Shana's Musings

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

New Years Eve

We celebrated New Years Eve in true Southern, dare I say, "red neck" style. No holiday is complete with out fireworks, or at least that is what it seems like down here. At any given time and on any holiday, there are always fireworks going off. I suppose our proximity to South Carolina where they are readily available helps with that. I have to admit, that I do love fireworks, but for me, I am used to watching them at the beach on the 4th of July and not setting them off in the street on New Years Eve. In any event, we had fun with sparklers, tanks and a "pooping" dog while we waited for the ball to drop! Happy New Year! Here's to 2014!

Jay and Mike had fun lining up the tanks to do battle...

On A Mission

Arabella loved taking walks with Uncle Mike and Rocco during their visit. We have a great green space area in out neighborhood that has walking trails and little stream going through it. We go and explore there and Arabella enjoyed taking Uncle Mike and Rocco to check things out. One day they came across a dam in the stream and Arabella decided that it needed to be cleared out. Later that afternoon, we went back and they got down to business. She was so excited when they fixed the problem and when we went for a walk last Saturday after some pretty heavy rain, it was still cleared out. Great job Arabella and Uncle Mike!

The problem that needed to be fixed!

This was the rock last weekend...still cleared off!

Carolinas Aviation Museum

In an effort to get us all out of the house during Christmas break, Jay thought it would be fun to go to the Carolinas Aviation Museum. We had a few airline buffs in the house and who doesn't like to check out planes and other memorabilia? It isn't an overly big museum, but the exhibits and size were just right for a morning out. Another draw is that the US Airways plane, the Miracle on the Hudson, is housed at the museum along with other artifacts from the crash. It was crazy to be able to see the plane and the damage that close up. I can't imagine what the passengers and crew were thinking as the accident happened. I enjoyed it and it was nice to get out and explore a bit of Charlotte and aviation history.

Silly Girl

This might be a little too small for you...

Santa Came!!!

I still can not get over the wonder on Arabella's face on Christmas morning when, she sees that Santa has come and put presents under the tree. I am lucky that I also get to see that with Max...(although he didn't really understand and just was happy tearing through paper.) That is what the magic of Christmas is all about. And with each year, I hate that the wonder will come to an end with her. I am hopeful that she will believe for as long as I did. (I seriously think I was at least 12 when I grasped the whole Santa thing. My parents did an amazing job with it and having a brother 3 1/2 years younger, I went along with it. I have to say that I was sad when I figured it out.) Deep down, I do believe in Santa and the magic of Christmas. The joy, excitement and wonder on my kids faces on Christmas morning is all that matters. It is priceless and something that will stay with me forever.

Arabella couldn't believe that Santa brought her the Sofia the First vanity that she had been talking about for months.

She was also very, very excited to receive the Princess Palace Pets that she had asked for. She plays with them almost everyday!

Arabella loved helping max with his presents too. Arabella kept telling me that max wanted a pirate ship, go figure, from Santa...and guess what, Santa came through!

It was hard to avoid the Christmas morning gift opening chaos, but I wouldn't have changed a thing.

We had a relaxing day at home. Max had fun hanging out with Grampie, arabella took her new bike for a spin, we cooked and Grampie made a delicious prime rib dinner!

Merry Christmas!!

Friday, January 10, 2014

Visions Of Sugar Plums Dance In Her Head

I love these pictures that I took of Arabella after she fell asleep on Christmas Eve.

Christmas Catch-up

I can't believe that we are at the end of the second week of January 2014. Christmas seems so far away. And now that all the Christmas decorations are down and packed away, I feel sad. I am already thinking about what I didn't do this year and what I would like to do next year for Christmas. And I already started my Christmas shopping...early, I know, but when I see something I need to pick it up...now I just need to remember where I hide things. Christmas was a blur of activity filled with family and laughter. It was so nice to have our family at our house and to celebrate our first Christmas here. I loved all the excitement leading up to the day. Arabella and Max loved having more people to play with. We baked, cooked, laughed, wrapped, and hung out enjoying each other's company. It was a bit odd having both my mother and father in the same house together for a few days...it has been at least 15 years since that happened last. (But we are lucky that they get along.) Our house was full of Mom flew in from Florida, Lori flew down from Connecticut, Mike, Jeff, Rocco and Macy drove from Ohio, and Dad and Aunt Margo made the drive from Connecticut. It was a houseful and we managed to get along for the most part. Even with a few hiccups during the holidays, which were bound to happen with that many people and dogs in the house, it was a very Merry Christmas and I am glad we were together.

We made the best of our time together and kept busy by:

Making cookies...

Lori and I dressed like festive twins...

We had a bit of fun drinking Peppermint Bark Vodka and Tennessee Sipping Cream...

Max had his first pizzelle...

Jeff and Aunt Margo spent a lot of time outside...

We had "Christmas with Auntie Lori" before she left to fly back to Connecticut...

We had "Christmas with Grammie" before she flew back to Florida on Christmas Eve...

Arabella and Max had fun hanging out and playing with Uncle Mike and Rocco...

We got ready for Santa. Arabella left out magic reindeer food so they could find out house and then left out cookies, milk, carrots for Santa and the reindeer and dog treats for Santa Paws...