Happy New Year!

Well another year is behind us and last night we all welcomed in 2010!

And what a year 2009 was for us...

We left the Navy life behind after 9 1/2 years...

Goober had 2 consecutive surgeries on his eye...

Beanie gave us all gray hairs with all of her fits and trantrums...

We bought our first house...

We moved north to Virginia...

Daddy and I both started new jobs...

Goober started Pre-Kindergarten...

And we welcomed all sorts of guests at our new home.

2010 has a lot in store as well...

I will finally finish my MBA (6 months/3 classes left)...

Goober will turn 5 and then start Kindergarten...

I turn 30...

One of our cars will finally be paid off...

We can count on not having to move again...

I have goals to blog more; experiment more with my cooking and be more green...

Beanie will turn 3 (hopefully the tantrums will fade)...

Daddy and I will celebrate 10 years of being together and our 8th wedding anniversary...

And many other things yet to be discovered.

Last Minute Giveaway! Worth the time to enter!

Are you looking for a new computer or simply need a second computer because your kids take over yours? Well here is your opportunity, actually 5 opportunities, to win an HP TouchSmart 600.

Now I have not personally see one but check out the specs on this thing...

As you can see, the HP TouchSmart600 PC has a whole suite of built-for-touch applications that make this all-in-one so revolutionary.

Instantly launch your favorite apps from HP TouchSmart Home

Experience the best of the Web—Hulu, Netflix, Twitter, Rhapsody, and more—in touch-enabled style

Import recipes from the Web; enter your own, and easily manage with HP Recipe Box

"Write" search criteria with your finger using the new search interface

Use touch to edit photos, and to choose songs and create playlists

Create and share collages with a simple touch using HP TouchSmart Canvas

Use your voice to zoom, rotate, and invert photos

Create professional -looking videos, slide shows, and movies

Watch HD movies on the Blu-ray player; burn and edit home videos

Bookmark favorite movie scenes

Watch, pause, and record TV with the included tuner and remote

So how do you win? Visit each of these 5 sites and leave a comment. You can also blog and twitter for additional entries.

MckMama

Kelly's Korner

BooMama

A Year of Slow Cooking

The NieNie Dialouges

Today is the last day to enter. Now I entered...how about you?

A Boy and His Tacos

Our children's favorite food...tacos.

More specifically we eat Turkey Tacos....healthy and yummy.

Our first Virginia snow!

A few weeks ago we had our first snow since being in Virginia. Now both of our children have "seen" snow but Goober was 20 months old and Beanie was just an infant the last time so this was a new and exciting experience for them. Can't you sense the anticipation seeing them watch the snow out the window.

We took them out for a little bit while it was still snowing. This was a very wet snow so the icy looking snow was what ended up on everything. It made for some beautiful pictures though.

Beanie enjoying her first experience of the snow falling on her face.

Goober walking around in the snow.

Beanie was not very crazy of the cold so Daddy carried her on our walk to see the pond in the snow.

The total was about 3-4 inches. Not much but a little snow to intice the kids.

Daddy showing Goober how to build a snowman.

Daddy throwing snow at Goober.

Goober trying to protect himself from Daddy throwing the snow.

Our funky snowman.

And yes, his smile is made out of nuts.

Getting Ready for Christmas

One of our Christmas traditions is that they day after Thanksgiving we always go and get our Christmas tree, get it home and get it decorated.

We had originally planned this year to find a place to cut down a tree but we were running so late after nap time that we just headed up to the nursery up the street and picked out a tree.

Now it took longer than usual to get it straight in the stand because the nursery didn't trim the bottom but it filled this corner of our family room nicely.

There is only one Christmas decoration that the kids can touch and that is these musical globes. They are Beanie's favorite. And yes, the characters inside the globes dance to the music.

Here is our finished tree.

One of our other traditions that we have is that each year the kids each get to pick out a new ornament and Mommy and Daddy also find some new ones. This year Goober added a polar bear and Beanie added a bird. Besides some decorative ones Mommy and Daddy also added one from our new church, the Capitol and one from our cruise back in February.

Here are some of our other decorations that we have been given or purchased.

The Kinkade Snowman.

Our new nativity scene.

The trio of angels.

The mantle.

Old-fashioned Santa Clause.

The kids picked out the snowman this year.

My Turkeys and Turkey Day

I know I am more than a little behind but here is a look at our Thanksgiving. The night before the kids took turns having Daddy trace their hands and make them into turkeys.

Thanksgiving then started at 6:30 am with my two children greeting me to tell me they were hungry.

One of them was still tired.

This one always wakes up in a good mood.

I started by making 6 pans of cinnamon rolls that were to die for. Five of them are still in my freezer.

Yummy baked goodness!

Time for the icing.

Then it was time for this BIG bird. I cooked a 28lb turkey that almost didn't fit in the pan. Look at the size of the legs on this thing...it is like the legs you find at the fair.

Mmmm....artichokes, onion and garlic perfect for stuffing.

We then took that turkey and the stuffings and went to a friend's house. Goober and Beanie played with Milo and dove right into the eating starting with popsicles.

Milo.

Ed and Daddy carving the turkey with the electric carving knife.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Happy Thanksgiving to all my family, friends and fellow bloggers. Enjoy this wonderful celebration of thanks! I am photograhping our day and hope to have it posted tonight. Then it is time to decorate for Christmas.

I ♥ Faces - Week 46 - Sun Flares