Christmas 2011

For Christmas this year we got to stay home (mainly b/c the Army said we couldn't leave our home) and it was not to bad. Our chapel did a Christmas Eve service and I volunteered Jon to be in a play. I don't recommend doing that unless you are ready to participate yourself as they turned the tables on me and said they thought Joseph and Mary should be a married couple so they could practice their lines at home. So Molly and Riley got to hang out with the Long family during most of the service as we prepared and participated in the play Joseph doubted. Jon did get Molly towards the middle of the service. And as he was supposed to be helping light the candles for the candle lite portion she let him know she needed to use the restroom so he ran her out to the bathroom, came in and lite the first few rows and then ran back out to get her. I was in charge of the lights and thought maybe he had dropped Molly off with Riley and Ch. Long who were out in the hallway eating all the Christmas cookies until he told me the story afterwards:) We had a dessert party after chapel at a friends house and I told Molly if she ate her dinner of pizza she could eat as many cookies as she wanted. I guess when you give a kid that kind of freedom they don't know what to do because she just kept begging for an apple and didn't eat any cookies - if only I could take after her:)
Christmas day we slept in, ate monkey bread, finished our Jesse Advent Tree, read the Christmas story and opened presents and ate some more! Molly loved everything and was in toy overload trying to figure out how to play with it all. The funniest reaction was to buzz lightyear that she got from her cousin. She really likes Toy story and Buzz is her favorite character and kept saying she wanted one so when her young boy cousin drew her name I recommended that and it was pretty funny!! Riley loved all her toys and enjoys playing with them when Molly doesn't walk off with them. She got a few stuffed animals. One was LeapFrog's Scout dog who you can personalize and she loves that he talks to her - she gives him lots of hugs and kisses until of course Molly grabs him and moves him! Jon got the ever exciting boots and head light from me but at least he still got me an awesome present - a Kitchen Aide mixer!!! In the afternoon we took a walk to the park and played for awhile then came home for some french dip sandwiches and both girls were so tired from no naps and an exciting day that they went to bed at 6:45!!
The day after Christmas we took Molly to Barnes and Noble to play with the train table and then went to our friends the Morken's for a post Christmas party - which had the most amazing finger food!!!! Queso! Hummus! Buffalo chicken dip! Bacon, ranch, chicken pizza!! Cayenne candied bacon!!!! Needless to say I enjoyed the food and so did everyone else:) Afterwards we went to see the Fireantz hockey game with the 3 BDE UMT. We tried to explain it to Molly but in the end she thought we were going to see princess hockey. The game was a little rough - no fights and the other team was leading 6 -1 when we left at 10pm.
Now for the fun part - PICTURES! Please note Molly is in many outfits b/c she feels the need to change ALL THE TIME.
Molly getting to open her Christmas eve present - A set of bears you get to dress up!!! Their first outfit of choice is pj's and then whatever else she can find.
So I threw together Riley's Christmas pj's on Christmas eve and then threw them over the ones she already had on.
Molly drinking her "coffee" or hot chocolate but she thinks all hot drinks are coffee.
Riley with her dino popper a much more enjoyable toy when Molly isn't around to turn it off and on over and over.
Molly surrounded by Christmas present explosion - Jon was trying to clean up.
Jon and Riley enjoying a moment with Scout.
Riley and her stocking - she got some stacking cups that will be great for our road trip!
Walking to the park - Rapunzel had to make the trip and her long hair is going to be fun to say the least!
Riley cheering on the FireAntz!
Molly wondering where the princess are.
Group shot.

Xmas lights

First I need to publicly apologize to my secretary - the camera was found in the carrier tonight. I guess I have not taken a hike since Nov and it has stayed buried away for the past month with me not believing that its whereabouts were not hidden by my faithful helper.

Tonight we dressed up in our Christmas PJ's (Riley is wearing Molly's from last year b/c I got lazy and never finished hers) and went to what I thought would be a drive through Festival of Lights. After driving 1 hour we pulled up and noticed lots of people out of their cars and then no way for a car to drive through the lights. That is when I realized it was not a drive through!! The reason it is free is because you park your car then have to get out and go pay to ride their train through the light show. I stood in line to buy the tickets and after a few minutes Jon came back and pointed to the line that had at least 200 people in it and said at 8pm do we want to wait for all those people with Molly and Riley?? So we skipped the train, carousel and santa and went straight to the candy! Molly got a pack of m&m's and was happy - with a promise of course to go see the trains at Barnes and Nobles tomorrow and ride the carousel at the mall instead of waiting in the crazy lines.

Yes this is what we left the house in
All the girls had pigtails - only slightly embarrassing when getting out of the car. Of course Molly had to pee really bad and we didn't know where the port-o-jon's were so we busted out our training toilet next to the van to complete the redneck look!
Jon lucked out since I didn't ask him to wear his pj's - I think it would have been a lot more embarrassing if he had them on (for all of us)!!

Blog by pictures

You might have noticed a shortage of posts recently. Well the camera has disappeared - my secretary likes to move things when I leave them on the computer table. She has yet to be able to communicate where she placed it, or I might have lost it on my own but I really think my secretary moved it since it isn't anywhere I normally put it. That being said I realized yesterday there were no December posts even though we have done some fun things and I realized that I blog by pictures - kind of like paint by numbers. Without pictures I have no motivation to write things b/c really I love looking at pictures and the stories that go with them.
However each year we print out our blog into a hardback book so for future reference I am going to do a timeline just so I can look back in 10 years and laugh:) If you are like me at this point you might get bored and decide to look for another blog on the sidebar that is more interesting - I give you full permission!!
*I got to go the Dr. and hear the heartbeat and baby #3
*Riley went to the Dr. and hadn't gained any weight - after a consult with Dr. DeLeon my college roommate to verify what the other Dr. tried to say we started doing everything we could to plump her up b/c if you don't gain weight, you don't grow tall and then your brain gets effected so say the experts. 2 weeks later at a follow-up Riley had gained 2 lbs and grown 1/2 inch we are now back to a normal diet and not a super fat diet. But I am thankful to get to consult a friend who I trust (I know all doctors care but there is something about actually knowing this person and seeing their kids that make them a bit more trustworthy)
*Molly has had tons of playdates with her friends - right now there is a group of us who get along and all like to try and make things. So we get together and hang out and get ideas from each other like making shirt dresses which I am still working myself up to. Each of us has a 2 yr old and then we all have at least 1 more who is older/younger so they all get along!! The last one was at Monkey Joes and for 2 hours straight they jumped and laughed and let the moms mostly alone:)
*We went to Charlotte for a Single Soldier Strong Bond Retreat. Jon got to teach them on being men of character. On the last day they took a field trip to a cemetery and Jon said it was a really great time. The girls and I came with him, we would stay for the first few minutes when they would play minute to win it games and watch a Tim Hawkins clip and then we would go to the pool where Molly made a friend who met us there 2 other times. We loved getting the best of all worlds - getting to see Jon but also giving him some time to hang out with his soldiers while Molly and was playing in the pool. I also hear he did an exercise where he tore into one of the soldiers (which was staged) and they both responded badly and he ended up kicking the guy out. Right as he had 2 other soldiers kick him out of the room he let everyone know it was staged and they discussed how both parties had acted poorly but in the end you are only responsible for your response. They talked about responding when the people in leadership over you are unfair and how to respond when you are the leader with a subordinate acting poorly.
*Tomorrow we have Christmas eve service and I learned my lesson. I volunteered Jon to be part of a play for the service and they said right after that wouldn't it be great if Joseph and Mary where a married couple so they could practice their lines at home - so we are now both in the play.

For Christmas we might be shopping for a new camera if I can't find it by tonight!!! Luckily we have some Christmas money for such a thing:)