Two Weeks of Everything

*Warning* This post is ridiculously long. It started out as just an anniversary post, but grew to cover all the major events in my household over the past two weeks. Really, it's like six different posts. Read it all at once or just one mini-post at a time. I suspect only the most devoted readers will make it to the end.


December 20, 2007 A Blissful Decade


Today is the tenth anniversary of my wedding to my Michael. Wow! Have I really been a married woman for an entire decade? How did this happen to someone as young and spry as myself?



I have never felt more beautiful than I did on my wedding day. My mom did my hair in like 15 minutes and I slapped on my 45 seconds worth of make-up but I felt like a princess. Even if my thigh cannot fit into the waist of my wedding dress anymore, I am so glad for the past ten years and the life I've shared with my Michael. He and I are so different but I think we compliment each other very well. I mean, thank goodness not everyone is as high-strung as I, you know? My Michael is a great example of desiring to do good, being honest, and serving the Lord. Plus, he adores me. And he's funny. I love him.


To celebrate, we went to The Melting Pot. The way I figure it, if you can't go out to a ridiculously expensive meal for your tenth anniversary, when can you? And so we did. Our favorite couple "to date," Tracy and Chris, had their fifteenth anniversary just last week, so we doubled. It was a great night after Chris received CPR for his reaction to the menu prices. My thoughtful mother-in-law and her husband even came to town for a quick visit to babysit for us!



Happy Anniversary, my Michael! Here's to many more decades together...

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Christmas 2007

For Christmas this year we went to Uncle Josiah's house. Boy, did we have fun! We arrived on the afternoon of Christmas Eve in time to enjoy some heavy hors d'oeuvre and Christmas cookie consumption. After the binging, we bundled up in coats for a hay ride! Josiah hitched a big hay-filled wagon to the back of his pick-up and drove us (at a frightening speed) down the street and into a nearby neighborhood to admire the Christmas lights. It was a chilly night and the scent of the exhaust of the truck was more than a little stifling, but it was still a grand time. Oh, how we laughed to keep from freezing!
Once we got back to the house, it was gingerbread house time. There were little graham cracker houses for everyone to decorate. Uncle Chris and Aunt Meredith contributed all the candy, which was in no short supply.

Next, it was time for the Nativity. We used the standard towel costumes and all willing children participated. It's always nice to stop everything else for a quick activity sponsored by the True Meaning of Christmas, you know?


After wrestling kids into pajamas and issuing the standard Christmas Eve Santa-can't-come-until-all-kids-are-asleep threat, we got all 11 cousins to sleep.



Christmas morning was as magical as ever. My kids were thrilled by their 3 gifts from Santa each (Maia: guitar, MP3 player, walkie/talkie thingies; Mason: pogo stick, frog terrarium, walkie/talkie thingies; Marlee: princess bath robe, Hannah Montana Barbie, bike; Mackenna: Aquadoodle mat, Dora bubble machine, FurReal pig). The big surprise was the combined gift for the whole family: a Wii. It's been quite a multi-generational hit, let me tell you!




Allow me a moment to brag about what a thoughtful and wonderful gift I got from my husband. Basically, he made me a little membership into "The Date of the Month" club, if there were such a thing. He went all over buying gift cards to my favorite restaurants and got gift cards to the movie theater, mini golf, batting cages, etc. Then he bought me a little planner and also wrote out the plan for a date a month for the whole year. Some months I have a choice, like go-karting or movie, but other times it is set, like on Valentine's Day he has tickets for us to go to a dinner theater. I am so excited about it! He even said that he is going to arrange all the babysitting for all the dates he pre-bought! Yeah! I can't wait! There is such a variety of activities--from museums in D.C. to horseback riding. It's going to be quite a fun year of dating for us! Isn't that just the cutest gift? I'm rather thrilled, in case you couldn't tell.


Anyway, back to Christmas. The rest of the morning passed in a frenzy of clean-up, new toys, Wii competitions and a trip to the barn to visit the animals. Teensy was chomping at the bit to go feed a bottle to one of the baby goats. Even Maia was up for the excursion...or so she thought. When we got near the orchard and the donkey's pasture Maia made a U-turn and headed back to the house. Teensy and Kenna loved petting the donkey before hitting the barn to see the baby goats. Kenna got knocked around a bit by some goats but still had a grand time. Teensy was a little afraid at first but then braved up and fulfilled her dream of bottle-feeding the goats.
FInally, after a delicious roast beast worthy of any Who down in Who-ville, we all loaded up our goods and our cars and went home. It was lovely.

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December 29, 2008
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY MICHAEL!

Today is my Michael's birthday (in case you didn't get that from my little subtitle above). Usually, Michael likes his birthday to be all about him but this year that just didn't happen and he was a great sport. I think it helps that he got a good gift: an iPod. He is very excited to have that new little toy, let me tell you. He spent all morning on the computer with me walking past intermittently asking, "Have you spent all your gift card yet?"

In honor of his big day, I thought I'd list 37 things I love about my Michael:
1. He will always weigh more than I do (let's just start with what's most important, shall we?)
2. He has a great sense of humor
3. He can laugh at himself
4. He does a mean impersonation of a Monchichhi--seriously, you gotta see it
5. He's tall, dark, and handsome--how dreamy!
6. He loves to read
7. He works hard at his job
8. He takes Judo with Mason
9. He plays a funny "wild monkey" game with Mason
10. He wears whatever Halloween costume the kids and I come up with for him
11. He has perfect teeth and eyesight (I mean, his genes are important to my progeny, right?)
12. He takes the day off work and takes the kids sledding whenever it snows
13. He calls my chocolate chip cookies "crackies" because they're addictive
14. He doesn't think I'm chubby, even though I am (that BMI chart doesn't lie, my friends)
15. He tries really hard to get me good presents
16. He reads his scriptures daily
17. He lets me pluck and trim his eyebrows when the fancy strikes me
18. He has worked hard to overcome his tendency to have road rage
19. He prays daily
20. He takes the garbage to the curb
21. He mows the lawn
22. He likes to hear me sing
23. He has committed to take a dance class with me
24. He has slumber parties with our children without me
25. He camps with our children without me
26. He only grumbles about me leaving to go somewhere if he feels like he hasn't seen me lately
27. He really tries to magnify his church calling
28. He can build a fire out of nothing
29. He brings me flowers for no good reason
30. He brings me Snickers for no good reason
31. He eats anything
32. He thinks going out to dinner means getting a drink other than water, an appetizer and an entree.
33. He likes to splurge on movie popcorn for the kids when we take them to the theater (I'd rather smuggle in some fruit snacks in my purse and call it good)
34. He is devoted to exercise
35. He is a hypochondriac--but it's part of his charm
36. He is ridiculously honest
37. He loves me

So, there you have 37 reasons to celebrate my Michael on his big day!

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HAPPY NEW YEAR!

It's a Pennsylvania Dutch tradition to eat pork and sauerkraut on New Year's Day. It's supposed to bring good luck in the new year. Of course, my family does this each year. But we have another little tradition for New Year's Eve. It's not German, but Japanese and we call it Karaoke!!!!




Ultra corny, I know, but we do have a grand time. The girls all do each other's make-up and hair (I'm usually the hair gal, but this year we didn't do hair so much). We even put a nice mole somewhere on each girl's face. Not only do my sisters, sisters-in-law and mother get involved, but my grandmother and her friends do it right along with us as well. Yes, my grandmother and her ninety year-old friends let me curl their hair with curling irons and let my sister do their make-up like...ladies of the night. There are lots of laughs, let me tell you! Sadly, Grandma couldn't come this year, but her friend Grace still joined us. How cute is that?

Anyway, we sing for hours. My sister, Amber, is quite a master at the art of karaoke and choreographs each number she performs. This year she added a sequined dress as her costume; I'm sure it's not the last we've seen of that little clearance rack number. We had another new addition this year--my soon-to-be brother-in-law, Shawn, made his karaoke debut. When he took his first turn with the microphone, my previous thoughts were confirmed: he fits right in!


Just before midnight, we turn on the T.V. to watch various things drop simultaneously--the ball in Times Square, the white rose in York, the strawberry in Harrisburg, and my Michael's favorite, the 150 pound bologna in Lebanon. At the stroke of midnight, we clink glasses and drink countless bottles of sparkling cider. I think my favorite flavor this year was the Apple-Pomegranate. Quite yummy!

So, those are our New Year's celebrations! I just know that we'll have a wonderful 2008!

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January 3, 2008
Happy Birthday to me!

It's my birthday and the end of everything. Okay, it's not the end of everything, but it is the end of the two weeks in which we, in our family, celebrate our anniversary, Christmas, my Michael's birthday, New Year's, and my birthday. It's also the end of this ridiculously long post. At this point, I have to assume I have lost all my dear readers and this is now strictly for journaling purposes. I'm okay with that.


So, it's my birthday. Michael and the kids gave me a gift certificate for an hour-long massage (yipee!), a magazine and socks. I taught Teensy's preschool and then Tracy brought me a great lunch and a cute new shirt. I did not feel guilty for not cleaning the kitchen or doing the laundry during nap time. I read a little and then fell asleep. Tonight we went out to dinner at Red, Hot & Blue (or "The Rock-n-Roll Pigs," as my kids call it). After coming home from that, my cute friend Cynthia brought me yummy birthday treats. It's been a nice day. And it's only going to get nicer when my Michael and I snuggle on the couch watching DVD's of The Office.