Christmas has come and gone. And everyone has gone home now. Yes I'm sad. I love having my family around me. We did have a great time but Josh was really missed. We did get to spend some time with him on skype which was really cool and see him and Aloka too! I love technology. Being able to see Josh's face made him seem a little bit closer since he couldn't physically be here.

But as with any holiday, we stayed up too late, laughed a lot, of course we had to play at least one game of conasta, and ate way too much food. I'm still full. And then it all ended all too soon.

The kids really had fun with Grammie and papa. They painted coin banks and made a huge gingerbread house. Kim and JJ came up on Sunday just in time for a big lasagna dinner. I stayed in the kitchen according to the rest of the family but I don't think I was in there all that much. But for some reason, I am just a bit tired tonight. :) But I would spend all day and all night in my kitchen just to have my family with me again. Sigh with a smile. :)

The presents were great fun. But all in all I think the very best present was the one Grandma gave. She made albums that had pictures of us when we were younger.

I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas! I can't wait for the next family gathering.

Christmas is coming. The goose is getting fat. Please put a penny, well, maybe a little bit more in MY old hat. :) But it's just around the corner. And so far I've done pretty good about being organized. I only have a couple more people to shop for and then I'm done.

At the school, they have a Christmas Shop for the kids to get presents for their family members. It's a neat idea. The kids get to go in and browse with their teachers and the items they pick out is then charged to the parents school account. The parents preset the dollar amount so the kids can't go crazy. And there's some fun stuff in the shop too for the kids to choose from to give as gifts.

So I got Sean out just a bit early and he and I browsed in the shop with Asia in tow. He picked out a really cute gift for his sister and paid with his own money. He was so proud of his choice.

Here is a picture of all of us from Thanksgiving. Kim has this picture on her camera and I took a picture of the picture. Not the best way to get it but hey, it works for now.

In this picture, I think Asia looks more like Scott and is looking more like the Queen side of the family.

Today was the first day back to school from Thanksgiving break and boy am I tired. I need a vacation, ha ha. But now that all has quieted down a bit, I was surprised to see how tired I was. I was running off adrenaline I guess doing all that baking. So much fun!

But I got off my tail today and got some things done around the house. I'm about to do some more organizing trying to get the house ready for Christmas and a slew of family hopefully.

So my first project today was re-covering my dining room chairs. It was time too. Some of the seats were really showing wear and and the seat that Asia sits on, had holes in the fabric. Her little feet can do some damage. So I went with Asia and got some great fabric from Walmart.

Anyway, thank goodness for growing up on the job site and loving power tools. I took those chairs apart being mindful to remember where all those little screws and bolts were to go and had at it. I think they turned out really well. Scott was surprised when he got home by a huge mess in the house. But he likes the chairs so that's all that counts. Now for cleanup. Takers anyone?

Yeah! I tried to get back on the blog and I was able to! For some reason I couldn't update it for the longest time so I gave up trying for a while. But on a whim I tried and I got on. So I'm gong to try to update weekly.

Love you all and I'll be keeping in touch.

Anna

Sean stays pretty busy with his schedule. Between sports and school his plate is pretty full. But the school does ocassionally do fun stuff like the Parade of Nations. Each class has a nation and the kids dress up like that culture for the day. And in the weeks prior to the parade, they learn all about the nation, the culture, food and atire. Sean really gets into it. This year his class had Australia. Mom and Dad had given him the cutest aviator coat last year and he chose to wear it as part of his outfit. So cute!

Halloween was fun. This year Sean was a football player, surprise surprise and Asia was a princess. I was a fairy queen and had a lot of fun dressed up with Asia. Beth, my friend dressed up as Hannah Montana but Christie didn't dress up as the the wicked stepmother, (old lady with the apples) because she thought she might scare some kids. But the kids had fun all the same. But I never saw Sean until the night was all over. Go figure.

Sean is all done with football season. Actually so is Scott. They had a really good season this year and won a lot of games. It's amazing how much they grow from each year in skill and development, knowledge of the game. It was really fun to watch.

Auntie Kim was able to come down to several ball games and was one of Sean's biggest fans. One time she even drove all the way to the school for his game. Unfortunately we were in McDonough. But she was able to make it just in time for the rest of the game.

He played quaterback and really enjoyed his season. He had great coaches and had fun with his teammates. But with all good things, they must come to an end. But he's looking forward to the next year. Now for wrestling.

We had a surprise birthday party for one of Asia's girlfriends, Reece. She's about to turn 5 and is the oldest in the group of girls. Really the girls act like sisters. The love eachother and fight all the time but can't stand to be apart from one another. They're super cute together.

But we all got together, Christie, Beth and I and had a great time with the girls. Luckily, it was the first day of break so we didn't have to rush the day since we didn't have to get the kids from school. We ate, ate and ate, chatted, painted with the girls and enjoyed being mommies. So blessed to have such good friends.

Thanksgiving was so much fun. J.J was able to come up for a couple days and Kim came down for the better part of the day. We ate way too much food or should I say that J.J did. And then he and Scott slept it off. The kids and I had fun in the kitchen painting Christmas decorations, dough ornaments, while the guys snoozed.

But all in all, I was totatlly in my element baking up a storm and getting ready for the big dinner. But I do have to admit that we almost didn't have a turkey. Here's what happened.

Wednesday morning I was feeling really good about myself being so organized for Thursday's dinner. As I was getting ready for the day, I was going over in my mind the things I had to do, my last minute preparations. So as I was going down my list in my head I told myslef to bring up the Showtime for the turkey when all of a sudden I realized I hadn't taken the bird out of the freezer!

I let out a blood curdling scream to which Scott ran in to find me in a panic. But once my heart had returned from the pit of my stomach, I was able to find online how to safely quick thaw a turkey. Phew! As always, pride comes before a fall. Thank goodness for google and helpful strangers to post much needed information in times of near crisis. :)

But the meal turned out well. The company was great. I just wish the whole family could've been together. But I'm thankful for the family I have near me that I can see on a pretty regular basis. And I'm hopeing we'll get together soon.

Thanksgiving is over and now for Christmas! Wow, only three weeks away.

Sorry it's been so long since I've updated. I've been so busy with my baking I really haven't had the time. Plus I've been skirting my duties as a mother and haven't really taken any pictures recently either. Bad, Bad, Bad!

But here are a couple recent things that we've done to get you updated.

Love you all!

Panama City was great! We were at the beach and the pool everyday. The kids didn't come inside unless we made them to eat. I think they would've been happy to starve out there just to keep playing.

We got there early evening on Monday and left to come back home Friday after dinner. Sean had a baseball tourne we had to get back for.

But while we were there, Sean and Asia made all kinds of friends. Sean got a bit of a sunburn but Asia just turned a nice golden tan. Both of them were so sad to have to pack up for home. Can't wait for next time.

We went to Savannah GA for the State Baseball playoffs for our Varsity Boys Baseball Team. The team ended getting second at State. And we had a blast.

The kids had a great time playing with their friends at the games that day. We then went out that evening to the Riverwalk and had a fabulous evening.

After dinner the girls went to the candy store and Asia had a blast filling her tin pail and Sean's tin pail full of candy. Asia's was a hello kitty pail and Sean got an American Chopper pail.

The boys stayed behind and listened to all the drunk people singing at the bar. I guess it was quite the show.

I've been staying busy with my cake business. The orders are coming in and it's been great. I did my first bridal shower cake, the three tiered cake and that was a lot of fun. Now that I'm getting more experienced, I'm much faster with my decorating which is good. I'm also doing a lot of birthday cakes, which happen to be the other ones but I have a few specialty cakes on order too like a ladybug cake for a little girls first birthday.

I have a couple wedding cakes on order too. One is in May and the other one is in September. So Those will be my first major orders I think. Whoa! How much fun is this!

Sean had his first wrestling tournament this weekend! He did really well for his first time. He's really enjoying it also. He practices a couple times each week and now we're in matches.

But his first match this weekend, the boy no showed so Sean won by forfeit. But the other three matches, he ended pinning two of his opponents and then beating the final boy in the last match because he out wrestled him and got more points! It was so fun to watch. The coaches were really pleased to and said a lot of positive things about his abilities, balance, all stuff I'll have to learn as I go. :)

The kids and I got an opportunity to go to the Nutcracker! It was so beautiful and I was surprised at how much even Sean enjoyed it. Asia remembered all the music and was in a state of awe all throughout the production. We dressed up and made a really fancy night of it. Our neighbors had girls in the ballet and gave us tickets! Such a treat!

Scott begged and begged to go with us but had a pressing engagement with a ballgame on T.V and had to reluntantly decline the invitation. :) And the cute girl holding Asia was the prima ballerina. Asia was so embarrassed. :)

Asia has been so much fun to be with at home. She bakes with me and she has her own rolling pin. I found it at the Ikea! So cute. It fits her little hands perfectly. She loves rolling out the dough and cutting out cookies. I think I have a baker in the making.

Also she helps me out with Cristina the baby I watch. But she and I do a lot of just mommy and daughter stuff too like playing memory and dress up. We sing all day and go for walks. Her favorite activity though happens to be the tea parties we have. And we do that twice each month with my friends and their daughters. So much fun. Every once in a while we'll do them at home with her little tea sets. The only problem there is that you can only get about two sips of tea out of those tiny cups!

Sean is wrestling now! One season is complete and we jump right into another one. He had his first wrestling match the other day. It was so cute because he was so nervous before his match. And when he was wrestling, he and his opponent smiled at eachother the whole time. :) He did really well and almost pinned the other kid.

It's been a while since I updated. :( I've been so busy with my new baking business! It's been great filling orders. I've been baking mostly cakes and specialty cakes but have gotten a few cookie orders too. The most popular have been the Russian Tea Cakes or Wedding Cookies. They happen to be my favorite cookie too. Yum. Now that I'm writing about it, I'm craving cake. I think I'll bake one today. Maybe a whip cream cake?