Sweet 16

Yesterday was the BIG day for Philip. 16th birthday!

He wanted a big steak so we took him to Chili's...

YUM! They gave him this chocolate milkshake.

We even had Blind Pew (Daniel) join us for dinner.
Later we went home for games and strawberry cheesecake.
Here is a couple that stopped by... Patrick, Tiffany and
baby Rylan.

16 candles... blown out in one breath, and no
spitting.

What a guy...

Then a game of spoons. Sammy joined us (the neighbor girl)

Philip won...Isn't that nice?

Now there is one good looking 16 year old.

It's hard to believe that it has been 16 years.

It has gone by so quickly and he has grown

into a wonderful young man.

Happy Birthday Philip... We love you!

Christmas Shuler-Style

It's the most wonderful time of the year... Family getting

together... Laughter... Good food... etc...

Christmas Eve was spent at Grandma and Papa Shuler's

house. In this picture it was a time of "pile on Daniel".

You can't see Daniel because he's under the pile :-)

Here's Sara and Daniel.

Time for some Christmas caroling. We all sat around

and sang Christmas songs. Sometimes the verses

get jumbled together because we forget all the words

but it was fun. Maybe not fun for the instruments.

Papa says that the people who wrote Christmas songs

hated guitar players.

Here's Philip jamming on the bass.

We had a "White Elephant" gift exchange.

I told my kids to pick out whatever they wanted

to give for a gift. Anita picked Tommy's gift

that he chose and wrapped all by himself...

Three thumb tacks and a penny.

Here are all of the kids and their gifts.

Christmas morning...

Even Duke gets in on the action.

After he unwrapped his bone he

disappeared for awhile.

Since Colin can't see out of his right eye anyway...

Sara made him an eye patch.

It says, "#1 DAD".

Megan and Tommy checking

out the Bend-A-Roos. You can now find

artwork all over the walls from

these nifty little sticky sticks.

Sara and Philip looking quite happy.

Jacob doing his best "old man" impersonation.

After the gifts are open it's time for our

traditional Christmas morning breakfast.

Hash browns, bacon, sausage, biscuits and gravy.

YUM!

We have had a wonderful time the last few days.

God has blessed us so much and we are thankful

for His provisions this past year. He has blessed

us with good health a nice house, clothes to wear

and food to eat and a job. Jobs are hard to come

by for some these days... I am thankful

for God keeping us in His care. Some of these

things may seem trivial to some people but

I can't help but feel a little emotional and so

very very grateful for every little blessing He

has given us. I have a fantastic family! A

wonderful husband who loves and takes

care of me... And GREAT kids who make me

laugh and keep this house alive with music...

laughter... yelling :-)... joy! It's all good.

I am a VERY blessed woman!

Merry Christmas to everyone and

may God bless this new year.

Great things are ahead!

Another Day In The Shuler Home...

Snapping and stringing beans. Colin used to do this

a lot as a kid. Every kid needs to experience snapping

beans. We bought beans at Sprout's and fixed them

for Family Dinner night at Grandma's. Tar heel style.

Here are my little elves,

getting ready to go to work...

Kissy, kissy...

Tuesday we woke up to a beautiful cloudy, 40 degree

day. It was fantastic! Later in the day, dark clouds

rolled in from the west and we were blessed

with a nice rain storm.

I love the rain.

Two days until Christmas...

I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas.

I thank God for His blessings this year and

giving us another year to serve Him.

Friday, Saturday and Goodbye

Friday morning we just hung out at the house... Playing

games. Paul and Grace got Colin a new game called

Banana-Grams for Christmas. We were hooked right away.

We played until time to go to Grandma's. We left our house

around 3pm and went to Grandma's. I fixed her hair and

did a few odd jobs for her and then we were off to

the Broadway Palm Theatre, in Mesa, for dinner and a show.

Sorry Vicki, I have no pictures for that. Pictures aren't

allowed because of copy right laws... Whatever!

We had a pretty decent meal and watched a live

performance of "Meet Me In St. Louis". It was fun.

Saturday was another morning of games.

Then we headed over to Paul and Bonieta's

for some fried chicken and family fun.

Here is Grandma Shuler and her FANTASTIC

fried chicken... YUM!

While waiting for the food, some of the kids played

Hacky-Sack (Is that how you spell it?)
This is the crazy guys doing some weird
dolphin dance because everyone had a
chance to kick the little sack before
hitting the ground.


Goof-balls!

After dinner (lunch) we brought out the Banana-Grams

and introduced the rest of the family to the fun game.

We even got Grandma and Papa in on the fun.

Aunt Marcy jumped in too...

Banana-Grams is a little like scrabble, but more fun.

This is a little frightening... The older I get the

more I look like my mother... Not that that is a bad

thing... My mother is a pretty lady, but I just feel/look older.
Notice I said, "older"... Not "old".

Nice...

Anita and Megan.

Tommy likes to play too. It's good for him...

It helps in his spelling and being able to make words

out of a pile of letters.

Here are every one's name that were involved

in this game at one point in time... Except for

"Bon Qui Qui".

Then the dreaded Sunday came...

A sad day... Paul and Grace had

to go home :-(

Some guy at the airport was kind enough

to take a picture of us before the kids took off.

Good looking bunch I think.

After they headed off to board their plane

we went outside to see if we could see them one

more time... We miss them already.

Even dad is sad.

Here's the Fam getting one last look, through the fence.

We had a great week with Paul and Grace. We are so

thankful they were able to come spend some time with us.

Now it is our turn to go visit them... But it will have

to be sometime in August, when it is hot here and nice there.

Wednesday and Thursday

Wednesday was "baking" day. Since this was our Christmas

celebration with Paul and Grace we had to make sugar

cookies... It's not Christmas without sugar cookies,

in the Shuler home.

Sara is our photographer... She is learning

to capture unique shots :-)

Cutting out Christmas shapes.

What a nut!

Wait! Bake them first!

Megan was warning Grace that if she's not

careful the dough will stick to the

rolling pin...

Don't you hate it when your little sister

is right?

Me? It wasn't me!

He looks guilty, doesn't he?

Then the guys decided to do the "Cookie" dance...

Philip did it sitting in the chair.

Don't ask, because I have no explanation...

Then the guys decided to show off their strength

by doing push ups with someone sitting on their back.

It was quite comical... But didn't last too long.

Wednesday night we went to Sis. Jewell James'

house for Mission service. It's always good

to be at her house for church. She was very happy

to see Paul and Grace.

Thursday morning we sang at a special Christmas

luncheon at Laveen Baptist Church. We sang at 10:30am

and then they treated us to a wonderful Turkey/Ham

dinner... YUMMY!

Later on we met up with Paul's Grandma Lucy

and had supper at Chipotle... Sorry, no pictures for that.

After eating, we came home for a night of games.

What a bunch of weirdos!

The night did get a little crazy... Some

uncontrollable laughter and such...

I think it's about bedtime...

It was a fun-filled couple of days.

Lots of good memories.

Until next time...