Lifetime Friends

I am enjoying every last second of our break.  We are staying up really late at night (though the girls still get up way too early), eating like we don't care and staying in PJs all day. 

Olivia asked last night what day they go back to school and I refused to talk about it.  Which spurred the usual conversation about "wouldn't you girls love to be homeschooled?".  Emma always answers (a little too quickly) "NO!"

She still thinks we wouldn't do anything but play all day.

She's probably right :)

The best thing that happened this week is I got to see Cathy and her girls!

(Checking her Facebook ... that I was happy to 'hack' later :)

Cathy and I have been friends since 3rd grade.  I SOOOO wish she lived near me.  Her husband is in the military (currently in Afgh*nistan) so all of our married lives, she has lived at least 5 hours away.

(Olivia, Maura, Emma, Casey)

I love it when our girls get to play together .... I love it even more that they have such a good time and love being together.

Casey is a cheerleader at her school.  She was working on her jumps in the living room so Eric could give her some pointers.  I don't know why she didn't ask me for help.  I have been known to do a mean toe touch and herkey.

And at 41 .... I had to prove I still can ...

Just a herkey.  The toe touch would have killed me.

Because it's possible the above jump had me icing my ankles and neck later that night.

Possibly.

I love it that in all the pictures Eric took of me doing this jump (there were 4 ~ I was trying to master my form), Olivia is sitting behind me never looking up .... as if she isn't phased at all by her Mama trying weird stuff.

Maybe she's used to it :)

Anyway ... Casey spent the night that night and we all met each other the next day to go to the movies. 

Never enough time spent together, though!!!

Cathy, Maura & Casey ~ We miss you already!

The Christmas Re-Cap

I spent the day after Christmas doing what I do every single year - taking down all the decorations.  I love all the twinkle lights and the feeling of nostalgia, but every year on December 26th, I wake with one thing on my mind ... get it all down quick!

I also take advantage of Eric being off work so he can help me :)

We had a wonderful Christmas.
Eric was off work Thursday and Friday which was SO NICE.  He helped me finish a lot of last minute things that needed to get done. 

On Friday morning, all I had to do was bake.  One of my past Sunday School students, Arialle, came to visit.  I should have gotten a picture.  I always love catching up with her.

Then, on Friday night, our friends Rita, Dale, Matthew, Katie Beth and Jordyn came over for dinner and games.  We don't get to see Matthew that often so I was thankful we had that time with him.

Saturday morning (Christmas Eve), I met Rita and Katie Beth at the college for a run.  I told myself I could run off the massive amounts of sugar I would consume over the next two days but that would have been near impossible.  I ate a lot, y'all.

That afternoon, my friend Kurt came over for a few hours.  We've been friends since third grade, but only see each other at Christmas.  I always love catching up with him.

We went to my parents' that night.  I gave myself a talking-to before we left to go to their house because I didn't want to cry. 

I guess now is a good time to post about my little brother leaving in June for the Navy. 

Okay, that's about all I can write about it at this point because I'll get sad.  I'm happy - yet sad.  Anyway ... enough of that. 

I did take a gazillion pictures there and threatened anyone who dared complain about it.  I'll just post a few ...

If Olivia wouldn't cry so much over John Patrick leaving, maybe I would be okay.

Actually, that's probably not true.

 Todd, April, JP, me, Eric

We played our go-to Christmas Eve game ... Pictionary.  Remarkably, everyone was polite. 

Well ... polite is a strong word ... let's just say the game gets very competitive.

Not that I have anything to do with that.

That's my Daddy on the left.  This picture cracks me up because there is no telling what was going through his mind here.  He dreams up some interesting drawings .... and many we can't share with the public :)

Here I am getting ready to draw a stick-figure masterpiece, no doubt.

Dawn (married to my cousin, Neil) and I started reminiscing about old times ... like when we used to work together and I got so angry with her one day, I locked the door and we started fighting.

I'm not kidding.

It looked something like this ...

I may frame this one :)

It all worked out, though ;)

We had a great time laughing and talking ... leaving later than we normally do on Christmas Eve. 

The girls were so tired and ready to get in bed.  They always sleep on our bedroom floor Christmas Eve so they don't catch Santa in the house.

They got up SO early Christmas Day .... 5:00AM!  The oddest thing was we were all so tired that after opening gifts, they actually asked to go back to bed.  So we did! And woke up in time to get ready for church.

After church, we went to Eric's parents to exchange gifts with his family.  Then, we went back to my parents'. 

We had a great weekend! We still have some fun things to do this week and plan to enjoy another week off from school. 

FOUR Days Until Christmas

I used to be the girl who started her Christmas shopping in September, baked goodies the week before Christmas and had all her wrapping done when the tree went up so it would look even prettier.

I don't know that girl anymore.

This year I, without consciously meaning to, decided to wait until after I took a (December) vacation to begin.  What I didn't count on was my kids getting sick and throwing a wrench into my plans. 

Emma started getting sick Saturday night right before her recital.  I missed church on Sunday and had her home with me Monday and Tuesday (my last-minute-frantic-shopping-with-no-kids-days). 

Then, just as expected, Olivia came home sick yesterday.

And boy, oh boy, is she some kind of patient.

She came in the door from school walking like she could barely put one foot in front of the other, wearing her most pitiful sick face ever and went straight to her drawing board to write us all a note ....

I love the 'From:  Sick Olivia'

Don't ever think this is not a house of DRAMA.

All I can do at this point is laugh.

Rita offered to finish my shopping for me.  The only problem is I still have no idea what I'm getting some people so I need to actually shop.

Everything will get done, I'm sure.

I think Eric will be glad when I can get out of the house too.  I keep dreaming up odd things for him to do. 

With the light shining on the nativity outside, I saw how dirty my windows were.  Eric humored me and went outside to help me wash them. 

Actually, he went outside while I decided to take pictures of him.

This last picture cracks me up.  He was trying to make me laugh.

It worked.

He gets off work early today and then I'm out of here ;)

A Dream Vacation - Part Two

Part One is here.

Warning ... the post contains a lot of pictures!

We spent the second full day at sea.  Very rocky seas.  Rita and I got up early to run around the track .... on the 12th floor .... in the wind that was evidently making the seas rough. 

It wasn't the smartest thing we've ever done :)

The pools and waterslides were closed because it was just too rough, so we spent the day just hanging out on deck.  We were told we would arrive in St. Thomas late the next morning because of the weather, but to our surprise, we woke up Tuesday morning and realized we were approaching land.  We all hurried to the top deck to see us approaching St. Thomas.

It was beautiful!

The boat came to escort us into port.

The girls got tired of waiting to get off the ship .....

.... so they rode the waterslides to pass the time.

Then, it was time for St. Thomas! We were a tad excited about getting off the ship :)

We quickly caught a bus? thingy to take us to Magen's Bay.  A very fast open bus.  I spotted some scripture and felt at ease.

I decided these were prayers you can focus on while they are driving.  You need them - ha! 

Waving goodbye for a few hours to our home on the sea :)

On our way to Magen's Bay ....

We made it!

I think we enjoyed this day the most because we could relax and enjoy the water.  The water was so calm .... like a lake .... and the girls could swim and play without us worrying about them.

Some of my favorite pictures from the beach ...

These little guys were running free on the beach. 

Yes .... creepy.

Sadly, it was time to leave and head back to the ship.

 Looking down on Magen's Bay ...

We got back on the ship in time for dinner.  This is when I made a comment that I was having trouble seeing my salad.  I kept saying it was a 'little blurry'.  What I didn't know then is the patch for motion sickness I was wearing was blurring my vision.  It only got worse and by the end of the cruise, I could hardly see anything in front of me.  What started out as funny became annoying and scary. 

But, thankfully, when we pulled away from St. Thomas, the ocean was calm.  It was actually pleasant to be on the ship.  I slept like a baby that night.  Which was a blessing because the next day, we would be in St. Maarten/St. Martin.

More to come ...