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!