Grace "Montanna" Vaughn

Santa brought Grace a pink basketball and a puppy that knew her name and grows in 4 days.

Hanna Montanna gave her a blonde wig and MB gave her a hand held MP3 player.

Santa's little helper poses before handing out gifts at Aunt Susan's

Xmas 2007

Brock and Grace got some good toys on Xmas morning

They hung their stockings with care in hopes that St Nick would soon be there at Grandma Cone's

Grace was up at 3 AM and Brock was up at 4 & 5 AM. We did not get up until the coffee was made at 0600.

Santa and Vaughn Kids

Santa visits Tinker AFB

Santa made a suprise visit to base to fix his sleigh at the depot. Brock and Grace were excited to see him and sit in his lap and tell them what they wanted.

Daisy was not as excited...

Hmmm....

I sub'd yesterday and discovered I have a bias.... I spent part of the morning helping with the special needs three year old class. I know this one sounds hard, but there are only five of them and another teacher, so I basically get to color and play with the train set for the whole morning. No problem!

In the afternoon, I helped out in the office. Now in this arena, I am cheerful but completely unskilled help. I can work the intercom system to answer the teachers and summon kids, I can answer the phone and pretty much just put people on hold and I can pitch hit for the clinic for kids with bumps and bruises. I don't think I am all that helpful to the staff.... Nonetheless, they keep hiring me for the job, so I must be better than nothing!

My bias comes from parents that don't know the name of their kids' teacher. It happens a lot more than I would have thought! And not just the Dads! There are parents who walk into the office (for a variety of reasons) and have absolutely no clue about who is teaching their kid. Please keep in mind that these are elementary school kids who are basically with the same teacher for the entire day and have been in this class for over four months. Most of these parents cannot even wager a guess.... Isn't that a little bit sad? Or am I losing it?

Oh well...

Happy last few days of school before another December break!

4Vs

Snow play in the watermelon field

Sadie the Australian shepherd will constantly eat snow if you throw it up in the air.

Cousin Paula and Grace take a break from snow play.

More cowbell

Michael Harris enjoys his new Xmas PJs

Pouncer loves on Brock.

Snowsledding in KS

We went up to hang out this weekend with the Harris family and went snow sledding Harris style...with a ski rope and a tractor. Paula is being drug behind by Uncle Danny driving the tractor. Daisy May runs frantically after the tractor barking.

Cousin Paula with Biscuit and Gravy.

Biscuit Sledding

Here is Brock sledding behind the tractor.

Gravy Sledding

Here is G Vaughn sledding on some fresh powder on the hills of Conway Springs KS.

Below Grace shows off her tractor sledding skills

No school

On the 5th-No-School-Ice-Day My True Love Gave to me........

Please God let it be patience!


Expecting 2 to 4 inches of Oklahoma snow tonight.....

Hoping school will happen on Monday......

Wish us luck!

Love,

4Vs

Ice Day number Three

Good morning from still frozen Oklahoma City! School is cancelled for the third day in a row this week. The 4Vs are doing fine, but much of the surrounding city is still out of power. The trees in the area really took a hit- there are an amazing number of branches down. Sadly, many of these branches took out power lines on their way to the ground.

Yesterday we had friends in town who came over to visit. They haven't had power in three days and may not get it back for three or four more. They came to visit us to get warm, take a shower and do a few loads of laundry! We may be hosting some of Mike's employees today. We are like a truck stop! Clean restrooms, laundry facilities and a hot meal!!

If you are in the area, stop by and we will set you up and maybe even sell you a lottery ticket!

Love,

4Vs

Paula Harris Visit to the OKC Zoo

Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil.

Oklahoma Ice

We had lots of ice over the weekend and throughout Monday. There was no school on Monday, so the kids stayed at home with MBV. The roads are a mess and lots of folks don't have power. All morning long we heard the trees splitting and breaking. Kids and I went for a walk around the neighborhood around lunchtime. We watched and heard trees breaking all over the place. Here are some of the pictures of neighborhood trees....

These pines are right outside the library. I wonder if they will stand up again?

If I had a chainsaw I could make lots of money in the next few weeks....

Looks like tomorrow will be another ice day for the kids. Will have to see when Mother Nature is going to warm us back up!

Love,

4Vs

Merry Christmas Lights

We bought a 6 foot tall lawn Christmas ornament. Our street has a couple of neighbors with lights up but we are the only ones with colored lights and the only ones with lights on their BBQ grill.

New Pics posted all the way back to August 2007!

Big Ice Storm of 2007

The OKC weatherman are in their happy places predicting Armageddon and the end of the world with the cold temps and freezing rain coming down this weekend. It got below 32 degrees and rained several inches last night. Yes, if you were wondering above that is lightening striking right near my feet when I snapped the picture; this might be a signal to stop stretching some of the truth in previous blog entries...if this is the last blog you see then you will know that the local weather guy was right that Mother nature's cold icy grip of terror has rained death and destruction upon OKC.

There are some snow flurries every so often but the main weather anchorman is on call and reporting in every hour and the back up weekend guy is out walking around town checking out how icy the curbs are reporting in from the field. We just hope we survive without having to eat the dog or something like that. Brock and Grace are wishing for school cancellation. Mike is hoping for a day off too to catch up on the blog. Mary Beth is hoping they all go away soon so they don't put mommy over the edge.

Ice Storm pics

Snow Meister's tree on base

Frozen berry tree

Frozen lights

Plano Vs Mesquite

We went down to Tx to see the family for Thanksgiving and ended up staying an extra day to see the Plano Senior High Wildcats play in a divisional 5 A playoff game against Mesquite.

The last time Mike went to a Plano game was his senior year when they won the Division 5A state championships in 1987. Brock was very excited to sit on the 50 yard line. Also we had the opportunity to listen to our very own Uncle Matt Cone give the play by play on the Radio. He produces the game calling with another announcer over the Internet.

Plano won pretty easily with a score of 28-7. It was still an exciting game to watch as there were several big turnovers for both sides and Plano held Mesquite from scoring on the goal line several times. The Wildcats now have 1 more game to go I believe to make it to the State Finals.

Playoffs continue. Listen to the witty and colorful commentary of announcers Bryan Sutcliffe and Matt Cone for Plano's next game on Saturday 15 Dec.

Pregame will start 30 minutesprior to kick off at this site:

http://k-12.pisd.edu/schools/pshs/radio/wcat/football.htm

Announcers: Bryan Sutcliffe and Matt Cone

Technology Engineer: Tina Cone

Producers: Matt Cone and Tina Cone

Go CATS!

Tinker TItans Basketball

Here is Brock about to start the tip off agains one of the two other teams in his under 12 year old league. The girl he is about to go up against is Keila who is a sixth grader on a junior high team off base.

#12 is Mario. You would know this by going to the game and hearing his mom scream his name loudly from the bleachers until your ears bleed.