Christmas Tree O Christmas Tree

Each year we seem to get later and later picking

out our Christmas tree and this year is no different
Weather and schedules just didn't allow it so Cade

and I went on the 10th and he picked out this 8ft balsam

fir. This is the 'shortest' tree we've gotten in the last few

years but it was the 'tallest' tree on the lot! That's what

happens when you wait... it's still a beautiful tree!

Sunday Dec. 13th, 2009 ~ It's time to decorate the tree!

The boys' don't think it's near as fun as when they were

little but it's tradition that they sort out the ornaments then

each put their own on. They did it though and we all had some

good laughs.

Bernie's in charge of lights and garland. Cade

gives him a hand.

Garrett didn't want his picture taken or put

on the blog........that's too bad! You're never

too old for Christmas!

The boys' put their ornaments on then were out of there! So

Bernie and I finished up with the snowflake and icicle ornaments

we put on. It's a reminder that the boys' are getting older. When

they were little, their innocence made Christmas so magical and

I miss that but we still continue with all of our traditions and some

day they'll appreciate that we did.

Wa-la! Another beautiful Christmas tree

graces our home this holiday! It's hard to see

all of the pretty ornaments but it's loaded down

and there's even a few presents under the tree!

Christmas is now 10 days away.....I still have

shopping to do, baking to get done and cards to

send out.......hopefully I'll get everything done in

time! I'm determined not to be stressed!! :) Wish

me luck!

Saturday Basketball

Saturday Dec. 12, 2009 ~ Tonight we had
another home game. Our opponent tonight
was Potter-Dix.

Garrett had a really good jv game!

Garrett's not much of a dribbler so when he
took off down the court dribbling just as fast
as he could the coach couldn't believe it! He
told him he looked like an NBA star and
wondered where that came from! LOL!
Garrett said after the game, "did you see me?!"
He said he didn't know where it came from!
ha ha. He went all the way down the court and
did a lay up! Way to go Garrett!

Student manager Tyler.

Tyler went above and beyond the call of

his student manager duties tonight! About

3rd qt of the jv game, the roof of the gym

started to leak. He had to wipe up the water

while the boys' were on the opposite end,

then run when they came back down to this

end! What a kid!

The roof did finally quit. Not sure what the problem was.

The boys' clearly won this one! They played good. Garrett

scored 8 points.

Garrett, #30, played in the varsity game

too. This game was a little tighter but the

boys' played good.

Paxton ended up puttin' on the heat after a technical and

few rough plays and pulled ahead to take the win, 62-41!

Way to go Tigers!! Next Friday and Saturday we're on

the road!

First Home Basketball Game

Friday December 11, 2009 ~ It's the Tigers 3rd game
of the season and first home game. Garrett plays jv and
varsity. Our opponent tonight is the Brady Eagles.
Garrett is #30.

Garrett played good, had some good shots and scored
some points.

Garrett's free throw shot. Brother Tyler,
in background in white, watches from
the side. He is a student manager.

We won!

Now it's Varsity. Garrett got in quite a bit
of playing time and had a good game.

Another win for Paxton! This game ended up being pretty

nasty. The Brady coach got a technical called on him then

ended up being ejected from the game after several warnings.

Three Brady players had technicals called on them as well.

And, during the girls varsity game, that coach had a technical

called on him as well, but should have been thrown out of the

game from the start!! Talk about BAD sportsmanship and as

coaches, what terrible examples. Brady really should be

embarrassed!! Hats off to our boys tho, who wouldn't give in

to playing dirty, even when taunted, and who played a good

clean game and showed sportsmanship to the other team even

tho they didn't deserve it! Way to go Tigers!!

Tonight we host Potter-Dix.

Hunting

Sunday, December 6, 2009 ~ It's perfect weather
for a little hunting today! Tyler went to help Bernie
this morning and came back with this pheasant.
Nice shot! We're getting a pretty good snow today.
Everything's covered and it's still coming right down.

These are pictures of Garrett's BIG turkey I forgot to post.
He got this November 10th. It was huge!

Tyler, Garrett, Katie the dog, and Cade. They were excited
to tell me about their 'hunting adventure', they came driving
in the yard, honking and jumped out all excited to show me
their big prize!

Garrett is really proud of his turkey and can't
get over how big it is. The beard was 8" long!

Basketball has begun

Friday, December 4th, 2009 ~ Basketball has officially started!
We traveled to Curtis last night to play Medicine Valley in our
first game of the season. My nephew Tanner goes to college in
Curtis so he came to watch the game too. It was good to see him.

Garrett ~ #30 Do you think he's looking right at
me, thinking, you're such a great mom!??? :) Yea right,
probably doesn't even see me! He looks like he's in 'the zone'.

The boys' played a good game. It's always fast paced and fun
to watch. Not good for my crappy camera tho! It doesn't take
good inside action shots! "Dear Santa....." O, sorry, got side-
tracked! Anyway, the boys' did a great job.

I missed Garrett's JV game completely! Bad Mom! They
ended up playing earlier than scheduled. I knew I would be
a little late but didn't think I'd miss it....sorry Garrett! I
heard he did a great job. Thankfully he got in on the Varsity
game so I got to see him play.

The boys' cleaned up tonight! 70-49!!! This
gives them their first win of the season! A
great way to start! Tomorrow night it's off
to Eustis-Farnam! Gotta love the new conference
were in and all the FAR away games we get to
go to!!

Basketball has begun

Deck The Halls

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!
Can you believe it's December 1st?? The
Holiday countdown has begun! Just thought
I'd post some pictures of the house. I love to
decorate for Christmas but living in the country
not many get to see my efforts. So, I thought I'd
share them with you via the blog! Hope you enjoy!
This is my 'pheasant' tree. O yes, I have more than
one tree!

I use pheasant feathers, raffia, curly twig
and orange ornaments among other things
to decorate this tree. Lighted deer sit at the
base. This is my favorite tree and it sits in the
living room by the front door.

This little tree sits on the other side of the
front door. It's decorated in a pinecone theme.

My living room is decorated in a woodsy, rustic theme.

Every year we pick out a real Christmas tree.

We have yet to get it, it's a tad early but I'll

post pics when we put it up.

This little tree is in our bedroom.

I use a rustic red, sage green and a chocolate

brown to decorate this one. It 'matches' our

bedroom decor.

This tree sits in the dining room.

It's decorated in rustic reds, sage greens and

soft golds to match the dining room decor.

It sits in the corner next to my buffet table with my village

on it.

The other side of the dining room sits my

baker's rack with my Boyd's Moose collection.

When the dishes are done I'll show you the

kitchen! Ha Ha! I have lights and garland

above the upper cupboards with red poinsettas

in baskets sitting on top of the upper cupboards.

I have a mixture of santas and snowmen I use

also.

I have yet to decorate my 'cowboy' tree so will

add that later too.

I put the outside lights up weeks ago when it

was 60 degree weather and I'm so glad I did!

Now it's time to work on the xmas cards and

get some baking done! I have my 'lists' made

just need to do my shopping. All in all, I feel pretty

ready for the holidays. I'd wish for snow but Bernie

wouldn't like that! He's STILL trying to finish up

corn harvest! Anyway, just thought I'd share these

pics. Ready or not, here comes Christmas!

Are you ready????