The Lost Photos!

Justin left...then came home again a week later. He wasn't gone very long but it felt like forever! I guess I got spoiled with him not having to leave for a few months. I've been slacking on the photo updating so here is a MASS post and they aren't really in order...sorry.

Playing with Christmas gifts! Landon loves his new easy bake oven and Justin loves my pink snuggie. Lol.


We made cookie pizzas! He loved them and I refused to eat them.

My boys on our movie night...watching 9!

Theses ones are form Christmas morning.

Poor beans! He looks so sad when I pick on him.

The boys opening our family gift from Santa.....gotta love super mario brothers!

Justin passing out the gifts. A Christmas story on in the background!

Landon playing with his new submarine. He loves it!

This is when he first came into the living room and saw everything.

Tree with just Landon's presents. lol.All of them on Christmas morning. My camera was fuzzy due to my little nephew Cameron playing with it.
Flying home from Grammy & Papa's house.

The gifts I gave to his teachers and bus drivers. Snowmen jars had cocoa, hot cider, tea and candy in them!

The mugs had the same just not the candy and more of the drink mixes. I put them together myself! And they were a hit!

Landon and I made a plate & mug for Santa! It was so much fun. This is going to be something that I keep forever and use every year.

Ok that's it for now!

YAY!

So I ordered Landon's shirt! I got the black one since NO ONE liked the red one. Lol. I'm so excited for him this year with him being in school and all! I'm slowly getting all the stuff we need for his party. I just don't know what kind of food to serve at a pirate birthday...?

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AND Today is my Birthday! WOOO HOOOO!! Calls have been coming in since midnight last night. I've gotten a few e-mails from my husband so that makes him being gone again on my birthday easier.

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Have a great day! I'm off to get ready for my birthday dinner!

VOTE PLEASE!!!!!!

Landon's birthday this year has changed to Pirates! so on his Birth(day) I'm sending him to school with pirate cupcakes! YAY! While looking for pictures of said cupcakes I found these shirts. I can't decide what one to buy him.....please help me!?! I want to order within the next few days.

Here we go!

I am now on book 4 for this year!

Trip home. Part 2.

We were busy while we were home. No real down days.

• Justin's Family Christmas party
• My Dad's Family Christmas party
• My Mom's Family Christmas Party
• Movie Night out & Dinner with my Family (The Princess & The Frog was soooo cute!)
• Dinner date with the Besties!
• I had dinner with my sister & cousin while Justin hung out with his brother.

Then we flew home!

I got to spend a lot of time with my mom. We did some shopping and a lot of talking! I've missed family girl talk! We didn't spend hours reading together this trip which was a little sad...maybe this summer.

It was really nice seeing all of the family's. You never really know how much you've missed people until you are with them and you have to say goodbye again. Landon had a blast playing with his cousins and I had a blast getting to meet all of the new babies! My niece is more beautiful then I ever could have imagined.

We came home with one bag more then we left with. But we got a lot of great loot!

Here's to hoping we get to go home next year for the holidays!

Trip home. Part One.

Walking into the house you grew up in will forever have the same impact. The most satisfying feeling of familiarity, comfort and warmth. No matter how much I love living with my new little family, it will never be the same at my parents house. You feel love as soon as you walk in the door.

We were lucky enough to get to go home for a week. Everyone in my family knew about this, except my dad. My Dad had no idea. It was so hard keeping it from him since I know he misses us the most.

We got into Seattle at about noon and drove the 2 hours it takes to get up to my parents house. There we got settled and waited for my dad to get home from work. When we saw his headlights flash against the walls we all ran and hid. The little kids were trying their hardest not to giggle while waiting for the door to open.

My Dad walked in, hands full of things he was bringing in from the car, yelling out for my mom since she was nowhere to be seen. On my cue Landon jumped out of his bedroom and yelled "Merry Christmas Papa" as loud as he could. "What? How? but I....." was all I heard before I heard all my dads things hit the floor, then I heard sobbing. Not crying but full sobs coming from my Father. He held Landon in his arms for a few minutes before I walked around the corner to join them. He just held us and wept saying it was the most amazing Christmas present anyone has ever given him.

Later we told him about how hard it was to keep it from him and how EVERYONE knew (even his Father) but everyone had somehow kept it from him for months. And how Mom has been telling little white lies to keep things a secret. "OK hunny I will mail to the box to Kimmie next week I still have a few things to add" When she didn't want to mail it because we were coming, "Landon is going to be in the kids gift drawing this year so he's not left out" because we were going to be at the Christmas party this year or when my mom told him not to pick anything up for dinner (the day we got in) because she already had something out...when really I was there to make him his favorite meal (It's something I made him once a year or so ago and he refuses to make it for himself since it's "Kimmie's dinner") lol. I made him a huge batch that night and he LOVED it!

It was the best feeling in the world being able to do that for my Dad. He has missed us so much and we've missed him. I've gotten so close to my Dad over the past few years. I call him a few times a week just to talk and many more times to get recipes or cook times for dinners I'm making. While we were there he took time off to spend as much time with us as he could. We stayed up late every night talking and watching movies. Landon loved Having his Papa again and hasn't stopped asking when we are going back.

I feel so blessed to have the relationship I do with my Dad (I'm really close with my mom also, she's one of my best friends. But this post was about my Daddy).

I can't wait for this summer when he comes out here and takes 10 days to drive across the country with me and Landon. It's going to be so much fun having all of that time with him.

I hope everyone had an amazing holiday! Part 2 to come later.

2010!

Here is a list of 10 things that happened or I accomplished/did in 2009 and 10 things I want to do in 2010!

2009

1. I read over 50 books!
2. Got my house done! No more boxes!
3. Ended a deployment!
4. Watched Landon start school...and didn't cry!
5. I went on Landon's first school field trip with him.
6. We spend Justin's birthday with him when we thought we weren't going to.
7. We got to go home as a family.
8. My sister had a baby! And so did my bestie!
9. We took a few really great family trips.
10. I got to see the look on my dads face when he had no idea we were home!

2010

1. I want to read at least 50 books again.
2. More family trips!
3. Take one more thing off my bucket list.
4. Go to church more.
5. Take up a new hobby. Sewing maybe?
6. Survive another deployment.....ick.
7. Send Landon off to Kindergarten...and not cry.
8. Get more involved with Landon's school
9. Get more involved with church activities.
10. De clutter my house!

2009!

Here is a little re-cap of our 2009!

January

• Justin returned from a 6 month deployment on January 10th!
  

February

• Landon turned 4!
  

March

• Park trip began as soon as it started to get warm again.
  

April

• Spur-of-the-moment trip to Niagara Falls!
  

May

• We took 3 days to build Landon his new swing set!
  

June

• Road trip down to Florida to see Justin while he was in port!
  

July

• Tons of picnics! Harkness Park was our favorite!
• Justin got "surge" deployed. He came home and told me he was leaving in 3 days. Hardest thing I've ever had to hear.
  

August

• Drove down to Georgia to spend Justin's birthday with him!
  

September

• Landon started school!
  

October

• Landon went on his first field trip.

• We went to the local orchard to pick apples and pumpkins.
  

• Went trick-or-treating in Mystic!
  

November

• Took the boys to an Eagles game.
  

• Went to NYC for the Macy's Day Parade.

• Went on the Polar Express train ride in RI!

December

• Went home to Washington to visit family...and Santa!
  

I hope everyone had a great year and that you all have an amazing 2010!

Santa

We are home in Washington for a week. It's so good to be home and with all of the family. I haven't been home for a year and my husband hasn't been home for a little over 2 years! We have been so busy while we have been here, one of the best things we did was taking Landon to go see Santa. We went to a really great place and the pictures turned out amazing! Here are a few that I liked.

They had him sit on a horse and he was so funny. The Santa really interacted with him and they took a ton of pictures,

I don't remember what they were looking at, but I LOVE this picture!

Classic Santa picture. This is the first year we have done Santa pictures, every other year Landon was too afraid. lol.

We have been so busy around here. Since I'm trying to do something extra fun with the boys every day this month I haven't had the time to blog. We've been trying really hard to teach Landon the true meaning of Christmas. I don't know if he really understands it yet, but we are trying. The advent calendar is going great. It's so fun to do something special each night. I think this will be something we will do for years to come.
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So please don't hate me for not blogging to much in the weeks to come. I do have a few craft things to put up and I will as soon as I get time! I hope everyone is having a great month!

Christmas Teacher Gifts

I wanted to do something special for Landon's teachers & Bus drivers. Soooo I made jars & cups.

Goodies Cups
Cup & saucer set with matching stir spoon
snowflake sugar cubes
2 packs hot cocoa
2 packs hot apple cider
2 gingersnap tea bags
2 egg nog tea bags

I put them all together then wrapped them all up nice and cute! I put the stir spoons on the ribbon and tied them around the outside.

These I gave to his main teacher and the bus driver helper that he adores.


Snowmen Jars
Snowman Jar
1 pack of hot cocoa
1 pack of hot apple cider
1 gingersnap tea bag
1 egg nog tea bag
LOADS of candy!

These he gave to his bus driver and the other teacher in his classroom.

They were huge hits! I'm so glad they liked them and I was glad that I was able to make them/put something together for them. Store bought gifts are all good...but I like doing more of the work!

So far....

only 3 days in, but so far we have a few really fun things!

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Day 1. We put up the Christmas tree and pulled out all of the decorations.

Day 2. We went to the movies and saw "Planet 51" super cute movie! But it did have a lot of Adult humor.

Day 3. We watched Polar Express and made Christmas crafts.

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Tomorrow Landon will be opening new Christmas book to be read at bedtime and then have a sleepover with Daddy in his room.

Eagles Game!

For part of Justin's Christmas gifts I bought him tickets to an Eagles Game. Last time we went to one it was about 2 years ago. So this weekend we headed to PA. It was a long 4 hour drive (the drive home turned into a 8 hour drive!) but it was worth it.

The boys walking to the game. November 2009.
The boys walking to the game. November 2007.
Landon cheering for the Eagles! We got lucky with the weather this time. Last time it was cold and raining and Landon and I ended up in the car for the 2nd half.

My boys!
We had really good seats! We got lucky and I picked the right end zone!

They won! For a while I didn't think they were going to be able to turn it around but they did!

Holiday crafts! Advent Calendar!

This didn't turn out quite like I wanted it to, but I love the idea. The month of December is going to be all about family. We are going to do something together as a family every night this month (until Christmas and it will be just Landon and I on duty nights).

What you need.
3 pieces of red card stock (I used orange/red)
3 pieces of green card stock
Old magazines (cut out Windows & doors)
scissors
glue
exacto knife

Directions

1. cut out enough pictures for all 25 days. Try to get different shapes and sizes, but keep them big enough to write under.
2. Glue them to the red paper.
3. Use the knife to cut 3 sides to make a flap on each door or window.
4. Then glue down the red paper onto the green. Make sure you don't glue down the flaps!
   

Tape the backs like so.

Write the numbers next to each door and pick what you want them to say inside.

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Here are a few ideas:

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Craft Night

Movie Night

Game Night

Make Santa cookies

Make a fort

Go for ice cream

Decorate the house

You pick dinner!

Open a gift early

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Idea from family fun magazine

Tuesday Tips! Christmas!

I love Christmas! I love everything about it. I love the smells and the decorations and even the snow. I love having my family together and I love giving to others. Here are a few things I do to.

Decorating

• Ribbon. I buy 2 in thick ribbon and string it across the top of the windows then pin it up in the middle. I add some snow men ornaments and it looks amazing! I also tie bows with it and put it on all of the door knobs.
• Ornaments make the best decorations. I hang them in my bay window and in door ways. I use coordinating Christmas ribbon to hang them with. My living room is gold & red and my dining room is really bright colors like green, pink & blue.
• Kid friendly decorations. Landon has his own Nativity Scene that I let him put up. We talk about what it means while we do it. I love that he can have a part in this without me worrying if he's going to break something. Mine has been in Justin's family for 4 generations and I would cry if it broke.
• Scents. I love the smell of live trees....but due to a nasty allergy to some unwanted bugs having one would make my life a little harder then it needs to be. So fake it is. But I miss the smell. Now I get Pine air fresheners for my living room! It's not quite the same but it makes it a lot better!
• Make a wreath! or buy one. Lol. Hang it on your door. It will make you smile every time you walk in the door.

This & That

• I love giving gifts. But I hated trying to find the perfect one. Now I've starting putting together baskets! For a family make a game/movie night basket (have a game or movie, add snacks and home made treats). You can do anything!
• Shop online! Not only can you fine amazing deals but right now almost everywhere has free shipping and you can ship it where ever you need it to go (perfect when you don't live right by your family).
• If you have a bunch of people and you want to exchange gifts but don't want everyone to have to buy that many gifts. Have everyone buy 1 gift (we do $10) and wrap it. They need to be unisex if you are doing male & female. Put them all in the middle of the room and draw numbers. 1 goes first. They unwrap a gift. It goes down the line. You can pick anew gift of steal from someone else. Each gift can only be stolen 3 times before it freezes. It's a lot of fun!
• Home-made treats are great to give to neighbors or school teachers!
• Head to the craft stores after the holidays to get tins and decorations for cheap for next year! I have some great stuff to put out this year!