Holidays with the Hogs

Our Christmas trip to Arkansas was going to be the first time for most of my family to meet Joseph!  First, we planned a surprise engagement party with everyone:

We played a version of the newlywed game and then made sure Joseph got full exposure to the word games and board games that we love during the holidays:

And impromptu family jam sessions (featuring Caleb on his new guitar!):

We even made sure he got a chance to see the Hogs play Tennessee - a special treat!

It was a fun game that went into overtime, but my Tennessee fans were not too happy.  All agreed it was a great environment to watch basketball in, though. And it's OK because Tennessee went on to have a great year.

A mix of orange and red

Christmas 2018 - Changes in the Core Group

Most of my friends and family know that I really like the sitcom "The Middle."  This year is it's final season, and I really related to the show at the beginning of the season called "The Core Group."  Here's a clip from the end of that show where Frankie (the mom) makes one last "toast" with the core group:

I've been keenly aware the last few years that our core group would be changing.  It's a good thing, but it is a change.  The last several Christmases I have reminded the kids that this might be the last Christmas with "just us."  They were pretty sick of hearing it, actually.

Well, this year things changed!  With Rebecca getting engaged on Dec. 1st, we have now added Joseph to our core group.  He was there for the traditional Lego building:

And for the stocking hanging:

And evening for Christmas morning, when he got his knitted beard along with everyone else:

Yep, things they are a changing: