Family vacation

We haven't had the opportunity to take a family vacation in years.  Seriously.  The last time we went anywhere together as a whole family was before Jonathan and I got married, so that's been a long while.  Thanks to Jonathan's job, he had earned enough airline miles that the girls and I were able to fly to Virginia and meet up with him (he was already there for work) and stay with his family for a week.  It was nice to have a week together away from home.  While there, we went to Luray Caverns, the house where Robert E. Lee was born, and the Smithsonian natural history museum and American history museum.  We also got to see the property where Jonathan's parents are building their new home.  The girls were especially excited that they got to go to 2 new states (Virginia and West Virginia) and the District of Colombia.

*sigh*

I turned 30 last Thursday. Yep, that's right, t-h-i-r-t-y. Not happy about that. I have no pictures to post of this occasion. Nothing exciting really happened, except that Jonathan flew home from New York that day shortly before the plane that crashed into the Hudson. (I thank God every time I see him standing by the baggage carousel, with another trip behind us.) I have a confession to make... I've been dreading this day for an entire year. I really never thought that a certain age would bother me, but for some reason, this one does. I don't look around at other thirty-somethings and think "Wow! They're old!", but for some reason, I feel like I am. Does anyone want to try and explain this nonsensical reasoning?

Happy anniversary to me!

Remember how I said that Jonathan had to go to Florida during our anniversary? We decided to take an entire day off of work to make up for it, and have a date! I knew we were going to go to Caroling at the Adolphus, as I told Jonathan that I always wanted to, but never had. Being a choir nerd myself, I always enjoy a good choral performance, and the Adolphus serves cookies and cider to munch on during the concert! I really must find a good local group to sing with again! (Any suggestions anyone?) We knocked around downtown Dallas for a while, saying hello to old friends from our days of working there, and Jonathan had a couple of business matters he had to take care of. After that, off to the Gaylord Texan Hotel, where I knew we were going, but had no clue why. When we arrived, there were signs posted everywhere for something called "Ice", but I still couldn't imagine what that might be. We trooped through the entire hotel, which was decorated beautifully (think I'll bring the girls back and take some pictures of them.) and on to the attached convention centre, where I finally got a clue what we were doing. Ice is the HUGEST ice sculpture exhibit ever! There were animals galore, a skating pond with ice sculpture people skating on it, a gigantic Santa, a "gingerbread" house, 10 foot tall Christmas ornaments, an ice slide (that was oh-so fun!) an ice cathedral complete with trumpeting angel, and a larger-than-life-sized nativity scene! I wish I could give you more pictures of everything, but blogger will only let me post so many! Jonathan promised that he would "make it up" for being gone on the actual day, and he certainly did! I think he might just like to remind me what a big kid I actually am! ;)

Fun at the ballet

Jonathan was in Florida on our anniversary (it was either that, or Celestia's birthday, so we felt that this was the lesser of two evils) and I knew that I would be feeling a bit down, so I surprised the girls with tickets to the Nutcracker ballet. This was our third year to go, and we've really enjoyed it each time. I just love fun family traditions! ;-) The girls got to wear their Christmas dresses for the first time this year, and I took some pictures of them at Bass Performance Hall. It really is a beautiful place, and the pictures just don't do it justice. I can't believe Christmas is coming so quickly, and I haven't even managed to get my tree up yet! Bad Mommy!

Go USA!

OK, so I know it's a month late, but happy Halloween, everyone! October was absolutely crazy for us, which is why it has taken me so long to post. Jonathan was home for a grand total of five full days for the month, so I was just a little nuts! The girls had several parties on the week of Halloween, and enjoyed wearing their costumes almost every day. They both had Olympic fever this year, and just had to be gymnasts . Celestia was Shawn Johnson, and Tatiana was Nastia Luikin, complete with curly ponytail! I was a volunteer at our church's fall fun fest on Wednesday night of Halloween week, and told the story on the hayride the entire time. I was not able to get ONE SINGLE PICTURE of the girls having fun! (Thanks, Mom for being such a photo fanatic, or I would have none!) That was a total bummer, because Jonathan was in Chicago, and completely missed the girls having fun, as well. On the other hand, I would like to say just how proud I am of my girls, who ran around for an hour and a half without Mommy or Daddy, and didn't get into trouble once! I would also like to say that I LOVE living in a small town, and going to a small church where everyone still knows each other and looks out for all the kiddos! Jonathan flew home on Halloween, so he was able to go trick-or-treating with us, and what a haul the girls came home with!!! All in all, we had a great Halloween, and survived Jonathan being out of town more than he ever had in one month. I guess it's safe to say that we're getting used to him traveling, and I'm learning to do all sorts of handy stuff around the house!

Let it snow!

As you may know, Jonathan is traveling these days. He has a great job, and loves not being stuck behind a desk all the time. This can, however, lead to some very interesting adventures for me at home. We had our only snowfall of the year in February, while Jonathan was in Long Beach, California. As he loves the snow, and was very sorry to miss it, I slipped on some shoes, and stepped outside at around 10:00 in the evening to take some pictures. I left the house with only my camera, and cell phone. Can you guess what happened next? That's right, I locked the door behind me! Celestia, and Tatiana were spending the night at my parents house, and it was really coming down! I called Jonathan, hysterical and cried "It's snowing outside, and I locked myself out of the house, and you're in California, and I want you to come home!!!!!" I mean really, what was he going to do in Long Beach? I trudged over to my nearest friend's house, with no coat, wearing highly inappropriate shoes, and arrived looking like a drowned rat! We proceeded to try to break into my house. I have discovered, that anyone who wants to get into my home will have to break some glass! I also discovered that very few locksmiths are willing to come to Anna, TX in the middle of a snowstorm, and our fabulous drivers here, park their vehicles in the middle of I75 during a snowstorm. Finally, at 1:00 AM, the very nice man arrived at my home to let me in, and I was able to sleep in my own nice, warm bed for a few hours! Needless to say, I have had several copies of keys made for the house, and given them to various people should this situation ever occur again!

Shivers!

MJ