Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Resolutions....

Well it's that time of year again to make and hopefully keep a new years resolution. My goals for this year are pretty easy, well all except for one:
1. Be a good wife
2. Be a good mother
3. Lose Weight!!

In 2007 I got went on a diet for 6 months and lost around 40 pounds. During the holidays and then getting braces threw me off track and then I never got back in step. Now we are almost done with 2008 and I didn't diet all year!! I lost all of the momentum and ended up gaining back 15 pounds that I had lost.

I guess my short term goal is to loose a good bit of weight by my 30th birthday which is June 29th. That gives me 6 months to really work hard and diet.

This year I plan on getting back on a plan and really focusing on losing some weight his year. I'll probably do the weight watchers plan again. Just like last time I kept track of everything myself. I kept track of my points and weighed every Sunday. Maybe knowing that I've told all of you that I'm really gonna try this year you will keep me accountable to something. So if you see me eating something i'm not suppose to stop me!!! I'll have to update you every Sunday on my loss for the week. Wish me luck this time!!

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

New Furniture...


Jamie has always wanted a recliner so we finally purchased a set for the living room. I always have said that I was not a fan of recliners but now I'm spoiled. They are so comfortable and I love them. They may be a little oversized for our small living room but they are great and they instantly put me to sleep.

We also purchased Kady a full size mattress to convert her daybed. We have not put it up on the frame yet because that would make it a little to tall for her. It will be nice to be able to get in bed with her to read a story at night instead of having to squeeze myself between her bed and toy box to sit on the floor.

Monday, December 29, 2008

Party Invite...

You are all invited to mine and Jamie's annual New Year's Eve Party! It will start at 7pm and go till whenever you want to leave. Bring a covered dish and a chair. Call me or message me if you have any questions.

Friday, December 26, 2008

GP Christmas Party...

Kady was very good at the party this year. She was not afraid of any of the people dressed up as she has been years before. Jamie was working so Kady and I spent about 2 hours doing all of the crafts and seeing Santa Claus. It was a good party this year.

Thursday, December 25, 2008

Merry Christmas 2008

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

Love Jamie, Joy & Kady Tincher

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Christmas Eve 2008

My favorite day of the Christmas season is Christmas Eve. To me this is the most tradition filled day of the year. We always go to Nana & Gack's to eat dinner, sing carols and open presents. We have done this for as long as I can remember and this is the event that I plan everything else around. I normally not particular when we open presents or anything else at my house but we have to do Christmas Eve at Nana & Gack's!!

It has worked out good since Jamie and I have been married because his family normally does something on Christmas night so we have time to do everything without cramming it all in one day. We are able to spend time at each house without being rushed on to the next appearance. Mom and Benny also always cook Christmas Lunch at their house and that is always good. This year Dad and Trish are having a cookie swap at their house so I'm excited to do that as well.

(Don't remind Jamie but between all of this visiting Jamie has to find time to put together Kady's trampoline for Christmas morning!!)

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Muddy Buddies...

My favorite holiday snack is called "Muddy Buddies". This started one year at my friend Amy Treadwell's house. I was eating this fantastic snack that her family made with chocolate, peanut butter, cereal and powered sugar. Ever since them I make it all season long to bring it to any event I go to.

I posted the recipe below so you can make "Muddy Buddies" a part of your family tradition. They also have the nutritional information posted but that's stupid when it comes to this snack. Me, Amy and her bother Matt use to always hang on on Christmas night and play board games and eat mudy buddies. I can recall me and Amy with powered sugar all over our faces from eating so much. I believe that Amy has even eaten this for breakfast with milk. A great way to start the day. haha.

Ingredients
9 cups Chex Cereal
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup butter or margarine
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cup powered sugar


Directions:
1. Into large bowl, measure cereal; set aside.
2. In 1-quart microwavable bowl, microwave chocolate chips, peanut butter and butter uncovered on High 1 minute; stir. Microwave about 30 seconds longer or until mixture can be stirred smooth. Stir in vanilla. Pour mixture over cereal, stirring until evenly coated. Pour into 2-gallon resealable food-storage plastic bag.
3. Add powdered sugar. Seal bag; shake until well coated.

Monday, December 22, 2008

Work Christmas Party...

My Christmas party for the Palatka Housing Authority was a lot of fun this year. After all of the normal Christmas Party stuff was over we were able to play the game Rock Band and we had a lot of fun. The other couple in the pictures is Tommy and his wife Ellie, Tommy works with me at the PHA as our "computer guy". The other picture is our "band" photo.

Friday, December 19, 2008

Boo Hoo...

Kady was sitting on the counter the other night and I was not really watching and I shut the cabinet door and knocked her in the head. It did not bleed or leave a mark but the sound was horrible and I think it scared her more than anything. Kady grabbed her head and started screaming that she needed a band-aid. After a few minutes she came back to me and told me her head was better and she threw away her band-aid. Always drama at our house.

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Disney's Hollywood Studios... (Part 2)

As you know we went to Disney's Hollywood Studios last week. I got to do something that I have wanted to do for a long time. Ever since I heard about the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror years ago I have always wanted to ride it. After spending all day in the park Kady had fell asleep and we were on our way out of the park. I told Jamie to just let me see how long the wait was because I did not want to make him wait around for an hour while I rode a ride. I seen the wait was only 10 minutes so I was excited. The wait was actually much shorter and I was in and out with no wait. The ride was very fun. Not nearly as scary as I thought it would be but it was still alot of fun. I'm glad I finally got to ride it.

Kady loved the "Honey I Shrunk the Kids" playground. I still can't believe that she got on the giant ant. After we left the park we stopped at PF Chang's to eat dinner. It was great, even Kady loved it and she is a picky eater. After we left there I changed her into her pajamas so she could sleep on the way home and then it would be an easy transition to bed!

It was great to get away during the week and have some fun family time together. With mine and Jamie's schedules it great to have that flexibility. We still have one more day on our Disney tickets so i'm already looking forward to our next visit to Disney.


Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Disney's Hollywood Studios... (Part 1)

We recently took Kady down to Disney's Hollywood Studios for the day. I had never been to this park even when it was MGM so I was very excited. This park was great for Kady because all of the characters that she loves from Playhouse Disney were there. She got to meet them all and absolutely loved it. There was alot for the little ones but it was also very entertaining for me and Jamie. Kady got to meet all her favorite characters the only one she was sorta scared of was the character "Mike" from Monsters Inc. I thought she would be more afraid of sully the big monster but she hugged him and then took off when it was time to hug Mike. You can tell from the picture that she was a little scared. She has never even seen Toy Story but she loved the cowboy (Woody). Buzz Lightyear must have seemed a little less cuddly because Kady kept saying he was hard to hug. Of course she loved Minnie Mouse and talked about her all day. The line was closed for Bolt so we had to take a bootleg picture.

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Baby it's cold outside....

This is a picture of Kady bundeled up on the way to Nana's when it was cold one morning. She always says that the hat is to big for her head but it's so cute so I make her wear it.

Monday, December 15, 2008

Twilight...

I have a friend named Ellie and one day she kept posting updates on her MySpace just raving about the book she was reading. After talking with her I found out it was the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer. She told me that she seen the movie with her friend and then went straight out and bought the books. She offered to let me borrow the books and I was excited to see if they really were that interesting.

She brought me the first book the Monday before Thanksgiving, by Wednesday I was finished and I told her that I needed the next one for the long weekend. She brought the next two and they were just as addicting. Keep in mind these books are 600+ pages each! I'm now on the final book and I'm trying my best to make it last as long as I can. I carefully read each page and take in as much detail as I can just to savor the final words of this story. It will be sad when this final book is complete after over 2500 pages of pure reading bliss. It's very seldom that you find a book that you can't put down and this series was defiantly one of those finds.

There are four books in this series and so far the first book has been turned into a movie. After I had read the first book me and my sister-in-law went to see the movie. (By the way, she is now reading the books and enjoying the story as well.) The movie is not nearly as good as the book because the movie leaves out alot of detail that the book elaborates on. It's still defiantly worth seeing because the story line is just great.

Friday, December 12, 2008

The end of an era...

For the past 4 months we have had a visitor in our house. My cousin Michael has been living with us during his "transition" time. During this time I have learned more about Michael than I ever cared to know.

Kady has gotten so close to Michael, or "Pickle" as she calls him and I know that she is really going to miss him. To tell the truth I believe that Michael is going to miss her as well. He has been part of her nighttime routine of giving him a kiss and telling him goodnight. He has babysat for us and helped us out with her alot during his time at the house.

Michael I know you are reading this so to you i'll say: I hope that you learned a few things from Jamie and I. We hope that our support helped you to become a better person. Also, that our advise will stick with you in decisons you make in with your future. Be safe and be careful. I'm happy that you have a new place and are on the right track. However, we have already shopped for new furniture for the spare room and it is not open for visitors, At least not for a while. Love you Michael!

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Stained Glass...


At the Church we went to for the Bethlehem Marketplace they had the prettiest stained glass windows. Kady was fascinated by them and stood by them and looked out of them the whole time we were waiting. This was one of my favorite pictures of her. The way her hands and legs are it looks like she was trying to pose all fancy.

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

The Christmas Video...

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Bethlehem Marketplace

Me, Kady, Mom, Nana & Gack went to the Bethlehem Marketplace last Sunday at Christ Independent Methodist Church in Palatka. It was a great production as always. The members of that church always do such a good job with the event. Kady really enjoyed herself but I think her favorite part was the goat and donkey that were outside. If you didn't get a chance to go this year be sure to make plans for next year. You can't take pictures inside so I have a few pics from us waiting our turn and Kady with her favorite goat.


Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Here comes Snow Claus...

Saturday night Mom and I went downtown to see the luminaries and boat parade. While we were there I noticed that they had a Santa that the kids could visit with. Now before I pointed out to Kady that their was a Santa I thought about the last 3 years of Santa visits.

Her first year was easy. She was only 2 months old and I took her to the Palatka Daily News office to see Santa. She was asleep the entire time, she never woke thru the whole process. The next year she seen Santa at the Georgia Pacific Christmas party. I handed her off to Santa and she immediately started screaming. The picture was Santa holding about 3 feet away from him with her screaming. Last year at the GP Party I was never able to hand her to Santa so the picture was mostly of me and Santa with Kady clawing herself across my body away from the man in red. (These pictures are in order of the last 3 years)

I did not know what to expect this year so as we stood in line I thought of all the possibilities. I asked Kady, "Are you gonna sit in Santa's lap and tell him what you want for Christmas?" Kady said, "Mama, I'm not afraid of him, he is nice." I thought OK we'll see what happens. When it was her turn I walked her up there and she said she would stand beside him. She would not make eye contact with Santa but when he asked her what she wanted she told him a trampoline. She held his hand, he gave her a candy cane and she let me take a picture. This was a HUGE milestone in holiday traditions.

Monday, December 8, 2008

Christmas Photo Shoot...

I took Kady's picture the other day to have one to send out in our Christmas cards. I tried different poses and these are the best of 3 poses. She is getting better at posing for me but she still smiles so big that her eyes close. She gets that from Jamie, they look just alike when they smile.


Friday, December 5, 2008

Night of Lights

Last Saturday night we went to St. Augustine and ate at Yamato's and then went downtown to the Night of Lights. It was a beautiful night, not to cold to walk around and enjoy all the scenery. John and Amy went with us as well as my cousin Michael and his "girl of the month" who we met over there. If you get a chance to go to the Night of Lights in St. Augustine you should make the trip. There is lots of pretty scenery and you can even go ice skating if you are brave. We were not brave.










Thursday, December 4, 2008

Christmas Parade

After the marathon shopping on Friday I rushed home to get us ready for the Christmas Parade. Promising Kady that I would take her to the parade was the only way I was able to leave her home with Jamie while we went shopping. That baby loves to go shopping. By the way, the only way Jamie got out of going shopping Friday was he promised to go to the parade. I love to bargain with him!
We found John & Amy's family and stood with them across from the courthouse. Jamie bought Kady a bag of popcorn and she was set! The parade started at 7pm and did not get over until 8:15, it was a long one this year. Kady loved seeing all the floats and all the music. Eli and Luke were dancing more than the kids in the parade. Everyone was laughing at them. Every time Kady seen Santa, she referred to him as Snow Claus. We were looking for my niece Jenna because she was going to be in the parade with the high school's float. They finally came by at the end of the parade and dumped a pile of candy in front of Kady, Eli, Luke & McKenzie.


Kady would not take candy from the other people she is so strange about that. One man tried to give her a tootsie roll and she would not take it so he finally gave up and just dropped it at her feet. After he walked on by she picked it up and threw it in middle of the road. I'm glad she does not take stuff from strangers but I really would have enjoyed that tootsie roll!

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

The Hess Truck...

"The Hess trucks here and it's better than ever....For Christmas this year...the Hess Truck's Here!!" Admit it, you have all heard that song and you all sing it every Christmas when it comes on the T.V./Radio. I have a funny story to tell about our experience with trying to purchase a Hess Toy Truck.

While shopping Nana had mentioned that she had seen a commercial for the Hess Truck and that she would like to see one to maybe buy for Jesse. I said that if we passed a station that we would go in and check on it. We found one in St. Augustine and me, Nana & Gack went in to check out the truck. We walked around the store to find the boxes but could not find them. I approached the counter and asked the lady where the trucks were. She pointed to the shelf behind her and there way back in the corner of the shelf was a truck on display.

I asked her if we would see it and she said, "NO, that one is for display!" I then said, "I don't want to buy your display truck my Nana just wants to see if it's something she wants to purchase." The lady behind the counter proceeded to tell us that she cannot remove the display from the shelf unless we want to buy a truck. I told her that we don't want to buy a truck if we can't see the merchandise. She was looking at me like I was speaking Charlie Brown language. My Nana and Gack were looking at me like Oh Lord Joy is about to get mean to this lady.

I asked her where are the boxes of trucks for people to purchase and she motioned under her counter. I then asked if I could hold one of the boxes to read about the truck. She replied, "I can't give you a box unless I ring it up." At this point I'm thinking, does this lady really think me and my elderly grandparents are gonna get this truck and high-tail it out the store? Also, by this time my Nana is fed up and making the "Uh-un" sound. She said it about 4 times and was starting to sound like big chicken walking around the store. I know that the wrath of Joy is bad but to put the wrath of Nana of the poor lady would be bad.

So needless to say we left the store without a Hess Truck. When we got in the truck we had to tell the story to mom. Mom asked if the truck even look like it was worth all the fuss?? To which Gack replied, "It looked nice from 15 feet away."

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Black Friday...

I have no pictures to post of Black Friday because I was to busy shopping for 13 hours to take a picture. My day started at 4:00 AM when Jamie and I woke up to head to Wal-Mart. We had decided to get Kady a trampoline and they were having a great sale on them. We stood in line at Wal-Mart and we did get the trampoline. Jamie wants to put it together now but i'm making him wait. As you know with Jamie and I that is a huge accomplishment. We normally will let Kady open what she wants anytime and we do the same. We are not that good with keeping fun stuff from each other. Stay tuned because you never know when we will break down and you will see trampoline pictures on here.


Anyway, we got home around 6 AM and I went back to sleep till 8AM when my mom met me at the house. Then we picked up Nana and Gack and headed to Orange Park. We went to another Wal-Mart in Fleming island and knocked out most of the toys on all of our shopping lists. Then we went to Target and fought the crowd there. Next stop was the mall because Michael placed a special order for stuff from PacSun. I have to admit it was funny watching Nana and Gack peruse the selection in that store. After several more hours of shopping we went home and unpacked.

Now I need to go over my list and check it twice to make sure i've gotten everything!!

Monday, December 1, 2008

Turkey Day!

I love Thanksgiving day! Thanksgiving is the day I can reflect on the year and get ready for the next. I've always told mom that to me Thanksgiving day is the end of the year. The rest of the year is so busy that before I know it it's New Year's Eve!


Kady really enjoyed herself this year as well. I've posted a picture of Jamie & Gacky after the feast and Jamie's bothers John & Jeff at the Tincher's house.