The Day After New Year

Today we spent the day at Brandon and Kristle's.

With our varied schedules we had not been

 able to get together to celebrate Christmas.

We had asked what we could bring and Kristle had it all under control,

 but humored us and told us we could bring bread and ice cream.  

On our way to their house we stopped at the

 Evil Empire and picked the two items up.

The first thing I heard upon entering the much

 despised big box store was,

 "Tttttrrruuuuddddyyyyyyy!" 

 I turned around to see one of my students grinning his mischievious grin,

and happy as all get out to see me.  

That alone makes all of the endless meetings at school bearable.

I quickly grabbed what we needed and then 

drove to Kristle and Brandon's new house.

They recently moved into a log cabin.

I loved their new place --- it was so cozy and homey.

Brandon, the boys, and I went out to talk about where he should 

put his garden next spring.

Talking with Brandon about gardening transported me back a year or two ...

surely it couldn't be more than that!

The day was beautiful and Nathaniel showed me his "King of the World" pose.

We went in and enjoyed chicken chili and then the kids opened their gifts.

We got Kaleb a dinosaur chair.

The dinosaur looked happier than the kid

but I managed to get a tiny grin.

The older boys were happy with building their heroes,

but the real hit of the day was Trinity's knitting machine.

Okay, so I lied.

The real hit of the day was playing with their new pups.