on thursday chad and i went over to moms work to meet up with her for lunch. jill and the kids came too. at her work we all decided to cram into jills van- it was quite packed! we had a lot of fun chatting and playing with the kids.
like sardines
on thursday chad and i went over to moms work to meet up with her for lunch. jill and the kids came too. at her work we all decided to cram into jills van- it was quite packed! we had a lot of fun chatting and playing with the kids.
christmas
christmas day is always a challenge. as a family we open gifts before christmas day, so it often become a very boring day because almost everything is closed. this year we found a way to fix that! tim and jill invited us over to their place for brunch. we all went over, grandma as well, and enjoyed tims pancakes, french toast, sausages, etc. we had a lot of fun watching the kids play with their mountain of new toys. when we got home i decided to head out to the movie theater. i saw 'the assassination of jesse james...' on the way out of the theater that night i even got to see a couple old friends as they were coming in. it was fun to catch up with them again and hear how their christmas was going.
when i got home my mom and i played games together (my dad was a poor sport and didnt want to play. oh well...).
the sweetest gifts
some of the best things i got for christmas were gifts from the kids. they are getting old enough to want to participate themselves. they see their mom and dad giving gifts and wanted to be part of the fun. so, they made me a gift. i received a very special colored page of a rescue heroes coloring book, and a mouse hand puppet made from a paper bag. they are so adorable- i love them!
time to open prizes!
on christmas eve we got together as a family and opened our gifts. in years past we have sometimes gone to church at 6pm or 11pm, but it was just going to be the same service as on sunday, so we decided to just get together at my folks place instead. we also figured we would take the easy route for food and just ordered some pizza. after everyone was here and the food was eaten, we headed downstairs for the gifts. it was fun to do it down there this year, there was plenty of room for everyone, and places to sit too, which hasnt always been the case in years past...
soon the fun began! we took turns opening gifts, we started with the kids then worked our way up to mom and dad, and repeated as necessary. it was a blast, as usual! the kids loved their gifts, and we would often have to stop everything because one of them wanted the package open so they could play with it immediately (not that i can blame them). i was able to give out some fun gifts this year. my dad has always loved the godfather movies, so this year i got him a behind-the-scenes book about the film, as well as the box set of the movies. he loved it. mom got some willow tree stuff, chad got a cd and stuff, and tim and jill were happily surprised by the gift of a photo printer. the kids loved their toys too- i got jackson a transformer. i figured its never too early to teach a child what a good toy is. i got some great stuff too, including a couple wii games. awesome!by the time it was over the kids were exhausted (as were the rest of us), and each of us got some really fun stuff. but more importantly, we got to spend some great time together and show our love and appreciation.
two for the show
this break i have been catching up a bit on my movie watching. a lot. in fact, ive gone to see a movie almost every night so far, and i hope to continue this pace for the rest of break. ive written about most of them so far, and ill add on as i see more, but this is the list so far. click on them to skip on a title to the short reviews/thoughts about them i wrote in the movie part of the blog:let it snow
man, the weather was so crazy here sunday night! the snow and wind were out of control! over the course of the night we got 6-10 inches of snow, and the wind was blowing at 50 mph or more. we had to drive to a christmas party that night, and boy, it was some of the worst conditions ive seen in years. the roads were almost totally ice, and sight distance was really limited. we made it there and back safely, but i was worried more than once that i was going to need to get out and dig us out of a ditch.when i got home i shoveled the driveway. it was really easy because the snow was so fluffy and light. by morning it didnt matter that i shoveled because the wind and the continued snowfall erased any evidence of the work i had done.
moral of the story: dont shovel your driveway.
the gang's all here
sunday night we got together with my moms side of the family for christmas. i always look forward to this party. my uncles and aunts and cousins have always got along great, and so we always have a great time together. last year i was disappointed because i had to miss it. they had it on a thursday night and i still had to work on friday so i wasnt able to be up here for it. so, for some of my relatives it had been two years since i saw them last, and thats just too long.we, as an extended family, have moved on over the past few years. what i mean by this is that we have moved on to the next generation. enough of my cousins have been having kids that our party has moved on to them. no longer do i or my cousins get gifts, rather, all their kids do now. i actually enjoy that chance. it turns the focus on them and actually allows us to just sit back and talk to each other and catch up. i got to talk to a couple cousins, jason and jeremy, who i havent heard from in far too long. another fun thing was that my brother was there. its the first time in about 5 years hes been around for christmas because hes in the military, so it was cool to have him there.
ahh, i love my family...
a christmas tradition: verve pipe
for the past few years the band 'verve pipe' has been playing a show the saturday night before christmas at a the intersection in grand rapids. of course, i go every year. last year i ended up going by myself and for the life of me i cant remember why...this year jeffry lee, aaron, and bethany came along. we got there around 11pm and they soon got on stage. the room was totally packed and everyone was there to have a good time, the band included. right from the first note i could tell that this was going to be a good one. all the players were meshing well, and seemed almost giddy to be up there playing together. the banter was hilarious and the love they had for playing for the home crowd was obvious. they played their hits, some oldies, some obscure ones, and a few fun covers. one of the best parts of the live show is griff. hes not really a part of the band, but he always comes out and plays the harmonica along with them- and boy does he play! he works that thing with so much ferocious energy that you cant help but smile and cheer. they even had a back up brass section of four guys playing trumpets and trombones. there was even a wicked sweet clarinet solo. you may be asking yourself 'is that even possible?!?' well, let me tell you: yes, yes it is.
we all four had a great time. at the merch table i got a pleasant surprise: two new live bootleg recordings of brian vander ark, the lead singer, and a new recording by the verve pipe! granted, it was only four christmas songs, but who cares? its something new by one of my favorite bands!
after the show we were feeling a bit hungry, so we headed over to steak and shake. everyone was in a great mood and we had some hilarious conversations. after food i went back over to jeffs place. we sat and talked a bit, and before i knew it, it was 4am! sunday church was going to come way to early...grab your ear!
the last day before christmas break we always take the kids bowling, and this year was no exception. they always have a great time- weather its bowling, or spending all their money on candy from the vending machines, they all find something to keep them busy.a few of us adults also played a game or two. i just played one game, but i did fairly well. i think all that time spent playing wii bowling is paying off...
sing it, girl!
thursday night i went with a friend to a christmas party downtown chicago. it was at a really nice bar called rizas. it was a pretty fancy place, it even had a piano player in the bar area. they had a room reserved for the party, so we headed back. i didnt really know anyone, so i wasnt exactly sure what to expect.after we were seated they brought around some pitas and hummus, which was excellent, as was the rest of the meal. at first it was a bit of a dead party, but as the night continued, so did the liveliness.
by the end of the night, party members were belting out mo-town tunes from the karaoke machine! there was even a woman who did a hilarious spot-on impression of tina turner. finally, out of interest of having a bearable friday, we headed out.
its true what they say...
everything really is bigger in texas. last weekend i flew down to houston texas to go to a graduation. i rented a car (a cobalt, which really sucked, but at least it had gps, so that was cool) and headed over to the city of college station. i got there super late, but it seemed that the party had just begun. we ended up heading to bed around 4:00am, which was quite stupid considering we had a 6:30am wake up time. like a zombie i got ready and we headed to the indoor arena on the texas a&m campus. we got seats, then i proceeded to bob in and out of sleep for the next two hours.
of the 800 people who were graduating, the person i came to see was seventh to the last. of course. eventually it was done and we headed over to the graduation open house. it was fun to meet all the family. they were all super nice, especially their uncle john. he had a hilarious sense of humor, which was gloriously enhanced by his strong texas accent!next: nap time, thankfully! it didnt last long, because it was time to roll out and find a place to eat. we ate some really great texas food (i had a strange baked potato with brisket beef. it was easily twice the size of my head), then headed back to the house. just as i was comfortably settling in for the night and an early sleep, everyone decided it was time to head out for a night on the town. i was already exhausted, but as they say, 'when in texas...'
we stopped at a strange place called 'whataburger' on the way back. they have the weirdest restaurants in texas, i swear... then it was off to the sweat release of much deserved sleep. aaaah...sunday we got up and packed, after all, we still had a two hour drive back to houston to catch our flight! we met up with anna and pram for a tasty meal, then dropped by susans to say goodbye. finally we made it to the airport after dropping off the car. the flight back was very quick. for some reason it only felt like it took about twenty minutes. oh, maybe thats because i passed out for most of it. we returned to chicago with six inches of snow to greet us, 'welcome back, enjoy scrapping off your car sucker!' i finally made it home around 1:30am and knew that monday was going to be tough. oh, but it was so worth it!
ill be sure not to mess with it
next weekend i hop on a plane for the first time in quite a while. im heading down to texas, and im not entirely sure what to expect. ive heard it was about 80 degrees this weekend, so at least my feet will thaw out...
chily zoo
last night we headed to chicago to check out the holiday festivities that were happening at the brookfield zoo. it was really cold, but figured it might be worth checking out. it was pretty cool, down all the walkways there were different christmas trees decorated by assorted companies, schools, and kids activity groups. one i thought was pretty funny was a tree decorated by a highway maintenance company- it was covered in 'caution' yellow tape and orange ribbons! we walked through the different animal buildings. we checked out the elephants and hippos, which i felt bad for having to be in such small areas, but we figured it was better then being outside in the 30 degree weather! at one point there was a synchronized tree light show while they played a great old frank sinatra christmas tune. they also had a lazer light show that was kind of silly. the whole time i kept having this feeling like they should be playing pink floyd or something...
one of the coolest things there for the holiday event was a guy who made ice sculptures. when we first walked by he was starting to make a butterfly out of a three foot tall block of ice. the ones he had already made, a deer and a dragon, were amazing! we didnt quite freeze to death, but it was touch-and-go for a minute there...
even with the cold weather it was a fun time.
thanksgiving
this thanksgiving i headed home to be with the family, and had a great time. the night before thanksgiving i met up with jeffry lee, aaron and bethany, aarons bro, sis, step-sis, and all their respective other halfs. jeffry lee and i werent really up for going out too much, but we went anyway and headed to gardellas. the place was so packed we had to wait outside for about 15 minutes before they let us in. we ended up having a good enough time (well, when kevin wasnt forcing the juke box to play annoying death metal).thanksgiving morn we all got up bright and early and headed to my sister and brother-in-laws church. then we went over to their house and had a great thanksgiving breakfast (strange, i know, but it was fun). after that the guys headed out to go see beowulf in 3d. later that night i went and picked up a friend from the train station and we grabbed a bite to eat.
we bumped our thanksgiving dinner to friday this year, so on friday evening we all gathered in our basement (which was a strange change of scenery, but very accommodating considering the large number of people who would have had to fit around the dining room table). that night we met up with the guys and went to go see 'hitman' and hang out at fridays together. saturday evening was a great time. we hung out with my sister and brother-in-law. they got a babysitter, and we headed downtown for a fun night- with only adults! we went to bulls head tavern and had a great meal, and even better conversation. we eventually headed back to their place and played some cards. they taught us a new card game called 'pennies' which is kind of like phase 10, but with normal cards. we had a great time!
sunday, after church and dinner, we headed back home. i got home round 6:00, and hit the bed around 7:00! the holidays are a blast to be around friends and family, but they sure are exhausting!
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