Our friends invited us to the Fort Belvoir Officer’s Club for Brunch with Santa! It was a bit of a disorganized hot mess in my opinion, but the kids got to see Santa and the food was pretty good. The best part was the company!
Category Archives: Holidays
Attempting the annual Santa Hat photo
Comparing 2012…and now.
Christmas Party!
Christmas Trio—Then & Now
A visit with Santa
We went to the craft show again this year…and had cookies and crafts with Santa. Friends of ours were there so they did candy cane crafts together (that’s Keegan next to Owen, his younger brother Garrett and younger sister Shiela on either side of Katie).
Owen was okay with seeing Santa and talking to him…but he did NOT want to sit on his lap.
Katie was fine with Santa.
They were taking pictures, too…but none turned out that great.
The only picture where Owen was looking our way.
Katie: Mom, Owen answered the bonus question!
Me: Bonus question? What was it?
Owen: Santa asked what daddy wanted for Christmas.
Me: What did you tell him?
Owen: For Michigan State to be better!
Texts from Santa
Santa is texting the kids this year and they think it’s super cool. Owen texted back…and Santa replied!! (I had to tell him that he couldn’t expect Santa to write him back every time he texted and he said he knew—he was very busy.)
Owen was very concerned when Santa asked if he’d been a good boy: That’s a tough question. How do I answer Santa? Was I good this year? Mom, I feel like Santa is important to me.
Awwwww.
He didn’t write back for probably a half hour and it was after we’d discussed if he was god or bad. 🙂 I told him that all kids make bad decisions at times and might do some bad things, but overall he’s an amazing kid and I don’t think Santa would think he was ever a bad kid.
The Bear tradition continues…
I may have to try again because I am just not feeling these pictures. But if I don’t get around to it, at least I have these. And I took them way back on 11/20 but forgot to post them because I used my real camera!
Me, in probably about 1974 or 1975 at either 1y3m or 2y3m and Katie this year at 4y5m.
Friendsgiving!
We had one of our Saturday Night Dinners for our Thanksgiving this year. We thought we’d keep it simple—we’d do a turkey, mashed potatoes, instant stuffing, fresh bread, and mulled cider; one couple was bringing a sweet potato casserole; and one couple was bringing dessert. Easy, right? Well holy hell it was still a lot of work. Last minute stuff, really, and not hard, but still craziness. Especially at the last minute when I realized I had completely forgotten to start the gravy! (At least I already had the stock ready so it didn’t take long at all.)
My very first use of a selfie stick!
Presents from Papa & Grannie
We got a box of Christmas presents today. There were a few small things for the kids to open now. They loved their Santa hats…
And the scarf matched Katie’s outfit perfectly!
Never again.
Going out on Black Friday? Never again.
NEVER AGAIN.
NEVER NEVER NEVER AGAIN.
I forgot how insanely awful it is. We tried to go to a movie and couldn’t even get IN the parking lot so we just came home. And then I got what I needed… :p
Hand-me-down Christmas outfit
Early Sparkle: Stage 2, complete.
It didn’t take long for her to find her spot.
This Year I’m Decorating For Christmas Early, Because The World Needs Some Sparkle (Subtitled “Stage 1, complete.”)
After reading this article—This Year I’m Decorating For Christmas Early, Because The World Needs Some Sparkle—I decided I really wanted to put up our Christmas stuff just a bit early…and since Tom loves me, it actually happened. :heart:
2016 USMC Birthday Ball
Lunch with friends beforehand at Succotash in National Harbor. It was DELICIOUS and we highly recommend it. (We had fried green tomatoes; pimento cheese fundido; bacon mac and cheese; collards, kimchi, and country ham; Belle’s punch and a gochujang infused bloody mary.)
My super fancy home manicure (yeah, it’s just glitter polish):
Us, before:
Before & After
And this is what it takes to get ready for the ball. :p
A few fun pics trying to get THE PERFECT shot:
And the best shot:
And my favorite fun shot:
So as we were starting to get dressed, Tom had a uniform snafu—he realized he forgot a major piece. The exchange was closest (about 45 minutes round trip)…but they were out. Home was next closest (about an hour round trip) but that wasn’t appealing, either. A few furious texts found a buddy who lived somewhat close that had extras and could bring them to him…but that took almost an hour as well! So, while he was downstairs waiting for the delivery, I was finishing getting ready and hanging out with our friends in their room and then we came back to our room to wait for Tom. Our friend Tom was having a FIT because Tom’s uniform wasn’t even prepped to start dressing…so he got everything ready for him.
Waiting longingly for his buddy:
The group shot without Tom:
It was getting to be time to be seated for dinner (we’d already missed the entire cocktail hour) so Karen and I headed down while Tom waited for Tom. They made it with a few minutes to spare.
After the ceremony was over, we booked it out to the photo line while it was still short:
Random shots of us:
And the official photo which was emailed to us before we even left the event:
We actually had other friends at the table (plus her parents!), but we somehow managed to go the entire night without taking a big group photo OR a photo of us with them! So, here’s one I snagged off Facebook (that I actually took on her phone):
And lastly, to give you an idea of the scope of the event, here’s the seating chart: 288 tables of 10.
Overall, it was a fun evening, but unfortunately, it was once again a big ol’ waste of money—we should NOT have spent the night again. Last year we had decided it had been a mistake because we didn’t NEED to spend the night—we didn’t drink enough to need to stay and we were tired and wanting to head out by 10 so we could have easily just came home. But this year we thought we’d all stay (all three couples) and have this epic night…but we were all petering out come 10:00 so we all just went our separate ways LOL. We could have actually been home by 11 and saved the $350 we spent on the room and sitter! Lesson REALLY learned. 🙂
2016 Veteran’s Day Program
The principal, Mrs. Chianetta.
South County Secondary Choir.
You can’t see him in this photo, but we saw Owen standing up this year with his sign! He was too embarrassed last year.
You can see that the marines have the fewest families in the school.
Dressed in red, white, and blue!
We were all headed to the Veteran’s Day Program at school…so we were all in red, white, and blue! (Daddy wasn’t dressed when we took the pictures, but he was in uniform.)
Learning about Veteran’s Day
From the school’s Facebook page:
Halley 2nd Graders are buzzing this morning, thanks to some very special visitors at school today. Our students are learning about Veterans Day, and today, several Hornet staff and family members shared their experiences with us about what it means to serve in the military. We learned so much, and we are looking forward to commemorating all of our nation’s currently serving military and veterans in our ceremony tomorrow! Thank you, Ms. Demers, for these pictures!
Can you find Owen?
How about now? 🙂
2016 trick or treating with friends!
Our two Pokemon: Squirtle and Pikachu!
Our yard and porch! This was the first year we’ve left the lights on and just left treats out for kids to grab. I kind of miss carving a pumpkin, but honestly it’s a lot of work and I don’t miss the stress about needing to get it done. Plus, I have this light-up pumpkin that I can use.
Starting at our neighbor’s house…
We weren’t planning on going with them, but she was ready when we got to their house, so we all went together!
Maddie, a neighbor friend.
Then, on another street, we ran into more friends, so our group grew!
Trick or treating hours were from 6:30-8 and we used every last minute! We were walking back into our yard at 8:00!
The kids got entirely too much candy…and were super excited!
Family Costume Party!
Friends (the Brownes) invited us to a costume party and we hadn’t been to one in ages—and I’ve never been this thin—so I eagerly bought myself an awesome costume! I mean, I figured why not?!
So, you saw the sneak peek:
And Tom had a few costume options from previous years…but I had seen a friend do Cousin Eddie (from National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation) and thought it was brilliant…so I picked up the pieces for that. And of course we had the two Pokémon kidlets.
On our way…
Ta da! Thankfully we had an unseasonably warm day and we were actually comfortable in these.
Who wore it better?! 🙂 The consensus was Tom, though Randy showed more nipple. 😀
I loved all our costumes but I really want to have a theme one year. We briefly tossed around being Team Rocket or Ash and Misty from Pókemon but the costumes were too expensive for what they were and I didn’t feel like creating them myself. Maybe next year will be the themed year.
Our themed hosts:
Even Squirtles need to eat.
And Pikachus need to potty. 🙂
I really lit up well in the black light…but I don’t think it even looks like me.
The kids had a blast—we barely saw them the whole time. They were playing in the yard and going on a treasure hunt with 20 other kids.
Black light paint!
The funny thing was that we were all thinking it was like 9-9:30 (it was dark and we were tired) and we looked at the time…and it was only like 6:45! Are we old or what? 🙂
Once the sun went down it quickly got chilly so they started a fire and we hung out there for a bit but then we called it a night and were home by 7:30. ARE WE OLD OR WHAT?! 🙂
Sneak preview of my costume.
Neighborhood Fall Festival
Our neighborhood has a decent fall festival so I took the kids down today while Tom continued working on the new landscaping!
Katie’s first time bobbing for apples. Or, more accurately, attempting to grab a stem with her teeth. 🙂
The costume contest! Our friend Kayleigh won!
2016 Halley Fall Festival
So, it was an interesting night to say the least.
It started with deciding at the very last minute to take Katie as well. We hadn’t been going to do that and she was a little bummed but then the mommy guilt got to me and I changed my mind. We had a minor fight with Owen about what costume he was wearing—we bought him Squirtle because he really wanted to be Squirtle…and instead he wanted to wear some random skeleton costume with a mask (they aren’t supposed to wear masks) so we said he needed to wear his new costume.
On our way…
So.
Then.
Every year thus far, Owen has had a sudden onset of shyness or nervousness when we approach the school for the festival but it was never anything bad or lasting—we’d just walk in and he’d be glued to our sides for about three minutes until he saw all the fun going on and saw his friends…and all was forgotten and he had a great time.
Except this year. He COMPLETELY freaked out and wouldn’t even set foot in the building. At first we thought it was just his normal routine, but when we tried to coerce him in, he refused. REFUSED. And got visibly upset. We tried to be nice and loving and that didn’t work. We tried tough love and that didn’t work. After 10 minutes or so, I went in with Katie and Tom stayed in the hallway waiting to see if Owen would come in the building. I talked to his teacher and she tried to get him to come in. Nope. A few of his friends went out to try and get him to come in. Nope. I tried again. Nope. It was absolutely maddening. He had a whole litany of reasons he didn’t want to come in, the biggest of which was he hated his costume, it was stupid, and he knew everyone would laugh at him and he’d be embarrassed. It didn’t matter that everyone who saw him said they loved it (I mean, Pokemon is ALL the rage!) and people had heard about the Squirtle costume and were LOOKING FOR HIM.
He also said there were too many people and they’d all be looking at him. What? The kid who has no problems (anymore) of speaking in a group in front of an assembly? The kid that everyone seems to know and like? The kid who loves people? I was gobsmacked.
It didn’t matter what anyone said. He was NOT coming in and he was in full meltdown mode.
In the midst of this, I was with Katie playing the games and getting her face painted and she was having an absolute blast. (The face painter was Miss Anne, the assistant in Katie’s classroom that she also had last year and is a friend of ours.)
Putting her name on her treat bag!
Picking a sucker for a prize! (Bonus: notice that they reused my signs from last year?!)
With our neighbor, Jackson (first grade).
Getting her picture taken.
Then Tom texted me to say he was DONE because he had just had to chase Owen down because he ran off. What the hell?! So we went out again for me to try talking to Owen—at this point he was actually in the building quite a ways so I thought I would have more luck, but nope, he was still refusing to come in to the festival. And when I tried to coerce him in again, he literally turned and ran away down the hall. Some older kids saw his costume and came up and told him how awesome it was. Nope, still not moving. Still thought his costume was embarrassing. By this point I was just done (he’d been out there for almost an hour) and told him we were done—he was either going in or we were both going to sit in the car until daddy and Katie were done. Which is exactly what we ended up doing. 🙁
So, Tom had switched places with me and had taken Katie in to the cafeteria to dance…where she had even more fun! It would have been even more fun if we were all there together. Ugh.
A bunch of snippets of Katie dancing…and frolicking!
So, overall, Katie had an absolute blast, Tom and I had fun when we were each with Katie, and the rest was a hot failed mess dealing with Owen. We have NO idea where this all came from or why it was so traumatizing for him. Of course, now we’re worried that something else more serious is going on that we don’t know about or he hasn’t told us about…
I almost forgot we had this shirt!
Pre-K Halloween Parade
The kids walked through the whole school and lots of the classes were waiting in the hallways to watch them. And everyone LOVED Pikachu!
Her trick-and-treat bag (they got a small treat in the main office):
Ready for Christmas Eve!
My end of birthday selfie
Marcia spoiled me with a few birthday presents!
First we had lunch at the Neiman Marcus Cafe with her two daughters and the two employees who helped with the Facebook event. I actually introduced them all to the delicious wonder that is Green Goddess salad dressing (it came on two dishes and no one had ever tried it so I asked the waiter to bring a sample; they all loved it) and they let me in on the secret that the little cup the waiter brought was not tea, but chicken stock. Sounds odd, right? But it was DELICIOUS. 🙂 At dessert time we hoped for something chocolate and surprisingly they didn’t have anything! But! The waiter said “Let me see what I can do” and he came back with a huge slice of chocolate cake! (Turns out he got it from another NM cafe on another level.) Then the table sang Happy Birthday to me. 🙂
Then it was off shopping at the mall. I had complimented her daughter Candace on her gorgeous necklace and she said she actually got it at Chicos…so we headed there (I usually get something “big” as a souvenir instead of a tchotchke). So I was looking at all the jewelry and Marcia and her daughter were looking at clothes. I was trying to decide between pieces to just pick one and Marcia offered to hold them for me while I was looking…and I turned around and she was buying all three for me!
What?! I told you she’s awesome.
Then we walked around some more and we ended up at Sundance where Candace tried on a bunch of clothes. The stuff was way too expensive for me, but I tried on a few things for fun (I mean, that’s what you do when you’re out shopping with the girls, right?!). And then they both tried on this coat—which I had noticed and thought was cute but figured there was no way I would be buying it so why tempt myself—but peer pressure got me and I tried it on and it was SUPER cute…and Marcia immediately said “Excellent! I’ll get this for you, too! Happy birthday!” WHAT?! Holy crap. I told her she couldn’t but she wouldn’t take no for an answer. So I now own this coat. And, actually, all three of us now own that coat!! 🙂
And then it was off to get all our nails done…another birthday treat! I opted for a basic French manicure. I forgot how much I LOVE them…
And then it was off to dinner at Gloria’s Latin Cuisine with Marcia, her daughter, and another coworker/friend! It was delicious, and I enjoyed a strawberry margarita and fish and brisket tacos for my birthday!
On the way home, Marcia said (paraphrasing) “I was going to get you dessert and have them sing happy birthday, but they get crazy with it so I changed my mind.” See? LOVE HER.
The live Facebook Q&A with Naturally Slim!
So the Live Facebook event was actually going to take place at the combined offices of Holmes Murphy and ACAP Health, both new partners of Naturally Slim. I was VERY anxious about the event, but Marcia assured me I would do just fine. I was put a little more at ease when she told me it would only be about 20 minutes long—I had thought it would be an hour or something! Phew!
We got there early and Marcia showed me around the offices and introduced to many, many people…most of whom were all like “Oh, wow! I know you! You’re Jennifer Hudson! I recognize you!” It was VERY surreal. They were just as excited to meet me as I was to meet them! The offices were super fun and trendy, with named meeting rooms like the Vineyard (with a wall of bookcases and wine racks) and the Bead Room, which is where we ended up filming—yes, a “room” in the middle of the office space with floor-to-ceiling hanging beads encircling four chairs and a table!
Getting ready to start!
Our view during the event:
And then we were off and running…
Live Q&A with Marcia Upson, President of Naturally Slim
[iOS users, if Safari isn’t showing the Facebook video below, try Chrome]
And suddenly it was over! What?! Already?! Wow that went fast! I had a lot of fun and the time just flew by—I probably could have answered questions for an hour! Of course watching the video later I noticed things I didn’t like (like my roll of belly fat and a few strange looks I made) but overall I think I did pretty well!
And then on the way out, I got to meet Todd (Todd Whitthorne, President, ACAP Health—he’s in quite a few of the program videos)!! And just like Marcia, he was just the same as in the videos, too. And boy was he tall (I’m 5’9″ and you see how he towers over me)! 🙂
What a memorable way to spend my 43rd birthday!!
Happy birthday to me, selfie style with Marcia!
