Happy Merry Christmas

We are enjoying a nice holiday in NC, even though most of our family is sick (myself included). Thankfully there is plenty of food, family, and fun to help get us through the icky, sicky stuff. ;)

YAY, CHRISTMAS! ;-)

 Sweet cousins

 "Let it go, let it go!"

Snuggles with Daddy.

 Dancing with Eden :)

Soooooo many Christmas cookies!

A chat with Aunt Sarabeth

Wherever you are, whoever you're with, and whatever you're doing, I hope you have a Merry Christmas!

"And the angel said to them, 'Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord."

~ Luke 2:11

A Holiday Note and a Funny

Hello, all! I bet you've been wondering where the heck I am.... Well, I'm here:

After 3 very long flights, we finally made it to North Carolina!!! It's good to be here, especially after a long, hard travel. 

Charlotte did okay on the flights. She didn't sleep much, which really surprised me. We left at night {bad idea} so I thought that she'd just sleep, but no luck. There was far too much going on throughout the flight for her to sleep well. She did sleep some but it wasn't much. And she was in my lap the whole time, so I didn't rest either. Fortunately, most of the people around us on our flights seemed to be very understanding and patient. Or if they were irritated they didn't say anything. {For which I'm very thankful!}

We're staying with my SIL, Anna, and her little family which has been great! I'm loving seeing my niece and nephew so much. 

Playing blocks with Eden and Harry. ❤

Attacking Eden's face with Pop {Joe's dad} supervising.

Side note: Charlotte loves Eden!

Charlotte and all her cousins!!! =D

Eden, Kellan holding Harry, and my sweet Charlotte. Love.

We're all having a good time here. Well, except that Charlotte and I both caught colds. She got one the first night we were here (Tuesday) and today (currently Friday) I woke up with a scratchy throat and stuffy nose...which turned into a runny nose, making me look like Rudolph. *sigh* Charlotte was pretty miserable there for a while and I felt terrible for her. She would catch her first ever cold during Christmas...and the one time we're actually around family! I'm not surprised I caught it, though.

So basically.... I'm not going to be around all that much for the next week or two {ish}. Joe's family is pretty big and there's always something going on. Rest assured that I'll be back after the holidays with pics and probably some great stories!!!

And just a little something to make you laugh...a hilarious video of Charlotte screaming at me. Enjoy! =)

Merry Christmas, y'all!

Happy Christmas

I hope y'all are having a wonderful Christmas today!! I'm sure hardly any of you will be on the interwebz today, but I just wanted to say Merry Christmas from all of us!

I hope that no matter where you are - or what you're going through - you can find some happiness in this day and remember the real reason for this season of joy and peace. =)

Merry Christmas!!! 

You Can't Beat Home Sweet Home

Over the ocean and through the skies.... To Grandmother's house we go!

As you're reading this, Joe and I are on a plane crossing the ocean. We are officially headed to NC for the holidays!!! =)

Friday was my doctor's appointment and - much to my mother's dismay, I'm sure - we were a GO for travel! I just have to remember to drink ungodly amounts of water, get up and walk, and stay away from salty airplane snacks. Oh, and sleep and avoid puking. Should be fun, right?!

The real fun will start once we're there. Usually we stay with Joe's grandparents, but this year we have the pleasure of staying with my SIL, Anna, her hubby and two sweet kiddos! I can't wait! =) Joe is excited to be with family this Christmas and I know I will have a great time too. Personally, I'm hoping for a repeat of last year... Snow on Christmas Day:

Joe's grandparents' house

Even if it doesn't snow on Christmas Day, I'm sure it's going to be a great Christmas. It'll definitely beat last year's by a long shot!

I'm sure you can imagine how busy we're going to be over the next few weeks. I will update when I can {probably with photos of my cute niece and nephews}, I promise! Until then, I hope all of you have a very merry Christmas!!

Or as the locals say, Mele Kalikimaka! 

Christmas Came Early...

Since I've been talking about it for who-knows-how-long, most of you are aware that we're spending the holidays on the mainland with family. We won't have much time to ourselves while there and we also had some family who sent gifts to us anyway. *ahem*

Joe had kind of a rough day yesterday and we both felt like we could use a little bit of a pick-me-up. So what's a couple with Christmas on the horizon and presents under the tree to do? Have our own little Christmas celebration, of course!

We started with a nice little dinner of pasta, salad, and garlic bread by the tree. {And a little bit of wine. =) No worries, I had maybe half a glass.}

It really was a nice little dinner. We even turned on a Pandora Christmas station to enjoy while we ate. After dinner {and cleanup, of course} the real fun began!

It wouldn't be Christmas without a photo op!

Presents!!!

We were very nice to each other and took turns opening presents and snapping photos. =)

We definitely got some goodies! Charlotte got some bibs that my mom embroidered. =) I got a couple of maternity shirts {yay!}, a pair of black maternity cargo pants {more yay because they're super comfy}and a cookbook mainly for baking. Joe got a few shirts, and together we got a picture frame that we already own {my mom really doesn't pay attention} and salt and pepper shakers that match my living room instead of my kitchen. Whatevs. The real gift I was waiting for was from Joe - and vice versa. 

Being the awesome wife that I am, I got him Skyrim. He asked for 2 games and when I walked into GameStop the other day, all I could remember was this one. I totally blanked on the other!! {Further evidence of the preggo brain.} It worked out pretty darn well, though, because this was the one he really wanted. Score for both of us!

Joe got me the complete collection of the Harry Potter movies on Blu Ray! =D I've been begging him to buy the movies for at least a couple years now, but he's been insistent on waiting until they all came out. Lucky for me the box sets came out just in time for Christmas! And yeah, we totally popped in one of the movies last night. We have to play with our new toys, right?!

Somehow, this bow found its way to my belly. Still not sure how it happened, but I love it! She's our present too, right? =)

Have you ever celebrated Christmas on a very non-Christmas day? What do you do to make it seem a little bit more Christmasy?

Merry Christmas!

A Lot Like Christmas

Cue: "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas - Everywhere we go..."

Well, it definitely doesn't look much like Christmas in the Land of Aloha, but it is starting to look like Christmas in my house! Saturday morning, we dug the tree and decorations out of our little storage closet and got to work. With two people working to decorate it didn't really take much time at all. I'm pretty sure it took me most of the day last year. Yay for Joe being home!

Since we still haven't gotten rid of the other couch {grrr}, we opted for what turned into a Christmas corner this year. It wasn't the original plan, but it turned out nice and I think I like it a bit better than what we did last year. Besides, it's not like I have a window to put the pretty tree in front of for everyone to see when they drive by. {One day!}

This year, I chose to make us some new stockings. The ones we had before were, well, not that great. We bought some decorate-able stockings from good 'ole WalMart the first year we were married. They were cute at the time, but 3 years and some DIY lessons later I was beyond ready to trash them. So what's a crafty girl to do? Order fabric from Etsy, of course! =) I got my fabric in the day after Thanksgiving and have been working on them all week. I finally finished them this afternoon.

In case you want to make your own, I traced one of our old stockings and then used this tutorial. I had found another one, but 1) Melissa suggested this one first and 2) I ended up liking it better. I think they turned out great! I was really probably a little too shocked at how easy they were to make. The only hard part about making them was cutting out the fabric, and that was only hard because it was time consuming. And, yeah, I made one for all three of us. =) Joe's is the one on the left, mine is in the middle, and Charlotte's is the last one. I love, love, love them! I really couldn't resist making one for our baby girl. Plus, I'm sure I'll be thanking myself next year when she's 8 months old and crawling all over the house.

Stockings were hung by the...kitchen? ;-)

Oh, what I'd give for a fireplace.

A few weeks ago, I decided that I'd put some vinyl on our kitchen window to make things a bit more Christmasy upon entering our house. I had a bit of trouble with my Silhouette this afternoon {thanks to the trusty preggo brain!}, but I finally got it to spit out "Merry Christmas."

I'm planning on cutting out some silver snowflakes too. I was just too tired to deal with it by the time these were done. I'd already had a busy day and the last thing I wanted to do was fuss with my Silhouette some more. Also, this window opens from left to right. So when the window is open "Merry" will be above "Christmas." I'm hoping to be able to place the snowflakes so that they don't get all jumbled up when the window is open too. We'll see!

We also put a few Christmas lights around the other window near the door. This is one of the windows in what will soon be Miss Charlotte's room. I'd like to put lights up around the rest of the house {you know, that's ours since we live in a quadriplex}, but I don't know if that's going to happen. 

All that said, I'm loving our Christmas decorations! Have you started decorating yet? Or did you get to Christmas before Thanksgiving? ;-)

P.S. Don't forget to enter the MyMemories Digital Scrapbooking Software giveaway! It ends December 7th.

I Made It!

Finally.

In the past two weeks, I have traveled roughly 11, 106 miles. That's just destination to destination -- not counting the layovers I had. I am one tired cookie! I am not planning on leaving this island again for quite a while. Traveling across the Pacific and then across the US is not something I'd do again in the next month or so. My body has no idea what day or time it is. I can barely hold a conversation because I'm so tired that my brain can't handle too much information. It's sad. But, hey, I made it! =)

Not only did I travel across the US, I survived the holidays with my psycho family! As much as my side of the family drives me insane, they're still my family. I think the thing that bothered me most was the situation with my grandparents. As most of you know, Papa was hospitalized right after Joe deployed this summer (Thanks, Murphy). They found an aneurysm and tumor in his brain, and then placed coils in his carotid artery to stop the blood flow to both of them. Long story short, he was in the hospital for a very long time and had several complications while he was there. All of this has affected his personality for the worse. My Nana is now his caretaker - making sure he takes his medicine and that sort of thing. She was never Suzy Sunshine before and now it's worse. Both of them complain about everything and continually remind us that "this year might be our last." *sigh* Add that to the hateful way they talk to my mom and it was almost unbearable to be with them. I hate that because I always enjoyed spending time with them before. =( It makes things really hard.

As usual, my dad drove me nuts with his "advice" and opinions about politics and economics. He's not stupid, but he does like to think he knows all there is to know about those sorts of things and it's really irritating. Most of the time I just keep my mouth shut because I don't want to get into a long, drawn out conversation where he'll end up telling me I don't know what I'm talking about. My family isn't all bad, but man do they know how to irritate me!

The good news is everyone seemed to enjoy their gifts. =)

Mom with the quilt I made for her. =)

Dad loved the dashboard hula girl I bought for him.

The PX truly is a wonderful place. ;-)

Christmas tree at Mom's.

This is how I survived Christmas Eve at my grandparents' - texting my brother.

He's wearing the shirt I bought him.

Again, the PX is awesome. 

Christmas Eve - sorting the gifts.

I love that Papa is wearing a Santa hat. =)

Christmas without Joe was so weird. It didn't really even feel like Christmas. We did celebrate Christmas while he was home, so that's probably why. 

I still haven't uploaded pictures from my visit to NC. Although, I didn't really take a whole lot of photos while I was there. Do you remember me talking about the conference my church held in October? Well, one of the speakers encouraged us to "live in the moment, not for the moment." I have really taken to that phrase since then. And that's exactly what I did while Joe was home on R&R and while I was visiting family these last two weeks. I haven't taken so few pictures in a long time. And you know what? I really enjoyed myself. (You know, other than when I was being annoyed by my cranky grandparents and overbearing dad.) I played with my niece, spent quality time with my SIL, shopped with both of my SILs, and just hung out with family. I'd do the same thing all over again! Plus, I know that my FIL always has his camera going if I don't. =)

Out of the whole month of December, this was my favorite moment:

He was/is by far my favorite Christmas gift this year. =)

Late Christmas Gift

Showing my dad some things on my computer the day after Christmas, I opened a file and spied with my little eye something that was a tad more green than red. =)

Woooooooohoooooo!!!!! =D

*Insert happy dance here*

And, in case you were wondering I did get an awesome gift at 0600 (CT) on Christmas Day.

A phone call from my sweet husband. 

Best. Gift. Ever.

Especially after 5 days with no contact.

I'm currently spending time with our North Carolina family.

I love them. =)

And this cute little thing doesn't hurt either. ;-)

It's blurry because this girl hardly sits still! =)

Hope y'all had a wonderful Christmas!!!

Real post-Christmas blog to come soon. 

Bah Humbug

Seriously. I am so not even close to feeling all in the spirit of Christmas. 

My family is driving me nuts. As families go, I'm sure mine isn't the worst. There's just one really large problem with my family: I'm nothing like them.

I often wonder how on earth I'm related to them. Granted, the man I call "dad" is my stepfather... That probably has something to do with it. Still. My brother (who is 3 years younger) is the complete opposite of me. My mom drives me batty. Together, my parents drive me insane. Here's a prime example for you: 

Let's set the scene, shall we?

Mom turned on a Jeff Dunham show. Dad just wants to watch one of his little puppets.

Mom: Why don't we get the DVD out instead of watching it on TV?

Dad: No. We can just wait and then turn the channel later.

TV insanely loud in the background

Mom: But I don't like commercials!!! Starts searching for DVD

Dad: Let's just watch it on TV!

TV show still blaring

Mom: What the crap?! This is the wrong DVD! Starts freaking out.

Meanwhile, I'm trying to keep my mouth shout and not leave the room. This went on for a good 10 minutes before Dad gave up and let Mom put the DVD in. They fought. About a TV show. Really? I won't even tell you about the situation in the kitchen while I was making cookies...

I had such a good day today... And then I come back to their house and get inundated with insanely loud TVs, arguing and general crap.

I'm so glad I got to spend some time with my bestie today. She rescued me from what I'm sure would have been another interesting day in the 'rent's household and took me fabric shopping. =) Then we ran a couple errands and ate lunch at Olive Garden!!! Yumm-o! We don't have Olive Garden in good 'ole Hawaii, so it was really nice. Then, we went back to Melissa's and just chilled out for a while. Well, I say "chilled out" but we really sat in the nursery and organized baby clothes. =P Little Jorja is due on Jan 13th and her clothes needed to be sorted. We chatted while we sorted clothes. It was fun. And then we made my hubby a laptop cover with fabric we bought today! We had a really good time. I also got to ride in the truck that her hubby fixed up! It was really nice, but it doesn't have heat so I froze a little bit. =)

I'm praying that my hubby will call/Skype soon. I haven't heard a peep from him since Monday. =( I got so freaked out last night (partially because Skype was down...*sigh*) that I texted the FRG leader to see if her husband knew if mine was back on the FOB yet. She texted back around 1 am (OK time) and said that he was fine. =) Thank God for connections! Apparently, my husband was on Facebook this morning but didn't have time to call. At least I know he's ok. 

Between the lack of hubby and family drama, I'm just not into Christmas this year. I'm still incredibly thankful that God sent His Son to this earth to ultimately die for our sins. I just really don't feel like celebrating. The beauty of it all is that I can celebrate His birth and sacrifice any time I want. =) And, technically, I've already celebrated with my hubby.

I hope you all are feeling more Christmasy than I am and have a wonderful time with your own families. =)

It's Christmas?

I've been having a really hard time getting into the Christmas spirit. Honestly, I don't even feel like it's Christmas... I've been telling myself over and over again that Christmas happened 2 (ish) weeks ago when my husband was home.

Christmas morning photos are a requirement! =P

I also think that Hawaii is partially to blame for my lack of Christmas spirit. I mean, come on. It's not even cold in Hawaii. It has been rainy and chilly lately, but not Christmas cold. You know?

Now that I'm at my parents' house, I still don't "feel it." It does make me miss Joe, though. Deep down I know that' it's Christmas and I know that he's missing it. That makes me miss him, of course. It's so weird not having him here. We haven't spent a Christmas apart since we've been married. *sigh* But, I guess you're not a true military family until you've been apart for all major holidays...right? I guess we're getting all of them knocked out in this deployment!


That said, I am thankful that we got to celebrate Christmas together even if it wasn't on the exact day. It's just a day... Albeit a day full of more meaning than we can fully comprehend and appreciate. It's going to be different this year, but maybe next year I'll be all the more thankful that he's home. =)


I'm going to be super busy over the next few weeks, so please forgive me if I'm not around much. It's a busy time for all of us, I think. You can probably expect to see some pictures of my niece when I go see her next week. And of course there will be a recap when I'm back in Hawaii. 


Until then, I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!

Lookin' Like Christmas

Because of all the recent hurry-up-and-wait stuff happening lately, I haven't had a chance to properly blog about my Christmas decorations! A true tragedy. ;-)

I had quite the lazy morning on Friday. I got up, hoping to talk to Joe and within about 20 minutes I realized it wasn't going to happen. I was still so sleepy though. I hadn't turned the TV on yet or even had breakfast and it was a cool, rainy morning. So, I cuddled up on the couch with a blanket and Jasper and slept for another hour and some-odd minutes. Fantastic. Then, I grabbed my laptop and read blogs for a while. By the time I looked at the clock, it was after 1000... A rare morning!!

The day after Thanksgiving is a traditional decorating day. =) So after breakfast, I pulled out all my decorations! I don't have a ton of decorations but, hey, it's a start.

And then I got to work!

This is what my house looked like by the end of the day!

I also did a little decorating in the bathroom...

It's not very Christmasy though.

Beach Print! 

I won that in a giveaway like this summer and I've been trying to find the perfect place for it ever since. It finally hit me the other day that this print belonged in the bathroom! Totally matches.

And then, of course, the Scentsy plug in I won at the last spouses' club luncheon. =)

And this was my Christmas decorating attire. 

A rare experience indeed.

I mean, how often do you decorate for Christmas with all the windows and doors open while wearing a sundress?!

It may not feel like Christmas, but my house is definitely looking like it!

40 Days 'Til Christmas!

I have been seriously fighting the urge to decorate my house for Christmas this year. I don't think I've ever had it so bad before. When I was little, my mom started a tradition of sorts. On the day after Thanksgiving, we would pull out all the Christmas decorations, watch Christmas movies and decorate. Our favorite one to watch is Scrooged with...Crap. The guy's name just totally left my mind. Actor from Groundhog Day.... It's gone. Maybe I'll Google it later. =P Hopefully it will come to me. Anyway. That's the tradition.

On our first Christmas together, we decorated the tree the day after Thanksgiving. Last year that was just not possible. We were basically living in 2 apartments - one in NC and one in GA. We'd scheduled the move for December 4, so there was no point in decorating. Plus, the week of Thanksgiving I was in GA already. We didn't know until the day before Thanksgiving that Joe was getting a weekend pass and that we'd be able to go home. It was such a great feeling to have him home for those few days. We actually felt like a normal couple again! Except that he was in ACU's. I told him that our landlords were going to think I brought some stranger home. ;-)

This year, I am really going to try to continue that tradition. Joe wasn't really into the whole decorating thing anyway, so I won't be too bummed out that he's not here. I'm pretty excited about decorating. It's the one holiday that I really go all-out for. I have a tree (obviously), super cute ornaments, a wreath, a bell to hang on the door, stockings, stocking holders, Christmas houses, a little wire tree to put on the table, a gingerbread man spoon rest, tea towels.... And I'm probably forgetting something. Tomorrow I'm running out to Target to find an Advent calendar. I have been absolutely dying to have one and Target has some of the best I've ever seen!! I have avoided getting one because they're around $30, but I'm biting the bullet and just getting one. Not like I won't get good use out of it!

I'm currently trying to decide where on earth I'm going to put my tree! I usually put it in a corner, because that's just the easiest thing to do. Melissa suggested that I put it in between my DVD shelf and entertainment center, but I don't know. I'm still considering moving the desk over and putting it in the corner by the patio door. We'll see. =)

I also ordered our Christmas cards a few days ago!! I got 50 free cards from Shutterfly because I blogged about them. =) I did have to pay shipping, but I'm pretty sure I can handle $9 for 50 photo cards. I can't wait to get them and start addressing them!!

I love them!! For those of you who will actually be receiving one of these, just act surprised, ok? ;-) I'm going to have to try really hard not to send them out until December. Honestly, I don't think I have ever been this excited about Christmas!

The one thing I haven't really been on top of this year is the shopping. I've finished shopping for my niece and nephew {they're the only ones we're really buying for on Joe's side} and I'm done with Mom's gift, but I still have my grandparents, Dad and brother to buy/make things for. If I can find some Nana-ish fabric, I think I'm going to make her some potholders...or maybe a scarf. Heck, maybe I'll do both since I can't seem to make up my mind! I'm going to get Papa some pj pants, I think... And I might get both of them a book of crossword puzzles since they like them so much. Dad and Brother... Well, I'll have to work on them! I pretty much know what I'm getting Joe, but I won't post it just in case he happens to read this post. Sorry, babe! Maybe I'll attempt some Christmas shopping while I'm out tomorrow.

Oh, I must show you a couple of things!! I checked my good 'ole Donut of Misery yesterday... Take a look at all this GREEN!

Know what that means?! R&R is on its way!!! =D 

Oh, and the Donut had a little bit to say this time.

Yup. That's pretty much how I feel!!!

If you ignore both of our faces and my lovely hair, face and attire, this is a good shot. =) Check out his baby blues!! =D I miss them!

Old photo I found. I love this photo! =)

December 2007.

I'm ready for Christmas and I am super excited for R&R to get here!!!