May Angel Star

Archive for the ‘Holidays’ Category

Friday

We hung out with the neighbors.

Great food.

Ladder Golf and Cornhole.

Sparklers, firecrackers, fireworks and a bizarre Chinese lantern.

Beer, alcohol infused sweet tea, pina coladas and a few shots of tequila, okay, a lot of shots of tequila.

The kids had fun playing with their friends.

One by one they went to bed, starting with Alex and ending with Katie.

We moved the party to the Withrow’s backyard

Brian left after 1am as he had to be up early for a meeting.

I stumbled arrived home around 3am.

Saturday

I awoke to my head spinning.

I slept in until I absolutely had to get up from bed.

Ice water became my best friend.

I talked to the neighbors.

I lounged around a lot.

At the last minute I we decided to go to the Dublin Fireworks.

Packed everything up.

Grabbed some Benny’s Cheesesteaks for us and Wendy’s for the kids.

Got a great parking spot.

Got a great area on the grass in the shade in perfect viewing area of the future festivities.

We listened to Kenny Loggins play live.

Kids went on 7 jumpies.

Got tattoos and face painting.

Brian got us funnel cake.

Then the kids ran amok until it was time to watch the show.

The fireworks were absolute amazing!

We got to our van quickly and made our way out pretty fast as well.

We will definitely be getting those spots again!!

Sunday

We slept in until 11am.

Got ourselves together and left for the Hilliard Parade at 1:55.

Parade started at 2:00 and I wasn’t sure exactly where it ended.

We made it to the end of the parade route with plenty of time to spare.

Got some Taco Bell and waited.

Kids got loads of candy.

We went home.

Alex took a nap.

The girls went and played with the neighbor kids.

Brian did work.

I did editing on our cell group video.

We went to Agape Fellowship’s 4th of July Tailgating party.

Got a nice spot in the shade.

Were joined by the Olson’s.

Had free hotdogs, popcorn, popsicles and pop.

Played some cards, sevens.

Kids ran free and had fun with a soccer ball.

Then came the sparklers.

All the kids got excited, including Alex who had done some Friday night with no problems.

Alex did his second sparkler.

He started trying to grip it with both hands and was being erratic.

I got his hands away.

I accidentally grabbed the sparkling end of the sparkler.

My pointer finger and thumb were charred.

I showed Brian and he told me to get it on ice.

I ran to the free drinks and stuck my hand in the ice water.

They gave me a huge chunk of ice and a cup.

I whimpered as we watched the fireworks.

My fingers were on fire if they were not gripping ice or submerged in ice water.

For the second time this weekend ice water had become my best friend.

I had it submerged until 1am.

Then I alternated between a bag of ice as I was trying to sleep to dunking it in the cup of ice water next to my bed.

I woke up to barely any burning.

Swollen fingers.

Three things I learned this weekend:

1. Tequila shots are not a good idea.

2. Skin continues to burn after initial contact.

3. Ice water is an amazing cure for many things!

May you all have a blessed Christmas!

If you want to check out the Twelve Weeks of Christmas blog carnival, click on the above link! It has all the info there at Keely’s blog, plus you can link up your post for others to see too

I love to give. Whenever we do a “Spiritual Gifts Inventory” at church giving is usually at the very top of my list. Christmas is just another time when my gift giving skills come into play.

I love putting love and care into the gifts I pick out, but more importantly, my absolute favorite thing to give are gifts that I have made personally.

There is just something special about pouring your heart into something you create to give to someone else!

Scrapbooks have been big on my list in years past. One year I was locked away in my room on Christmas Eve and then up until almost 3am finishing scrapbooks! It was so exhausting, but the look of happiness on the recipients face make it all worthwhile.

Crocheted items were my big ticket item last year. Scarves and hats, all different colors and in some cases themes (like Flyers hockey!)

This year I think I’m going to go back to the hat and scarf route, or maybe a blanket, or maybe sock monkeys. It’s always so hard for me to stick to one idea!

If anything, the biggest downfall to my homemade gifts, is not preparing enough time for me to get them done. I usually wait until the last minute before thinking about things and then lack the time to get everything accomplished. I thought I would be ahead of the game this year, but today is Nov. 1st people!

Where did 2009 go??? I was supposed to start thinking about this stuff back in July!

Leaving you with some pictures of presents past and presents future.

My Aunt Freda trying on her hat and scarf last Christmas. My brother Dwight in the background wearing his!

Traditional and non-traditional different colored sock monkeys! My Mom ordered 5 of these from me to give away as gifts this year, I’m working on a pink one right now. The girls both want a pink one as well for Christmas.

What are you making to give away this year?

Foil hats equal free Chipotle Burritos!

Hope everyone had a fantastic Halloween! The kids enjoyed wearing foil hats, waiting in the car for 30 minutes while Brian waited in line. Then we joined him and waited for about 30 more minutes. It was the kids first time eating Chipotle, they enjoyed it saturated with ranch dressing and a lot of water, apparently they thought it was spicy! Alex absolutely loved his!

Our order totaled to $34, wearing foil on our head rendered it priceless!

In the words of Katie, “We don’t have to pay $1, sweet!”