Tree Lighting Ceremony

The place to be last night was the Naval Hospital on Camp Lester for the annual tree lighting ceremony. Well...it was at least the place to be if you signed up to donate baked goods...and/or if you had a kid performing in one of the musical numbers.



Santa arrived in style thanks to the fire department...


Or, I mean...the fire elves.



Troy gave us a preview of what we have to look forward to at the Madrigal dinner. They sounded really good.

Here's a sample:




And then the time for the big moment arrived:






The kids enjoyed playing in the Okinawan "snow".



Our crew is a bit old for Santa...but we peaked in the lobby to get a picture. Looks like kids are still afraid of the old guy today. Honestly, what's to fear? A giant clump of white fur where his face should be? Nah!

Flashback Friday...Keeping Cool at the Pool

Still in the Summer of 2006 here...



It's amazing how much they have changed in 3 1/2 years. Aren't they adorable?

Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm typing this as I slip into my tryptophan coma...but I just had to pause and reflect on the day.

It is our tradition to have Thanksgiving with friends instead of family...something we've done probably 16 out of the 18 Thanksgivings we have celebrated together. It's just kind of a military tradition, I think. Usually people make the trip home for Christmas, so they really can't justify Thanksgiving, too...unless you are stationed really close to home.

We've hosted and been invited into others' homes...and even spent a Thanksgiving at the SNCO club 2 days after Jake was born because there was no way I was cooking, but I didn't want to give up the traditional Thanksgiving dinner. I have SO many happy memories of Thanksgivings spent with friends.

It's actually been a great tradition that I wouldn't change...so it wasn't too big of a stretch for us to spend Thanksgiving on the other side of the world from our family. This year we put out the invitation to the other Chaplains and RPs (Chaplain assistants) who Cliff works with and a few of them accepted. I realize what a huge leap of faith this was on their part...not knowing me or my culinary abilities...so I didn't want to disappoint!

There are some staples of a Stuart Thanksgiving dinner, and a few variables.

Mandatory:



*Turkey

*Mashed potatoes...must be lumpy

*Gravy from the pan drippings (which I could seriously drink with a straw)

*Candied sweet potatoes with marshmallows (Trivia: I did not eat a sweet potato until I was an adult. My dad hated them. Maybe his whole family did? Anyway, they were never served in our home and he had me convinced they were poison. I finally tried one and I LOVE them!)


*Mr. Bennett's Stuffing. This recipe comes from my Aunt Sue. It is out of this world. I'm not sure why it is called Mr. Bennett's stuffing...but we Stuarts like to call it Mr. Bennett's "see if you can delegate it to someone else to bring because it costs more than the turkey" stuffing. SO worth it, though!

*From-scratch dinner rolls

*Grandma Corenne's secret recipe pumpkin pie (which only she held as a secret...I'll share...she'll forgive me!)

Optional:

*Ham
*Anything green
*Cranberries of some variety (This year we made my friend Susan's cherry-cranberry-pineapple jello mold. Yum!)
*Appetizers (this year we had shrimp and a veggie tray)
*Varied desserts...like cheesecake or apple pie

Speaking of apple pie, I made a deep-dish one...including homemade crust.


From this angle you can't even tell...



That I put the thumb of my silicone oven mitt right through it...like you can see so clearly here.



I've written enough, and will now leave you with a few images of the day:


































Happy Thanksgiving!

Saving the Best for Last

There are SO many Birthday Balls held during the month of November that the officers' club (from which we live right down the street) is booked every single night. They close for dinner, Sunday brunch and any other events just so that they can accommodate all of the balls and still allow their staff to have a life outside of work.

Finally, it was time for our own MWSG-17 Marine Corps Birthday Ball. It was the biggest one we attended this year. Huge. And lots of fun!


Recognize this cake? Since they have a ball every single night of the month, they use this same cake each time. It's wooden, but with real frosting. The only real cake on it is on the bottom where the word CORPS is placed. That's the section they cut the pieces from for the traditional "oldest and youngest Marine" cake ceremony. They just refill it and refrost that part every night.



I love all the pomp and circumstance!



This was our guest speaker...the BEST one we've ever heard. He was awesome. Funny, original, inspirational, the whole enchilada. (And MAN can he Salsa! I got video...but sorry, I'm saving it just for my personal collection.)


Here's some more pics of some of my favorite peeps:


















Hubba Hubba!











And of course, my favorite peep ever!


What would a post about a ball be without random dance shots?:


Friends from Church



Go Colonel!



Robotic Marine



My personal fave. I think he has a matching one of me, too.

This is what eleven looks like...

First thing in the morning!



We woke Jake up when he was officially eleven.



And he didn't seem to mind at all. Luckily, he was born just before 7 AM...a pretty respectable hour.

Unfortunately, it was just another school day...so he had to get up and get ready to go...but Mom brought cupcakes to class later on.



And we did celebrate by taking him to Macaroni Grill for dinner...



Complete with birthday singing embarrassment.



And his favorite family to celebrate with.



Well...his ONLY family...



So lucky for him we're so cool!

Happy Birthday, Jake...we love you, buddy!

Troy's Football Banquet

Troy's end of the season banquet was bitter sweet. It was great that it was over because being VP of the parent association was SO much work (more than I bargained for, as so few parents really want to be involved at all, making a large burden on a few). However, the team experience had been such a great one for Troy, that it was sad that it had come to an end. Spring training started last April...Summer conditioning then ran into the Fall season...and now it's over.



The banquet was first class! Sue did such a great job with all the details.



The players all sat together...



And the parents and family members filled in the rest. Being on the board had its privileges. Like assigning some of our favorite people to sit at our table. =^) Like the Beasleys.



OK, these two are kind of obligated to sit with us.



But we got to choose the Andrews, too.











Then it was time for the awarding of the letters. Coach Bales said a little something nice about each of the boys.



When he started talking about Troy, I snapped some pics, but it didn't occur to me to take video right away. He was telling the story of last Spring when he was Troy's history teacher, and he asked Troy if he was going to go out for football. He said that Troy looked at him like he was insane. (Little did he know, Troy's friends were also trying to convince him to join Spring training.) Then the Coach put out forms on the desk and told the class if anyone was interested they could take a form. After class Troy approached his desk and that's the part where it occurs to me to press "record". Here's the rest:




I am so grateful to this coach and to Troy's friends for encouraging him. He sure came a long way from that first day of practice, when after 10 minutes, he said, "I don't think I can do this." The coach believed in him and said, "Just keep putting one foot in front of the other." I'm so proud of Troy for doing just that. For never missing a practice. For always having his uniform ready. For hitting the gym for 2 1/2 hours every single weekday over the Summer. For never giving up. For trying his best to "be mean" even though it is not in his nature.



Then the coaches surprised the board members with a little gift. A Macaroni Grill gift card and these cute little football chocolates. (This is Denise, me, and Melanie...you can just barely see Jim's hand on the right. Sorry Jim.)



The boys listen intently to the program.



Then it's over and the real fun begins...sucking down the helium.



LOTS of group pics...there was love in the air.



These guys are crazy!



This was SO funny...Lofty (above) has the deepest voice I have ever heard in a kid....an ADULT, even! The helium had NO effect on his voice. These guys were dying laughing over that.



More group pics...



These are Troy's main buds...the ones who encouraged him to join. Lofty (Left) also worked out with him every day this Summer. Corbin (in the tie) is another Chaplain's kid...and then Clay (to Troy's right) moved in this Summer and his dad is also a Chaplain. Pretty cool, huh?



Corbin is a Jr., and the personalized jerseys are Sr. gifts. Poor Corbin. Next year, sweetie.



Congratulations, Troy...we love you!