Happy Birthday......to me.

People always ask me if I hate having my birthday so close to Christmas....and to tell you the truth it doesn't really bother me. In fact, in some ways it is kind of nice. The best part about it is that since it is so close to Christmas that a lot of the time my family is also all together for my bday. There is only one thing that still bothers me.....Since everyone just spent all their time shopping for Christmas...my birthday is always last minute shopping and everyone always go shopping on my birthday and I have to stay home by myself all day. In fact, I don't remember a year when they didn't have to go shopping on my birthday for my birthday.. :) But all in all...my birthday being so close to Christmas isn't all that bad of a thing....

So - this birthday...after everyone finished their shopping, we all went bowling....

Grandpa was in charge of helping Emily and Noah!

Dave being Dave...

Just look at that technique... :) ha ha..

Me, Mom, Dad, Steve

And do I even have to tell you who won??? :) Yep - that's right! me! I forget my exact score...100 something....125 maybe? 130? not sure...All i know is that I won! And it was a lot of fun! :)

Then we all went out to dinner at some Texas restaurant.....It was pretty good.

And I actually managed to get Austin to sit on my lap and not cry the entire time... :) A task that didn't come as easily to me as it did to Dave! Austin just loved Uncle Dave...I'm still wondering why he didn't love me just as much... :)

After dinner we went home for some really good birthday cake and mom broke out some birthday hats. Well - I tell myself they were birthday hats, but they said "happy new year" on them! :)

Anyway - it was a great birthday thanks to my family! It definitely beat last year....when half of us ended up getting sick that day! :)

Christmas in....

Well...it started in Connecticut and ended in Texas. Oh..and I had what felt like 4 days of Christmas. 4 days of opening presents! Not bad, eh? :)

Mom and Dad drove down from Montreal to Connecticut before Christmas and spent a few days here. On my first day of Christmas (the 23rd) We all got together at my sister's house for dinner and to exchange gifts. My parents gave me some of my gifts that night...and saved some for Christmas Day.

Jake, Paige, and Caleigh

On day 2 of Christmas....we went to Dan's family Christmas eve get together that they do every year. All their family was there..aunts, uncles, cousins, grandchildren...everyone. And lots of good food. The kids all got lots more presents...

And my parents gave me my christmas stocking on Christmas Eve...since we (my parents and I) were leaving early the next day for......

....Texas!!! It was a different Christmas...flying and going somewhere even warmer than CT (which was already a lot warmer than I'm used to for the holidays)...

So Christmas day...(which was really my 3rd day of Christmas) was spent at Steve and Janets. Janet made our traditionaly Christmas breakfast which was so good...and then we opened...yet again...more presents.

Noah and Austin

Austin in his new Canadiens shirt from Grandma and Grandpa.

Noah got one too!

Emily with her new scooter!

Late that night....Dave and Kim flew into Texas. So the next day...(Boxing Day!)...and my 4th Day of Christmas...we exchanged more presents with Kim and Dave.

Kim and Dave opening their gifts..

Emily and Uncle Dave..

After opening presents, we spent the afternoon outside at the part...it was such a nice day!!! And here are some pictures....

He's just so cute....

This picture was when Steve was making him go down the slide....he wasn't a big fan of the idea!

After the park...we went home to cook our Christmas dinner...turkey and all the trimmings. Steve has one of those deep fryer turkey things...so we cooked it in that. They always turn out good in those things. Here we are taking the turkey out of the fryer...

All 4 days of Christmas were great....It's not a bad deal celebrating Christmas 4 days in a row...it's such a great holiday! :) definitely a favorite!

Merry Christmas

Since I failed miserably at sending out Christmas cards this year...I just wanted to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!! I hope you are all enjoying the holiday season! :) I know I am!!!

Me with my little Christmas Tree...

The Bus

I have a couple of friends that came up with this interesting idea....They decided to buy a school bus and fix it up and drive it accross the country. So - they own a school bus which they have been working on and converting it into a....well, i don't really know what exactly to call it. But it's blue, it has 2 twin beds, a couch, and a couple of recliners....

And here it is:

So - When our friends...Jim and Rob...were telling us all about their school bus...we started saying how we should take a little road trip in it. So - that is exactly what we did this past weekend. We decided to take it to Newport, Rhodes Island.

We decided on Sunday to do this...we were going to drive up to meet the guys after work and then drive to Newport, sleep in the bus...and then hang out in Newport on Saturday and drive back. Well...as the week went on and I realized just how freaking cold it was outside...I was dreading the fact that I decided to do this whole trip thing. And after a HORRIBLE day at work on Friday, I was very close to not going...but my friends convinced to go...and I am way glad I did.

Here is a shot of the inside:

It's kind of hard to really see the inside from this picture because our stuff for our trip is everhwere...but the it's got carpet, and the two beds are at the back...that red that you see is a recliner..and i'm taking the picture from the couch that i'm sitting on.

I don't know if any of you know how cold it was last friday...but it was freaking cold! It had to be the coldest day we've had so far...so I brought some layers, a sleeping bag, couple of blankets...and just hoped I would survive the night.

Jaime, Cassidy and Me goofing around in the bus..

We got to Newport and ended up parking in a wal-mart parking lot! :) And then just hung out in the bus...some people watched a movie..and some of us just hung out. We kept the bus running for a while...and turned it off at like 3 am when we finally went to sleep.

Rob and Me


Me and Cassidy

I ended up sleeping on the beds...but i was all the way at the back of the bus with my back against the back wall (or i guess window)...and at like 6 in the morning I woke up FREEZING! so i broke open my hand warmers....and Rob was nice enough to give me another blanket..and I finally warmed up and slept well for another few hours. So - we survived..i think i was the coldest b/c of the fact that i was right against the wall...but no one else complained of being cold.

Spencer...driving

Spencer's sister works for the Marriott and every once in a while gets free hotel rooms...so she had come to Newport w/ two of her kids and was staying at the Marriott. So - we all went to her hotel and she let us in to have free breakfast there...

And yes...we even ate outside...compared to the day before - it felt like summer outside! Ok - maybe not summer..but it was way nice out.

After breakfast we walked around the town for a bit...and then we decided to go do the "Cliff Walk" - which is basically along the shore...and you can see some of the Newport Mansions. We debated on doing a tour of one of one of the mansions...but a few people had already done it - so we just did the cliff walk.

All of us...at the beginning of the walk. The walk had to be like 3 miles long...or so it seemed. It was a perfect day for it. Here are some of the pictures I took....

Jaime and Me


the view

Rob, Teto, Me and a little waterfall..



This is one of the mansions - I think this is the one they call the breakers.

Jim, Me, Rob

Teto and Rob on the rocks..I decided Teto is like a little monkey..he was always climbing on everything during our walk.

Moi, Jaime, Cassidy

Devon (Spencer's nephew) and Rob....awwww....so cute!

throwing rocks

getting some sun! :)

More view

Jaime, Christine, Cassidy



Jaime and Devon

After the walk....we went to the Newport cremery and got something to eat. And then we got back on the bus to head home....

It was so much fun! I'm definitely a big fan of the bus! :) It's just like camping..but in a bus. I would for sure go on another roadtrip..but maybe next time we can go when it's a little warmer outside so that I don't have to sleep with a million layers.. :)