Christmas Eve

This was the first Christmas Eve since John was born that I have been able to go to Grandma's house, so I was really excited. And I made some really good memories!

I love this picture of me and Mom.  I definitely need to frame it!

The girl cousins.  I gave them each a framed picture of us from Meg's wedding.  Meg suggested that next year we have to frame this picture and take a picture of us holding it, so that it is a picture in a picture in a picture!

Every year, Dan, Meg, and Dan randomly pick one of the encyclopedia's off the shelf.  This Christmas was brought to you by the letter "P".

Dan reading some "P" facts.

Jake, the Master of Ceremony, for our gift exchange.  We purchased real gifts but open them White Elephant style.  Jake used cards to determine who got to choose first.

All four Aces were picked (Margaret did not make the picture).  Spades always went first and then diamonds, so Mary and Nate were safe.  But if clubs and hearts were both chosen...

Then you had to battle rock, paper, scissors style.  Mom against daughter, to the death! present!

And then a brother/sister battle.  I won, in case you were wondering!

John playing peek-a-boo behind the curtains.

Michael the Elf.

How many Disney characters can you hold in your hand at one time?!

Future prodigies?

Doesn't a Daisy Duck sticker make you this excited?

Awww...a cuddle session while watching Gram open her presents.

Ann doesn't know Grandma's rule about not taking her picture!  She was opening John's ornament that he made.  I also didn't obey the rule not to post it on my blog!

All the girls cuddling on the couch.

We didn't fit very well!

But we tried.  Tricia has a picture of us on the couch from years ago and wanted another one.  I think we probably should have organized a little better.

1,000

I have to take a break from the Christmas posts to recognize a milestone achievement...my 1,000th blog post.  I know, crazy right?  So, as usual, here are some things you might not know about me (or care to know!)

1.  I have a pretty OCD nature.  I don't like when pictures are crooked or things don't line up the way they should.  I like symmetry.  Every year I put the picture Christmas cards on the refrigerator.  But I have to tape them on so they are all straight.

2.  I always take out my contacts left first, then right.  And I put them in the same way.

3.  In the shower, I always do things in this order: shampoo, wash body, rinse shampoo, condition, wash face, rinse conditioner, shave my legs.

4.  I am extremely sentimental and will keep things that just clutter because they have sentimental value, even if they are ridiculous things to keep.

5.  I would love to sky dive someday but don't know if I can now that my body doesn't let me do things such as ride roller coasters.  It makes me feel more than a little bummed.

6.  If I hadn't become a therapist, I would have been an elementary teacher.  I don't know if I would have been good at it because I have a hard time commanding a room full of kids.

7.  I've drunk chocolate milk for breakfast every morning (well, most mornings) since I was in 6th or 7th grade.  I think I have really strong nails because of it.

8.  I have a fear of being suffocated and can feel randomly claustrophobic.  If anyone remembers the commercial where the kid sucks himself into a bottle--I used to have trouble watching that when it came out because I felt like his breath was more than anyone could take and then he was in a small, confined space.

9.  Also because I am randomly claustrophobic, my feet have to be able to get out of the covers.  I can't sleep in a bed where the sheets are tucked in and I can't sleep in a sleeping bag.  When I use a sleeping bag, I have to have a sheet/blanket and unzip the sleeping bag to the bottom corner.

10.  Although I like snow, I don't like the crunching sound it makes when it is packed down and you walk on it.  Kind of like nails on a chalkboard in my opinion.

11.  I have a hard time covering up old pictures with new ones.  I'd rather just buy another frame and find another place to put the picture.  But when I do replace pictures, I always leave the old one in the frame behind the new one.  It's a fun surprise the next time you replace a picture.  Some of my frames have 3 or 4 pictures behind the one you can see.

12.  I will almost always drink more water if it is in a bottle of some sort rather than a glass/

13.  I like my soda really cold.  I keep my Dr. Pepper in the fridge and still put ice in the glass when I pour the can into a cup.  I also prefer it in a plastic or styrofoam cup rather than a glass.

14.  I keep my competitive side in check.  I'm pretty laid back when playing games and don't really care if I win most of the time, but when I realize it is likely that I can win, I get really excited.

15.  When I color, I have a hard time when kids want to help me because it's "my" picture.  For the most part, I can get over it, but every once in a while I try to redirect them to their own picture so that I can keep mine to myself.  Have I mentioned that I can be pretty selfish?  And OCD?

16.  I love to write but cannot keep a journal to save my life.  I'm too much of a perfectionist.  If I write in a journal, I want to be able to do it every day.  And if I get behind, I feel like I have to keep up.  This blog was my attempt to remedy that, and 1,000 posts later, I guess it has worked.

A boy and his dog

I did a similar post about John and ZuZu in May of 2013, you can read all about it here.  ZuZu is such a good dog.  Some of the time, Michael ignores her as if she isn't there, but other times he really wants to play with her.

In these pictures, Michael is pretending to go night-night.  He wanted ZuZu to join him, so he tucked her in under the blanket.  So cute.  Obviously, she is not sleeping, but she contentedly played with her chew toy the entire time he played with her.

Then he got under the blanket with her.

"Night Night, ZuZu."

Driving his car on ZuZu, because she also makes a good road.

Cheeeese!

Photo bomb! :)

Later, I found ZuZu actually sleeping on top of the blanket.  She loves fuzzy blankets and if there is even a scrap of one on the floor she will curl up on it.

Michael reading to ZuZu.  This, of course, was right before he tore an entire page out of the book.

One day, Michael was talking to ZuZu and I realized he was trying to get her to come to the front room with him to see the Christmas tree.  It was so cute.  After a few minutes, he came back into the kitchen with a wrinkled brow and his hands in the "I don't know" position and said to me, "ZuZu no Christmas tree."  I asked him if he needed help and he said yes.  So, I had her follow me into the front room, had her sit by the tree, and Michael looked at the tree for a few minutes and then said, "WOW, ZuZu."  Oh my goodness, it was so cute!

Cookies!

I tried really hard to narrow these pictures down, but Michael was being so cute and John so serious, that I couldn't help but include them all (I was selective, I just took a ton of pictures)!

I think this is John's third or fourth year making kolaches, so he can almost do it without help!  Michael, of course, wants to do anything that John does.  John took the first shift in rolling and cutting the cookies.

Michael "helped" Grandma thumbprint the cookies.

He also "helped" put jelly in them.  He had to be watched pretty carefully or he would wad up the cookies, throw them across the room, or put jelly wherever he felt like it needed to go.

Playing in the dough.

John's favorite flavor is apricot.  He's sampling some jelly now! :)

Love that serious face.

Toddler fingers in the dough.

Serious Michael.  But you can't take him too seriously with that flour on his nose!

Silly Michael.

Concentrating John.  If you look closely, his tongue is sticking out!

Not sure what he is thinking, but I often wish I could get inside his head.

Talking to Grandma.  And wrapping her around his little fingers.

Michael's turn to roll and cut.

"Needed" more flour.

This tray is finished and ready for the oven!

Again, you needed to watch him closely and Grandma needed to help him cut the circles.

"Grandma, I don't need your help!"

"I can do it all by myself."  PS.  Isn't it fun that they used a turtle cup to cut the cookies!

Flour baby.

And a flour dog. :)  She hung out under the table.  Ann got a great picture of her with her tongue sticking out.  I'll have to get if from her so that I can show you how funny it is.

As usual, I forgot to take a picture of the finished product.

4th Annual Cheesy Christmas Movie Night

Our annual Christmas get together happened on December 17th this year.  A Tuesday after work (which made going to work the next day a little hard, because it felt like a Saturday evening).

Emily made dinner--soup and salad.  And I made hot chocolate brownies (it was a mix, so don't think I got creative!).

We had a hot chocolate bar.

And here is the group--Amanda, me, Naomi, Sarah, Becky, Emily, and Holly.

Another attempt at a picture.  Without the flash was blurry.  With the flash, too bright.  But you can see who was here, so that's all that matters!

Settling in.  One year I should take a picture of the living room set up that has to take place to have enough seating for all of us.  It's kind of humorous.

This year we watched Moonlight & Mistletoe.  It was a selection at the 3 1/2 Annual Cheesy Movie Night but sadly didn't get selected.  We gave it a second chance and it was the unanimous vote for this year.  It has Candice Cameron in it.  I would recommend it.  I had actually seen it before but wanted to see it again (this can't always be said for our selections!