Wordless Wednesday

This was 1 1/2 years ago over Memorial Day weekend in Maryland. That's my brother and his pretty wife.

A Much Needed...and Long Overdue Update!!

I'm so sorry that its been a while. And for leaving everyone hanging about the Phantom of the Opera. It was absolutely amazing. We were 10th row on a side aisle. We had a great view of the stage and could see everything. Nathan and I were really impressed with the cast. La Carlotta, the supporting female role, has performed this role over 4,000 times. Wow, talk about a career. And the man who played the Phantom is the only man to ever play both the Phantom and Jean ValJean from Les Mis on Broadway. He was extrodinarially talented and it was a wonderful evening. Thank you Tammy for watching the boys and Mom for taking care of the peanut.

Things have been very busy around here. I had my second Dr. appointment this last week and finally got to meet the midwife who will be delivering the baby. She's very sweet and trained with my old one. I really like her and feel comfortable with her. They moved my due date back to mid August now. Could be that the baby will be born on my brother's birthday!?

The boys had their check up yesterday. They are both doing great and hitting their milestones well. For the most part they seem to be getting along together better than they did back before Christmas. They are still ornery but that's boys I guess.

The little peanut hit a milestone today. She pulled herself up in her bed. She was kneeling at the rail when I walked in to get her. I'm really excited because I've been kind of concerned about her development but the Dr. told me not to worry that it was more her personality than a delay. And that seems right becuase she is very laid back and serious. However, Daddy will be lowering her crib tonight when he gets home from work.

Nathan updated our computer with some more memory. I always get concerned when he starts messing with something that is already working okay. In the process, he updated my camera software. Now I can't load pictures from my camera to my computer. You'll just have to wait for pictures I guess.

That seems to be all the new news. I promise not to leave you hanging so long again.

My Excitement Grows

I have long had a fascination with the Phantom of the Opera since a good friend of mine introduced it to me in the 10th grade. My friend would sing from it all the time and spent a lot of time talking about it. I knew the basic story but had never seen it until the movie came out a couple of years ago. And I must say that it is an EXCELLENT version. However, an opera is meant to be seen live. That's its true form.

I've seen the Phantom come to a town near us several times in the last 5 years since I've lived here but tickets are always so expensive and the money just can't be spared. However, Sunday night I get to go!!! YEAH!!!! My very sweet friend and her boyfriend are taking me and my husband to see it. I'm so excited. My friend has never seen it at all. Since it can be somewhat complicated following an unfamiliar plot during an opera I made her watch the movie last night so that she would have an understanding of what was happening when we go on Sunday night. I'm so excited. Its the first time I've been to see a professional show since the summer before my senior year of high school when my sister took my to see Oklahoma at Fair Park in Dallas. Wish you all could come with us.

Wordless Wednesday

Happy Anniversary Dear!! I love you very much!! For more Wordless Wednesdays go to 5 Minutes for Mom or to Wordless Wednesday.

Things Change

Certain things have always been. You don't really think about them...they just are. My husband has blue eyes. I don't contemplate it, they just are. I look at him and its part of him. It doesn't change. In my 25 years of life lots of things have changed. I've lived in Africa. I've had children. I've been to college. Lots of things change regularly. However. I'm not always a fan of change.
After 32 years of being the same, my daddy SHAVED. HIS. BEARD. NOT COOL! Now, granted I'm not a fan of facial hair on all men. But my daddy has always had a beard. He kept it close but it was always there. Just a part of him. Not changing. Until Saturday.
I was really surprised and shocked by this new development. Some have commented that he looks younger I however am going to have a much longer adjustment period. It's just unsettling to look at my daddy. I liked his beard.
Apparently he's been considering this since Christmas and its a requirement for his new job so he took that as conformation. I'm just not sure how I feel about it. I still love you daddy.

To see the before and after pictures go check out my sister Mama Lily's post.

The Big News...

Well, its public knowledge now. We're going to have another baby in July, late July to be more precise. Nathan and I found out on the night of our church Christmas dinner. We waited until Christmas eve to tell our families. Both sets of parents were quite surprised, some even speechless.
I didn't post it on my blog because I was waiting for our first MOPS meeting of the year. At our meetings we always ask if someone wants to reveal that they are pregnant. The pregnant lady gets to pick a candybar out of a basket. She can't see what she's picking. Some of candybars have blue ribbons on them and some have pink. This is our highly scientific way of predicting whether or not it will be a boy or a girl baby. Should you happen to pick Reese's Cups or Almond Joy that means twins, cause there are two in the package.
Not only was it fun to see ALL. THE. SHOCKED. FACES...hehe but I also picked the White Chocolate Reese's Cups...prediction... TWIN GIRLS!!!! Wouldn't that be fun??

In the Spirit of Technology and Children

The other day Mama Lily posted about Puk Puk, her son, borrowing his older brothers things like keys, phone, wallet, flash drive, ect. This past Wednesday Andrew and I were sitting on the couch watching t.v. The other children were napping and Andrew and I were enjoying cuddling with a blanket. He saw a commercial for a new phone and said something to the effect that, "Sarah has a razer phone."

I corrected him and commented, "Mike's phone is a Motorola razer."

That was all that was said. He didn't ask anymore questions or anything. That night we were driving home from church and Sarah was sitting in the back of the van with Andrew and she was texting Mike. Andrew looked at her and said, "Mike's phone is a Motorola razer."

She about peed her pants. And we all had a good laugh. He really is a funny kid.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JR!!! (he's 14)

The Joys of Wedding Planning

As some of you know, I'm assisting in planning my sister-in-law's wedding this coming May. Mostly this involves prodding her to make a decision one way or another. One of those recent decisions involved the cake that she wanted. My Auntie makes the best cakes ever. Auntie's wedding present for my sisters and I was our cake. It really is the best cake ever. And my sis-in-law agrees.

So after much deciding and much prodding by me she picked this lovely cake.

Now comes the interesting part. Tabitha found this picture in a magazine and copied it for Auntie to take back to WV where she lives and has her shop. Yesterday a bride came into Auntie's shop with her mother with a tiny picture of this exact cake. It was rather small having been printed off the internet. Auntie got out the full page picture to show them. The bride and her mother thought that it was absolutely funny that both she and Tabitha had picked the same cake.

Here it gets one step more interesting. The mother of this bride in WV is going to make the table cloth in the picture and has offered to let Tabitha use it at her wedding. The girl in WV is getting married in March and Tabitha is getting married in May. Auntie will bring it when she delivers the cake. Isn't that amazing???? I think God had a hand in it....and it really is a gorgeous cake!!

Wordless Wednesday

For more Wordless Wednesdays go to 5 Minutes for Mom or to Wordless Wednesday.

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a great holiday! It's time for me to get back into the swing of things. Nathan was off all last week and although we did some family things my house really did suffer from my lack of motivation. I guess it's time to whip that schedule out and try to start getting things back on track.
Our Christmas was really nice even though we still haven't had any snow...I'M WAITING!!!! The children certainly got lots of gifts and have enjoyed having dad around to play with them. On Saturday we went to zoo. The children really enjoyed it especially JM. Before he hasn't really paid much attention to the animals but this time he got really excited about them. I'm glad we got the family zoo pass for Christmas. The weather wasn't really cold so we weren't miserable but we didn't see the monkeys. AJ is insisting that we go again to see the monkeys. I told him when it was warmer we would go back.
Tonight I have a MOPS steering team meeting and tomorrow is Children's Night at church. I guess it's time to get back to work. Happy New Year everyone!!!!

And So the Party Begins...

Merry Christmas!! in just a couple of days anyways. I just wanted to give a little update. We had a chicken pox run this past week. Joshua had them all over his chest and belly. Thankfully they did not spread beyond that. They are all gone now and we are looking forward to the holiday weekend. Andrew and Aria have not shown any spots and we are praying that it's all over.
Tomorrow starts our annual several day Christmas party. After our morning service at church Nathan's family will be coming to do our gift exchange. As I've mentioned before we draw names so it should be very interesting to see what everyone gets.
After our gift exchange we will be going to our Candlelight Christmas Eve service at church. Nathan's family is going to join us this year. It's usually not long but very enjoyable with readings and carols and of course....candles.
Afterwards the hilarity begins. My family will be exchanging our gifts at Mama Lily's house. These gift exchanges are NOTORIOUS!! There are always gag gifts included in with our presents and we just enjoy being together and having a good time.
Christmas morning we will do presents with the children at home. We just got them something little to open and a family zoo pass for their BIG gift. It will be something that we can use all year.
Afer presents we will go to Castalia to have brunch with Nathan's family. This will be the first time we've gone to their house on Christmas day. After that we will go to my parents house for Christmas dinner. Auntie Linda and Mom have been planning this for awhile. It will be amazing with prime rib on the menu. It will definitely be a busy day.
Merrry Christmas everyone. I'll be back after Christmas!

Thursday Thirteen

Here are 13 things that I love about the holidays.

1. Christmas music playing everywhere.
2. Decorations on anything and everything in my house. I love lights.
3. Getting asked, "Is it Christmastime yet?"
4. Buying presents.
5. Wrapping presents.
6. Unwrapping presents.
7. Getting cards in the mail cause you never know who you'll get them from.
8. Getting asked, "Is it Christmastime yet?" again.
9. Lights on houses...although I'm pretty picky about how they should look.
10. Spending time with family.
11. Playing in the snow with my kids....by the way...where's the snow???
12. Making cookies and other things that just smell great.
13. Getting asked, "Is it Christmastime yet?" AGAIN.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a goodnight!

Wordless Wednesday

For more Wordless Wednesdays go to Wordless Wednesday or to 5 Minutes for Mom.

Special Christmas Ornaments

I've decided to share some of my special Christmas ornaments that I cherish. This little reindeer is made out of pipe cleaners. I made him in the third grade. He's been on our tree every year since. In fact, last year we used him as an example for our Wednesday night children's group and they made some interesting reproductions.

This is my other little reindeer. I've had him for as long as I can remember. You can sort of see where he's been broken a couple of times. Much sobbing was done on my part. My dad has glued him back together each time. Thank you daddy. Now that I look at him it sort of looks like he has chicken pox. That's pretty funny.

This little bear has been in our family for a long time. I'm not sure how I ended up with her but she's really cute. She makes me smile.

This ornament is older than me. It's one of several that my mom has had for years. Each of us kids have some from my mom. They are funky colored with glitter on them with cool designs.

This was taken when I was 1 year old. It also makes me smile.

This is one of two little Nigerian men that my parents brought back from there. I always remember our Christmas' on the mission field. He's hand carved and playing a drum. I love unwrapping them each year.

These are just a few. I'm saving the whole tree for the tour of homes in a few days. Stop back by.

HAPPY 2nd BIRTHDAY JOSHUA!!

Two years ago today, on Pearl Harbor Day, our second son JM was born at 3:03 a.m. They were going to induce me later that morning but sometime around midnight my water broke. YEA!! Our little man was born just 3 hours later. As always my helpful sister was there to coach and of course my husband. He was just a bit green when it was all over.

When JM was almost 2 months the Lord gave him a special cousin who was just 3 days younger than him. The two of them have grown so much, even though they are small for their size. Joshua has always been faster until recently. Our theory has been that he's trying to escape from Little Buddy.

JM has a great gift for humor. He loves to make people laugh and seems to be pretty good at it. He's very adventerous and can definitely hold his own with his older brother.

Happy Birthday JM, Mommy and Daddy love you very very much.

Oh The Hilarity Continues...

This was by far the most hilarious thing I think I have ever seen. Thank you so much Sister for putting this on your blog. Remember to keep your eyes on the mama bear. there is no exagerration in compairing this to me...lol. none. at. all. Me as a panda baby. This almost might make me reconsider my beliefs about reincarnation.

Ornament Exchange

I joined an ornament exchange over at Stranded in the Mountains. I got paired up with Tammy in Alaska. Here are the two ornaments that she sent me. I LOVE them SO. MUCH. Thank you Tammy. The first is two little Eskimos doing an Eskimo Kiss. And the other is a moose wearing butterfly wings holding a little flower. Thank you so much!

It's Got My Funny Bone

In the spirit of extraordinarily humorous things and Christmas, you all much check out this link to something really funny. It's just too funny.Make sure you watch all the way to the end.

Holiday Meme

I've been tagged for my first meme. Mama Lily tagged me. This one looks like fun too. So here goes.
1. Eggnog or hot chocolate? Defnitely hot chocolate. Sarah brings home eggnog shakes and I think they are disguisting.
2. Does Santa wrap presents or just set them under the tree? Same as Mama Lily, Santa doesn't visit our house. We wrap the presents ourselves. It's very funny when Nathan kicks me out so he can wrap my present. He doesn't even like to put it under the tree in case I guess what it is.
3. Colored lights on the tree/house or white? Well, I grew up with colored lights and always thought that trees should have colored lights. Until I got my own tree that is. We do all white lights inside now. White lights are for houses. I'm very picky about my outside lights. Icicle lights are my favorite.
4. Do you hang mistletoe? This is the first year that I've had mistletoe up. It's caught some people by surprise. It's very entertaining. It's not real obvious where it's hung either so some people will have to hunt for it.
5. When do you put your decorations up? I start putting things up after Thanksgiving dinner. This tradition started a few years ago when my husband's family all went home right after dinner one year. Andrew was in bed and Nathan and I didn't really have anything to do. So he got out the tree and we started putting it together. Now every year I like to get my tree up soon.
6. What is your favorite holiday dish, excluding dessert? I have to agree with Mama Lily again. Defnitely Cranberry Relish and sweet potato souffle.
7. Favorite holiday memory as a child? This answer kind of takes care of two questions. When I was little my brother's best friend played Santa at the local mall. I knew that Santa was just a story and he wasn't real. The whole family went to the mall to Santa Bob, as he was called. Fastforward to Christmas eve, I had been in bed a long time, I think I was 4 or 5. Bob's parents called and asked if they could bring Bob over to see me. He had been at a party in his costume and they had some presents for me. My mom got me out of bed and I remember sitting on the love seat in front of the fire with my sister,Shagga Bear. The candles on the mantel had dripped way down, almost to the floor. Next thing I know, in walks Santa. I SCREAMED and ran into the other room. I knew it was Bob but Santa was in my house on Christmas eve. I kept jumping up and down and peeking around the corner. I eventually sat on his lap and I even remember what his parents got me for Christmas. I got a box of crayons, and blank pad of drawing paper, and a couple of small story books. I still have one in my chest in the attic. It's called Teddy Bears Love Hugs.
8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?That goes along with the last answer. I do remember when I got in trouble for telling my cousin that Santa wasn't real. Aunt Kathy called my mom and fussed at her. I think I was 5. I just thought everyone knew that he wasn't real. Oops. Sorry Kacy! :)
9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? When I was little we always waited until Christmas morning to open our presents. Now that I'm older we all draw names, sibblings and sibblings in law. We usually have our grown up time on Christmas eve. We have a party and sometimes there are gag gifts. My husband's first family Christmas was QUITE memorable.
10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree? I use white lights and lots of blue ornaments. I also have some "vintage" ones from my mom, and all the ones I made growing up. I put ribbon around my tree also.
11. Snow! Love it or Dread It? Both, I love to watch it falling and everything covered in white. I also do not like going out in the snow. Hopefully this year I will finally get to go sledding or intertubing.
12. Can you ice skate? Yes I can. I haven't been since I was in the eighth grade. We should do that sometime.
13. Do you remember your favorite gift? One year I got a puppy for Christmas. Her name was Candy, short for candycane, because I got her at Christmas. Another Christmas, in Nigeria, I got a puppy. His name was Rebel. He was a great dog, and a real big baby.
14. What is the most important thing about the holidays to you? I love traditions, doing the same thing every year. One of those is our family advent wreath. Our Christmas eve candle is always the best.
15. What is your favorite holiday dessert? Ya know, with so many things I can't eat and things I really really don't like, like pizellis, I really don't have a favorite dessert. Auntie Linda's creme horns are the best.
16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? Christmas eve with the whole family.
17. What tops your tree? A beautiful bow made out of the same ribbon wrapped around the tree. 18. Which do you prefer, giving or receiving? I love giving presents. I love picking them out and wrapping and seeing facial expressions when they're opened. I also love getting a present. Who doesn't?
19. What is your favorite Christmas song? I like all the old carols. I think my favorite is O Holy Night. Shagga Bear sings an amazing version of this song at our Candlelight Christmas Eve service at church. I hope she does this year too. hint hint hint
20. Candy canes! Yuck or Yum? Yuck...no two ways about it. I think they are gross.

I hope you enjoyed this meme. I shall now tag the following people. Jenn, Heather, Stacy, and Joe and Amanda. Have fun guys.

Wordless Wednesday

For more Wordless Wednesdays go to 5 minutes for mom.