Christmas Festival

Every year our housing agency hosts a Christmas celebration.  We went last year and had fun so we didn't want to miss out this year.  It wasn't snowing but it was pretty cold.  Thankfully there was hot chocolate dispensers outside and huge space heaters.  They also had hot dogs and chicken tenders and fries, all free!  We ate and had a great time.

Waiting in line to ride on the horse carriage.

We met Frosty! :)

One of the horses.  Her mane and tail are braided with flowers.  Ellie just loved it!

The lady that was riding with us took our picture.  Family pictures are rare for us.

We got the exact same horse as last year.  Her name is Princess.  Of course Ellie was ecstatic!

YAY a penguin!

They had a bunch of crafts for the kids to do inside.  It was nice to get in the warmth.

Ricardo's promotion!

Waiting for the ceremony to begin.

The Marine students

Chilly Ellie

Ricardo greeting the Captain

Ricardo picked Jay and his dad to pin his new chevrons.  I was holding back the tears!

Dad pinning on the new chevrons.

I love these guys so much.

Oath of Enlistment as Gunnery Sergeant.

Congratulations!

Listening to Ricardo give his speech.

Belinda, Mom and Dad Morales and the rest of us! :)

Ricardo got promoted to E7 Gunnery Sergeant on November 1st.  His parents were able to fly up from Texas which was absolutely awesome.  Ricardo's dad was stationed here when Ricardo was born so he had the chance to see the apartment they lived in and his old workplace here on Fort Meade.  We were so happy that they had the chance to come up.  My mother in law was such a blessing, doing the housework so I could rest a little.  Belinda, Ricardo's cousin came up from D.C. for the ceremony also.  We went to the Inner Harbor to Phillips a yummy seafood restaurant to celebrate after.  It was a wonderful day!

Character Day and Halloween 2010

Ellie as Emily Elizabeth

Holding Clifford

Clifford

Ellie was supposed to dress up like a storybook character the Friday before Halloween and we couldn't think of who she should be.  We looked through every single book that we have (which is ALOT!) and we couldn't decide.  We saw a Clifford book and she agreed to be Emily Elizabeth.  The costume was quite easy, thanks to Walmart.  I found a pink turtle neck and sewed two black buttons in the center and got some striped tights.  She already had a black skirt and a white shirt.  But finding a Clifford proved to be a very difficult task.  I went to Toys R Us, Target, Walmart, the PX, Borders, Books a Million and I couldn't find a Clifford in any of these stores.  I found many characters like Corduroy, Curious George, Skippyjon Jones and even Walter the Farting Dog!....but no Clifford.  So I decided to get a sock puppet kit.  The night before the parade I asked Ricardo to help me come up with a way to make Clifford out of one of Jay's old baseball socks.  And this is what we came up with.  With a little bit of rice, thread, felt and glue we made Ellie this cute little puppy.  We were so excited to show Ellie the next morning but she was quite upset that she didn't get to help. :(  Seriously!  She got over it and proudly wore her costume to school and gently carried her Clifford in her arms.  It turned out to be a great time for her.  The parade was really cute. 

My Hello Kitty

Gir from Invader Zim

It was hard to think about Halloween when I had been so focused on character day so I was very thankful that Hot Topic had these ears for both my kiddos.  Add some face paint and voila! two very cute characters!

Renaissance Festival

My parents were here visiting so we went to Annapolis for a Renaissance Festival.  We waited about an hour in the car just to get to the festival which was bad because I really needed to use the bathroom but we made it and had fun.

This was my favorite thing at the whole festival! ;)

Grandpa bought this for Ellie.  Thanks!

Storytelling

Ha ha ha ha

 

Jousting

Hair braiding

 Sorry the video is sideways.  I didn't think about it when I was recording.  Ricardo took Ellie on the slide and she squealed the whole way down.  Hopefully you can hear her.  It was hilarious.  She loved it and wanted to go again but the line was really long.  We had a good time and ate some yummy food.

MERCYME CONCERT

Baltimore

This is a picture of the stage before they started.  We were in the 3rd row!!!

 This song is called Crazy Enough off of the new album.

Bart was singing his heart out!!

 This is Finally Home.

 This song is called Beautiful from the new album.  This was the song that I wanted to hear the most.  Bart talked about how hard it is to be a dad to four kids (soon to be five!) but how it is especially hard to be a dad to daughters.  He said if his boys get mad at him, they will get over it soon, even the same day.  But with girls there is a 2 day waiting period!  I was almost crying at how right on he is about the differences between girls and boys.  He talked about the media and how woman and even young girls are portrayed and how it is so important for dads to love their daughters.  The song talks about how GOD sees us girls.  We can often get caught up in how we dress or how our make-up is done and concentrate on how we look to the world and we forget how God sees us.  He loves us.  He made us exactly who we are.  The struggles we go through do not define who we are.  We are treasured, we are sacred, we are HIS!  My very favorite part of the song is in this video where Bart sings, "You're the one He madly loves, enough to die...."  If you haven't had a chance to hear the song, make sure you check it out.  It is awesome!


Many of you know that MercyMe is my favorite band.  When I heard that they were going to play in Baltimore, first I screamed :), then I got tickets!  I didn't even know who I was going with but I knew that I was going!  I asked my one friend here from church and she couldn't go, I asked my friend Cindy in Virginia and she couldn't go, so..........I told Ricardo that he was going!!  He is not a huge fan of MercyMe but he likes some of the songs.  So it was a date.  I asked two wonderful ladies to watch my kids which was such a blessing.  Thanks to Donna and Eva we got to enjoy dinner and a concert.  We got in a little late because we got a bite to eat first.  Dave Barnes opened up.  He sings "Got Gave Me You".  It was just him and his guitar on stage and he brought it!  His voice is so nice and somewhat different from what you usually hear.  Then intermission and then MERCYME!!  I was so excited.  I was trying not to be such a dork screaming all crazy!  It was in the Hippodrome so it was more laid back and not like a "normal" concert.  They sang some of the all time favorites like Hold Fast, Word of God Speak, and I Can Only Imagine.  And of course, this being the Lovewell Tour, they sang alot of the new songs from the new album.  It was an awesome concert and I am so glad that we got to go.  Ricardo even had a good time.  We enjoyed our time together and worshiping God. 

Ballet and Soccer

She has to wear her hair in a bun.

A ballet pose.

Jay is number 17 on his team.

Ricardo and I like for the kids to be involved in some sort of activity outside of school so we let the kids do one each.  Jay has been playing soccer for the past couple of years and is getting alot better.  He played for the Severn Strikers this year which is a team that is based outside of Fort Meade.  The sports on base were not very organized last year and wasn't very good so we decided to put him in the county league. 
Ellie has wanted to do ballet so I signed her up right away.  She loves it!  She is learning basic ballet and tap.  We'll see if it is something that she continues to do but for now she is my perfect, beautiful ballerina!