A Brand New Year!

We have had a very interesting beginning to our new year here in the Muranaka home.

So far we've visited the ER twice, been admitted to the hospital for two days, spilled orange juice on the computer and had to buy a new one, found out I was pregnant, found out I was not pregnant and replaced the transmission in our car. If this is any indication of what our year is going to be like then I want OUT! I think Heavenly Father is trying to teach us something and we're are obviously not getting it. Hopefully we've suffered enough in the first two weeks of the year that he leaves us alone for the remaining 350 days.

It really does make you appreciate all the good things in life, especially when you don't think there are very many. But once you start looking for them you're surprised at how truly blessed you really are. As long as you have family, shelter, food (especially food), friends and faith you'll always find happiness.

It did snow the other day, and Mylee got to enjoy her first snow day. It's amazing how immune kids are to the cold when they're playing in the snow. She and Skipper had a blast. I promised I'd help her build a snowman, so we managed to make a very small one. I think it turned our pretty cute.

I took this picture with the filter option and Mylee's cheeks were so rosy they came through.

Here's our cute snowman.

And here's our little eskimo.

Christmas Video

I forgot to add this to the previous blog. This is for all those that wanted to be here, but couldn't. We love you all!!!

So I've kind of been an anti-computer person lately. I just spent the last 15 minutes deleting over 1000 email in my inbox that I never read and I realize I haven't updated my blog since Halloween. I just get so worried that if I spend too much time on the computer I won't get anything else done, and then I realized I don't get much done anyways so I might as well blog and check my emails once and a while. Sorry to all those that emailed me last month and never got a response. I'm such a Moron. Enough venting, it's time for the Christmas blog.

I think Christmas was a wonderful success. Mylee is at the age when Santa is a big deal and she understands that if she wants something all she has to say is "You tell Santa to bring this me Mom" I just got in the habit of saying "sure" and then brushed it off. You know they can't remember from one day to the next what the asked for. The one thing Mylee was very persistent on though, was a "purple fishy". She saw them at Walmart once and every time we asked her what she wanted for Christmas she would say "a purple fishy". Of coarse Santa delivered and Mylee was very excited to see a purple fishy waiting for her on the Kitchen counter.

"Which one should I open next"

Christmas Morning

Somebody's totally not excited for Christmas

There are good and bad things about being away from family at Christmas. I'm not going to lie, as fun as it is being around family it can get pretty stressful when they only live a mile apart. You're constantly being shuffled form here to there and trying to make everyone happy, but on the other hand it can get a little too relaxing when it's just our little family and you almost crave the hustle and bustle of being around lots of family. All in all, we decided to make every effort to spend next Christmas with all our family because we just plain miss em and Mylee is always asking when she can go see Grandma and and all her aunts and uncles.

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and we wish everyone the Happiest of New Years!!

My little Fairy Girl

We had a great Halloween this year. It's so much fun when your kids get old enough to really understand and enjoy the holidays. Mylee was the cutes Tinkerbell ever and she loved getting all dressed up. It really wasn't any different than any other day for her.

She dresses up everyday.

Trick or treating was a little cold, but that didn't stop Mylee from filling her bag to the top. She literally ran from door step to door step. I think after a while she was getting tired because she started to say "Merry Christmas" instead of "Trick or Treat" when they would open the door. Austin and I were party poopers this year and didn't dress up,

but next year I think we're going to go all out.

Now it is officially time to get ready for the Holidays so I'm going to get started.

Family Fun!

So, I'm being lazy today and choosing to blog instead of laundry. Sometimes you just need a break. But anyways, Mylee got a special visit from Grandpa and Grandma Muranaka last week and I have yet to blog it. Here's just a few pix. I think they had a pretty good time even though the weather was just awful. Mylee is still talking about how she went swimming with Grandma and picked pumpkins with Grandma.

We took Grandpa and Grandma to the Children's Museum and I think

they had as much fun as Mylee.

Look at my beautiful Butterfly.

Finally the sun came out for one day and while the boys went

golfing the girls went to a pumpkin patch and had a blast.

Here are our lovely contributions to the pagan gods of Halloween.

Austin carved the dog. Isn't it the best ever!!!

Have a spooky cooky Halloween !!!

Fall has arrived!

Let's see, it's been so long since my last blog that I don't even know where to begin. I find myself only writing on my blog when I have nothing better to do and that's just sad. Usually I'm taking a nap instead of blogging. But it's time to catch up on past events in the life of a Muranaka.

We celebrated Austin's birthday last month. Since I'm terrible at making cute cakes so I talked Austin into letting me make him pie for his birthday instead. I don't know about you but I would take a pie over cake any day, especially apple pie. It was sure yummy and we invited friends over to share it, but due to the latest flu pandemic only a few could come.

A new fun Indiana tradition is the Fall Food Festival. It is a carnival/food fiasco where every type of weird thing you could eat is delivered up to you on a paper plate. We're talking Cow brain burgers, chocolate covered crickets and deep fried anything. It was quite the experience, and the food wasn't so bad either.

Then, last week Mylee and I accompanied Austin to a conference in Indianapolis where he was giving a presentation. It was only for a couple of days, but we still had a blast. It actually worked out nice because the hospital actually pays him to go to stuff like this, so it's like a free mini vacation. While Austin snored his way through meetings Mylee and I were racing through four levels of fun fun fun at the Children's Museum. We just played all day. The rest of the weekend was spend eating at nice restaurants we would never usually eat at and shopping at the mall. By the way, I'm no coupon fanantic, but when it comes to clothes I know how to get a deal. The other day at Banana Republic I bought a pair of pants for $2. Regularly $50. That's the only way I get new cloths, but I'm not complaining.

So that's what's up with us, now it's time for carving pumpkins, enjoying the crisp fall air and jumping in piles of red, yellow and orange leaves.

I must say that our summer here in Indiana has just gotten away from us. Between hanging out at the zoo or going to the races we have really enjoyed the more simple life here in the midwest.

Mylee went to here first parade the other day in a little town outside of Evansville. Talk about redneck! It was a grand showcase of the finest ATVS and old cars this side of the Mississippi. Blond mullet beauties showered us with candy and the local deputies gave us a grand ole' wave. Mylee didn't know what to do with all the candy that seemed to keep falling from the sky. This is why I love living here, because things like this are still a big deal and the excitement is contagious. I wonder what they do when deer season starts?