Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Happy 6th Birthday Lily!
Lily requested a husky cake this year. Rich stepped up and volunteered to make it for her. I had my doubts, but he managed to do it! It was all kept a secret until she saw it. In fact, he told her the cake broke in half and we'd just have to try again next year. :o) When she saw it, she said, "That's not a husky cake! That's a wolf!" :o) She enjoyed the cake...even if she was unable to blow out the trick candles (that was really fun to watch!). It was especially nice to have her grandparents there to share her special event with her. When you are a military family, those times can be few and far between. I think we had a little celebration for her with my parents when she turned two...that was just a few months after we got her. We've lived overseas for the last 5+ years, so birthdays with family is a rarity. She had a great time!
Fun at Bounce U
Lily was introduced to Bounce U at a squadron Christmas party. She fell in love with it and so for her birthday, we took her to an "open bounce" on Monday afternoon. Tim was game to get right in there with her and they had a great time together!
Time with Grandma & Grandpa Neitzke
Rich works on Joe's car while Joe and Dad watch. They are trying to make it look less like a cop car....
Lily Su Grace....in her favorite pair of glasses that are perhaps a decade old and have been through several little girls! :o)
Grandpa Neitzke gets a lesson on playing house with Lily. He was pretty fascinated to find out that her family's car had seat belts in it!
Joe (16), Tim (14) and Lily (6) with their grandparents, Walt and Karen Neitzke
Three generations....My parents, my children, and me.
My parents arrived December 29th and left January 4th. They drove down from Michigan with their two Min Pins, Katie and Luther (although my brother calls him Lucifer which is a more appropriate name for him at times). They were able to make it to one of Joe's basketball games and celebrate New Year's with us. We celebrated Lily's birthday the night before they left so they could be a part of that as well. They put their lives in Joe's hands and let him drive them around. :o) They attended Mass with us on Sunday and had a lively talk with our parish priest, Fr. Jose. We went to Bounce U to let Lily and Tim romp around one day and they were game enough to go and watch them literally bounce off the walls for over an hour. Best of all, my Dad and I reigned supreme with our pairs cribbage record as undefeated! :o)
Some T-bird Basketball shots
If you know our family at all, you know that from the beginning of November to the end of February, our life totally revolves around the boys' basketball schedules. Here's what we've been doing during the Christmas break, inbetween Christmas and New Year's.... Tim was in a 2 day freshman tournament at Millard South and Joe was in a 3 day reserve team tournament at Bryan. There were one day where we were at both schools watching both boys play. :o) Lily is always along for the ride with her pink Nike bag full of art supplies, snacks and her new Leapster to play games on.
Joe takes a shot
Tim looks for the good pass
Joe puts on some pressure to Central Omaha's point guard
Joe puts up a jumper
Tim playing defense against Millard South in the Freshman Tournament over Christmas break.
Lily brings a "bag of tricks" to keep her busy during her hours in the basketball stands.
Lily loves to cheer on her boys! (especially if popcorn and a drink are included!) :o)
Joe takes a shot
Tim looks for the good pass
Joe puts on some pressure to Central Omaha's point guard
Joe puts up a jumper
Tim playing defense against Millard South in the Freshman Tournament over Christmas break.
Lily brings a "bag of tricks" to keep her busy during her hours in the basketball stands.
Lily loves to cheer on her boys! (especially if popcorn and a drink are included!) :o)
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Monday, December 27, 2010
Christmas visit
Christmas was a fun at the Messina house! My brother, Craig and his wife, Mayra and their 5 month old son, Alex, came from Houston. It was so wonderful to have family here for Christmas and also to meet my youngest nephew! We had a white Christmas and it was good just to sit around and talk and get to catch up again.
Lily is having fun with her new Leapster (she is no longer allowed to bug her biggest brother to play games on his iPod Touch!) She also received a lot of arts and crafts projects and materials. She is quite the little artist and can be found drawing pictures everyday at one of our tables. She drew pictures for everyone for Christmas and put them under the tree. Aunt Mayra had a picture of her holding baby Alex. Uncle Craig got a drawing of a motorcycle (complete with flames on the tank). Tim got a very impressive drawing of him playing basketball. (He couldn't believe she drew it on her own....I had to remind him that she HAS spent a great deal of time in the stands at basketball games over the past few years!) Joe's looked kind of abstract....a whole bunch of colored rectangles. Joe was looking a little disappointed after seeing Tim's drawing and asked Lily what it was....she told him it was "lots of sticks of gum!" She wanted to draw something that he likes! We all got a good laugh over that. :o)
Rich made everyone sing "Happy Birthday" to me on Christmas morning. No, it wasn't my birthday, but my birthday is in February and it's the big 4-0. There's a 99% chance he will be deployed, so I got a fabulous Christmas/40th birthday gift of a digital SLR camera and telephoto lens. I am excited to try it at the boys' basketball tournaments this week. It took some pretty good pictures around the house! Alex was patient with me as I clicked away. :o)
Rich is so proud of all the countries we have been to in all our travels. I got him a stand and a miniature flag from each country he has been to so far. It was quite a few!
Tim enjoyed getting anything having to do with basketball. Always exercising, he also got some equipment that kept him busy that afternoon! Tim also got a few hoodies to keep him warm through the Nebraska winter.
Joe also got a few hoodies to wear along with some items for his car. His front driver's seat now sports a Tweetie bird seat cover. :o) Thanks to Uncle Craig, he now has an emergency safety kit for the trunk and I got him some much needed new windshield wipers. :o)
We had a wonderful Christmas and now that Craig and his family are safely back home, we are cleaning up and getting ready for my parents to arrive on Wednesday. We'll celebrate Christmas with them and then get ready for Lily's birthday party. She's going to have two parties...one with family around her birthday and then one at the end of January with her friends. (We like to throw Chinese New Year birthday parties for Lily) Her friends are back from their holiday trips by then.
Enjoy the pictures!
It's Santa! I always imagined he'd be a bit bigger...and hairier!
Alex
Cousins - Joe, Tim, Lily and cousin, Alex
Cyndi and Lily
Mayra and Alex
Cyndi, her baby brother, Craig, and his baby, Alex
Craig, Mayra and Alex
Lily is having fun with her new Leapster (she is no longer allowed to bug her biggest brother to play games on his iPod Touch!) She also received a lot of arts and crafts projects and materials. She is quite the little artist and can be found drawing pictures everyday at one of our tables. She drew pictures for everyone for Christmas and put them under the tree. Aunt Mayra had a picture of her holding baby Alex. Uncle Craig got a drawing of a motorcycle (complete with flames on the tank). Tim got a very impressive drawing of him playing basketball. (He couldn't believe she drew it on her own....I had to remind him that she HAS spent a great deal of time in the stands at basketball games over the past few years!) Joe's looked kind of abstract....a whole bunch of colored rectangles. Joe was looking a little disappointed after seeing Tim's drawing and asked Lily what it was....she told him it was "lots of sticks of gum!" She wanted to draw something that he likes! We all got a good laugh over that. :o)
Rich made everyone sing "Happy Birthday" to me on Christmas morning. No, it wasn't my birthday, but my birthday is in February and it's the big 4-0. There's a 99% chance he will be deployed, so I got a fabulous Christmas/40th birthday gift of a digital SLR camera and telephoto lens. I am excited to try it at the boys' basketball tournaments this week. It took some pretty good pictures around the house! Alex was patient with me as I clicked away. :o)
Rich is so proud of all the countries we have been to in all our travels. I got him a stand and a miniature flag from each country he has been to so far. It was quite a few!
Tim enjoyed getting anything having to do with basketball. Always exercising, he also got some equipment that kept him busy that afternoon! Tim also got a few hoodies to keep him warm through the Nebraska winter.
Joe also got a few hoodies to wear along with some items for his car. His front driver's seat now sports a Tweetie bird seat cover. :o) Thanks to Uncle Craig, he now has an emergency safety kit for the trunk and I got him some much needed new windshield wipers. :o)
We had a wonderful Christmas and now that Craig and his family are safely back home, we are cleaning up and getting ready for my parents to arrive on Wednesday. We'll celebrate Christmas with them and then get ready for Lily's birthday party. She's going to have two parties...one with family around her birthday and then one at the end of January with her friends. (We like to throw Chinese New Year birthday parties for Lily) Her friends are back from their holiday trips by then.
Enjoy the pictures!
It's Santa! I always imagined he'd be a bit bigger...and hairier!
Alex
Cousins - Joe, Tim, Lily and cousin, Alex
Cyndi and Lily
Mayra and Alex
Cyndi, her baby brother, Craig, and his baby, Alex
Craig, Mayra and Alex
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