Beautiful Tuscan Door

While on vacation in Tuscany, Italy I came across this door in a small village called Lari on our way to the local Monday market. I have been taking pictures of doors the entire time I have been living in Germany and this is by far my most favorite door. I'm including my before and after pics so you can see how much I processed it.

Ceramics

I think they turned out wonderfully. I kinda yelped when I saw them. Yay for craftiness with Shiray!!

This is the picture taken before they were fired.

These are after. Pretty crazy. The swirls on Shiray's bowl looked green before they were fired and turned out a beautiful yellow.

Shiray Came to Visit Me!!

My bestest came to visit me here in Cali one last time before I move to Germany. I had a WONDERFUL time and it was SO fun to see my friend! We packed into 48 hours what we used to do in a month's time. If we weren't shopping we were crafting and we were definitely talking without ceasing. Oh ya, and eating out. A lot. And really, not many hours devoted to sleeping.
This is at The Cheesecake Factory. For her Christmas present we went to Petroglyph and painted ceramics. I have to admit that it was a bit of a "Marge's bowling ball" type of present. (Homer Simpson gave Marge a bowling ball with "Homer" engraved on it for her birthday one episode.)

Our projects were pretty involved so we reluctantly came back the next day to finish them.
Shiray helped me finish designing my Christmas Cards and helped me start the assembly line.

I LOVE that Girl!!

Bronze Star

So. This is me, getting to be a proud wife and share some amazing news that Jeff would never tell you.

Throughout Jeff's 12 month deployment he earned some very nice recognition. But in the last month he earned a very nice compliment. He earned a bronze star. There is a good article on it on Wikipedia explaining what it is and where it fits in. From what I understand, there are only 4 Army medals higher than the bronze star. The commander that awarded him the medal said some really nice things about him at the ceremony and gave him another award after the ceremony. It is SO wonderful, as his wife, to hear that he is doing such a good job. It is great to hear that he is well liked, that he is so dedicated and that he impresses his superiors. Mostly, it is wonderful to hear that he is good at the job that he loves so much to do.

This is a scan of the actual citation. It explains why he deserved the award. If you click on the picture it should blow it up to full screen so you can read it better.

This is an example of the Bronze Star. I can't seem to get photos from Jeff of the actual "pinning on." So this will have to do.

This is an official photo taken before they left for Iraq. He held out on me with this one. I didn't find out until last week that he had this. So, just for that, I'm going to share it with everyone. :O)

As a side note, the Bronze Star is special to me for another reason. In World War II my Grandfather, Roland Bender, earned one also. That's pretty neat heritage to be able to pass on.

Arrow of Light

Andrew has worked very hard these last few months to earn his Arrow of Light before we move. We're not sure of the cub scout availability on Post in Germany, so we decided to get it done before we leave. We were both sad that Jeff couldn't be here to celebrate with us, but I felt that receiving the award with 5 other cub scouts from his troop was important. I video taped the whole thing for Jeff's viewing pleasure. Our pack does a good job going all out for the Arrow of Light ceremonies. They decorate the gym, the boy scouts come and run the ceremony and there are always refreshments to be had.
This first picture is before everything started.

Yay, another Cub Scout Mom pin.
He also earned 4 belt loops, 6 activity badges, his Conservation Patch, another compass point and his Arrow of Light. These last few weeks have been a lot of fun for him. I gave Grandpa Bender a list of the badges that he was really close to earning and what needed to do to earn them and they set to the task. Some mornings they spent 45 minutes doing science, first aid and even learned how to check the oil in the car and the tire pressure. Andrew LOVED the one on one time with Grandpa, and I think Grandpa was pretty happy with it too. After the Arrow of Light ceremony was over Grandpa asked me if the plan was to stop doing scout stuff until we leave. After a bit of chatting, I got out of him that he wanted to work on the Traveler activity badge with him and spend a few mornings pouring over maps and vacation plans. Pretty funny.

This is the entire group. I'm sending this to the local newspaper in hopes that they will be featured. :O)

All the belt loops he has been working on.

And the activity badges he has earned. He LOVES the pins. I think he is pretty proud of them.

Build A Bear

As if Adria wasn't spoiled enough for her birthday, Grandma took her to Build A Bear for her present. She also had some money from Grandma Case so she could go freakin' hog wild with everything a little pink bear could ever ask for. This is the bear, pink, naked and empty. She loved her from the start.

Then the odd guy filled the bear up for her. She wasn't very fond of the guy, so wouldn't participate very much.

Then we went to the "bath area" where the bear got an air bath to wash away all the extra fluff. Adria returned to the bath area a few times. She loves it when things are her height and size.

Here she is all dressed up when we got home. Blond wig and all. Adria named her Ainsley after her good friend in Puyallup. Then this Thursday when her babysitter came she suddenly changed her name to Avonlea, named after her babysitter. I think Avonlea is going stick. The bear's birthday is the same as Adria's and she has been wearing Adria's matching PJs for a few days now.

That night we went to Woody's for her birthday dinner. She was pretty excited to be sung to. Mostly, the waitress had three balloons for her and that got her attention very well. I never seem to take many pictures in restaurants. So this is outside because Adria insisted that she needed to be the Hawaiian girl.

Then lastly, I've been telling Adria for two months now that when she turns four she has to throw away her "Doo, Doos" aka her pacifiers. She has been allowed to have them only in bed thus far. Mostly because I wasn't willing to put up a fight as a single mom AND I like the dumb things. When she is tired in the middle of the day, all I have to do is offer her the pacifier and she'll go run into bed and go to sleep. I mean, who is going to willingly give that up? But I guess I had to. So she threw them away the night of her birthday. Then a half hour later she came to me and said she had changed her mind and wanted them back, she even promised to wash them. I told her no, sorry honey. Then a half hour later I heard her in the bathroom using the sink. Ya. She had gotten them out of the trash can and was washing them. So I took them back and put them back in the trash and talked to her about it. She told me a half dozen times that night that she changed her mind and she "WANTED her DOO DOO." I didn't give in, yay me! Then after bed I went in to check on her and she was laying there, dead asleep with a pacifier in her mouth. Yup. She fished it out of the trash, (hopefully washed it) and hid it in her room until after I left. Danae didn't even know she had it. So I plucked it out of her sleeping little mouth and took it over to Grandma's house and threw it in her trash can so Adria couldn't find it again. Poor thing. Poor me, is more like it. . . She did pretty well. She asked for it now and again for the next few days, but she has given up and forgotten now. Well, maybe not forgotten, but at least she doesn't ask for it anymore (and I've checked, she doesn't have one hidden for night time after I've gone.) She's officially a BIG Girl now!

Adria's 4th Birthday

So I asked Adria what she wanted to do for her birthday party and she said she wanted a pajama party. So we invited all the local Aunts, Uncles, Grandparents and Cousins over for a PJ party. Everyone was asked to wear their PJs even if they weren't planning to spend the night. Even Grandpa showed up in a nice pair of pajamas. Adria is wearing a new pair that she got for her birthday that came with a set of pajamas for a doll. She chose to put them on her Tinkerbell doll.
I also asked her what she wanted for dessert for her party and she said cake with cheese on it. It took me a minute, but I figured out that she wanted Cheesecake. Well, the next week we were at the Cheesecake Factory for lunch and we had coupons for free dessert. As we were eating one of the most amazing Cheesecakes I've ever had, she said, "THIS CAKE, Mommy. I want this cake." So, even though it might seem a little ridiculous to buy a $50 cake for a 4 year old's party, it was a little selfish. Okay. A lot selfish for the adults. :O)

Isn't it beautiful. It's official name is "Stephanie's Ultimate Red Velvet Cake Cheesecake." Oh my goodness was it GOOD! Oh, and, ya, Adria liked it too.

We spent the evening playing video games, eating chips, playing with the new toys, and eventually sleeping. It was so great to have Selina and Esther there too. They live about an hour away, so we don't get to see them enough.

This was Adria's favorite toy. She still hasn't put the thing down. When she was sick last week I think she spent HOURS each day playing with it in my bed. It is the Tag Touch Reading System. I bought a few fun books, a set to help her start to learn to read and a carrier. She has barely parted with them since getting them.

Then, putting six kids to bed, late at night, after a ton of sugar, in the same room. The four year olds had had enough and passed out within minutes, but the older ones held on for a while. Not too long though.

It was SO much fun. Happy Birthday to my littlest!!

Halloween

I love Halloween. I love dressing up. I love the parties. I love the candy. I feel really lucky that we were able to spend two Halloweens here in Cali with the cousins.
This year they all decided (a few with some encouragement) to be Mario characters. My mom made the middle girl's princess costumes and Genella made Riley's blooper costume. We bought the Mario and Luigi and Andrew's was pieced together.
We went to my ward's trunk or treat on Halloween Eve. The kids got loads of candy and they showed "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" at the end. On Halloween we met at my really good high school friend's house because she was doing a photo shoot session out of her garage. So we went and had all the kids photos taken. She did a great job and gave us a great deal. It is always better if it is someone else taking the picture, because then my kids listen, a little.
The Trunk or Treat

Genella and me passing out candy out of my trunk.

Riley was Blooper and Andrew was Funky Kong.

Maleah was Princess Daisy and Danae was Princess Peach.

Carissa was Luigi and Adria was Mario. But don't tell Adria that, she insisted she was Red Luigi the entire time. So Danae and Andrew went along with it and told her that her hat stood for "Marvelous." They are pretty dang cute in their mega mustaches.

Then a group shot. MAN, is it hard to get six kids to look good at the same time.

http://www.candidsbycoree.com/

Disney Princesses on Ice

And finally. The big date with the littlests. We went to Disney Princesses on Ice. We dressed them both up in whatever Disney outfits they chose, Carissa chose her Tinkerbell outfit from Halloween last year and Adria chose her Rosetta (from the Tinkerbell Movie) dress up. It was a little funny because I was complaining that we got sucky seats, row CC, when I used a pre order code and then a week later when I went to look there were seats in rows F and G. I felt like I had been cheated and the dumb ticketing site didn't give me the best possible seats. But then when we got there I found out that row CC wasn't the 29th row like I had thought, it was the 3rd row on the floor. And they even had risers continuing down to the floor, so we had pretty amazing seats. Adria and I got to sit on the edge of the row and she had an unobstructed view the entire night. We were so close that I noticed that Princess Aurora had a french manicure. The girls loved it and loved being spoiled rotten.

This is Cinderella heading to the ball.

We went up to the edge of the ice at the end of the show and watched the "curtain call" from there.

I don't know why Adria has her grumpy on. Sometimes it just gets turned on for no reason. She is holding her souvenir water bottle that they filled with shaved ice with cherry flavoring. We bought a lemonade and added it to the bottle when it was a little more than half gone. It really made for a yummy drink.

New Braces

You would have thought it was Christmas for Danae. She was SO excited to get her new braces. After she got them on we went to the grocery store so I could buy some Motrin to send her to school medicated for the new mouth pain. She told/showed everyone in that store that got close enough to hear her voice. But that is my Danae. She will tell you her life story as well as her Social Security Number with a minimal amount of encouragement.
So the reason she got braces is because one of her lateral incisors never came in. Never. It was supposed to come in during her first year of life, but it didn't. And now that her adult teeth are coming in they have to make a space for a fake tooth to be eventually. She only has two braces on the front two teeth and two on each side. But man, do they make her feel special. I guess I should be grateful. I'm definitely grateful for the fact that she is the type of kid that will take GREAT pride in the fact that she should brush her teeth after every meal or eating anything in her case. So, luckily we are having a very positive braces experience.

This is the best picture I could find of Danae's new braces. She got them on two days before Halloween. Which is a little sad in the candy regard. She couldn't have anything caramel or chewy or crunchy or gooey. That limits the candy selection.