Welcome 2007

Hello 2007! Hello to more American History. Hello Antietam, Appomatox and Williamsburg & Moticello we can't wait to meet you. Hello to new adventures in the city. Hello to being easy to please and hard to offend. Hello to better Family Home Evenings. Hello to starting and finishing one quilt this year. Hello to my list of books I want to read.
Hello to increasing our food storage and emergency preparedness. Hello to saving for a family trip in 2009. Hello blog party this summer. Hello to making goals that matter. Hello to accepting service where it is needed. Hello to increase the search of where we want to live someday. Hello to the rest of my Christmas cards staring at me on my desk... laughing at me.

Hello to being better at writing thank you cards and remembering peoples birthdays. Hello to potty training two kids.. oh I hope! Hello to new babies that my friends will be having this year. Hello to many visitors that I hope will come and see us. Hello to my many visits to the ribbon outlet. Hello treasures that I will find at Goodwill and garage sales. Hello to more meaningful prayers. Hello to finding peace in the world. Hello good mail and keeping the my postman busy with delivering it all to my friends.Hello to learning more songs to sing to my kids. Hello to memorizing the Gettysburg address.
Hello to falling in love with my husband over and over again. Hello to Caroline's many adventures and bumps and bruises. Hello 2007... Welcome Home!

goodbye 2006

Goodbye 2006 we are sad to see you go. Goodbye to nursing babies. Goodbye to Tennessee we miss you so much. Goodbye to some of the best neighbors I think we will ever have. Goodbye to no traffic. Goodbye to someone owning my husband... oh wait I guess Uncle Sam owns him, so goodbye to someone owning my husband and not getting paid for it. Goodbye to good friends. Goodbye to hurt feelings. Goodbye to my fabric stash and an unfinished quilt that I gave to a quilt group to finish. Goodbye to being the new kid on the block. Goodbye to insecurities. Goodbye to the green Jetta. Goodbye to wondering if I make a difference to anyone. Goodbye to Christmas card guilt (they are still not all out and next year I am NOT making them)

Goodbye to me saying, "I don't like to read" thank to Jill I do. Goodbye to saying no one in my family ever visits me. Goodbye to my primary class in TN, I still miss you. Goodbye to the goals I didn't finish. Goodbye to watching too much T.V. (our Easter week changed our year) Goodbye to diet coke for 2 weeks, like that was ever going to happen. Goodbye to late fees, thanks to Netflix.
Goodbye to never seeing my husband. Goodbye to going to events with just me and the kids. Goodbye to the incredible training that Jeff received at Vanderbilt and those men and women who taught him so much. Goodbye to many soldiers who lost their lives in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Goodbye to just walking on a airplane. Goodbye to a year of many changes for our family.

Goodbye 2006 & Thank you!

American History and lots of good eating!

We made it the next morning to our tour of Independence Hall. What an amazing place. What amazing history and wonderful events that took place there. Annie Kate was all ears and even asked questions afterwards. It is emotional for me to be where these great men were. We all learned some great stories but my favorite was of Benjamin Franklin and his comment on the engraved sun on the chair that sat at the front of the room. take a minute to read here.

The bell ringing from the tower was a beautiful sound. This was a great photo of Annie Kate looking up right as it started ringing. It silenced all of us outside. Of course the Liberty Bell now sits protected on the other side of the street.

The girls in front of the Liberty Bell

We then had of course more yummy food. We got three pretzels with yummy mustard, an incredible hot dog that rivals Ben's chili bowl and a pink frosted doughnut with sprinkles for Caroline, all for $4.00. A photo could not be taken because they were gone in seconds. We are still dreaming of that yummy goodness!

We went back to the hotel and packed up. I told my new friend at the front desk thanks for all his help and that we were headed to some antique stores on Pine Street and he recommended Famous 4th Street deli.

I found a great paper store on Pine Street called "Paper on Pine" it had some great treasures for sure.

We went to the deli and it was yet another fun family experience. They brought a huge bowl of pickles to the table like chips and salsa at a Mexican restaurant. They were the best pickles I have ever had. Jeff had the French toast , It was like a whole loaf of bread! and I had a Ruben. I could only eat half of a half. It was yummy and one would think all we do is eat.
So on our way out of town which would have been 2 hours south we decided to go 2 hours east and get dessert.... Hershey Chocolate that is. oh yes on a whim we drove to the Hershey Chocolate factory. Are we crazy or what?
More to come....

Philadelphia

Today we got up and decided to take a trip. We thought we would go learn and see where our country began. We packed up the car and went to the city of brotherly love, Philadelphia. We pricelined a incredible hotel (and totally scored) in a part of town called Society Hill, which is set on the Delaware River and on a cobblestone street, walking distancee to many historical treasures. I have never stayed anywhere where they greet you at your car, unload your kids and help them and your luggage up to the room. We became best friends with the concierge who helped us fulfill every minute of our unplanned trip.

We walked down to Independence Hall and realized we were too late for tickets so we called and reserved them for the next morning at 9:00. We headed to the Federal Reserve and did a money tour and each got $100! (in shredded money)

You can't really see in this photo but Caroline had a paper bag of treats that she carried with the whole day and as long as she had those in her hand she was all smiles.

Walking everywhere was awesome. The streets we decked out in holiday style. I had to take a photo of this hair salon, it was beautiful.

We went to Christ Church, Betsy Ross house and walked past this small little pink brick house on the other side of the street. I ran across and then quickly signaled for everyone to join. It was a very small bakery and the window was open, it was like smelling sweet goodness! They had 14 things on the menu and you could watch 5 women making each of them. It was like something out of Martha Stewarts magazine. We each got a yummy, Chocolate cookies with peppermint chunks. Lesson learned always stop at cute, pink, brick houses that sell stuff.

We got back to the hotel and went swimming. It lasted about 15 minutes because Caroline threw up in the pool. I could not believe it. those poor people in the pool. She left screaming because she didn't want to get out. So thanks to us the pool got shut down! I think she got sick from drinking so much water.

We went for a fun walk on cobblestone streets to the open market and ate at this great Italian restaurant. The weather was chilly but tolerable to walk around at night. The open market was all a glow with holiday lights.

We have decided for sure that the funnest part for kids is just staying in a hotel. Caroline got all the coffee, sugars and ice bucket with the silver tongs and set up shop in the closet. She was serving her homebrewed tea to those of us that wanted some.

Annie Kate the skate rat and her two best friends Christmas night
Christmas Night

This Christmas Annie Kate was teetering on how the whole Santa thing works. So to keep her on the believing side I teamed up with our neighbor and we both gave the kids skateboards with notes from Santa saying he was giving them both one. It totally worked! They spent the afternoon practicing in Carson's garage and made up a routine for the neighborhood Christmas Party. They performed to music and made a signed and called themselves the A.A.C. (Alex, Annie & Carson)Caroline loved our neighbors dog and I loved seeing her carrying her around. This was the closest my kids will ever get to having a dog.This is such a great photo. The neighbor kids watching Carson's video catching Santa, look at the look on Aiden's face! Jeff/Santa made a little visit to Carson's house while he was sleeping to stage another video for them.
It was a great day!

The box of the White House Ornament our neighbors gave us

My Christmas Past is definitely this years Christmas Present!

For a girl who loves traditions and holidays, it would hardly matter what happened on Christmas Day in my mind, all would go well. (I know this statement would shock those who think I have to have everything so perfect!)
I have had some very emotional and lonely Christmas days since my husband and I have been married. For some recent 5 years Jeff has worked on Christmas day and most of those were Christmas Eve until the day after Christmas at the hospital for 60 some odd hours. We have eaten many a dinner in the hospital cafeteria with Jeff. I have gone to many wonderful homes for Christmas eve dinner or Christmas day alone with the kids. One year I flew home without him and luckily Mark & Stacy took good care of him on Christmas day. My husband is not a complainer..ever! He has done a much better job of making life seem brighter during the holidays than I, but I can honestly say now and he would too, Christmas time in the past has been really hard. It took me awhile to find what makes me excited about Christmas. It is things like our advent delivery for the 12 Days of Christmas, delivering pineapples, one year me and the girls brought hot Krispy Kreme donuts to all of our neighbors to eat while opening presents, the traditions of cooking, giving gifts to people Jeff work with. You could say I am a tradition gal so I can get through the rough spots of life.
So this year having Jeff home all weekend and the days after were the best gift I could have. Those years of feeling lonely and sad have made me appreciate things that I normally would not have. We live very far from our family and Christmas Eve was just us, but that is really all we have known and we have learned to appreciate what we have. Christmas time is just a reminder of appreciating what you have.

so on to the fun stuff. Jeff and I went to bed at 1:30 am and were so tired from constructing and building. Some of the highlights for the kids.

We caught Santa on the video tape. Video coming!

The girls in the tent from Mimi and Grandpy

Annie Kate's first try at video games. Oh and it is PINK!
The goodwill horse has been a huge hit!
One of my favorite things was a gift from my friend Laura G. She had taken my genealogy family group sheet and made a game for our family with the names of parents, grandparents and great grandparents. She is amazing and if you want to order one let me know! It is a great family game.Jeff's mom sent him for Christmas his Scout uniform with all the patches and such. It was really awesome to see all of that. Jeff has often said that getting his Eagle was one of the best decisions in his life and has paid off for him professionally over and over again.
The big hit of the morning was that after all the gifts were open the ornament that opens like a box had a note inside to look outside, and magically appeared the John Deere Gator. Something Annie Kate has been asking for, for 3 years. We have a great place for the kids to ride it and so we were lucky Santa was so generous this year. (Jeff still has frostbite from being outside till 1:00 am putting it together)
It was a great day and it felt like the Christmas miracle that we were all together in a non-sterile field!

it is open! Click here

Merry Christmas 2006!

For a few moments, may we set aside the catalogs of Christmas, with their gifts of exotic description. Let's even turn from the flowers for Mother, the special tie for Father, the cute doll, the train that whistles, the long-awaited bicycle—even the books and videos—and direct our thoughts to God-given gifts that endure.

Thomas S. Monson
Today our family that received a piece of the nativity from us wilmagicallyly find a brown simple box in the back of all their presents, with the last piece of the Nativity, the Christ Child. As we packaged the last piece it was a great reminder of what we celebrate on this special day.

I wish you all a Merry Christmas.

Christmas Eve goodness

We woke up this morning to Jeff surprising us all with some William Sonoma goodies! He had gone on his own (just fell off my chair with shock) and had bought our families favorite Peppermint Hot Chocolate and our favorite waffle mix to make us breakfast. That guy!

I loved that we had church today, even though I missed the whole program because I was out in the hall with the girls, I didn't care because it was just so great to be at church.

The girls opened gifts from their Grammy (Jeff's mom) before church. Be prepared to be jealous, she made all the girl granddaughters matching dresses. I am sure she was wishing I had had all boys. They are black velvet Mary D pattern dress with their monogram on them. Annie Kate grabbed the dress held it up to her in the mirror and said "Oh Mom I just love it!"

Annie Kate age 8

Caroline age 3

Sally Jane age 1

Just the girls

We then spent the whole day calling the free national tracking number for Santa. It was completely run by volunteers and they were so friendly each time we called, which was about every hour. We then would run to the map and see where he was. They always asked us where we were from and then gave an estimate of when they thought he would be in D.C. It was a highlight of the day.
Jeff completed his deep fat fried turkey training at our friends house this afternoon. He did the injections last night. We had it for dinner and oh my.... there is nothing better. David and Lenessa you would have loved it!
It felt like grand central station around our house, we had so many friends stop by and bring us goodies and yummies. I feel like a walking piece of divinity with the goodies we have had. This was a 5 layer cake that our neighbors brought us. These are fake leaves and then yellow sprees, such a cute idea.We had a yummy dinner and did our traditional English Crackers. My mom started this years ago and it is one of my favorite Christmas dinner traditions. you pull the crackers until they pop and then you get a toy, a fortune and a hat to wear during dinner. Caroline got a little pink car which is grasped in her little hand as she sleeps. If you have never done these put it on your list to do next year. They are so fun and can be found the next few days half off!We then loaded our pineapples for Christmas Eve delivery. We go Christmas carroling on Christmas Eve (which is something my husbands family did growing up) and then we give a pineapple to the family with a big red bow.

We got blankets, pillows and light sticks and loaded up in the back of the truck to drive around the neighborhood see the lights, delivery our last piece of the nativity and go carroling. We had our Christmas music blaring and me and the girls snuggled in the back. Two of the houses that we sang to, invited us in. We got to hear a violin performance of Away in the Manger that was incredible from a boy in Annie Kate's class at church. And also see my seamstress friend's incredible quilt collection and spend some time with their family.

We came home set out our cookies, milk for Santa and carrots and lettuce for the reindeer.
Annie Kate put out her video camera and a note to Santa to hopefully catch him in the act. This year she asked him to leave her a message. Wait till you see what we did...
The girls opened their PJ's and got ready for bed. We took our traditional photo of the girls pretending to be asleep.
When the girls went to bed we went and took a hour nap to rest up for the night of putting together the toys and wrapping the gifts.
I can't wait for tomorrow.

Merry Christmas!