time Jacob and Jared brought them home we questioned...What did we ever do to Mrs. Terhune?...Why does Mrs. Terhune dislike us? I guess it isn't Mrs. Terhune's or the recorder's fault that our children aren't more musically inclined.
How do you like my...er, ah...I mean Jared's pyramid made out of cake? Jared told me this morning, "Hey mom, I'm supposed to bake a cake to take to school for social studies tomorrow. It needs to be in the shape of a pyramid." Don't you just love those projects that magically pop up at the last minute? So two cake mixes, three cans of icing and two trips to Kroger later we managed to make a somewhat leaning pyramid with cake crumbles in the icing. I hope I get an A! 
Well they definitely came home with a whopper of a story. Jacob got his first deer yesterday. It's a 3 pointer weighing in at about 130 pounds. I got a call at 5:15pm. "Hello"....no answer, "Hello"....in a whisper I hear "Mom, I got a deer--we're still in the woods". Very exciting!
Scott started his birthday bright and early at 5:00am this morning. He took Jacob and Jared on their first deer hunt. They arrived home full of laughter and stories. Let's see...one of them can't sit still, one of them stepped in a hole right after it was pointed out, one of them ran smack into the back of Scott after he stopped--was it because it was dark or because he wasn't paying attention-who knows. The stories get bigger and more elaborate each time they're told but it sure is fun to hear about their adventure. Oh yeah, in case you're wondering, they had a very large doe only 30 feet from them. Jacob couldn't get a clear shot through the brush but he experienced his first deer hunting adrenaline rush nevertheless.
Mom and Jack headed home today. They arrived last Saturday and spoiled us all week. Mom picked Gabe up after school everyday. (I may never get him back on the bus again.) I came home from work on Monday and mom had done the laundry, made beds (oh, not that we don't make our beds first thing when we get up), and cleaned the house. I now know what it must be like to have a wife. I may never let her leave. The wonderful friends I work with encouraged me to take a day off while she was here and we spent the day shopping. We even did a little buying. As always, it was just great spending time together!
Here's Colleen during Homecoming Week. She's dressed up for 70's disco day armed with 70's catch phrases that Karen printed off the internet.
Gabe runs in the house very excited, "Mom, mom there's a cat outside", I reply with an, "Okay, son leave it alone it isn't ours." Anyone who knows me, knows that I don't get very excited over furry creatures, domesticated or otherwise. So Gabe goes back outside to play and returns about 10 minutes later to tell me, "Mom, I named the kitty Angel. She really likes Lightnings dog food." I reiterate that the cat is not ours and tried to explain that the cat belongs to someone else and whoever that family is will miss her. Judging by the picture above, he doesn't really care. What do you think?
What a beautiful Saturday! They don't come any prettier. Jared, Gabe, & I spent a few hours shopping and let me tell you, if you haven't been in the stores for a while...get out there! It's clearance shopping at it's best...little red tags EVERYWHERE!
After returning home, my four lumberjacks hit the woods. Gabe was so happy. There isn't anything he loves more than working alongside his dad. Before retiring to the couch to watch the Vanderbilt football game, Gabe and I hung ghosts in our trees. They look a little goofy but Gabe had so much fun climbing the trees to hang them.
Jared is heading out with a friend and his family to his first haunted house. I tried to prepare him for how scary it's going to be. I'm probably not the best person to give haunted house advice because I'm not a big fan. In fact, when we were kids, Dad & Martha would take Mark and I to the JC Haunted House. Dad and I would sit in the car while Mark and Martha would go "get scared". They would get back in the car with flushed cheeks and a thousand stories to tell. Like the time Martha lost her pager in the haunted house and they had to turn on all the lights and the monsters helped them search for it. I was perfectly happy living vicariously through them. I can't wait to hear a Jared's haunted house story!
