I am officially old as of today.

Yes, it is true.

One day before I turn 37 I roll my ankle before a group of about 37 young professionals who aspire to be a physical educator someday. It was classic! To make a long story short, it became a joke for the most part since I was trying to properly demonstrate a skill in class when it happened. I was able to walk it off for the most part.

However, as I sit here and write this, I realize not only did I roll my ankle when barely doing anything at all, but it actually is throbbing a bit. Which means my pain tolerance is decreasing too!

I want to be a kid again when I was as agile as a cat, and as strong as a horse!

Bring back the glory days.

What Ally's thankful for

Ally was assigned this little project at school. She was supposed to come up with the things she was thankful for and we had to write it on the feather and turn it into her teacher. Once they receive all the feathers, they are going to decorate the main hallway with each one. So, I asked Ally all the things she was thankful for and this is what we came up with.



Ally posing for a quick little picture, sometimes I see her growing up so fast that it makes me want to make time stand still in order to savor all the stuff I will someday greatly miss.

the Charlie Brown tree.

Just outside our house, I found this large evergreen tree peeking around the corner with some light fluffy stuff sprinkled atop. The funny thing about this tree is that I once was a big fan of cutting it down. Originally it looked like something straight out of the Charlie Brown Christmas story. However, after tonight, I may reconsider because there is something about this tree once the snow is capping it...maybe you can see it too.

Darn good chocolate cake!

Thanks to my good friend Claire, I made this yummy dessert for a small get together on Sunday. It was a big hit and my co-cake decorater (Miss Ally) did the sprinkles for me :-)

Veterans Day

Simply said, "thank you".

Turning the pages

A recap.

Aside from Halloween on Friday evening, Saturday brought us much joy as well. Keith and I celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary. We celebrated at a local restaraunt, watching the exciting Pitt game, and eating some finger lickin' good wings! Not all that romantic, but we both decided to bank our romance for another time.

It is hard to believe that 5 years have passed us by so quickly. The days seem so long, and yet the years so short. As I look back on the past five years, it has been hard to not think about our lives as a military couple/family.

This has been a rough year and half for the Ruiz's, for many reasons. I have to say that saying goodbye to great friends has been THE hardest part of our transition from the military life to civilian. I do not always miss the money, deployments, or long hours in the squadron, what I do miss is something way more tangible...my friends. I felt so fortunate to have met such a great group of gals who served more as family than just friends. We had many great memories, and I will always remember each of you as the pages of the calendar continue to turn.

In addition to celebrating, my niece Katelynn and nephew Christian also celebrated their birthdays. We had a great time at the Children's Museum in Pittsburgh helping them celebrate ages 3 and 8. I will be sure to post some pictures soon.

This weekend gave us many reasons to celebrate, and it also provided us a reason to be grateful, grateful for the gifts in our life.

the Witch is Loose - Halloween Part Two