It's the last day of 2011, and I have yet to post any pics or stories from Christmas. Hopefully I can get to that tomorrow, but I didn't want to end the year without a little reflection.
2011 was a year of growth for me. It has been a year of big decisions and milestones. Thankfully, it was a year of health and togetherness with family. Rebecca started preschool and turned four years old. I got the job that I had been waiting on for more than a year, then decided that it wasn't what was best for our family. I went from volunteering at Casa Colina to gain hours towards licensure to a part time job to a full time job to a permanent position and raise. I passed my licensure exams and got my psychologist license. Ramy left the land of felony trials and began as a supervisor. We put our first home on the market and fell in love with a new home in a new city. Rebecca finally stopped sleeping in our bed! Grammy spent all the holidays with us. For the first time in my life, I didn't have Christmas in Tennessee.
2011 was a good year for me and for our family. There were a few tears but far more laughter. God has blessed us tremendously and we are grateful. Tomorrow brings a new year, and I pray that it will be a joyful, healthy, loving one.
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Waiting on Snowy
Snowy, our Elf on the Shelf, has really been mischievous this year. He has been getting into all kinds of things! Rebecca loves to race around the house each morning to discover where Snowy is and what he has gotten into overnight.
One night recently, Ramy made Rebecca a promise that they could stay up all night and try to catch Snowy leaving to go back to the North Pole. So they camped out in Rebecca's play room (because Snowy had been hiding on the plantation blinds in her room that day). Ramy ended up falling asleep about an hour into the night watch, but Rebecca made it at least another 45 minutes after he did. I came in to check on them and found that Snowy was already gone and they were asleep! I woke them up to see if they had seen him leave, but he was too sneaky for them! That sneaky Snowy waited until they were asleep, and then he was off to the North Pole!
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Christmas Program
Thursday night was Rebecca's Christmas program at her preschool. I will be posting clips from the video so check back to see all of them as I add them.
Thanksgiving 2011
Yeah, I am really behind in doing some actual posts, rather than little snippets on ToT. And pictures! Where have the pictures been? I have no idea. But here's to trying to improve on those things.
We started the morning with a leisurely french toast casserole while we watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. Afterwards, we watched the dog show while we cooked. This was our first Thanksgiving in the new house, and it was such a pleasure to cook in my new kitchen! There was plenty of room to have different projects underway in various places on the countertops, while also having someone (my mom!) cleaning without us tripping over each other.
Rebecca was a tremendous help in making the decorations. She began her projects a couple of weeks before Thanksgiving and had quite an assortment of things. She made little turkey art projects with craft foamboard and feathers and googly eyes, which we made into place cards. Rebecca added her collection of tiny pumpkins to the dining room table also.
I had twig pumpkins that I had planned to use for centerpieces, but that was just not fancy enough for Rebecca. For the table where we had the food, she added a handprint turkey she did on a spare piece of cardboard. Probably two weeks before Thanksgiving, she folded paper napkins into triangles and then glued them into place with a glue stick. This was very fancy indeed. As she set her tablescape, she added a stuffed bird and a baby Jesus Christmas tree ornament. This completed her look and she was quite pleased.
Rebecca also helped me make another centerpiece for the main table from flowers and herbs we bought at the farmers market in my fairytale pumpkin. She only would not participate in the cutting of the pumpking, "because that stuff inside is GROSS!" I thought it turned out really nicely, compared to the similar one they had at Costco for $40.
Not everyone in our household was as helpful.
Just kidding. Ramy took out the trash regularly and didn't ask too many questions. Actually, Ramy did the nicest thing by befriending our neighborhood security guard who was on duty and has to make rounds of all the building construction sites every 2 hours. He's a nice Filipino man whose wife is still in the Philippines. So he was both alone and working on Thanksgiving, until Ramy convinced him to join us for Thanksgiving dinner. We were pleased to have our new friend Rod with us for dinner.
Myrna, Ed, and Jessica came by for appetizers on their way to their other-side-of-the-family obligations. We had cheese straws and sausage balls as appetizers.
Then Grandma and Auntie Theresa came over and Rebecca entertained them while we finished up preparing for the meal. We had turkey breast, honeybaked ham, cornbread dressing, hashbrown casserole, creamed corn, macaroni and cheese, and homemade rolls. Dessert included pumpkin pie, chocolate pie, and vanilla bean pound cake.
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Ten on Tuesday
1. December is moving way too quickly! I think I've actually gotten less Christmas shopping done to this point than ever before. It is 19 days until Christmas! I have so much to do! We have almost no free nights left between now and Christmas. I think tomorrow night and maybe one random Thursday night, but that's it until 2012.
2. On Friday, we went to tour Western Christian School, which is a school that we are considering for Rebecca. It was a lovely school, and we felt really good about the possibility of sending her there. We will consider a few others, and she will have to do entrance testing in the spring, and we also have to do an interview (that could kill it right there!), but we will put it in God's hands to see where He wants her to attend school.
3. Kindergarten is not the same as it was when we were in school. My child is bright, but after hearing about their expectations, I have to admit that I engaged in a bit of quizzing to see how much she knew. I think the only things we may be "behind" on are that she doesn't have our address memorized and she doesn't know our telephone number. Cut the kid some slack though, we just moved a few months ago, and the post office and Google Maps don't even know our correct address! Plus, what exactly is her phone number? Our home number? A lot of good it will do for her to know that one! I would much rather her know my cell phone number, which could actually be useful if she needs to tell someone how to call us. And Ramy doesn't even have that memorized. Otherwise, she is good to go.
4. Today, Rebecca won the "Angel of the Day" award for spreading joy. Oh, how she is indeed a joy-bringer!
5. Thursday night is her Christmas program at preschool. She is an angel and has a line and lots of songs. They said they should wear their "Sunday best." Was that a challenge or what?
6. Last weekend, Rebecca told me that she and two of her friends (Zanya and Ireland) like to swing on the tire swing and make up songs. They made up a song about heaven, which they sang quite loudly. Rebecca explained that that was how they praised God. She went on to tell us how, when she and Ireland and Zanya were swinging and praising God, the sun shone brighter.
7. A bit of fashion advice: Faux fur vests are currently trendy, wearable by most body types, and of the sort that can be dressed up for work or down for casual. I bought into this trend. Today I wore my faux fur vest to work. However, I made the mistake of wearing it with black. Hence, I looked like I had spent the night curled up with a Great Pyrenees. I was also told that it reminded them of Cruella de Ville. I took that as a compliment.
8. Speaking of fashion, Ramy and I will be attending the Casa Colina Holiday Party at the Fairplex this Saturday night. It is a command performance. However, I hear that there is an open bar and a lot of prizes that are given away, so we'll see what happens. By the way, "open bar" is really not a big draw for me. In fact, I will be avoiding it completely. I consume alcohol approximately once every 18 months, and libation causes lowered inhibition, which is the last thing that needs to be going on at a work function. Loose lips sink ships.
9. I have spent a lot of time considering what to wear to said Christmas party. It has resulted in the purchase (and return) of a skirt outfit and three dresses, all of which are in some shade of black. We will see what I will ultimately end up wearing probably around 5:45 p.m. on Saturday evening.
10. I may have found the most delicious pair of tall black leather boots that fit and do not bag at the ankles. And I may be getting them for Christmas.
2. On Friday, we went to tour Western Christian School, which is a school that we are considering for Rebecca. It was a lovely school, and we felt really good about the possibility of sending her there. We will consider a few others, and she will have to do entrance testing in the spring, and we also have to do an interview (that could kill it right there!), but we will put it in God's hands to see where He wants her to attend school.
3. Kindergarten is not the same as it was when we were in school. My child is bright, but after hearing about their expectations, I have to admit that I engaged in a bit of quizzing to see how much she knew. I think the only things we may be "behind" on are that she doesn't have our address memorized and she doesn't know our telephone number. Cut the kid some slack though, we just moved a few months ago, and the post office and Google Maps don't even know our correct address! Plus, what exactly is her phone number? Our home number? A lot of good it will do for her to know that one! I would much rather her know my cell phone number, which could actually be useful if she needs to tell someone how to call us. And Ramy doesn't even have that memorized. Otherwise, she is good to go.
4. Today, Rebecca won the "Angel of the Day" award for spreading joy. Oh, how she is indeed a joy-bringer!
5. Thursday night is her Christmas program at preschool. She is an angel and has a line and lots of songs. They said they should wear their "Sunday best." Was that a challenge or what?
6. Last weekend, Rebecca told me that she and two of her friends (Zanya and Ireland) like to swing on the tire swing and make up songs. They made up a song about heaven, which they sang quite loudly. Rebecca explained that that was how they praised God. She went on to tell us how, when she and Ireland and Zanya were swinging and praising God, the sun shone brighter.
7. A bit of fashion advice: Faux fur vests are currently trendy, wearable by most body types, and of the sort that can be dressed up for work or down for casual. I bought into this trend. Today I wore my faux fur vest to work. However, I made the mistake of wearing it with black. Hence, I looked like I had spent the night curled up with a Great Pyrenees. I was also told that it reminded them of Cruella de Ville. I took that as a compliment.
8. Speaking of fashion, Ramy and I will be attending the Casa Colina Holiday Party at the Fairplex this Saturday night. It is a command performance. However, I hear that there is an open bar and a lot of prizes that are given away, so we'll see what happens. By the way, "open bar" is really not a big draw for me. In fact, I will be avoiding it completely. I consume alcohol approximately once every 18 months, and libation causes lowered inhibition, which is the last thing that needs to be going on at a work function. Loose lips sink ships.
9. I have spent a lot of time considering what to wear to said Christmas party. It has resulted in the purchase (and return) of a skirt outfit and three dresses, all of which are in some shade of black. We will see what I will ultimately end up wearing probably around 5:45 p.m. on Saturday evening.
10. I may have found the most delicious pair of tall black leather boots that fit and do not bag at the ankles. And I may be getting them for Christmas.
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