Bryan and I had a little fun with the top hat!
Stealing a kiss before midnight - they called it practicing!!! 
Adam had a great hat once again but this picture was just too good to pass up! Cute couple!
This year, the "Davettes" sang back up to "The Man Song"; check out it here!http://humor.beecy.net/menwomen/mansong/ 
Mom and Dad managed to relax a little before all the gifts were passed - yep, Mom is like a teenager - the i-pod (a birthday present from Dad) is not very far from her these days!!!
Rusty had a ball getting into the fray of it all! He wasn't about to be left out of the activities.
As is the tradition, we played a game after the presents were opened. It was several games of ol' fashioned bingo! Lottery tickets were the prize - the most anyone won was $3.00 No one is quitting their day job!
The birds were thankful for the feeder! Plenty of food and goodies to snack on.
Here's the snow coming down in Independence. It's a rare sight. 
The next morning we had about 3" on the ground. That was the start of it all. Now it's the 21st and we have had snow and ice all week. This morning we are blanketed with ice - our snow has melted and in its wake is a mess! Good day to hunker down and enjoy the indoors! Movie anyone?
Mom got to pick out her own birthday cake. She ordered two different cakes and they were really good!
Greg and Bryan are busy with hanging glittered snowflakes; they had to do it a couple of times as we rearranged the trees and decided to close the stage curtains! Thank goodness for a ladder that the church had - it came in handy!!
Here's the birthday girl!
The biggest surprise of the day was Aunt Irene arriving. She is dad's older sister and she flew in from Iowa to surprise Mom. It was so good to see her and catch up on how things are going. She is 80 years old and made the trip all by herself! Way to go, Aunt Irene!
Here we are: the 4 kids and spouses with Mom and Dad. It's rare when we can all get together for a picture!
And here are all the great-grandkids with Mom! Mom even has the sticking-out-the-tongue trick down! (It's the only picture I had so that's what is here!) 
I had the opportunity to try a really great aspargus dish and much to my surprise, I really liked it. Since then, I have used apsaragus in many different dishes and even ordered it at a restaurant! Mighty good stuff! I always disliked the texture when I was younger...who knew???
Yep, those are my toenails painted! My close friend gave me a manicure/pedicure gift certificate at a local spa (for my birthday in September) and last week I bit the bullet and had it done! Most everyone in my family understands I can't STAND to have my feet touched - way too sensitive. And no, I didn't have to take drugs, Ryan! I had my moments but managed to just laugh through it and for the very first time in my life, I have painted toenails. Would I do it again? Yes, to parts of it, not sure I could do it on a regular basis! I do like the look so will work on keep the nails painted! Fun stuff!
With over 100 pieces (not counting the trees and rocks), the dining room quickly became chaos!
The first two pieces - and they were moved all around! 
All lit up and very pretty. It's nice to just sit and look at it. Greg loves to run the train and blow the whistle. Rusty doesn't like that and leaves the room! We are getting excited for Christmas!
This was taken after the class; I even tried some of the techniques they taught us. Long ways to go!
This sign greeted us as we entered the classroom area. 175 photographers (or waana-be's!) attended!
Lunch was the standard fair of chicken caesar salad, rolls, and dessert.
Here's all the "stuff" they gave us; we had a 21 page book of notes and then they gave us more. Some free goodies too! Time to go practice!