Happy Holidays

Merry Christmas everyone! Sorry I've gotten so behind. I've been so busy. We put up our Christmas tree the weekend after Thanksgiving. The children just loved it! Chris got to "help" this year. He couldn't get the hooks to stay on the branches. It was so cute though. We got pictures of the kids and the tree. We were going to have to change the ornaments around after a few days( most of them were down at the bottom), but the base of the tree broke. We had to take it down. We will be putting the tree back up this week. It just wouldn't feel like Christmas without a tree. The important thing about putting up the tree is that it's time we spend together as a family.

Christopher and I went to Julia's school to watch her Christmas program last week. It was so cute! Julia was Mary. Mary and Joseph had a "donkey" crawling down the aisle behind them. The shepherds were leading "sheep" down the aisle(one of them was crying for her mother). Everything was just perfect for such little children. After the manger scene, each class sang a Christmas song. We really enjoyed it. I don't have any pictures of it yet.

I got together with two of the class moms and did Julia's class Christmas party. It was so much fun! The kids made little manger scenes out of toilet paper rolls and paper towel rolls. All they had to do was put material around the rolls to make robes and a little bit of material over the head. You just had to slide rubber bands over each piece to hold it in place. They actually turned out cute. Then the kids got to decorate sugar cookies. We also had a birthday party for Julia's teacher, Mrs. Cole.

Rick and I are starting to get ready for our trip to Okinawa, Japan. We are going to see the Aaron Miller family. Our tickets have been paid for for a couple months. Now comes the fun part. You know, the packing. We have to pack for the kids(10 days @ Rick's parents' house) and for us. This is my first trip out of the U.S.A. so I'm excited and a little nervous. At least I'm not going alone. Rick has been over there before. I think the worst parts of the trip are going to be the endless traveling and the time difference. Jet lag.

We will be leaving for West Virgina the day after Christmas. We will get to see our families for a couple days. Then on Monday we will start our journey. We won't be back 'til the 7th of January. So, I won't be blogging for a couple weeks.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

More Birthdays

I had my 30th birthday on October 11th. Rick took me out for dinner the night before. We went to Outback. I got to try Crab legs. Mmmmm! Were they ever good! We walked around in the Mall for a little bit after eating.

Rick gave me my big birthday gift, while we were waiting for our table at Outback. It was in a gift box. I opened it and it was a gift certificate to a day spa. I got up early just to spend about 4 hours at Salon Vivace. I got a facial, a full body massage, a manicure, a pedicure and a hair-washing and drying. It was very relaxing.

When I got home, I ate lunch and went to the Mall to spend my gift card. I got a cardigan at Christopher & Banks.

When I got home, we had a birthday party(mostly for the kids sake)with cake(Rick insisted on 30 candles)and presents. I got a fuzzy throw and a memory foam pillow. Nice for those long winter naps. Anyway, I had a great birthday.

I can't find where Rick put the pictures right now. I will post some soon. I know you'd like to see that cake with 30 candles on it.

Birthday Party!

On September 20th, we had a birthday party for Julia. She turned 4 on the 22nd. We thought a Saturday party would be best because of Rick's busy schedule. I even tried to invite our neighbors over for it. I ended up having to cancel having them over. All of us came down with some kind of bug. I took party favors and treats over to their house and told them I had to cancel.

We still had our little family party. My sister-in-law Jessica decorated, while I sat out in the garage wrapping gifts. Julia wanted a Dora party this year. I didn't know how popular that stuff is. It was hard to find a cake topper. I finally bought a little jar of play dough that had a Dora stamper on the top. It was just perfect.

The party was a success. Julia loved all of her gifts. She loves cake and ice cream. Chris was so funny! He didn't know what to think of the icing on his cake. Rick tried to feed some to him and he just held it on his tongue and started to cry. He got some on his fingers and couldn't stand it.

For some reason, blogger won't allow me to upload pictures today. I'll have to try again tomorrow.

Happy Birthday Rick

We celebrated Rick's birthday on Wednesday, August 13. I spent most of the day decorating and writing in cards and getting dinner ready. I helped Julia get a picture drawn on the back of her color picture. Then I helped her sign her name in the card from the kids. She also drew a picture inside the card. It's called personalizing a card.

I decided to make "Alice Chicken" for supper. I love to order it when we go out to Outback steakhouse. I came across the recipe on-line and decided to try it out. I really enjoyed cooking it. But silly me, I had forgotten one of the ingredients. I had to run to the store across the street before I could finish it. I am not too good at broiling meats, but for once, the food didn't get burnt.

I fixed up the table fancy. We had a lace tablecloth, a centerpiece and cloth napkins. We all had fun.

After we were done, we had cheesecake for dessert. Rick isn't much of a cake-eater, and he didn't want me to make the whole recipe of Buster Bar because we eat at it for several days. So, I did the next best thing. We even put candles on it for Julia's benefit. She said that it isn't a birthday without candles.

Here are a couple pictures of Rick's party.