Festival Of Trees

What an event! The girls and I spent the afternoon admiring all the decorations, trees, wreaths, and scenes at Festival of Trees. There were hundreds of talented displays. I was amazed and humbled. My wimpy wreath and front door decorations are shaking in their boots. I am inspired and wrapped in the Christmas spirit. Amazing! I gotta run... there are decorations to be hung at my house.

Holding Back Tears

The girls and I went to Festival of Trees today (there will be more pictures later). We were strolling along in the crowd admiring the many decorated trees when Gigi suddenly stopped and was visibly excited. She pointed to the tree we were standing by and to my surprise, she pointed out an ornament she had made at the YMCA during Military Kids Time Out. I wasn't prepared to see a beautiful tree dedicated to military families that was decorated with ornaments made by the children of soldiers. Then I read the wish from one little girl named Heather which was printed on the bidding sheet. The emotions where so overwhelming, it was several moments before I could speak. Take at look at the pictures and say a prayer for all the soldiers and their families who are going to be missing their families during the holidays.

Party Over Here

We had our first Celebration Cake last Friday. We had a spice cake with carmel simple sugar and browned butter frosting. Does anyone have a special December-ish cake suggestions?

It is hard to believe that a month has passed since Gene deployed. Some days seem like the seconds are barely ticking by and other days just fly by. The girls and I really miss Gene but we are Team Porter and will be just fine. Only 11 more cakes to go!

Spooky

We had a great Halloween this year... way too much candy! The weather was perfect for Trick or Treating. We didn't even need a bunch of layers to stay warm (like last year). Greta was Poppy, our black cat, and Gigi was an Egyptian Princess. We really missed not having Gene with us but the girls and I walked with our neighbors and had a wonderful time. Gene wasn't forgotten... we mailed him all our candy, minus some special pieces that we kept.