Out with the Old and In with the New!

Though 2011 was not a bad year for the Mizeranys, I always look forward to a new year. We have new goals, new things to look forward to, and the kids are a little older and able to do a little more. In 2011, we celebrated Steve's 40th and our 5 year anniversary, but this year will mark my 40th birthday...ugh.

As we did last year, we decided to host a new year's eve party. We had a nice group of friends to dine on delicious food, and then we did a lot of dancing! This year Steve and I served seared beef tenderloin mini sandwiches with a mustard-horseradish sauce, pork tenderloin pinwheels, mini twice baked potatoes and endive stuffed with goat cheese and walnuts. Then our friends each brought something to share: artichoke dip, pepper jelly over cream cheese, crab claws and cream cheese brownies...yummy!

Since we always seem to do a lot of dancing at our parties, and something has gotten broken at the last two parties...Steve and I wanted to do something different. Around mid December we set out to get our basement organized. We spent an entire weekend moving stuff, throwing away things and then listing a bunch of stuff on Craig's List to sell. It was extremely productive, and we cleared one large room. This room is now our "dance room" and it is adorned with a disco ball...perfect for all future parties!

Though I don't like the idea of hanging out in our basement (as it is not decorated nor finished), the fact that I didn't have to worry about drinks spilling on my rug, or people breaking anything was worth it! We jammed down there for 3+ hours, and the disco ball paid for itself over and over again as beer was spilled over and over again!

Everyone had fun, and I am very fortunate to have wonderful friends in my life. Here's to another fabulous year!

Georgia Aquarium

With the hustle and bustle of Christmas, the kids have been getting a little stir crazy. Steve has another busy month ahead of him at work, so he's been taking it easy this week at work, and even took a couple of days off. Thursday, we decided it would be a fun to take the kids to Atlanta to visit the much acclaimed Georgia Aquarium. Since our whole family enjoyed the Chattanooga one so much last spring, why not?

We knew the place would be crowded with school out, but we underestimated how bad it would be. There had to be over 20,000 people in that place, and it is not laid out as nicely as the Chattanooga aquarium. Rather than having everyone flowing in one direction (like Chattanooga), this place has five different wings that you go in to see the various fish (dolphin tales, cold water quest, Georgia explorer, ocean voyager and river scout). By far, the ocean voyager was my favorite. I could have spent more time there reading about the various fish and just watching them swim around. The whale sharks were fun to see there, as were the manta rays. The tanks were huge and they had you walking through them, under them and around them.

With the large crowds, it made it somewhat difficult to get right up against the tanks, so the kids got frustrated. Overall, I think they had a good time, but I know it would have been more enjoyable for all of us if it weren't so crowded. I was constantly holding onto one of the kids in fear they would get lost or separated from us. We even rehearsed our phone numbers and what to do in case we got separated rules. Here are a few photos of some of our favorite fish and mammals, as well as the kids having fun going down the "whale slide."

Christmas 2011

This year was another wonderful Christmas! We were blessed to have all of our family over to our home and the kids were at perfect ages to enjoy the gift opening. We kicked off the holiday season purging old toys, making room for all of the new loot! Then we adopted a couple of kids that were the same age and gender as our kids. Though the shopping for those kids didn't go as we planned, we still talked about it a lot and tried to remind the children over and over again how fortunate they are. I think Bennett started to grasp it, and even debated over and over again what she would ask Santa to bring (since he only brings her one item). She wanted so much initially, but eventually crossed some items off her list, and decided that she could ask for others for her 5th birthday (in May). As it turned out, she got everything she wanted between both grandparents, us and Santa....she's a lucky girl indeed.



Christmas Eve we went to children's Christmas service at church where the kids dress up as characters from the nativity scene. Bennett wanted to be Mary, so she brought a baby from home and had it all wrapped up in a blanket like Jesus was. She convinced Preston to be Joseph. All of our friends and their children were there, so we had fun wishing everyone a Merry Christmas. After the short service, we took communion and headed to Steve's parents for all of the festivities.


As we typically do, we ate some meat and spinach pies and kibbee. Once everyone got there, my kids were ready to start opening presents. Since Mimi and Papa didn't heed my advice about buying only one nice gift per kid, they opened up a ridiculous amount of presents and got more than they could possibly want or need. With that said, they did have a fun time and got some lovely items. Each time it was Preston's turn to open a gift he would say "what is it, what is it?" in his funny little way. Then he would be so excited with whatever was under the wrapping paper! Bennett helped play "Santa" by handing out gifts to the others, and opening up some of her own in between. Everyone certainly had a Merry Christmas at the Mizeranys.







When we got home, we put the reindeer food outside (oatmeal with glitter to attract them to our yard), along with the cookies and milk for Santa. Then we put the kids down.




Christmas morning, my parents, Steve and I woke up before the kids (don't ask me why). We enjoyed our coffee and around 7:30 the kids came downstairs with the anticipation of what Santa left for them. Bob the elf was gone, as were Santa's cookies and milk...so he must have left them something good, right? Bennett carefully chose various gifts from her stocking, while Pres chose Santa's gift first. He was shocked when he realized he got his own "phone"...really it was an itouch. Bennett received the same thing, and they were both genuinely excited that they had their own device to play games and take photos.



After they opened those items, we let them open the few gifts we gave them (mainly clothes and art supplies). Since we had some time to kill before Brian's family arrived, the kids went out in the rain to play. They broke in their new umbrellas, and Pres wore his new Alabama hat and raincoat from Uncle Dan.



Brian and Shannon arrived mid morning, and as soon as they arrived... the kids were ready! We tried to get a group photo, and this was the best of about 6...oh well, they're still cute.















Everyone had another lovely Christmas, and got more terrific items! Seeing four young children get so excited was fun for all of us adults. We tried to take turns, but it didn't always go as planned.


















As another Christmas comes to a close, I am thankful for how blessed we really are. We have each other, our health and much love from all of our family members. Thank you everyone for making our 2011 Christmas so memorable. We love you all!

More Christmas Fun

Since the kids have been out of school, we have enjoyed not being on a schedule. However, no schedule quickly causes my children to become bored, so we have been trying to keep them busy. They decorated a gingerbread house with my parents, baked more Christmas cookies with Steve's parents and their cousins, and saw a movie with us! Here are some photos of their creations.






As you can see, the gingerbread house turned out very cute (a vast improvement from last year). My mother did the icing, but the kids applied all of the candy (while sampling a few pieces).



Thanks Mom & Dad for an hour of entertainment!


Thursday, I dropped the kids off at Mimi and Papa's so they could make Christmas cookies. They had some practice with me, but the cookies didn't turn out so well. Since Mimi is a master baker, I had more confidence in the success of these cookies. Sara and John Michael also came over to assist in the process, and from what I hear...they all had a ball!




















Preston loved playing in the flour, and made quite a mess!! He had it EVERYWHERE!


Sorry Mimi....