Happy 34th Birthday to Me!

This year my birthday was a lot like any other day, with a few special things mixed in - that's how most adult birthdays go it seems! I am grateful to have made it around the sun another time though, and am grateful for the people who were here to celebrate with me. 

Our morning started nice and early. Charlie woke up at 5:30 (usually he sleeps until 7:00) and Davey woke up wet after having an accident in bed so we put the dirty boy in the bath and the dirty sheets in the laundry.

Sophie gave me a much nicer gift than her brother with this sweet card

Later that morning I went out for a treat with my friend, but then we had to hurry back to host Letter Group. The mom who was supposed to host had sick kids, so I offered to trade last minute and so we had six little friends at our house that morning to party!

Charlie's early wake up and the excitement of Letter Group caught up with him and he fell asleep on the rug before lunch

That evening we went to dinner at Texas Roadhouse since I love a good steak, and it's a family friendly place to eat. Our kids are a bit on the lively side and it's nice to eat somewhere with messy floors and loud music where we won't cause a scene.

After dinner we came home for birthday presents and treats. Instead of cake this year I got myself a Half Baked Ben & Jerry's ice cream - yum!! Also, I've been terrible at documenting this pregnancy, but the baby in that bump is about 20 weeks along :)

Big Texan Birthday

This year I turned 33 years old. I had a good day and received lots of thoughtful messages from family and friends. My birthday also happened to be "Grandparents & Special Friends" day at Sophie's school, so I went over to have lunch with her since we don't have local grandparents. My friend offered to watch Davey and Liz stayed back with Charlie, so it was just us girls. We had a nice time talking while eating Cheetos and soda together.

After lunch, Dave came home from work early so I could go out shopping by myself for awhile. I found a few new clothes, and just enjoyed having an hour of solitude. Dave also did school pick up afterward so I could have some time at home.

Me and Sophie at kindergarten lunch

As a family we didn't do too much to celebrate because Dave and I decided that this year we would get new phones instead of giving each other birthday gifts, since our current phones had entered the downward spiral of death. We did go out to eat however, and chose the Big Texan because I love steak, it's family friendly and they have a great birthday special. This was the kids' first visit and they had a fun time looking at all the animals and western decor. It's gaudy, but fun and Sophie has already declared that this is where she wants to go for her birthday. I'm glad she likes steak as much as I do!

Love my family!

Before sitting down to eat we let the kids play for a bit in the shooting gallery. There are lots of targets scattered around a room that make a sound or move if you hit it. Davey loves guns so he thought it was awesome!

You get 25 shots for just $1 so everyone was able to take a few turns, even Charlie :)

We had a wonderful waitress who took great care of our family. She brought out hats for all the kids to wear. Davey still wears his around the house all the time.  

Charlie had no idea what was going on, but was a good sport anyway

My free birthday meal, which was delicious! Prime rib, 2 sides (mac & cheese and mashed potatoes), a roll, and a drink. 

Video: Of course Dave made sure the fiddlers came over to give me a birthday serenade

School Pictures & Me 20 Years Later

Part of working at a school means having your picture taken on school picture day. I had my mom send me my kindergarten photo for comparison. Below is my kindergarten self at 5 years old, and my present self at 25 years old.

How do they compare?

• Hair - still reddish and wavy, although now I straighten so you can't tell. Thank goodness the little wispy hairs up front either disappeared or grew into full length hair.
• Eyebrows - still dark and a different color from my hair. One of the most common questions my brother and I get is "Do you dye your hair? It doesn't match your eyebrows."
• Eyes - still brown, although now there's some green mixed in so they aren't quite as dark.
• Nose - exactly the same and still bleeds every time I get hit in the face, blow my nose, the weather's cold/hot/dry, or for no apparent reason.
• Freckles - I'm pretty sure I have more freckles now than as a kid. I don't really see any on my kindergarten self, but now after each summer I always have a good collection on my nose and cheeks.
• Teeth - improvement! Braces for a year & good dental hygiene have paid off!
• Skin - still pale
• Height - taller! but still on the short side. When we took the faculty picture I was on the front row, where I've always been my whole life.

Grab a photo of your kid self - it was fun to look at all the changes, or lack of changes. I guess I grew up alright :)

We are still here!

So it appears I've fallen a bit behind on the blog... Things were going along nice and slow and then Halloween hit and time just flew by - hence no post for the last five weeks. All those missing entries will be posted shortly, but here's a little something for the interim:

So every week at work I check the calendar of events, grab my box letters, don an apron, and climb a ladder to change the marquee on the side of the school. Lately it's been pretty cold so I change out the letters as fast as my little frozen fingers can go.

As I was leaving the school last night, I looked up and noticed that the inevitable finally happened - my self spell check failed. It's especially awesome that my mistake follows the announcement for the spelling bee.

MERRY CHISTMAS EVERYONE!

 

Lost Luggage

Once upon a time I did something to offend the luggage gods. I'm not exactly sure what my offense was, but I've been paying the price ever since. If you are ever traveling with me, know this: a suitcase belonging to me, or any bag checked under my name is liable to have issues, so plan ahead accordingly.

 I can't exactly say when I first started having problems with luggage... I'm sure I was frustrated when my bag didn't come off the carousel like normal, but after we were reunited all was well, and I moved on with my life. If only I had known it would happen again, and again, and again over the coming years....

Here is a brief run down of my poor track record when it comes to lost luggage:

• Hawaii 2006 - my bag somehow got on a different plane, but at least it was the return trip. You don't miss your stuff as much when you're at your house with your own closet.
• North Carolina 2007 - this was the worst. It took our bags three days to catch up with us. Dave wore some of his brother's clothes and I had to borrow stuff from Dave's aunt and his mom. Grandma Betty was also king enough to lend me her swimsuit - blue and sparkly with a gold belt and a ruffle bum skirt. Grandpa Clark offered his swim trunks to Dave, but there was no way that was going to happen. I'm pretty sure the waist was the size of just one of Dave's legs.
• Christmas in Texas 2007 - both our bags are lost again, but somehow the third suitcase with the presents made it there! We may not have had our clothes on Christmas morning, but at least we had gifts! (We actually opened a few presents early so we could have something fresh to change into)
• Seattle  2008 - another bag lost on the way home 

Here there is a break when airlines started charging for check bags so we only traveled with carry-ons. For two wonderful years we never lost a suitcase. Then we took a trip on Southwest (where bags fly free!) and ran into trouble again.

• Mexico 2010, flight to LAX - Dave's suitcase, which was checked under my name, came off the ramp completely smashed. We took it to the claims office where they gave us a choice: exchange for a new bag, or fill out a form for reimbursement. Since the suitcase was pretty much destroyed and we hadn't even got to the cruise ship yet, we went with the exchange.
• Mexico 2010, getting on the boat - when you go on a cruise, you leave your luggage with a porter and board only with what you'll need for the immediate future. The bags are then delivered to your cabin in about 3-4 hours. Well, 3-4 hours later all the suitcases had arrived but mine. It came time for dinner and everyone changed into nicer clothes (except me) and we left to eat. When we got back my bag still wasn't there. We checked the "luggage holding pen" and it was empty - all bags had been delivered to our deck. The steward directed us down to security to look at the unmarked bags - mine wasn't there. It also was not with the bags that had been confiscated for bringing liquor on board (no surprises there). Security told us if it didn't turn up in an hour, they'd start a deck-by-deck sweep, so we left for the evening show. After the show, and 8 hours after getting on board, my bag finally arrived! I have no idea where it was hanging out, but it was probably one of the last ones delivered.

My advice - always pack a change of clothes, including underwear :) in your day bag, along with any toiletries you might need because you never know what's going to happen!

* Photo is from Google Images, http://science.howstuffworks.com/transport/flight/modern/baggage-handling.htm

Joy to the World!

I finally finished! Actually I finished a couple weeks ago, and good thing too, or there would have been no place to eat Thanksgiving dinner at the cabin :)

This is probably the hardest puzzle I own. You may be thinking, "The hardest? That doesn't look too bad." Don't be deceived. The continents aren't that bad, but the oceans are a BEAST. This puzzle is a photomosiac, so each piece has 3-4 teeny tiny pictures on it. Thus, to put together the big blue mass, you have pick up a piece that has has a picture of a woman in a chaise lounge or an eagle or a white boat, seach the box to find that one little picture, and then put the piece on the table approximately where it is supposed to go. Evetually the pieces start to hook together. It is as painstaking as it sounds, but well worth it in the end.

Behold my pride and joy!

Two Left Feet

We spent our Thanksgiving break up at the cabin, so we went to "mountain church" (the Mt. Si Ward) on Sunday. About 10 minutes before we had to leave for church, I realized that in my haste to pack and start our mini-vacation I had grabbed two left shoes from my closet...

I am a horrible dancer, but since I don't actually have two left feet this was a bit of a problem. I searched the cabin to see if I could find any alternative footwear. These were my options:

• My old gray tennis shoes
• Snow boots
• Hiking shoes
• White sheepskin slippers
• Fluffy blue slippers with clouds on them
• My dad's flip flops

While the slippers would have been very comfy, I decided to go with the tennis shoes. Dave said I reminded him of Pam from The Office - wearing sneakers with my dress :) 

I supposed I could have forgetten something much worse, like my dress, but I was still pretty self-conscious the whole meeting. I made Dave go in through the back entrance, we sat on the last row of the overflow, and I strategicially placed my purse in front of my feet. Next Sunday I will be very thankful for my regular church shoes!

The Ornament Collection

One Christmas as we were decorating our family tree, I noticed I had a few ornaments with a similar theme - Santa on a bear, Santa on a goose, and Santa on a salmon. Then when my family went to Gatorland in Florida several years ago, I saw a "Santa on an alligator" ornament in the gift shop and decided to buy it with my souvenir money. That was the beginning of my collection.

In more recent years I have added Santa on a dolphin and a turtle (Hawaii), Santa on a polar bear (Alaska), and Santa on a marlin (North Carolina).

Now everytime I'm in a store I look at the ornaments to see if I can add to my collection. Hard as I've tried, though, I haven't been able to find anything this year... if you see something I don't have, let me know!!