I got the EXTREME pleasure to see one of our old friends from Kodiak. Yeah, I hadn't seen him since we left Kodiak.....over 21 years ago! This is Dewey and me. We only had enough time to hug, click a couple of pics then off he went again. But, he lives in NC, so we'll get to see him again. I hope to make it out to see him next time, since I wanna see the southern states! You can tell this has been a while ago. I'm still in shorts! I miss my shorts.
We had a wonderful Thanksgiving.....just the 3 of us. Anisa hadn't returned from Italy so it was Travis, Sara and me. We did the whole meal..turkey, taters, rolls, salad, apple pie, green beans, corn, stuffing...you know, the usual. It was really yummy. Then, we had company! My Aunt Joann and cousin April came down from NY. Joann was out visiting April from CA. When we asked her what she REALLY wanted to see in DC, she said the Lincoln Memorial and a museum. Well, we showed her a good time. Got her to the Lincoln Memorial, the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, the Library of Congress, the Capital, the National Cathedral and Ben's Chili Bowl. All in 3 days! Here are some highlights....
The WSHS Dance Team has entered 2 competitions with their new Nationals (in the works) routine. They were in the American University competition and the George Mason U competition. Both times they places first in their division AND got best choreography. At American, we had several dancers do solos. Sara was one of them and (unfortunately) came in 11th place. She was disappointed, but happy that she did so well and that her friends, and family loved her routine. There were a couple of 2nd places and a 1st place in the solos on our team and even one of our guys got best choreo! :) Here is Sara, but I can't post pics of the team....YET! :)
For my birthday, I got to spend it with some very dear friends who happen to share the same day and weekend. This is Vernon who turned 60 (we share the same birthday) and Jan who turned 29 again.... Actually, I hope she doesn't mind that I say she's 50 now. She looks great and has been a really great pal for a long time. She happens to be Travis' BFF's wife (you all know Larry). :) Anyway, we had a super great time, eating, drinking some good home brew and enjoying a bonfire and friends. And, since I posted Jan's age, I'll post mine....I turned 44 this year! :)
On the 16th of Dec. it snowed for the first time this winter. We got a couple of inches. Not a lot, definitely not enough to close town for weeks (like last year), but enough to be pretty and make me shovel. Here is my precious little Baby and my Traily out in the snow. So, some of you were shocked to see on FB that Baby is outside. Unfortunately, since Traily is in the driveway, we can only fit one car into the garage. Chuck happens to be the lucky one since we really use the Van and Foxy girl. This was also a VERY SAD day. Our little Hammy hamster girl went to Heaven this night. We took her out to run and she could barely walk. We knew it wasn't looking good. The good thing is that we think she just basically went into her little igloo and fell asleep and never woke up. The bad thing was that it was just days before Anisa got home. She was pretty devastated to find out (we didn't tell her until we got her home) but is ok now. Still sad, but recovered.
The dance team had their annual Christmas Party. This was on the day that Anisa actually came home. I was excited to have something to keep my busy all day. I made my famous (in my own mind) rainbow tater salad (I use baby reds, baby yukon golds and baby purple potatoes from Trader Joes). Unfortunately for me, I put the batch into my old faithful HUGE tupperware bowl that I've had since we got married. Somehow during the evening it got pushed too close to a candle and it caught on fire. dang. But that added some excitement to the evening.
We were a little worried about the snow with Anisa's pending trip home coming up. But, she made it home and is now talking about going back to Italy. EVERY SINGLE DAY we hear about Italy and how they have this or that in Italy. "in Italy, we do it this way". "in Italy, the people drive better". "in Italy, the food is better"....ugh! Oh well. I hope she does get to go back since I know she loved it SO MUCH. And it's such a great experience to live in a different culture. We were very happy to have our baby back on this side of the pond. She's still getting settled in, and I threw here into the settling in part real quick...
A good friend of mine (a fellow dance mom) has a basket making business. Talk of the Town Gifts. She is also a single mom with ANOTHER full-time job. She is crazy, but that's how I like my friends. She asked if I could help for the Christmas rush. Heck yes! Help a friend out AND get paid...I am SO.THERE! And, Anisa even worked the day after she got back! Anyway, for the most part, I delivered, but they did teach me to wrap and make the gift baskets, and make bows, too. Here are us chicks after we had finished making, wrapping and bow-ing about 50 of the 155 baskets.
Then we had to deliver these things...so, we loaded up Baby and Foxy with all the silver baskets along with 4 card tables (DO NOT TRY THIS WITH ANY OTHER VEHICLE...ONLY AEROSTARS CAN DO THIS! :) heehee) and off we went into DC, Alexandria, Arlington and even Georgetown. I enjoyed the delivery part because you get to see the reactions of the people who ordered. It's no wonder Tammy has a successful business. :) She hires GREAT people (heehee) with awesome vans (figured I'd throw that in again). :)
CHRISTMAS! This year it kinda snuck up on us with all the excitement from Anisa's return. We STILL haven't taken a Christmas picture and since we have no picture, there are no Christmas cards....but we will get SOMETHING out soon. We got our tree one cold blustery night at Home Depot! ha Actually, we got it on the 20th. I got lights on it the next day and Sara and I put a few ornaments on it. But, it looks good. We even hit a friend's Christmas open house on Christmas Eve. Here are the girls eating Spray Whipping Cream with Sara's friend, Jordan.
The stinky thing is that Travis has been sick for the last week or so (and as I type today, is still hacking up a lung). It was nice to have a holiday for him to be home and chilll. :) Anisa got her Kitchen-aid and Sara got her boots and candles. They both got ipod speakers plus a few little items. The family got Wii fit and we actually spent most of the day playing as a family. It was GREAT!! and hilarious. We laughed so much. :)
Yesterday, the girls and I went shopping for the deals for After Christmas. Not a lot of good sales, but the girls did manage to spend a little of their Christmas money and we got to see my friend, Rhonda, for a bit. And a lunch at Olive Garden topped it off. Oh, and a celebrity sighting! Here's Sara with Justin Bieber. hahahahaha
That has been my past few weeks. CRAZY, but good. Today we're hoping the house doesn't blow away. We're in the middle of that crazy storm you all can see on the news. We got a bit of snow yesterday, but it was so little and dry, that today with all the wind, it's blown away. We're planning to hit Ben's Chili Bowl with Sammi (a friend from the UK), Kayley (his girlfriend and a good friend of Anisa's from Sturgeon Bay) and Anand (Sammi's best friend and a friend of Anisa's from here). Oh, and Kayley has requested a trip to Georgetown cupcakes...the place they film DC Cupcakes. Then, for New Years, the girls and I are heading to TIMES SQUARE! Yes, we're going to make thousands of new friends in the freezing cold, but it's gonna be so cool. I want to do it at least once while we live on the east coast. I'll update next week with pics from that trip. For now, I'll leave you with some Italy and Paris pics that I stole from Anisa and her friends. :)
Anisa at the Eiffel Tower. A few of her friends went to Paris for a long weekend. They had a BLAST. Of course, Anisa wants to go back there, too. She loved everything about Europe. I told her, come home, finish school (she'll have her AA in March) and get a job over there and GO! We'll see what happens....
Anisa on Thanksgiving in Orvieto. They made a feast at Zeppelin. Everyone had a great time. Anisa made sweet rolls and was HAPPY they turned out yummy. :)I'm happy that my girl has turned into such a beautiful young woman...inside and out! :) Ok, Sara too, but she's still in her dumb teenage years. I'm sure it will be better soon! :)
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