Where did December go?

Hello! Yes we're still alive. I have never been absent from the blogging world that long. It's been a busy December so now that we're all back home and settled in here are some pictures from the holidays. I have videos, but a girl can only get so much done at a time.
Reese got this "Night Before Christmas" play set from her Oma and Opa. She really enjoyed playing with it for the few weeks before Christmas.

Obviously chocolate of some sort, but can't remember what it was. I'm going to guess a Hersey's kiss since she has mastered opening the fridge and getting them out herself.

Getting ready to bake cookies for Santa

Santa brought this kitchen and as soon as she saw it she got to work. She's IN LOVE with it

SO HAPPY!

When she saw it on Christmas morning she said (as softly as she could I think mostly from shock) "Santa brought me a kitchen"

Her first Cabbage Patch kid. Everything makes a comeback! Meet Baby Lily!

Thurman, just hanging out watching the madness next to his Mommy....yes he's a Mama's boy

Tearing into the toys

So excited for her UNO Moo game

So I got this fabulous idea to make home made cinnamon rolls for Christmas morning breakfast. I'm talking stayed up extra late on Christmas eve to get the dough to rise etc. and then hand rolled these bad boys the next morning. Nevermind the fact that one of the said rolls was probably my caloric intake for the month, but holy crap they were good. I impressed myself once again.

See the pool of melted butter....

I also didn't really pay attention to the amount the recipe made until I was rolling them out. It was enough to feed a small army. This is batch 3 and 4. I didn't eat them all, we sent some around the corner to our friends Julie and Kris. I also took some home to Kingwood

Moved into it's new home

So after putting Reese in her pj's for the night she decided on her own that it might be best to put back on her clothes. So here she is struggling to get on the second outfit.

That sums up our holidays in a crazy nutshell. Here's to a calmer January and 2010.

Ugly Christmas Sweater!

Tonight at Bunco it was Ugly Christmas Sweater night. I rocked my Goodwill $2.97 sweater and actually got compliments (sadly). Super fun night with my super fun friends. I love nights like this because I am always reminded of how lucky I am to have met such wonderful ladies in Corpus and to have made SUCH great friends.
My Ho's (I say this because Julie's shirt said "Where my Ho Ho's at?)

Ryan has a knack of taking unflattering pictures my thighs are not really that wide. It's a disease he suffers from. So this picture still doesn't do the entire sweater justice, however I think it holds all the essential tacky elements of a ugly sweater. I have gold tinsel, holly, sequins, bears, a rocking horse, blocks, trains, a Christmas tree and the kicker is the cowl neck top. I rocked this!

Thurman and Winter in Corpus

Our new dog Thurman. Good news, he's in LOVE with Reese and thankfully Reese LOVES him. They have so much fun together already. More to come later.
Thurman Murman...think the movie Bad Santa

Sleet building up on our driveway

Frost on the grass...this is about as winter in Corpus as I think we'll ever get

Thurman Nerman as Reese calls him.

Thanksgiving in Rewind!

What a week! Spent most of it in the car but such is life. First (Nov. 22nd) we hit the road to Seguin and saw Ryan's family for two days. Reese enjoyed her time with her Oma and Opa. We got to visit with the great-grandparents and Ryan's Omie had Reese figured out. She pulled out the old kitchen toys from when the boys were little. Reese had a field day cooking hot dogs and iced tea for Omie and Opie. When we saw Omie again on Monday for a family funeral, Reese remembered Omie right away and said she wanted to go to her house and cook. I think she made Omie's day.
We hit the road next and headed to Kingwood. Got to visit with the fun Gertz/Judson crew and Chips. We also of course saw Nana and Pop-pop and Grandma and Grandpa. Once again Reese kept them all entertained and we're all ready to see each other again in a few weeks for X-mas. Nana bought Reese some Elmo underwear and my child is in 7th heaven. Next it was off to College Station for the football game. We got to tailgate, see our friends, and hang out with that crazy Chips in the hotel room for the game. Leslie and I made it the entire first half before we had to turn off the TV and all the lights to try and get Reese to fall asleep.
Unfortunately our trip got cut short as we got a call from our house sitters that our water heater broke and flooded the house. We headed home Friday morning for day 5 in the car and did some damage control. We thankfully found a plumber Friday afternoon who had the water heater we needed so we were back in business. Yesterday we got the fans and dehumidifiers to dry out the place. We lost a bunch of Reese's books to water, but we'll hook her up with some new ones. Other than that we were REALLY lucky that our good friends cleaned up the water for us and were even checking on the house to let us know what had happened. I don't want to think about what would have happened if no one had been by. It would have been standing water for at least 2 days before we would have arrived home.
Reese made a bed for herself at MiMi's house.

Reese and Chewie. Sadly the day before Thanksgiving we had to put Chewie down. As some of you know she had gotten really sick, and was not getting any better despite all our efforts. She dropped ten pounds since Oct. and was just not herself. It was really hard but she's not suffering anymore.

What happens when you ask your two year old to smile for the family Christmas picture.

The current state of my house. Baseboards are gone and we're in the "drying out" process. It POURED today. I'm talking monsoon. Notice I am also utilizing the fans to dry off my shoes. Might as well kill two birds with one stone.

The Dehumidifier. Come to my house this week and you're have AWESOME hair days.

The blowers!