One Year With Mei Mei

One year ago, we brought a petrified, wired, nervous ball of energy named May home with us to join our family. Now named Mei Mei, she has morphed into the most relaxed, gentle, tolerant and loving cat on the planet.

I wasn't sure that I could love another cat again after Asia (who I still miss every day), but Mei Mei proved me wrong this past year. There are a few similarities between the two cats (including how loving they are), but there are many differences too. The one thing I really love about Mei Mei is how loving (and tolerant) she is with Briana. My biggest hope when we got Mei Mei was that she was going to love Briana, and she really does. And Briana is head over heels for Mei Mei.

The movie "Kung Fu Panda 3" is coming out next week (just in time for Chinese New Year). And we just found out that one of the new characters being introduced in the movie is also named "Mei Mei"...

She is black, white, furry and a bit round ~ just like our Mei Mei. ;)

Briana is soooo excited that the new character is named Mei Mei. Not only does she share the name of our precious kitty, she is also a panda - and you know how panda obsessed Briana is.

Of course, I had no idea last when we named our Mei Mei that she would share the name of a cartoon Chinese panda. It's all just a happy concidence.

So happy gotcha day anniversary to our sweet Mei Mei. She has been a perfect fit for our family.

A Birthday Get Together

Bri's friend April had a belated birthday lunch last Sunday at Benihana. Bri and April's friend Maisie also was invited.

It is amazing to see how much these girls have grown...

I think they enjoyed the ice cream at the end best...

 Of course, after a long meal, the electronics have to come out. :)

 The girls had a nice time, but the adults also had a great time catching up too. A big thank you to April, Michael and Ilene for hosting a lovely lunch!

Doug's Birthday Recap

Doug's birthday was on the 13th of Jan and it was pretty low key (which is how he likes it). It landed during the work week, so Doug ended up working all day and Bri was at school all day.

We waited to celebrate the occasion in the evening (though Doug and I did have lunch together).

I decorated the kitchen...

We ate at one of our nearby favorite (Louisiana-style) restaurants for dinner...

Doug got a free bread pudding for being the birthday boy...

We went home and opened gifts and Doug blew out a birthday candle...

Doug got a number of Star Wars themed gifts.

And apron from my sister...

Light saber/bbq tongs from his brother...

My frame...

He got a couple of nice gift from my parents...

I got him Rock Band 4 for the Xbox...

It was a really nice evening. I hope the birthday boy enjoyed his day. :)

First Time Ice Skating

A couple of weekends ago, Briana went ice skating for the first time.

Her friend Chani takes ice skating lessons and wants to have her birthday party at the skating rink next month. Bri had never been on ice skates before and didn't want to her first experience to be at the party. So, we set up an ice skating date with Chani so that Chani could help Bri get acclimated to the ice.

We decided to start our afternoon with a yummy lunch at Joe's Crab Shack with Chani (and Kathy and Matt)...

We got to the rink and the girls put their skates on...

I was nervous for Bri at first. The ice is slick and I was worried that she might slip and fall right away. She didn't fall immediately and she moved along quite quickly and nicely. I couldn't believe how well she did...

Chani was awesome because she stayed with Bri the whole time (almost two hours) and helped hold her hand for balance...

Bri did take one hard tumble and cut her hand a little falling on someone's blade. She recovered quickly.

She did have a few falls, but she got right up after each one. And for her first time skating, I honestly couldn't believe how well she did.

The girls did take a quick rest one time during their skate...

I know Briana will be so much more comfortable going to the party now knowing that she has skated before. A huge thank you to Chani for helping her feel so comfortable!

The girls got to play a couple of video games before heading out...

I guess this is another experience to mark off Bri's bucket list!

We Saw Star Wars (Again!!)

We liked the new Star Wars movie so much the first time, we knew we wanted to see it again. The movie is so jam packed with info, you almost need to see it a second time to catch it all. And with all the distractions the first time seeing it, I knew for sure I had missed stuff.

 There is a Movie Tavern theater about 30 minutes from our house, and we thought that would be a cool way to watch the movie the second time.

Reclining seats and food delivered directly to you ~ it's awesome!!!

Look at those smiles...

Look ~ there's my feet!!

I caught so much the second time around that I had missed the first time.  It was definitely quieter this time around (though I did miss some of the excitement, cheering and clapping that we experienced on opening day). 

Bri loved watching the movie this way. She asked if we could see all future movies at this theater. LOL!

Doug's birthday was coming up and I had found this Star Wars magnet board at the craft fair back in November. I printed out pictures from our Star Wars visits, kept the ticket stubs and placed them on the board for him for his birthday...

There's no doubt that we will be purchasing the new movie when it is eventually released on DVD. That is a definite!

Back To Reality

Bri actually had a smile on her face the morning of her first day back to school after Christmas break. We had done a little shopping (using some of her gift cards) over the weekend and she bought Kylo Ren sneakers. They were in the boys section of the store, but she didn't care (Shame on Star Wars marketers for catering to boys mainly. Girls like Star Wars too!)

Bri had a good day back to school and that evening, she started her 5 week winter indoor soccer skills camp (meets once a week). Bri did this camp last year and it did amazing things for her footwork. 5 of our girls (including Bri) from Team Golden Eagles are taking the camp.

Bri has been looking pretty cute heading to school each day...

Running club started back as well and Bri has another book report due at the end of the month. A biography book report this time. Back to reality for sure.

The First Few Days Of January

Because Doug, Bri and I were up so late on New Year's Eve, we slept in a bit on New Year's Day.

Once I got up and going, it was time to continue putting away Christmas decorations. I had been putting away stuff for days, but as you all know, I have lots of xmas stuff. So it takes me a while. And with throwing in the mini vacation, it put me a bit behind putting everything away (I usually have Christmas packed up and put away before New Year's Day). 

By day two of the New Year, the Christmas stuff was finally gone and it was time then to start playing with some gifts. Bri received two board games for Christmas, so Life and Clue were played several times before school started.

Bri also had her first paying "job" over the Christmas break. We went and checked on my friend's kitty a couple of times...

Bri was not ready to go back to school. Even after two weeks off, she was not happy that she had to go back (I really wish she liked school more).

Bri's friend Imerie's gotcha day anniversary landed the day before heading back to school, and she had a nice dinner to celebrate the occasion. It not only was a lovely way to celebrate Miss Imerie, but it was also a perfect sendoff dinner before the kids headed back to school and a great way to end a fun Christmas break. 

Again, we are so blessed to have all these amazing little girls in our lives...

Bri, Mary, Imerie and Ella...

As much as Bri enjoyed her time off, it really was time to get back into the swings of things.

New Year's Eve

For several days, I worked on putting away Christmas decorations ~ which takes me forever. That included New Year's Eve day.

While I was putting things away during the day, Doug took Bri to Chuck E Cheese. He promised Briana several years ago that he would take her (I had done it as well as my parents), but he never got around it. So, a promise made long ago was finally fulfilled on the last day of 2015...

And you won't believe who they ran in to while they were there ~ Bri's friend Ella (and my friend/Ella's mom Laura)! What are the odds? I swear, Doug manages to run into all my friends when he goes out. :)

 I was so happy when New Year's Eve rolled around so I could stop, take a breather and eat a nice quiet dinner with my two favorite people...

Goodbye 2015...

Nice glass of wine...

Lobster bisque cheese...

Rocky road chocolate fondue for dessert...

Of course, this was Bri's favorite part...

It took about two hours to eat and then we went home. We started watching "Back To The Future."

We wanted to light some of our Nashville fireworks, so we paused the movie to go outside. The warm weather we had been having changed a couple of days before NYE and that night was pretty chilly...

In our neighborhood somewhere, someone was putting on almost a professional type fireworks show. We could stand on our driveway and see it. It was so cool...

We lit sparklers...

 Fear the beard baby...

I texted my new neighbors down the street to let them know that we were shooting off fireworks, and they walked over to our house to watch them and light some sparklers too...

I think the kids had more fun running around and chasing each other that watching the fireworks - ha, ha!

Our neighbors went back home after the show and we came inside. Bri got in jammies, we finished the movie and watched the ball drop...

It was a quiet and peaceful evening/ending to a emotional 2015.

Here's to 2016. Let's see what is in store.