Party/Family Visit

For those of you who keep up with my sister's blog (Hicks Family Four), this might be a tad bit of a repeat.=) I do promise, though, not to say the exact same thing as she did!=) Moving on. . .

This past Saturday a few members of my family flew into town for my nephew's first birthday. My parents, sister and husband and aunt all flew in on Friday afternoon to be here for the festivities that awaited us on Saturday. It was nice to see them and spend some time with them. Especially my younger sister and her husband as we do not get to see them much at all. So it was REALLY nice to get to spend some time with them. My parents ended up staying at my sister's house while Frank and I had the privilege of having my sister, her husband and aunt stay at ours. Much Wii was played at the house at night.=) It was a lot of fun!

ANYWAY, (I am digressing and not really talking about the party much, am I?). . .

Saturday morning we arrived at the party house between 11 and 11:30. Some of us helped get the last minute things taken care of, while others (cough, cough - Tom and Frank) turned on the sports channel to await the upcoming college football game.=) Around noon the first guest arrived and the party was in full swing!=) Gabe's party theme was the farm, so my sister had farm plates and cups. She also had made a cute cow cake as the main birthday cake!

After the guests arrived, we blessed the yummy food from Chick-Fil-A and mingled with the guests. My sister even had a little table off to the side where the kids could decorate their own cupcake as well as a fall picture. It was really cute. One of the guest's children decorated her cupcake the right way - with lots of frosting!=) (I told her I wanted her making my cupcake!)=) When all of the eating was done we eagerly awaited for Gabe to blow out his candle (which he didn't really do. . Marcail - the big sister - helped out on this end) and dig into his cupcake. Then we waited some more. . and some more. . and some more until finally. .. . his little finger touched the icing and he brought it to his mouth! We all held our breath to see what he would do next and then he did .. . . nothing.=) Mommy (my sister) helped show him how to tear up the cupcake and eat it piece by piece. Apparently Gabe's not into the whole messy scene.=) It was fun to watch him try, though!=)

Next came present time - to which all of the children there (with the exception of some friends' baby) decided to help out with.=) And they no only helped out with the opening, but also with the putting together.=) It was neat to watch the kids try to help the adults with the assembly of the toys. They actually did a great job. As for the birthday boy? He enjoyed the toys after they were put together.=)

I think it was quite the successful party. Gabe seemed to have a good time (As did his sister, who also scored some nice gifts!) and it was nice to see everyone who came for the party.

After the party was over, we had the chance of traveling out to the Northeast Florida Fair in Callahan, FL. We got to see livestock (cows, rabbits, pigs, ducks, roosters, etc.), watch Marcail play a couple of games, visit with friends, get our picture taken (Friends of ours - check out their blog: In His Images - had a booth there and were taking pictures for only $5), and eat yummy fair food (You know, BBQ, funnel cakes, kettle corn. . yumm!)!!! It was nice to go out there and walk around for a while. It did get quite nippy though after a little while. I'm amazed at how quickly it can cool down!! Actually felt a little bit like fall!=)

Sunday was the last day my sister and her husband were in town, so after church we all went out to dinner together. Then my sister's husband (who loves the beach) asked to go down to the water. Now, please know that it was not warm on this day. The wind was blowing, it was chilly, no sun in the sky. Not really beach weather. However, my sister's husband was determined to go swimming in the ocean and being the good hosts that we are, we obliged.=) So after lunch we drove down to the beach, found a nice place to park and watched as my sister's husband took off for the ocean and dove straight in!! It was quite the sight!!=) After this (and after he had dried off) we went back to sister's house before taking my sister and her husband to the airport.

That evening we all just relaxed around the house and visited with one another. It was a great weekend and a great visit! I can honestly say that one of my favorite things to do is to spend time with my family! I love them very much and truly appreciate every opportunity I get to see them! They're a lot of fun!=) 

Tagged

Okay, I read a couple other blogs and finally figured out what I'm supposed to do (or at least I think I know what I'm supposed to do!). My sister-in-law tagged me and now I am supposed to write 7 interesting things about myself that others may not know. I am with my sister and think that this will be tough. But here we go. .

1. I hate, and I mean HATE, being called Teenie Beanie. The only people ever allowed to do such a horrid thing has been my family. And they are on thin ice now if they ever do it!=)

2. I, too, have always wanted a horse. I imagined my horse being white (all white) and beautiful! I planned for my horse to live on my grandparents land and for me to come over and ride it whenever I wanted (without cleaning or grooming it, of course!).=)

3. I love everything Chinese. Most of you who know me already know this, but for those of you who don't - surprise! No, I'm not a communist (so, okay, I don't love EVERYTHING Chinese.. sheesh, I have to be so specific!), but I do love the Chinese culture, the Chinese people, the Chinese language . . . I could go on and on. My husband always jokes with me that I'm more Chinese than he is.=) (Totally not true, though.)

4. I do not enjoy living in FL. I actually think that's an understatement. . .definitely an understatement. I envy those that have gotten out of this state (i.e., Jen). I am just serving my time and waiting for the Lord to rescue me from this prison!=)

5. I have obessive/compulsive tendencies. Ask my husband what happens after I vaccum a carpet and he walks on it. Go ahead, I dare you. . .=)

6. To me, NFL football is the only resonable sport out there to watch.=) I always get so sad when February comes around, the Super Bowl is over and I have to wait until the fall again for some good Sunday afternoon entertainment!! And of course, Pittsburgh is the only great team out there to root for!!=)

7. I love Ryan Reynolds. Yes, I've said it. I love Ryan Reynolds (Don't worry, Frank knows all about it.)! He may not have the cleanest mouth in the world or pick the best movies to star in, but man, is he cute!=)

Alright, well, I have managed to write 7 not so interesting facts about myself. I hope you all enjoyed a trip down Kris's lane. =) Now I know that we're supposed to write down 5 (5, right?) people to continue the tag, but I'm tagging everyone on my blog list. So if I have your blog on my site, then considered yourself tagged!=) I love you all!

Adventures in Baby-Sitting

This past Saturday Frank and I had the privilege of baby-sitting Marcail and Gabe while their parents had a night out and away from the house (It was their 5 year wedding anniversary.). I picked the kids up from Carrie and Jonathan around 1:00 p.m. and drove them back to my house. At this point we picked up Uncle Frankie and drove back over to their place so that they could both catch a nap (This plan didn't work too well with Marcail - she had actuallly fallen asleep in the car on the way home to my place, so she wasn't really in the mood to lay down again.) before we really started the fun!=) After naptime, we got Marcail and Gabe into the car and went to do one of Marcail's favorite activities - shopping!=) We drove up to our local Target, got Marcail a "smoothie" (Strawberries and Creme frappuchino), settled Gabe in the cart and took off!=) It ended up being a short trip, but it was nice to get the kids out of the house for a little while. Plus, Marcail got to pick out what kind of cookies she wanted to make that evening after dinner (She made a wise choice in picking out Pillsbury's Deluxe Chocolate Chip Cookies) and Frank and I were able to get ourselves a nice treat (Ice cream - yumm!!). Then it was back home for dinner, baths and play time. We had a nice time making the cookies and playing together. Marcail and Gabe played together nicely and even managed to make a small tower out of the blocks! Although I think Marcail's favorite toy was her Uncle Frankie!=) After playing for a while (and having a cookie) it was time for bed. Frank and I got the kids settled (It took a little while with Marcail - she had to have her belly rubbed) and then he and I pulled out our ice cream and settled down to watch a little TV. Thankfully, Gabe slept pretty peacefully throughout the night (with the exception of 5 - 6 a.m.) and with some minor exceptions so did Marcail. We did wake early though (6:30), to the sound of Marcail coming into the bedroom to let us know that it was time to wake up.=) Uncle Frankie explained to Marcail that it was still dark outside and therefore NOT time to wake up yet. So Marcail climbed into bed with us and rested with us until about 7. Then she and I got up to make some breakfast and get ready for church. Gabe slept in until about 8 that morning, which was nice. Then it was his turn for breakfast and his turn to get ready for church. Frank and I did fail the "Can you get yourselves, plus 2 young children ready and make it to church on time" test.=) We got to Sunday School about 10 minutes late (which I guess isn't TOO bad, right?) and since I had to teach Sunday School that morning, Frank graciously offered to deliver both children to their respective places (nursery and Sunday School). After Sunday School and church we made our way back to Carrie and Jonathan's to wait for them to arrive back home. The kids were happy to see Mom and Dad and Mom and Dad were pretty happy to see the kids (Frank and I were happy to see them, too - we were ready for OUR naps!)!=)

All in all, it was a great time of being with the kids this past weekend and we were glad to give Carrie and Jonathan a chance to get out and truly celebrate their anniversary without any distractions!

Would we do it again? Definitely! Would we do it again next weekend? No!!=)

Date Night

Yesterday afternoon, on my way home from work, I was pleasantly surprised by a phone call from my husband who told me that he was on HIS way home from work.  This was the surprising part (not the phone call part - we do that quite often!)   - that he would be on his way home at 4:00 in the afternoon!  When I asked him what was bringing him home so early, he answered that it was because he wanted to take his wife out on a date!  This was very nice to hear!!  Over the summer we had tried to have a date night at least once a week, but once school started it had become a little harder to do.  So coming home yesterday to my husband was such a very nice surprise!!

We ended up driving down into Jacksonville and getting a quick bite to eat.  Then, we had a little extra time to kill before the movie and decided to spend it in one of my husband's favorite stores - Best Buy.=)  After that we drove to the movie, got our tickets, popcorn and pop and made our way into the movie theater.  We ended up seeing the movie Fireproof.  If you haven't heard of it, please check it out at Fireproof.com.  Both of us had wanted to see this movie for a little while so we were happy to get the chance to see it last night.  And I have to tell you that it didn't disappoint.  I am not one to advocate for a movie, but this movie is definitely one that I highly recommend.  No matter where you are in your marriage (or relationship), this is one worth seeing!  It was a very encouraging, uplifting movie.  And the message stayed true.  I really enjoyed it (so did Frank).  It was a great reminder of Who is the ultimate example of love (But God demonstrates his own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8) and Who is the One that truly sustains marriages.  Like I said, I really liked the movie!=)  

After the movie, Frank took me to Starbucks for a quick cup of coffee and then, unfortunately, it was time to head home (After all, Frank and I both had to get up for work this morning!)!  

We had a great time out and about together last night.  It was just a wonderful time of being together!  Thank you for letting me share it with you!!