Christmas 2008 pictures

Mini-Jane and Shannon celebrate the 11th of the Month!

Here are some pictures of Mini-Jane and I celebrating the 11th of the month last night! It got a little wild. If you are wondering what the 11th of the month is... read the following email that I got from my friend Jane yesterday. ENJOY!

Hello Ladies,

Disclaimer - I already mentioned this to Shan. But I didn't want to leave you out when sending an email to the RC girls, Shannon.

So, today marks 9 months until I am on my way back to the USA. YAHOO!!!! One of my friends here started a ritual on the 11th of every month. She drinks a bottle of wine (we're hardcore over here) to celebrate one month down until we go home. As she has told us all about it, we have adopted the tradition.

So, now, I am inviting you to join me. On the 11th of every month, have a drink (Heather - stick to juice until John gets here!) in honor of me returning. I go for wine - it is cheap and girls can drink it here without too many quesitons - but you are welcome to whatever drink you choose. My sister Kara has joined the club already. It is a fun club to be in! And remember, you're not drinking alone if we are together in spirit :-)

I will send out monthly reminders - I can't expect you guys to have my Close of Service date ingrained on your brains.

I hope you all are having wonderful weeks. I miss you terribly. See you soonish!

Love,
Jane

Mini-Jane and I drinking together...


Mini-Jane likes her flavored Smirnoff!


A bottle of french Wine!


And a pint of something bubbly (I think she may have snuck some of my wine cooler into her giant mini-mug!)


Mini-Jane got to hang with the kitties for a while! Here she is getting a hug from Tater Tot.


Hanging with Hank!


Cowgirl doesn't quite no what to think of mini-Jane. For some reason, mini-Jane kept calling Cowgirl "Ellabella".


The kitties then convinced Mini-Jane to take a spin on the mechanical mouse!


<

Mini-Jane finally started to slow down...


She spent some time talking to the mini-blue toilet!


After a while... I was able to tuck mini-Jane in for the night. She needed a good night sleep b/c she will be traveling today!

No christmas tree this year...

With a house full of kittens ... Mike and I have decided not to chance putting up the tree this year. Here are a few pictures from when I was trying to put up some of the other decorations!

backyard friend

We finally got a picture of our "teradactyl"... aka a great blue
heron (we think). We see him every fall/winter in our backyard. I
think he is hunting frogs! Usually we see him back towards the
creek... but this time, he was up closer to the house and eventually
waded his way through my iris bog.

our new reindeer...

Here are some pictures of the reindeer that Mike and I built on Saturday!! I am really excited with how they turned out! They are not perfect, by any means... but I am still very proud of them! (and have already started thinking of ways to make them better if we make any more). The tree is from our backyard. It was different colors of tan until I put a clear coat of acrylic spray on them... then they turned the greenish shades they are now.

Thanksgiving stomach virus...

Mike's niece and nephew (or someone in his family) gave me a nasty stomach virus! While we didn't go up to Maryland for thanksgiving, due to my work schedule, the rest of his family went. His sister and her family stopped in Richmond on their way up and back. ... Mike's dad, sister, niece, nephew, aunt, uncle and cousin all got the same bug. and a nasty one at that. We all got sick around the same time... (Monday evening). I was laid up in bed for 2 days... and I am barely functioning today. Getting ready to call it a day here soon. It may take me a while to recover from this one... I lost over 4 lbs in 24 hours... haven't really been able to eat in over 48 besides the occasional cracker or pretzel. all other attempts to eat didn't fare so well....

What happens when we try to watch a movie...

The cats decide to entertain us ... in and on the entertainment center. Cowboy and Paisley were in the entertainment center for the entire movie (Tropic Thunder). Paisley would periodically look up at the tv to see what was going on...Tater decided to get a closer view of the credit once the movie was over.