Happy New Year!

I'm happy to see that 2007 is gone. It was pretty eventful and full of stress and the unknown. Here's to a hopefully fabulous and exciting 2008. Of course I can't think of a more exciting place to be than near D.C. I tell ya, I really do love it there.

We picked Mike's mom up at Reagan National in D.C. on Saturday. On the way we stopped off at In Stitches so I could pick a few things up. I'm in a Valentine exchange in one of my yahoo groups and picked a couple of things up for that. I have some things I thought about stitching for my stitched part of the gift but couldn't get too overly excited about any of the Valentine charts I had so thought I'd spring for a new one. They were having a 20% off sale so that made it even more appealing. After we left the shop we went to pick her up. This is the first time the kids have ever been to an airport and thought it was super cool. Her flight arrived on time. After we collected her, off to the National Mall we went. Boy, I bet you didn't see that coming! Our first stop the White House, of course! This was the first time we had been back since before Thanksgiving. I'm glad we stopped by because we could see the lights from a Christmas tree through a window. We walked by the Washington Monument, pointed out lots of buildings to Mike's mom and told her what they were while we walked to the US Capitol. Now for your viewing pleasure, another D.C. pic. Sorry, can't get enough of the place. I'm sure there will be tons more to follow in the future. Especially this spring. I'm planning to go to the Cherry Blossom Festival in April and am sure I'll have lots to show then. Ok, on to the pic. Yes, that is the National Christmas tree you see in front of the Capitol there. I disappointed to say that I thought it would be much bigger than that. I tell ya, they really do make everything look larger on TV. The tree in Rockafellar Center was much larger than this one. It was still pretty and I'm glad we got to see it.

Mike's mom only stayed a few days, we took her back to the airport yesterday morning. I can now tell you that the best day of the year to visit D.C. is New Year's Day. The place was a ghost town early that morning. It was SO nice! We got a parking spot by the Monument right away. It's rare to ever find a parking place there...at least a free one. We had been wanting to get tickets to go up in to the Washington Monument but every time we tried the were already gone. We walked right up to the window and got tickets for the first tour. It was really neat! I loved it up there! You could see all of the Memorials, the Pentagon, White House, Capitol, everything! I'm really glad we got to do that. Afterwards, we headed back over to the Capitol. We walked right up in front of it this time and then around to the back. We got to see where the US Supreme Court was and the Library of Congress. Very very cool. I can't wait till we get some more visitors so I can show them all of these things. After we finished gazing at all the new things we hadn't seen before, we went to the Smithsonian's National Air & Space Museum. We had a really great time there and are really looking forward to going back. Joshua especially loved it. He was really fascinated by all of the airplanes hanging everywhere. I really want to go to the National Museum of American History. It's been closed for over a year for renovations and is supposed to open up again around the summer. I'm sure I'll be there waiting with bells on when it does :)

That flew by

My family came to visit for Christmas and before I knew it they were gone again. I can't believe how fast that went by! My mom & dad got here last Friday. My brother was already here, he came before they did. I had a really good time showing him around before they came. Just like me, he loves the historical part of downtown Fredericksburg. I was really excited when I woke up Friday morning because I knew it would only be a matter of hours before I'd get to hug my mama. I was thrilled when I called them that morning to find out that they had left nearly 2 hours earlier than they had planned. I waited for her on the front porch and I know on the inside I was jumping up and down like a 5 year old. I didn't realize just how much I did miss her until I saw her. Funny how that is really. I don't think you really know how much you love someone until there not around as much or at all. When she got here she had furbabies in tow. One of which loved to be in this position most of the time. Before they got here I knew my mom had a lot of shopping to do. It hadn't even been 2 weeks since she had moved and she had a list of things she wanted to buy for her new house. She was here a whole hour before we headed out. I didn't think I was ever gonna get her out of Burlington Coat Factory. Geez! That woman can spend with the best of them! LOL! After we finally left there, we headed for the mall where we spent the next 2-3 hours. The mall we had back in Texas was rather small and seriously lacking so she was really fascinated with this one. It's REALLY large and for whatever reason, they're expanding. They'd better print up maps when they do. If it gets any bigger I might need one. We got back home pretty late and made our plan for the next day. Saturday morning we got up and headed over to Super Target. She loves Target and had never been in a Super Target. Once I got her in, I realized I might need some horses to pull her back out. After 2 hours I pointed out that if we spent too much more time in Target then we might not be able to go downtown. That got her attention quick so off we went. I should have been spending more time watching the road while I was driving but couldn't help paying more attention to her face when she saw all the things I've tried to describe to her on the phone. When we got downtown and she saw all of those shops and I saw how thrilled she was I knew we'd be there a while. We went to several shops but her 2 favorites were the Fudge Factory and Everything Cross Stitch (Me too!!). When we went to the stitching shop we noticed a sign that said all of the clearance merchandise was now 75% off. We were there a reeeeally long time. Neither one of us tried to hurry the other along there...lol. We both left with some really great goodies and I'm thinking maybe I should go back..lol. After we left we headed over to the Confederate Cemetery. She'd never been to anything like it and was really wanting to go. After we left there she wanted to stop back by Burlington's to pick up something she saw the day before. After that we stopped by the market to pick everything up for Christmas dinner. We had our dinner on Christmas Eve since they had to leave on Christmas day. We brought everything home and unloaded it. Stayed for about and hour and a half and left again. This time I took her to Central Park since we hadn't been yet. I knew she was gonna love it there! You can find just about anything you want in Central Park. We got home late again but when we did we found some time to make some sugar cookies. On Sunday we had a lot of presents to wrap so we did that. My mom wanted to go out again when we were done. I felt bad that Mike and the kids hadn't gone with us before so they came this time. My dad had to go back to WV for a day because he had to work. My brother went with him to keep him company. We went to eat lunch, then she wanted to go back downtown. We did that and then she wanted to go back to Central Park. After that we came back home and she made me some yummy chicken and dumplins for dinner. YUMMY! My dad and brother got back late that night. On Monday morning we got up and starting preparing things for dinner. After my Thanksgiving adventure, I was SO happy that she was there to help. Everything was really yummy and now I've decided if she can't come to me for the holidays, then I'm going to her :). That night we opened our gifts. As hard as I tried, I just couldn't seem to get that angel finished that I started to stitch for her. I really felt bad because I always have an angel for her for Christmas. I told her I had it, it would just be a little late. I did have a framed piece I stitched for her though. It's a piece from Blackbird's Peppermint & Holly book called Dear Mother. Cassie had a stitched gift for her too. She stitched a little Lizzie Kate piece. She did the stitching and I did the finishing for her. I hated for the night to be over because I knew they were leaving in the morning. Santa came and they watched them play with their goodies for a while, then off they went. I hated for her to go but at least she's only a 4.5 hour drive now. I can't wait until we get to go see them. There's a ski resort nearby and I'm looking forward to taking the kids sledding and tubing. They got a couple of Target gift cards for Christmas so yesterday I took them to buy snow suits and other snow gear. The first 3 day weekend they have from school after Winter break, I'm taking them up there. I think there's one coming up in a few weeks. We'll probably spend a lot of school holidays up there. I'd better go. This turned out a lot longer than I planned. Mike's mom is coming on Saturday so I've got a lot to do. She's flying in to Reagan so we'll probably spend a nice portion of the day in D.C. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday :)

I love my mail man

He left a fantastic box on my front porch today. I got really excited when I saw the return address. It was from my good stitching buddy, Rachel. I knew when I saw that the package was from her that there would probably be some yummy goodies inside. I was right!

Rachel makes the bestest candy in the whole world! Inside the box was a pretty tin filled with "oh I so want to eat the entire box of you" yummy candy! She made a nice bag of brittle AND my favorites...her yummy yummy caramels! I was thinking while I was eating (LOL!) that Rachel could very well be one of the most talented people I know. She has 2 jobs, she's a fantastic candy maker, baker, cook, cross stitcher, jewelry maker, knitter, card maker, I know there's more...lol. In fact, I'd be surprised if there was something Rachel couldn't do...lol. She's a really great pal and I'm glad she's one of mine. Merry Christmas, Rachel!!

Everything's good here, we're getting ready for my parents to arrive on Friday. My brother's visiting and will be here until Christmas Day when he'll go back with my parents. I'm planning to take him in to downtown Fredericksburg tomorrow. He still has some Christmas shopping to do so we'll be doing that as well. I'm SO glad that my family is on my side of the country now! Hopefully I'll have time to pop in every now and then while they're here. If not, we hope you all have a very Merry Christmas! I know I will cause I'll be with my Mama!

My two are anxiously awaiting Santa's arrival. Me too, I wrote him a note the other day and left it on the kitchen table telling him I want new floors for Christmas. I asked Cassie to give it to Mike to mail for me. LOL!

Counting down....

The days until I get to see my mom! Only 6! YAY! I can't believe it's been over 2 months since I've seen her. I never would've thought I'd be happy that she now lives 4 hours from me. It's funny how when you've had the same routine for most of your life that when something big changes you wonder how you'll get through it. If you would've asked me 2 years ago if I thought I'd ever live away from my family I would've told you no. If you would've told me my parents would live 4 hours away from me some day, I would've told you it was too far. My mother would've said the same thing. After 2 months of being 23 hours apart, those 4 hours seem like nothing. I can get to her within hours now if I need to. I feel a lot better now that they've moved. I've never had to separate myself from anyone really so that move was extremely hard. For a while I've felt pretty alone up here but I'm happy to say that I'm starting to not feel like that so much any more. My brother's on his way to see me and then my parents will get here on Friday. They'll stay until Christmas Day and then they'll have to head back in the afternoon. I can't wait till they get here. I have so many things that I want to show my mom. Mike's mom will be flying in to visit for a bit on Dec.29th.

I've had a really busy week. I had planned on doing a lot of Christmas shopping while Cassie and I were in New York. Since we didn't I had to do it all this week. I'm telling you, I spent a good 3 hours wrapping gifts yesterday. I'm SO glad that it's done. It seemed to be never ending this year. I'm sure it's just me. I'm having a hard time getting in the Christmassy mood. I'm used to doing a lot of baking and shopping with my mom around the holidays. I thought about her a lot while I was out by myself this week. I'm looking forward to doing some shopping with her next weekend. I don't really have anything left to buy but I know she she does. Hopefully the weather will be good. It seems like every time my dad comes to visit he brings the rain with him. I don't mind the rain but I hope he leaves the ice and snow in West Virginia. They live up in the mountains so they seem to get a lot of it. I can't wait to take the kids up there. We'll definately be doing a lot of sledding, tubing, ect....

I'm off....I'm stitching something for my mom for Christmas and I really must get it done :).

I know you've been wondering

Several people have emailed me asking how our trip to New York City went. I guess I should've posted before now but here's the thing....I was taught if I didn't have anything nice to say, then don't say anything at all. I know there are a lot of NYC lovers out there, unfortunately I'm not one of them. I'm really disappointed to say that! I really like big cities! At first I thought I'd blame it on the time of year that we went, but I honestly am not sure that I'd like it much any other time either. I know a few people who have been and said they loved it but I have to wonder if they experienced it like we did. I mean, did they actually walk along the streets of NYC?? My first (and BIGGEST!!) mistake was not listening to my friends who told me to take a cab and not the subway. Lesson learned. If you ever go in to NYC DON'T take the subway. Frankly, I'm surprised we made it out alive. We took it once and footed our way the rest of the time. If we would've tried taking a cab back, we would've missed our bus. That traffic was just not moving. I'm not gonna re-live the whole day, we'll just talk about the good stuff. We headed over to Rockafellar Center so Cassie could see the Christmas Tree. We were both really surprised when we got there. They make it look a LOT bigger on TV than it actually is in person. Don't get me wrong, it's big. Just not as big as it looked on TV when they lit it. After that we crossed the way over to the window at Studio 1A where they tape the Today Show. That was REALLY neat! I've been a big fan for a long time and loved gazing in the windows. Too bad it wasn't a week day, then maybe I could've gotten a glimpse of Ann or Matt :). After we left there, we crossed back over to get our tickets for the NBC Studio tour. The tour lasted about an hour and was pretty neat. I've been in studios before and mostly went so Cassie could see. We got to go in to the studio where they tape Saturday Night Live and then the studio where they tape Late Night with Conan Obrien. Boy, is that studio small! The stage is tiny...I was really surprised. They seem to make everything look bigger on TV. Honestly, that pretty much sums up our fun for the day. We didn't do any shopping because we couldn't. Most places we tried to go to had a very long wait to get in. I guess we could have bought some souvenirs at those little souvenir stands. We don't love NYC though so we just kept on walking...lol. We did see the Empire State Building, Radio City Music Hall, went in to the Trump Tower, walked down 5th Ave., and back up Broadway. Although we didn't have as great of a time as we had hoped, I'm still glad we went. We got to spend the entire day alone together. Since I was a little girl I've always wondered what New York City is like. Now I know and neither Cassie or I have any desire to go back...lol. There were SO many people there that everyone was smushed together on the sidewalk scurrying along like a pack of penguins. I've never seen anything like it and hope I never do again. You remember all those times I said that one of these days I'm going to Macy's Thanksgiving parade and to the New Year's Eve bash in Times Square? Scratch that.....that's not ever gonna happen...lol. I can definately mark NYC off of my list of places to go. It's just way too much for me.

Off to New York!

Cassie and I are getting ready for our little outing to New York City tomorrow. She's SO excited!! We've got her backpack all packed up and ready to go. Our tentative plan is to sleep on the bus so we'll be ready to hit the streets when we get there. The bus will drop us off at Macy's in Herald Square and then we're heading for Rockafellar Center where we have tickets for the 1:45 tour of NBC Studios! I'm REALLY excited about that! Afterwards we plan to roam around and find the Christmas Tree. After we've finished up in Rockafellar Center we hope to head up to Times Square and browse around at FAO Schwarz, and I do emphasize browse...lol. We have some other things on our list but we'll see how much time we have before we plan on anything else. I've got my camera batteries charging so we'll be sure to take lots of pics :).

I'm also excited to report that my parents house is packed up in a moving truck and everyone is is relocating as we speak to West Virginia! They should arrive on Sunday. I hope to see her next weekend, if not then definately the weekend after that.

You kids play nice! When I get back I'll have lots of things to tell, I'm sure :)

Fiiiiinally finished

I finished up all of those ornaments that I was finishing for someone today! YAY!! Some of them took a little longer than I thought. I like finishing, I just hope I don't get another batch this big. Of course I like the money but finishing 17 in such a short amount of time wasn't the easiest of things. Aren't they great? I LOVE the 12 Days of Christmas ornies from The Prairie Schooler. Those Charland snowflakes turned out really pretty, HOWEVER whoever painted the berries on the snowflakes (or at least these 3) didn't do a very good job, IMO. She stitched these on the exact fabric the chart called for and I even made the circles smaller than they said to, and it still covered the berries up. It looked to me like someone was in a really big hurry when they painted the berries on the snowflakes. They definately don't look the same finished up as they do in the magazine, even though the directions were followed. Even before I added the cording (which is very small) you still couldn't see them. I added red pins to where the berries were supposed to be and I think they look really pretty. In fact, I like the pins better than the painted on berries. The good thing about finishing this large haul of ornies is that I'll be able to use that money when Cassie and I go to New York City on Saturday :). Speaking of that...

I think our first stop on Saturday is going to be the NBC Experience Store. I really want to go on that Studio tour so as long as we are able, we're going! I'm REALLY excited about that so hopefully it'll work out :).

I'm off already. Mike only works untill 11 tomorrow so after I take the kids to school I've got to drive to D.C. to get him. I should get there early but that's fine with me...it gives me time to explore :). Let's just keep our fingers crossed that with my GPS I'll make it there ok. Of course I have to take I-95 to get there....right now that's one of my least favorite places to be. You have to experience it to fully understand...lol. Did I mention there's a snow advisory out for that area tomorrow? LOL.