HAPPY HOLIDAYS

December has been a busy month of making cookies, going to parties and celebrating Christmas with co-workers, friends and family!! I don't have all the pictures from the holidays yet- but I'll share a few from our cookie-baking experience...

Here are pictures of Marissa and Abby making cut-out cookies (best part is playing in the flour)

James and I had a huge Christmas cookie making party. Lisa, Abby, Marissa, Audra, Sklar, Clayton, my mom & dad and Grandma Hembree came over to help us make five different kinds of cookies- which we are still eating (three plus weeks later). James gave me one of my Christmas presents the night the night before- a new Kitchette mixer- which I love!!!!

Here's a picture of some of the cookies before they went into the oven- notice the "hot dog" that Marissa made... so creative. Of course it didn't look the same when it came out of the oven.

Even though Audra, Clayton and Skylar came over to our house- they weren't very interested in helping make cookies- they decided to cuddle up and watch tv instead.

James and I attended several parties- including our work party, Lewis family party and traveling to Wisconsin to spend a week with the Moseley family. It has been a very busy Christmas!!

We are both looking forward to a quiet night at home- just the two of us- for New Year's Eve. We both worked all day today and, after traveling so much over Christmas, are looking forward to staying home.

Our Holiday cards will be mailed out soon (for those of you that have been wondering)- so that we can wish you all of the best for 2009.

Best wishes and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!

I've been TAGGED

Denise "tagged" me so I need to post the 4th picture in the 4th folder from our computer on our blog. The only thing about this is that James has many folders of pictures on our computer from before we were dating...

This is a picture from 2000. It's Christmas morning at James' parents' house. In the picture is James' brother Bill, Ben (who will be 9 this year), Julia- James' sister-in-law, and of course Sieben and Nitney (James' parents' dog). This picture was taken 4 years before James and I started dating.

The funny thing to me about this picture is the fact that this living room and the "Christmas morning" scene looks exactly the same as it does every year that I have been at their house (which has been every Christmas morning for the last 3 years) though Nitney has now passed- sadly.

I'm going to "tag" some of my friends- but you'll have to look for their posts on Facebook not blogs. Enjoy!!

10-YEAR COLLEGE REUNION!!!

Over a week ago James and I drove to Milligan College, TN for my 10-year college reunion!!! I can't believe how quickly time has passed... I feel like it was just yesterday that I graduated.

Here are a few pictures from the weekend- we had a blast!! I was so glad to see lots of friends from our class- and of course a few friends that didn't graduate with us but have a special place in my heart!!!!!

After our small gathering- we enjoyed a parade, which is new since we graduated, but quite fun!! The students make floats or ride in a car or truck and get to entertain all of us. They even threw candy for those who brought their children.

On Saturday night a group of us went to Cici's for dinner and enjoyed catching up, laughing and (you know me) crying a little. I enjoyed so much seeing everyone!!!! The highlights of the weekend (for me anyway) were getting to spend time with "the gang" (Beth, Brian, Emily, Misty, Kyle & Megan, Ladd & Emily, Adam & MaryEllen and everyone). Thank you for being so kind to James and allowing him to feel welcome into our "family."

One of the strongest bonds that I have are to my friends from Milligan. I love that we can go for years and not see eachother- but every time we are together it is like no time has passed. I love you all... and you will always have a special place in my heart.

And- Denise, Danielle, Amy and Kerri... I missed you all soooo much!!! We'll have to get toghether soon.

We had a great time and were sad to leave. Hope to keep in touch with everyone- and see you all at our 20th (if not sooner!!)

Cute Ballerina

Tonight I went to watch Marissa at Dance class. She was dressed up in her Ballet outfit with her cute little Ballerina slippers (she's on the very right in the picture below).

Here are a few pictures... they are a little blurry- but soooo cute!!!!

Here's a picture of Marissa on her tippie-toes holding onto the bar. She was so excited to show off and dance around in her beautiful pink Ballerina outfit.
Marissa kicked higher than all of the other girls in the class... she was so excited!! I can't wait to go again and see her dance. She loves dressing up and being a "princess ballerina." We had a great evening!!!!

What's in our back yard?

I noticed that Beth posted last week about the beautiful creatures and flowers she found and took pictures of in her back yard. After looking over it- I thought that I would share a few pictures of our back yard... after Ohio felt the aftermath of Hurricane Ike.

This is one of the four trees that we lost during the storm last week. You can see that the tree just literally broke it two (half of the tree was still standing).

Unfortunately we didn't think to get pictures of the other trees until we had cleaned up most of the yard (which took us four days).

Here is a picture of part of our fence that the neighbor's tree fell on. This is the same part of the fence that we have had repaired two times already for trees falling on it... still waiting to hear back on that quote. The neighbor was kind enough to clean up the tree from the fence- mostly because I'm sure he wanted the firewood.

It's amazing to me that Hurricane Ike was so strong that it caused such damage in Ohio- which is many miles away from Texas... Even though we had plenty of damage and lost our power (and water- since we have a well)- we are still lucky that we didn't suffer any real loss.

I'll try to post some more pictures in the fall when leaves start to change- we really do have a beautiful back yard and I'd love to share it with friends are family that have yet to see it.

Walk for Autism

Over two years ago (on April 5, 2006), Christopher Kuhlmann was diagnosed with autism. Chris is the son of my friends Ken and Kate- who I have known and grown very close to over the last 10 years. Chris is a wonderful 6 year old who is planning to start the first grade this year. He loves learning the alphabet and writing letters, he loves reading stories, swinging and especially watching movies. He is a very special boy with some challenges.

Here are some facts on Autism that you may not know:

- 67 children are diagnosed with autism every day
- A new case is diagnosed almost every 20 minutes
- Autism receives less than 5% of the research funding of less prevalent childhood diseases


James and I have joined Ken and Kate’s relay team to walk on Sunday, September 28TH. If you feel led to help, please click on the website below and click on my name (Susan Moseley) and make a tax deductible donation.

http://www.walknowforautism.org/c.mrKQIUPAIoE/b.3619331/siteapps/teampage/ShowPage.aspx?c=mrKQIUPAIoE&b=3619331&sid=arKJK0NMLjLRJ2OGIsE

Thank you in advance for any donations or words of encouragement you can offer me and/or our team.


Susan

What I've been doing the last three months

I know, I know- I haven't been posting on my blog. I've been busy with so much lately that I haven't been able to find the time... but I'm going to TRY to start writing more often. Sooooo- here's what has happened in my/our lives since I last wrote in March....

1. My Grandma Hembree had knee replacement surgery and was moved into a Nursing Home. Though this may not seem like too much- it was a lot for the entire family. My Grandma is 87 and having knee replacement surgery was a VERY big deal. She had her surgery on "Good Friday" and everything went well. She didn't deal with the pain medication very well mentally (she made some very random phone calls telling family members that she had been kidnapped) so James and I visited her every day in the hospital. After she was moved to the Nursing Home- I visited her twice a week after work. I enjoyed our visits and got her hear some great stories of "When I was your age...." I love my chats with Grandma Hembree and so does James.
*** Update is that she's doing well and has been walking and was moved recently into Assisted Living- which is a great hurdle for her... I know that she was struggling with therapy.

2. Sieben (our dog) had a minor surgery. This is really no big deal and maybe not even worth mentioning- but she's my "baby" and I struggled a little because she was acting very odd and got very sick. She had two abscessed teeth which caused her to be in a great deal of pain and not eat. We didn't even know what the issue was because sometimes she does get into a mood where she won't eat. But she started throwing up a lot... and losing a lot of weight. Then- one morning we woke up and her cheek was about as big as a golf ball. So- I panicked and made a vet appointment that day and we got her teeth pulled. She had some recovery where she didn't want to eat... but a month later, she's back to normal and hyper as ever.

3. We traveled to Milwaukee to see James' folks for Mothers' Day. The weather was gorgeous and we had a wonderful visit. The drive is the worst part (7 hours one way). We drove Friday after work and arrived at midnight. We woke up on Saturday and went to the Botanical Gardens- which was really pretty. We went so early in the season that it would be great to go back in the late summer and see all the other flowers and plants that we're up in the Spring. We had a lovely dinner on a beautiful Restaurant which was right on Lake Michigan- we got to experience a gorgeous sunset. Then we all went to church together the next morning (Pentecost Sunday) and enjoyed a lovely service together. I just love James parents and always enjoy our visits!!!!

4. James experienced another Dive Tragedy. Bill Prince (one of his fellow divers) passed away in early May. Bill was not only a diver but had several boats and took many SCUBA Divers out in Lake Michigan through his charters. James has been on his boats several times- out of Milwaukee once and took a week like trip with him last summer out of White Peak Michigan. It was a terrible loss and quite surprising to all the Divers that we know. These accidents don't happen very often (you rarely hear of them)- but to have TWO deaths to James friends in six months is really tough. James hasn't talked much about it with me- but I know that it was difficult. He told me that other day that he knows that he has a dangerous hobby- but he loves it. So, you can't argue much with that. I know that he's trained to dive and only dives with buddies who are trained and safe- so I just have to trust that he will be fine and let him enjoy his life. It would be much harder to fight with him and be scared all the time...

5. I signed up for the Becker "fast pass" Review Course in order to prepare for the CPA Exam. It started in early May and goes until July 31st. I go up to Akron University on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights from 5:30 to 9:30PM. The material hasn't been too tough- but the schedule is brutal. I go to work from 7AM to 4:30PM and then straight to class. I'm lucky if I get home by 10PM. Most nights I'm in bed by 11:00PM. It's been really tough on me and James- but it's only for the summer and going to be one of the best things I even did when I get my CPA.

6. Last but not least... I'm not even sure if I should share this or not, but I'm excited. James and I have decided to start a family. For those of you who know me and James- this is AMAZING!! When James and I got married James didn't want kids and I was only 50/50 about having kids. We love our dog- and were happy with that. But, something changed in both of us this year and we have decided to plan for our future and have kids. Of course this isn't going to happen right away, especially with me taking classes and him traveling with SCUBA every weekend, but we hope in the next year or so to be able to make an "announcement."

Well, I know this is a lot of information (and sorry- no pics this time)... but I wanted to be sure that everyone was caught up. It has been a crazy few months and probably will continue to be- but who isn't busy and running around like a "chicken with their head cut off"?

Hugs to all friends and family. I hope that I can get in touch and catch up soon. I hope that you all enjoy a wonderful summer!!!!