MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY!

Merry Christmas. Here's my sweetie all dolled up like Bob Kratich (sp?) from Scrooge ha, ha, ha.

We went to see Gram last night and she was so delighted to see Scott in his top hat and long scarf. She kind of didn't know who he was at first, but when she did she laughed. She's 98 (or something like that) and is amazing, she's with it mentally, just not there physically. We had a great visit.






Here's a full picture view of Scott. He's wearing my Christmas present to him, the boots. I bought them for him to complete his Halloween outfit, and yes he did get his present early. He wore the boots with his outfit when we went to Salem for Halloween. I like this look for the holidays! He bought me a diamond ring by the way, it's beautiful. I tried to take a pictre of it but the glare kept on over-exposing the picture (ha, ha, ha).

It's been a crazy two days, Scott didn't work yesterday but we spent the day running around like crazy people. We had last minute errands and then had to finish with the Christmas stuff and clean the house (not that Scott wanted to), visit Gram and then went to Aunt Lorraines for dinner, all fun! The theme for yesterday? "WE ARE RUNNING OUT OF TIME!!".

That theme has carried over for me today too, Scotts working -- Jan, nancy and I went to church at 8:30, I'm running over to Anita's shortly for a visit and then to Peter and Terry's for a mid-day Christmas dinner. Then home, cuz Scotts needs to be to work by 5:00 am tomorrow.

AHHHHHH. We werent ready this year at all. Hopefully we won't be in the same position next year, it will be our first year with Jade! I can't wait! Oh, speaking of Jade, check out the room. we are making progress, maybe it will be ready by the time she comes home!

Love to everyone, I'll post more Christmas pictures tomorrow.

BABY UPDATE #4

So, by now most of you should have received our latest update. As you know, our timeline has been pushed back a bit and it completely bummed me out. I'm the most impatient person on the planet, so waiting is extremely hard for me. Good thing Scott is my complete opposite!

Anyway, I was complaining to Suzie the other day that I didnt feel like doing anything to prepare for the baby's arrival (as you all know, the babies room is coming along "nicely" :), she told me to get over myself and to start to do stuff. So, I took her advice and decided to have a bit of fun. I went shopping last night and picked Scott up some "cool" baby outfits for Christmas. Ya know, he's the one who want's to dress her in leather and "goth" outfits (tee hee).

I went to one of his favorite stores "Hot Topics" and picked up the onesies you see in the picture. What a riot, the guy at the checkout counter said "boy, some little girl is going to have a rockin' Christmas!" and I said yes she will (next year!).

Anyway, it was fun and it made me think about all of the fun Scott and I are going to have with Jade-Su Raven Casey when we get her home (that's her name, we might add her Chinese name to the mix too, so she'll have the longest name in history, but with our family it won't matter cuz she'll probably have a nick-name before she gets home!). I'm gonna want all of the cute little girl pinks and blues, and Scotts gonna want all of the cute little Rocker Girrrrllll blacks and purples. Soooo, I decided I'm going to have to do a clothing check before we leave Jade with anyone, especially daycare, cuz I don't think it's appropriate for a little one to have "Social Distortion" with a skull and cross-bones on her shirt (ha, ha, ha).

We will NOT be bringing these onsies to China, ya know the old wives tale about always wearing good underwear, it's when you don't, that something will happen to you and everyone will see it! We can't take that risk because we both already wear tube-socks.

This is Jade's room, it's got potential :) Mom, remember you told me you'd come up in January to help with the room . . .?

Happy Thanksgiving From Long Beach Island

Hey folks, I didn't have time to upload all of the pictures from this weekend, but was able to get some of Fred's Birthday party, see below.

I had so mouch fun this weekend and Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday (no gift's, it's just about being together). I was able to get some great shot's of everyone, including Dixie-doodle. So stay tuned!

Here are some pictures of one of my favorite places on the planet -- Long Beach Island!

For those of you who are not familiar, the lighthouse is "Old Barney" (in Barnaget Light, NJ) the other photo's are from the beach at the top of Essex, by mom and dads house in Harvey Cedars.



I bet this seagull is glad he wasnt born a turkey!

Happy Birthday Fred!

What a great ending to a great weekend. we celebrated Fred's Birthday in Japanese style!

We went to a Hibatchi Grill in Manahawkin N.J., and not only ate great food but were also entertained.

Our Chef was very funny and really played it up for the kids. Willie-T didn't quite know what to make of it all, afterall we are always telling him NOT to play with his food . . .








This is our Chef, he started the event off by igniting a GIGANTIC fire on the grill, it felt like our eyebrows were being burned off. But they werent thank goodness, just our arm hair . . .















He started with fried rice, he threw his utensils around, cracked some eggs, squirted oil and VOILA! We had fried rice.














His hands moved light lightning, and he started to shape the rice into something, but what?














He shaped it into a Birthday Heart for Fred!











And then he stuck his spatula in it and made it beat, it was a riot. Yeah, we were drinking wine and that might have made it funnier . . . but it was funny and we were hungry!












The highlight (or LIGHT) of the evening was the "Volcano Onion". Cakie was talking about this all day (she had been to this restuarant recently with Nana & PopPop), and she was right, it was really cool and made me wonder how the heck they got fire insurance. You could feel the heat on your eyeballs.








The chef then made our dinners; shrimp, chicken, lobster, steak and veggies. YUMMIE. He used ginger, garlic, soy sauce and sesame seeds. It was awesome. And, he didnt throw the food at us, he threw it at our plates . . .











Here's Uncle Scott, the Birthday Boy, Willie-T and Suzie enjoying the food (and wine!)













Yahoo! Happy Birthday daddy!!! This is fun!












Nana and Pop Pop were there too!













This is JJ playing the Birthday Gong, Yes this place had a goofy Birthday Ritual too, they played this canned music and banged a Gong. It was loud and sufficiently embarrising for Fred (goodie!)










Then we went back home for Birthday Cake and some B&B. What a great way to end the evening!














Here's the Birthday Boy's pretty wife, Suzie











Here's the Beautiful Ms. Molly, our photographer didn't get any pictures of her at the restaurant, so this is a shot taken before we went to the restaurant.
















OK, Who doesnt LOVE cake? Fred had 4 mini cakes to choose from. I had a piece from each, can you say piggie? But hey, I was on Holiday Baby!!!













This was our photographer for the evening. Miss Caileen a.k.a. Cakie. She is 6 and she took all of these pictures, didnt she do an AWESOME job? Including this self portrait, I might add! I think we have a budding photographer in the family!








The end to a great Birthday -- Fred's boat is out of the water, we had a great dinner, we were all together and had some cake. Can life get any better?

Happy Birthday Fred and many, many, more! We love you!

Third Annual Marquis Chick Party!

What a great time we all had! Great food, music and company. Not to mention the Pool Tournament!

There were some honorary "chicks" (or shall we say Roosters?) in attendance which made it even more fun and exciting, can we say dare devils . . .? See the "faster than a speeding bullet" section below.

Here's to another great year Ms. Michele and what a GREAT year it's going to be. Full of Love, Happiness, Success, marriage and of course, good wine!
Love ya! Aileen 

The Marquis Third Annual Chick Party Chicks!

A little tilt of the head and you are georgous! Check these ladies out! Karen, Cathy and Camille, lookin' good!










Ms. Terry Z in her smashing red Toriedor shirt! She's got "High Style" written all over her!! Hum, sounds like a good name for a business . . .














Ms. Camille aka "sassy momma", can she strike a pose or what? BEAUTIFUL! What a chick, what a party!












Ms. Corinne, who just completed the Red Cross babysitting training with flying colors. Huummmm, we're gonna need a baby sitter soon . . . . Another "sassy momma"!















Steve (an honorary chick for the evening!) and Terry. Chillin' out to some good tunes (Lucinda Williams, Bruce Springstein, Seal).









And, the Chick party hostess with the mostest! Ms. Michele preparing her FAMOUS, grilled chicken nachos with her special caper sauce and Asiagio (sp) cheeze. YUMMMM.

What's a chick party with out yummy food. We had shrimp, awesome hummis made by Karen, olives, salsa, chips, dip, cream puffs, chocolate, truffles . . .were we spolied or what??

Notice the glass with the pink liquid in this picture. That's a killer drink Michele created, she calls them her "Pink Martini's" they are made with "X" and those Segrams things that come in little bottles. They can make the room spin if you are not careful (that's another story, remember the WOW conference Michele? Well, Claudette and I won't forget it. . .)

Drink responsibly that's all I can say!! :)