Rare sighting of a an allusive bird/son in law makes for a very happy Thanksgiving

Noble, Kim & Manning came for Thanksgiving. We had a wonderful time. It was so good to see all of them. But we especially enjoyed having Manning here. It is rare that he is able to take the time away from work & the ranch so we felt very honored. He held his own in conversation with the highly verbal, sometimes opinionated & always loud Combs delegation. Every one voted him an outstanding member of the family!


The allusive Manning bird was difficult to photograph & we were beginning to wonder if we actually had sighted him or if it was just a look a like bird slipping in to trick us.






Emily couldn't wait to show Noble her trampoline. Noble liked it......for about 5 seconds but it was still fun.




We went to Rhema Bible College to check out the Christmas Lights. They were beautiful!! I think there is something like 1.2 million lights, that may be an exaggeration but there are a LOT of lights. I think even Manning was a little impressed.


Finally a real sighting & confirmation that the allusive Manning Bird was indeed among us.







A few of the lights






We played in the leaves. Again for about 5 seconds but it was a fun 5 seconds!!



We danced on the bed (but don't tell Grandma.


And had sleepovers with cousins.


Over all, it was a great Thanksgiving and I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

And cause I know you are just dying to see all the pictures we took here's a slide show for your veiwing pleasure.

Cutest Little Witch in the West

Halloween was fun! and we had the cutest little witch that ever begged for candy at anyones door.

She and Dad knocked doors in Grandma's neighborhood. It was a beautiful evening, perfect for all the ghost and goblins. They collected a substantial amount of booty, enough for all of us to enjoy. She then came home and did what every red blooded American child does.........she dumped it out on the floor and sorted it out.

Oh the memories that flooded back. Doing the same thing with my Halloween candy, watching Stacie & Kim do the same thing. Even David remembered dumping out his candy & sorting it by kind. I guess it's one of those instincts that we are all just born with. Kindof like crying when
we are hungry or wet.

Grandma joined the fun & painted her hair purple too. She was a little disappointed when no one noticed it. Guess it's not so unusual to see a grandma with purple hair now a days. Maybe a nose ring would have drawn attention.

Happy Birthday Emily

Emily turned 10 today. We've had 3 days of celebration.

Friday, I took cupcakes, chips & drinks to her class

Yesterday we had a Tea party to celebrate with some of her friends. We sent out some fancy invitations. We made cute little sandwiches cut with heart, diamond & square shaped cookie cutters. Filled them with egg salad & ham & cheese. We cut strawberries & made melon balls. We thought about buying petit fours but decided it would be more fun to make our own cupcakes. Besides do we really know what a petit fours is?

And today, she received several presents from friends at church. Then our small group gave her more presents and they topped it off with a cake at Red Robin. Needless to say Emily went to bed with a stomach ache.

Here are a few pictures from her Tea Party.

Ashlyn, Emily Calico, Zoe, Latavia, Emily & Kaylyn.

All dressed up & ready for tea.

Playing parlour games

And what's a Tea Party without sippin some Tea or atleast some Hawaiian Punch

Then it was time to open presents

Fish, Casinos, Babies & a Possum for Grins

WOW we have had a couple crazy, busy, wonderful weeks. First Gran & Stan came to visit after Hurrican Ike left them powerless. But the Spirit empowered them and they took it all in stride & came to Tulsa.


We went to the Jenks Aquarium on Saturday. First time for all of us. It is a wonderful place. Lots of pretty fish in some really neat tanks. But the best was the Shark Tunnel. It was awesome to stand and have the sharks float above you! I even think it was better than the Corpus Christi Aquarium. But alas, I forgot my camera so the pictures are only in my head. (I hate when I do that)





I have also recently realized that I haven't been taking advantage of one of Tulsa's best recreational attractions. So for all of you who are slow to come to Tulsa could I entice you with a one armed bandit, how about a game of black jack? I can't supply you with quarters but I will be very very sympathetic when you get home without yours. Then we could go to the best Aquarium this side of Denver. (I heard that Denver has a really good Aquarium) The rooms are real cheap & the food is so so but the company is great.


A few words from Aniston...........................









I am soooooo glad to be at my Nana's
















Chillin with my Granpa. Isn't he just the cutest little thing.







Whatch you talking bout?





mmmmmmm toes are good













Would SOMEONE tell Noble to come get HER dog.








Drollin in the morning

Drollin in the noon time

Drollin all over me










Let me think...... was it 2 or 3 years ago















oh yeah, definitely 2




Hey whose over there?
















Here's a story of a lovely lady & 2 very pretty little girls.














Mom stop it! My face might stick that way.











Aww man, you just don't get any cuter than me.




Isn't it about my bed time?

Ohhh yeah. Night Night

As promised, a possum for grins.

Tucker found her nesting in a tree in our yard. She didn't mind having her picture taken.

HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY

WE LOVE YOU!!!

Labor Day

We drove to Joplin Missouri on Labor Day.

Emily got to add a sticker to another state she has visited. I know, Joplin is barely in to Missouri but it counts. We passed the state sign. It was a beautiful day and not a bad drive.

We went to the Precious Moments Museum. Since I was expecting just a bunch of cute little knick knacks lined up on a shelf it was way better than I imagined. It is really Sam Butcher's gift back to God for the gift he received from God. The whole place is filled with his paintings and statues. A thank you to the public for making him so popular.

After you walk through the immaculate grounds you arrive at the chapel and the tour guide then begins to tell you tales of the little children that have gone on to heaven. Some Mr. Butcher knew personally and some he picked off of the pages in the memorial room that friends and family wrote about.













The Fountain of Angels is on the left and Hallelujah Square is the picture on the right.

We had a great time but the very best was that we were joined by our friends from San Antonio, Chuck & Shirley.

Shirley's battle with cancer has reached a peak and she is beginning a last ditch effort to stall it. But through it all she remains positive and focused on the One and Only that can truly heal her. An amazing lady that cares more about the lost than she does about herself.

Curb Appeal

Amazing what a little color will do
for your house. Of course, most people don't remember what it looked like before we painted. Even those that have been here often didn't always remember what it looked like. I was a little disappointed cause I thought the transformation was beautiful.

In case you don't remember, everything was white. White shutters, white door, white everything. We went really crazy and painted most of it "off white". Then we added black shutters and a brick red door. I agonized for days about the color. But I think it turned out nice.

Miscellaneous things going on

We have spent the week getting ready for school. We had to buy shoes, since it seems that shoes without straps around the heels (thongs) are dangerous to wear at school. And you just CAN'T wear tennis shoes with your dresses or leggings. I think 4th grade is moving us in to a whole different world. When you see the spa pictures you'll understand.

I've been watching birds out the window. My pictures aren't very good. But I love the birds. I've managed this year to attract quite a few. Some times there are probably 30 to 40 feeding at one time. Sparrows, finches, robins, cardinals and blue jays. The sparrows are a nuisance because they come out in droves but I figures I'm just helping God fulfill the scripture that says "if God takes care of the birds who do not store up food, he'll take care of me because I'm more valuable than them". (LGC version as in Lisa G. Combs)

Here are our latest pictures. http://picasaweb.google.com/lisacombs22/EmiU

Emily is home from Camp

Emily spent last week at Burnt Cabin Camp. She had a wonderful time. David and I had a hard time with the quiet.

Each year each camper is given a nick name, last year she was Teddy Bear because she gave everyone hugs. This year she was dubbed "zip it". Apparently because anytime Mr. Darrell started talking about her nick name she made the hand motion for zip it. Needless to say we weren't proud. But oh well, it's camp. But then they passed out the certificates for attending which plainly revealed what her cabin counselor named her.........

Emily Combs, Where's my Stuff.

Seems she was forever looking for her stuff. Some was found right where she put it, some was found where she forgot she put it and some wasn't found at all. A hard lesson for an almost 10 year old.

But she could have easily been named, how do I turn on the shower, how do I fix my bed, how do I whatever. Thankfully her cabin counselor is a good friend of mine & mother of 4 and was very helpful and came back and told me I do too much for her.

The You tube at the right is a music video and Emily is in the top one.

Vacation Pics

This picture of Emily grinning from ear to ear sums up how we all felt about our vacation.

We had lots and lots of fun & enjoyed every minute. Stan & Betty were wonderful hosts and we can't thank them enough. We had just the right amount of variety of touriesty stuff & sit at home chillin.

The slide show above is a little slow to watch so if you double click on it you will go directly to the web site & you can view the album.

Here is the web site, just in case that doesn't work and you are just dying to see our pictures.

http://picasaweb.google.com/lisacombs22/Vacation2008

Catching Up

We've had a busy week - It began on the 4th when we had a water pipe bust in the front yard. The City repaired it, sort of. They found the pipe & repaired it but left a crater the size of a car in the front yard. I think they will be back on the next holiday when they will again be paid double time and a half.

VBS began on Monday. David was the blind man that Jesus healed with mud & spit. I didn't notice how much taller Tim is than David until I posted this picture but he really is that much taller than David! He's not standing on a box & David isn't kneeling.

David was a great blind man. One little boy said "you don't look blind" our response was that's cause Jesus healed him. We were also told that we had the best biblically based story at VBS. I guess that could be true - I just don't remember which book of the bible the modern day news reporter interviewed the blind man in.

Emily being cute!

Whose that sittin in my chair?

This is one of the props on stage

for VBS.

You can't tell a whole lot from this picture but Tucker has a really bad hair cut. He is getting better about letting me cut his hair but he still hates to have his face done. Which means that I will still have to take him to the vet and pay $100 so they can sedate him & finish the butcher job I began.

RIP

Our little friend, The Red Fish, committed fishicide on Wednesday, July 2. We found him lying on the floor void of breath at approximately 9:10pm. I'm sure he didn't mean to die. He probably was just sad that we left him in his bowl all alone that night. Or maybe he wanted to join the world as a human and forgot he had no legs. Whatever the reason, we are all devastated. He really was the best fish we ever had. (& the first). And Emily was the best fish mommy.

I still remember a fish that we had as kids - Chitum Chitum Whatum Do - did exactly the same thing. I don't remember which one of us discovered he was MIA but I remember the shock of realizing that he had jumped over board!

So I have to sit and wonder as life cycles on from child to child and dead fish to dead fish - WHY is it that I remember the name of a fish that died 40+ years ago and I can't remember to call the dentist or where I put my keys? Can we say Nanaw?

Can you give a fish mouth to mouth?

So far we haven't had to try mouth to mouth - but it's not looking good. Emily brought the fish in our room at 6:45 am this morning and announced "Mom, I think my fish is sick" The fish is/was a beautiful deep red Beta fish. Bought and paid for with her very own money plus a little change she pilfered from around the house. And now he is sick. He's covered in a grayish looking grunge and his beautiful fins are looking stringy. We absolutely HAVE to save this fish.

So Emily has come up with several things she can do to minister to the fish. In case you hadn't thought about all the things you can do for a sick fish I'll list them, you never know when you might need this.

Clean his water

Clean the rocks really really good

Give him a snack

look at him really close with a magnifying glass & declare him much better

and last but certainly not least, you can take him every where you go so you can keep a close eye on him.

Emily is always so positive & is convinced that he will survive. I on the other hand tap the side of the fish bowl every time I walk by to make sure he is still breathing.

But Emily is also a realist & says "at least I have some more money so I can buy another fish if I need to".

We Trust You, Really We Do

We just completed day 2 of babysitting Noble. Kim trusted us - somewhat.

It's a little hard to read but one is a list of what goes in the diaper bag & she posted it on the wall going out the back door. She forgot to tell me to make sure I had Noble.

The other one is to remind me that she has ears......make that earrings that need cleaning. The small one is a list of her medicines, which I completely forgot about when she had a tummy ache the first night we were alone with her.