Christmas at Arlington National Cemetery

I read this on the internet a few days ago and I wonder why the press hasn't enlightened the public about it?? So I'll share it with you...

Rest easy, sleep well my brothers.

Know the line has held, your job is done.

Rest easy, sleep well.

Others have taken up where you fell, the line has held.

Peace, peace, and farewell...

Readers may be interested to know that these wreaths -- some 5,000 -- are donated by the Worcester Wreath Co. of Harrington,Maine. The owner, Merrill Worcester, not only provides the wreaths, but covers the trucking expense as well. He's done this since 1992. A wonderful guy.

Also, most years, groups of Maine school kids combine an educational trip to DC with this event to help out. Making this even more remarkable is the fact that Harrington is in one the poorest parts of the state.

Below is a photo of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers. David and I got to watch the changing of the guards when we last visited Washington DC, September 2004. Arlington National Cemetery is a place every American should visit to remember the thousands of men and women who fought and paid the price for our freedom.

Here we are - Ho,Ho,Ho Downin for Christmas! :)

This is so fun! I have seen other friends who "Elfed their self" and inserted photos and just had to try it out myself. It took a while but ended up being so cute and perfect for the placement of who did what - Nora at the end does a cartwheel! And that is perfect b/c this year she is taking gymnastics! ;)

Cut and paste the link into your browser to see our hodown!

http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/UQMAsSBBueMAPPwy

Hurry and watch b/c it expires January 15th, 2010!

Wordless Wednesday

Merry Christmas everyone - hope you are getting ready... we are! We leave Friday to go to KY for two weeks!!!

Today was a fun day

Today was the day of our MOPS play date. Every month it's somewhere different and for this month b/c it is so cold outside - they choose for us all to go to the play area at the Mall in Pt. Arthur. Normally I wouldn't drive so far for a play date, but I had somethings to exchange at Target which is at the mall so we ventured out. ;)

Olivia and Paul Thomas la,la,LOVED it! They were bouncing and jumping around everywhere!

They played so hard that they fell asleep on the way home! Olivia was already snoring when I stopped at the first red light!

I got back to Orange about 30 minutes before the time I usually leave to pick up Nora so I just drove on to her school and arrived really early. They were still asleep so it was nice and quiet. Here is what greeted me when I pulled into the parking lot. :)

and I remembered to take a close up of myself... so that Dad can see that I had the mole removed from my nose the day after Thanksgiving. It's healed very nicely and not noticeable at all.

I love showing up to the carpool line early! It gives me time to do this....

I always keep a hoop in the van with me - drive thru at McDonalds, carpool line, even at the car wash! :) I love to stitch!

The twins stayed asleep until Nora got in the van. Not that she woke them up, she didn't but the cold air that rushed in as the teacher opened up the sliding door and also the loudness of all the school kids talking... no big deal though - they got over an hour and a half of nap time. ;)

I had to stop for gas... and I bought them a Kit-Kat bar to share.... at the..as Nora calls it "the box" Place that the gas station attendant sits for those who walk up and pay. Guess who really loves chocolate!??!?

while the gas was pumping I got to stitch a little more...

and when I got home, lots of goodies were in the mailbox waiting for me!

A photo card from the Evans' family. I used to work with Tracie at Monsanto when we lived in Augusta. We were sorta neighbors too - neighborhoods within a mile apart... and before we had children, we'd get together for craft nights at my house every Thursday night. Fun, fun!

Her husband Jim worked for many years at the Augusta National Golf Course (home of the Masters) but a couple years ago he took a new job as head Superintendent at a brand new golf course in North Carolina. Thanks to the internet (blogs, email and facebook) we still stay in touch with each other.

and the package is from a friend in Washington State that I've never met in real life before but have known for 4 years from my online quilting group. Look what she sent!

A minature quilt!!! Perfect to hang on the wall or even place in the center of a table. Those blocks are super small each star block is only 4.5" big! wow! I love it Sandie! Thank you so much for creating something so pretty for me!

And tonight was gymnastics night for Nora. She really loves it! With her whole ear ordeal, she missed over a month of going and so if time allows we have permission to go twice a week to catch back up. Her usual nights are Thursdays - but if David can get home from work early enough she can go on Monday nights too.

here she is on the wedge thing getting ready to do a backwards roll.

and just coming off of the shorter bar. I wasn't quick enough to get her while she was flipping around it.

after the short bar they go to the wall and climb up on the orange/blue soft thing by the wall and stand on it to jump up onto the tall bar then move along from right to left learning how to balance their body weight using only their arms.

after that they walk across the balance beam that is low to the ground. the photos don't show everything - but there is a good size course that they have to do.

and of course she loves the trampoline! She bounces across it real fast!

again - I wasn't fast enough but she rolled down the red slope. Then back to get inline for more instruction.

I love that she loves gymnastics! I hope she can continue them for many years!

Christmas Lights are up!

Last weekend David and Nora put out our "rainbow" lights in the shrubs in front of the house. While I cheated and put up the small 3' tree inside. Just about the time I was finished with the lights (((only 2 strands - can you believe it?))) Nora rang the door bell to come in b/c her hands were freezing cold. Perfect timing to help me with ornaments!

and although she remembered all of "her" ornaments - the ones she earned with each of her potty sticker carts - she did not remember that we had once had this same tree in her bedroom 2 years ago. We skipped putting it up in her room last year b/c of the twins - they love playing in there between bath time and bed time and we just knew they'd knock it over.

and this year b/c we are going home to KY for Christmas... leaving on the 18th - it just didn't make sense to me to put up the big tree (that usually has over 2000 lights) and then have to deal with it after we get back from our vacation... you know just one more thing... so we "cheated" and put up the small one in the front room (living room /computer room.)

We keep this room gated off majority of the time - can't have two 2 year olds banging on the keyboard or climbing around on the desk or worse... did you notice the TV sitting on the floor??? it use to sit on a small table right there to the left of the huge computer desk/bookshelf... (cable is on that wall) but b/c of the twins.. we had to remove the table b/c we didn't want them to turn it over on themselves.

Here are some wooden ornaments that Nora painted this year. The two dragon flies and lady bug.

When she was three she picked out the doctor ornament at Hallmark and the soldier is one that she found at a yard sale last summer.

and Nora's favorite ornament is the Linus on Stage telling about the Christmas story. It has a button you push and he begins with..."Lights Please...." and the stage lights come on and he tells the story of what Christmas is all about. Betty Sue in KY gave this to her when she was 2.5 years old. And do you see that Barbie ornament? Until now, it's the only "Barbie" she owns!

and while we decorated, and David was outside putting up lights... what did the twins do you ask?

completely wrecked the den!

We leave for Kentucky on the 18th for a 2 week vacation! :) Nora gets out of school early Friday and we should be packed and loaded and ready to hit the roads around supper time that night. We plan to drive it straight thru.