Birthdays, Parties & Presents

Yesterday was a fairly eventful day. For me, it started at 7 a.m. :(, I can't stand early morning meetings. Honestly, what makes those people think that anybody's going to retain all the droning of boring information at that time in the morning?! Anyway, at around 9:30 I got home & got Desiree & Benjamin's presents 'wrapped' (I actually put them in bags because I'm being a little lazy & cutting corners where I can), checked my email, & fell asleep on the couch (purely by accident, I assure you). I was awakened by Desiree asking me to wake up because she was hungry. So, I had a nice little power nap before we had to head to Brad & Tarylyn's. After Desiree ate breakfast we decided to get dressed & start getting ready to go. Well, Desiree didn't want to do that, so she ran away from both of us & yelled & screamed when I caught her & put her shirt on...she did that over & over again until she was completely dressed. Finally it came time to get her hair brushed so she looked nice for the party, but she wasn't having that! She was being very rotten (Miss I'm Always Right), so I finally had to put her in the bedroom for a timeout. She didn't like that at all, she started screaming bloody murder at the top of her lungs & beating on the door. I finally had to go in there & make her sit on the bed & behave for 5 minutes before I could brush her hair. All in all, this entire ordeal took us a few hours, so by the time I was completely ready & so was Desiree, it was time to go.

We finally got to leave, & our first stop was Albertson's to pick up her cake. I ordered a Disney Princess cake, I picked a good one if I do say so myself!

After Albertsons, we finally got on our way to Brad & Tarylyns. We inevitably arrived to the party a little late. But once we got there, things were great (& Desiree was being a good girl). Ben's cake was open & ready to be cut when it was time for cake, & all the presents were on the kitchen table; Desiree's on the left & Ben's on the right.

Before we got started with the cake cutting & opening of presents, we talked for a little bit & the kids played & sat with Grandma. They looked so cute in their little party hats. Oh, & so everybody knows, Saria was in trouble, so she isn't in any of the pictures.

After a few pictures the kids decided it was time to cut the cakes & open presents. Brad lit the candles on the cakes, & we all gathered around Ben's cake. We sang 'Happy Birthday to You' & then he blew out the candles (well, Tarylyn actually did, but we'll let him think he did it :)). He looked so cute trying to blow the candles out, he didn't have enough force to blow them out by himself.

Next came Desiree's turn. We sang 'Happy Birthday to You' to her & then it was her turn to blow out her candle. That one was fun. She was trying so hard to blow the candle out but it just wasn't working, so Nick was trying to help her without letting her know. That still didn't work, so I jumped in & helped, finally the candle got blown out. After that, it was time to open presents. "Oh joy!!" Just what the kids had been waiting for. That was a lot of fun, Sam wanted to sit with Desiree, I thought he just wanted to sit with her, but then his real intentions came out, he wanted to open some of the presents. The kitchen ended up a little messy during the present tearing, but it was so much fun to watch the kids' faces light up.

Haha. Got love my little ham's 'smiles'! She's so funny. I tell her to smile (for the camera) & those are the kind of faces she makes. Catching her off guard gives me a more traditional smile. Our kid's are some real characters! I'm sure all of you will agree.

After the present opening it was time for cake. The cake yummy! We had icecream with the cake & each of the kids had a piece of each cake.

We all hung out & talked for a little while longer, while the kids played. Yesterday was a really fun day, & the kids had a blast. Desiree & Sam are partners in crime! They are so funny to watch together. We left around 5:30 because Desiree really needed a nap. But before we left, we had to get one last picture with all of us together.

The Life & Times of Me

Well, I know I haven't blogged in a while (shame on me), but there isn't really much for me to blog about, my life isn't very exciting. But I will share some new things that have been going on around the Hamby household.

Most of my days consist of going to work in the morning & then coming home a little after noon to do laundry & other such house-hold work, fun. But Desiree certainly is keeping me on my toes. She has started using the "big kid's potty" on a regular basis (yay, no more diapers...except for bed time). So for her birthday we got her lots of underwear (mainly with the Disney Princesses on them, I'm a sucker for cute "big girl" clothes, even if they won't be seen), & some really cute little outfits for when the weather warms up, & yes she got a few toys (My Little Pony is where it's at right now apparantly). I'm excited for Saturday though, that's when she's gonna get her clothes & some ponies. We're having a double birthday party for her & Benjamin ( I will blog about the party on Saturday night or Sunday, with pictures for you all to see). Hopefully I'll be able to switch shifts w/ somebody at work so we can have the party during the day instead of the evening.

In the news of work, my department (Wireless) is going to be it's own store within a store, woohoo, no more covering other people's breaks & more hours for me!! Cross your fingers for me to get the full-time position. Other than that not much has been going on with us, just the same old stuff. Oh, & I want to thank you all for the blog support & the birthday wishes (yes, even to Abe). I hope you guys have had a wonderful Valentine's day.

Not Even Three Yet.

Well, I was talking to Hila & something I said to Desiree while I was on the phone absolutely tickled her. I was giving Desiree her lunch, dog dog & cheese (as Desiree calls it), & when I got it on the table & it was time for her to sit & eat she had oocupied herself with her Disney Princess book that came with a "video camera" that you put reels in to view the pictures, so she didn't want to eat she wanted to play with that. Well, I told her that she wasn't aloud to have the camera back until she ate; she didn't like that, so she started walking to the bedroom. So, then I told her that if she didn't come eat she was going to go to bed, needless to say she came back to eat, but didn't touch her food; she just sat there with a sour look on her face (clearly mad at me). She still wanted her camera back & didn't want to eat now because she wasn't getting her way. Well, I looked at her & told her "You have to eat & clean your plate or you're going to bed & you can't have your camera." So I started walking back to the kitchen & then had to turn around at a very important thought, & I said to her "& you have to EAT it all, don't throw it in the trash, or you'll be in trouble!" Well, Hila found that so amusing & proceeded to ask me "Has she done that before?" Well, to answer that question, yes, she has done that before! Desiree thinks everything's supposed to be her way or no way. I've told her she needed to eat & clean her plate one day, well, she decided 'Ok, I'll clean my plate.' & went & threw her food in the trash can! Needless to say she got a time-out & nap for that stunt.
Thought I'd give you guys something fun to read. :)

My Wonderful Family.

Well, first I'd like to start off by apologizing to my family for not having blogged in so long. We've been going through a really tough time up here. Nick lost his job last month & then this past Monday, 1/28/o8, Nick found out his Mom had passed away. So things haven't exactly been ideal for us, or for blogging for that matter. So, I just thought I'd update you guys on the latest news.

We got a 'new' manager at work, I say "new" because he's not new persay, he used to be the Sales Floor Manager. Nick's in Alabama right now helping his sister go through all the legal deals with their Mom's death. He will be back on Monday, we miss him a lot up here.

Now, the other reason for this blog. Thank you all so much!!! You're all so wonderful & so supportive, I don't know where'd I'd be without you guys; this is to my wonderful family, & good friends (Keira), for diligantly checking for new posts on my blog & keeping us in your prayers to get through this difficult time. I love you guys all so much & miss you all just as much. But in good news, Desiree's starting to work on saying her ABC's & 123's. We were working on them a little last night. Her speech is also gettin much better, other people (like Hila, Mom, & Dad) are able to understand more of what she says now. I guess I'll close for now, like I said, not much good news to report. I love you guys.

White Christmas

Hope everybody had a Merry Christmas! I certainly did, & I thought I'd tell you about it :). Well, it started off a little slow & rainy at my house. We opened presents with just our little family first. My daughter had a ball! She thought that every present was for her & insisted on playing with everything right away, so that was interesting! But we got some great gifts for eachother, I got Nick Transformers (the movie), Bones (the t.v. show, hehe, I benefit from that too, how terrible am I), & a really great gaming keyboard & mouse (sorry I don't quite know how to tell you about those), he got me a PSP (handheld game system) with a couple of games (one that he'll play way more than I will, so we're even now), & two books, Tess Gerritsen's The Bone Garden & Harry Potter & the Sorcerer's Stone (the only one I didn't have). We got Desiree a lot of clothes (she's growing way too fast), some toys (Ariel doll, two My Little Ponys & a Care Bear that came with a DVD, I can't think of what else she got) & of course we got a ton of movies from 'Santa' to the whole family; oh yeah, Desiree also got Atlantis: the Lost Empire (Disney movie), I love that movie. Well, while we are opening our presents (completely unknown to us), it starts to snow! My first ever White Christmas!! How cool is that?!? Not very! After all of the presents were opened & we talked to Nick's Mom & sister, we got ready to leave to go out to Shari's for a Christmas lunch & then head to Ben & Michelle's to have Christmas with the whole family. Well, we get going & everything starts off ok, but then we get to the hill we have to go up to stop for gas & head into East Bremerton (keep in mind, my car is an '89 Ford Mustang, it's not made for this kinda stuff), well, we putt putt up the hill & turn into the Shell for gas where we just start sliding sideways down this little embankment & can barely do much else! So, we didn't get gas at the Shell, we drove back home to find the tire chains & then head back out, if we found them; luckily we did find them & put them on the car. So we brave the the snowy road & slightly large hill again, forget the Shell, we slowly make it up the hill & just pass the gas station & head straight for the freeway into E. Bremerton, where we got gas at a Chevron with no slight inclines, just flat ground. So we finally make it to Shari's & have our lunch, let me tell you, it was so GOOOD (to me)! After lunch we start heading to Ben & Michelle's for the whole family Christmas. Given the problems we were having starting off & stopping for lunch, we made it there first :) YAY us. After everybody else gets there & we get all the presents under the Christmas tree, it's time to start opening presents (the kids were getting restless). Everybody got some great stuff! Other than my books from Nick, my favorite presents were my new Shorty & Slim cds. Thank you very much Dad & Hila! Desiree made out like a bandit there too! After the present opening it was time to eat the little meal everybody put together (sandwiches with a lot of snack food & Christmas cookies & sweets). I didn't eat much because we had just eaten maybe 2 hours before that, but I am a piggy so I had to have some of the snacks & sweets. We talked to the rest of our family (Hila & Dad) after we opened presents. Shortly after that we had to leave because I had to work at 7 a.m. the following morning. So, that was not only our great Christmas, but our (my, Nick's, & Desiree's) first WHITE Christmas. I hope you enjoyed my family's Christmas. Here is a photo from Christmas.

Hence the Name...

So, I thought a good idea for my second blog post ever would be the explanation of the name of my blog; but I don't know so you be the judge of that & tell me what you think at the end. Well, when I decided to make a blog I was talking to my sister on the phone, so I'm sitting there spouting out possible blog names with Hila when the thought just entered my mind & I blurted it out before I could even think about it, "flying by the seat of your pants" haha, feeling a little silly I laughed about it & shrugged it off, but Hila on the other hand thought it was hilarious! Anyway, she was laughing her butt off on the other line & when she finally stopped laughing asked how I came up with that, "I don't know, it just came to me." was my response. But now that I've thought about it, a lot of things in my life have been a 'fly by the seat of my pants' moment'; I'll delve into that more in a bit. So Hila gave me an even better idea for my blog name, by telling me to change the 'you' to 'my', so I did, & it's even better! :) Thank you Hila. Okay, onto the delving. Now, I'm only going to tell you of the most significant ones; starting with the most significant, which would be the day that I found out I was pregnant. After I got back to Nick's crazy Aunt Brenda's house (living with that old bat was another of my 'fly by the seat of my pants' moments, albeit one of the stupid moments), I cried & told him that I was pregnant, then we talked about it (abortion was never an option, but we did "decide" that we were going to put her up for adoption) & I said "I'll carry her full term & when I have her, we'll have an adoptive family already lined up for her. --I know that doesn't sound too 'fly by the seat', but trust me it is, & you'll understand in a lilttle bit.-- So, I go through my entire pregnancy with no problems & working the entire time. Well, everything was going fine & smoothly until my brother & sister-in-law & their kids came to visit from Valdosta, GA, & it just happens it's my birthday as well. So my sister wants to take us all out ot lunch for my birthday. We go to Old Mexico for lunch & have a good meal laughing & reminiscing, when we have finished our meal & it's just about time to leave Saria (my niece) wanted me to take her to the bathroom. So I take her to the bathroom, & I'm holding her on my knee so she can reach the sink to wash her hands when my sister comes into the bathroom & sees my baggy shirt pulled tight "Christina! You're pregnant!" she exclaims & I burst into tears & tell her about it & ask her not to tell Dad yet, but to do it once I'm not there any more. So, later that day I have to go to work (Hila told our Dad when I was at work, I think). I get to work & we have a manager from another store acting as our manager for the night, oh joy, & after I'm at work for a couple of hours he wants me to go wash all of the dishes (it was quite obviously a slow night for Dominos Pizza). So I go to the back (after a little protest to him that another girl should have to do it & I never have to wash the dishes for one reason or another, after all it wouldn't be me if I didn't do that, but that's another story altogether) & start washing the dishes; well after a little time washing the dishes I start feeling really wierd & my tummy starts hurting, so I go & tell the manager that I need to go home because I'm not feeling well. Needless to say he didn't believe me, but he did let me go home when I told him I was pregnant. So I drive to crazy Brenda's & tell Nick that I need to go to the hospital & get checked out because I'm not feeling well. So we get to the hospital & when we finally get in (of course it did take like 30 mins before I got a room in the Maternity Ward) & I get in my room & checked, we find out that I'm going into labor!!! Well, after about 3 hours on the operating table (those of you who know me, know I had to have an emergency C-section) I wake up in my room, very disoriented & can't really see well (it was the anasthetic....did I spell that right Hila?). Anyway, on to the next day. Well, I get a call from my sister who's worried about me because she had been trying to get a hold of me ever since she got out of church, but I was no where to be found. So I tell her that I'm in the hospital because I've had the baby & she freaks out & tells me she's going to get Dad & come up there. And this, my friends, is more popularly known as "The DAY Christina was pregnant!", well, by my family anyway. :) Hila coined the phrase, by the way. Now, if you'll recall me telling you earlier that we had planned to give the baby up for adoption. Well, once I saw her & held her....that wasn't happening, it was kind of like, nah, I think I'm going to keep her!!
Now I know that was a super long story, but it's only one of the many :), hahaha. Anyway, I decided to make my explanation of the name of my blog shorter because it took me like 2 days to write this & I don't want to drive anybody away, so...to make a really long story, kind of, short, I fly by the seat of my pants in most every decision I make, & roll with the punches from the out comes. I hope you enjoyed.

Bear with me....

Ok, so this is my very first post; actually this is my first blog ever, so please bear with me. So, I don't think I'm a very interesting person & lead a very boring life, but my sister thinks otherwise; so here it goes. Just something that's been on my mind lately & I thought I should share with you, working retail during the Holiday season really sucks, I truly mean that. I work at Best Buy, I've worked there for a year now & let me tell you, this Holiday season has been much worse than last year; for the past two weeks the store's been opening at 8:00 a.m. so I've had to be there at 7:15 to perform my opening duties (I'm not really a morning person, so you can probably imagine how bad this is for me). Well, every morning I have to get up at like 6:00 a.m. so I can get myself & my daughter ready to go, yes this does take like 30 minutes to do, after all she's only 34 months old so she doesn't listen that well, anyway, then I have to drive her to my brother & sister-in-law's house, in the freezing cold in a car with out a heater, then head back to work (which just happens to be right across the street from my apartment complex, literally). Well, on with the real point of this long drawn out story. What seems like every person in the Kitsap county area decide to come in & shop with only a few days left before Christmas, so here I am, not a morning person at all & have to be at work & dealing with a bunch of people that I don't know & the majority of them are really mean because we don't have something they want to get but should've come in & bought like last month when we actually had a ton of that item (which is usually the gaming systems, i.e. the Nintendo Wii or the XBOX 360). I think that everybody needs to be more like me & my sister (actually, probably most of the women in my family), & start shopping for Christmas presents in the summer! I don't know, maybe I'm just being selfish because the only person this is really benefitting is me :). Well, the worst day this Holiday shopping season, for me, had to be Friday (I believe it was Friday) last week, the store was packed to the brim, probably to the legal limit, & the line to check out was like forever long, come to find out that everybody decided they wanted to shop at Best Buy because the mall was closed due to a power outage there. So, it was literally chaos & probably my worst working day at Best Buy.

Well, I don't really have anything worth writing about (as for all of that, it was just a personal thought I wanted to share) so until I have anything news worthy or interesting for you I'll spare you the boredom.