December 31, 1992

Let me take you back for a few minutes back to my parents house in Vancouver Washington on December 31, 1992. It snowed that day. I always say it was at least a foot but I have been told it wasn't that much. I had not eaten all day except 4 Ritz crackers. The house was still decorated from Christmas but we added more white lights for the big day. My dad came up to get me it was time. I walked down the stairs to see my closest family and friends waiting for me in the livingroom. Kelly stood there with his best man as my father hesitated and then gave me away. It was one of the best nights of my life. I knew I loved Kelly but did not realize how much it would grow over the years. It has been 16 years now and 2 kids, 2 dogs, 6 moves, and countless cars we are still going strong.
Thanks for letting me reminisce. I hope this finds you enjoying your loved ones. Have a safe and Happy New Year.

Merry Christmas

Emma posing with one of her many presents.

Myles posing with his present from Santa.

Ronan really loves his gift. Rock Band for the Wii.

The before picture.

Christmas has come to our house and my kids were yet again spoiled rotten. Or as my son says "We're not spoiled we just have great grandparents" I would have to agree. Even the dog got presents. We hope you all have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

The USO came to town

Kid Rock performing his "All Summer Long" song

Lewis Black making us laugh.

Me with the group of performers. I sat by Lewis Black on purpose. He's my favorite.

Today the USO had a free show so we took the kids out of school and went to the show. Kid Rock, Kelly Pickler and Lewis Black were among the performers. The performers had just arrived from the states and after an 8-9 hour flight and even though they were tired they put on a great show for us. Lewis Black is sooo funny I laughed so hard I cried. I only knew a few of Kid Rock's songs and he sang the ones I knew. What a guy. We had a great time. I even got my picture taken with the group of performers.

All in all a great afternoon. But as they say all good things must come to an end and as I was parked picking up our dinner some "guy" ran into my van and tore off my side mirror. Not only that but he did not stop. I guess I am glad that there was no other damage to the van except the mirror, but it still stinks.

We went to our first Christmas market today in Diedersheim Germany. It was only 45 minutes away and we got there with no problem. However, we got lost going home and it took us over 2 hours. We tried Gluhwein which is a warm and spicy wine. It was okay tasting and it was something we "had" to do. Everyone else was doing it. :-) It was a pretty crowded place for a Sunday. Kelly took the kids up on a ferris wheel to see the sights.

Here is Ronan enjoying the ride. He seemed to have a good time at the market and the ride was the best part.

Emma also enjoyed the ride. The stick she is holding she found on the ground and she would not get rid of it. We had to keep telling her not to poke everyone in the crowd with it. All in all it was a fun family day. Even with the getting lost the kids didn't complain.. MUCH!

Friday we received 2 out of 3 packages from Grandma and Grandpa and my sister in South Carolina. The big box weighed in at 18.1 lbs. I felt sorry for the folks at the post office. Actually it was student volunteers from the high school handing out packages that day. Under our tree is full and I am asked daily if the kids can open up just one present. I can't wait for the 3rd box to arrive. I hope everyone gets what they want for Christmas. I know my kids will not be wanting anything for sometime.

Peace!

Gingerbread Houses

Okay they weren't really gingerbread houses but graham cracker houses. On Thursday myself and 2 other Moms had the "honor" of putting together 20 graham cracker houses. I am not a builder so as you can imagine some did not turn out as we had hoped. If you use too much of the icing cement then it took forever to dry and your house would fall. Gravity stinks. However, if you did not use enough cement the houses would fall. Did I mention gravity stinks? So it took us over 3 hours to put these houses together for Emma's 2nd grade class. We let them dry overnight and the kids got to decorate them on Friday. I mixed up another batch of cement for the kids to use and they turned out to be much better builders that I am. Here is the end result.

All cookied out!!

So I thought I would save some money ($16) and bake cookies as my fee for the spouses lunch. 10 DOZEN cookies is all I had to make. I thought how hard can that be. Well 3 days later I finally finished making my cookies. As you may be able to tell I started out fancy and ended up with M&M cookies. I became the cookie Czar. The freezer was full and my family did not understand why they couldn't have any cookies. Oh well, it is for a good cause but I think I might pay the money next year. I hope nobody askes me to make anymore cookies this year. Happy Baking!

Its a family tradition

It has been a tradition in my family to decorate the house for Christmas right after Thanksgiving. Well this year the kids could not wait so while we were waiting for the turkey to cook we decorated the house and the tree. The kids did a fantastic job with the tree and I think it looks beautiful. Even the dog tried to help by taking the tissue paper that the oranments were wrapped in and began running around with it throughout the livingroom. He's such the helper. Daddy helped by taking pictures and basically staying out of the way. We all know how much he loves to help with decorating and wrapping gifts. (I cannot wait to wrap all the presents by myself.) I guess I should finish buying all the gifts so I have some to wrap.
After the decorating we went over to our friends house for a wonderful Thanksgiving meal. We ate way to much and needless to say we will be starting our diets next week. We brought the bird, stuffing, gravy and rolls. Our friend made the rest to include 2 delicious pies. I enjoyed going over to their house for many reasons to include friendship, good food and of course no dishes at my house to wash. I think I might be onto something. So who wants us over for Christmas dinner?

Our Honor Roll Student

At Ronan's school they have an Honor Roll. It consists of 3 levels; Gold (all A's), Silver (A's and B's and Bronze (all B's). They had an assembly last week and handed out certificates and coupons to the BX to all who made the honor roll. We are please to tell you that Ronan made the silver honor roll. We are pleased and very proud of our boy. He's shooting for Gold next quarter. Keep those fingers crossed. :-)

One of those....

Okay so I have now become one of "those" dog owners. Let me explain. Everyday I take the kids and the neighbor kids to school. The dog always goes with us. It has been cold here in the upper 20's. Ice scrapping weather. Well needless to say the dog gets cold when I leave him in the van to walk the kids to their classes. One day I got back to the car and he was shivering. I felt horrible. But I would feel even more horrible if I had to put him in his kennel each morning. So I bought him a shirt. Yes a cute little t-shirt that says " Who's Your Doggie." Pathetic I know. But as you can tell from the pictures he is rather cute. Don't cha think.

5th graders at work?

On Thursday, we volunteered in Ronan's 5th grade class. They were having their "fall festival." We were in charge of the caramel apples. I melted enough caramel in my crockpot to make 35 apples. I wanted to make sure I did not run out. Needless to say we still have leftovers. Anyone want some melted caramel? I know it looks like I am reprimanding the kids in the picture but really I was giving directions. RIGHT!! :-) The class seemed to have a good time and at the end they thanked us for coming in and helping. Ronan's teacher says I don't have to volunteer for anything else all year. Which is a good thing because being a stay at home Mom volunteering really cuts into my Bob Bon eating time. Until next time....

Trunk or Treat

We took the kids with my neighbors kids to their church for "Trunk or Treat." The kids had a great time going to each car and getting candy. Most of the cars had been decorated and it was fun to see. It was misting and the temp was 45. My neighbor, who has 5 kids under the age of 8, designed and made each of her kids costumes. She's what we like to call a "perfectionist." The kids were dressed as the cast of Peter Pan. Tinkerbell was played by her 2 year old. I was helping her get the kids ready and she had Tinkerbell standing still for 2 or more minutes with her eyes closed so the eyeliner would dry. I have to say I got a good giggle and so did she. Her kids looked AWESOME. I admire her patience because I couldn't have done half of what she did. Did I mention her husband is gone?

We have put to rest another Halloween (the kids don't want to go out October 31st). So until next year. Happy Hauntings!

Halloween is in full swing here on our base. It seems each squadron is doing some sort of Halloween fund raiser. We went to the one designed for the younger kids called the friendly hayride. It was from 6-8 PM and we decided to get there early. That turned out to be the best decision of the night. We rode on the trailer full of hay down to the "fun" area. They had a bouncy castle, face painting, and a few crafts. We met Emma's friend Alexandra there. It took all of 15 minutes to get through the whole area so we caught the tractor for the ride back to our car. When we got back the line of families was at the very least 50 deep and many more were coming.

The road up to the friendly hayride was a small two lane road surrounded by long grass and trees. It was beautiful. As we are leaving we start noticing that people decided to park on both sides of the road making it possible for only one car to get into or out of the park. We met a few cars head on and being nice people we pulled off to the side as best we could. Cars tried to go through but soon enough there was a huge traffic jam. Finally people started backing up and we followed them. One Yukon was not about to budge so we went off road with the minivan. The van was almost tipped onto its side. We made it through and as we approached the gate we saw several more cars trying to get to the "friendly hayride." Next year I think we will stay home.

Happy Halloween!!

A season well done

We are finished with football and soccer now until next year. Both teams had an exciting last game. Our team in soccer scored 3 goals in their last game. We had the late game (6 PM) and by the time we were done the sun had set and it was getting dark. AAH fall!! The team had really improved and even the parents were sad that we were done. The football game was another close one but the Steelers pulled through and won 13-12. It was chilly and windy for both games. But you know me I love it when it's chilly and windy. So we closed the book on football and soccer but, we signed Ronan up for basketball and Emma is taking Irish dancing. So I am not completely done with chauffeuring the kids around but at least a get a short break.

Until next time.

Beautiful Day for a Walk

It was so nice here today, upper 60's. We decided to take a walk around the farmland in our village. The kids, with their friends Savannah and Dallin, rode their bikes. We walked the dog. It takes 40 minutes to walk around the fields and our dog is itty bitty. He was a trooper though getting into everything and getting very dirty. We had to give him a bath when we got home. He was less than thrilled. At least he is now clean.

We hope everyone enjoyed this Holiday Monday, I know we did. Back to the grind tomorrow. Have a great week.

Best Daddy Ever

Every morning since Emma started school Daddy has carried her gently down 2 flights of stairs and sets her gently on the couch so she could slowly wake up and get ready for school. What a guy. Me, I just tell her to get up and get downstairs. Monday came and the ritual was the same except for the really loud crash I heard.

"What's going on?" I yelled.

"Nothing." he replies "I just missed the last step and fell down."

"Are you okay?" I ask

"Yea, I'm fine" he says

So I think all is fine. No one is hurt. On with the day. He gives me a call later in the day saying his toe really hurts and it is purple and swollen. He goes to the hospital where they order x-rays. The doctor takes one look at it and says "Yep, its broken." After checking the x-rays it was decided it was NOT broken. It will however, be purple and sore for a while. He is told to take it easy.

Tuesday morning rolls around and Daddy is upstairs getting his little girl and carrying her down. Now that is what I call the Best Daddy Ever.

Weekend fun

Another full weekend of soccer and football. Friday Emma had a game and so did Ronan so Mom and Dad had to split up. First time all season so I cannot complain. The boys won and since we don't keep score in soccer and I wasn't there the whole game (so I don't know) we won!! :-) Saturday football was an away game up in Baumholder. It was a beautiful drive. The game was interesting and some parents were a bit obnoxious. (not our team) Some of the parents from the other team were yelling mean things to our kids. I did not know about it until after the game because I did not hear them. It upset our kids and parents. It is amazing that a football game of 9-10 years old could get nasty. After the game the boys went to a museum on base. Thay had a fun time looking at all the tanks and reading about the "Old Ironsides."

On the brighter side the weather was wonderful and I took some cool "fall" pictures. I love the colors of the mushrooms so that is why I have pictures of them. They were at least 5 inches big. I truly love the fall colors and weather. I hope everyone is enjoying some kind of fall fun.

It was another week full of practices and games. Emma had 2 soccer games on Friday night. The team did really good. It was hard playing games back to back but our players are troopers. Ronan had a football game Saturday morning and although they played their hearts out they lost their first game of the season. The boys tried to be tough but there were some tears shed.

It was a beautiful Fall day here and after grocery shopping we decided to go to the Hoff Festival in Hitscherhof. The Fall/Pumkin fest was 30-40 minutes away from our house. The kids (who did not want to go) had a blast playing on the straw castle and picking out pumpkins. I enjoyed cutting fresh flowers and visiting all the booths. I bought a couple of Christmas presents. We even tried pumpkin wine. Fall is in full swing here and it is beautiful. The cold crisp weather makes it even that much more enjoyable.

Well that's all for now. Enjoy!

Sports week update.

This week was full of practices and games. Em played a game this past Thursday and although we do not keep score for the smaller kids' games, we won! The kids were awesome and played a great game.

Ronan practiced twice this week and had a game on Saturday in which they blew away the other team 49-0. What was nice about it was the coaches let the kids play positions they wouldn't normally play. Ronan ran in for a 2 point conversion and got the flag several times.

We were cold at both games but at least it wasn't raining. More of the same for this week. I am loving sports season but I have to admit I am looking forward to sleeping in on a Saturday. That's all for now.

Football Season has started

The first weekend of football was cancelled because of rain. It drizzled most of the day in between breaks of sunshine. So when this past Saturday came and it was raining cats and dogs we thought the game would be cancelled again. Nope, not this time. So we bundled up, grabbed our umbrellas and headed to the game. The wind picked up and it rained the whole game. We were soaked to the bone. Our team, the Steelers, won and the boys were excited. Extremely wet but excited. We hope the next game will be a bit warmer or at least dryer.

The Game

So, it stopped raining and it turned hot and muggy. Just the kind of weather we like to play soccer. The kids had a blast. It was so much fun watching a clump of kids trying to get the ball. It didn't matter if your teammate had the ball it was all fair game. Can't wait for the next game.

First Soccer game

Today is Em's first soccer game. She is very excited and cannot wait to start. Funny story about soccer. Back in August a week before soccer practices were to start Em and her teammates received an email stating that the team did not have a coach. I informed her dad of the opening and he volunteered to be the coach. What is so funny about that? Well he was gone and I had to coach the first 2 practices. Now mind you I enjoy being around kids but, I do NOT know the first thing about soccer. So off the the library I went to find some books. I studied, wrote down some drills and headed off to the first practice. It went well for the first 15 minutes. (Practices are an hour long) However, I ran out of drills and had 10 kids looking to me for soccer wisdom. I did not have any. Luckily I had some soccer savvy parents and they helped me out.
It has been raining all day but if you know anything at all about soccer, the game will be played no matter what the weather. So we are off to the big game. More later....

Brand New at Blogging

People kept telling me to start a blog. Okay, I said. Where do I start? What do I say? So here is my first attempt at blogging. We hope you enjoy our families adventures and misadventures.

This is our only family picture. So it is not pretty. :-) We vacationed in Ireland this past April. We had a lot of fun and we hope to get back there soon. It was pretty cold that day but we enjoyed it all the same. So here it begins the "Mac Family Journey." Stay tuned.......