Happy New Year

Tomorrow is New Years Eve. I have such a hard time believing that 2006 is almost over. This past year has been crazy and busy. My DH went out on deployment for 6 months. That was such a hard time for the boys and I, we missed him so much and couldn't wait for him to come home.
We visited family and friends, which was a nice break and gave the boys some distraction. Although I have to tell you, traveling with 2 small boys is not my idea of a good time. We flew to visit my parents and other family and friends. This is a cross country trip that usually takes 6-8 hours to accomplish. That may or may not include layovers in ridiculous out of the way locations. I decided that I had no desire to travel all that in one day with my boys, having their first meeting in a year with their grandparents be filled with whines of tired cranky and hungry boys. Yeah, that sounds like fun for the whole family. So instead, I booked our flight to Denver, spent the night, had a good nights sleep, and then the next day, spent a few short hours on the plane. We were refreshed and the reunion was laid back and easy. If you can swing it, I highly recommend doing it this way if you have small kids. I actually saved about $50 buck in airfare, booking multiple cities like I was traveling one way. Then I booked a one way non stop flight for the way back since we would gain 3 hours and could travel overnight.
We also spent about 3 weeks with my husbands family. It was nice because his mom flew here to drive with me. That way I had my car, and since I had lived there for about 5 years before I got married, there were a lot of friends to visit during the day while the Grandparents were at work.
We had a great summer, and had our first family vacation. Let me tell you, I am not at all impressed with Miami or Ft Lauderdale. Dirty Dirty Dirty. My idea of a great family place does not include cigarette butts and beer bottle caps on the beach. We still had a wonderful time though.
My business is doing very well, and appears to be growing! Which is always a good thing. I learned a lot when it came to advertising. What works, and what is a lot of hype. I put together a business plan for the next five years. And by February, I will begin the startup phases of what I hope will really put my name on the map in the next 5 years. I am so excited about this, and once it is in place I will share a bit of it with you!
And while we have had some disappointments this year, like finding out we are stuck here for another year, and will have to endure another long 6 month deployment, we have also been blessed immensely. We will add a new little one to the family in August 2007, and no we are not going to find out what it is! I have been blessed with some great friends this year as well. Some I knew from the year before, but this year I think we really strengthened our friendships. And good friends can be hard to come by sometimes. My children are healthy and have sweet spirits. We are making leaps and bounds with my oldests sleeping issues. This past week we moved him into the top bunk and my youngest into the bottom. And my youngest also seems to be moving past his wheat allergies. This has been a huge blessing, especially financially! Man, that Gluten Free stuff is EXPENSIVE! I am glad to be done with that. I always felt so bad having to tell him no, he couldn't have what I had just let his big brother have a bite of. They are smart, and loving boys. They are starting to understand the importance of prayer. That it is ok to pause during the day and say a little prayer. Or that God truly cares about the little stuff. My oldest had lost his Christmas Thomas train, I heard my DH tell him to stop and they would ask Jesus to help find it. It was found in a matter of minutes after that, and I heard my son say "Thank you Jesus!" My heart swelled with a little bit of pride. What better lesson, that God cares for something as small as finding a little boys toy train?
I am excited to see what God has in store for this next year! I am excited for another amazing year with my family. And even though we will be apart for a good deal of it, Thanks Navy, I know that we will grow in our relationships with eachother. I hope you all have a Happy New Year, spend it with your family and friends, and I hope we can all learn to better appreciate those around us this next year!!

Not So Wordless Today!!

I know the whole point of this is to be wordless, and rely on the picture to tell the story. But since it is a few days after Christmas, I thought I would reflect just a bit about the season. Like most Christian parents, we try so hard to make sure that our children understand the true meaning of Christmas. This is the first year we really made an effort to get the point across, my two little guys are very little, so you can only imagine how it went. As I think I mentioned before, we have a little tradition of having a birthday party for Jesus on Christmas Eve. I bake a small cake, and teeny tiny cupcakes. DH reads from the Book of Luke, and then we sing happy birthday to Jesus. I also like to sing some Christmas Carols. Well, a few days before it was my oldests birthday, he turned 3. So now, every birthday apparently belongs to him!
Heres my conversation with him:

Me: We are going to have a birthday party for Jesus tonight, and sing happy birthday to him!
My Oldest: No Mommy! Its MY birthday, not baby jesus birthday.
Me: But sweetie, you already had your birthday, now it is time to have Jesus' birthday.
My Oldest: Sing Happy Birthday to Me Mommy! And I have CAKE!

This could have gone on for hours I am sure! DH got out the Bible, and proceeded to read an Old King James Version, you know the ones, all the Thees, and Thous. Needless to say, the boys lost interest almost immediately. So I ended up paraphrasing.

Me: Mary and Joseph traveled to Bethlehem, found an Inn, there was no room for them, so they went to the Stable and that is where Baby Jesus was born, and then shepherds and 3 wisemen came to visit and brought Jesus gifts.
My youngest: Need have CAAAAKKKEE!
My Oldest: Yes Mommy, we need to have some cake!

I think I have been outnumbered!
My guys know who Santa is, but we don't in any way make it seem like the gifts are from him. I think we pretty much watched every single Christmas show the Family Channel had to offer. You know the ones, they were made in the 70's and I watched them ALL growing up. Santa Claus is Coming To Town, The Little Drummer Boy, and the odd ones, like The Year Without Santa. As far as they are concerned, Santa is about the same as Dora, or The Backyardigans. Which works fine for us. Its not about the gifts, how much they can get. Its about the birth of our Savior, and why He came in the first place. So as much as I love the Season, the decorations, and everything that goes along with it, and I want my kids to enjoy it all too, I also want to make sure they know the TRUE MEANING. Looks like it may take a while!

Too Much to Do!

I realize I have been MIA for a week now, but you know what? Its Christmas, my DH is home on leave, and I have been crazy busy! We have been spending time together, playing with the boys, and I have been working like mad. The last of the Christmas Parties is tonight, I am torn between being excited about it, and dreading it. I think today has been one of those ICK days. I have had terrible nausea since about 6am. But I have a few errands to run before we go get things started at the CC. So it is time to pull myself together, ignore the urge to throw up in the nearest sink, and pretend I am full of merry good cheer! I am sure once January rolls around, I will post something more often, although I will be spending most of the first of the year working on marketing and advertising more effectively. Things will change after the summer regarding how I work, new baby and all, so I need to take that into consideration now about how I want to run my business. I hope everyone has a wonderfully Merry Christmas! Spend it with the ones you love and have some egg nog for me! Normally I love it, but right now it is contributing to the ICK factor!!

Weird Questions

1. Grab the book nearest to you, turn to page 18, and find line 4."are choosing your location and throughout your planning process" Its a Wedding Planning book, of course!
2. Stretch your left arm out as far as you can. What's there? Our Christmas Tree
3. What is the last thing you watched on tv? Alias season 1
4. Without looking, guess what time it is:11:15am
5. Now look at the clock. What is the actual time?10:47am
6. With the exception of the computer, what can you hear?Franklin Magical Christmas on tv, my oldest playing in his room
7. When did you last step outside? What were you doing?Last night, I went to Panera to pick up dinner
8. Before you started this survey, what did you look at? myspace
9. What are you wearing?fuzzy bathrobe, red tank, purple satin sleep pants
10. Did you dream last night? Yes, something about being a spy
11. When did you last laugh? a couple of minutes ago
12. What is on the walls of the room you are in? Calendar, Metal magnet note board, grease board, and a big pen and ink picture of an old building
13. Seen anything weird lately? My 3 yr old son watching Modern Marvels on the History Channel
14. What do you think of this quiz? Different than the usual ones
15. What is the last film you saw? The Life Aquatic
16.If you became a multi-millionaire overnight, what would you buy? A Range Rover and a home in Oregon
17. Tell me something about you that I don't know: I hate green beans
18. If you could change one thing about the world, regardless of guilt or politics, what would you do?Have Jesus come back today! thats a good one!
19. Do you like to dance?YES
20. George Bush: thats hard, he has made mistakes, just like anyone else.
21. Imagine your first child is a girl, what do you call her? Isabella Piper
22. Imagine your first child is a boy, what do you call him? Noah Elijah
23. Would you ever consider living abroad?Definitely would like to!
24. What do you want to say to God when you reach the pearly gates? Wish we could have done this sooner?

Just one of those random questionaire things to fill out. But I thought I would pass it on to all of you! If you fill it out, let me know in my comments and I will come and check it out!

Have a great weekend!

Glitterati

In preparation for one of the Christmas Parties next week, my friend and I are responsible for putting together the floral centerpieces for the tables, as well as the planning and several other things. Originally there were to be 8 tables with 2 centerpieces on each one. Thankfully this has been scaled down to 6 table in a U shape. Part of putting together these centerpieces was shopping (who doesn't enjoy that?) for the flowers and the vases. Since these will be raffled off, we decided to use fake flowers. Garden Ridge is one of my FAVORITE places to shop, particularly for Holiday and Decor. When I am responsible for things like this as I put together a party for a client, this is the first place I go. They have EVERYTHING!! So of course when we decided to go and get all our supplies, this was our first stop. We found some great floral items, from velvety roses to glittery dried baby's breath. Every last bit of it sparkled with some form or color of glitter. It all looked so great in the shopping cart, and while we had problems finding vases that were reasonably priced, we were more than happy with the floral!

Or so we thought! Last night was our first attempt at putting the arrangements together. The last time we did this, we used fresh flowers, and some fun pieces of curly shiny stick like things in red, blue, silver, and white. It seemed a lot easier to arrange fresh flowers. It took us 4 and a half ours to put together about 4 arrangements a piece. And by the time I was ready to leave for the night, poor Kiki's living room looked like Liberace had thrown up! There was glitter everywhere. Tables, carpet, our clothes. I even had it in my hair and on my face. I got up this morning, and there is STILL glitter on my face!

Tonight we are planning on finishing the last 4, unfortunately we need more flowers. Of course there is a lot of filler left, but that won't cut it! I think Kiki will stop and pick up some more before we get together. We also still have to pick out about 14 more favors for guests, and I need to Calligraphy 36 place cards. Lets see how well that goes with my two little guys! I hope to get some pictures tonight of the arrangements we make. If I do, I will post them tomorrow for you all to see.

Wordless Wednesday

If you look very closely, all you can see are my sons little footsies. He slid down into his shelves, on his pillow, in his sleep! Can you say ADORABLE?!?

Exhausted

So after my very emotional evening yesterday, Damon and I decided to really pray about it, and figure out how to petition to be released from the ship early. We would still stay in, just go on to Shore Duty. Although we both know that if we end up here for another year, it will be for a reason that God has yet to reveal to us.
I had found my cookie press the night before, and I thought that Christmas Spritz cookies would be a nice addition to my son's birthday party on Saturday. I am a big fan of trial runs when I am going to subject guests to something new. I hate to assume how things will turn out and then have it FLOP big time! After we got the boys down for the night, I got all my ingredients lined up and ready to go. Like most cookies, it called for Vanilla Extract. I usually wait for my sister and her family to vacation somewhere like Mexico and then I request she bring me some home. It is always better than the extract you get at the grocery store. The last bottle she had brought me was almost gone, and their last vacation had been here. I bit the bullet a few weeks back and went into World Market to see what they had. Luckily they had a bottle of imported Vanilla that I have had good experience with in the past. So last night, I got it out to use in my Spritz Cookies. It still had the little plastic around the lid, and not the perforated kind. Since I am a thinking person (LOL) and Damon was trying to get a less aggravating ringback tone for his phone, I reached for a knife. I am sure you can all see where this is going! Well, you would be correct if you guessed that I SLICED open my finger. Left hand, first finger, middle section.
Blood welled up of course, as it was pretty deep. I am so very lucky to have a quick thinking, trained in first aid, husband. It hurt like a mother, and I think I was starting to really freak out at that point. Damon grabbed a paper towel, wrapped it around my finger, and held it over my head. Passing out seemed like a great idea right then, I tried to anyways. But Damon kept me from going all the way out. Thankfully it stopped bleeding after a bit, still hurt though! So no stitches were required. At least we didn't think so. Besides it would be awfully inconvenient to drag the boys out of bed to head into the ER. And I wanted to watch the first season of Alias on DVD! Priorities, people!
Now I am tired from a restless night, and being 7 weeks pregnant of course! I am craving really cold stuff, like milk and ice cream. REALLY COLD cheese sounds good too. I am going to clean up my guys from lunch, get the little guy down for a nap, and see if I can't rest a bit while my oldest plays with trains!

NO NO NO NO NO

I was just informed that the NAVY is incredibly stupid. Thats right, I said stupid. When we moved here, we were originally supposed to be here for 4 years. That meant until Sept. 2008. When my husband was promoted to second class, it changed to his only being needed on the USS Misery for 3 years instead of 4. And when we last checked, oh 2 months ago, we were informed that our move date would be August 2007. So why you ask is the Navy so very stupid and moronic and a lot of other words I am not allowed to say? Well, Dh was going to check what had just opened up for orders the other day, because that is what we were supposed to be doing, and some how it was back to 4 years. That is correct. If they have their info right, I am STUCK in this God-forsaken state until Sept. 2008. They will be at sea this year (2007) for 290 days. In October they are going out for another LOOOONNNGGG deployment. And I get to be here with a brand new baby. This not what it was supposed to be like. All his paperwork up until today said August 2007. So I am ANGRY, I don't even know how to express how angry I am right now. We were supposed to be getting ready to move, to go to Shore Duty. DH was going to be home more often, I was going to be able to really get my business off the ground, my oldest would be getting ready to start pre-k. And I AM NOT SUPPOSED TO BE HERE FOR ANOTHER YEAR.
Supposedly DH is supposed to be able to make some sort of plea to get off the ship early, that it would be in the best interest of the ship to let him go early. But it is not usually successful. So unless they find some sort of loophole in the paperwork, about how because he became Second Class and the ship doesn't need him and they made a mistake, that is my only hope.
I know some of you probably are not being very sympathetic right now. So what, I am stuck here for another year. Well you try having your husband/best friend go out for six months, come home tell you that you will be moving in a year for Shore Duty which means he will be home, and then get all excited, and prepared for this, get pregnant with our third, and then be told that not only are you stuck in the place you can't stand the most, and he will be going out again. AGAIN. It sucks when he is gone, the boys miss him. I miss him. It makes it harder to run a business when you have 3 little ones at home. So I have every right to be ANGRY and sad. It makes me just want to quit. Not my family, but my business. Just quit, how can I keep it running without help? It is still technically in the startup phases, so there is not really enough for a full time nanny, and I refuse to put my kids in daycare. I need prayer and answers. What are we supposed to do?

Imagodeo

Imagodeo, now I am guessing at the spelling of this, so if it is off, let me know! Our Pastor at church yesterday finished his series entitled "As For Me And My House". Now for the most part this was about the Lord blessing you and your family, because you bless Him. In our tithes and how we raise our families. That we would purposely fill our homes with the Holy Spirit. Now for some reason the one thing that struck me out of his message was the word, or phrase, Imagodeo. Roughly translated as Created in the Image of God. Our Pastor was referencing this in how we relate to those around us. Maybe someone has wronged you, or simply cut you off in traffic. When that person was born, they were imprinted with the image of God. It suddenly becomes a lot harder to stay angry at someone who bears the image of God.
All of us were created in Gods Image. It should define who we are as Christians. But it doesn't always. A good friend of mine, had something just terrible done to her this past weekend. Her roommate, who also attends her church, decided with the help of her accountability group to violate my friends privacy and personal space. It was such a hurtful thing to do. In this vengeance this girl was trying to create, she was blinded by what she saw as faults and hurts. She didn't look at my friend as an individual created in Gods Image. Perhaps her response would have been different had she stopped to look at her the way Jesus does.
I was very proud of my friend too, she went straight to her Pastor for help. Wanting to find out why her roommate had taken the actions she had. And with his help she reached out to this confused girl, worked out the problem, and they forgave eachother. Even in something as harsh as what had happened, I am sure her Pastor saw past the sins and into her heart. If only every hurt and problem could be solved this way. Not with retaliation, but with careful consideration and through Jesus' eyes.
We are all unique individuals. I don't think that means that we are all carbon copies, created in His image. Just as we look different and have different personalities, we are all gifted differently. So do you think that we were created with an attribute of the Father? All are His Image, but unique to us! One of my gifts is Mercy. Our God is a God of Mercy! Maybe, that is His image imprinted on me. And just as we have different Gifts, we also have a different JOB in the body of Christ. Some serve in Worship, others in service to others, like in the nursery, or teaching the youth group. If we could view the people around us like this, would we be more effective Christians? Would we be less likely to wound eachother with our words and actions?
The next time I am feeling hurt, used, or wronged by someone, I am going to try my best to view them as Imagodeo. Created in the Image of God.

Tag Things about me....

I borrowed this from Janean at www.douglassmom.blogspot.com

I have done versions of this on myspace I am sure, but thought I would do this again after I visted Janean, whom I found through Midlife Moments!

Things you may not know about me....

1. Even though I am 25 (plus a couple of years ;) ) my favorite thing to drink is still Chocolate Milk!
2. I am a sucker for 80's movies you know the ones, Can't Buy Me Love, The Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles.....
3. I love Fruity Pebbles
4. I went to a very tiny Christian High School and never had to take Chemistry class, or home ec for that matter!
5. I miss Oregon like crazy and we hope to move back soon!
6. My middle name is Elissa, pronounced E-lissa not Uh-lissa
7. When I was 7 I attempted to walk across the top of my swingset and fell off of course!
8. There is a guy who was my boyfriend in 7th grade and we never broke up when he moved away

Things I want to do before I die....
Which is a little morbid to think about, but here I go

1. Travel to Europe, I have NEVER been overseas
2. Write a complete novel and be published
3. Tour Israel
4. learn to knit, and not just a scarf, I want to knit blankets and sweaters
5. Perform in a Musical

Things I can't do
1. That whistle-y thing where you put your 2 fingers in your mouth
2. Push-ups
3. Make a center court shot in Basketball
4. watch a scary movie they haunt me for days!
5. touch my elbow to my nose

Things I CAN do
1. Flare my nostrils at will (does that make sense
?) It entertains my husband!
2. Make really GREAT french toast
3. draw (if you show me a picture I can draw it exactly)
4. roll my tongue
5 . and roll my r's

Things that Attracted me to my Husband (Damon)
1. His bright blue eyes
2. How great he was/is with kids
3. He was the first guy to treat me like I was worth something
4. His amazing Heart
5. He was so easy to talk to, still is
6. His fire for God, and his desire to witness

Things I say MOST often.....
1. _______ (insert my oldest sons name here) You better get down from there!
2. HELLO!?! not in greeting, but sarcastically
3. I love you (my hubby and I are quite mushy!)
4. Posh Celebrations, this is _______ (insert my name here) When I answer my phone

Movies I love

1. White Christmas is my all time favorite Christmas Movie, I have to watch it every year
2. Beaches, since I was about 9 I think, I LOVE Bette Midler
3. Billy Madison there is just something about really silly movies
4. Monty Python and the Search for the Holy Grail (NEEEE)
5. Legally Blonde (only the first one though) Beeend and SNAP!

So now go and do your own! Let me know if you do, I wanna read it!!
TAG your it!!

My first WordLess Wednesday!!

Need I say more......

Who asks for these things??

As an event planner, it is my job to give the client what they want. To be able to find people to accomplish their request in a timely manner. I am currently putting together a Christmas Party for a client with some very, lets call them interesting, requests. The meeting started out as most of my first time consults begin. I went to their home, sat down and listened to the basics of the party. What they were looking for, guest count, catering, etc. Then we got down to the logistics of it all. Now I have to go out and find HOT bartenders and a cute sexy girl to serve the food. Nothing stripper like mind you, just a guy who is willing to wear a Tux with the sleeves ripped off and a girl in a French Maid Costume. I am so embarrassed to even ask the vendors about this! Most of them have laughed and been understanding about it. But seriously, it is not easy to ask someone if their employees are hot! I even went to a modeling website here in town and thought that possibly I could find someone who also could bartend. All the men on this modeling site are old, fat and balding. Not the young ripped and chiseled guys I thought I would find!
On a brighter, less raunchy note, plans for my sons 3rd birthday is coming along quite nicely. We will have a nice turn out of people to help celebrate too! Some of our friends from in town, and out of town. And Mamaw will be in for the weekend. This is my MIL. We extended the invite because we thought that while she wouldn't probably be able to make it, it would be nice to be invited! Well, surprise, surprise! She can make it! The boys will enjoy her visit and I know we will too! Mine were also invited, but they will not be making any special appearances. I have no idea where I am going to put 25 people!
But I am working on putting together some light appetizers and a 3-D train cake. I am working out the kinks on it. Trial cake bakes and all! I have been searching and searching for ideas on how to make some freight cars. Whats a train cake with out freight cars really? I did manage to find some great little ideas for favors and after the festivities in 2 weeks I will post pics! I think we are planning a 2nd trial run on the cake tonight. I will document the process and let you all know how it goes! The first one was not at all successful, and while I will spare you all the morbid details of a cake half baked and running out of the pan, I will tell you that it was a little like one of those Chocolate Lava cakes, where the filling runs out all warm and gooey and VERY VERY tasty!!!
Alright, I have to finish my estimates for my client and fax it so I am off!!

Here I am again

For the second time this year I am going to give this whole blog thing a try. The first time did not have the best outcome. I may be a little cryptic at first until I get more comfortable with the idea. I know this can be a wonderful way to share who I am with whomever is interested!

This will be about my life as a reluctant Navy wife, (reluctant to the Navy, not my hubby ;) )
the fun of being a WAHM with two great little guys and another little one due in August. That means you will all get to hear about the amazing feats of an almost 3 yr old and an almost 2 yr old. You will see pics, but never their names. I suppose I could also include my business triumphs, stories about crazy clients, and whatever else I deem you all worthy to hear about! All of this will be laced with my Faith. That is one of the most important parts of who I am. I believe completely that Jesus is my Lord and Savior. I would not be where I am, or who I am today if not for Him. I am living in His Mercy daily. As a Christian, I am forgiven and redeemed. So you may occasionally see post here about awesome sermons from our Pastor. I wish I was one of those people who remembered everything they heard, then I would know I was accurately relaying the message. But I don't so I apologize now if I misinterpret anything, or just plain get it wrong! C'mon, I have kids and I am pregnant, my mind is never all there!

I will do my best to entertain. Thats important in these things right? It may take me awhile to get the hang of this. I thought I was internet savvy until I met my friend Heather. She is responsible for the design here as well as all the techy stuff. Which reminds me, I need to set up accounts with Blogroll and Photobucket as well as breakfast to make for the kiddos! I gotta run for now. I am sure things will be added throughout the day as I get a moment. Merry Christmas everyone!!