Merry Christmas a bit late. . .

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! I sure did. I got a lot of great gifts from my family, but the best part was being able to be home with my family!
I haven’t been doing too much – just relaxing and stitching and a little bit of crocheting. We did go to see a HUGE Christmas light display this evening in Menominee, MI. You actually had to get out of your car and walk around to see everything. And the best part about it was that it was religious-themed instead of the secular stuff you see so often (not that that’s a bad thing, it was just nice to see the religious side of Christmas displayed in lights).
Here’s a picture of all my Christmas presents:

Thank you very much to all who got me stuff.

Home Sweet Snowy Michigan!!!

Friday after work (about 8) Ryan and Robbie and I left on our journey home to Michigan. We got about 50 miles east of Knoxville, TN, and stopped at a Motel 6 for the night. Saturday, after breakfast at Shoney’s, we headed off to Michigan, and arrived at my brother Richard’s about 8 or 8:30 in the evening. We were a day early but I wanted to surprise him. We did have to wait outside for a bit as he was wrapping presents and stuff and we couldn’t go in. We spent the evening visiting and working on getting stuff ready for Christmas. Sunday morning we all went to Church and everyone enjoyed seeing Robbie (and us, too). The afternoon was spent stitching and wrapping presents and more visiting and then we went to Steak ‘N Shake for dinner. I had a really yummy egg nog shake with my meal! Monday morning we got up and got the van packed up and left for Mom & Dad’s – stopped at the post office to mail some stuff, at a bank, at Rick’s church, and at his work (his coworkers wanted to see Robbie), and then finally headed out of town. We finally got HOME about 9 or 9:30 after lots of bad, snowy roads, and even a closed road. We ended up having to take a different route part of the way home because our normal road was closed. I drove most of the way, but I don’t mind driving in the snow as long as I can see the road a little bit.

Since we’ve got here, we’ve had sauna (YAY!!!!) and Mom and I went shopping Wednesday evening after she got done with work. That was fun, and of course Robbie was with us. I’ve gotten a lot of stitching done, and have most of my Christmas presents wrapped. Robbie is enjoying the time with Gramma and Grampa and Uncle Rick, and they likewise!

Parties and Quarters

Sorry that I haven’t updated in a while – I’ve just been busy with this and that Christmas stuff.
Sunday evening was our Church Christmas party. That was lots of fun, as our Church events tend to be! There was plenty of fun finger foods and St. Nicholas paid a visit, we played some games and sang some Christmas songs!! Robbie was a good boy during the whole thing, and everyone comments on how happy a baby he is! I guess Ryan and I must be doing ok in the parenting department.

Last night was our Band Holiday Party. Lots of good food again (I brought sweet potatoes using my mom’s “recipe” and they turned out really good!!) and lots of fun. There are A LOT of kids in my unit – probably close to 20 of them of all ages. There were some door prizes, and Ryan, Robbie, and I each won something! I won 2 really pretty 5×7 picture frames, Robbie won a sewing kit (I think I’ll confiscate that!), and Ryan won a $25 gift certificate to the commissary!! That’ll come in handy once we get back from Michigan. After the door prizes were done, there was a loud knock on the door, and Santa came in!! He had presents for all the kids – including Robbie! Robbie got to sit on his lap and get his picture taken as you can see.

I’ve been feeling under the weather since the weekend, and went to the doctor this morning. Nothing major – just a major cold. He gave me some meds to help me cough up the stuff in my lungs and put me on quarters for 48 hours. For you civilians, that means that I’m off work for 2 days and I’m supposed to stay at home (at my quarters). I’ll be able to get some extra sleep during Robbie’s naps so that’ll be nice! I’ll go back to work for Friday, and then that’ll be it for this year!

Concert!!

Our Holiday Concert was last night. We played to an almost-full house and it went awesome!!! Robbie was a good boy during the concert and didn’t really start getting fussy until near the end. Of course, he slept through part of it, despite the cymbal crashes and loud music. Santa arrived at the end and passed out candy canes to everyone – he even gave one to Robbie, but I ate it for him. (Santa was played by Ryan.)

The rest of the week wasn’t too bad. I had my final appointment with the midwives on Monday to check my incision. It’s finally healed all the way and I don’t have to go back anymore. I certainly will miss those wonderful ladies, though. Midwives are so much better than Army docs, but I don’t have much of a choice now that I’m done being pregnant. Oh well – I can still go back and visit them once in a while. Tuesday and Wednesday Ryan was home sick from work with a stomach bug or something. Tuesday afternoon I was able to come home for a bit to be with him before I had to go back for a ceremony in the late afternoon. Wednesday evening we had our monthly dinner at church, and that was fun as always. The fellowship was better than the food this month, but it was still a good time. Thursday morning was another ceremony and then I was off until our dress rehearsal in the evening. It was nice to be able to spend some time with Robbie – we took a nap together in the afternoon!

My Christmas shopping is almost done – I just need to get a couple more things and I’ll probably do that on Monday since I’m off from work. And in the cross stitching department, I’ve been working on a few ornaments – one for an exchange I’m in and one to give to Suzanne & Jared as a gift for babysitting Robbie.

If anyone has any extra snow, feel free to send it south to Augusta!