Wordless Wednesday #18

HAPPY 22nd BIRTHDAY BLISTER !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Holiday Traditions

Blog party day 2!

Today at http://www.momdot.com/ they are asking us to share our favorite family traditions and maybe some we would like to begin! Today's question is sponsored by LaPlates and Lets Go Strolling and Natitys Design.

Well, our family is different. My husband is born and bred German and I'm born and bred American. Living overseas I only get to celebrate with my family every other year because we are obligated to visit his family on the off years... one of the very few downfalls of marriage is having to share holidays. My husband's family are not believers and that makes Christmas there really difficult for me because I feel like the meaning of Christmas is being ignored and forgotten! Not to mention theydon't even put up a Christmas tree, it's a Christmas bush so to speak... So, I will just talk about my side of the family,otherwise I'll get depressed and I'll depress y'all which doesn't make for much of a party ... hahaha. Have you guessed whose year it is for Christmas yet .... lol. So, here's what I'll be missing this year. Actually, I'm going home next week so I will at least get turkey day with my folks :D On Thanksgiving, it is tradition that we watch the macy's thanksgiving day parade (my favorite is always the rockets, and whatever broadway show's they are showcasing), as soon as the parade is finished, Turkey is served . After Turkey begins the Christmas movie marathon! Then midnight madness at the outlets (this will be a new tradition for us this year :D), and Friday morning isreservedfor best buy. Friday AFternoon we get the tree, decorate and this year we'll celebrate Christmas. When I'm with my side of the family for Christmas there are lots of traditions and I love them all! Beginning with Thanksgiving we watch a Christmas movie everynight until New year's day! We decorate really big, you'll notice the gigantic Christmas tree (complete with train, mini village and fake snow blanket) and huge nutcracker in the photo from my day 1 party post. We also always sing with our Church choir at Epcot's candlelight processional! It is an amazing experience, and if you are going to the parks this year I definitely recommend this concert/reading of the Christmas story for getting in the Christmas spirit. On Christmas Eve we attend the fantastic musical Christmas eve service at our church, we all sing in the choir, then go home bake cookies and watch the musical version of scrooge with Albert Finney. It's my dad's favorite. At the end of the movie, my dad gets up sings one more verse of "thank you very much" while jigging and clicking his heels like scrooge and we set out the cookies and milk for Santa complete with carrot for Rudolph. My parents always told me that as long as I "believed" in Santa there would be presents from Santa. So I'm a 26 year old believer in Santa Clause :D hehe. Then Christmas morning we all get up have a pancake breakast made by daddy, and the present opening marathon begins. We take turns unwrapping because we all really like to see each other's reactions to our gifts, especially when we've put a lot of thought into it. If Christmas falls on a Sunday then we have pancakes, then church, and then present unwrapping. Mom makes an awesome roast for Christmas dinner which we eat at lunch. The rest of Christmas day is spent hanging with the family watching Christmas movies and playing with Christmas presents! Oh and we are big on Carols. My family is very musical and we randomly burst into song at anytime during the holiday season with our favorite Christmas carols. Everyone has their own part and everything! Sometimes we even go caroling to the neighbors houses! So that's it, that's what my family does traditionally for the holidays!

Christmas and my family!

Hi everyone! I can't tell you how excited I am about the momdot.com Christmas blog party! I've never participated in a blog party before so I'm really looking forward to this! So, today I'm supposed to tell you and show you about my family. This is a photo of us last Christmas at mom and dad's!

From Left to right: (me, audrey, timothy, mom, dad, and my blister "aka" Victoria)

Today's blog party question is sponsored by: La belle Toile http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6259021 and This and That by Randi http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6083668

Wordless Wednesday #17

I wanna win!

Ok, so the lovely ladies at momdot.com are offering up a fantastic play mat from onestepahead.com and I really want it. To enter you have to post a picture of the child you are entering for. So here is my photo that I was going to save for Wordless Wednesday but now I'm having to put it up for this contest! Enjoy and please pick me!

Wordless Wednesday #16

For more wordless wednesday go to www.momdot.com and www.5minutesformom.com

My sister as Sarah Palin on Halloween...

halloween 2008

So, Halloween totally rocked! I planned a trunk or treat at Audrey's school as a fundraiser and it was a success! Cyprus doesn't celebrate Halloween so the expat community was very happy to have a halloween event for the kids! I know next year's event will be even better! Here are a few photos of my little princess as tinkerbell. When we put on the wings she was really excited because she thought she was going to be able to fly ... lol. And, she's still wearing the shoes. She refuses to wear anything else. We all had a great time and for 2 hours I felt at home :D

Help me choose a baby carrier!

So, I'm preggers again! In case you missed my earlier announcement ... lol! And, this time around we are not as financially challenged, thank the good LORD! He's been amazing to us. So, there are products out there that I want to have this time because we just couldn't afford them last time. I definitely want to try the baby wearing thing. I'm turning to the mommy blogging community for help, because I just don't know what is the best product to get. Last time we had that cheap little $29 evenflo front carrier. My husband who is 6'5" was never able to wear it comfortably and Audrey being such a large child out grew it very quickly. I'm really interested in the slings that I've been seeing in the online mommy boutiques but I have lots of questions! I like that they look pretty and they seem to grow with baby from infancy to toddler. But, are they really safe? I mean it just seems like only a ring is holding the thing together. Also, will it be a good fit for me and my husband? he's huge and I'm only 5'4". Are the slings comfortable to wear? Is the baby comfortable in it? How difficult are they to tie all the different ways? Should we opt for something else? Are the slings really worth what seems to me to be an outrageous price tag for some cloth and a metal ring? Should we just go with the baby bjorn? Should I get one carrier for my husband and one for me? What do you, my trusty bloggy moms recommend?