Bragg Family South

I know that in Laurie's latest blog, she commented on how excited she was that Christmas break was approaching. She's not the only one happy for the season--check out our lil' cookie decorator Beth! We are preparing ourselves for the Christmas/New Year's holiday by decorating cookies, attending parties, and prepping our vehicle for the long drive northwards. After our last month, which was exceedingly busy, this next week will drag along for us--not much happening, but lots of anticipation and anxiety about the weather (driving conditions, really). I was able to spend yesterday (Saturday) up at that archeological dig I've been volunteering for this year. Our field season in this portion of the area is winding down--the Arkansas Archeological Survey had arranged to work on this site with the landowner (an industrial pipe maker) until the end of the calendar year, which is rapidly approaching. And, as is almost always the case in archeology, some of the best finds ar...

Here is a small portion of the shells we collected last week while on the Gulf Coast of Louisiana. Note the cupcake in the upper corner for scale... Well, it's Saturday night, and we've survived yet another busy week. Hope and the kids are in the other room watching a movie, I'm popping some popcorn, and we're looking forward to a slow day tomorrow. I was gone from Wednesday to late Friday on a business trip to northwestern Arkansas, and while up there, I managed to catch a cold. Hope busied herself with running kids to their activities, such as Cub Scouts, CCD, and Beth's dance lessons. She also helped with getting the plants for the landscape around our new church. On Thursday, she accompanied Beth's preschool to a visit to the local fire station (that's Beth on the right in the light blue hat): On Friday afternoon, after she took her Cub Scout pack for a quick nature hike around a pond on the UAM campus, she then held a birthday party for Kenny, who didn...