2011 The Year in Review

Since I didn't blog much in 2011, I'll catch up in one post.
So here goes:
Apparently, it snowed last January. I have no memory of this, but when I was looking for pictures, I found some with snow. I do know we had to make up 2 bad weather days in school so this must have been one of them. I wonder what else I have completely forgotten. It scares me a little. This is a reason to blog more.

Spring Break was a little different for us. My mom had surgery that week and I wanted to be with her. The kids wanted to come. We often go to Amarillo that week, but I told them that I wouldn't be able to keep them entertained like we usually do because I would be there to help my mom and dad. So they decided to stay home. Alan was able to take a couple of days off, so they went exploring. One place they went was the Hamilton Pool Preserve. The pictures are beautiful. They are going to have to take me some day. One of the kids almost got bit by a rattlesnake. It's probably a good thing I wasn't there.

Katie turned 15. She wanted this Mocha Raspberry cake which I totally messed up. It tasted ok, but it was not pretty.

I love this picture of Tom and Emma. He needs to be around little kids more.

Easter is always a big deal with our family. We go to Rockdale for a big Easter Egg Hunt. My kids are too big now to hunt for eggs, but there are always plenty of little ones around. The big kids just like to sit around and talk. If you hand them some candy, they'll take it, but they won't hunt anymore.I tried my hand at gardening again this year. It had been several years since I tried to grow anything. I wish I had known that this would be the driest, hottest, windiest summer ever in the history of the world. My poor plants didn't have a chance. We protected them from the deer, but I couldn't do anything about the heat. I didn't get even 1 tomato. We got a few peppers. I really don't like to sweat, so it didn't take long before I gave up.

We took a family vacation to Orange Beach in June. It was a lot of fun even though we almost died.

Alan picked the hottest, driest, windiest summer ever in the history of the world to cut down some dead trees. He hired Tom and his friend Drew. They got a lot done but because it was so dry, none of it could be burned. The dead stuff was just piled up in a huge barricade around the front of the house.

Tom got a car this year. This was the first time he drove himself to school on the first day.

Tom played football again this year. I am happy to report that he had no broken bones or injuries of any kind.He also played in the band, sometimes he did both in the same night.

He turned 17 this year. I secretly invited his friends over to celebrate. He was surprised.

Katie is on the varsity basketball team.

For the first time ever, we didn't go to Amarillo for Christmas. Tom was working and Katie had a basketball tournament so we couldn't get away. It was a little sad, but we had some good family time at home. Kim and her family came over Christmas day. We just needed Memaw and Grandpa.

We ended the year in true Kyle style. Fireworks! We finally got enough rain that Alan was able to burn the barricade around the house and the kids could buy fireworks. We had about 20 people over on New Year's Eve and enough fireworks to possibly be illegal.