15 Days!

Holy Cow! I can't believe it has been 15 days since my last post. I'm sure by now, if anyone is even left reading, that you thought I had either abandoned blog land, been hospitalized or been incarcerated. But alas, life has simply been really busy, but in a good way. I'll try hit on some of the big points without typing a post of epic proportions.

First of all, I have actually made my return to subbing. After months of not accepting a job I took several in the last couple of weeks. They were all at my old school so it was really good to see some familiar faces again. Also, I am considering accepting a long term sub position at my old school from mid-April through the end of the year. It would be for 3rd grade and that would be completely awesome! I'm also considering returning to full time teaching next fall. So, my mind has been pretty busy with all of these considerations.

General life got in the way too. Shopping, cleaning, helping my parents, and of course, picking up a little bug and being sick for a weekend. Oh, I also baked 5 different kinds of cookies and bars, including my first attempt at making gingerbread cookies. Can you believe I have been on the planet this long and never made gingerbread? Well, I guess I can now cross that off my list of things to do.

We also had another visit for our home study. Basically we just went over all of the paperwork we have to do and documents that need to be assembled, as well as the home inspection. There is so much more to say that I will have to save it for another post, but don't worry, it's all good.

And Christmas. Boy, did we do Christmas! Eric, Kari, Ashley and Ryan came to visit last Friday and stayed until Sunday. We did a family dinner thing at my parent's house that night. On Saturday my mom, Kari, Ashley and I went for manicures and pedicures. Well, Ashley just had her nails painted. Green with green sparkles. It was really attractive. The rest of us went a little more mainstream. After getting back to my parent's house I helped a little there before heading home to where Brian, Eric, Kari and the kids were. My cousin Catherine and her husband Daniel were visiting Arizona from Texas and they stopped in for a visit. It was great to see them since it has been about a year. That evening we had our big family Christmas celebration complete with a ham dinner on the good china in the dining room. Later we had our gift exchange. The next day after everyone left we cleaned up the house and did the shopping for the next phase of Christmas.

On Christmas Eve we went to church with my parents and then returned to our house for a nice dinner of rib eyes. Afterwards we exchanged gifts and then called it a night quite late. One of our gifts was a totally cool Cuisinart food processor, which we are really excited to have. Oh, and by the way, my Braces Bunch secret santa is completely wonderful! The gift I received had quite a place of prominence on our Christmas Eve dinner table.

Brian and I slept in on Christmas Day before opening presents and making a nice brunch. He liked all of the gifts I got him, including the ipod docking station and particularly the talking "Michael Scott" bobblehead. He got me a Sampsonite Spinner suitcase that I have really wanted. He also got me a gift certificate for some golf lessons along with some pink and purple golf balls. Funny thing is that he bought me a set of golf clubs a couple of years ago and I have no idea how to play! We also got lots of books and dvds and other fun things. In the afternoon we went to visit Brian's grandparents for a little while since his grandma was feeling well enough to join us for our Christmas Eve festivities. Later we drove to my cousin Christy's house in Phoenix for their Christmas Day Chili Fest Open House. My other cousin, Catherine, makes a mean Texan chili as well as a vegetarian variation, and we just had to partake. In fact, below you can see a picture of the infamous chili, and Catherine, who has been jonesing for an appearance on my blog. Isn't she adorable?

And today, the day after Christmas, was a great day. I got to sleep in, then met some friends for lunch and went shopping after. This means that tomorrow I need to pack for our trip to California. Did I mention that we are heading out of town again? We are staying with Brian's parents and will be doing the Christmas thing with all of them. Brian's sister and her family are moving to Alaska next week so it will be our last chance to see them for a while. Anyway, we are going to stay until New Year's Day. However, I will do my best to post before we go (remember, I have adoption stuff to chat about) and I will also be bringing my laptop with me.
And here is our sweet Molly Pie who also found some fun stuff from Santa in her stocking too.