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Concord, NC IHOP!! WOO-HOOOO!!!

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My creative Sister-in-law gave me this great folding basket for Christmas...this is our "roadtrip goodies" !!!

Harold

This weekend, Harold, Caren and his kids all came up to go visit this weekend. That's Mike's Uncle and family. He asked me to post these pics of him on here for his brothers in California to see him. He wants them to see how good he looks and not all sickly. Harold was diagnosed with lung cancer right before Christmas and has already begun Chemo and radiation treatments last week. He is SOOOO optimistic and positive and that has really eased everyone's minds about this whole thing.

Here is Harold while he still has hair! ha

and another.

He really does look great!

The other night, they all piled in his son's pick-up truck to go out to eat and I HAD to take a picture of it. His mother, in the back seat nearly hid, just HAD to ride with them, leaving little room..

It really was hilarious!

Harold wanted me to let everyone know that he is doing great and I agreed to put those pics on here for him!

Today, we went out for lunch and NATURALLY, I had to take pics!

Here is Court in her new glasses and Mike acting stuuuupid..

Here is me and Britt...

She really does love me! ha

Court's boyfriend called her from overseas today and he is doing well and has made it to his destination, so all is well with all that too!

I work tomorrow and Tuesday, then I'm off Wednesday and we leave for YORKTOWN, VIRGINIA ON THURSDAY!!!! WOOOOO-HOOOOOOOO!!!!! Ashley FINALLY GRADUATES! I will be taking the camera AND a video camera to capture it all! Mike can't go due to his having a new job and no vacation time accrued, BUT we'll sure take enuff pics!

We're returning back home on Friday just in time for me to go back to work this weekend. Ash will be home for 2 1/2 weeks, then we head out to SEATTLE! ROADTRIP!!!!!! Now, THAT trip will be a doosy, but fun. We'll leave in plenty of time to stop all along the way and stuff. I'm taking Court's netbook, so I can post pictures from the truck as we're traveling! The wonders of technology! I have promised Dad I will take TONS of pictures and I can't WAIT! FINALLY SOMETHING TO TAKE PICTURES OF BESIDES THE DOGS!!!!

Well, that's all my news for the moment. Stay tuned!

Joan

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We locked the keys in the truck..waiting on Mike to get here to unlock the door! Ha

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My sweet tea at McDonalds!

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Told you, Dad!

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Boomer taking a nap while I practice my guitar. I think I put him to sleep!

I saw my quote of the day is...

Funny Quote of the Day
Happiness is having a large, loving, caring, close-knit family in another city.
George Burns

I just laughed out loud because I'm POSITIVE that's what Ashley thinks EVERY DAY! HAAAAAAAAAAA I think that quote just made my whole day! hee

I'm off to see my parents this morning, to Wal-mart, then to go with Court to the Orthodontist to get her last retainer!

Hope everyone has as great a day as I'm about to!

Joan

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At work...which came first??

attempt

Well, I have discovered taking pictures of objects is harder than it looks. Here is my best attempt of several I took.

Plain, boring picture. OHHHH well, I shall persevere. I did try to put Buddy on the blanket, but he ran off.

Joan

New pics

Not much to report from here! The girls are doing great...Court is THRILLED at the possibility of snow tonight, Britt is asleep and Ashley just texted and is training on the small boat today...COLD and HARD WORK, but she's so HAPPY! I called her one day this week just to say hey and she was laying in bed (at 6:30pm...TOTALLY unheard of even when she had the swine flu! She had trained on the small boat all day. SHE WAS TOO TIRED TO TALK! OMG.)

SO...being left alone with the dogs....I turn to them for entertainment. Unfortunately, whenever they see the camera now, they RUN UNDER THE BEDS. whatev.

Here is the best picture of Harley I have taken...

I bounced the flash off the ceiling to achieve this remarkable photo!

AND...NOOOO, we are NOT New England Patriots fans...at all...ever. Britt got that hideous scarf-thing for her EX-boyfriend to give to Harley. They broke up (yipee) before she could give it to him to give to Harley. See! I'm going to take it off him and throw it away!

This next picture of Boomer, I captured him ASLEEP...SITTING STRAIGHT UP! He's so clever!

I had actually meant to turn the flash off so as not to scare him and him fall off the couch, but I forgot. After I captured this moment, he woke up and ran in the bedroom and got in the bed...for the rest of the day. geeeze.

This next pic I took of Britt right before we took the tree down. I bounced the flash on this one as well. I was trying to see how to avoid having a shadow behind the tree...AND IT WORKED!

I would bore ya'll with more photos, but I'm boring my own self, so I won't bore ya'll!

Today, I plan on taking more pics...of my guitar! You'll see!

I'm just trying to get ready for our trip to Virginia to see Ashley graduate. Gotta capture the moments! Also, I'm SOOOOOOOOOOOO excited to be going to Seattle with Ashley...THINK OF THE PHOTO OPS! ha

More, hopefully more entertaining news, soon!

Joan

MY Christmas 2009 Pictures

The previous pictures taken from Christmas were from Dad. THESE few on here are mine. I''ll add a link towards the bottom of where to go look at all of them. If you aren't my family, then they will bore you to tears, but you can observe the fanTABulous photo skills that I possess.

Firstly, Courtney has met a VERY VERY nice boy, Andy, and brought him over to Silkers house for her annual Christmas party.

Andy in in the Marines stationed out of Camp LeJeune.

Now, I just want to say here that WHY my daughters seem to attract MARINES is beyond me. TOTALLY beyond me.

BUT....

Andy is VERY nice, and very serious minded, which even further baffles me.

I didn't know there were any "serious-minded" Marines since all the other Marines I have known, ain't!

But, there ya have it. Courtney and Andy.

He is being deployed out very very soon, so ya'll all keep him in your thoughts and prayers.

He really is very nice tho, even if he is a Marine. ha

**DISCLAIMER**...IT IS NOT THIS BLOGGERS INTENTION TO INSULT ANY PERSONS IN OUR ARMED FORCES. THIS BLOGGER IS PARTIAL TOWARDS HOWEVER, THE NAVY, AIR FORCE AND COASTGUARD.

THIS BLOGGER WAS BORN AND RAISED IN A NAVY HOUSEHOLD AND THEREFORE WAS NOT ALLOWED TO ASSOCIATE WITH MARINES OF ANY SPECIES.

THIS BLOGGER HAS LEARNED THAT THEY DO INDEED HAVE A VOCABULARY EXCEEDING 4-LETTER WORDS AND DO EAT WITH UTENSILS. (I TOLD you, Dad!)

Now on for Christmas pics...

Here is Harold, Caren and Ash...

Here are some of the family...ain't they purdy?

Here is a terrible picture of some of the family. Art was VERY sick and went home soon after this picture was taken...

Mike had said something loud and scared Grandma Terry...

Here is a picture of the girls and Lauren and Alex at my parents house...

Here is another...I forgot what they're laughing at!

Here are the girls Christmas morning opening presents..

I have put all the rest of the pictures here..http://picasaweb.google.com/arnoldfamily5/Christmas2009#

That's about it for the moment. I have been taking some pictures of the dogs today and I'll put them on here as soon as I get more space on my web album...in just a sec...

More SOON!

Joan

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Court looking at pics of herself!!

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Even Boomer is missing Ashley..this is the most he's moved all day! Ha

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New Year's Eve-Eve

I think I have both eyes open! What a WEEK!

Anyways...this is short and sweet...Ash heads back to Yorktown today, but we'll be driving up there in 3 weeks to watch her graduate...she'll be "BM-3 Arnold"! hee! She brought hers and her roomates jackets home for me to sew more stripes on them. WHAT STRIPES? She didn't bring them home!

All 3 girls spent the night with their friend last night and they should be home shortly..I called and woke them up! HAAAAAAAAAA

I have tons of pics to post on here, which I will do after the roar subsides around here. Even Buddy felt the stress and had a big seizure yesterday! He's fine...in fact, he's acting better now than in the last couple weeks! He's not so clingy to me as before.

ANYways...more to come soon!

Joan

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The girls with their Daddy and I at Brixx eating lunch!!

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Ash and Court at Guadalajaras!

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MERYY CHRISTMAS EVE-EVE

First, let me say that Ashley came home yesterday and it is SOOOOOOO wonderful having all my babies together. She's lost 9 lbs. by our bathroom scales and so I gotta lot of cooking to do to get it back on! She's happy and can't wait to graduate from A-School! She brought her and her roommate's uniform's home so I can sew some more stripes on them for when they graduate! We'll be driving up there next month for that and can't WAIT!

We had a great, fantastic, wonderful get-together last night and I hated to see it end!

Last night was the only night I could squeeze in to have people over to see our decorations and visit with ASHLEY before all the chaos of Christmas. We had chaos last night, but the good kind!

Court and Mike's Dad played, sang and Ashley, well, she did what she does best. Made everyone laugh!

AND made everyone cry!

The biggest shocker of the night is when Lauren (MY niece from MY musically un-gifted side of the family) SANG! She definitely gets that from her Mama's side (Proksch) side of the family. She sang beautifully and we will be hearing more tomorrow afternoon when we gather at my parents house.

ANYways...Dad enjoyed feeding Boomer, loads of pictures were taken (that's Deanna on the left, who is Mike's sister's daughter)

here are all the Grandchildren from both sides of our family's..

Poor Alex has to represent by being the lone guy! I can see alot of my brother in him when my brother was little, but he has alot of Brenda too...he is extremely smart (gets that from his Aunt Joan!) HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

I have NO idea what Mike and his family were laughing at..

Here's Court and I doing our duet, "Silent Night", she sang, I picked. , for those of ya'll guitar pickers out there, Court and I were NOT picking different chords at the same time, I was flawlessly attempting my solo part while she did rhythm. It was magical!

And for Mike's Uncles in California, here is Grandma Terry.

She said my coconut cake was the best she ever ate! WOW!

That's about it for today. We have a HUGE get get-together tonight across the street at Mike's parents house. It's for everyone to exchange with Grandma Terry. I will have loads of pics from that as well.

Joan

Dad

Well, it seems as if Dad has been quietly leading another life!!

really.

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Testing!

Testing with myblackberry!!

What's new?

Trying to get ready for Christmas! It's taken Mike and I both to get it done, but we're nearly done. Yesterday was "Clean the House Day". Courtney nearly worked herself to a FRENZY!

Boomer too.

Earlier the other day, Mike was pouting because his feet was cold and he didn't have any bedroom shoes to put on. SOOOO, to stop his whinning, we gave him one of his Christmas presents...

He hasn't taken them off except to go to work.

The other day, Britt and I took Grandma Terry out to eat...she wanted IHOP...and shopping! She did GREAT!

Her appetite hasn't returned since her knee replacement, but she did pretty well!

Britt will NOT LET ME TAKE HER PICTURE. She has lost alot of weight and looks fabulous, but won't let me snap her pic....I'm trying!

We also have been to Guadalajara...alot.

Court and her favorite waitress there, Lulu, love to sing. Here they are singing, "Feliz Navidad"

Court is the one on the left! hee

Ashley will be home tomorrow! WOOOO-HOOOOO! It will be WONDERFUL having all my babies home!!!!

That's about it for the moment....stay tuned!!!

Joan

updates

I tried to upload some photos off my Blackberry this morning and they are still sitting there trying to send, SOOOO....no photos for ya'll. They were just pics of us at Guadalajara's and Mike's Grandma eating...what else is new! HAAAAAAAAA

I had my guitar lesson Tuesday and Court showed up with me and we DAZZLED my teacher! We did Silent Night as a duet. I would have sang, but my voice is so scratchy, I let Court do it. So, she sang and played rhythm and I did lead guitar. AWESOME is all I can say! Court and I plan on bedazzling our families over the holidays with our pickin'! (just letting family know so they can get prepared!!)

The girls are doing great. Britt is doing her thing, Court is doing her's and Ash is sooo excited to come home, I don't even know how people up there in Yorktown are standing her! I'm sure they are as ready for her to come home as she is!

Well, gotta get ready for work...last day today, then I'm off for a week!

Joan

WWOORRKK

Just glad to be able to work!

All is progressing well on the Christmas Task Force. Had a minor hiccup yesterday when Grandma Terry fell and had to go to the Dr., but she's home and well. The Dr. thinks she took too strong of a sleeping pill.

I did go for my therapy session yesterday and did really well. Even picked up a couple Christmas presents! hee! Wal-Mart is SOO good to me!

I do have a couple of pictures to share with ya'll, but they're on my Blackberry Tour and I need to email them to myself! I'll do that later on today.

I just want to put on computer screen that after Thursday, I AM OFF FOR 6 and 2/3 DAYS. I have to go into work Christmas day from 3p-7p, but that's it. I have to work next weekend too, BUT, if there aren't many patients, I "MAY" can stay home. whatev. Won't happen.

Ash is doing great...been studying alot. She said the classes are getting harder, but she's loving it. She had to stand watch yesterday from 0300-0500 and saw loads of flora and fauna! She even texted me to tell me this...at 0330...on my day off...that's 3:30 A.M....and I loved it! hee

That's it for the moment...gotta go get ready for work.

Have a great pre-Christmas Week-Day!

Joan

It's RAINING...AGAIN!

Every since Ash found out she's going to Seattle next, it hasn't quit raining...and I mean a cold, steady, droopy rain. I went to my therapy session at Wal-Mart this afternoon and got SOAKED running to and from there! I didn't even make a pit stop by Bruster's Ice Cream, I just came on home.

I got my Ma-in-Law's ham bone left over from Thanksgiving and I'm making pinto's tomorrow! Ain't NOTHING better than a ham bone cooked in a pot of pinto's with corn bread. YUP!

Well, gotta go...I gotta go work on my Christmas project with Courtney...we're doing a duet for the families for Christmas. My part is so great it made Harley howl in delight!

Stay dry!

Joan

Ashley's A-School pics...

I just saw some pics of Ashley's A-School training and she was in several of them! HAAAA...my baby got WET!

She's on the far left.

Not sure what she's doing in the next pictures, but she sure looks beautiful to her Mama!

It looks like she's lost some weight there. Gotta work on that when she comes home for Christmas!

Here is another..

She's on the bottom with her tongue stuck out...whatev.

Those made my day! Thought I'd share them with ya'll!

Joan

Courtney singing...

Just a quick update to post some pics of Court singing...

Here she is at the Great Battle of Canebrake Revolutionary War Memorial...

and here she is receiving a rose...

and another...

It was the best ceremony they've had so far out of the many years we've been going. There were several great speakers, two of which are active duty Army officers just back from the middle east. They are also Sons of the American Revolution members!

Anyways...gotta get!

Joan

I'm MUCH better!

I just thought I'd let ya'll know that I survived my annual sinus infection, thanks to a sack load of medicines and antibiotics!

Britt and Ash are doing great...Court gets to sing for the annual Battle of Canebrake Revolutionary War Memorial this Saturday. It's SUPPOSED to possibly snow, rain and the temps around 38 degrees that early in the morning. Just like back during the actual battle! AND...the History Channel will be there filming!

Ash is SOOOO excited still about her big move. She received her orders yesterday!! I guess we have a vacation destination!

Gotta go to work...later!

Joan

All is well...

well, almost. I have a RAGING sinus infection. I felt so badly this morning, that I even went to the employee clinic at the hospital! I have a sack full of meds. I do feel better, but I didn't tell my family that! hee

Ash is VERY happy, excited etc...one of her friend-girls told her that Seattle is where Twilight took place and now she's ECSTATIC!!

We're still trying to figure out how to get her truck out there SAFELY. That means, we don't want her DRIVING it clear across the country. Her Daddy is going to talk to her about having the Coast Guard "ship" it to her. It shouldn't take long for her to get it...we'll see. I may be driving with her out there and flying back. One of the guys in her class is also going to Seattle...she said they may work something out. We'll see.

I DO know we are driving up there for her graduation! She will have her "crows" pinned on her and I wanna see that and take pictures.

Well, that's it for the moment! All, except for my freaking sinus's, are well tonight.

Court's got her band practice with Bubba and them tonight. They don't even have a name yet! HA

Gotta go!

Joan