Birthday and Christmas Fun!

With a Birthday and Christmas I have lots of pictures and lots to say.

Woke up Friday morning, my Birthday, to wonderful gifts from Gurly. She made me another sweet card, a super cool visor, and this neat picture that I put in the frame she decorated. What creative and wonderful gifts from my sweetheart. MaryJane and I spent a majority of the morning on the folded out futon playing LPS, coloring Garfield pictures, and reading a Larryboy book. After a relaxing morning (well…except the part where we went nuts on the bed..hehe) we headed out to live it up on the town. First stop was Shogun’s in Fayetteville where we meet up w/ my work peoples for the annual Christmas Luncheon. We enjoyed the food, show, and company. Afterwards her and I enjoyed ice cream and a book upstairs in the lounge. Lovely. Next was the comic shop in Fayetteville; Rock Bottom. We browsed the huge store and each selected a fine comic. She got Pokemon #4 while I got Wildcats #2. Then we went to the Springdale Library to pick up 3 more Larryboy books and a new book by the DragonLance authors that we had put on hold. Liking the whole “hold” thing. After that we were off to FastLanes in Lowell. Kinda like Locomotion, but bigger and better…and more expensive. Hehe. We loaded our cards (you swipe a card vs. using coins) and went crazy. We racked up over 350 tickets and MaryJane scored 2 stuffed animals out of one of the washing machines. We traded our tickets for prizes and headed to the mall for a cold stroll and some pictures. After grabbing me a much needed pair of shoes at Hot Topic Missy posed and posed for pictures. What a doll. After warming up briefly at Build a Bear Workshop we made our way back to the car and went just up the way to Golden Corral for another feast. Love that joint. Anywhere that has all you can eat steak is a winner in my book. Haha. Finally we made a pit stop at Wal-Mart for a few necessities…and 2 Pokemon packs. Hehe. A wonderful 30th birthday spent w/ the bestest daughter ever.

Saturday we spent a good part of the day playing at the house. We got out a bunch of stuffed animals and put them on the floor in front of the futon and played washing machine. One of us would get on the futon and put quarters in a bank to be able to control the other person, picking up and winning stuffed animals. It was a blast. We played Littlest Pet Shops on the Futon too. We got into this game where some of the pets controlled by me had a pet hamster that gnawed on wood pencils. She would take a pair of tweezers and scrape the outside of pencils off and pretend the hamster had done it. She told he she wanted to write a book called something like "Michael and MaryJane Mysteries". We were to solve some mysteries and then she would write them down in a book we would make together. We went on what was called something like "The Mystery of the Bird Bath" outside and discovered that the statue we thought might have been a predator trying to catch birds was merely a pigeon. Mystery solved. Hehe. We played an Orphan game where she was an orphan that lived in a Treehouse (the futon) and I was a rich man that discovered her and did things for her. After a game of Barbies in the tub we got ready and headed out to Dad's for my birthday party. We had a great time of course. Here is MaryJane playing w. there new puppy. They are both just precious. Oleta made my requested meal of crawfish jambalaya and fried potatoes and she did a wonderful job. It was soooo delicious. Cody and Robi, G and G Danforth, and Grandma Mary were there and visiting with them was a pleasure. I got a Wii for my birthday and we are loving it. Dad and I have played Bowling and some golf almost ever time we go out there so now i can practice and maybe, just maybe stand a chance against "the pro". Hehe. While we played on his Wii MaryJane constructed this super sweet graham cracker house. Nice.
Sunday morning was traditional Church followed by a special visit to Grandma Gina and Poppy's house. Bill and I spent most of our time downstairs watching football on the big screen, chatting, and eating the delicious array of goodies Gina had prepped for us. This is how watching football should be done. We we soaked this up Gina, MaryJane, and her cousin Hallie played together. They colored pictures, played outside on the swing set and trampoline and MaryJane and Hallie discovered there is a ghost in the house and they saw a shooting star while we were there. We all spent some time together as well. A great time was had by us all. MaryJane and Hallie are best friends and she cant wait to see her again.
Thursday morning we played around the house before setting out to Walgreens to pick up wrapping supplies for all the gifts we had purchased the night before. We got in our game of Santa's workshop when we got home and it was fun. A Santa bear was Santa and two stuffed animal reindeer were the elves. I wrapped and MaryJane checked the gift and applied the bows, ribbon, and tags. I loaded the trunk w/ gifts and we made our way to Aunt Cheryl's for the family Christmas Eve get together. Every one accept Rachael, Matt, and there children was there. We visited, ate, listened to music and opened gifts. MaryJane got lots of goodies including a Neopets plush, Pokemon game, and a cool bracelet craft. I got a desperately needed new coffee maker. Hehe. Upon returning home we quickly put out Cookies and milk for Santa and carrots for the reindeer and hurried of to bed. This is a picture of her saying Merry Christmas
Christmas morning we awoke to find that Santa had filled our stocking and brought MaryJane a bunch of presents. She got a Three Musketeers Barbie, Pokemon cards and games, books, a Neopet, a My Meeba, and much more. We spent the morning and afternoon playing with all her new stuff before picking up Christian and going to Mommy's. MaryJane opened the gifts and emptied her stocking. She got a new bike, a Wii and DS game, a calculator, and much more. I spent some time playing w/ the kids and and visiting w/ Jessica before heading home. It was a wonder white Christmas.

Saturday morning I picked up MaryJane and we went to Dads to continue our celebration of Christmas. We visited, opened gifts, and played. We got another Wii-mote and Super Mario Bros. Wii. and we each got a couple other nice gifts. After playing with her fashion designer kit,some Wii action , and more we left to go to Grandma Mary's. There we hung out w/ Cody, Robi, Mam, Branden, and Grandma Mary. We visited, ate, and opened some gifts. MaryJane did a neat Butterfly craft. Another fun day.

Sunday morning we attended Church and then came home to recoup and play at home after all the running around. We took a whopping 3 hour nap, played Neopets figures, stuffed animals, and babysitter. Kelly and Lionel visited our restaurant and learned a little about cooking. We also played Wii and watched Ghost Busters while eating dinner and doing art.