I'm back, well sort of...

She was the cutest little baby in this dress!
Hey Grandpa! I love this pic, so cute!

My niece, Skye! I adore this kid.

Back off ladies, he's all mine!

The prettiest girls around!

I know it's been forever and a day since I last blogged. I was in the states with family for a little over a month and then came home and got the flu. YUCK! It's been crazy around here. We had a WONDERFUL trip back to the states and an even better Christmas. I hope you all had a great time too. I have tons of pictures to share, but that will take me a while. I got the greatest gifts from my hubby: a new Canon Rebel camera (with all the fixings) and The Sweetheart Cottage II painting by Thomas Kinkade. I am a lucky woman! I am still trying to learn about my new camera, but once I get the hang of it I will be unstoppable. I can't wait! I am really tired so I am going to add a few pics and head to bed. I promise it won't be another month before I come back again. :)

Kara's already spoiled!!

This is just some of the items that Kara got for Christmas. I will have to post the rest of her things later. For someone who isn't' born yet, she's just rotten. Thank you to Granny Hayes, April, Gloria, Nanny, and Nana. I loved opening her gifts more than I did my own!!

This picture is just funny!

Maddy wanted a picture on this hog, but a little Japanese guy was on it. She just kept looking at him until he got the hint. Then when she got on it the guy's friend got behind her and did a peace sign(the Okinawans always do that in pictures). She hasn't seen the picture yet, she will be appalled. Ha ha!!!!

Some of our Christmas cookies.

Okay so I cheated, we used the already made cookies from a tube. I am not good a baking cookies. I can bake cakes, pies, candy, but cookies no way. They always come out all flat or really fat and taste like flour. So we made both sugar and gingerbread cookies this year. Somehow I managed to forget to take more pictures of this event but I did manage to get this one. I liked making the ones with our names on them. They were of course my favorite. Maddy had fun with them too, but about half way through she was "bored" of it. I tell you that kid is much like her father. They both get bored easily and always have to have the TV going. I on the other hand could go the whole day without even turning one on. I think I may like the quite a little too much. LOL

How was your Christmas?

Some Okinawan dancers.
A view from the top of the hill.
I am pretty sure this should have said "Plaza" of snow. I thought it was classic!!

Well mine was good, but being that I am under the weather, it had it's downfalls. I was all excited about the snow land that they were having at the zoo. We had plans to meet our friends there but had to take our dog, Tinkerbell, to the vet (she's okay has some inflammation in her lungs). So being that we were late, they went ahead without us. So after we were done we called them to see where we could meet and they told us how terrible it all was. I was like,"Seriously, you've got to be kidding me!!" ( We had already bought tickets and spent $36!!!) We almost decided not to go, but I am so glad we did go. No, the snow part wasn't that cool. There was a huge line to get to it, about 2 hours. However, Maddy did get to sneak up there to feel what snow feels like (she's never seen it before). But the lights and dancers there were pretty cool. They also had a laser light show that was cool to watch. It was funny because some songs were in English while others were in Japanese. They also played, "We are the World", kind of funny. We had a nice time so that was good.

On Christmas Eve we (along with our neighbors and other friends) went to the Botanical Gardens for the annual Christmas lights. Sadly, it was raining and it just got worse and worse. We were soaked before it was all over with. Luckily a man gave us some bags to put over our clothes so we didn't get as wet. The laser show was really cool, but I was sad that I didn't get more pictures. The rain put a bit of a damper on things. Being that half of the people we were with including Nick and myself were sick it made for an interesting night. But the lights were of course were beautiful. It's a our tradition to go there every Christmas Eve we are here. It's just that great!!

Look at Nick's face. Too funny! Everyone in the train! Aww how sweet they had a place for sweethearts. Don't you love my bag? Nick looks like he wet his pants!! LOL

This is the entrance to the park. It was so pretty. Don't you love that Nick and I match? He did!

Here's my favorite picture of the night. You can see all the rain on our jeans.

Christmas day was okay we just stayed home and watched movies and played a few games. Our friends came over for dinner. We all got some great gifts. My favorite was my pregnancy pillow that Nick got me. I was so surprised. I hadn't mentioned wanting one to him since the last time I was pregnant. It was the most thoughtful gift. I love it so much. It makes bed time so much better. The dogs liked it too!! Sadly these are the only pictures I took on Christmas day. I can't believe I forgot to take some when we were opening gifts. Silly me! I hope you all had a nice Christmas too!

The dogs and me enjoying my gift from Nick!

Santa left Maddy a scooter!!!

Christmas Spirit Award!

A very long time ago, well back in November or so, I was awarded with a Christmas Spirit Award from my mother in law, Kari at just living large. I was thrilled with it, being that I do love Christmas. However, amongst my forgetfulness and my lack of computer skills I have failed to post about it. You see I don't know how to copy the little animated picture to my blog. Yes, she told me to ask her how to do it and that's where my forgetfulness kicks in. I always forget to ask her. So here I am only 5 days before Christmas telling myself to get my butt into gear. So I am going to post my thanks for the award without posting the cute little animated Santa with his sleigh. Thank you, Sissy, I love the award!! I feel very honored to have Christmas Spirit. Who wouldn't?? As a matter of fact starting this weekend that's all I will be doing, Christmas things. Saturday I have to layout my turkey. Maddy and I will start baking our Christmas cookies that night. I have both gingerbread and sugar cookies to make. I am so excited. I just love cutting them out and decorating them. Then on Sunday, I have to make my Rolo pretzels, a cheese ball, and start a veggie tray. We are having a few people over for Christmas Eve and I am serving finger foods, wassell, and hot chocolate. After we eat and play games we are all going to the Botanical Gardens light show. It is absolutely beautiful. We went last year and I loved it. Hopefully this year we will get to see the laser show, we missed it last year due to rain. I will be sure to post tons of pictures. Oh and another thing I hope we can do is go to the zoo where they are supposed to be making snow and igloos. I really hope we get to go. I just can't wait!! Merry Christmas everyone. I hope you all have a joyous time!!!!!

How quickly it comes and goes!

I can't believe that Christmas is in less than 2 weeks. It doesn't even seem like it to me. I think it has a lot to do with the weather. The day before yesterday was just plain ridiculous here. It was almost like summer weather. I so can't wait to be back in the states where it actually stays cool outside in the winter months. I know I complain about this a lot but dang. I have only one more Christmas to suffer through here, thank God. If only it was in arms reach of happening. Don't get me wrong I don't want to wish my life away. I know I have so much to look forward to in the time we have left on this island with the baby on the way and visitors we will be having. (My mom and step-dad will be here on Jan. 16th for two weeks). BUT sometimes it just seems so far away until we will be back in the US. I try not to get down about it. I think lately it has started to make me sad knowing that my daughter won't really know her family until she's about 2 years old. I know so many families do this, but is still stinks. I just want her to grow up knowing her grandparents, aunts, and uncles like I did. Family is so undervalued these days it seems. So before I go onto another tangent, the point I was trying to make is that it doesn't feel like Christmas here. Sure there's a nip in the air every once in a while and some people have lights up. But it's just hard to make things as festive here as they are in the states. I know I can't be the only person that feels this way about this place. For instance, this year they ran out of Christmas trees at the BX. Sadly it wasn't just last week, it was back in November, therefore several families on island will be celebrating without a tree. Yes, I know that the tree doesn't make the holiday or has anything to do with the meaning of Christmas but it's tradition. So many people are used to this, it's like putting on your shoes before going outside, not everyone does it but most people do. It makes me sad for those families. So to try to make myself feel better I am going to start some holiday baking tonight and hopefully get myself into the spirit. Nick's work is having their Children's Christmas party on Saturday so that should be fun. Then on Sunday I am holding a 12x12 Christmas scrapbook page workshop. I am hoping to have at least 3 people in attendance. Small and quaint. I will let you know how it goes. I hope that you are all in the spirit of Christmas, like I said it's gone before you know it.

Family Traditions

Well luckily my mother in law, Kari (at Just Living Large) remembered to post her family traditions, which means I too am going to do it. I have been meaning to do this one for a while. First, I will start with my parents traditions, it was always a magical time for me. We always had a real tree that my dad and I would go cut down from the woods next to our house. I know you could get arrested for that these days, but back then it wasn't that big of a deal. As far as I can remember we always went to a Christmas party on Christmas eve that my father's best friend, Brad, had at his house. I don't remember if it was at the party or at home but I was always allowed to open ONE gift that my mother chose. It was ALWAYS a pair of PJ's, that tradition stuck until I moved out of my mother's house. When we would leave the party it would be pretty late so I would just be starting out the window looking for Santa. I guess somewhere between our house and his there was a water tower with a red light on top. My dad convinced me that it was Rudolph's nose, so I better go to sleep so Santa didn't skip our house. When we got home we would sit out the cookies, milk, and carrots (for the reindeer of course). Then I would put on my new PJ's and go to bed. I was always so full of anticipation, which I am sure most kids are at the time. I would get up between 5 and 6 the next morning, my poor parents. I wasn't allowed to get out of bed until my parents were up so I would yell for them from my bedroom to let them know I was ready. Luckily they were just as excited as I was so it wasn't hard to get them up and going. Now comes the magical part. When I would get up I would go to the living room to the coolest things. The cookies would be mere crumbs, the milk would be gone, and the carrots would be gnawed on(they got my rabbits to do it the night before). Which reminds me of a movie I watched the other day that said reindeer don't gnaw on carrots they eat them whole. I am thankful I didn't watch that movie when I was a kid, it would have crushed me. Anyway, in the chair by the cookies would be glitter, where Santa had sat down. My dad even used his work boots to make glitter foot prints from the door to the chair. We didn't have a fireplace so they told me that Santa had a special key that let him into people's house who didn't have one. After looking at what Santa had left we would go outside to see the sleigh marks and reindeer hoof prints in the driveway, which was a dirt driveway(we were poor we couldn't afford cement). My dad was a hunter so he had saved a hoof from a deer he had killed to make the marks. Everything was so real to me. I didn't care when kids said Santa wasn't real, I knew otherwise. Why else would all these things be visible to me? Well, unfortunately my parents split when I was 9 years old. That Christmas I kept holding out that I would see the things that I was used to. It seems like my mom may have tried to do it the same but by the next year it didn't happen. I never even told her but that next year I went outside to look for the sleigh marks and hoof prints. I searched until I realized there weren't any. I was so heartbroken. I wanted Santa to be real, I wanted it to all be as magical as I had grown up thinking it was. I realize that most kids don't believe at the age of 10 but I still did up until that point.

Once my parents split we had some new traditions but they were mostly the same. We went to my Aunt Pat's house, which was next door, for Christmas Eve. My grandparents, aunt, uncle, and cousins were all there too. We would sit around eating candy and snacks and talk. We all exchanged gifts that night. So we got to open from our grandparents and aunts and uncles. When we got home my mom would then allow me to open my PJ's. I would go to bed and get up the next morning to my Santa clause gift being out unwrapped. As long as I lived in my mom's house I had a Santa clause gift. She knew I didn't believe anymore but she still did it. However, the things in my stocking were always wrapped; I tend to do this to now. After we opened all our gifts we would all go back to my Aunt Pat's house for Christmas dinner. It was a really good time. I miss those times with my family.

Now we have to start our own traditions. We have only had Maddy for two Christmas mornings in 2003 and 2005. We set out her Santa gifts and her stocking of wrapped things. We did the cookies and milk but not the carrots. I do wish we could have done for her what was done for me but it would have confused her being that she spend some Christmas mornings with her mom too. So maybe we can do those things for Kara, or come up with our own thing. I just know I want her to experience the wonders of Christmases morning like I did as a child. Sure I was crushed when it was all over but the memory of it all will remain with me always. Those are memories that I cherish deeply.

Christmas photo shoot

Everyone is in this one but our cat, Chloe and chipmunk, Leia. Maddy pointed out that Conner is in the picture too. Look on the tree in the middle of mine and Nick's heads his pic is in the superman ornament. How sweet?
If only Nick would smile.
This was my favorite one of us three together.
You can see my belly poking out in this one. My true love and me.
Here's my little Tinkerbell and me. She has a little red bow in her hair that Nick was so ready to get out of her hair. I thought it was precious.

Now this picture is just classic to me. A little girl all dressed up with her little dog. Melts my heart. Awww!!

Worst Christmas parade ever!!!

This is Maddy's look of disappointment, poor thing had to suffer through this like we did.

So you know how you look forward to things in life, which for me happens a lot in the Christmas season, and then you are totally let down? Well that was me yesterday. Our base has been advertising for the Christmas parade for a few weeks now and so I was kind of excited to see what it was like. The first problem I saw with it was that it was at noon. Who does a Christmas parade in daylight? Aren't you supposed to have it at night so all the lights show? Well, to my disappointment there were no lights, no floats, no band, no Christmas music or even carolers. It my friends was just a bunch of people walking, yes some were dressed in Santa hats and elf suits, but I was amazed at how AWFUL it was. The highlight of the whole things was that Santa and two elves rode on the firetruck at the end. I realize we are on a little island, but does that mean our creativeness has sunk to the bottom of the ocean? What happened to homemade floats? We have cars here and I know there has to be some kind of things that haul bigger things they could have used. I just don't get it. I was crushed after this event and then to make matters worse, their so called Tinsel Town, had not one Christmas thing to it. All it had was a bunch of vendors with food and games, none might I add that were Christmas like at all. There was no Christmas decor anywhere besides on the top of the Schilling center there are a few things they were to light up at 5pm, which again is not when it's dark here. What a total and utter waste of my time and hopes. But I have learned that here that is the norm, you get your hopes up and then they let them fall. Sorry to be complaining, it was just a HUGE let down for me. But on a brighter note I did fail to post the last few things I am thankful for.

November 27th- The Internet, for without it I couldn't blog or keep in touch with my old friends, being that I am in a far away land.

November 28th-Scrapbooking because it helps me preserve my pictures and has provided me with so much fun, I can't imagine life without it.

November 30th- Finally I guess I would have to say blessings, because they are so wonderful and make our lives so much better. I have been blessed in so many ways and for those things I give thanks to God.