Another new year...

January 1st has come and gone... and with that another anniversary of my Mom's death. 3 years. I'm really not sure how that can be. So much has happened in the last 3 years. My girls moved from being little to young ladies! They went from being 9 to 11 and from 6 to 9... Jessica "graduated" from elementary school and moved up to middle school and Colby is now in 4th grade. Oh, Mom, how you're missed! I think of you every single day... and feel at peace knowing that you're up in heaven, relieved of all pain and watching over us. We love you, Mom!

Christmas and the days after...

Hello everyone! I hope all of you in the cyberworld & beyond had a wonderful Christmas with your families! Ours was a very quiet one which started WAY too early on Christmas morning...
We spent the first part of Christmas Eve with Ted and I on the ROOF of our new sunroom - laying shingles! YES - I (who is terrified of heights unless we're on a fast moving roller coaster) got on the ROOF and was actually HELPFUL! We were so pleased to get all of the shingles up before the snow - WHEW! The scariest part was getting up & down the extension ladder!

We were invited to talk about what Peace means to our family at our church's early "Children's service" on Christmas eve... we've decided that that service best suits our family. After that, we went for dinner at one of our favorite Chinese restaurants... China Palace in Durham. After contemplating whether to go to a movie at the theater, we settled on heading home to watch the Polar Express - what a nice way to end our Christmas Eve.

The girls were up ridiculously early on Christmas morning - just way too excited to see what Santa had brought them! So, Ted and I got up at 4:00 (YES 4:00 a.m.!) so the girls could get Santa time out of their systems... then Ted (first) followed by Colby & me decided to take a little siesta so we could function the rest of the day. Jessica, on the other hand, stayed up... happily logging in her new wolf Webkinz and having some alone time.

When we got up for the 2nd time, Ted made a very yummy Turkey Gumbo! Later in the day, my Dad & Jan came by to share some of that Gumbo & check out Ted's progress on the sunroom. We celebrated Christmas with my Dad, Jan, my brother, Nathan & girlfriend, Katie, and step-brother John & friend Carlin on Sunday night with a tasty dinner at Peony Asian Bistro followed by a gift exchange at Dad's & Jan's including some very rummy figgy pudding!

The original plan was for me to head to Virginia on Sunday to spend time with cousins who were visiting from Charlottesville (Virginia), Wyoming, and Tennessee, but the weatherman was correct for a second time this season and Mother Nature brought us some CHRISTMAS SNOW! Lots of it! It started falling sometime Christmas night and continued on heavily for a good part of the day on Sunday. It was absolutely beautiful! We got a good 5-6" I would say. We were able to go down the road (off Old NC-10) to a nice sledding hill that we found with the last big snow and have a BLAST sledding!
Today (Monday) has been a day of semi-relaxation for me, more hard work for Ted on the addition, and playdates for the girls... here's to hoping that you all are finding some down time as well...

Happy Holidays 2010

WOW... it's been a long time since I've written... a really long time - like close to 2 years! I will begin with last Christmas and bring you up to speed!

We abbreviated Christmas here in North Carolina last year so we could go to New Orleans for the holidays... our journey started with a stop-over in Atlanta at the American Girl Store. Colby received a look-alike American Girl and Jessica's AG doll, Kit was in need of a trip to the doll hospital to repair her loose limbs. They thoroughly enjoyed the experience and spent a good bit of their Christmas money at the store! Next stop was Covington , Louisiana where Ted's Mom, sister & kids live. The big event of the season was Ted's cousin Matt's wedding on January 2nd where I was asked to be the photographer. It was a nice, fun-filled wedding enjoyed by all.

Let's see... from there, we'll touch on some highlights from throughout the year!

In MARCH, Jessica and I took a trip to Washington D.C. for her 5th grade field trip. That was an interesting experience! Her class was the first ever from her school to ever have the opportunity to visit the White House (all 5 rooms that they let us see!).

In MAY, celebrated Ted's 40th birthday with a HUGE surprise crawfish boil party that I managed to pull off INCLUDING a surprise appearance by a good number of Ted's relatives from Louisiana! He was THRILLED beyond words that his Mom and crew were able to make the trip for the occasion!

Also in MAY, our wonderful youngest, Miss Colby, turned NINE!

In JUNE, Ted and I celebrated 18 years of marital bliss! I honestly can't believe it's been that long!

Also in JUNE, our fabulous oldest, Miss Jessica, GRADUATED from Elementary School! Time has really flown!

The girls attended many camps over the summer including Horseback riding for Jess, Girl Scout Resident camp, 2 Vacation Bible Schools, Chestnut Ridge for Colby, as well as Camp New Hope...

In AUGUST we had the pleasure of going on our 2nd family cruise to the Bahamas, Grand Turk, and Half Moon Cay (the cruise ship private island). Carnival started sailing out of Charleston, which is less than a 5 hour drive from our house! While on our cruise, Colby met her "twin" Avery (you know they say that everyone has a twin!).

Ted learned how to scuba dive and the girls and I snorkeled. We all enjoyed a fabulous meet & greet with our dolphin friends!


7 days of BLISS! Ted & I have decided that as much as we enjoy traveling with our girls, it's about time we take a trip on our own!

Jess even enjoyed a birthday celebration while onboard the ship since her birthday fell just a couple of days after we returned!


When we returned from the cruise, it was time for school to begin again - this time with Jessica starting MIDDLE SCHOOL! 6th GRADE - how did that happen?! How can I possibly have a middle schooler?? There have been quite a few bumps along the way, but I think she's going to be okay! She LOVES band and even tried out and made PERCUSSION (making her percussionist Uncle Nathan a VERY happy camper!)!

Colby started 4th grade and her one of her best friends, Olivia, finally got in the same class! So far, so good... Colby LOVES school! She also started playing SOCCER in the Fall and fell in love with it! She plans to play again in the Spring.

Ted's Balloon and Magic Business (www.tedstwistedballoons.com) keeps him very busy! He performed a terrific magic show at Colby's Elementary School at the beginning of the school year... we hope we can convince him to do another one before the school year is out! He continues to work at Capital Associates as his "day job". And as if he didn't already have enough to do, he decided to take on a HUGE building project in November... adding on a SUNROOM to the back of our house! It's been very exciting to watch his progress... we currently have walls, windows, doors, and a roof! It amazes me how much Ted and his brother Tim know... they have designed and built it all themselves with very little consultation from anyone else! We'll have to have a big celebration when it's finished!

6 1/2 years later I'm still at Duke, working as a staff assistant for the Director of the Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center in the department of Pathology. Duke's benefits are very hard to pass on... one day, if I can hang on long enough, we're hoping that they will help us out with college tuition for the girls!

I think that about sums it up for the year - I'm sure I've left out details and I hope to keep my blog more updated from now on! Maybe I can try for once a month at least?!

I hope this holiday season brings you Love, Joy, Hope and Peace...

Love, Heather

Another Day at Sea...

One of the things about this cruise that was different from our first was that we had an extra day at sea. We had a day at the beginning and a day at the end, which was good. We needed that extra day to figure out how to pack all of our stuff! The girls spent some time at Camp Carnival while we got to go listen to all the hoopla about getting off the ship the next day!

The girls spent the afternoon on the Lido deck - hanging out in the pool, or more frequently, the hot tub, since it was a bit overcast and quite windy!

Some of the other things we enjoyed during our stay aboard the Carnival Legend, were a couple of awesome comedians and other fun shows. The last night was a talent show, of sorts.... some of the other ship guests, dressed up as famous singers. THAT was interesting! The best was Elvis... who turned out to be one of the guys that was on our cabe tubing excursion in Belize. He was great. The guy that tried to be Garth Brooks was pretty good too. The rest, well, not so much, but you've gotta give them credit for trying!

Having "professional" photographs taken aboard the ship seemed to be another "in" thing. After our day in Grand Cayman, where Colby purchased a really cute sundress, she was in the mood to pose. She had a blast... acting like a little model! I had already decided that I had to settle on ONE photo since I take photos of her ALL the time! Guess it's different when it's not Mom taking your picture. Then Jessica decided that, even though she wasn't dressed for the occasion (and hadn't even brushed her hair!), she would have her picture taken too. Turned out cute though... very Jessica.

Did I mention our wait staff at dinner? Those guys were really great! Ted had the beverage guy bring him a Coke with each meal and by the 2nd or 3rd day, the guy brought it to him without Ted even having to ask! Colby had our waiter, Ryan from Jamaica, totally WRAPPED around her finger! She got shrimp cocktail as an appetizer at EVERY meal! She didn't even have to order it, he just brought it anyway! And Darma, Ryan's helper, was always one step ahead as well! Once Ted and the girls discovered the Warm Chocolate Melting Cake (or something along those lines), that's all she wrote for the rest of the week! I, on the other hand, enjoyed sampling all the different desserts they had to offer, since I very rarely partake at home! My favorite was the Creme Brulee! YUM! Every meal was delicious... I don't believe there was really anything we didn't like! And if we wanted to try 2 of anything, Ryan always brought both with a smile and a wonderful laugh! Ahhhh... great times!

And then there were the friends... one advantage of going to Camp Carnival was meeting new people. The disadvantage was not being able to bring them home with you... Colby did meet a friend who lives in Angier, NC. That was about as close as we got!

One more thing... the FUN towel creatures! Every night, while we were at dinner, our fabulous room steward, Lucky, mysteriously came in our room, made our beds, and left behind a little friend, made out of towels. We always wondered what they'd come up with next...

I can't say this enough, folks, what a WONDERFUL vacation! If you've never been on a cruise, you should really try it! Until next time... Bon Voyage!

4th Stop: Grand Caymans

We visited the Cayman Islands on Friday, January 23. This was our last island stop of the trip. Ted had researched all of the excursion companies and read that "Moby Dick's Tours" was the BEST! We had to take a ferry over to the dock again, though this time it was only about a 5 minute ride.

When we got off the ferry, sure enough, there were the people from "Moby Dick's Tours" waiting to greet us! We only had to wait about 15 minutes, then we were on our way! This was a GREAT excursion. We opted for the Snorkel and Sting Ray City Tour. The guys could not have been more friendly!

Because Sting Ray City was so busy when we went by in the boat, they took us snorkling first. This was the first time we used fins too... we went cheap when we bought our snorkel gear & only got masks and snorkels. I found that you really could swim faster with the fins. There was lots of coral and all types of schools of fish, though Ted and I agreed that we thought the fish were more plentiful and pretty at some of our other stops. Anyway, we had a great swim nevertheless. We had all loaded back on our little boat when one of the other passengers accidentally threw a swim shoe overboard and decided to dive in to get it. Personally, I think I would have let it go!

Our next stop was Sting Ray City. WOW! I have never seen so many sting rays in one spot. People keep asking me if we were afraid of them. Once we figured out how tame they were, we weren't scared at all. It took the girls a little while to get used to them, but once they did, they discovered what wonderful creatures they were! Ted and I both "kissed" the sting rays. Supposedly, this was to bring us 7 years of good luck. Personally, I think they just wanted to see how many people they could get to kiss them! I must say, they were quite slimey kissers! Interesting experience!

The girls were happy to discover that a friend from "Camp Carnival" was on this same excursion. Sydney was from Canada and was fun to have along.

After our excursion, we went back to town and shopped for a little while before heading back to the boat. Another fun filled day!