Christmas Happenings....Part 1

Well we decided that since we were traveling to Florida for Christmas this year to go ahead and celebrate Christmas the weekend we went to the Festival of Lights and had breakfast w/ Santa.

                                                         Santa's Arrival @ Festival of Lights

                                                     
                                                         Hanging out w/ Riley & Landon

                                                                    Hayride...

                                                  Picture w/ Mrs & Mr. Santa Claus

                                                 Waiting for Santa Claus to arrive...

 
                                                                Breakfast w/ Santa

                                                                Decorated Cookies

                                                                Picture w/ Santa Claus

The reason we decided this was because most of the items that we had to give them were winter clothes, rain boots & snow boots.  They did get a few crafts, video games, etc but nothing of large value.  What they don't know is that we have other gifts already in Florida waiting for them to open....which is an Electric Scooter & Barbie Dream House.  I know most are thinking this is so nontraditional but I have learned that being a military family we do things on our terms and celebrating Christmas early in CT was one thing we thought would be best...are my kids missing out absolutely not!  Santa still will bring gifts and they will receive gifts in Florida but just less.  They will just be super excited to see Family & Friends in Florida.  Did I mention we are doing a week in Orlando so we can do Disney World and other parks and we get to spend it with a good friend & her family that we met in Guam!  Here are some photos from them opening their gifts:

We bought a Gingerbread House Kit, it definitely beat cooking it myself but I miss the Gingerbread House that my friend Tamara homemade last year for us!  So even though our house fell apart and Ryan had to hold it up the whole time, we had a great time and it was yummy to eat.  Can you say belly ache??

                                         Ryan preparing the base while Katelyn reads directions.

                                                 Gluing the house....next time HOT GLUE

                                              Ryan all smiles w/ we decorate the house

                                             The girls were pleased w/ the finish product!

                                         Took awhile to put together but it was broke in 2 mins...

                                                                Sticky Fingers....

Ryan also made us home made egg nog too!  Although he didn't realize until we were finished it was an Ice Cream recipe...super funny but it was still yummy!  Even Katelyn enjoyed it.  Amberlyn wouldn't try it once she heard the word "Egg", she doesn't do eggs.  Here's a photo of my mug of Egg Nog....

So we ended this day with making a birthday cake for me (Well Ryan & Katelyn made it).  So here is what it turned out to look like....

We are headed to Florida in a few days.  I hope to blog while on our vacation but if not then look for more when we get back.  Hope everyone has a Happy Holiday.  Here is my furry doggy dressed for Christmas!  Hope that put a smile on your face. 

Thanksgiving and other happenings

I hope that everyone had a great Thanksgiving.  We sure did!  We enjoyed going and seeing the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in NY.  We also got to explore the area until it was time to get back to CT.

It's a tradition of ours (of course when we aren't moving) to put up our Christmas Tree the day after Thanksgiving....so we let that tradition continue and the kids had a ball.  My best part this year was unwrapping the Christmas Ornaments that I received as gifts or purchased while in Guam last Dec.  We decided that we weren't decorating the outside due to we are leaving for 3 weeks and won't be able to enjoy it and not to mention last year when the snow melted (in Feb/Mar) we seen tons of Christmas items that were out in the yards buried.

Today we gave the kids a present from their Grandparents, it was a Fisher Price Dune Buggy.  It was shipped to us because it was too big for use to drive back to CT.  I know it's not Christmas but I know after we get back from FL there will most likely be snow on the ground and not sure how it will ride on the snow.  Let's say the kids were super excited.  I love Christmas!

Til next time....

This past weekend and this week so far....

We had a great weekend.  We have decided as a family (well Ryan & I) that the movies are just too expensive for us to go to them and order all the goodies we normally do.  3D movies were costing us almost $100 if not that to go see in the theater.  I realized we bought some discounted tickets from MWR when we first moved here so we decided to use them up and took the girls to see Jack & Jill...the kicker is we also had enough points for a small popcorn for free...awesome although we just ate at Five Guys and anyone that has eaten there knows that it is big portions!  The movie was funny and the kids enjoyed it.

Monday was I thought a start to a new workout routine but then as I am getting ready to leave Ryan calls and says I don't have anything at work so I am coming home till noon.  Great, there goes my workout!  And he asks if I want donuts!  I know what your thinking, I would love to see my husband, blah blah blah but when your on shore duty and your use to sea duty, its hard to get back into seeing them 24/7.  I love him and I love him being home but sometimes I wanna be able to do what I need to do while the kids are at school.  His simply answer to my ugh, was can't you do it after I leave at noon....why yes I could but who wants to relax then go get all sweaty, not this chick.

Every other Tues & rotating Weds, I got and make copies at the school or volunteer for what they needed.  After my incident last week, I was surprised they wanted me back this week.  So to catch you up about that, I was making 6 pages front & back for the school newsletter (that's roughly about 300 copies for the whole school) and teachers kept interrupting me so I asked this one teacher if I could just copy his papers (he had a ream of paper worth x 4 copies)...he was delighted and said yes.  Well when I shot it thought the feed on the copier, the pages since there was so many ended up shooting off the copier onto the floor messing up the order and i couldn't figure out what order it went to (due to the copier jammed and the copy I was making didn't copy).  So I put it back in order the best I could and gave it to him and explained what happened.  Thought my copying days were over...well at least I am sure they are for him.  I did seen him today which it's been a week, he didn't say anything to me but I am not sure he recognized me.  Good thing.   So onto this week, I didn't have much to copy so I asked PTO if I could assist them and they loved the help.  The school when I signed in asked if I wanted to sub for a few hours a week when needed.  I am not sure but I think it is something I am going to look into, one thing is I am not sure if you need a degree and if so I don't have one but maybe this will make decision to go back to school to get a degree in teaching or being an aide since this is something that I could do with Ryan being in the military and us moving all the time.

I didn't get to workout but I did clean the house (downstairs only) and manage to make some new Christmas Bows.

Hope everyone is having a great start to their week.

Monday Happenings & Girl Scout Rededication

The weekend was nice and relaxing, I hope everyone else had a great weekend.  It's Monday, which means back to working out and cleaning up.  Yep, lately I been taking off the weekends and cleaning is only the basic to make the house presentable.  Today I took the girls to school and hit the Club House (aka Free Gym)...I started on the treadmill and then my friend showed up.  I enjoy having "adult time" so much that I decided to walk instead of run and talk with my friend.  I kind of gave up though and I should have kept going, so we went outside and hung out at the park while her son played.  I guess I can't complain though, I been lacking adult time and I will just have to work out harder the next day.  Well the idea was to workout and then go clean the downstairs...yep Heather lost my mojo after we enjoyed ourselves in the fresh air at the park...LOL  I did finally manage to get up and clean after I realized the house wasn't going to magically clean itself.

So tonight the girls had a Girl Scouts re-dedication and I felt horrible because I didn't get them their Girl Scout Smock and Sash yet.  Well Katelyn has her Sash but the information still says Guam and the wrong troop number.  It was also an Ice Cream Social, oh how yummy that was!  I was disappointed though that there wasn't enough chairs for everyone and this little girl that is either 5 or 6 wouldn't stop talking and being loud.  I believe she has ADHD but in reality I think she just needs a good butt whippin.  The mother just kept telling her to quiet down but never was forceful with her, she just kept telling us (the mother that is) that her husband returns in 5 weeks.  I just hope he is prepared to deal with that child because after 5 mins I wanted to give that little girl a piece of my mind. Please don't take offense to this, I understand we all parent differently and my kids are not angels.

I ended the night with doing some bows and watching tv, Ryan has duty so I fully enjoy the quiet time after the kids go to bed.  We have a great time while he is home but when he is gone I don't feel guilty for doing bows. Maybe one day I will learn to post photos of my day. Don't hold your breath though.