New Cinderalla Dress!!

Our friend Susan (Scarlett and Sienna's mom) bought a new Cinderella dress for Angel. She loves it and just had to try it on immediately.

Happy Chinese New Year

Happy Chinese New Year everyone! Today I was able to visit Angel's class to talk about Chinese New Year. We stuffed little red envelopes with fake money and Angel handed them out to each kid. We talked about some of the traditions of Chinese New Year. Angel was also able to brag about dancing for two CNY celebrations. She is not a bit shy - which I a glad about. I think the kids enjoyed the visit and I know Angel enjoyed it.

Stuffing the envelopes



Josh and Angel with their "lucky money" envelopes.

Showing the lucky envelopes to her class.

Our Weekend

We had a busy weekend as usual. Friday the kids were off school and we headed over to the Tampa area to see Josh compete in a ROTC competition. Turns out a friend of mine from high school and college lives in that area and we had connected via Facebook a couple of months ago. For those of you who have not gotten hooked on FB yet, try it out but be careful - it is addictive. Anyway, we met up with my friend, her husband and son for dinner Friday night. She also went to the competition with me on Saturday. It was so much fun to see her again after 20+ years! And we just picked up where we left off. I hated that I had a cold to deal with but we still had a blast. And as a bonus, Josh team got 1st in their division and their school came in 2nd overall. Awesome.
Tammy, Angel and I
Josh's team

Sunday we had Chinese New Year practice and then met some folks at the park. There was another little girl there around Angel and Kimberly's age and they all seemed to hit it off.
the girls

It is cold!

Dropping Josh off at the bus stop, we saw icicles on a sign. If it is going to be this cold, I wish it would snow!!

History!!

At work, we have a little gym with a tv, so I planned my workout around the noon hour, hoping to catch the Inauguration while burning some calories. Little did I know, quite a few others had the same idea (not the workout part, just the Inauguration part). So there we stood, about 20 of us, watching the most historic Inauguration. President Obama's speech was wonderful and I loved when the musicians played Air and Simple Gifts. The ensamble was great - made up of an African-American, an Venezuelan-American, an Israeli-American and a Chinese-American. Check it out.!

This past summer I discovered that I have a cousin that lives in our town. We have met for lunch and were trying to get together during the holidays but for various reasons, were never able to so last night she came down our way and we went out to dinner. Afterwards, Angel talked both of us into playing some games with her. It was a fun night.
Angel and Leanne

Chinese New Year practice

Our local Chinese Association asked our dancers to perform at their cny celebration and today we had a dress rehearsal. All the girls looked so precious and did so great.
Angel in her dress.

E and E

Today we met E and E at a local park and then for dinner. The girls played on the monkey bars, played football, we had wheelbarrow races, and they tried out some cheerleading techniques on Angel. Of course, they had a wonderful time and the adults enjoyed chatting.

Monkey bars

Today - after dance practice - we went to the park with K. Angel was finally able to cross the monkey bars. She was so excited and had the blisters to prove it!!

Winter Wonderland

Tonight Josh, Angel and I made our way down to St. Augustine's Winter Wonderland. I had heard about this a couple of months ago and forgot about it amongst all of the other actitivies. But I saw on another friend's blog that she took her daughter last night, so at the last minute we decided to check it out. We walked through the Elf Village, made S'Moas, saw a "snowfall", took a sleigh ride (horse drawn buggy - which we especially liked). We passed on the ice skating this year - Mama's not very athletic and it was pretty crowded on the rink. Angel said she "might fall". So we will practice skating some this summer and be ready next year.

Hard to tell but it is snowing



S'Moas

Yummy

An Elf House

Neighbors

Our neighbor Barb had her three grandkids in town this week and they love playing with Angel. They kept asking when she would be back from NC so they got a chance to play several times over the last few days. Inside, outside, the park - these kids are energetic!! Here is Angel and Brooklyn trying out Josh's old pogo stick.

Happy New Year Everyone

We just want to wish everyone a wonderful 2009. We have been blessed overall and during the 2008 year and we have so many things to be thankful for. I don't typically make resolutions, but this year I do need to make a few.

1. Spend more time with my kids without an agenda - just go with the flow.
2. Lose Weight - doctors orders.
3. Live in the moment - take is one step at a time.
4. Exercise - it makes me feel great.
5. Read more - I have been reading quite a bit but need to read even more.

I am sure there are more. I just want to make sure I don't hit 2010 and wonder where 2009 went!! Life is so short and goes by so fast. I can't believe Josh is 15 and Angel has already been home one and a half years.