I'm going to Hollywood..

My days in Cali have finally arrived! Michael surprised me with a ticket to California to visit my best friend growing up, Jolene, for a week. My Dad mentioned to the kids that I might visit Hollywood and to our surprise, the girls connected "i'm going to Hollywood" with AMERICAN IDOL. Alexandra apparently told everyone at church yesterday that I was going to Hollywood to be on American Idol!! And Alexandra even mentioned me in her prayers.. hoping I would do well! LOL.. boy I would hate to hear what Simon would have to say about me!!

Anyways, I am actually in Monterey California on an old military base. Jolene's husband Dave is a linguist studying Persian. My friend suggested a military initiation before staying the night at their house.. so there I was, forced to put on military attire and stand on my head for two hours. I was forced to complete countless hours of military drills and undergo extensive questioning. Anyways, I apparently passed and was permitted to stay.

Upon arrival, I was having major stomach issues.. I was just praying I wouldn't throw up all over the man sitting next to me in the plane. Jolene picked me up and she had poison oak all over her.. i've included a wondeful picture of her bandaged up. And Dave has been hopping around after running 17 miles training for a marathon. So to say the least the house is full of the inflicted. Hopefully we will all recover quickly. We've spent the day on the couch watching movies.. it has been raining all day! We then decided we needed a change in scenery and went to see the movie Because I Said So.. i know big change huh? We also went to old Monterey where we visited galleries which I loved doing. I was always into art and.. as was stated in The Notebook.. "I don't paint anymore." Anyways, just wanted to keep the fam. updated.. sorry for my rambling!

Valentine's Day Surpises..

On Valentine's Day, our girls awoke to Valentine's Day Surpises! They were so surprised. Aunt Kathy and Uncle Steve manage to send or deliver goodies to the girls every holiday.. even the smaller holidays! The girls ripped open the bags and gifts and paper were everywhere! They immediately dressed themselves in their new princess attire... shirts, skirts, shoes, sunglasses, bows & ribbons.. you name it and they were "princified". Next they insisted trying out some of their new bubble bath.. wait I thought I was the one to be pampered on V-day.. apparently I was wrong. Isabel absolutely loved wearing her glasses and new "daddy loves me t-shirt".. so included is one of her glamorous shots!

Pappy's Big 50th!

The family got together after church to celebrate Pappy's big 50! The day before, Alexandra and Isabel went with Grandma to pick out all of the party supplies. Grandma attempted to pick out a Care Bear cake topper since it was on sale and Alexandra insisted that Pappy needed a boy topper such as Superman... which is exactly what he got. We had wonderful food and a fantastic time.

Melina and Elana's House

Alexandra and Isabel are seriously lacking in the girl cousin department. We finally added two baby girl cousins this year but due to the huge age difference, they don't exactly have much in common. So it really works out that I have two cousins, Melina and Elana who are almost exactly the same ages as A and I. We don't see them often enough, but the girls just have the best time when they are together. There is nothing that compares to pretty little ballerinas dancing around! We stayed with Melina and Elana where the girls dressed up, danced, dressed up and danced! My Aunt Christine, who is a professional photographer also managed to take pictures while we were there. Her business is based in MD so if you are ever around the area and would like to get some very nice photos.. let me know!

www.barefootimages.net

more pictures from barefoot images..
www.barefootimages.net

Grandmother Elizabeth's House

During my short break in between semesters I try to visit family whom we don't get to see very often. This past week, myself and the girls stayed the night over at my Grandma's house. As a little girl, I remember staying at my Grandma's house for days even full weeks at a time because we had so much fun being with her. So it's pretty neat to see my girls so excited to visit and doing many of the same things I used to do. Grandma always let us fix her hair and Alexandra and Isabel were totally up to that challenge. They put every clip they could possibly find in her hair. They also enjoyed watching movies.. The Wizard of Oz being one of their picks. And Grandma never ceases to amaze me that she has more energy than I do and does not sleep! She had the two days planned with activities. The first day, she took us to Chuck E Cheez where the girls received 100 tokens and all the pizza and salad they wanted. I even managed to get in a few games of b-ball. We stayed there for 3 hrs.. something I am not a custom to doing.. staying in one place for that long! The next day, Grandma took us to the best McDonalds around.. i've never seen a larger indoor play place! We ended up staying there for about 2 hrs which once again, i've never done before. The girls really really enjoyed being able to get all of their energy out w/out me rushing them out the door. When we were at her house, the girls stayed busy w/ the mini trampoline and the many many toys Grandma keeps for all the kiddos. Aunt Linda even stopped by w/ Angelica for a quick visit! What a great time!

Fun at the Farm Show

I think we've made it an annual event to visit the Pennsylvania Farm Show. The kids love it! We of course saw the usual, cows, horses, pigs, ducks, etc. The girls' favorite events were watching the tractor pull and of course watching the chicks hatch from their eggs. They also really enjoyed visiting the piglets after just seeing the movie Charlotte's Web. This year, they also provided a cow for the kids to milk (fake of course). Isabel was completely soaked by the time she was finished. Finally, we saw an amazing sculpture completely carved from 1000s of lbs. of butter.. pretty amazing!

Our Anniversary in NYC

(view from our hotel)

January 5th we celebrated our 6th year anniversary! And since we don't usually get a night w/out the girls, we decided to take a weekend trip to the BIG APPLE! Michael booked our stay right across the inlet from where the twin towers would've been, so actually in Jersey.













We've stayed in NYC many of times but the Hyatt across from NY gave you the whole view of the city, the waterfront, and little noise.. it was awesome! Saturday morning, we took the Path to NYC which went right through the twin towers construction. We then walked to Times Square, where we saw where the Macy's Parade is held, had to of course visit all of the tv stations for Michael's sake, and finally went up the Empire State Building which Michael had never done before. We luckily had 70 degree temperatures but it still made for a chilly and windy experience high up over top of the city!

(view from Empire State Building)

With not much shopping to do, we went to see the movie PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS which I have been dying to see! Great movie! It definately teaches you not to underestimate yourself. And after all was said and done, we went back to our hotel where we enjoyed a gourmet dinner at the Vu. We don't typically eat at fancy restaurants where we can't take kids, but I would compare our experience to the movie Last Holiday! We each received an appetizer and cheesecake compliments of the chef! We're talking, the water and lemon were better than normal.. don't ask me how that is. I ordered flounder and crabcake while Michael order sausage w/ pasta.. and it was delicious! Best of all, we had an extraordinary view of NYC!

New York City continued...

Sunday we checked out of our hotel and began our crazy drive through NYC to Broadway where we went to see the Lion King! No words can describe this show! It was amazing! With tickets priced very high, Michael and I still find it hard to believe that they are making money from this show because costumes are so elaborate and out of this world. If you get the chance, this is a must see! Tons of kids also went to see it and loved it. This was definately the highlight of our trip!

The New Years Kiss..

Did you get your tradional New Years kiss this year? Alexandra anxiously awaited her kiss as Noah made his rounds!













We had a blast spending New Years with the "G" Family along w/ Michael's family. Alexandra and Isabel helped prepare for the festivities by stirring and tasting all the sides.

We had quite the variety of food and spent the night playing Rook, ping-pong, and Anya's charades game. I must add that the girls, of course, took home the win in our very competitive game of Rook!! And when the morning drew near, we lit sparklers and grabbed our pots and pans, and awaited our kisses to help bring in the New Year! We were definately the loudest on our block! Then boy did we have one massive sleep over.. Happy New Years!

Grandma Hernden

On December 23rd, Michael's grandma, Grandma Hernden, decided to go home to celebrate the holidays with her Heavenly Father. This was a bitter sweet moment as it was sad to see her go but a relief to know she is in a much better place. I really really enjoyed listening to the many memories of her life from many family members, as I did not get to know her when she was well. She loved visits from the girls as they sang and danced for her. She would tap her feet and sway to the songs and were very proud to show off the girls to everyone else. She looked so beautiful today.. most likely how she looked years ago and am so happy for such a wonderful service. Afterwards, the family gathered at Great Grandma Coy's where we enjoyed pizza and time with Anya and Morgan who just arrived in Pa yesterday.

Christmas with the Meraklis'

Despite the rain both on the way and home from Maryland, we had a most enjoyable evening as usual. Aunt Linda and Uncle James cooked an amazing Christmas dinner. And the Greek appetizers were a real treat! Our kids played with cousins and had a fabulous time. They are all either in ballet or gymnastics so they had a great time showing off their moves to one another and danced the evening away. We shared pictures and stories of the many trips we all took that year and also watched a movie made up of pictures of my Papoo and all of our family.

Part II.. Christmas Eve and Morning with the Coys

Keith, Cindy, Lindsey and Kyle all decided to spend the night with the girls on Christmas Eve! We had a fun filled evening full of some dancing, singing, stories, food, and gifts. The girls slept in until 8 and went crazy from there! Paper, toys and bows were everywhere! This was the first year that both girls really could open gifts by themselves and boy did they go at it! Some of the highlights were the scooter and roller skates that they got from Grandma and Pappy, the piggy banks they painted themselves w/ Aunt Lindsey and Kyle, and Alexandra got her own little guitar like Mommy!

Michael really went above and beyond on both my expectations and spending limits we set. He is sending me to California for a week w/out kids to visit my good friend Jolene.. woohoo here I come! He also is hooking me up w/ guitar lessons which i've wanted for a long time and to top it all off we are also spending a weekend in New York to see The Lion King for our 6 year anniversary in 2wks! Michael, well he wasn't so lucky.. he got a pair of gloves,clothes, soccer ball and planner. After all of the gifts were opened, Aunt Brenda, Emile, and Brie all joined us for breakfast and a game of Disney UNO! We had a great morning and were looking forward to the next party in MD.

Twas the Night Before Christmas..

Twas the night before Christmas when all through the house, not a creature was stirring not even a mouse..

Uh, wrong house! Extended family's cars lined a full street and totalled about 50 people. We were so blessed to have them all visit US here in PA. The kids had a wonderful time opening and playing with new gifts along with giving Aunt Jen a fabulous makeover. The adults enjoyed eating, socializing, and watching the Ravens (most from MD). And congrats to Aunt Lisa and Mr. Roderick for their newly announced engagement! As we drove home from The Meraklis home to our home where another festivity begins, Alexandra once again asked me why we give gifts to each other. It is unbelievable how these sweet spirits remind us constantly of the true meaning of Christmas in and amongst the busy rush! I reminded her that the 3 Wisemen took gifts to our Savior, Jesus Christ when he was born and that above of all, Jesus gave us all a very very special

gift.. He died for each and every one of us! Hope you all have a Very Merry Christmas and are able to take time to remember the true reasons for Christmas!

(My masterpiece)