JINGLE BASH

Tuesday Night Chris came home from work and said we're going out to eat. When I got home from school at noon there was no snow, when he got home there was a ton. We had a surprise for Isabela, and I know she knew something was up because she was going to go in her sweats, and when Chris told her to change pants, she was like "OK seriously guys what is going on?" We tried to play it off and Chris was like, "I really want Chipotle." We told her we were going to eat in Merriville. Well now I'm thinking, "Crap she really knows something now because we never go out to eat in this weather." So it's taking us over an hour and we tell her that it's gonna take longer because we are only going 6MPH. So about another 30 minutes we think we are getting close and she is looking at road signs and she is hungry and after every sign she says, "still no Merrivilleexits?" Now we are in Chicago, only it's so ugly outside you can hardly see the car next to you so the give-away city was not a factor. Finally I ask her to get the envelope out of the pocket behind my seat, and pull a ticket out of it and hand it to her----She is psyched to learn she is going to B96, Pepsi Max Jingle Bash with David Archuletta, Jesse McCartney and Rhianna with special guest - Chris Brown! Can I just say that it was VERY, VERY HARD keeping this secret! anyway.. enjoy the photos.

300th Post! And Updates

Exciting News! This is our 300th post to this blog. Really climbing those charts.

In other, equally as exciting news I'm sure, FINALS ARE DONE WITH! Though my classes are finished I still have homework- I never did finish that take home 2 page essay for history, so the teacher was nice enough to give me until Sunday night to email it to her. She Rocks.

I did not post that I think like a week in a half, two weeks ago Chris got in an accident while on a business trip to Michigan. Today he got official notice from work that they will not pay for anything, and they sent him to a website of corporate policies that says you should not drive your personal vehicles for business...but yet they have been paying him mileage for the past year for driving his own vehicle... nobody could have said anything sooner??

This week has been a bust on dinner s you can tell... ????????'s in the dinner box. I have been so busy with school work and work that the house been a little more than slightly neglected the past two weeks....so grocery shopping has not been done, and we have spent a large amount of cash (or debit actually) on fast food, and my stomach is feeling it. I'm not a huge fast food fan anyway, so this week has been horrible. Tonight I didn't even want to eat dinner because it involved fast food. Tomorrow will also because I work 10:15 - 6:15 and I don't want to go grocery shopping all the way across town at 8 in the AM.

It's all most over...

This is my last week of classes this semester. I am so busy! With work, school, Volunteering and having a teenager. :)Actually she is pretty easy, much better than a baby...but I'm so ready for a break all the same. I requested new years and that weekend off from work and got scolded last night by my boss. but...hopefully I'll get it off anyway so I can join the family party in TN. I'm to the point where I'm so tired of being made to feel guilty for requesting time off that I think it would be easier to just find another job. I think I am going to make the 31st a vacation day (since I am loosing 8 hours anyway), the 1st we are closed, and then Friday, and Saturday can be like my normal two days off....since it is finals week and I've been working full-time hours because we are short staffed, I'm so stressed with everything that my face is breaking out, my house is a disaster zone (though chris tries to tidy up every now and again), and my 2 page essay for history- due thursday- has not even been thought about. (and now spell check is not working, so sorry for any mistakes)

Two Well Shucks...

Well Shucks...So I had my audition last Tuesday...I got a letter in the mail Friday... I didn't get the part... ah well... I'll try again later, something else is bound to pop-up.

Well Shucks...Chris and I had a couple hours to ourselves while Isabela had a performance for a staff party for somewhere. So, we went to the Casino- first time since August... and I lost 20 bucks. Chris only lost 10 though. It was a blast however, so thirty bucks well spent to us.

Catching up! Part 1 of 4

We Love you guys!!! We had a date to meet Candice and Sandy at the Ponderosa in Warsaw.. unfortunately, there is no Ponderosa, so we ate at Golden Corral. They are a blast! We love them to pieces and enjoy every moment we get to visit with them. Good luck with another year in Romania Sandy!

w.Candice


w.Sandy

Chris spotted a candy machine with huge gumballs and had to get one! They are very big and it was 50cents.

Just to note: My vacation was GREAT! I can totally get used to only having classes and house to tend to. It was amazing! Most relaxing week of my life. Also, we skipped on the movie at Barker mansion because we got busy, and they did not know for sure that the movie we wanted to watch was playing.

Isabela's performance that night was BRRR.... very cold outside! There was a fire and a chili cook-off... however after the performance... we jetted to the car for the family Christmas Party...

Catching up! Part 2

Ring-a-ding-ding!
Every year Chris and I ring bells for the Salvation Army. This year we got to invite Isabela to share in the Christmas ringing magic. Last year we were by the doors, and it was cold and we collected a whole of change... This year they moved the kettle inside, it was much warmer but we failed to see as much traffic here then last year. If we had to ring any longer we were going to move the bucket stand by the doors we were at last year. We brought our own little props to decorate the area, and Chris became a model for JC Penny...

Playing Catch Up! Part 3

Pictures from the family party!

Playing Catch Up! Part 4

We had my families children's Christmas Party on Sunday. It was exciting because we spent the night at the hotel in Warren and hung out with the girls for a few. Then that morning, we picked up Austin and brought him to the hotel to swim for a little while with the girls. Mom, Casi and I went to do a little last minute shopping at WalMart, then we met the others at East of Chicago Pizza. Then we went back to Casi's and opened gifts...

Here is what we got:


A beautiful sweater to wear to work.

... a HUGE inflatable Colts chair... .. two colts folding chairs....

.. a colt's nightlight, a Colt's wreath and a colt's coffee mug.

I got gorgeous jewelry, a silver bracelet and earrings - my birthstone.

We both got DHS Vikings socks... I got pink house slippers... .. Chris got three shirts, each with a matching tie...

.. We also got this Recipe Manager program so we don't have to keep all of our recipe's in a notebook, and we also got new silicone baking wear.

... Ashley picked out these wonderful cards that have Miracle on 34th Street DVD's in them.

... we also got a 5 piece luggage set... and the gift we really needed...

A COMPUTER MONITOR!!!!!

Thanks Fam! We had a wonderful time with you and we sure did enjoy opening so many gifts!

Oh Christmas Tree, oh Christmas Tree...

It took a lot of work, but we finally got it! Well...sorta.

You may remember me mentioning that the tree is too tall for our apartment. So we originally left the top off, but it just looked sliced, so Chris took it all apart, took the big bottom off and moved it down one level. Now the top piece just barely fits. It rubs against the ceiling slightly. What you can barely tell in the photo is that the tree leans now. The pole does not fit right since they are out of sequence, and we got tired of trying to straighten it out, now it just leans towards us.

I got my workout just holding the tree parts while we swapped the bottom one out.



Tigger had her mind on the tree too...

So, during half time this past Sunday, we both took a nap and woke up about two minutes into the third quarter. I was working on Christmas Cards during commercials too..

We usually put this in the front room in front of the door at the house in Kokomo, but since we no longer have that big 'ole house we quickly learned, it can not be blown up inside this year... sorry little guys, cold wind and snow for you later this week...

Here Chris is trying to fix our little Leaning Tree of MC...

Chris love Tigger, Tigger love Chris - They always play together then Chris gives the he/she cat a good petting.

How Cute!?!

Her Prayers Have Stopped...

Finally!

Isabela has decided she no longer likes the cold that comes with the snow. Which means she can stop praying for it, and hopefully it will stop coming..?? She came in the house from her walk home from the bus stop and said, "it's not nice and romantic and happy like in the movies." She likes the snow, just not the coldness. Same here, it is very pretty when it first falls, pretty until it gets all dirty from being walked on, driven on, and tossed on to the curbs. It's nice when there is no wind, like I was seriously thinking about going for a run this morning. There is snow on the ground but it was still kinda warm I guess (20ish) with no wind. But I decided to finish my homework.

It's Britney Time

...I bought tickets to the Britney Spears World Tour stop in Chicago yesterday. Let's be honest, you all had to have seen this coming. Chris, Lara - and Britney less than hour away and us not go see her....You Must Be Crazy....

From this performance on Good Morning America...


To This....

I was surprised that the tickets were so affordable. Some were $345 each, I guess not that affordable, but ours were affordable at 39.50 each, seats are in section 215, 5 rows in. High of course, but we are growing fond to sitting in the nose bleed seats now, they actually are starting to feel a lot like the front row. :::Singing::: Go Britney, Go Britney, It's Your Birthday, Go Britney - so yesterday was her birthday, aw well.