Christmas "Wrap" up

Well friends...we have let you down for about two weeks. Neither Matt or I have made a post in forever so it is about time to do some catching up. To detail EVERYTHING we did in the past two weeks would be a big pain in the butt and more than you want to read I am sure so I will attempt to make a quick re-cap. Hopefully it won't be too long but I am betting it will be...I hope you all had a great Christmas and a restful time with family and friends and away from work.

1. We went to my grandparents house on the 21st to celebrate Christmas and more importantly, my Grandpa's birthday. At Thanksgiving, I had been telling my grandma about our Bible Study Ugly Sweater party and she thought that was a wonderful idea so we implemented it this year at our family Christmas. Deanna was in town so she joined in on the fun and we bought not just ugle sweaters, but ugly outfits for the party...but alas we didn't win. Matt won with his ugly fall sweater.

In case you cant tell in the pic, Deanna and I are wearing matching poinsettia turtlenecks, she is wearing a sweater skirt with rhinestones outlining the slit in the skirt, and I have one of those fashionable gypsy skirts with a beautiful blazer. You could fit like 3 people in my skirt.

My grandma got me a tea set for Christmas! I dont know if it was a family heirloom or something from a antique store.

2. Deanna and I made a gingerbread house while she was visiting.


3. Matt, Shay and I helped my mom decorate her Christmas tree and I finally got to watch Elf for the first time ever!!! I didn't stay at our Elf party to watch it and I kept missing it on television but finally we rented it from COX and watched it Christmas Eve night. It just so happened to end at midnight to ring in Christmas morning. Maybe that will be a new tradition.

The best way to spread Christmas cheer, is singing loud for all to hear!"

4. On Christmas morning, mom and Shay came over to open presents with us. We had already let Lucy pull her things out of her stocking, however, she didn't really get it this year like last year. Santa brought Jack some albacore tuna and kitty treats and Lucy lots of toys and beef stew dinner. Im sure that is just what they asked for :) As for us, we took a picture of most of our loot. Not pictured, however, is the flat screen TV that my mom gave us early. Thanks again mom! I guess we made the nice list this year!!!

I guess I forgot to take a picture of Matt and his presents. Oops!

Lucy enjoy's her rack of ribs squeaky toy.

George even got new furniture too. We got him a new tree to climb on.

5. The next morning we set out for Houston to spend time with Matt's family. On Sunday we joined 70,000 other Houstonians at Reliant Stadium to cheer on the Texans! This year, John got us seats on the bottom level and it was really cool to be that close to the field. The weather was unusually cold that day and it was also rainy. We thought we would end up in the rain so against my will, we decided not to wear our afros and face paint. I was pretty bummed about this because I wanted to look silly this time and see if they would put us on the big screen. Oh well, life has more important things than afros and face paint. Nevertheless, we had lots of fun and escaped the rain by one row (Hurricane Ike messed up the roof and it has to stay open until they get it fixed).On the walk back to the car, we saw this kid whose parents thought he would look good with a mullet...poor kid!

We had Christmas the day before:

This is a candy snake that Matt;s mom gave him...kind of morbid to see him eating it!

Monica got a new wedding ring for a late 30 year anniversary present.

6. On that Tuesday, Matt and I went to the mall and I bought LOTS AND LOTS of new clothes!! They had some really good deals and I was in the market for new professional attire for my new job. All Matt wanted to get was one pair of jeans :) After all that hard work shopping and all, I got to end the day with a one hour massage that Monica bought me for Christmas. It was very relaxing and made me wish I was rich so that I could go once/week. One day maybe :) Matt and Deanna received a massage that day as well. And for dinner, we went to Ginghis Grill. It is basically Mongolian barbeque on steroids. I loved it! I will be making a re-visit there next time we are in Houston.



7. On New Year's Eve we went to the Houston Museum of Science to the Body Worlds 2: and the Brain-Our 3 Pound Gem. It was pretty awesome! I thought it would be like science class but it was more artistic than I expected. Unfortunately we couldn't take any pictures so you will have to see the exhibit for yourself one day. We got some pretty awesome souvenirs though. Matt bought 2 keychains that were clear midsections of a woman's body with a fetus inside the belly for gag gifts for Christmas next year and John bought a jello mold in the shape of a brain. Remember this when you go to an exchange party with us next year. You might end up with one! We also saw an IMAX on the Grand Canyon in 3D. It was the first one in 3D that I have ever seen before. It was neat and luckily I dont get motion sickness. Later that evening, we rang in the new year with the Eppink's and ate way too much food. We used the jello mold to make brain jello for our party that night! Matt and I were even crowned chapions of Eat It! (a trivial pursuit like game all about snacks and sweets).

This is a periodic table made out of glass bricks and inside each element is something that it is used to make that we commonly use for the most part. We are going to do this in Matt's office one day when we own a house!

The Brain Jello...num num num...

8. Last Saturday, we took Lucy to play with Sudi (her boxer twin in Houston) and their new boxer, Bruno. Bruno and Sudi kept trying to lick Lucy's mouth the entire time we were there. The dogs had a grand ole time until towards the end when Lucy got into Sam's lap (Sudi and Bruno's dad) and then the girls got into it pretty bad. Sudi got jealous!! They made up at the end but it was ugly for a minute.

Bruno wanted to be Lucy's Houston boyfriend!!

9. I ate Brussel sprouts and liked them! John loves them so I made roasted brussel sprouts for his bday and decided to be brave and try one but I ended up loving them too. So much, that I have already bought some here at home to make soon :) Who would have thought that would happen!

10. Finally in between all the shopping, eating, events, games and family fun, I got to do a lot of knitting! I got several books for Christmas so I was trying out all kinds of new stiches and I tought myself how to knit a beanie in preparation for the one I promised to make for Matt soon. I also made a scarf for Shay in the car to Houston and one for me mom while I was there. And now I have made a grandma out of my sister-in-law Deanna as well. I tought her how to knit as well and she learned on the first try. She is definately more crafty than she gives herself credit!
We had a great time in Houston and glad we could stay so long. Now that we are back, I have started my new job and am busy helping at the church and getting ready to clean the house up from the Christmas season. It will have to wait until this weekend though becuase the BCS game is much more important and we are also going to go see the Rockets and Thunder on Friday. It looks like everyone had a great holiday season and I promise not to slack off this much again for a while...lets hope not anyway because I dont like making these marathon posts!

We visited Matt's grandpa and grandma at their new place. They recently moved to an assisted living home in Houston so Monica could take care of them easier. We took his grandpa out to Taco Bell one day because it is his favorite restaurant (Katie would appreciate this)!