Seven!

January 17, 2013 - Carys' 7th Birthday!

I can hardly believe my baby is seven! 

And what happened to all her teeth?

There was a big pile of presents on the dining room table,
 and Landon wasn't even home to add his.

From Mom and Dad, Carys got The Lorax DVD...

A new game for her Leapster 2...

Two My Little Pony sets I picked up on Black Friday...

And a Melissa & Doug reusable sticker pad.

Chase gave Carys two of her own toys that Carys had been
drooling over - a Tinkerbell...

and some Legos from an old Lego Advent calendar for girls.

Gerren gave Carys a bag of gummy bears.

Carys' birthday fell on a Thursday when Greg works all day and night, and Landon isn't home from school.  He was coming home Friday though, as they had a three-day weekend with Monday off for Martin Luther King Day.  So Carys chose to wait to eat out (our birthday tradition) until Friday night.  We went to Cracker Barrel.

We don't usually do cake and candles.  I let each child choose a dessert for their big day.  This year, Carys chose a cake (White Cookie Cake), so we put candles in it for her.

Sick!

Monday night, Carys had a slight cough.  Tuesday morning she was rather lethargic but had no temperature.  She had a dentist's appointment at Shands at 4pm.  We do NOT cancel Shands' appointments as it takes so long to get another one.  So, we went.  She had eaten a couple of bites of cereal for breakfast and that's it.  She fell asleep waiting to leave.

Waiting to leave for the dentist's

She slept the entire hour to Gainesville.  I got her a smoothie after her appointment, she drank a couple of sips, and slept the entire hour home from Gainesville.  When we got home, she took a quick bath, fell asleep on my bed and slept the entire evening.  By the time she woke up, she had a fever and a very congested cough.  She slept most of the day Wednesday and the entire afternoon Thursday, eating almost nothing.  This morning she woke up fever-free.

Chase has the fever and the congested cough.  Sigh!

2013 Already?

Seems it's time for my monthly post as today is January 7th and my last was on December 8! :)  I'm hopeless.  As I'm reading other blogs, I think about updating mine and it never goes much farther than that.

We had a great December.  Landon arrived home from school on Wednesday, December 12.  We had two more days of school and then were off for the next three weeks.  It was wonderful.  It's been many years since we've taken three weeks off at Christmas; we just haven't had the time.  This year, we had finished 18 weeks of curriculum, half of our subjects that take the longest, by December 14.  We'll finish up the year in mid-May depending on how much time we take off this spring.

On Saturday, December 15, we headed to Busch Gardens' Christmas Town for our annual Meahl Family Christmas Event.  It was the 8th year in a row we've done something together rather than exchanging gifts, and we always have a great time.   Chase and my niece convinced me to ride a crazy roller coaster with them.  I can't believe I survived.  I always loved roller coasters, but I'm getting older.  What can I say?

Sunday, the 16th, was my 50th birthday.  I was NOT looking forward to it.  We went to Carrabba's for dinner.  I was so thrilled to have our friends, the Spiddles, join us.  Landon and Chase gave me a really neat gift.  On the way home from school (Orlando), he went by The Cheesecake Factory and bought me two pieces of cheesecake.  They froze them until Sunday!  That was so thoughtful.  They also gave me two poinsettias.  I always want poinsettias but can never justify the expense of buying some.  I'm still enjoying them. :)   Greg tried to buy me Christmas dishes which I had asked for.  It's almost impossible for him to buy me anything.  Luckily, I found the Pfaltzgraff Winterberry pattern at Belk for 70% off the day after Christmas.  I also had a coupon of some sort with me.  I got a much nicer set of dishes for less than he paid for some that were red on the inside and white on the outside or vice versa - not my idea of Christmas dishes.

We celebrated Christmas Eve with candlelight service and dinner out at the Ocean Buffet.  It's the second year we've eaten there, and we really like it.  The kids always open one "wintery" gift on Christmas Eve (fleece blankets or mittens or warm pajamas).  This year they all got long-sleeved shirts purchased at Old Navy on Black Friday.

Christmas Eve

Everyone agreed to get up before 10:00am on Christmas day.  Teenagers!  So, we had homemade cinnamon rolls, did the center candle of our Advent wreath, and began opening presents.  Landon was so excited to see how everyone liked what he gave them.  He really went all out this year.  We gave three gifts a piece to the kids - one major gift and two smaller ones.  Landon's major gift was a Kindle (the lowest-priced model that's simply an e-reader), Gerren's was a luggage set (same thing Landon got his senior year Christmas), Chase's was a set of telescopic binoculars for looking at the stars, and Carys' was a Leapster 2 (which you really can't call a major gift since I got it for $20 on Black Friday!).  Everyone liked their gifts, though Carys needs more games for hers to really enjoy it.  Her birthday is 1/17, so I foresee games in her future. :)

The traditional Christmas morning photo

Landon gave Greg a Kindle Fire.  He broke the iTouch I bought him a year or so ago by sitting on it in his back pocket.  So, Landon figured at least he couldn't sit on this one.  Our only dilemma is trying to convert the albums we bought on iTunes to mp3s.  The newer ones are convertible, but the older ones aren't.  I need to put that on my to-do list.  Greg bought me a purse I hated, but I found one I liked a day or so after Christmas and bought it.  The kids bought me a pair of FitFlop clogs which I really wanted, but I didn't like the style, they were too expensive and they were too small.  I also found a different pair I liked a day or so later and Landon order those (he actually saved money)!  See, I'm awful to buy anything for.  I need to make a Wish List on Amazon.com like my friend Kristine does.

A Doctor Who shirt from Landon to Gerren

Carys was so thrilled to hand out her gifts

"Girl" Legos from Landon to Carys

A My Little Pony calendar from Mom & Dad

Gerren needed new running shoes....these were too small!

 

Leapster 2 from Mom & Dad

Brave

Landon bought Chase a messenger bag from some anime' they watch

Luggage for Christmas your senior year in high school may become a traditional gift!

Playing with the Legos now that they're put together

After a dinner of steak, baked potatoes and salad, we headed to the movies to see The Hobbit.  We enjoyed it even though it didn't get very good reviews.  When we got home, we had dessert - cranberry cheesecake - and opened stockings as usual.  Everyone loved what they got in their stockings which included ear buds and iTunes gift cards.  My stocking had caramel creams (which I love) in it.  That was all.  Caramel Creams.  Certainly a disappointment.  It's hard for someone whose love language is gift giving to live in a family where almost no one else's love language is gift giving.  Sigh.

We had a great New Year's Eve of game playing and appetizer-type foods at home with our family.  Everyone made it until midnight, even Carys.  New Year's Day we had a turkey I bought on sale near Thanksgiving for dinner, then Landon took Chase and me to see Les Miserables.  I really liked it, though I didn't cry for the whole three hours as I've heard of people doing.  (Landon says I may not have a soul.) :)

We're back to school now and looking forward to all the spring holds, including Gerren's graduation from high school entrance into the Air Force.  Maybe I'll update more frequently.  Yeah, right!

Thanksgiving 2012

We arrived at the Miskiewicz's house in Raleigh, NC, on Wednesday, November 21. 

Here we are!

  Kim had cooked up a storm in preparation for the weekend.  Not only were we, Jeremy (Erin's boyfriend), Kim's mom and brother there all weekend, she was having 29 people for Thanksgiving dinner itself.  

Kim's mom is 84 and going strong.  She helped Kim a lot with the pre-cooking.

We had lasagna to eat on Wednesday night.

Jeremy proposed to Erin at the skating rink on Wednesday evening.  We were all supposed to wait in the lobby and yell "Surprise!".  We arrived before they did, and when we realized it, there was a mad rush to the cars to hide!  So typical of a Meahl/Miskiewicz get-together.

Finally waiting.

The happy couple plans to get married in September 2013.  They will both graduate from college this May.

 Thanksgiving Day arrived and it was a full and happy one!

Carys' main goal was to play with Abby.

The young girl and the old lady. 

Abby has been a part of many of our Thanksgivings, including one where she ate half the pumpkin pie while we were outside looking through Dave's telescope.

 The dining room table was usually filled with some sort of board game that would have to be cleared off in order to eat.

Let the games begin!

Kim and I have been doing Thanksgiving together since 1997, minus one year when they went to Kim's mom's house in Kentucky.  That's 15 of the last 16 years.  Wow!  Things will begin to change now as our children are getting married, joining the Air Force, etc.

Ok!  Here's what we're going to do!

On top of everything that day, Landon overflowed the toilet upstairs and before he could blink, water was running down the walls into the shower of the downstairs bathroom and into the bedroom downstairs.  It set off the smoke alarms, too!  He will never live it down!

Uncle Jim to the rescue!

Discussing the bathroom situation with the experts, Greg & Jim.

Carys had a great time playing with Julia and Bethany, the neighbor girls.  She seems to be into giving the peace sign in all her pictures now!

Carys and Bethany heading out to play.

 Finally Thanksgiving dinner was ready.  We have all our usuals that must be present and then many extras are added in depending on the number of people eating that day.

Dave is happy to finally be eating.

Carys sharing the love!

Kim, Chase and I hit Walmart on Thursday evening.  It was chaotic, but I got a few things at really incredible prices that will make Christmas so nice!  On Friday, the fun continued.

Video games in the Bonus Room (love this picture of Matt and Carys)!

More board games

Greg and Dave did some shooting in the back yard and at a range.

Kim and I did a little more shopping.  Then the four of us went out to eat at a sushi place, Erin and Jeremy went to Outback with Jeremy's parents, and everyone else had take-out pizza at home.  We had a big bonfire in the backyard to wrap up the evening.

 We planned to leave at 2pm on Saturday, so there was time for some fun prior to that.
 

See what I mean about the peace sign!

 The most hilarious pictures came from the people playing Kinect!!

Chase and Landon boxing?

Matt and Landon also boxing, though it looks more like dancing.

Greg gets in an the fun, though I have no idea what he is doing!

Greg and Matt having a heart-to-heart.

 We always take group pictures before leaving.  Here are a few!

We left at 2pm.  Unfortunately, we only got about 30 minutes down the road before the van died.  The fuel pump had to be replaced.  We managed to get it towed to a Firestone before they closed.  They ordered the parts, so it could be fixed on Sunday.  We had already checked out of our hotel (Greg, Carys & I stayed in a hotel this time because of Kim's mom being at her house.), so we spent the night at the Miskiewicz's.  That meant more time for fun.

No visit is complete without a game of Mafia.

Gerren is NOT the mafia!

Good thing we had an extra night to play!

We spent the day Sunday waiting to hear about the van and doing the other things we hadn't managed to fit in. 

Kim cut Chase's bangs for her.

Don't they look good?

Organizing the Tupperware, my idea of fun!

The wishbone wasn't quite dry enough to snap.

We enjoyed a cup of tea on the porch.

Two beautiful young ladies, Chase and Erin.

At 4:00pm the van was done, and we managed to leave by 5:00pm. 

We had a great time!

We took Landon straight to Orlando, arriving by 12:30pm.  We were home by 2:00am.  Greg had to get up at 6:30 for work, but he got to bed by 3:00am.  The next evening, we took Landon's car to him.  It was a long week going on a sleep deficit like that, but we survived.

I had to include these pictures.  I can always count on Kim to snap some great pictures of my kids' beautiful faces.

Chase - 14

Landon - 19

Carys - 6

Gerren - 17

 

 We'll be back in NC in September for Erin's wedding. We can't wait!