December's Random Ramblings

ABIGAIL:

• Andrew and the girls were looking at the American Girl Doll catalog one night and Abby said, "look she has a whiskey."  She was pointing to the girl's dog which was a Husky!
• Abby is constantly asking what time it is.  I don't know what her obsession is, I guess maybe she has a hot date I don't know about!

OLIVIA

• I took the girls to story time today at Barnes and Noble and as we were leaving there was a table set up of volunteers wrapping presents. Olivia walked right up to them lifted her shirt, grabbed her chest, and yelled "boobies" at the top of her lungs!!! Such a little lady I've got! :-)
• Olivia likes to "talk" on her phone.  She is often heard chatting with Michael Jackson!
• Olivia calls the dust-buster the dust-monster.
• Olivia calls Santa "ho-ho"
• When Olivia wants to be held she will say, "Mommy/Daddy I wanna hold you."
• Sometimes when Olivia sees the camera she will say "I'm not gonna smile!"

Getting ready for Christmas

Here are some pictures of us getting ready for Christmas.  There was lots of decorating, baking, craft making, laughs and fun.  This time of year is so magical and all of the preparations leading up to Christmas are just as fun and special to me as the big day itself!

Decorating the Christmas tree. 

Andrew picked out a beautiful live tree from the garden center down the street from our house.

I love the look and smell of a real tree!

Putting the star on top

The finished product. 

 It looks so beautiful I want to keep it up all year long!

My little baker.

We made lots of different kinds of cookies and fudge.

The girls doing some Christmas crafts.

I think one of their favorite things this year was decorating the gingerbread house.

They did a really good job and didn't eat too many of the decorations in the process!

Baby Sprinkle

Military life definitely has its ups and downs, but one of the best aspects of military life are the friends you meet along the way and how quickly those friendships form!  I am lucky to be surrounded by such caring, thoughtful women and was honored when they threw a baby sprinkle for myself and our friend Mary who is due with a little girl 2 weeks after me.  Mary and I were spoiled with gifts, a delicious meal and of course yummy cheesecake at the Cheesecake Factory!  We had lots of fun opening gifts, sharing stories and laughing.  I feel so blessed to have these women in my life, thank you ladies for such a wonderful time!!!

This is Mary.  As I said she is due 2 weeks after me with a little girl.  It will be her 4th child so I will be looking to her for advice on how to handle 3 since she seems to do it with such ease right now!

Myself opening gifts.  Its so weird to see blue everywhere as I have been used to pink for all these years!

Even though Congratulations spelt incorrectly, the cheesecake was still delicious!

Mary and Me

Belly picture!   

Mary is about 32 weeks here and I am 34 weeks.....not too much longer!!!

Breakfast with Santa

We took the girls to breakfast with Santa at the club on base a couple of weekends ago.  The girls got all dressed up in their fancy clothes and coats and we were off to see Santa.  Unfortunately, we were actually quite disappointed with the whole experience.  The food wasn't very good, the line to see Santa was very long, and very slow.  In fact, it was so long and slow we opted not to wait in line to see him.  I would guess it was about an 1 1/2 hour line.  I was happy the girls weren't upset that they couldn't see Santa and the fact that they got to get a balloon animal and have their faces painted seemed to satisfy them.  Even though things didn't go exactly how I had envisioned, we had a good time and the girls loved getting dressed up!

A couple of shots in their "fancy coats" before we left.

I love this picture...You can really see how much Olivia loves her big sister here.

The girls were not very cooperative when we wanted to take pictures in front of the tree.

In fact, I could do a whole post on how to NOT look at the camera!  But here are a few...

Daddy and the girls waiting in line for face painting

Our first snow!

Our first snow came late this year.  I guess I should count ourselves lucky, we had a very mild November which was nice for my Florida/Arizona girls and for me as my blood has thinned a bit after spending the past 4 or so years in a warm climate.  Anyway, the girls were so excited to see the snow when they woke up in the morning!  They sat at the window looking at the dusting we were getting and chatting and giggling away.

Of course we had to get out and "play" in the snow too!  We got all bundled up and went outside to experience the cold white stuff!  There wasn't really enough snow to do much, but the girls loved it and had a great time picking it up, throwing it in the air, and of course giving it a little taste test.

"Look Ma, snow!!!"

Olivia was cracking up at Abby!

Hands On Museum

While we were in Michigan we decided to take the kids to the Hands on Museum in Ann Arbor.  It's a really nice children's museum and of course the girls and Tyler had a lot of fun exploring all the museum had to offer.  The best part about it, is that this particular museum has reciprocity with the Dayton Children's Museum which we happen to be members of so we got in for free!   We will definitely be back when we visit Michigan again!

I tried to get a picture of all 3 kids together, they weren't cooperating.

 

Tyler!

  

                                                  

Playing checkers in the old fashion store

Trying out the toilet.  This showed the inner working of the plumbing. 

 The girls loved flushing the toilet!

The big bubble maker.  

The girls LOVED this and kept coming back to it over and over again.

Olivia on the phone.

Watch the video below to find out who Olivia was chatting with on the phone!

Andrew turns 30 (+2)

Andrew's birthday happened to fall on Thanksgiving this year,  I guess its good that he enjoys cooking so much since he spent most of the day cooking, eating, watching football, and playing with the girls.  Actually, come to think of it, that doesn't sound like a bad way to spend your 32nd birthday!!  Anyway, I decided to take advantage of the grandparents being around and asked if they would babysit on Friday night so we could go out to dinner and celebrate Andrew's birthday.  It was a nice evening out and we were joined by Andrew's brother Josh and his wife Laura.  We went to a really yummy seafood restaurant in Saline, MI and it was nice to hang out with just adults.  We had some wonderful food, great company and lots of laughs.  Happy Birthday to my sweet hubby!!!

Andrew with is birthday dessert, pumpkin cheesecake!

Thanksgiving 2010

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year surrounded by family!  It is so nice to be somewhat close to family (we are about a 3 hour drive from Andrew's brother and his family that live in Michigan).  I think being so far from family is one of the hardest things about being a military family and it is something I very much used to take for granted.  Anyway, we drove to Michigan and spent the weekend with my brother and sister and law, our nephew Tyler, Grammy Susan, Grampa Pete, Grammy Lo, and Grandma Patty (Laura's Mom).  We had a delicious meal prepared mostly by Susan, Andrew, Peter and Josh and spent the day watching football, playing and doing crafts with the kiddos, and just enjoying each other's company.  We have so much to be thankful for this year and we feel very blessed for all that we have!

The girls helped Grampa Pete make a made from scratch apple pie, which was absolutely delicious!

Gotta taste the dough!

Adding the apples

Olivia loves to cook, however, she hates when her hands are messy.....what a dilemma!

Abby became a Jenga master over the weekend.  I couldn't believe how good she was at this game.  She won about 90% of the time, she just has the magic touch!

Abby and Olivia playing games on the i-phones waiting for dinner to be served!

Chef Josh and our nephew Tyler right as we are about to sit down to eat!

The yummy spread!!!

Sneaking a taste!!

Yummy!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!