Christmas Vacation 2011 - part 1 - Disney World Videos

Here are a few videos from our trip:

The beginning of the Christmas parade -


Car Stunt Show -






Fantasmic Show -

Christmas Vacation 2011 - part 1 - Disney World (days 4 & 5)

We then went to Animal Kingdom - where we did the Safari ride and saw "Finding Nemo, the musical". The boys and I rode on Mount Everest and braved the 85ft drop and the Yeti! (Yes, I screamed like a baby.) At Epcot, we saw all the countries of the world, ate in China and saw the CandleLight Processional..very beautiful. Our last day was spent in Downtown Disney and finishing up Magical Kingdom. In Downtown Disney we did some shopping and watched "Mission Impossible 4" at the AMC dine-in theater - it was awesome! More pics:

My next post will contain some videos from our trip =)

Christmas Vacation 2011 - part 1 - Disney World (day 3)

The kids chose to go to Hollywood Studios. We saw the car stunt show with a special appearance by Lightening McQueen! We saw the parade, the lights show and went on the Tower of Terror... American Idol was cool too. There was also a show called "Fantasmic"...it was an awesome show about Mickey's Fantasia. They used sprayed water as a "screen" to play video clips off of. Loved it! Here's some pics from Hollywood Studio:

More to come =)

Christmas Vacation 2011 - part 1 - Disney World (day 2)

Our first day actually on Disney was exhausting, but SO FUN!! We always do Magic Kingdom first because it is the biggest park. We ended up going back on our last day as well to finish it up.

We took the ferry across to the park... I love the ferry!! I also love the view of the castle from the ferry -

Here we met Mickey and Minnie -

More pics from Magic Kingdom -

Fun Fun Fun!!
More to come =)

Christmas Eve/Day 2011

Santa went a little overboard this year =) The boys got phones and sports stuff, cds, cologne... Alexis got a Justin B. CD and a hello kitty cd player, a princess palace, a barbie text thingie and some other junk lol... Santa brought Darrell some stuff for his car and a clock docking station for his ipod touch/i phone 4... Santa brought me elmo slippers, elmo footie pjs, elmo snuggie blanket and a snowglobe that plays "cherish" and is engraved "jamie, my wife, my best friend"... we had scrambled eggs and pancakes for breakfast. Now we're getting ready for the second part of our Christmas Vacation - a trip to New Jersey to visit family friends =)

Here is a cute pic from this morning... Daddy and Daughter dancing to Justin B..."Baby" lol

Christmas Vacation 2011 - part 1 - Disney World (day 1)

This year we were unexpectedly blessed with some extra money. One of my dreams was always to go to Disney World at Christmas time. Thanks to my mother I was able to share my childhood dream with my kids =) Thank you mommy (RIP) for helping make this a great Christmas.

Our Disney vacation started in Kissimmie, FL. When we go to the area we always stay at the Seralago. The rooms are a decent price, there is a little arcade, a bar, a pool and other "pluses" there. The room we got was a "kids suite" so the kids had their little area and we could have some privacy =)

Down in the Lobby they had all kinds of Christmas trees. My fave was the Santa one:

Here is the kids part - it is like a little fort with bunkbeds, a tv and an xbox:

We used our first day to just relax from driving so we got some food and played miniature golf...

More to come =)

RIP Princess...one of our first Fish...

Right before Thanksgiving I bought the kids each a fish and we did up a cute little tank for them. The boys each had an orange goldfish and my daughter had a white one with orange on it.

Well, this morning when we got up we saw that "Princess", my daughters fish, was dead. She took it well and I told her I would get her another one after we come home from NJ in a few weeks. Then I made her cry =( ...but not on purpose!

You know when you have those moments where you wish the filter between your brain mouth worked all the time? I had one of those moments not too long ago lol.. My husband called and I told him about the fish dying. He said the other two fish ganged up on Princess and I said, "I think they killed her b/c she was white"... now, me and my husband were simply joking around, but I forgot my daughter was sitting right there. She put her head down and started crying. Man I felt like crap. I apologized and hugged her and told her mommy didn't mean to be a meanie... but oddly, it was her brother who comforted her.

DeeJay has never really been the one to comfort Alexis...it is always Richie. For some reason though, DeeJay stepped up. He then said, "I remember how I felt when Baby (our cat) died and I don't want her to feel like that." That made my heart happy and sad at the same time. My son was showing some compassion...something I haven't seen from him in a long time. Something sad brought out a great thing in him...something I miss. My sweet, caring DeeJay.

Now let's hope we can keep the other 2 fish alive!

My Secret Santa and My Special Friends...

There is a group of ladies, most of whom I met in a group on myspace (a few others just came along lol), that I talk to on almost a daily basis. When I am having problems, I know I can go to them and they will coddle me when needed but also tell me to "suck it up" lol... They are always there to listen with an open heart and they are never judgmental. I love them so much =)

Anyways! We did a Secret Santa in our little group and I just got my gift tonight. Just thought I would share and give my secret santa and all my fave gals a public "Thanks! I love you!!"...

To:
Stephani - thanks so much for my gifts...I love them!
Rissa
Staci
Laura
Kristi
Renee
Kimberly
Amy Jo
Kristin
Audrey
Amy M.
April
Marla
Tonya
Jamie B.
Amanda

The "Do's" & "Don'ts" of being a Military Spouse - from the gals on *AWDIWH*

I asked the ladies on my page to share their "do's" & "don'ts" and here is what they said: (in no particular order, just the order the gals posted in)(Note: some may not be posted b/c of repeats)

*Do support your husband as much as you can. DON'T listen to anything they say about dates. Meaning don't plan a thing.

*Do be proud of him, his job, and his service, but don't wear his rank.

*Stay away from the NEGATIVE NANCY!!

*Don't get caught up in post or neighborhood drama...just not worth it. Do have an open mind when meeting new people!

*Do love and HONOR him, don't ever leave them behind!

*DO stand by your soldier... DON'T try to do his job for him.

*Do take advantage of what privileges and benefits you are given as the family of a military service member, and be grateful with what you get. But don't feel or act like you're entitled to more, or anything as a matter of fact, just because you are married to someone in the military. The military doesn't owe you anything. It's already giving you a lot.

*Get involved in your community and FRG. Don't believe all the rumors you hear about FRGs. An FRG is what you make it.

*Educate yourself about the army. Take AFTB classes and other classes your post offers.

*Don't act like the second you get married, that you know all there is to know about being an Army wife. I have been married coming up on 14 years, and I STILL learn new things.

*Do not go to his chain of command about every little thing, and don't air your personal business to them. Unless it is truly important to your husbands career his health or the mission, just don't do it.

*DO put on your big girl panties and deal with what military life throws at you... DON'T whine and complain and bitch because things don't always go your way... you don't make the decisions, your husband doesn't make the decisions, the Army (or Navy, or Marines, etc.) make the decisions and your job is to support your husband's career choice and just go with the flow.

*Do ALWAYS pray for all of our servicemen. Do NOT make his career about you. Not saying you aren't important but he needs moral support at all times. Do make coming home easy for him. Do NOT make him fight you too, in the home. His professional life consists of being guarded and fighting.

*Don't: get upset when your husbands cell phone goes off all the time and during the middle of a conversation. HE HAS TO ANSWER IT. Lower enlisted get less calls and are not as busy as NCO's but they still get a lot of calls. Get used to it, your husband is the one who has to take the calls and carry his phone like another appendage.

*Do:Let your husband play his video games (if that's what hes into) I understand they can spend a lot of time on them. But for a man its a huge stress relief and stimulant. They need something to stimulate them other than the high stress demands of work. This "Do" applies to anything your husband might do to much as a hobby or entertainment. Communicate, compromise about having more us time and still allow him his time. But don't complain so much and get over it. They fight for our freedom and spend 12 months or more in a desert. LET THEM HAVE THEIR VIDEO GAMES!

*Live LOVE Laugh LEARN.

*Get to know other wives that have been around the army for a few years. You can learn something new...and if you are a "SR" wife.. Help the younger ones. Don't walk away from just because they are new to all this. You where there at one point.

*BIG ONE!! Never write addresses in pen!!

*Nothing is set in stone. Even after it happens...Don't plan things too far ahead, plans change on a dime.

*Do handle yourself like a classy woman regardless of the situation.

*Just be his wife. Plain and simple. And know that its OK to need him to be there for you as much as your there for him.

*Do what you can to make friends! Don't listen to other people when they say don't get involved with frg etc. Just because it didn't work for them doesn't mean it's not going to work for you! You could meet your best friend at a military function.

*Don't be a huge pain in the ass on a regular basis to your husband and his COC. Its not cute, people do not like you.

*Don't take your time together for granted. And be grateful he has a job...things could always be worse.

If you have more to add, leave a comment!

Here is the post these came from - Click Here to see the Post on my FB page!

Seven Summits - A Soldier's Quest ((very awesome!))

I received a message in my email from a Mrs. Sarah Jones...and I'm so glad she wrote me! I looked at the website she gave me and I must say I'm impressed!

Her husband, SSG Trevor Jones, is trying to become the first Active Duty Soldier to climb the 7 summits (the tallest summit on each continent) while raising funds and awareness for the Wounded Warrior Project. He has already climbed Denali (tallest in North America), and Aconcagua (tallest in South America), and his next climb will be Mt. Kilimanjaro in Africa in January 2012.

From his website:
"My name is Trevor Jones and I am a Staff Sergeant in the US Army. I’ve had a fairly extensive military career in my short life, having served two deployments to Iraq, and one to Afghanistan. In June 2009, I began a quest to become the first to climb each of the Seven Summits while serving as an active duty member of the United States military. By accomplishing this, I hope to raise funds and awareness for the Wounded Warrior Project."

I'm going to support him!! I love seeing things like this and that is why I'm sharing. If you want to help, or learn more, here are some links -

Seven Summits
Twitter

Christmas Treats!

During the holidays I love baking cookies and some years I make candy...this year is one of those years! I didn't make much tonight, but we did one little batch. Alexis helped me and she thought it was the coolest thing ever lol... When she was coating the mold with the red & green she said, "mom, it's like edible paint!"

Making candy is easy, but it can get time consuming and expensive, depending on how much detail you put into it and what you actually make. One year the candy melts went a little further for my money b/c I made chocolate covered pretzels instead of just candy.

I have a double broiler specifically for melting chocolate. The water goes in the bottom half and the chocolate in the top half. When it is melted I put it in the molds and tap them on the counter to get out air bubbles and to make sure the mold is filled. When only using a few chocolate melts for the decorating details I put them in a glass bowl and "nuke" them. Once the chocolate is in the molds, I put them in the freezer to harden and it makes it so much easier to pop them out..

Here are some pics...of course lol =)

Oh Christmas Tree, oh Christmas Tree -

Between last night and this morning, we got the tree up =) Alexis made a mess with the garland all over playing with it...so much that I didn't put it on the tree lol...

Normally we have a tree with multi-colored lights, my fave, but like a dummy in a rush, I didn't double check the box to see if it was multi or white. *Smacks head on wall* lol

Here is the tree and Alexis with the garland -

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