merry christmas and happy new year!

NYC

Well, my blog has been a bit quiet for the past week or so due to getting ready, going, and coming back from a trip up to New York City! Instead of describing everything here and having to choose a few photos to upload...if you want to hear all about my trip, I will post two links to the photo albums on my facebook page for you to scroll through. And once you start...don't stop till you've looked through both albums! You won't want to miss my Most Fabulous Experience in the second album! ;)

Here's the first one:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=195260&l=81aa9&id=729430647

And here's the second one:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=195283&l=068a1&id=729430647

tree party

A few years ago, I lived and taught out above Nashville, TN for a year. I didn't make many friends that year and spent a very large portion of that year alone. It was good in some ways and way lonely in others! I discovered that the absolute lonliest thing to do was to decorate the little 3ft tall fake Christmas tree I bought for my little apartment. I put on Christmas music and even splurged on a little bottle of sparkling cider...but it was just not the same! So ever since then, I have made sure to have friends over when decorating my tree! This past Sunday I had a tree decorating party and put up two big trees - one in the living room and one in my bedroom.

My friend, Leah, and I have known eachother since the beginning of elementary school. We were in the same second grade class together and then ended up at the same college! Just in the past year we have really reconnected and gotten together quite a few times. Here, she is helping me "fluff" my tree. :)

Leah is an awesome cake lady and made this adorable ornament cake for the occasion! It was beautiful and she did it all free-handed and totally just from the pictures in her head! :) It was very yummy too - chocolate mint! :)

Shannon, Dave, and Jonathan came for a little while. Somehow they left before I could get a picture of all three of them. But of course I got plenty of Jonathan! :) He very much enjoyed Aunt Kiki's beads.

He also enjoyed helping Aunt Kiki decorate the tree. He set this roll of ribbon on the tree and was very proud of himself. :)




After decorating two trees (you'll see them in just a minute...), we played the game Compatibility. I love this game, even though (as you can see here. I was the blue guy.), I almost always lose! :}







My friend Eric... and Michael being his usual goofy self.... :}

Leah, who is 35 weeks pregnant, discovered a new trick while sitting in the rocking chair that my mom rocked me in as a baby! :) It works as long as baby Aiden doesn't kick the cup off her belly! Ha! :}

Leah and her husband, Ben. Ben also went to college with us, but I didn't ever really get to know him until the past few months. The more I hang out with him, the more I like him. :) He is so sweet and gentle and is going to make an awesome daddy here in another month or so!

My best friend of twenty five years. Yikes. Makes me feel old! :}

Ok, Mrs. T., this picture is for you! :) I ran across an old email from you the other day mentioning that you would like to see my red couch. I had totally forgotten about it and so after the trees were decorated, I took this picture specifically for you to see. :) Oh, and I did not put the beads across my wall...a couple of the guys did that when I wasn't looking.... :)

My Webkinz tree! :) I knew all those little animals would come in handy somehow! :) This is my fun, colorful, cheerful tree.

This is the tree in my bedroom. It is more formal and I love it. I actually like white lights better and I love all the blue, white, and silver on it. :)

It was such a fun evening! I love having bunches of people around! :) Now, if only I could have a "tree UNdecorating party"...! :}

close to home

Events around the world always seem so far away - even events in our own country - until there is a sudden connection that makes it more real and hits more close to home.

The past few days have been filled with attacks in Mumbai, India. I'm sure you have heard all the details on the news each day of the hostages killed and injured. Tonight they say they have shot the last of the gunmen.

Yesterday I found the connection to bring this terrible situation closer. Growing up, I had the privelege of taking piano lessons for 12 years from a wonderful lady in OR. Her name is Celeste Varagona. Evidentally, one of her daughters, Andrea, was over in India on a business trip and was eating dinner in the Taj hotel when the attacks began. She was shot twice, once in the arm and once in the leg, and had to crawl to safety in the kitchen of the hotel. Once there, she was hiding behind a door when other hotel workers saw granades being thrown in the kitchen. They helped carry her out and somehow quickly got her in a cab. As the cab was driving away, the kitchen she had just been hiding in, blew up. She was in critical condition at a hospital in India and evidentally is doing much better tonight, thankfully.

If you think of it, please pray for Andrea while she recovers and for Celeste while she waits for Andrea to be able to return home. I know I often pray for people in situations like this, but somehow I remember to pray more when I know the personal story of someone and have a name to pray for.

Here is a link to the FoxNews phone interview with Celeste:
http://www.foxnews.com/video/index.html?playerId=videolandingpage&streamingFormat=FLASH&referralObject=3226655&referralPlaylistId=playlist

happy thanksgiving! :)

Well, I have found what I believe is now my favorite recipe for great finger paint! Take approximately 1/4 cup elmer's glue (or other white glue) and add one packet Kool-Aid powder. Stir and voila! Finger paint!! It is cheap to make, the Kool-Aid makes such bright and vibrant colors, dries nice and shiny, and smells great! I did accidentally grab the "cheap brand" lemonade packet and if I had been going for pastel colors, the cheaper store brand would have worked great but I had to add quite a bit of yellow food coloring to make it as bright as the rest.

Making Thanksgiving cards for parents and grandparents.

TaDa! So many turkeys! :)

Today we learned about the clothing that Native American Indians wore. So we of course had to try out a few things - braids in the girls hair, "bead" necklaces, and of course, feathers on our heads!

And of course we had to try out sounding like Indian warriors! :)

Happy Thanksgiving Y'all!

a long-awaited day

Ever since my oldest saw the first leaf hint at the thought of changing color, she has talked every time we play outside (which is often!) about how she wanted to rake a huge pile of leaves and jump in like we did last year. I told her that when the tree you see a bit of in the first picture below turned mostly yellow, that would mean there would be enough leaves on the ground to make a pile. Well, last weekend I realized the tree had finally turned mostly yellow and there were more than enough leaves on the driveway to make a pile, so Monday was the Big Day! :) Thankfully the weather was beautiful on Monday since the rest of the week has been cloudy and rainy!

Sooo excited and ready to jump in! The baby was excited too but had just woken up from his nap and wasn't quite ready to smile yet.... :)

1...2...3...JUMP!!!

The experience was everything they were hoping it would be!

This is a picture we have taken every year...and this year the baby got to join the girls up in the tree. As you can see, our tree has a face and the girls have named him Melvin. :)

disney on ice: disneyland adventure

Last Friday, we had the special treat of getting to go to a Disney on Ice show in the evening. We went with Lauren and her mom and sister, and sat with their best friends. The kids LOVED the show and were thoroughly into the story as though it were real. It was just so fun to see how excited and involved they got. :) Here are a few of the highlights...

My oldest sat amazed at all the ice skaters - especially when the Disney princesses came out!

My middle child completely believed everything that was happening!

My baby clapped and cheered for everyone.

The plot line of the story was a family of five was going on a vacation to Disneyland. They went on many of the familiar rides - inluding the teacups, the haunted house (mommy's favorite, definitely not the baby's favorite! :), pirates of the carabean, etc.

Then, a bad guy came (don't remember his name...) and kidnapped Mickey and Minnie mouse!

At about this point, there was an intermission. My middle child asked if it was the end and I informed her that the ice skaters had worked so hard that they just needed a short break to rest. A minute later she looked at me and said,"But, Kiki, Mickey and Minnie are NOT resting!" I said, "Oh, they're not? Why not?" To which she replied, "Because! That bad guy took them!"

The family, of course, turned out to be the Incredibles, who then hurried to save the day!




This is Lauren's best friend's little sister, Reese. She was VERY worried about Mickey and Minnie and this was her expression as soon as the Incredibles set them free. :)

Yay! Free again! And just in time for the Disney parade. :)

The Disney castle, all in lights.

Lauren and her best friend, Kelsey...and two princess sno cones. :)

Reese and Lauren's mom, Catrina.

Lauren and two of her favorite babies. She's just like me in so many ways - including almost always having a baby on her hip! :}

My girls with Reegan (Lauren's sister), and Reese. I think it is safe to say that everyone had a blast! :)