TwinCredibles!

Believe it or not:

a mixed-race couple in the UK have just had their second set of twins...they have two sets of girls now, where each set has a child that looks like either parent, i.e., one black baby with dark skin, eyes, hair, one white baby with lighter hair, blue eyes.

Check it out HERE!

Yet another odd and interesting miracle of nature.

Kids really make the holidays fun!

The Christmas calendar helped, but this little guy just asked everyday about how many more days. He loves to sit and admire his decorations and the lights. We are so lucky!

In between, he's been playing more and more on his drawing pad, although the renditions of the family make us look a little heavy above the shoulders.

The day the kids were waiting for! Let's make cookies!

These guys all worked very hard, payed attention to how to roll out the dough, and how to get their sheets ready for the oven.



Proud bakers, with their final products!

"Mommy, can I eat this one?"




Anxious about what could possibly be in this present that was found under the tree, from his friend Julian. "Can I open it?" "Why not? I need to know what is inside of it."

Maya doing what she loves to do best, lay around and maintain protection over the family. Here she is actually chewing on a rawhide, not something we see very often!

Cookies, milk and carrots ready by the fireplace.

Amazingly enough, he fell asleep right away!

Ahhh, Raggedy Andy has come to live in our house. He will be a lot of fun when we start reading the Raggedy Andy stories. We are having a blast right now with Raggedy Ann, and her clean soft white cotton stuffing.


For a guy fascinated with how the body works and what is inside, he's sure to have a lot of fun with this anatomical puzzle. Thanks, Mar-Ran & Par-Ran! xoxo


Dad, resting after a long trip to get here on Christmas day, we are so glad they were able to make it and get to stay awhile! YAY!

Mom & Chris...they keep saying he's gotten so much taller, grown up so much.

Cousins Pearl and Xavia, enjoying a sit with Santa!
Soooo....tell the truth: have you been naughty or nice?!

And for the finale of the night: birthday wishes and candles. Didn't get the real birthday cake done until today, and it came out nice! Mom's recipe for spice cake with buttercream frosting on top. Sweet potato pie worked fine as a fill-in!

Happy #45, Babe!


Playing nice with his Indiana Jones mini legos.


Merry Christmas to all of you! Our Christmas was peaceful and relaxing, and spent with loved ones, who could ask for more. We hope that all of you are having a wonderful holiday season, and doing what you want!

Merry Christmas, Everyone!

We want to wish all of you a Very Merry Christmas!

Ours is great and promises to be fun all week! Christopher is very excited about just about everything. The tree is beautiful and he likes to sit and look at it. He has a gift under the tree that is just worrying him crazy, he "just wants to know what is inside". The Christmas calendar on the wall has been the best for helping him keep track of the days. He can look at it and see that there are only two more pockets with goodies in them, and that means only ONE more day until Christmas, Mommy! It's a fun age, that's for sure.

And an EASY one. All he wants for Christmas, besides the two front teeth that are slowly coming in now, is "a star wars video game" for his nintendo DS. Good thing it came in weeks ago, the rest is gravy.

We made gingerbread cookies with Chris and a friend of his, and 6 of the neighborhood kids on Monday afternoon. They were: 4- and 5-yr old boys, 2 six yr old girls, and 9-, 10- and 11- yr old boys, as well as a 16 yr old girl. We had the dough and the icing ready, and they did all the rolling out and over half the decorating, and they did a great job! Oh, yes, there were sprinkles and icing on the floor and pretty much everywhere, and one of the girls turned on the kitchen aid too high when there was confectioners sugar in it (can we say POOF went the sugar! on everything!), but it was all fun, and they did such a great job! It's always interesting to see which cutters they choose, and how they like to decorate. They take their jobs very seriously, and they were all very happy to take home their plates of completed cookies. All this to help me reach an epiphany this week...one of my "missions" in this lifetime is to help the love of baking reach the little guys. Some people never bake, and never get to help. I have always enjoyed sharing this fun hobby, and know that it must be part of my job in life to keep the baking torch going.

Then we made 2 double batches of gingerbread cookies for Mike's work folks this morning. Planned to make them earlier, but there are only so many hours in a day! So, got it done today, then went in search of the ornaments to also stuff in their bags, and then for the delivery.

Wrote addresses on the envelopes for cards a couple weeks ago, and that would be the cards we purchased almost 2 months ago. Even got all the stamps we'd need. But, alas, I don't think very many of them will go out this year. Or if so, they will be late. As they say, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

Got the greens all cleaned out and cooked done. Pork is cubed and marinating in New Mexico-style red chile sauce so it can cook in the crockpot pretty much all day....Carne Adovada. We have the tortillas and sour cream ready and waiting. Only thing missing are tamales and posole. Part of a NM tradition for Christmas Eve that we really enjoy. Mike is even planning on putting out luminarias in the yard, but it will really depend on weather! Whether the weather is cooperating, or raining!

Then, need to wrap all the little guy's stuff and put under the tree. That will be fun to do tomorrow night!

On Christmas day, we will also make a birthday cake for my honey, who will break off from the little club we formed, called the 44 club, to do his thing and turn 45! Only 5 more years to 50 for him, hmmmm, now won't that be a fun party!

Merry Christmas to you all, and peace and love for always!
Virginia, Mike & Christopher
Maya, Lucky & Lisa (the dog and the piggies)

From the marketing homework: Smuckers!

Straight from the (homework) marketing book, sounds like good advice to me:

"Culture: Develop and maintain a performance-oriented culture. The number one spot on Fortune’s 2004 list of the 100 Best Companies to Work For goes to Smuckers—yes, the “With a name like Smuckers” company. Its straightforward culture is based on four key elements in its code of conduct:

“Listen with your full attention,
look for the good in others,
have a sense of humor,
and say thank you for a job well done.”

The performance result? Company stock had a total return of 100 percent over the previous five years."

Dang the irony!

How it's all connected:

move to east coast -- too much stuff, not enough time to purge -- move all junk to east coast -- unpack and have yard sale -- make $170 from yard sale -- next day, go to car dealership to have a part replaced on car (ordered a week prior) -- dealership finds a large screw in front right tire -- now pay $138 of recently acquired yard sale funds for replacement tire -- this weekend at home, try to get front license plate installed, but no screw holes there -- husband drills holes in front plate area -- then, hubby finds large screw laying on ground in driveway, turns out it's a license plate screw, but only one -- shows me the screw & turns out that is the exact same type that put a huge hole in tire the week before -- looks like we barely missed having a second license plate screw in another tire on my van -- but, since we only have one available screw, the license plate cannot be installed -- and where the heck did these screws come from in the first place?! we keep the yard and driveway clean!

stupid screws

It's beginning to look a Lot like Christmas!

'Tis the season! We are almost ready for the holidays, and certainly ready for family to arrive! Busy week, but great payoff! Thursday night, we took the little guy to the Bass Pro Shop, where we had an inkling that we could find Santa hanging around. Sure enough, jackpot! And, no waiting, nice steady line. He told Santa about the one thing he wants for Christmas: "a star wars video game" (for his nintendo DS). Santa has such an easy job this year, and he sure is enjoying the low stress in such an easy kid to please!

Getting hugs before the next kids had their turn. He asked Santa if he was magic, and when he said yes, then he asked him if he can make a rabbit appear. Hmmm, Santa told Chris that making rabbits and such appear were just illusions, and that he's only about the truth for Christmas. I knew we liked Santa!

Relaxing in the bass pro shop before we head home. Great store to look around, btw.

Which brings us up to today!

First of all: Happy Birthday shout out to Doc, aka Steve, aka Uncle Steve (don't worry, I won't call you that in public)!! Now, we are all 44! It was a good year, and just think, only 6 more to 50!
For a great story, go to here!

For us: The hunters before they track down our tree. We usually go in the forest with a permit and find our own, we actually forgot what it's like to go to a tree lot. I stayed home to work on things there, while the guys went on this mission. Spoiler alert: they did a great job!

Okay, this is not our tree in the living room, but they give a free living sapling when you buy a cut tree. We'll try not to kill it.

Where's Mike, and how is he going to fit this thing in the house?

The little guy has been very patient waiting all week to get our tree. Here he only has to wait a few more minutes, once the tree is all watered up! Just before this, he helped me to tighten the knobs on the tree stand, and he actually had it turned in the right direction and pretty tight. (in his hands: the angel tree topper)

The moment he was waiting for! He held onto the angel the whole time the tree was getting setup and watered, then asked Papa to hoist him up to do his job!

Hmmm, we seem to be a little short on our lights.

A very serious but extremely happy young man!

Working hard at one of his favorite projects!

Can't forget the nativity set.

A Mini Tamborine!

Finished project! We seem to have accumulated "hundreds" of ornaments now.

Now that our table is cleared off and all the boxes in the dining room are gone, the tempting sausages and cheese kept calling our names! (Thanks, Ann & Bill)

Stockings waiting for the big night, hung by the fireplace:
Mom, Dad, Mike, Maya, Chris, Pearl, Me

If I knew I'd be in the pictures, I'd have put on some makeup. On the positive side, Chris is getting better about centering his photos!

Another masterpiece photo by Chris!

And our hard worker, all done with his projects of the day!

Time to relax, proud little boy!


Merry Christmas to Each and All! Only 5 more days! Woo Hoo!

Remembering on your birthday

Catherine Patricia Nickless
December 16, 1943 -- July 9, 2007

Here is the 2nd birthday I can’t call you on the phone to wish you the best birthday of all. It is with some sadness in my heart because I can't just go by and see you, but more importantly with peace and happiness that I remember you. Some days I see your picture and have the feelings of “I can’t believe you really aren’t here” and then there are other days when I know it’s okay, because you really are still here, just in a different kind of way.

I love you and miss you.



doing what she loved best...laughing


A face we saw often. Sure, there were other faces and other times, but this is the one forever imprinted on my memory.

She loved to have fun, we would go to Kings Dominion and amusement parks whenever we had the money and vacation time.

Always one for a great joke!

We all remember how much she loved to hold a baby. Always. If anyone could bring a smile to her face, it was a baby.

Mom holding my baby, the first time they got to meet, when he was 6 months old.

Ahhh, we suspect that egg nog was a little "spicy"! Here with another beautiful woman, Grandma Ridgell. We love and miss both of you! A few of my fond childhood memories was when we all got to go to dinner at great-grandma's. She made room around her table for all of us kids, had the best mashed potatoes, but most of all, she always treated Mom special, that I do remember!

Now, I wasn't on this trip. I can't believe she actually went on a ski lift...of course, it was to go to Ghost Town, an Amusement park!

She was a hard worker, and I remember how often she'd be up at night working on something, whatever had to be done, after working hard all day. Here, it was cleaning fish after the guys brought back fresh blue fish. Sometimes it was a bushel or two of blue crabs, sometimes cookies for a school party. She always delivered, and never complained.

The reason we don't have as many pictures as I would have preferred or liked...because she was the one taking so many of the pictures!
Lesson for all of us: let others take your picture, TOO, for those loved ones you leave behind.


Mom, may you be resting in peace. You are in my heart, always.
As Christopher often reminds me, we miss Grandma Pat. She's up with the angels.
Yes, baby, she's watching over all of us. I still feel her around me, there are still the "signs" that magically appear from time to time.

May all those who knew and loved her also find peace in their hearts. Especially in this holiday season.