Christmas 2009 (less of a blog, more of a novel)

A very late merry Christmas!

Matthew and I had a busy Christmas season. We drove down to Tampa last Tuesday to stay with Matt's dad and family. Jim, Brittany, Matthew and I went to Bonefish for dinner. Yum! After dinner, we opened presents back at the house. Matthew is so excited about the Nook that Jim and Jean got him. It is on back order until February, so that just gives us another reason to go down for a visit. :) I'll be honest, we haven't cooked since we got home, so we haven't been able to use our food chopper yet. Unfortunately, Jean and Brittany had to work Wednesday, so Jim, Matt and I went out to breakfast and then to the Tampa history museum. It was really interesting. There was a lot of information about the Native Americans that lived here, the Ybor city culture and the cattle that live here. Brittany picked us up for lunch (she only had to work a half day). We left after lunch to head to Matt's mom's house.

We helped Barbara finish wrapping some gifts and then Mimi and Gramps came over for dinner. After dinner we went to the Botanical Gardens to see their lights. It was fun but a little crowded. Here are some pictures from our time there.

Thursday morning we opened presents! (There are still more presents to come, Matt and I were very good this year!) Then we made ham omelets from the left over dinner ham. Later that morning we went out for a walk on the beach. The weather was perfect, though a little breezy. I was glad I decided to grab my sunglasses from the car. After lunch we headed to my parents house.

Nick and Robyn went to Christmas Eve service with Jonathan and Chat, so they weren't there when we arrived, but it was nice to spend time with mom, dad, Lisa and Erik while the kids were still napping. Ok, Kayleigh didn't nap, but she was lying down. I know mom and dad loved having all of the kids and grandkids at their house for Christmas Eve dinner. We had the traditional Noche Buena dinner of pork, black beans and rice and plantains. Yum! Chat made flan for dessert. We went to bed very full!! The kids had a great time playing together. It was so much fun watching them playing together, too. I just felt bad for Brian. He was too young to join in with everyone.

Christmas morning we had pancakes and French toast as we waited for Jonathan and Chat to finish up Christmas at their house so we could open gifts. It was a bit crazy with 10 adults, 4 kids that can get around and a baby. The kids did really well, but I think it helped that we didn't all sit around and wait turns to open gifts. Of course, the nieces and nephews got a lot of the same gifts, so they would have been opening at the same time anyway. And there were presents for me and Matt. :) Mom and dad bought Matthew a new computer keyboard. Unfortunately, it didn't come in time, so they wrapped up an old one for him to open. Nick did have the flash for his camera get delivered Christmas day! Who knew the post office would deliver Christmas day???

After opening gifts Matt and I headed over to Mimi and Gramps for lunch. Everyone was over there and apparently there were a lot of good boys and girls this year! The aunts and uncles bring gifts, so you just find your pile and open up. Poor Mimi was so worried about lunch that she didn't open her gifts with everyone and waited until after we ate to do it. Lunch was delicious. And Matt's mom brought her iced sugar cookies for dessert. We always look forward to them! After lunch we played "Which Came First?" where you have to pick between two items (indoor plumbing or toilet paper, Halloween or Valentine's Day). We lost, but it was fun and educational! Then we played "Mystery Mansion". One team picks a suspect, weapon, reason and location and the other team tries to figure it out by process of elimination. It's kind of like "Clue", but quicker.

Then it was back to Mom an Dad's for Christmas dinner with all of my family. Mom had the great idea to make a video of everyone "entering" the family, where they came in the picture in the order they came in the family, either by birth or marriage. The hardest part was getting Nathan and Brian in (Lisa had to go get Brian and Nathan kept stopping to check things out on the way). Scott was sick so April took him home, but Barbara and Jack offered to take the boys home after dinner so they could play with their cousins. I strategically placed myself by Barbara and Jack at dinner so I could talk with them because that was the only time we would see them on our visit. Grandma made friends with Taylor because Taylor is much more calm than the others. This year I got to make the family calendars and hand them out after dessert. Chat has done it for the past two years and wasn't able to do it this year, so I offered to. It was a lot of fun and I love the tradition Chat started and I couldn't imagine not having one this year. I don't know if the kids were able to take a nap that day, but they all were great and play so well together. It really was great having everyone together.

Nick, Robyn and Taylor left after breakfast the day after Christmas. I know they were hoping Taylor would sleep in the car, though the first thing she asked was to watch a movie. They were going to stop at Lisa and Erik's on their way home to get out of the car for a while and maybe to get Taylor to take a nap. Erik took Brian and Kayleigh to see Granny and Aunt Ola and Matt went to breakfast with his mom, aunt and grandparents so Lisa and I were able to get in some good Farkle time. It's much easier when Kayleigh isn't trying to take a turn or grab the dice. And she's lucky for Lisa, so I was glad to get rid of her! :) Matt came back to pick me up and we headed home around 1. It was a great time!!

If it's black and white and found in an igloo...

it must be a cat!





We took Juliet outside for some fresh air (and so she wouldn't try to run out the door when it was open) and let her try out the igloo. She tried to run out, but only took a few steps before stopping to check out a new patch of grass.

Picky Eater

We don't feed Simba and Juliet on a schedule, we just leave food in a bowl for them. They are grazers, they don't eat it all at once, so usually it's ok. There have been times when the food bowls have run dry, but the cats generally let us know by meowing until we get up to check or running into the office where we keep their food. This morning as I was getting ready for work I saw Simba run into the office. I followed him, but saw that there was still food in his bowl, so I just kept on getting ready. And then I heard the crash!



Please note the food in the food bowl. The orange things are Nerf darts that Simba likes to play with. They usually end up in either his food bowl or the water bowl.

P.S. - Yes, there is a lid for the box that we keep the food in and we do usually keep it in the closet. I've learned my lesson!

Thanksgiving 2009 (finally!)

I know Thanksgiving was last week, but I've been busy since we got back and haven't had time to post! This will be a long one with a lot of pictures, so hopefully that makes up for it!

We headed down to Matt's mom's house after Matt got off work Wednesday afternoon. We took back roads because we knew the interstates would be packed with extra cars on the road. We thought it was pretty good to make it down in 5 hours.

Thursday morning, Matt, Barbara and I went for a nice walk on the beach. It was a little windy, but I figured it was the best way to start a day full of food! We went to Mimi and Gramps house for lunch. Patrick, Mariruth and Caitlin came up from their time-share in Naples for lunch as well. I was impressed with how well Caitlin did with so many new people.

After lunch we headed over to Barbara and Jack's house for dinner. It's so nice to be with family, though I don't think I had a real conversation with anyone! Jill brought her dog Max. He was stuck outside while we ate, but she brought him in after dinner. We were all impressed that Mia was brave enough to pet him (though it took a while for her to do it!) because she isn't a dog person. We went back to my parent's house to stay the night.

Friday we went to visit my grandma at her new place. It's nice and small and she knows several people there, so that makes it nice for her. She took us on a tour and we left her at the dining room so she could have lunch. She said she might go play Wii bowling in the afternoon. Apparently she has gone before because she said it's really easy. I love it! Then we went to Chick-fil-a to see Jonathan while he was working. Well, that's the excuse I used so I could get a peppermint chocolate chip milkshake. Yum!

After lunch we headed to Toys R Us to help mom Christmas shop for her grandchildren. It wasn't too bad for being the day after Thanksgiving. It's much more fun shopping when you aren't the one spending the money! And let's just say that the kids are going to get some awesome gifts soon!

We left for Jim and Jean's house later that afternoon. Brittany was also home for Thanksgiving. We all went out to dinner before heading to see a Lightning hockey game. It was the first one I have been to since high school and it was so much fun. Jean got us great seats just a few rows behind the Lightning bench. It was also nice that there were only 5 seats in the row, just enough for us! There were a ton of fights (that's what makes hockey great, right??) and the Lightning won, so that just makes the game even better. I think we all had a really good time and I'm glad we were able to do it.

Patrick, Mariruth and Caitlin came up for lunch Saturday. We had really good pizza and salad from a local place. We brought Caitlin's Christmas gifts because we won't see them at Christmas. We bought her a couple of puzzles and one of the Veggie Tales silly song DVDs. I know all kids aren't alike, but Mia loved to dance along to the songs, so I hope Caitlin likes it just as much. We left shortly after Caitlin opened her gifts and luckily missed a lot of traffic. It was such a good trip and we are looking forward to seeing even more people at Christmas!

I know this isn't about Thanksgiving, but last night Matt and I went to see the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. They are awesome! Of course, they played their two most popular songs "Christmas in Sarajevo" and "Wizards in Wonderland." They had the show divided into two parts, half for their Christmas songs and half for their songs on their new album. They had lights that blinked along with the music, laser lights, moving stage parts and lights, smoke, and fire during their show. I'm so mad because I didn't take my camera. It said that cameras aren't allowed on the ticket and I didn't want to get ours taken away. There were tons of cameras there, and I'm not just talking about ones on cell phones. And I totally would have videoed some of the songs. I guess we'll just have to go back again! :) We could have stayed afterward to get the band's autographs, but it was already 10:30 when the show was over and we just aren't as young as we used to be! Matt is sleeping on the couch now, and has been for about an hour. Simba is snuggling with him, too. We're both very tired, but it was worth it!