Our family's official 'good luck' food!

I'm not usually superstitious, and neither is Rich, but he had spaghetti the night before he took his initial surveying exam after college. He passed that exam and has had to work under a professional surveyor for the last 4 years before taking the professional surveying exam today. So last night, Rich wanted spaghetti for good luck for today's exam. Since he had spaghetti the night before his first exam and passed, he thought it would be good luck to have it again. I wasn't going to write about it unless it worked... I'm writing so Rich passed and spaghetti is now the official 'good luck' food! :-)

Congratulations, Rich, on becoming a professional surveyor! :-)

A little Italian, a little Mexican, and a whole lot of Yummy!

We tried yet another recipe from the Taste of Home's 2004 Quick Cooking Annual Recipes cookbook again tonight. Rich wanted spaghetti tonight for good luck (which I'll tell you more about if it ends up working) and I wanted to try out this recipe. It was just too intriguing not to! :-)

Southwestern Spaghetti

• 12 ounces uncooked spaghetti
• 1-1/2 pounds ground beef
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 envelope taco seasoning
• 1 jar (26 ounces) spaghetti sauce
• 1 jar (4-1/2 ounces) sliced mushrooms, drained
• 1 can (2-1/4 ounces) slices olives, drained
• 2 cups (8 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese
• Shredded lettuce, diced tomatoes, sour cream and salsa

Cook spaghetti according to package directions. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, cook beef and onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain. Stir in the taco seasoning, spaghetti sauce, mushrooms and olives. Drain spaghetti; stir into the beef mixture.
Transfer to a greased shallow 3-qt. baking dish; sprinkle with cheese. Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until heated through. Serve with lettuce, tomatoes, sour cream and salsa. Yield: 8 servings.

I made a few changes, again, according to the ingredients I had. I only used 1 pound of ground beef and then a 3.8 ounce can of olives and a 8 ounce can of mushrooms. I also didn't have a 3-qt baking dish, only a 2.5-qt, so I cut back on the cheese on top, because it was starting to spill over. I probably only ended up using 1 cup of cheese instead of 2. With all the changes, it ended up being 480 calories per serving and that's without the toppings. We only had salsa and sour cream in the house at the time, so those are the only toppings we used.

I wasn't sure how Mexican and Italian would mix, but Rich and I loved it! Blake ate it quite well, while I think Morgan had a hard time with the spaghetti noodles. (She doesn't like to get messy while she eats, so she won't eat it-even after cutting it up so it was more manageable.) It is definitely worth making again!

Cheddar Taters

I'm at it again! I tried a new recipe from my new cookbook again. Here it is:


Cheddar Taters

• 1 can condensed cream of chicken soup, undiluted
• 1 can (12 oz) evaporated milk
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 package (32 oz.) frozen Tater Tots
• 1-1/2 cups (6 oz.) shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 cup crushed potato chips

In a large bowl, combine the first six ingredients. Gently stir in the Tater Tots. Transfer to a greased 13-in. x 9-in. x 2-in. baking dish. Sprinkle with cheese and potato chips. Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes or until bubbly. Yield:8-10 servings.


I made a couple small changes to the recipe when I made it. I used garlic salt and onion salt instead of garlic powder and onion powder. (I didn't have any.) I also only used 1 serving of potato chips and only 1 cup of cheddar cheese to cut back on calories a bit. I divided it into about 10 servings and it still ended up being nearly 400 calories a serving, but it is worth it! Rich and I both agreed that it was delicious and the kids both ate it and like it! :-) It tastes a lot like cheesy potatoes, but even more flavorful! The only thing I didn't like was I didn't plan anything else to go with it and it isn't much of a meal. It would be a great dish to take to a potluck, though!

I haven't been giving credit to my great new cookbook like I should be. The Onion Cheese Biscuits, the Pepperoni Pizza Muffins and this recipe all came from Taste of Home's 2004 Quick Cooking Annual Recipes cookbook. Thank you Taste of Home for the great recipes!

Wordless Wednesday: Tea Party

I had to get a picture of this when I noticed that Morgan had sorted each place setting of her tea set by color. When I commented on it, she told me that the settings were for her, her grandma and her cousins, Emerald and Maggie. She was very proud of her little tea party! :-)

For more Wordless Wednesday, check out 5 Minutes for Mom, Go Graham Go! and Healthy Moms.

Hey, It's Free!

If you have never heard of the site "Hey, It's Free!", then you should definitely check it out! I've been checking their site for freebies for a couple months now and it has really been worth it! I have gotten samples of yummy treats, dog food, laundry detergent and the list goes on! Plus, a lot of the time, the samples come with coupons and they have started telling you how to get some great coupons! On top of all that they make sure it is all legit for you! Isn't that great?! So stop by "Hey, It's Free" and starting signing up for some freebies-it's worth it!

By the way, they have a giveaway going on right now for a $50 Wal-Mart gift card. Who couldn't use that!

Operation No Kid Hungry

I previously wrote a post about how an organization, called Share Our Strength was partnering with Ferrero Chocolates for their Share Something Sweet Campaign. Now they have launched a brand new campaign to raise funds to help end childhood hunger. "Operation No Kid Hungry" is a response to the call to action to end childhood hunger by 2015.

Share Our Strength has now partnered with AT&T to offer two great ways that you can support and participate in "Operation No Kid Hungry":

1. Donate by text: Text "SHARE" to 20222 on your mobile device to donate$5. AT&T will match all text donations up to $100,000. Help us meet this challenge grant! Find out more at http://strength.org/get_involved/text_donation/

2. Collect Food Donations: Now through January 31st, help feed those in need by donating food to your local food bank. Visit http://Strength.org to find a food bank and a list of the most needed nutritious foods.

For more information about "Operation No Kid Hungry" and how you can help end childhood hunger, visit Share Our Strength's website: http://strength.org. There are also more ways you can help get the word out, including banners for your blog and social networking pages here:http://strength.org/get_involved/spread_the_word/

I'm sure they will appreciate any help you are able to give, whether it is a monetary donation, a food donation or helping spread the word. Thanks!

No More Drilling!

I had a rough morning this morning that is leading to an even rougher afternoon. I had to go to the dentist this morning for a crown, which they had to put a core in as well, and two fillings. For as up tight as I was this morning about going to the dentist, I still had no clue what I was in for!

Luckily, when I got to the dentist, I didn't have to wait long. I don't think my nerves could have taken it! I went and sat in the chair and they had me sign some paperwork. The dentist then came and gave me the Novocaine, which was followed by the dental assistant coming and getting an impression of my teeth for the crown. When I was completely numb and feeling like I had a fat lip, the dentist came back and proceeded to drill, and drill, and drill! I swear he was drilling for 20 minutes. Water and pieces of tooth were flying everywhere, including all over my face. Apparently I did quite well, though. The dentist complimented on how easy going I was. (Believe me, I really wasn't feeling easy going!) Once he finished drilling, he then poured the silver into both teeth that needed fillings and proceeded to shove this metal cylinder around the tooth that needed a crown. (By the way, when I say shove, I think he actually stood up and was pushing down on it with all his might to get it into place.) He did more scraping and who knows what. The assistant rinsed and sucked up pieces of tooth and whatever stuff they make a crown with. Afterwards, I got another impression for the permanent crown and yet another for the temporary crown. The assistant cemented in the temporary crown, washed off my face for me, and I was all set (besides having to pay for all the trauma and the pain to come.)

So I'm home now. The Novocaine has wore off and I can feel the extent of what was done to me! My jaw is super sore and that whole side of my head hurts. I was told that the tooth that needed the crown would be sensitive and it is-to air! I can't breath through my mouth without feeling a sharp pain in my tooth. I was told the sensitivity would be to hot and cold and could last for 48 hours. I'm really hoping that it doesn't last that long! On top of that, the cement wasn't completely cleaned away from the inside of my tooth, so my tongue feels raw from rubbing on it. I'll need to go back in 3 weeks for the permanent crown, but that should be quick and easy...I hope.

By the way, this was only phase #1 of a dental plan they set up for me. I still have to go through phases #2 and #3 to get my wisdom teeth pulled (gulp).

In Need of a Nap #2

Morgan and Blake have had a rough time going down for their afternoon nap the last couple days. They tend to laugh and play around in their cribs before they settle down for their nap. Well, some of the laughing, on Thursday and Friday, must have been Blake pulling the shade all the way down and eventually yanking the whole thing to the floor. The rest of the commotion, Thursday, was probably the fact that Bear was right outside their window sitting on the the bench on the front porch. Check out the pic...

Morgan and Blake never did fall asleep on Thursday, but Friday Morgan must have decided she needed to get some rest. When I went in to get Blake to calm down, I found Morgan like this...

I thought it was so neat that she actually thought to put the pillow over her head! It probably blocked some of the light from the uncovered window and muted the noise Blake was making. She's such a little smarty! I also think I've solved the shade problem for now, but I'll know better when they wake up from their nap today.

By the way, Bear has always enjoyed the bench on the front porch. We took the following picture of him a few years ago...

It's so funny to see this huge dog sitting on this narrow bench, but he loves it up there! (It's like a park bench.)

Horsin' Around

5 Minutes for Mom is hosting a fun contest to win a rocking horse sponsored by one of their online stores called A Rocking Horse to Love. I chose this picture of Morgan as my entry for the contest, because I just thought it was super cute! She is sitting in front of her grandparents' trailer at the county 4-H fair, watching her uncle show his horse this last year. This was her uncle's final year in 4-H, so we probably won't have the chance to get another picture quite like this one! :-)

I also put together a slide show of more horse related pictures.

The rocking horse in the picture was Rich's rocking horse when he was little. His parents fixed it up and gave it to the kids for Christmas 2007. It was made by his grandparents' neighbor, so it has a lot of sentimental value to the family. I can see fixing it up again, one day, and passing it on for my grandkids to enjoy. :-)

If you like this picture, head on over to 5 Minutes for Mom and leave a comment letting them know! :-)

Bear is a Finalist!

I don't know if you remember when I entered Bear in a contest on An Ordinary Life, but he actually made it as a finalist! He has a chance to win a Sleep Number Pet Bed and I'm so excited! I've been shaking since I found out! :-) Anyway, we would appreciate all the votes we can get, so please head over to An Ordinary Life and help Bear get a bed that he doesn't have to share with the cats :-) Thank you!

In Need of a Nap!

Little Blakers was really grouchy today. He woke up early, wouldn't go to sleep for his morning nap and only slept for an hour for his afternoon nap. He is teething right now and is just plain unhappy! Morgan noticed her brother's mood and decided Blake needed more sleep...

Morgan made Blake a bed out blankets and pillows in the living room. It made him happy for a little while. Isn't Morgan such a sweet big sister? :-)

Wordless Wednesday: Multitasking

Morgan and Blake always pretend that they are vacuuming with me. It's really cute, but Morgan took it a little further the other night. She must have had a really important pretend conversation going on, so she vacuumed while she was on the phone. Rich and I got a good laugh out of it :-)

For more Wordless Wednesday, check out 5 Minutes for Mom.

A Very Proud Little Girl!

Today Morgan insisted on wearing a sweater that her Aunt Katie made for her instead of the shirt that went with her outfit. Not a problem. It's a little short on her, but at least it will keep her warm. I helped her get her arms in the sleeves then left it alone. Well, she worked and worked at it until she had three of the buttons done up! She yelled "Mommy, I did it! I did it!" It was too cute and I, of course, had to take a picture to remember the first time Morgan buttoned up her shirt all by herself. :-)

It's a Potty Party!

Rockin' Mama is going to be having a Potty Party starting February 2nd, where she will be sharing articles, tips, interviews, product picks and giveaways! If you're going to be training your little one soon or are in the middle of potty training and need some advice and encouragement, just stop by Rockin' Mama!



On the same note, Pampers is giving away a Free Potty Training Kit for those of us who need all the help we can get! :-)

The kit includes:
*A free sample of Easy Ups Trainers
*High-value coupons
*Fun stickers & coloring pages
*Step-by-step potty training tips
*Potty Progress Chart
*Dora or Diego training trophy

I'll be potty training Blake this summer, so I'm looking forward to the Potty Party and the free Pampers to help the process! :-)

My early Birthday/Valentine's Day gift!

I have had a media cabinet on my list of things that I'd like to get someday since Rich and I were married. We hadn't really needed one until we received several dvd's for Christmas this year and were just running out of room in the cabinet below the TV. So when the Plow & Hearth catalog came in the mail with media cabinets on sale, I really started to seriously think about getting one. There was a nice one that probably held as much as we would ever need room for that I really liked, but I had a hard time with the idea of spending nearly $300 for something I had only seen a picture of. Plus, when we fix up the house, would we want a media cabinet or a nice wall unit that held everything entertainment related? After looking online, I saw that Plow & Hearth also had a wall mounted media cabinet, that didn't hold nearly as much, but would only be $100 with shipping. It wasn't nearly as much to spend at once, when we didn't know what we'd want for the future, and we'd be fixing the problem of not having enough space under the TV. So I ordered it, it came, and Rich put it together and hung it up for me as my early birthday/Valentines Day gift.

I love the look and even though it's kinda hanging in the kids' play area, it still looks nice!

On another note, I was pleasantly surprised with Plow & Hearth. After placing my order, I recieved an e-mail asking where I'd like a tree sent. It turns out that they have a campaign going to reforest America. They are working to help restore natural habitats lost to forest fires. For each order made through a year (not sure when it started), Plow & Hearth will donate one seedling and their goal is to reach 1 million! I had my tree sent to the Huron-Manistee National Forest in Michigan, but they can also be sent to California and Florida. It just felt nice that I was able to help out in a small way with my order. If you would like to learn more about their efforts, just check out this link.

Pepperoni Pizza Muffins

I had been craving pizza for quite a while recently. I kept hoping someone would want it around Christmas time, but no one did. I hadn't had it (except for a couple frozen pizzas) since sometime before my trip to Germany. I seriously can't even remember when! So lately anytime anyone said the word 'pizza', an ad came on the TV, anything, it made me want it even more! Finally, Rich and I ordered a couple from a local pizza place and I'm good now. The pizza was very satisfying and my craving is gone, but while I was still craving it, I had seen a recipe for Pepperoni Pizza Muffins that sounded delicious. I still wanted to try them, though, so I made them this morning!

Pepperoni Pizza Muffins

• 3 cups biscuit/baking mix
• 1 can condensed tomato soup
• 3/4 cup water
• 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1/2 cup diced pepperoni
• 2 Tbsp chopped ripe olives
• 1 Tbsp dried mince onion
• 1 tsp Italian seasoning

Place biscuit mix in a large bowl. Combine the remaining ingredients; stir into biscuit mix just until moistened. Fill greased muffin cups three-fourths full. Bake at 350 degrees for 17-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from the pans to wire racks. Serve warm. Yield: 14 muffins.Rich and I tried them and I love them! He still likes the Onion Cheese Biscuits better, but since I do the baking, we'll probably end up with more Pepperoni Pizza Muffins again before the Onion Cheese Biscuits :-) I think I'll try them with mushrooms and green pepper next time too, because you can add anything that you like on a pizza to the batter!

Germany Trip: Cologne

I don't really have an order to my posts about Germany. It's just kinda what I feel like writing about at the time and it happens to be Cologne, or Koln, right now :-) Mom and Dad took us to Cologne on Sunday. We weren't sure what we would be able to do, since many places are closed on Sundays there, but we actually did quite well!

When we first got to Cologne and parked, we went by the Dom, which is a huge Cathedral. It was magnificent! They had services going on at the time, though, so we walked over and checked out the Christmas Market first, then went back to see the Dom. The inside was as magnificent as the outside! There were paintings, sculpted pillars, huge stained glass windows, beautiful tile work-it was a lot to take in at once! The Dom also had several crypts, including the crypt that contained the remains of the Three Magi. Most of the crypts were quite plain and you could walk right up to them, but the one with the Three Magi really stood out. It was in a glass box and surrounded by an elaborate fence, so you couldn't get anywhere near it, and the crypt itself was made of gold.

Seeing the crypt of the Three magi was one of the main things my parents wanted us to experience while in the Dom, the other was climbing the spiral stairs of the bell tower. Before my sister and I even went up, my parents took our backpacks. They had done it before, knew how rough it was going to be, and they weren't doing it again. Even though my mom had described it to me before, I wasn't prepared for what it was really like. Katie and I started climbing the 509 narrow spiral steps fairly well staying to the wide part of the steps. It wasn't until I realized that people came back down the same way that we were going up that it started to get scary. We ended up having to move to the inside of the steps, climbing with nothing to hold onto and only the ball of our foot on a step as we turned sideways for people to pass. I started dreading hearing footsteps from above and the more I climbed in circles, desperately trying to catch my breath, I began to get light headed and nauseous. I kept thinking that we must almost be to the top and Katie asked if I had been counting steps. We did finally make it. Maybe it was the lightheadedness, or something about being that out of shape, or the grins people gave us when they saw our relief at the top, but we just laughed! I'm glad we did it, though. The view was beautiful, even through the dreariness and raindrops, plus we can say "We did it!"

After making the great decent back down the bell tower of the Dom, we took off, through the rain, to find the Lego store, but being Sunday, it was closed. Luckily, we were going to Munich and they had a Lego store there. So we found the car and headed to the Chocolate Museum. Even with the help of 2 different navigation systems, we could not find the Chocolate Museum. The navigation systems kept taking us to what we thought was the wrong spot, but it turns out they were taking us to an underground parking area that we needed to go to in order to go to the museum. We did find it after a nice long walk, though. There was a Medieval Christmas Market in front of the museum that we went through first, then headed into the Chocolate Museum's shop. We decided against going through the museum due to time and the fact that we wouldn't be able to understand any of it anyway being that it was all in German. I did a lot of my shopping for family and friends there. Who doesn't love chocolate, right?

That was my experience in Cologne and it was definitely a memorable one! Check out the slide show to see some pics!

Wordless Wednesday: So Sleepy

Blake loved his new pillow that my aunt made him for Christmas. He just set it down and started cuddling with it and he's been sleeping on it every night since! (The guy playing with Blake is my brother, Mike.)

For more Wordless Wednesday, check out 5 Minutes for Mom.

Germany Trip: This one's for Rich!

Before meeting Rich, I would have never thought twice about anything fire related. Now I pay attention to everything fire related, even in Germany! Since I wouldn't have taken pictures of any of this otherwise, this one's for Rich! :-)

We came across this fire truck as we were leaving Trier, Germany's oldest city. It was really neat to be able to see a German fire truck up close (and the firefighters!)

Me next to the fire truck.

The back of the fire truck.

The fire house in my parents' town, Neiderjoshbach.

A closer look at the sign on the fire house.

A fire hydrant outside the fire house in Neiderjoshbach.

I think this is the tower the fire whistle is in in a town near my parents', Eppstein. It is connected to the fire station, but I wasn't close enough to get a picture of that.

Those are all the fire pictures I got while I was their, but I also got Rich a little Lego firefighter playset at the Lego store in Munich and a German firefighter stein in Trier as souvenirs. I'm glad I got the stein when I did, because I never saw another one! :-) Here are pictures of them:

I'm not sure if you can get this in the USA, but I thought it was pretty neat while I was in Germany. Plus Legos are really big there!

This was just too neat to pass up! The price was right and it also says "Made in Germany" on the bottom, which is great to see on a souvenir from another country. :-)

Oven-Roasted Sweet Potato Fries

I tried another new recipe today. I know, I'm on a roll! This recipe wasn't from my new cookbook, though. I found this one online. My parents gave us some of their perishable food before they went back to Germany and some of it was sweet potatoes! I had a craving for fries and really wanted to see how sweet potatoes tasted as fries, so after looking at several recipes and reviews, I decided to make the following recipe.

Oven-Roasted Sweet Potato Fries

1 tsp Lawry's Seasoned Salt

1/2 tsp Paprika

1/4 tsp Lawry's Garlic Powder with Parsley

1/4 tsp chili powder

1-1/2 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch thick slices

3 Tbsp Olive oil

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. In small bowl, combine seasoned salt, paprika, garlic powder with parsley and chili powder; set aside.

2. In large bowl, toss sweet potatoes with Olive oil; sprinkle with seasoning mixture and toss to coat. On jelly roll pan sprayed with nonstick cooking spray, arrange potatoes in single layer.

3. Roast, turning once, 40 minutes or until potatoes are tender and golden. Serve, if desired, with additional Seasoned salt.

I was thinking that sweet potatoes needed seasonings like brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg, but these fries were quite good! If I happen to have sweet potatoes again, I think I would definitely make more fries. Plus Morgan loved them! She kept asking for more and more and more...

I have to thank Allrecipes for the wonderful recipe. I love using their site!

Onion Cheese Biscuits

I love trying new recipes, especially if it's a baked good! When my mom gave me a cookbook for Christmas, I knew I'd be having fun trying out all sorts of goodies in it. Well, today I was paging through the cookbook, since I still haven't looked all the way through it, and found something that I wanted to try and actually had the ingredients for (except for the poppy seeds, but oh well). So here it is:

Onion Cheese Biscuits

1/2 cup milk

1 egg

1 Tbsp butter

1-1/2 cups biscuit/baking mix

3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese, divided

1/2 cup finely chopped onion

1 Tbsp poppy seeds

In a bowl, combine the milk, egg and butter. Add biscuit mix, 1/2 cup cheese and onion. Spoon into six greased muffin cups. Sprinkle with the poppy seeds and remaining cheese. Bake at 400 degrees for 12-14 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan to wire rack. Yield: 6 biscuits.

I tried a part of one and they're not too bad, especially if you like onion and cheese! The reason I only tried a part of one is they are 240 calories each and I'm still trying to count calories. I'd probably make them again, if Rich likes them too. I think they'd be great to go with a nice Sunday dinner or even just for a snack! :-)

German Food: Schnitzel!

I've been slacking a bit with blogging about my trip to Germany and I wanted to get back to it! I'm hoping to share about the whole trip, a little at a time, by the end of January.

I loved the schnitzel in Germany! The first place I had it at was a restaurant called Waldgeist, fairly close to my parents' place. They serve everything in platter size portions there. I ordered a quarter of a jagerschnitzel and, even though it was smaller than a whole, it was still a lot to eat. I don't even think I ate half of it! Gigantic portions! The jagerschnitzel is schnitzel with a creamy mushroom sauce. They served it with french fries, or 'pommes'. Since there was so much, I ended up taking it back to my parents' place to eat as leftovers and had it 3 more times!

The other place I had schnitzel was in a little restaurant in Rothenburg. It was called championschnitzel. It also had a mushroom sauce, but it wasn't as creamy and had more of a reddish tint to it. Still very good and thankfully not such a huge portion! I was actually able to finish it there :-)

Every time we ate at a restaurant in Germany, we always would here pounding from the kitchen and we knew they were making schnitzel. It almost sounds like it would be fun to make, so I'm hoping to try it sometime now that I know I like it. I'll have to blog about it if I do and let you know how it turns out! :-)

This is what was left of my schnitzel at Waldgeist. As you can see-there was still a lot left to eat and I had already had half of it! (Sorry it's so dark.)

This is me with my leftover schnitzel. I have a goofy look on my face, don't I? I think I still had some jet lag going on.

Wordless Wednesday: Blake loves his PB&J's!

For more Wordless Wednesday, check out 5 Minutes for Mom.

Playing Dress-Up

Morgan has always loved playing dress-up. When she first started walking she was trying to walk in my shoes and hasn't stopped wanting to play at dressing like Mommy since! Through all the carrying around purses, putting on pretty gloves and scarves, wearing whatever shoes she could find, I never thought she'd love dressing up like a Police Officer!

I recently put together a dress-up box for the kids and put in a Police Officer costume by Small Miracles that I won on Sister Sister. Morgan wanted to wear it the next 2 days! She loved the hat and pretended that the radio in the pocket of it was a camera phone-too cute! Who knew that the little girl who loved being so girly would love a police costume!

Blake saw how much Morgan loved wearing the costume and wanted in on the fun :-)

I think I need to find more dress-up costumes for them-they absolutely love it!

Happy New Year!

At the start of this new year, I would like to share an Old Irish Blessing:

May love and laughter light your days,
and warm your heart and home.
May good and faithful friends be yours,
wherever you may roam.
May peace and plenty bless your world
with joy that long endures.
May all life's passing seasons bring
the best to you and yours!

I hope everyone has a wonderful 2009!