Here is a girl who is MORE than ready for Santa to come.....

Here is a family who would like to take a family picture (including the animals...) for Christmas Eve... Not everyone is cooperating.

(I'm referring to the dad, dog and BOTH cats!)

Here is the final result... sans the animals.

Merry Christmas All!!

Love, The Minks

Happy Holidays to everyone! I have been wanting to update our blog for awhile now..... but as usual, December has kept us very busy!! So far, Isabel had a recital, I had a birthday and Tom has switched jobs. YIKES! (More on that later.....)

The above picture was taken yesterday when Isabel and I drove to Toledo to meet Sue and Peg for lunch. We had a great time.... but may I say how odd it was to see Santa and Mrs. Clause in a mexican restaurant. However, we couldn't pass up an opportunity to record the moment. Here's a picture of us with Mrs. Clause included: (I'm not sure why I'm trying to take Santa's arm off.)

Here is a picture of Isabel right before her piano recital:

After her recital was over, we got our Christmas tree:

Here's what it looks like in our living room. It's our favorite Christmas tree yet!

This year Isabel was big enough to join me on my annual "Baking Day" with my girlfriend Nancy and her mom. (By the way Nancy, we really should come up with a better name than "Baking Day"....) Here's a pic or two of that event:

I didn't mean for this post to be so long.... but there is our month so far.

We are leaving for New York on Thursday morning for some "City Holiday Spirit". (Tom has a conference... so Isabel and I get to tag along!) We plan on seeing a couple of plays while we are there.... should be a great trip!

I hope all is well with everyone and that you enjoy a safe and happy holiday!!

Well, the time has come for the in-laws to leave. Actually, they already left.... this morning. After a wonderful 2 months, the time came to say goodbye. For those of you who have seen the movie The Blind Side, there is a part where Sandra Bullock's character has to say goodbye to her son.... she does this by patting him on the arm and then simply walking away. Thus avoiding any tears or outward display of emotion that may be too hard to handle for the drive home. WELL.... that is exactly what happened here in Mt Pleasant Michigan last night. Tom said goodbye to his mom and she did exactly that same thing. Well.... I wasn't going to let her get away that easily! First, I called her out on her business and and then I squeezed her until she could hardly take another breath and made her face her emotions. OK, so maybe I'm exaggerating a bit... but that's pretty much how it happened! We had a great time and hope to do it again soon..... (aka: in another few years....are you listening Todd and Teri??? It's your turn next!)

Speaking of Teri..... we were lucky enough to have her (and her husband Steve) here for Thanksgiving this year! They came to spend the holiday with us and to then drive home with Tom's mom and dad. (Isabel made the above place-cards for Thanksgiving dinner.)

I hope you all had a great holiday.... we sure did. We have so many friends and family that we are thankful for... Thank you to all of you who add so much to our lives.

MEXICO..... just the two of us.

This my friends is one of the the benefits of having the in-laws visit.

Well, Halloween is over and WHEW are we glad! We did NOT have "Halloween friendly" weather this year.....but that's ok, Isabel had a great time trick-or-treating.... not to mention that Tom and I were in charge of her class party...too fun! She has a great teacher this year and she let us have free reign! (Which for some might be really scary!) Here are a few pictures of the events.

We decided to be vampires..... it is the rage this year you know.