-Beth & I salvaged a Gingerbread House. Beth had allowed Brian and the boys to decorate the house she had bought. She trusted that her architect husband would turn it into a beauty. He decided to let the boys be creative and do whatever they wanted. It ended up looking like a bit of a mess, of course, but it was theirs! Beth, however, still wanted the perfect house, so she called for help! I went over and while the boys were napping, we scraped off everything they had done and started from scratch. We had a lot of fun and it turned out pretty cute. I went back the next day to help build the mountains and tobagons! I sure wish I'd gotten a picture of the back of the house....the "birch" wreath I made back there rocked!!
-Went over to Michelle's house to see all the work she's done over the past year. It looked great! She has done some really cool things with pictures she has taken during all her various trips...I think I got a couple of ideas from her! We talked for a while and she gave me my "party favor" she had made to give at the brunch I missed due to my cancelled flight -- toffee!
-I met Julie and Amber and we got Starbucks and went to look at Christmas lights. I took Michelle's toffee to share and Amber and Julie both had made goodies...we had lots of yummy stuff! We were a little bit disappointed in the lights this year (recession??), but had fun driving around some pretty neighborhoods and gawking at huge homes. This was also my first time to drive by the Bush's house. We were shocked at how normal and small it looked...it was later that I learned it is much larger than it looks from the front.
-Christmas with the Cousins! We went over to Susie's house this year to celebrate Christmas on the Tuesday night before. Susie is the one who is a cousin to both my mom and my dad. We had a delicious dinner of spinach lasagna that Susie had made. I made some Fruit Salsa and cinnamon tortilla chips to take...yummy stuff!
Ryder, opening a gift from Susie's fam
The boys playing with their
Jake & Bella opening their gifts
It was Bella's birthday, so she had lots of gifts!
Bella, shy to be modeling her
-Mom, Beth and I hit some of the after Christmas sales on Friday. Love that day for shopping!! We started out at Wisteria, which was a new experience for me. Wisteria is a catalog company, but they have a warehouse in Dallas that has excellent stuff and some of it is very, very cheap. I didn't buy anything, but if I had a house in Dallas, man would I have fun in that store! We also hit up Crate & Barrel, Container Store, William Sonoma, and Pottery Barn. Crate & Barrel had tons of free yummy food floating around, so that was a fun surprise. Beth and I both bought several things there.
-I spent a night with Ryder & Beau while B&B had a date night. Beth thought they were going to an early movie and then dinner...Brian surprised her with a night at a trendy hotel in Dallas. She was SO surprised! I had a great night with the boys...it was hot so we got to play outside! Ryder says the sweetest things. I was getting juice for Beau in the kitchen and Ryder wheeled in on one of the bikes and stopped and watched me for a sec and then completely out of the blue said, "Susan. I love you." I was shocked...what a sweetheart! After the boys went to bed, I made cute flower-shaped sugar cookies for my friend, Jessica's, birthday.
I had been saving some Baylor Bear tattoos for the boys that I got back in the fall at the Baylor/UConn football game. The boys loved them and I taught Ryder to do the "Sic 'em Bears" claw.
-Shopping and lunches out with mom! We hit up a few malls more than once. Is anyone else having trouble finding clothes lately? Where are all the cute winter skirts this year?? We ate at a couple of my old favorites...Texadelphia and Lovers EggRoll. We also went shopping with Beth and the boys at Snyder Plaza one day - such cute stores! And Target, which was awesome since I never get to go there!
-SIX movies! I rarely see them in New York, so this was a real treat for me! I saw 4 movies with my mom, 1 with friends, and 1 with mom and other family members. In order of favorite, to least favorite, I saw:
1) Slumdog Millionaire (by far, the best I saw over the 2 weeks. loved it.)
2) Valkyrie
3) Marley & Me
4) Four Christmases
5) Doubt
6) Benjamin Button (I hated this movie with a passion.)
-EY reunion dinner. I met up with 5 of the girls I worked with at Ernst & Young. It was so much fun to catch-up with these girls and get the latest gossip on EY happenings. As of October, none of the 5 of us work there any longer, but Eliza was there recently enough to get us the scoop! We ate at Fireside Pies....delicious salads and pizza! Before dinner, I picked Kelli up and got to see their newly remodeled house and new baby, Lee! Plus, play basketball with 3-year-old Gil for a few minutes.
Kim, Eliza, Kelli, Stephanie, and I
-Playing with Sam! I was supposed to babysit Samantha on New Year's Day, but Jenn got sick. I went over anyway to drop off Jenn's purse that she had left at the NYE party and got to play with Sam and catch-up with Jennifer a bit more.
-Lunch at Chik-fil-a with Deanna and baby Owen. So great to catch-up with one of my favorite people and see her baby for the first time since the day he was born a year ago!
-Girl's night in! A few of my girlfriends went over to Worley's so I could see them and so that we could see Worley's new house. She has done such a good job decorating! It was good to catch-up with everyone and then we played "Apples to Apples", which was really fun!
-Mom and I made the knock-off recipe for Sarabeth's Tomato Soup for my last family dinner. It turned out pretty good! Beth and her family came over, as well as my uncle and his girlfriend. After dinner, we put the boys to bed and everyone but my dad went to a movie.
I helped get the boys into their bath before we all left for the movie. I bowed-out when I saw brown things floating in the water...even Beth freaked, but Brian really stepped-up.
Just before the "incident"....who looks more
guilty? Spazmatic Beau or Vampire Ryder?
-I had almost a full day before leaving on Sunday. I went to church with my parents...I was so tired that morning, I couldn't stay awake during the sermon! I got to see Jenn & Todd one last time since they go to the same church as my mom and dad. Then, we met Beth & fam for lunch at Mi Cocina...I had hardly had any Mexican food while in Texas and it is my favorite. For some reason, we were all exhausted that day! Beth and the boys came home with us and everyone but my dad took naps before I packed up. Beth and the boys took me to the airport...so sad to say goodbye after so long!
4 comments:
Fun catch up posts, Susan. And I'm glad to see that someone else besides me thought that Four Christmases stunk. (Well, I'm going to count 4th out of 6th as you hated it, anyway, whether that's true or not!) : )
Love the floaties part of the story. Four kids, I've dealt with that...oh, wait - this past week even...
Wish we had been a part of the Christmas festivities - but maybe next year!!! (I mean THIS year!)
BTW - wanting to know more about Benjamin Buttons. Jason said the preview looked good, but I read the original story and thought it was really bizarre.
Brown things in the bath tub? Been there. Done that. Be glad you could hand off that duty to someone else.
It sounds like you had so much fun! I want to come home with you next time...
Love the new look!
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