Andrew's 2nd Birthday

Friday was Andrew's 2nd Birthday but the party was Saturday.
He was joined by all his grandparents and his cousins.

Andrew is learning new words every day.
He is a great helper.
Currently loves Buzz Lightyear more than Thomas the Train.

The Thomas the Train theme party was very cute.
Jill and Josh did a great job decorating and prepping for this party.
The gift bags Jill made were adorable and the kids had great fun with the two games:
1) Pin the smoke stack on Thomas
2) Thomas the Train bean bag toss

The banana cake made by "The Cake Station"

 Andrew now says "CHEESE" everytime you take his photo.

The food: smoked pork sandwiches, beans, chips, cookies
and of course...cake and ice cream

Andrew posing in front of one of the decorations.

 

 What's a party without balloons!

Thomas the Train wishes Andrew a very Happy 2nd Birthday!

Sinus Surgery

This is a sinus surgery example similar to mine

Wednesday, December 18th, I had outpatient surgery to fix some issues I was having with recurrent sinus infections for the past two years.  A sinus CT scan showed I had fluid in my sinus that could not get out (bad plumbing). The goal was to fix the plumbing issue and suck out all the remaining fluid and infection.

When I went to my pre-op appt, I was sick again and was started on 1000mg of Augmentin to take care of the current infection and prevent any other secondary infections from the surgery. The surgery went well and I'm due to get my sinus packing out on Tuesday, December 24th. Merry Christmas to me!

Family Christmas

Saturday, December 14th

The entire family got together at Karl and Audrey's to celebrate Christmas.

This is Karl and Audrey's tree surrounded by some of the presents.

 

 The new dining room furniture beautifully set for our Christmas meal.
We had a delicious meal, complete with stuffed pork tenderloin, mashed potatoes,
sweet potatoes, green bean casserole,
spinach salad, taffy apple salad, bread and wine. 

 

 A close-up of the table decorations, complete with wedding china and glassware.

Andrew got to open his gifts in the afternoon. 

 

 Poppa made Andrew a unique puzzle for Christmas.
Andrew loves locking and unlocking all of the hardware.

Andrew playing with the train set from Uncle Karl and Aunt Audrey.

Andrew cleaning up with the play clean-up took from Aunt Jackie and Uncle Jonathan.

The girls spent the afternoon making and decorating cookies.

 A Merry Christmas wish from all the Kuklenz girls!

Master's Graduation

Friday, December 13th
We attended the Fall Semester graduation at Sam Houston State University

Jackie graduated with her Master's of Music in Choral Conducting
from the College of Fine Arts and Mass Communication.

The pink stole is the academic discipline of music.
The masters' gown sleeve is oblong and, though the base of the sleeve hangs down in the typical manner, it is square cut at the rear part of the oblong shape.
The front part has an arc cut away,
and there is a slit for the wrist opening, but the rest of the arc is closed.
The shape is evocative of the square-cut liripipe incorporated into many academic hoods.
The master's gown is designed to be worn open or closed

 

 Sportin' the master's colors!

 

Proud Parents!

Proud Husband!

Proud Brother and Sister-in-law!

 Proud Sister, Brother-in-law and Nephew!

Jackie has already found a job and she will be the new
Assistant Choral Assistant at Jane Long Middle School in Bryan, TX.  

FYI - Audrey's parents live in Bryan so Jackie and Jonathan will see Karl and Audrey when they come to town for a visit.  Bryan,TX is also the neighboring city of Jonathan's alma mater. Texas A&M University....so Jonathan may get to attend some of those A&M football games
instead of watching them on tv! 

ICE Friday

Earlier this week temps were in the 80s, today the high temperature is expected to be 28 degrees.

Freezing rain started to pelt highways and power lines Thursday evening, leaving a quarter-million customers without electricity Friday morning (only about 2,000 in The Colony).

Schools districts canceled classes and many businesses gave workers the day off,

and frigid roads and sidewalks were mostly empty.

Cars that have ventured out have been getting stuck on the frozen ruts in the road.

I called the UHC Emergency line this morning. "The Plano office is closed on Friday,
but those that can work from home are encouraged to do so." 
So that means...No day off for me!

 

This is how deep the ice/sleet is at my back door.

There is no snow...only hard packed ice.

This will take some time to melt as the temperatures are not expected
to get above freezing until Monday.

Our newly planted tree is handling the ice pretty well.
Our maple tree has not lost any branches. Our neighbors were not so lucky.
Each of them has trees that were still heavy laden with leaves and now have branches/limbs
on the ground.

Pretty view of the icicles on the fence

 Our three magnolia trees are all bent over, heavy with ice.
Two of the three neighbors pictures in the background are bent over and the trunks are touching the fence. Winds are expected to be about 19 miles per hour for Saturday and Sunday and
the media is predicting a lot more tree damage and power outages due to trees doing down in the wind.

 The icing of the holly bush out the kitchen window.

I luckily had stocked up on my groceries so don't need to venture out until Tuesday.
Hopefully this mess will be mostly gone by then!

Here are some interesting photos from around The Colony..courtesy of Facebook.

Pier 121 Marina collapse..lots of damaged boats

Top Golf nets...caught the ice.

 TopGolf netting/poles have been damaged by the ice storm.
Completely bent over with the weight of the ice on the poles/net. 



Thanksgiving

All the kids were home for Thanksgiving and we celebrated on Friday.

Below is Audrey and Jill's version of bananagrams! 

 

Audrey and I made the three pies on Thursday afternoon
while Doug and Karl watched the Cowboys football game.
We made Lemon Meringue, Pumpkin and Grandma Hersoms pecan pie

 

Doug smoked two kinds of meat: a Butterball turkey breast and a Cure81 ham. 

 Jill made the deviled eggs.
Audrey kept up on the washing of the dishes.
Karl did the prep for the sausage dressing.

 In addition, our new recipe this year was a corn pudding
which I had enjoyed at my friend Linda's this summer.
This is all that was left! 

 

Surprise Reception

 

Friday morning, we hosted a surprise graduation reception for Jackie.
She is scheduled to graduate in less than 2 weeks!

 Jill and I made some mints last weekend.

 The guest of honor

 Opening of the gifts.

Tree Land - Gunther,Texas

Saturday morning we drove out to Gunther,Texas to TreeLand, a 40 acre tree farm with a huge inventory of trees. The tree farm is located about 32 miles from our house,

http://tree-land.com/

We decided on a October Glory - Red Maple.

This tree is in a 65 gallon container. 

Doug is shown here tagging it with our name for delivery on Monday, Nov. 18th.

 This tree should provide some beautiful fall color in our yard next year.

Irrigation Lines Moved

Monday when the Bradford Pear tree was removed, the irrigation lines were damaged.

These main irrigation lines ran right underneath the tree.
Lennar was the builder and they put in the irrigation and planted the tree.

Doug returned from China on Thursday afternoon. He was there about 3 weeks.
Friday morning, he started to remove the existing irrigation and re-route it so we could plant
another tree in the same location without worry of the tree roots damaging the main irrigation line.

SURPRISE!  A couple of tree roots growing up between the two main irrigation lines.

Carefully removing the tree roots between the main irrigation lines.

 Finished project: the re-routed main irrigation lines.

Now to shop for a new tree.

Marriage Isn't For Me.

A wonderful article recently posted to  the Huffington Post by Blogger Seth Adam Smith.  This has become a viral story circulating through social media; since some of my viewers are not in that realm, I thought I would share it for you.

- - - - - - - - - -

Having been married only a year and a half, I've recently come to the conclusion that marriage isn't for me. Now before you start making assumptions, keep reading.
I met my wife in high school when we were 15 years old. We were friends for 10 years until... until we decided no longer wanted to be just friends. I strongly recommend that best friends fall in love. Good times will be had by all.
Nevertheless, falling in love with my best friend did not prevent me from having certain fears and anxieties about getting married. The nearer Kim and I approached the decision to marry, the more I was filled with a paralyzing fear. Was I ready? Was I making the right choice? Was Kim the right person to marry? Would she make me happy?
Then, one fateful night, I shared these thoughts and concerns with my dad. Perhaps each of us have moments in our lives when it feels like time slows down or the air becomes still and everything around us seems to draw in, marking that moment as one we will never forget. My dad giving his response to my concerns was such a moment for me. With a knowing smile he said, "Seth, you're being totally selfish. So I'm going to make this really simple: marriage isn't for you. You don't marry to make yourself happy, you marry to make someone else happy. More than that, your marriage isn't for yourself, you're marrying for a family. Not just for the in-laws and all of that nonsense, but for your future children. Who do you want to help you raise them? Who do you want to influence them? Marriage isn't for you. It's not about you. Marriage is about the person you married."
It was in that very moment that I knew that Kim was the right person to marry. I realized that I wanted to make her happy; to see her smile every day, to make her laugh every day. I wanted to be a part of her family, and my family wanted her to be a part of ours. And thinking back on all the times I had seen her play with my nieces, I knew that she was the one with whom I wanted to build our own family.
My father's advice was both shocking and revelatory. It went against the grain of today's "Walmart philosophy", which is if it doesn't make you happy, you can take it back and get a new one.
No, a true marriage (and true love) is never about you. It's about the person you love--their wants, their needs, their hopes, and their dreams. Selfishness demands, "What's in it for me?" while Love asks, "What can I give?" Some time ago, my wife showed me what it means to love selflessly. For many months, my heart had been hardening with a mixture of fear and resentment. Then, after the pressure had built up to where neither of us could stand it, emotions erupted. I was callous. I was selfish.
But instead of matching my selfishness, Kim did something beyond wonderful -- she showed an outpouring of love. Laying aside all of the pain and anguish I had caused her, she lovingly took me in her arms and soothed my soul.
Marriage is about family. I realized that I had forgotten my dad's advice. While Kim's side of the marriage had been to love me, my side of the marriage had become all about me. This awful realization brought me to tears, and I promised my wife that I would try to be better.
To all who are reading this article -- married, almost married, single, or even the sworn bachelor or bachelorette -- I want you to know that marriage isn't for you. No true relationship of love is for you. Love is about the person you love.
And, paradoxically, the more you truly love that person, the more love you receive. And not just from your significant other, but from their friends and their family and thousands of others you never would have met had your love remained self-centered.
Truly, love and marriage isn't for you. It's for others.

Here is the link to the article if  you'd like to share this story with someone special to you.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/seth-adam-smith/marriage-isnt-for-you_b_4209837.html