Frosting...We're fans!

My birthday celebration began early with time with the family. I got a birthday cake this weekend and Michael was a fan of the frosting! I was laughing so hard because it started with me dipping my finger in and him eating it off of my finger.  Then he dipped his finger in.  Then he dipped his whole hand in.  Sometimes you have to get your sugar any way you can! :)

One finger...

Finger lickin' good...

Digging a crater in the side of the cake...

All sugared up!

Another baby book discovery

This is a note my brother wrote to me one morning before going to school.

"To Teresa.  I Love you But I hav to go to schooL evre day. o k."

Knowing my brother like I do, I can kind of here the resignation in the tone of the letter.  He probably would have liked to stay home with me just as much as I wanted him to stay home with me.  Me, I would have probably been just as happy to go with him to school every day!

3rd 1/2 Annual Cheesy Christmas Movie Night

Why 3rd 1/2 you might be asking? Well, the obvious answer is, why not?!?!  But the real answer is one of the founding members of Cheesy Christmas Movie Night is moving.  And she wanted to have one more celebration before she left.  And who doesn't like Christmas any time of year?  Exactly what we thought.  And, of course, we went over the top for this particular 1/2. :)  The first dilemma was how would we ever find a cheesy Christmas movie in June.  We normally buy one at the store.  So, we had resigned ourselves to watching a movie that we had watched in previous years.  However, Emily, Joanne, and I were not okay with that.  So then we realized we could find movies on netflix.  But none of us are in the 21st century enough to be able to hook our computer to our television.  And then, wonder upon wonders, we realized that the library probably has Christmas movies (although this turned out to be our final dilemma--we ended up with five choices).

The table set up with the five choices.  Since we couldn't really have a Christmasy dessert, I made cotton candy cookies and put them on a Christmas plate.  Although, Joanne found Mexican ice cream that was eggnog flavored.  Go Joanne!  Our five movie choices were: Christmas Angel, Gift of the Magi, Moonlight and Mistletoe, The Christmas Pageant, and Noel.

Because we had more than one choice, we had to re-institute the secret ballot voting from the 2nd Annual Cheesy Christmas Movie Night.  Except with a more elaborate system because there were so many choices.  First round, everyone voted for their two top choices and put them in the ornament candy jar.

But there was a three-way tie for Noel, Moonlight and Mistletoe, and The Christmas Pageant.  I couldn't believe it, as evidenced by the above picture.  So then we had to vote again.  One vote per person for the three movies.

It came down to the last vote as to whether it would be a two-way tie for Moonlight and Mistletoe or The Christmas Pageant.  Very intense.  And it was a two way tie.  So that is when the not so secret ballot voting came in.

Becky was the only one who voted for Noel, so she got to choose which movie we watched. She chose based on the pictures on the back of the cases.  And The Christmas Pageant won!  Yay!

Group picture with all the movie selections and goodies (ice cream, cookies, and popcorn).  And how do you like the snowman angel on top of the tree! :)

The ambiance of a movie with the Christmas tree for the only light.  Notice it is still light outside...that was a little weird because it gets dark a lot earlier in the winter!

Enjoying the cheese factor in the movie.  We were discussing favorite lines.  One of the best was "I felt a shiver in my leg!"

But my personal favorite came from the crowd.  One of the lines in the movie was, "Christmas only comes once a year." and Emily said, "Or twice." :)

After the movie, everyone helped de-decorate the tree and put the room back together.  But we all agreed that the 3rd 1/2 Annual Cheesy Christmas Movie Night was a success!

P.S. You can click the links to view the blog posts for the 2nd Annual Cheesy Christmas movie night (link above) and the 3rd Annual Cheesy Christmas Movie Night.  There was no post for the 1st Annual.

Getting ready for the 3rd 1/2 Annual Cheesy Christmas Movie Night

Emily's former small group girls came over on Thursday. We knew we were having our 3rd 1/2 Cheesy Christmas Movie Night the next night. On Monday I suggested we enlist the girls to help put up the Christmas tree to surprise everyone on Friday. As usual, the girls were up for anything!

Let me tell you, putting up a Christmas tree with 9 people goes so much faster than with 2!  We were completely rearranged and decorated in 25 minutes.  Now granted, we put a shabby 4 strands of lights on the tree and only 2/3 of the ornaments, but it was still fast.  And fun!

The above picture was taken right after I uttered the words, "Don't take a picture of mine and Emily's butts."  :)  I believe the words, "We lost Emily and Teresa under the tree!" were exclaimed hysterically.  Emily and I were screwing the tree into the stand to make sure it didn't fall on anybody.  We weren't really lost.

I got to hang my new 2012 ornament. :) I think this was the only ornament I hung on the tree.  Otherwise, I just unboxed and handed them to a waiting girl.  It was sort of like an assembly line.

Than we had to pose in front of the tree for a bazillion different cameras.

This is how they really felt about the whole process! :)
And then we swore them to secrecy for a whole day.  I told them they could not post any pictures of the tree on any social media because we wanted it to be a surprise for Friday night.  Emily and I told them they could come decorate any time because that was much faster than the 4+ hours it normally takes us to decorate for Christmas!

Love these girls!

Emily's former small group girls (all having just finished their freshman or sophomore years of college) (plus one honorary member) invaded the apartment last night.

First things first, dessert!  Emily made a super easy recipe that was very tasty.

Next, we sat around and laughed and talked serious talk about how they have been doing in college--friends, spiritual walks, being home and in college, being away and in college, shower shoes, how to stand up to peer pressure, etc.  I love these girls and how real they can be with each other and how quick they are to encourage one another.  And how they give great hugs.  And love to laugh and be silly.  And then we started taking pictures!

Aren't they a beautiful group of girls?!  L-R--Jenni, Emily, Kaytlin, Cara, Keely, Kara, Brooke

And they love Emily.  And I love that they include me (but I was taking the pictures, so I missed out on getting my picture taken with them).

And then they decided they needed to take a picture where they are holding Emily.  But they couldn't quite figure it out. :)  And the silliness began...

In the above picture, Emily was laughing so hard she was blurry.  I especially like how Brooke and Jenni were just cradling Emily's head.

And then they put her down.  I promise they didn't drop her.  Emily was still laughing so hard she couldn't talk! 

The last part of the evening is super secret until tomorrow.  More pictures to come!

June 15th

Something many of you don't know about me: I have an older sister.  I was never able to meet her.  She died before I was born.  Saturday would have been her birthday and she would have been 35.  Nicole was born with anencephaly, a cephalic disorder where the brain, skull, and scalp do not fully form.  Nicole lived 16 days.  Neither of my parents talk about Nicole very much, but I know that they still think about her.  My mom still keeps her date of birth and date of death on her calendar, which is why I know those dates.  When I started keeping my own calendar of birthdays, Nicole's got added.  Throughout the years, I've often wondered what it would have been like to have an older sister.  I like being an older sister to Daynah and Josh, so I think I would have enjoyed having an older sister.  I like my brother, after all. :)

While I was reading through my baby book this time around, I read a few entries that finally made sense, now that I am an adult.  I've read my baby book cover to cover more times than I can say over the years and I always just thought they were normal pregnancy entries. 

March 9, 1979: ultrasound and amniocentesis test done (no after effects).

March 16, 1979: One week later.  Results from alpha feto protein test came back as normal.  The range was in the 90% which is good.  Still waiting for the results from the chromosome tests.

April 13, 1979: Chromosome test results back.  Everything is normal.  We also found out your sex but haven't told anyone except Christopher.  He'll say that you are a girl but 5 minutes later says you will be a boy.  It's nice because he keeps everyone guessing!  You are going to be spoiled I'm afraid--we are already buying you outfits (etc.) and you aren't even born yet!  We are really anxious for you to be born now though! (written: April 28, 1979)

After reading these entries, I cried.  I still don't fully understand them, but I realized this time around that these entries were about tests that the doctors did because of my sister's condition.  I finally realized some of what my mom and dad went through during their pregnancy with me.  They had lost Nicole less than a year before that.  I know I don't know the full extent, but these words written during that pregnancy show me how anxious they must have been to know whether I would be healthy or not.  I also did the math and realized that I was born only 4 days after the one year anniversary of Nicole's death.  What a mix of emotions my parents must have had that week!  Maybe I can get my mom to guest post and get some of her insight into all of this information I'm just beginning to understand.

A good indication

This...

and that...

...are a good indication that it is getting close to my birthday the 4th of July.  They aren't open for business yet, but in the next couple of weeks the tables will be laden with fireworks.  I've never stopped to buy anything, but just their presence brings an air of excitement to my life!

A Gift from a Friend

It's always fun when others think of you.  Even when it's just for small things like a wind up turtle that moves around in the water! :)  I had fun playing with him when I should have been doing other fun, productive things!

Happy Father's Day!

Here is an excerpt from my baby book (I told you I'd get around to posting some things from the book!):
"Since we knew, Teresa, that you were going to be a little girl, daddy and I were very anxious for you to be born.  I don't think either of us could really describe the joy we felt when we first saw you.  Daddy and I got to touch you just a few minutes after you were born.  You were crying but when we touched and talked to you, you quieted down.  You were born at 2:05 in the afternoon and at 2:20 the nurse handed you to your very proud daddy.  We both are so thrilled with you it's going to be hard not to spoil you."

Dad, thank you for always thinking the world of me and for loving me!  I am so glad that I have never had to doubt your love.  Sometimes it has been hard because for much of my life, we have been long distance from each other, but it has never made me doubt your love and in some ways has probably made our relationship stronger.  I miss being able to pop by the house to see you, and playing games with you or watching TV.  Thank you for being willing to be a dad to boys who don't have a good role model in their lives.  Thank you for all the times you help "fix" things, even from Arizona!  I'm glad to know you're just a phone call away or a 3 1/2 hour plane ride.  I love you!

I never thought I would be able to compare my life to The Sound of Music

Okay, so it might be a stretch, but the connection made me laugh anyway, so I thought I would share it with you.  Just for a refresher: Dad and Amy live in Arizona and are house parents to up to 10 boys in the home they live in.  In April when I was their they had a full house of 10 boys.  The other day I was praying for them and could only name 9 boys.  I tried all day to come up with the 10th name but couldn't do it (see my previous post about forgetting things).  So, that night I finally just texted Amy to ask who the 10th boy was.  I named everyone I had come up with.  She sent me the last name.  I told her it reminded me of the scene in The Sound of Music where Maria is praying for all the Von Trapp children and she can't remember one until he comes into the room during the storm and she says, "God bless Kurt!"  So I sent back, "God bless Aaron!"  And now I can name all 10 again, except one of the boys moved to a new house and they just got a new boy yesterday.  It's always hardest remembering the boys that I haven't met yet. 

The memory...it just keeps going

Yesterday, after a 3 1/2 hour poke-my-eyes out, shoot-me-now mandatory training, where I learned (I use that term extremely loosely because I couldn't see the screen where they were showing us how to do everything and I learn better when I am hands-on doing something so I will have to relearn everything anyway) the new paperless system that we will be going to in July at work, I had to fill out a form for my electronic signature.  For some reason, they ask for your home address.  Without any hesitation whatsoever, I began by writing 470.  As soon as I wrote it, I stopped and new it wasn't correct, but it took a few seconds of my liquefied brain to figure out that I had just started to write my Georgia address.  The same address that I haven't lived at for 10 years.  When I scratched it out, I just stared at the blank trying to figure out what my correct address is.  I finally gave up after tossing some random numbers out into thin air.  I got my checkbook out of my purse and consulted my checks for the address that I have been living at for almost 6 years.  And then I called it a day and went home :).

I am not ashamed!

A kind soul finally took pity on me and willingly went to see Fast and Furious 6 with me! :)  It was everything I expected a 6th movie to be...mindless plot with a few twists that you might not expect...cheesy acting...comic relief...lots of cars racing (although I forgot that I've been feeling a little dizzy this week and I may have gotten a tad bit dizzy in the movie)...lots of ridiculous stunts that would never happen in real life.  You know, just the average movie.  But I can't help but like Paul Walker.  So sue me.  I know he's not a great actor, but he has really pretty eyes.  And he was in Eight Below.  Who wouldn't like a guy in a movie about dogs?  And just for the complete skeptics out there...I just happened to see that Fast and the Furious 6 had grossed three times as much at the box office than the second Star Trek movie last week.  And for the real spoiler...they set it up for a 7th movie at the end of the previews. :)  I can hear the collective groans and it makes me smile.

And to top it off we went to the ghetto theater, so we had added commentary from the audience!  "It wasn't that funny!" after someone laughed really loud at something on screen.  And "He is so hot" in reference to Dwayne Johnson, I think.  Never a dull moment.  And $2 popcorn and drink.  Not bad for a Friday night at the movies!

June 1st

It's June 1st.  Obviously. :)  Yesterday I thought of something I want for my birthday. And I realized it is the first item to start a birthday list.  Which means I am way behind the curve because people are quickly going to be asking me for birthday ideas.  Yikes!  I can't believe it's June already!  When did that happen?!  On the brighter, calmer side, it must mean that I am feeling blessed and know that I don't really need anything, since I haven't started a list before today.