So long 2008...

New Years is always a big holiday when you are young, you get to stay up late, maybe get a sip of champagne or at the very least that sparkling grape juice. It is a time to exchange New Year wishes and kisses, remembering the past and hoping for good things in the future. I have always liked celebrating a new year. Maybe that comes from my parents and grandma, who always made celebrating it a special event. My parents would always get yummy treats, like shrimp cocktail (very special stuff in my family) or lobster tails. We'd go out for a get together with family friends and bang pots and pans at midnight. My Gran always made homemade Reubens, which we still do in my family on occasion. It is refreshing to start a new year. My love of new years got a bit stifled when I worked at the Pub. We had this terrible long day of decorating the place and then ran around like maniacs serving frat boys and their silly sorority sisters Irish Car Bombs and Jager shots. It felt like amateur night. I would inevitably have to go to the bathroom, which was always TRASHED and had pure grossness everywhere! Then when the open bar finally ended...3 hours of cleanup at least. The money was never that good on that night either. The only upside to working that night is you didn't have to wear that ugly, shapless, smelly green polo shirt.

There are many New Year traditions, and I looked some up out of curiosity and the ones in North Carolina are pretty funny. Brass town, a city of western North Carolina, is having its 14th annual opposum drop! They drop a possum at the midnight from the top of the town gas station roof, its lowered down in a plexiglass pyramid. I guess a few years back PETA threatened to sue if they dropped the animal...so they got a dead one. Now, no one knows if the possom is playing possom or is actual road kill. The locals were very upset by the big city slickers messin' with all their small town fun.

In Mt. Olive, a three-foot, lighted pickle goes for a swim in the briny deep of a pickle tank at 7pm (midnight in London). The famous pickle company collect food on behalf of a local food bank, the is there 10th year droppin' the pickle.

For good luck in the New Year, the first thing one consumes on New Year's Day in the south is the black-eyed pea. In some parts there is a custom of cooking a rich bean soup called Hoppin' John, made of black-eyed peas, spicy sausages and tomato sauce. Holly is supposed to make it for us all this year. I have never had it. Do you know of any crazy traditions in your area? Look them up, you might get a good laugh!

I haven't made up my mind on a resolution yet. I would love to lose weight, be more organized, and save more money. But, I like to try and stick to my guns on things and choose something that will really improve you I am. What are your resolutions?

Christmas Day Pictures

Just a couple of pictures to share of our Christmas with my folks and brothers up in Philly. We missed Dennis, Holly and the boys spending the holiday with us, but I am sure they enjoyed their Christmas at home. They are super out of order for some reason.

Enjoying a Christmas cupcake made by Aunt Karen the super baker!

Baby Damien is getting big and is so full of personality, he is so jolly! Mom says he is so much like his Daddy at that age. He was doing so well trying to keep up with Sam, Sam was really unsure of how he felt about Jr. trying to test out his "stuff"--Sam told him on one occasion that it was "not nice" to touch his airplane. Which after we got over the shock and laughter, we reminded Sam it is "not nice" to not share.

I tried to get a good family shot of them, but lil Damien is so busy that it was tough to get one of them all looking.

My little men, see Damien was so curious about what Sam was holding and doing.

Momma and Sambo

Opening presents!

It was a very Thomas the train Christmas for Sam, which he LOVED every minute of. He got alot of new train toys, he has been so thrilled with them.




Christmas comes and goes so quickly after all the preparation and excitement. It is always one of my favorites, I hate when it ends. I especially hate what it does to my waistline--I will be hitting the gym harder than ever to prepare for our upcoming Caribean 30th birthday extravaganza!

Issues

Technical issues.

Because Linus said it best...

I racked my brain to come up with a clever way to express my Christmas cheer, and how much I love this time of year...not only because I get to see family and give presents (BTW, I LOVE to give presents). But, also because I feel truly blessed in my life and in my faith. So, Happy Birthday Jesus! I am so glad your in my life. And, since He is the "reason for the season" and all, I think Linus said it best.



Merry Christmas one and all!

What have we been up to?

This seems to be the question these days amongst the family and friends that I have been talking with. It has been certainly busy with all of the Christmas parties and shopping, but mostly...I have been working on the cards! Stacks and stacks of cards, I sent out 119! I still have 6 left in case we get some last minute, unexpected ones from people. I have a cramp in my arm from all the writing. This year I opted to get the deal at TJ Maxx, $3.99 for a pack of 20, rather than $1.89 a card at Kodak with a printed out message by me. The "deal" had a huge space for a cheery Christmas message, and I tried to write one to everyone...honestly by the time I got to the S's my elbow, forearm and hand were killing me. So, you may have only got a Merry Xmas! Happy 09! And, I am sorry. It is nice to get a personal message from a long lost friend or cousin though and I appreciate them when I get them, so maybe I made some one's day a little brighter.
The tree was done a few weeks ago, and the house was also decorated at the beginning of the month. We strung popcorn for it. I had never done that before. We made a huge bowl and strung away, while we watched "Harold and Maud". We got about 5-6 strands done. There is only one left on the tree because Jack ate them off the tree.

Sam has met Santa three times now, and is generally happy to meet the guy--from a distance of a least 2 feet. High fives and bumps are fine, no lap. I can't say I blame him, when I sat on Santa's lap to entice him to come sit there too...Santa kind of caressed my back with his thumb, a little creepy. I will give it to him that it is probably habit of patting kiddos on the back and being generally cuddly, but still, EW!
And here are a few of Sam at the Santa parties, and just generally cute ones that I have taken since getting my camera back!

Ho-Ho-Ho

Guest Book!

Clause Baby and Tree Hunting!

We went and had "lunch" with Clause this weekend. Sam was apprehensive, but not straight terrified. He likes to say "ho, ho, ho" and something like "Merry Christmas". He was a good little boy at lunch, and actually managed to stay in his chair for almost an hour. He must have known Santa was watching, he is really wanting those Thomas trains.


We headed to the mountains to pick our perfect tree this weekend. You'd think we would just want to stay home for once but, no can't sit still for a second around here. It was a perfect day on Saturday, cold...grey...and the smell of rain on the chilly December air. To our surprise, we actually got flurries and a festive snow on our adventure (or in Samspeak: vvventure!) We got to ride a tractor and play on the hill looking for our tree, Sam thought this was all great fun.
Sam liked all the decorations as we pulled them out to decorate, and it has been an ongoing process these last few days. I will post a picture of all that is about this year, we even rearranged the living room to make space for everything. He is kissing Clause here, and loving him.

The Grand Canyon

Cody, Sam and I made a little side trip to the Grand Canyon National Park while we were in Arizona. It's the second time I have been there, first time in the daylight. This involves a long story of Cody's and my move to NC, and our race against sunset and a timeline to start work for Frosty on January 2, 2006. We left on Saturday from Phoenix and returned early evening Sunday. It was a quick trip, but totally worth the trouble. And, on the way home we stopped in on the Amberg's in Prescott Valley, friends of ours from Philadelphia that Cody went to dental school with. They have three gorgeous children, and a beautiful home.

Cody looking so small...


Sam kept wanting to crawl over the wall, typical "Cody" gene. He doesn't get his risk taking tendancey from me.


Sammy burning off all that energy from sitting in the car for 3 hours.


We took a little scenic road up to the canyon through Sedona, it was a little longer, but sooooo lovely. I wish we had time to stay and explore a bit, but alas we had a time schedule to keep. In a perfect world there would be no time restrictions.

And for all of my fellow bloggers:
Anyone else experiencing wierd formatting when they are posting. I have all these weird 'html'-esque codes all throughout the new post section. It is very annoying and it is taking me forever to construct a post.

Thanksgiving in Phoenix

As you can imagine, our trip to Phoenix was a bit chaotic but completely worth all the crazyness. We spent alot of time just imagining what it would be like to spend our first holiday with all of Cody's siblings on his Mom's side of the family. It was wonderful for me to finally meet his sister Ann Marie and her son Matthew, as well as, his family Roxy and Trent. I got a little giggle out of the fact that Cody and Sarah are "Great Uncle" and "Great Aunt". It was a big spread with fourteen people...Taylor and his lady did alot of the cooking, but Mom did the Turkey. Everything was deliscious! Unfortunately, I was so tired from traveling that I never did get a piece of pie.


Little Trent, Ann Marie's grandson
Taylor and Grandma, otherwise known as GG. Sam took a special liking to GG, she had "wheels". Sam was a bit of a mess the entire trip, the time zone thing really messes with him. He really enjoyed just veggin' with Uncle Tay and Shandra with his movie. Grandma and Sam Cody, Taylor, Mom, Ann Marie and Sarah...the first time in recent history that they have all been in the same room. Wow! Definately a moment. Sarah and Bill, her new husband. Sadly, the girls couldn't make it down. It was Chris's year for Thanksgiving. We haven't seen them since last Christmas, we sure miss them. Poking around Grandma's back yard with Auntie. This was Mom's Christmas present from Jerry. A Suguaro is like owning a Bald Eagle or something, you need a liscence to own it and the state pops in from time to time to make sure you are taking care of it. It is really beautiful and about 20 feet tall. An arm takes about a 100 hundred years to grow, they are very rare and pricey. Checking out the Harley's at Jerry's shop, Sam made sure to put his little finger prints all over everything. Sorry Grandpa! Grandma took Sammy for a spin around the block, I think this was the happiest he was the entire trip. Poor Grandma was so tired after about 30 minutes of that.

A short little video of Sammy loving on GG, she was so cute with him and very patient with him too. He kept trying to pull her brake and play with her wheels. He would help himself to her snacks in her room and bring her pill box. He has talked alot about her since we got home.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Enjoy your yummy dinner, whether that be turkey or tofurkey! So tell me, what's your favorite dish?

Love to you all!

Tampa Bay

It appears blogger is taking liberty with arranging the photos as they want! This is actually a photo of Sam when we got home, and I had unpacked the suitcase. It made me laugh because, I remember that I used to love climbing in my Dad's suitcase when he would get back from trips or when he was preparing to leave, all the while begging him to take me with him. It is totally not the same, but it still left me thinking of that time when I was tiny, and my world revolved around my Daddy.Nana and Sam had a big time while Cody and I took our first long weekend away. They did lots of playing and book reading. Uncle Dennis (or 'Hamp' as Sam calls him) came and picked them up. They spent the majority of the weekend with the Hauck's. Sam really enjoyed his cousins, and slept really good according to Nana. He is missing Nana lots, and has asked about her at least once everyday since she has left.

Now, for the trip! We got in late Thursday night and just enjoyed a few drinks at the Westin's bar. We stayed up past 9:30 (our usual bedtime) and slept in to 8:30. Such rebels! Friday was the best day of the trip! We got in a good workout and headed out to explore the area. We drove to the closest beaches in St. Petes...I was hugely disappointed to find that it was unseasonably cold. Although it was really a gorgeous day, the temperature just hovered over 60. No swimming! I did dip my toes in the water though. We had lunch at this outdoor, beach front bar and noshed on some tasty fish sandwiches. After lunch, we went to the Salvador Dali museum. It was totally amazing! The guides were so knowledgeable. It was especially great to see Cody into it, he isn't typically a museum type...but Dali's exhibits are far from typical.

We headed back to the hotel to clean up for dinner. We made reservations at Bern's Steak House. It was an incredible meal! If you like steak and are ever in Tampa, it is a MUST do! No detail went left undone, and lets just say they have a dessert room. After that, we then went on to an "after party" following the rehearsal dinner for out of town guests. It was outside and freezing! Honestly, it was hard to enjoy.

Here I am trying not to look cold.

This was the view from the hotel room. It was a spectacular view, I wish we had a balcony.

The wedding weekend was something indescribable. There is no adjective that can summarize such lavish celebrations. I mean really...nothing. I really, really, really wish I had brought my camera with us, but I forgot my dressy purse and didn't want to carry it around. A few of the details were 2 bands (one of which was headed up by Beyonce's sister)...zebra rugs laid out in the bar areas...personal monogrammed linen cocktail napkins...food stations that included fillet, salmon, sea bass, venison, and mussels...a raw bar...personally designed, hand sewn gown...and a 60foot yaught send off to their honeymoon in Barbados. Crazy. Wild. There are so many more things but you'd need to see it to believe it. Who were these people you ask? Cody's partner's son...he married well. Real well. Although, it isn't my style wedding, you always want for a girl to have her dream, fairytale wedding. And, I think it is safe to say this lovely bride got her fairytale. And me, I got my fairytale weekend away with Cody. It was fantastic to spend the weekend eating, sleeping in and having a conversation that didn't revolve around naps, snacks, and diapers.

So Hungry

I am so hungry right now. I feel like all I have done is eat. Those last few pounds of baby weight have finally come off, and here I am stuffing myself and not exercising in the last 2 days. Is it because it has suddenly dropped from a balmy 65 degrees, down to 40 degrees with a nice, snappy wind blowing. We are animals after all, I could be going into hibernation mode or something. All I can think about is cold pizza, pumpkin cheesecake and taking a nap.
It is a good thing that I will be wearing a bathing suit soon for our upcoming trip to Tampa Bay. Nothing says "put down the fork" like wearing a bikini in a nice shade of winter, Irish girl white.

'da Poo

'Da Poo (the pool) was a huge hit this morning! We played out in the water for about an hour, and Sam was all a flutter. It was a bit tough to really enjoy, because we haven't got an overhead umbrella yet...and fall leaves are falling everywhere, it is a bit blustery today. The dogs were also curious as to what was going on and were sticking their noses in the water. I could tell Jack was already formulating a plan to get himself in the water. All smiles, Sam even gave me a "cheese".

Don't mind the coiffed up 'do of mine, I just had my hair color treated and I am trying to keep out the chlorine.

I got Cody a matching robe for the tub as a little gift from Sam and me. It has there monogram on the chest too. Very cute!

A little bit of a devil

I walked into the office the other day to find out what Sam was up to, and this is what I find. He was quite pleased with himself. Lucky for him, there was no electrocution or major damage done to the computer. Lucky for me, I could figure out what he pulled out and I could put it back.