Happy New Year!

... and that's a wrap! 2007 is in the books and we welcome 2008 with all that it holds in store for us and our family out here in the Midwest. With the completion of another year, we've posted our family's scrapbook for 2007 on our online photo album. You can view it by clicking here. No big plans to ring in the New Year - we truly miss our annual get together with the Kinneys and Jones. Tomorrow marks day number 11 of no work for Cody and number 12 of no school for Tyson and time for a sanity check for Paige. Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas from Kansas

The chances of having a white Christmas in Kansas is slim to none. This year fell on the slim side as we frolicked in the snow and enjoyed the start of our Christmas holiday. But we're not the only ones who had snow ... in fact, hearing of the snow and weather conditions out West, we're glad that we we ended up spending the holidays at home rather than in a snow bank along I-70 somewhere in western Kansas. But we miss our families and think of them and our friends and wish them all a Merry Christmas. Holiday pictures located here. Tyson's holiday eGreeting can be viewed here. Merry Christmas!

A Christmas Blizzard

Snow! Wind! It's a blizzard! There was more white out than an office supply store! Snow blew in from the north and swirled around and around till it piled on the south side of the house. It drifted here and it drifted there but on average there was about 7" of the fluffy white stuff decorating Tonganoxie in a winter wonderland. View a dozen snow pictures by clicking here. Looks like it'll be a white Christmas in Kansas after all.

Water, Dripping & Freezing

First there was dripping, then there was freezing. After putting up with a consistent (and expensive) drip in the kitchen sink, Paige was able find a new facet off eBay and then install it over the weekend. The Little Plumber Girl (rum-pa-pum-pum) did a dandy job and not only is the drip gone, but it looks fabulous.
Then the water froze - outside. We witnessed our first ice storm since moving to the Midwest and were fortunate that the temperatures warmed up just enough to avoid a major storm. As it was, we had tree limbs snapping and breaking throughout the day but we had power the whole time. Exciting weather year round - and picture worthy too! See the photos here.

Rock Chalk Jayhawk - KU!

Nothing beats watching some KU basketball on a cold Saturday afternoon ... especially when you're home teacher and friend invites you to see a game live! Cody and Derek Lundberg headed over to Lawrence (20 minutes from Tongie) to the Allen Fieldhouse where they joined 16,000 other Jayhawk fans to watch #3 KU take on DePaul University. There was history and nostalgia everywhere and of course, there was the infamous Rock-Chalk-Jayhawk chant.

Honda Milestone

We don't have a Home Depot next door ... nor do we have a Wendy's that sells Frostys near by. Yes, living in the Midwest and Tonganoxie in particular has created a need to drive ... and drive we have! In fact, just this week our '84 Honda just hit the 190,000 mile mark. Now we'll keep it around just to see it hit the big 200. Shouldn't take long ... here's some common one-way distances we drive:

• Church: 16.9 miles (28 minutes)
• College: 21.4 miles (30 minutes)
• Middle School: 1.3 miles (4 minutes)
  
• Work: 20.2 miles (27 minutes)
• Walmart: 12.4 miles (14 minutes)