LAST But Not LEAST ....

Maybe I saved the best for last!

It sure is adorable - so I will decide:

"Why yes, Lori you purposely saved it for last, you clever girl you" ...


I went upstairs Monday evening (yes - this would be New Years Eve - Gary had gone to bed with nary a 'Good Night' and it was not even Eleven O'clock yet ... sad, so very sad - we are getting freaking old ...) so upstairs to find Ryan building his VW Van that Santa gave him for Christmas.

If you recall - I mentioned that with Jessie, traditions were pretty much nil at our house. With her perseverating - which in layman's terms means that she will interrupt you EACH AND EVERY SECOND that you are trying to speak and talk over you until you give up - BECAUSE SHE NEVER WILL - or something like that.

So - no traditions at the Hurst home - unless you call getting so frustrated trying to read Luke on Christmas Eve that you burst out sobbing and lock yourself in the bedroom a 'tradition' - then hells yes! WE HAD A TON OF TRADITIONS!!


But one constant we always had was LEGO!!!

So I consoled myself one Sunday when the talks were on Christmas Traditions making me feel EVER SO HAPPY to be at Church that day - that Lego might not be a

Noble Tradition

or a


Spiritual Tradition

or a


Worthy Tradition

or even a


Recognized Tradition


in reality it is just playing with toys - but


BY GOLLY


IT'S ALL I HAVE -


SO LET ME HAVE MY DAMN TRADITION ALREADY,


OK?


Ahem, sorry about that ...


Thus anyone who wanted to build something had plenty to work on come Christmas Morning and I have decided that since I really never grew up - we shall continue with the Lego tradition forevermore - even though I am rather partial to my Playmobil ...

Thus I will decree that:

WE SHALL HAVE BOTH!!!


SO LET IT BE WRITTEN.


SO LET IT BE DONE.


Ahhh, there!


Decrees aren't really all that hard when you get right down to it, are they?

Ryan amidst the chaos:

He was quite far along by the time I discovered that he was 'building':

Opened the back hatch to show me the 'motor' he had built and installed:

A shot of the back - the first side up - and will you look at that ADORABLE 1962 license plate? I am assuming that is because they LOVE me so much they used my birth year (did I just admit HOW OLD I AM?):

A shot of the table that cleverly turns into a bed. Note the green goblet. It never moves - thus is sitting on the table the entire 'photo session'. It's not like it is going to do tricks or anything - y'all are just going to be seeing A LOT of it ...

A shot of the
SPECTACULAR LAVA LAMP!!

The Van has a LAVA LAMP!!!

I immediately pulled it out and ploinked it down beside Ryan's actual real Lava Lamp - aren't the the

CUTEST COUPLE EVER?

Here is a closeup of the Bitty Lava Lamp -

Sqeee!!!

The Van is getting bigger:

A SIMPLY ADORABLE shot of the double door side of the van and the sink - complete with hanging brush and pan and something else - I forget what ...

While practicing up on my 'focusing skills' - note the CLEAR green goblet through a plastic window - I sneakily kept Ryan in the photos. He does not like me to take photos of him and I rarely get him unawares - but here he thought I was totally focused on the van.

Devious, yes?

Another with the 'sneaky' ...

Apparently I could not get enough practice focusing on that dang green goblet ...

Focusing through another window and CLEARLY showing the sink on the opposite side of the Van.

I ROCK!!!

OK,

OK,

so ...

my camera rocks ...

Kill Joy ...

A lovely aerial view before Ryan started to put on the roof:

A lovely shot of where "Bitty Lava Lamp" Lives ...

AGAIN with the windows - a CLEAR shot out of all three on the side I was photographing - this window is focusing on the closet - there is a VERY SPECIAL T-Shirt hanging in there - and in just a few photographs I make Ryan rip the closet apart so I can take a photo of it.

I KNOW

I KNOW

the SUSPENSE ...

Oh, look!!!

A GREEN GOBLET how ...

unique ...

And a shot of the sink from the front most window - LOVE the cute gold water faucet knobs:

Tell me this isn't just the cutest shirt in the ENTIRE WORLD?

 If everyone in the entire world would wear this shirt at least one day a week -

I predict within two months we would have WORLD PEACE ...

*nods head sagely*

OH!

Lookie!!

A shot through the BACK window of a GREEN GOBLET!!!

Let's call this 'Sneaky Shot of Ryan and that Damn Green Goblet Just Happens to be in the Photo' shall we?

And, why yes -

Ryan DID KEEP THAT STUPID RED THING IN HIS MOUTH THE ENTIRE NIGHT ...

Double Van doors open:

OK,

OK

I GIVE UP -


Something is seriously wrong with me - this one shall be forever called

"That Damn Green Goblet is EVERYWHERE":

AAAAAGGGGGHHHH!!!

IT!   IS!   EVERYWHERE!

Top on, doors open, partial "World Peace" T-Shirt showing through the window:

All closed up and snuggly - but ...

WAIT - there's more!

Compare this one to the next one and what is different between the two? ...

OK - BIG HINT:

It is NOT the open double doors ... duh ...

Can you see it?


Can you?


Can you?


(Don't you so want to hit me when I get obnoxious like this in my posts?)

Ahhhhh!

SO CUTE!

The VW Van Camper Thingy 

"Pop Up Top"!!!

And since it is so important - and Ryan's most favorite it warranted TWO whole photographs!

The coup de grâce:

The simply ADORABLE front with the

VW Logo!

Photo two of the coup de grâce:

(and look - Ryan is ALMOST smiling - don't tell ...):

The VW Van - finished in all its glory ...

The proud owner.

One of the better picks of presents that I have given him lately I must admit ...

It lived in a place of honor overlooking all the Christmas Festivities - but I believe that Ryan took him to Austin to live in his apartment.

I really haven't dared venture into Ryan's bedroom to check this out since the last time, so I really don't know this for a fact - but he loves it - thus the assumption it went with him.

Gary cleaned his room up this morning before the cleaning lady came so I wouldn't have to. It's not that it was ALL THAT DIRTY - but Ryan had said it was completely clean and when I glanced in one day after he left - I thought that odd since I COULD BARELY SEE HIS CARPETING THROUGH ALL THE CRAP ON THE FLOOR.

If I had done the 'Cleaning-Lady-Is-Coming-Things-Need-To-Be-Put-Away' cleanup? I would have put it all in the garbage -

Gary can be rather insightful at times ...

Well folks ...


I have completely run out of photos for the year 2012 ...



AREN'T YOU ALL FREAKING THRILLED?