My sister beat me to it, but today is a day to send congratulations on to my dad. His promotion ceremony is today.

It really is the work of God that Daddy pins on Lt. Colonel today. I know that my dad loves his job and getting to continue on is a wonderful thing. I really wish I could be there today…

Spending my teen years as a military brat were very interesting and in retrospect, educational. I am happy for all the good memories I have of travel and meeting so many other people. I only hope that I get to show my children the world in a similar manner.

Anyway. Congratulations to my daddy, Lt. Colonel Fred McFarland. I’m really proud of you.

Here is an interesting article about some of the work Daddy did in Afghanistan. Daddy’s picture is at the bottom of the article.

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Originally uploaded by osbo1954.

Well, there she is… little Marin Rose Lancaster. I mentioned praying for her family earlier this week, when they were still waiting for something to happen. Bo wrote something up to announce her arrival. She is just so cute!

And for my second request, well… just check out this video Jeanette did of Ellis’ cochlear implant activation. It made me a bit weepy. Fuller enjoyed watching it too.

Praise God, from whom all blessings flow.

This post sponsored by Seattle Luxe, where they sell mail boxes. You could mail Marin a card!

Friday night I went to My Family Dinners to fix twelve freezer meals. I had a really great time and did the official write up over at Chattanooga Is Home.

It is true that we loved the panini (that is a word that always looks wrong to me) when we ate half tonight. Most of the meals are for 4 to 6 people, so we hope they last us a bit longer.

When I was trying to describe the process to Damon, I gave him my printed out menu to see what I had brought home. He exclaimed, “Wow! This is like going to a restaurant!” I had him pick out what we will eat tomorrow (King Ranch Chicken) so that it can thaw and be cooked while I go to a baby shower after church.

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Austina is currently in Alaska visiting her old housemate and housemate’s new husband. I talked to her when she got to Anchorage, and I had twinges of jealousy.

I have all these destinations I want to get to and experience some time in my life. I have no idea how or when, but I do want to get to Hawaii, England, Scotland, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Alaska, and well.. I just want to go and see new places.

Of course, there is the possibility that I can tag along on some of Fuller’s school trips in the future. What grade do the kids go to Washington, D.C.?

Educational travel is becoming my favorite kind of travel and Hemisphere Travel specializes in that kind trip.

You can organize education trips in the U.S. or Internationally. Education is provided by the tour guide who has done the research into why the location is educational (the history, the significance, the importance). And the tour guides make the trip fun, not just some stuffy lecture as the bus rolls by a building. But it isn’t all about the education. Hemisphere Travel also covers the other parts of the tour- transportation, accommodations, entrance fees, and meals.

Because they have been around for 37 years, they have the system down and offer extras like a memory keepsake video. They are fully insured keeping safety for everyone (their operators and participants) in mind at all times.

I really like the ease of use on their website and would want to keep Hemisphere Travel in mind when it is time to make our homeschool field trip plans. Because everyone wants to take a field trip to London. I did, twice!

I have a new blog crush. Her name is Ree and she writes about her life and family at Confessions of a Pioneer Woman. They have a working cattle ranch and they keep wild mustangs for the government. Her daughters, ages 10 and 8, get to drive Ford f250s.

I think one of the reasons I like her blog is the photographs. She takes great pictures and I think they represent their lives very well.

Ree also has a cooking blog where she shares her recipes for feeding her family on the working ranch. Tonight we are going to have Marlboro Man’s Sandwich.

Time to go chop the onions!

On Tuesday I took Fuller to see another free movie at the mall. This one was Clifford’s Really Big Movie.

I figured it would be a hit with Fuller because 1) it was animated, 2) it was Clifford who he knows well, and 3) he got to eat a lot of popcorn. I was right on all accounts. Fuller sat in his booster seat, enjoyed seeing “Ifford!” and asking “Where’s ifford?” a lot. He didn’t mind the little kid behind him kicking both our seats. And he ate most of the small bag of popcorn.

Me, however, wished that I was somewhere, anywhere else but that movie. It was awful. The animation was shoddy, the voices were off, and the story was silly. I kept checking the cell phone to see how much longer we had. I wasn’t really sure of the length of the movie, but I knew that it couldn’t be more than 90 minutes.

I was so happy to be wrong on that. It was only 75ish!

Honestly, I was so bored at the movie that I was wishing Fuller would act up so I could remove him and we could go home early. But no, he was good and I can only praise him for how awesome he is.

Next week: Happy Feet. And I know I like that movie. We saw it in the theater in January!

We used to send out a holiday photo about every other year. We need to get a new one done this year, since we have yet to do one since Fuller was born.

I like the idea of sending something out, to reach out to those who you want to remain in contact with, and just let them know that you are thinking about them. Holiday photo cards are a great way to do that.

Tiny Prints Holidays is geared toward those who do send out greeting cards, photos, and announcements during the winter months. Whether for Christmas, Hanukkah, or the generic Happy Holiday, Tiny Prints has designs for all kinds of cards. They even have personalized gift tags and designs for party invitations. And I really like their personalized thank you cards for children.

I’m drawn to their designs because of the simplicity and colors. You can upload a picture (and do an online preview) or email it to them, and for no charge they will convert color pictures to sepia or black and white. The prices are comparable to other sites with the same service. What makes this site stand out is the variety available and freshness of the designs.

I’ll be giving Tiny Prints Holidays a look when we finally get a complete family photo.

One of the recent movies I have watched is Driving Lessons. It interested me because Rupert Grint (Ron from the Harry Potter films) is the lead, and the elderly woman he has a job with is Julie Walters. Julie plays Mrs. Weasley in the Harry Potter films.

I really like the Mrs. Weasley character in both the books and the films. I was a bit disappointed that there wasn’t more Mrs. Weasley in the last film. She has such a big heart for all the children- even those who are not her own.

The dynamic of Rupert Grint and Julie Waters in Driving Lessons is not at all mother and son… it is a bit funny to see Ron holding back Mrs. Weasley’s hair while she pukes. Julie Water’s portrayal of an elderly actress is really amusing.

When Rupert (Ben) goes to the club in Edinburgh, the closed captioning tells the viewer that the music is “Celtic Salsa.” I want to know where I can get a CD of Celtic Salsa. It was quite fun to listen to and see Rupert dance. A lot of the soundtrack is Sufjan Stevens, which gives the movie a homey feeling.

The only downside of the movie is Laura Linney. She seems to think that to have a British accent, you just speak quietly. She is also a bit creepy as the mother.

But that aside, I enjoyed the movie.

This is getting really old. I keep losing my internet connection on my laptop. It will drop for a few minutes and then miraculously show back up again. If I move my laptop over slightly to the right, it drops again. And it happens most often when I am in the dining room, which is where the router actually is. I make sure that there is a clear path from the table to the router, but it still drops a lot.

How can I find out if it is my laptop or if it is the router? I would feel better if it was the router, since that is easier to replace than my laptop would be. It isn’t one of the better known routers (it isn’t a Linksys router), and we have been using it for about three years now. So maybe that is the problem. I just don’t know…

I finished reading Harry Potter on Saturday night. Damon picked up the book on Sunday and is currently pages away from finishing. And when he gets done, I plan on sending him this link. (Warning, it inadvertently contains a spoiler.)