Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Jades Birthday Sleepover.

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We had to do Jades birthday a week early this year coz there was a lot happening the weekend of her birthday. She actually asked to not have a huge party this year but have a sleepover with her two best friends Lauren and Delaney (which sadly has just moved out of our neighborhood and next year will also be in a different school :-( ).

So what we did is they came over on the Saturday afternoon and I took the three girls to go watch a movie, then we did dinner and then we went off to the ice rink for a night time free ice session with a cool music, disco ball in the dark and all, it was actually really nice there. Also they have a bar / eating area upstairs where you can sit up high and watch the girls. They had a ball.

After the first round of really bad blisters we upsized our skates and then we were good to go for the night. It ended at 10 then we came home and the girls all showered and I surprised Jade with these cool BFF PJ's that I bought all three girls :-) it was their party favor too. They lay in bed and watched movies till they fell asleep, it was a good day.

Their parents came to get them around 12ish the next day, it was a nice weekend, will have those girls over here anytime.



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Growing Jades Fringe Out For Cheer ...

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Jade is the only girl in her cheer squad with a fringe and for competitions it needs to be tied back so ... we decided it's time to grow it out !!! Horrible thing to have to do but when it's tied back like in this pic it looks cute but after running around a whole bunch, what a mess but oh well we will have to work through this phase.

It makes her look so much older don't you think ?



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Ambers Fall Down The Wooden Stairs !!!

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While we were doing all our decorating, Amber took a nice tumble down our wooden stairs which she NEVER comes down but the doorbell rang and Jade ran down them and Amber ran after her, oh my gosh it was a loud and hard tumble and her little head was black and blue in no time. Then Monday she went to preschool and fell on the playground and just extended the bump that it was almost her entire forehead that was blue, my Smurfy Girl I called her, she didn't like that. Poor thing.



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Wow ... Am I Really This Far Behind Again ???

I am so sorry ... seems I have let things get away from me again and Dave said this weekend that there were NO CHRISTMAS PICS at all online and when I doubted that I quickly went to look and saw he is right !!! So let me quickly try and add a few, first a whole bunch of the house from starting to put up the lights and doing other decorations through till Christmas Eve.

Dave will be happy to know that I have not bought anything new at the after Christmas sales so this will look about the same next year (hehehe) !!! I am sorry these pics are going to be a little all over the show date wise but I will try and make it easy to follow.



Dave putting up the outside lights with his new Christmas Present from me, his 40 foot ladder, it made for easy work this year, what usually takes him two days to do he did in half a day this year, amazing :-)



The final product ... good job Dave !!! We tried putting a bit of color on one of the trees but not sure we like it unless we put a lot more color into it and maybe some twinklers we will see.



The porch at night :-)



Some inside stuff ...

This was a new purchase at the Christmas Show this year, love it :-)



Changed up the banisters and the mantle a bit this year and even the color balls on the tree but somehow it all still looks the same ... we need a bigger tree like a 12 footer or something for it to look different :-) Here a are a few odds and ends before taking the night time pics of it all.

My center piece on my lounge table.



The new red name balls that I had made at the Christmas Show this year too.



Ok here we go ... the great reveal ... drum roll !!!



Lots of new color on the mantle and you can hardly tell the difference in these pics except for maybe the snowmen stocking which is new ... didn't send pics of all my new snowmen goodies I had all around the house, thought that would bore you all to death so send the bare minimum !!!



Here's a close up on some of the detailed changes on the mantle so you can see I actually do add a lot of shiny stuff up there which really by the pics you can hardly tell.





Hope that gives you a better idea :-) it really looked pretty but the photos did it no justice.

And one final one for this update ... Christmas Eve, what the kids would see when they got up in the morning :-)



MERRY BELATED PICS EVERYONE ... there are lots to add here but I just don't have the time now we are having friends arrive within the hour and they will be with us till Sunday so I won't probably do anything till then. Keep a lookout though and remember to scroll up and down ok :-)

Sunday, December 4, 2011

Thanksgiving & Black Friday ...

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I know I am adding lots of info here but not adding too many pics ... pics will come as December rolls along so hang in there.

In the meantime just wanted to tell you about our Thanksgiving and Black Friday.

This year we did the same as last year, we went to Wade and Darlenes house for Thanksgiving with a good many other families, not as many as lat year but still a lot. Everyone brings something to share from Hams and of course Turkeys to sides of all kind with potatoes of all kind ... way too much food as usual. Not to mention the dessert table, golly so many pies to choose from and cake and cheesecake and cookies ... wow, can't wait for Gigi to make it over here :-) This year I took baked candied yams and caramel cupcakes.

We left way earlier than last year coz this year Black Friday started early, I was at Walmart just after 8pm and even though you could only take the sale items through the cash register at 10pm and some items only got handed out at 10pm ... like electronics, people had been in line for ages. It was crazy they had garden chairs and their drinks and lunch and were just sitting up the aisles waiting for time to pass, totally crazy but I guess when you want something you stand in line for it as long as it takes, a good deal is a good deal on Black Friday for sure. I managed to get all that was on my list at Walmart no problem, took forever to fight the crowds at the checkout though. Anyway then onto Target where the doors only opened at midnight, it was cold outside but I only stood in line for about 30 odd minutes and then again managed to get all that was on my list and was home in bed just after 1am.

Of course I was now so awake I couldn't get to sleep, it was way after 2am when I last looked at the clock. Then I was up and in the stores again at 6am to get the last bit of my shopping done, it was a very good Black Friday for me this year, managed to get most things that were on everyones list. Dave just did Black Friday online, now where's the fun in that right ?

Missed you again this year Karen, that was the best, shopping with you that time of the morning. Now Gavin and Gigi, next year it's your turn.

I was home and done by 11am and got to relax the rest of the day :-) We had a nice long weekend, obviously most of it was taken up by putting up Christmas Decorations but that's fun for me anyway. Got Dave his 40 foot ladder this year for Christmas, yeah nice and early but it made it way easier for him to do the outside lights, will add those pics later.

Ok let me see what's next on my list.

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Friday, December 2, 2011

Kaleidoscope On Ice

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Ok so let me start at the very beginning ... how this all happened, I bumped into an old friend at Jades school one afternoon and it happened to be the afternoon Jade and I were going to the Disney On Ice Show and Jade mentioned it to Rhonda and she asked are we into ice skating and we both said well yes these shows are amazing. Anyway she works for a production company and they were presenting the Kaleidoscope On Ice later on in the year. This was a Cancer Fund Raiser and she said she would get Jade and I tickets and we went our separate ways and I thought that was that.

Anyway a couple of months later she said, I have two tickets for you and they are great seats, third row off the ice ... wow I was shocked coz this show had all the stars that I had only seen on Tv in it and couldn't wait to call Daves sister Tiana to tell her about it.

Well a week or two later Rhonda called me again saying she needed to give away tickets, seat fillers she called them, you see the show was being broadcasted on TV on Thanksgiving Day and apparently even though they made money from sales of seats their big money was made through advertising on TV during the show being aired so ove the next two or so weeks I helped her give away over 100 tickets, I could not promise people good seats but they were free :-) Most people were from the church I work at, the rest were neighbors and friends, so cool to be able to give tickets away and make people so happy :-)

Anyway on the day of the show, Jade and I did dinner together and then went off to the show, our seats really were fantastic, gosh !!! Anyway the funny thing is the show was so not what I expected, it was like we were the live audience which yeah we were but they instructed us when to applaud (hehehe) it was too funny, they told us what to do when.

Also as the stars skated and when one or two fell, they would finish their routines and then come back out minus the music and do the section where they fell again which obviously gets put together later to make a perfect skate for TV viewing. We watched Dorothy Hamill and Scott Hamilton who were the hosts mess up so many time and have to do stuff off, Scott is too funny, of course I knew he was but watching this behind the scenes taping was absolutely awesome and such an experience. It took very long though, the show got started almost an hour late coz they wanted as many seats to be filled before they stated recording so we waited and waited but got to watch Kurt Browning and Elvis Strojko mess around while warming up and also got to see some synchronised team do their thing too ... sorry Tiana, could not video this :-(

Jade obviously did not know these people but I tried to tell her how amazing they were and got a program for her to see what medals and competitions they had won, golly I was star struck for sure !!!

Anyway, I didn't want to lug the big camera in and my cellphone doesn't take great long distance pics but the photographer was right in front of us and I stole some of these pics that she posted online, only they are not obviously great quality pics but they give you the idea of what we saw. I also didn't have time to post all the pics so only the ones that were the greatest performers there that night :-)

Obviously this is Dorothy and Scott, both which are Cancer Survivors, not sure of her story but I was shocked at how unsteady she was on the ice at the end when they all went out on the ice, they broadcast from the side in shoes but at the end went on the ice with all the skaters, she almost fell, gosh.





This was when Kurt and Elvis were warming up and messing around, it was fun to see they both have such great sense of humors and they were challenging each other to do stuff, very funny but no back flips which I was sure we would see so Jade was disappointed about that.



Some Elvis pics, gosh he came up to the side right where we were and blew a kiss in my direction (hehehe) Jade said Mom ... that was for you, it was too funny and totally priceless.







Love, love, love Sasha on the ice but have always hated her attitude, she was such a show off that night too, actually was messing around so much in the finale with all the skaters out on the ice, she totally wiped out, felt bad for her but it was kinda funny.









Now my favorite but obviously he has to be, Paul Wylie, he runs a study at the church I work at and I have 'known' him for years since we have always watched his kids, he has such a great family and is such a good guy that it was great to see him in his element too :-) He has quite the fan base in Charlotte coz not only were there a bunch from us that work with him there but also he trains kids at a local rink, some of which skated that evening, inbetween stuff just to keep us occupied and these little girls and their families really made him the most popular of the skaters there that night.











And then Nancy which well I guess is just getting old, with the guys they get old but are still awesome performers and still do amazing jumps, Nancy was just old and pretty out of shape but she is just so nice that you can't help smile while she skates. Paul and her are good friends and I actually thought they would skate together as I had seen them do so before but they didn't.





And Kurt ... wow how old is this guy and the body he has on him, it's amazing, he lifted his top at the end of a routine and he is so ripped, gosh ... how old is he, I really have to go look. Probably the funniest on the ice although there were no really funny routines as such coz most skaters skated to songs that meant a lot to people they had lost to Cancer or each song had a story so ... but he was great.









This was the star of the night to me, but oh my gosh, he is the Lady Gaga of ice skating, he actually did a routine to her music which he has performed all over the world apparently and this was the last time he was doing it. He is amazing but so not my cup of tea ... yeah I will stop there ... and the outfits, stop !!!!







Well she needs no introduction ... and how old is she and look how great she looks. She only sang two or three times I was surprised, there were two other singers there that I cannot remember their names offhand but all the little girls went crazy for them.



And Jordon Sparks ... Jade couldn't remember who she was till I got home and played her some of her songs then she was star struck (hehehe).



Anyway we recorded and watched the show that was recorded and played on Thankgiving and it was sad ... it was about an hour long with so many adverts that I cannot believe some of the best stuff was not shown, too weird so that being said I am very happy we got this opportunity and well that Jade and I could have done it together. Wish you could have experienced it too Tiana or actually the whole family with how you have followed all these skaters over the years.

Maybe next year :-)

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Christmas Show ...

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Yep did the Christmas Show this year, first time in years I went by myself and I still had a ball, bought some good stuff but you will see later in my update when I send pics of all the new Christmas stuff I have up in the house.

Missed you Pam ... hopefully next year we will be on track again, unless Karen you want to come join me again ... oh and Gigi ... yeah I didn't forget about you, it might be too much for Gavin (hehehe) but we would still drag him along ... just come all of you, one big happy family.

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16th Wedding Anniversary.

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No pics of this one, crazy but true but just wanted to add a bit about our trip away for those that don't know about it.

I am lucky to have two families that Dave and I swap out weekend with every now and again so we can get away and get a break from the kids and recharge our love for each other, (hehehe) how romantic does that sound (hehehe) !!!

This year I decided you know we always go at least 3 - 4 hours away and spend so much time travelling in the car that we were not going to go far this time around and there was so much on locally that we could go to that even though Dave did not buy into it int he beginning it landed up being a really good idea in the end.

We actually stayed in a hotel in Concord, about an hour from home. We left while Amber napped on the Friday and spent the evening at Northlake Mall since it was really cold outside and rainy so anything indoors was good. We did dinner and a late movie and just shopped around then back to the hotel.

Saturday morning we went car shopping, yep I am getting a new van at some stage, I am very excited about that !!! So without the kids it was a great opportunity to go and do some shopping around :-) Then later the morning we went to Birkdale Village which is the quaint little shopping area but it was so bitterly cold outside we decided to head to Concord Mills rather, we hung out there for the afternoon till it was time to go to the Stock Car Track ... Oh my gosh it was cold, bitterly cold but yep we went to the stock car track for the first time here in NC and if you could get past the cold and dust like I have never experienced it was great fun. A nice treat for Dave I am sure and well I enjoyed it too but think I will be coughing for a good while after all that dust and wind, gosh !!!

Sunday morning after checkout we went to the Renaissance Festival which when I told Jade that daddy and I did that alone this year, she was so upset with me but it was so nice to do that on our own, to hang out and watch the more adult shows and to eat and drink without all the mess that goes with doing that with kids, it was so nice and the weather could not have been better. We had a great time !!!

And yeah we headed home around 5 ish, so thankful to our neighbors that we had this opportunity and the girls were good so all went well.

Now to start planning the next trip !!!

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Jades Second Competition.

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Ok so behind again :-( so need to play catch up here, sadly so much has gone on the past while that I am sure I will forget something :-( But this is the crazy time of the year for me so ... let's see how much I can remember and we will go on from there.

This is Jade second cheer competition, you can tell from seeing the last video that they have added more stuff, there were a bunch of mistakes but in all honesty I think they did great and can only go on from here.

They competed against two teams with girls that are so much older than our girls that really I just didn't see how our girls could have been in the same division but they were and well came third on the day of the competition, which is still good but compared to their first, shame they were disappointed. Anyway in the week that followed points got disputed and our girls actually came second which is amazing !!! If you had seen the other squads that competed you will understand what I mean.

Anyway here is the video ... Jade is the slow poke that joins the group at the very end, she got hurt in practice and was very teary eyed shame :-( but she did great. She is on the right hand side most of the time and does her back handsprings from the right too. She was supposed to do three but because she got hurt she did only two to take the strain off her wrist ... anyways more for next time right :-)



Thought I had some other pics but can't find them now :-( ok then ... our next competition is on the 10th of December so hold thumbs for us.

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Amber As Minnie Mouse - Halloween 2011.

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Man I can not tell you the fight I had to get her to keep those ears on, she wanted nothing to do with them, I thought this was one Minnie that was going out without ears that day, but when I told her she would get lots of chocolate with the ears on she tried it and I was right :-)





The lighting was not good, sorry but she looked so cute, her first real Halloween I think, didn't think she would get into it this year but she so did and went up to most doors alone which amazed me as she is the more cautious one out of she and Jade.



Still not loving the ears.



Out with the neighborhood, very good turnout this year, better than any year before this I think, so many adults got kitted out in costume too, was fun to see.



She loved this stuff till it got darker and then so much she would point to and say 'scary mom, scary mom' but she did so well.



She wanted to carry her own candy, she caught Dave trying to lighten the load, not to eat it but transfer it into another bag to make it lighter for her, she just about had a fit and wouldn't let him have anything to do with her candy from there on out, nice to know she trusted mom with her candy more (hehehe) !!!



Not so scary one :-)



Yep, that's what 7 pounds of candy looks like ... and I think she ate about another pound on route !!!

Done with Halloween 2011, yay and I am up to date ... kinda :-)



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