Trying to catch up

I promise that I am going to spend some time over the next couple of days and update my blog. I was out of town for part of January and then when I got home I wound up with pneumonia. Then Matt was sick after me. The next thing we know Riley is extremely sick and nothing gets done when Your Majesty is ill. I have lots of pics to add to the website and I will get them put up on the blog.

The end of 2007

Matt has been sick and of course he thought he would share it with me. Luckily Tim and Riley haven't gotten sick.

We have had a wonderful year, with some trying times in there too but all in all 2007 was a good year. The combined Buckner and Hammond clan are looking forward to what is ahead of us for 2008.

Matt will start his new position for Lee's Imperial Welding on February 1 and Tim starts back to school on January 9. Thomas and Brandy will be having a baby sometime in May, hoping for a girl or at least I am, LOL. Later on in 2008 Riley will start kindergarten and Shanna is going to college. I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up but I guess I will figure it out soon enough.

From our family to yours, hope your Christmas was merry and that 2008 is all you want it to be and much deserved happiness to all.

Love,
Shanna, Matt, Tim and Riley

Christmas Day 2007

Then the big day finally arrived. Matt and I finally agreed to give Riley his gifts on Christmas Day rather than Christmas Eve, and that was an ongoing discussion for days leading up to the final agreement. Riley woke up around 8 and was raring to go. Our friend Laura came to share the holiday with us and was sweet enough to take pics of our little one opening gifts.

Santa Claus

Like all good parents we took Riley to see Santa Claus. We were hoping that this year he would actually tell him what he wanted. We practiced for days in advance and every time he would say "I want a Power Ranger Megazord and Diego boat." Well the day finally came and he wouldn't sit on Santa's lap without daddy being there...and as he is walking off he very quietly told Santa what he wanted. But luckily for Riley Santa did hear him loud and clear (wink wink).

Parties

The next fun thing that happened this month was the two Christmas parties that we got to attend through our mom's group. We had a great time at both of them.

Decorated tree

We got the tree decorated and it is really pretty. Riley had a great time standing on the ladder and hanging up the ornaments. As usual it was a little uneven as he likes to hang all of the ornaments on top of each other. We always buy new ornaments for us and one for Riley from Hallmark. This years new one for Matt and I was a picnic bench with little coffee cups and Rileys new one is the Ratatouie ornament.

Christmas tree

The next exciting thing that we did was go and pick out our Christmas tree. We went to the Smith Family Farm and got an eleven foot tree. It is the biggest tree I have ever had and it is beautiful.