When I first starting blogging my goal was to blog once every week or once every other week. Then, when Kris started school, my goal was to blog everyday. Haha! Well, we have seen the fruits of that wishful thinking! I was doing pretty good with the bi-weekly updates until November. That was my really long way of saying, "Hey guys! Haven't talked to you in awhile!!" Now on to the more important things...
November was a fairly busy month, especially at the end, and a roller coaster ride of emotions. The Tuesday before Thanksgiving South Hamilton's kindergarten classes put on a little musical production. They sang like 5 or 6 songs and dressed up like Indians and Pilgrims. So adorable!! Kristi was a girl pilgrim and looked so cute:
My pilgrim and "her" Andy
Kristi did such a great job. I was very proud of her! I took a videos for each song because they were so cute! Here's a couple of them:
I'm a Little Turkey
The Turkey Pokey
If You're Thankful and You Know It
Thanksgiving was awesome! Kris spent Thanksgiving with her father this year so that was a bummer but we all went down to Andy's sister's. It was so much fun spending time, grubbing, and playing games. We had an amazing array of food: turkey, stuffing (in and out of the bird!), deviled eggs, homemade pumpkin rolls, mashed potatoes, and lots more. After prayer and much eating, everyone went into the living room to sleep off the tryptophan (yes, I realize that you'd have to eat a crap ton in order for it to actually make you sleepy)! After naps, we had dessert while the some of the boys played Wii with Sophie and the rest of us played Yahtzee and Apples to Apples (of which Ellie won). After that, we played a new game called Curses. This game was hilarious! At one point, I had to pretend my arms were only 2 inches long and my wrists had to touch my chest at all times. Let me just tell you how difficult it is to do things, i.e. get water, etc., with having your wrists touching your chest! Matt had to give himself bunny ears every time he wanted to speak. But the funniest one yet was Andy's. He had multiple curses so he had to swat at invisible mosquitoes while talking like Dracula. He did a really great impression (he totally should've been an actor!). It was even funnier when he got his challenge card and had to accept a Tony Award while doing both curses!
We spent the rest of the night hanging out talking and watching movies. All in all a really fantastic time. Andy and I spent the night and went Black Friday shopping with Ellie. We had a great time shopping with her and found some really awesome deals. I do have to say that I wasn't so impressed with the deals this year as in previous years but it was still fun. :-) I would usually have an array of pictures to share except that I forgot my camera (I know... I forgot my camera?!)!! Here's the few shots I got (and the few I copied from Shari):
The Dracula speaking, mosquito swatting, Tony Award winning Andy!
Uncle and niece!
The most fabulous homemade pumpkin roll...EVER!
Laughing so hard I was crying!
Hello bunny!
Sophie the Red-Nosed reindeer
Dessert... Now that's what I'm talking about!!
Now on to the emotional roller coaster... The week before Thanksgiving I found out some really awesome news and was very excited about it. That Saturday and the ensuing days that news quickly had a horrible turnout, which was confirmed that Tuesday. Needless to say, going from the high of excitement to the low of lows was not fun. It's still hard but I'm taking things one day at a time.
Everywhere I look I see beautiful Christmas decorations and nothing makes me happier!! This is my absolute favorite time of year but not for the same reasons as most. I love decorating, wrapping, and giving presents. Nothing warms my heart more than taking a drive through the neighborhood at night and seeing all the beautiful lights! I'm more excited about this year because it's the first Christmas in our new house together and Kristi will be here as well! Yay! A couple of days before Thanksgiving we decided to decorate our Christmas tree. We usually do it the day after Thanksgiving or that Saturday but since Kris was with her father for the holidays, we did it a little early. It was a lot of fun and much easier for Kristi to help this year. It only took us about 1 1/2 to get everything up, including restringing the lights (it has a whopping 700 lights!!). Unfortunately, Andy hurt his shoulder so he couldn't help but still chimed in :-) Here's a couple of the photos:
Birthday suit!
Most of the ornaments
700 lights later...
Adjusting our makeshift topper
Yes... we do this in our PJ's with Christmas music
All finished!
Since Christmas is my absolute favorite holiday, I just had to get Kristi her own tree for her bedroom. We found a purple one super cheap at Big Lots that matches her room perfectly!
Silver balls and mini ornaments
All decorated
She was so excited to have a new "night-light" that's so pretty! Andy and I decided to start a tradition by purchasing a new ornament for our tree each year. We're going to do this for Kristi too so that whenever she moves out and has her own tree, she'll have a start with good memories. We went to Snavely's on Sunday afternoon with Andy's parents to look for ornaments. We found a bunch of ornaments and one in particular had the most meaning for Andy and I than any of the others we looked at:
Kristi's ornament
Our ornament
We even found mini ornaments for Kristi's tree that she loves:
Kristi's glass cupcakes
I got the outside of the house decorated completely and totally finished. We got the wreaths and swags up:
It took me close to 3 hours to get all the lights on the outside up and lit (part of that was leaving twice to get an extension cord and outside timer for them upon which I had to return the timer because it wasn't working right):
Saturday night we bundled up and braved the cold to go hang at Dutch Wonderland for their Winter Wonderland. Although it was really, really cold, it was absolutely beautiful!! We had a great time with the Echterling and future Mazzulla families! I didn't get many pictures because about 10 minutes in my camera batteries died and of course, I forgot to bring an extra pair!
Beautifully decorated entrance
She was so excited that she was an amber this year!
My mountain man love and I all bundled up
This was timed to music... So cool!!
The gang minus Megan, Andy, and I
Attempting to buckle herself in
And this is the point where my camera died. Ugh!! Anyway... we had a great time. About half way through we stopped at the cafe to grab a bite to eat. The food was a little pricey but really good!
Okay... so I think I've caught you up to speed. See, this is why I need to blog every week or at the very least bi-weekly because these updates get long if I don't. Until next time... Many blessings!!
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