Sean and Asia had orientation tonight at the school. Sean has a really nice teacher this year and I think he'll do really well with her, I'm hopeing at least. But Kim Edge, his teacher is very patient and has boys of her own plus she knows Sean so already that's an advantage for him. So I'm excited for his year this year.

Asia has Laura Farr and my friend Sandi for her teachers this year. She was really excited to see her teachers but wasn't too excited about sitting at her desk in the room. I hope her excitement to wear her school uniform will spill over to her everyday classroom activities.

All in all the kids are excited about school. It could be the new backpacks and supplies and all the "fun" things they needed for the upcoming year that they're excited about. But I think they're ready to be with their friends, make new ones and learn a little something too.

Wahoo! My new camera is in and I love it. It takes great pictures and I'm having a lot of fun learning all of its functions. I can hardly wait to see what kind of images I'll be able to take of Sean and Scott during football season. It'll be fun to find out.

Thanks to my family for all chipping in so I could get it! I LOVE IT!!!!

I was able to get some images of our trip to Myrtle Beach. We had such a good time. I just wish that I would've been able to get more pictures but my camera died during the trip.

Scott and Sean golfed a bit. Scott took us to the driving range and hit a bunch of balls. Asia met a new little friend next door to our little house and had a great time with her. And we ate a lot of frozen lemonade on the beach. Good times.

But we had a great time on the beach, eating all of that food and spending time with the extended Queen clan. It was bittersweet though on Friday when we had the annual picnic with the family. When it was time for the sisters and brothers to get photographed some of the siblings were noticably absent. So it was great to see everybody but also sad remembering those not present.

Family is so great. I'm ever thankful for mine and all the love we share.

We're home again and it's been a week since we got back from the beach. The kids both got really tan, Sean almost got as dark as me. I got a little bit of sun too but not too much. Scott fortunately didn't burn like he has in the past. So as far as that goes, it was great.

But we did have a really nice time. We had a lot of fun with the whole Queen clan. We went to the beach and the pool everyday. We found some really pretty shells too.

I was in charge of all of the meals so we ate some good food. We had low country boil on night and that has definitely become one of my favorites for sure.

My camera did pretty much die on me so I wasn't able to get any pics on this trip. I'm hopeing that I can get a new camera for my b-day so we'll see.

But we're home and back to the grind. Scott has jury duty starting on Monday. I'm hopeing that he won't be selected since we have the kids to worry about, school is about to start and we just have a bunch of things going on right now. It's a pretty busy time of the year for us.

Anyway, I'll update soon. The kids will be starting school in about three weeks. So we're planning some small camping trips pretty soon and some little day activities. So I'll update as we go.

Love you all!

It has been a very long time since I've posted and I apologize. I've been really busy with my new job but loving every second of it. God is so good.

Anyway, here is an update. Asia turned five! We had a really fun time at Chucke cheese, chucke cheezits according to Asia. Johnny, Laura and Nana came up, and celebrated with us. We had a nice family time eating pizza and play video games.

I do think that her favorite gift besides the Wii was a doctor suit and equipment. We're all mysteriously "sick" now or "hurting" and Dr. Asia has to make us better.
Well that was on the 27th of April.

Scott had a big birthday. He turned 40 this year. Whoa! But at least he doesn't look it. He's been doing a fitness regiment called Crossfit. A bunch of coaches and men from our church have been getting together and working out. It's pretty intense and the benefits of their labor are evident. Scott is getting in shape. He's been running too. I'm there with him in thought.

Then Sean had his ninth birthday. We were going to go bowling but he ended up getting sick on his b-day and we had to postpone the celebration. Needless to say, we still haven't gone yet. But technicall we're still in baseball season and football is this next week too. But we still had cake and presents of coure and had a quiet celebration for him to bring in his ninth year.

Then, aside from all the other birthdays in the family, Johnny, Laura, Christy, and also Mother's Day and Father's day, Scott and I had our anniversary. The past two months have been nothing but celebrations!

So yup 10 years was celebrated on the 20th! I left work early and the two of us met adn went to eat at a Brazilian style restaurant called Fogo De Chao. It was amazing. Kim had eaten there before so she gave me advice on how to "eat". The food was great. And since Scott and I are both carnivores we really enjoyed ourselves. There was every cut of meat imaginable and they were all fantastic.

Aterwards, we went home and took a nap since we stuffed ourselves silly. Darren and Kim Tucker, friends of ours, watched the kids for us. We got up, went to see the tail end of Sean's baseball game that he had that night. They lost. And after the good nights, Scott and I went and saw a late movie, Get Smart, very funny. We both enjoyed it. It's a must buy in my opinion. But in a nutshell that's the latest with us.

This week I'll be super busy at work since we're working on video footage for procedures for the units. So I'll be putting in some long hours this week. Scott is prepared and has been helping me at home stay organized with housework and the kids. Actually, since I started at Chick-fil-A he's done a good portion of the house stuff. You can call him Mister Mom.

And then at the end of the week we'll head off to Myrtle Beach for the Queen family reunion. That's going to be a lot of fun. I can hardly wait since it'll be one full week of vacation. We haven't done that in a long time.

We also went to Panama City for a few days a few weeks ago and had a good time. And the pictures of the kids are their year portraits I did of them on the beach.

Anyway, long one I know but that's it for now. I'll update and post some pics of our beach trip to SC.

School is about to start again, tomorrow actually. So we, my friends and I got together with the kids and went to Scoops. It's a beautiful little ice cream shop down the road and it's the place where you could just stay all day and be happy.

They have all the wonder old fashioned candies in the big glass bowls, tons of neat gift ideas and lot's of yummy chocolates. You walk in and your hit with the aromas of candies and delicious baked goods. The cinnamon rolls they bake are about the size of a man's fist and smothered in cream cheese icing! Yum!

We had a really nice time hanging out and spending time with one another. We all had been so busy over the holidays that we hadn't really had a chance to see eachother. The kids had fun too tasting the different flavors of ice creams and sorbets. Can't wait to do it again.

The last picture was actually of Sean and Asia at a roller rink for a party for one of their friends. Too cute so I had to add it.

I know Christmas is over but I had to write one thing about the elves!

Sean had been coming home all excited about the elves that had been visiting his friends at thier homes. The "elves" would come all the way from the North Pole and do mischievious things to the kids while they're asleep.

So Sean starting writing letters to Santa hoping that he would send an elf his way. Well, needless to say, an elf did visit Sean and more than one I should say.

The first night the elves tp'd Sean's room making a huge mess. And Sean never even woke up. The next night they ate crackers and scattered them around his room. Asia wanting in on the action started sleeping down in Sean's room too hoping to be able to see one.

Well, the third night, they scattered marshmallows and crackers around the room plus toilet paper. But the last night before Christmas Eve, the elves not only made a mess but they left little footprints all over Sean's bed!

Early the next morning we heard a bunch of voices coming from downstairs before church. Sean had gotten our neighbor boys over to show them the footprints. The whole neighborhood was just buzzing. :)

This past week has been really busy with work, typing and cakes. But in the last few weeks I've been elbow deep in flour, sugars and eggs oh my! But it's so much fun. Even though I put in some really long hours when I'm working on a cake I really do enjoy every minute of it. I'm really enjoying learning my mew craft and figuring out how to do new tricks and methods of decorating. I love edible art!

So here are a few pictures of the latest that I've done. The pink and brown cake was for a wedding just before Christmas. I had the wedding cake, grooms cake, FSU, and a bazillion cupcakes for it. The navy and silver cake was for a small private wedding this past Sunday for a military couple. Less is more I always say. I thought it looked really elegant. And the last two were for Asia's little friend Ella for her birthday. She wanted a purse cake so a drawstring satchel was made with all kinds of fun goodies a little girl would love.

Anyway, it's been fun. But I am thankful that I don't have any cakes this week so I can get some rest.

The present that Grandma gave was full of pictures of us when we were younger. It's so much fun going down memory lane.

Here are some pictures of the food we ate. And Dad didn't even take pictures of the cookies, sweets and pies! And then Typically, afterwards people disappeared and ended up like JJ and Asia on the couch technically speaking. :)

Here are some more pictures of Christmas fun.

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.