Day 331

The champagne is on ice, ready to celebrate.

Day 330

Tonight, I snapped a picture of Alyssa with her new baby doll. She likes to push it around in it's stroller, and she was extra cute wearing her sunglasses.

Day 329

Today, I snapped a picture of an almost completed building, being constructed by the Broken Arrow Public Schools. This will be their Performing Arts Center and their Education Service Center. You can tell, by the equipment, that work is still being done. But, it's due to be completed soon.

Day 328

Today, I snapped a picture of the watch that Shawn and Alyssa gave me for Christmas. I was told that Alyssa was given the choice of which one to buy. I think she did an awesome job because it's beautiful.

Day 327

Tonight, I snapped a picture of the lights at a neighbor of my parents. You might notice that he has a "JOY" like the one in front of my house.

Day 326

Tonight, I snapped a picture of some trees at Chesapeake Energy in Oklahoma City.

Day 325

Today, I'm posting a picture of Alyssa with one of her Christmas gifts.

Day 324

Today, I snapped a picture of a Christmas ornament that we bought when we went to Germany. We keep this in the bag it was in when we bought it, that says, "Gut ist nicht gut genug". This translates to, "Good is not good enough".

Day 323

Today, I snapped a picture of my bathroom that we're remodelling. I finished installing the cement board the other day. Once I fix all the seams, I'll be ready for the tile.

Day 322

I took this picture, on my way to work this morning, on a VERY cold day in Tulsa. This was shot just before sunrise.

Day 321

This big tree was found in front of a home in Bixby, OK. This was part of a Christmas display that was synchronized to music you could tune on your car radio. It was also about 25 ft. tall. It was hard to snap my picture while most of the lights were lit.

Day 320

Tonight, we finally got Alyssa's new kitchen assembled and ready for her to play with. It's almost been a month since her birthday, now. We've just had a lot of things that had to get done before we could set this up. We had to find a new home for our kitchen table and chairs, clean the dining room, clean the carpeting, etc. Putting this beast together was no small chore, either. I'm not going to mention the bathroom remodel that is underway. We're just glad she can finally play with it.

Day 319

Tonight, I found a nativity set, made of just lights.

Day 318

Tonight, I snapped another picture of some Christmas lights. These were done by a neighbor of mine, who always has lots of decorations to display. It's bordering on a Clark W. Griswold type of Christmas display.

Day 317

This is my Christmas gift from Maker's Mark. It's wrapping paper, ribbon, and gift tags, all with special Maker's Mark designs. As a Maker's Mark Ambassador, I receive a cool new gift each year. I've tried other bourbons, but I've found Maker's Mark bourbon to be far better. Try it yourself, and I think you'll agree. If you would like to become a Maker's Mark Ambassador, click here.

Day 316

Today, has been just as cold as yesterday, with the temperatures in the low 20s. So, I snapped this picture of a fountain in front of the Hilton Place hotel near my office. There is water still bubbling from the top, so I'm sure the ice has been getting bigger every day.

Day 315

Tonight, I snapped a few pictures of some more Christmas lights.

Day 314

This afternoon the temperature here was a very comfortable 74 degrees. Later this evening it has dropped to 19 degrees and we have a nice layer of sleet on the roads.

Day 313

We went to see the Swon Brothers perform tonight in Wagoner at the Community Center. This is a picture I snapped at the concert. We really enjoyed it and Alyssa got to go up on the stage, twice. I posted a few more pictures and details on my adoption blog.

Day 312

Tonight, we went to a Christmas dinner for Shawn's work. One of her co-workers was receiving a pin, for 40 years of service. At the office, she's been telling everyone that she should get diamond earings for 40 years, rather than a pin. So, everyone collected money to buy them as a surprise. They presented her with the little box, and this picture was taken just as she realized they bought her diamond earings.

Day 311

After putting Alyssa to bed, I found some rasberries and wine to enjoy before bedtime. Cheers!

Day 310

Tonight we took some pictures of Alyssa in her Christmas dress. This was a picture I snapped of her with Shawn.

Day 309

Today, I snapped a picture of a Christmas decoration that my dad made for us. Not only did he cut this out of plywood and paint it, but he mounted brackets to the back and cut some stakes from rebar to support it, and included a string of three floodlights to light it up.

Day 308

Today, I took the day off from work so our new tub could be installed. Here's a picture of the new tub. Now, I can install the wall boards and prepare it for tile.

Day 307

Today, I did some geocaching while Shawn and Alyssa went to a Christmas Party. This is a picture I took at Lake Tenkiller.

Day 306

Tonight we drove through Rhema Bible College to see their Christmas lights. They use a crazy amount of lights each year and light up the whole campus.

Day 305

Today, I snapped a picture of a Chinese 100 Yuan bill. At today's exchange rate, this would be worth $14.54.

Day 304

Tonight, we went to the Christmas parade in Wagoner, OK. This is one of the floats we saw in the parade.

Day 303

Tonight, I snapped a picture of some Christmas lights from a home in Broken Arrow.

Day 302

Today, I snapped a picture of the Prism Office Center in Tulsa. This is a unique looking office, here in the Tulsa area. The entire outside of the building is covered in tinted glass and the corners of the building are rounded.

Day 301

Tonight, was a rare conjunction of the moon, Venus, and Jupiter. So, I captured it with my camera. You can read more about this event, here.

Day 300

Today, Alyssa was being a monkey after her shower and was climbing onto the bathroom countertop. Here she is, hanging onto the sink, with the cabinet door she stepped up on, swung open.

Day 299

Today, I snapped a picture of the sun setting, from behind my parent's home.

Day 298

Today, Alyssa opened some birthday presents from my family. This is a cooking set, that my parents bought for her.

Day 297

This is a tank that sits in a park in Wagoner, OK. It gets decorated with Christmas lights each year, along with other Christmas decorations placed in this park. Shawn thinks it's funny (and I have to agree with her) that they decorate this with lights. Nothing says Christmas quite like a tank.

Day 296

This is a building that has a large picture window made of several pieces of etched glass that combine to make a big mural.

Day 295

This is an old basketball I have at the house.

Day 294

This is something we bought at a tea house, while we were in China. You soak these in water, then to test the temperature of your water for making tea, you pour some over the doll. If your water is hot enough, the doll will go peepee.

Day 293

This is our birthday girl, right after mommy styled her hair.

Day 292

Today, I snapped a picture of 2 deer at Western Hills State Park. These were both yearling fawns that I spotted feeding with their mother.

Day 291

Today, I snapped a picture of 2 Mallard ducks at a local park. The drake (or male) is the one with the green head.

Day 290

Today, I snapped a picture of the place I work, Laureate Psychiatric Clinic & Hospital. You can see our new building on the right side. The building I work in now, is directly to the left of the new building. And, the building on the left side, that you can barely see behind the trees, is the administration building.

Day 289

Today, they started closing in the steel frame of our new building. I've heard that there are some people going to move into the first floor, once the building has been closed in and it's safe to do so. I've included previous photos of our new building on day 256, day 225, and day 85. You can follow the progress of our new building on the webcam.

Day 288

Tonight, I snapped a picture of Alyssa with her new Beanie Baby. This was just before bedtime and she's giving it a kiss.

Day 287

Tonight, we happened by this house that has many of it's Christmas decorations up already. I know they're not done yet, because they were still outside working on it.

Day 286

Today, I snapped a few pictures of Alyssa playing with some chalk on the driveway.

Day 285

Today, Alyssa went to a birthday party at the Kaleidoscope Children's Museum. They had a big play room, a rock wall, a stage, a grocery store, a beauty shop, and much more. Here's Alyssa getting all dressed up.

Day 284

Today, I snapped a picture of the sun setting, in a rural area, as I was coming home from work.

Day 283

Tonight, I snapped a picture of the moon. It was shining through the clouds, which gave it a hazy look and I shot it from behind a tree.

Day 282

Today, I snapped a few pictures in the Rose Garden at Woodward Park. Even though it's November, there were a lot of roses that still looked really good.