Recent Happenings..................

Hello All............ I hope that this post finds you all well rested after a blessed Thanksgiving and shopping like crazy on Friday. The last few weeks at the Spencer/Schwarz house has been a bit crazed. A week ago Saturday I flew back to Iowa for my maternal grandmother's funeral. While it was a sad occasion to go back, it was refreshing to see family and friends again. It was a beautiful service and the weather cooperated as much as it could for Iowa. I returned to Kentucky on Tuesday. Of course Tuesday there was car drama........while Russell was on his way to pick me up at the airport a wooden post hit our van gas tank (apparently it was laying on the road and when the tractor trailer went over it, it decided to flip and flop and puncture our gas tank. We made a mad dash to a dealer (our normal dealer has closed, we had to seek out a new one) that we didn't know to get it repaired. We rented a car and were certain that we wouldn't see our van for a while. Thankfully this dealer gets customer service and we had our van back late on Wednesday! We were all excited that it was repaired quickly! However, the bank account was not thrilled......:( Now we are waiting to see how much our car insurance will cover, as we didn't have time to get multiple quotes to their dismay. We spent Thanksgiving with Russell's family and had a wonderful time. We even got to spend time with his sister Debbie who is currently living in Colorado (she and Richard normally reside in Arizona). We then left the Spencer family in Northern Kentucky and drove across the Ohio River to land in Finneytown (Cincinnati, OH) to celebrate Thanksgiving with the Horn family. We had a wonderful time there as well! That evening we celebrated an 8th birthday for Master Isaac - whom most of us could not believe that he is going to be 8 on Monday........it just doesn't seem possible that the little 4 1/2 lb. baby boy that was brought home from the hospital could have grown up this fast!!! After the kitchen was cleaned, the party over, Laura and I mapped out our attack for Friday. While neither of us really had anything that we just had to get, we couldn't pass up our tradition of shopping on Black Friday. In fact we didn't need any of the super deals that we had to leave the house at 3:00 AM, instead, Laura, Don, Benjamin and I left the house around 6:15 and were finished for the day by 3:30. Yesterday was another travel day for us, as we celebrated Russell's, Max's (our great-nephew), and Isaac's birthday with the Spencer's, so we took another road trip to Northern Kentucky and spent the afternoon eating (yet again) and having a birthday celebration. We had a great time, however were ready for home! We all vegged last night....the boys played Runescape (thank goodness for 3 computers with internet access), Rachel watched a movie and I read my book....by the fire! Well, I am off to get ready for Russell and I to run out and pick up a few things for Isaac's family celebration with us tomorrow (I still can't believe my baby boy is going to be 8). Until Later.............hopefully I will get some pictures posted this evening (since I don't have to work tomorrow - vacation day for me)! Love, Tina & Russell