The aftermath

Driving around the neighborhood we've seen some signs in people's yards showing that they've won the decorating contest.  We found the 1st place house (which we knew would win 1st) and the 3rd place house (which looks like crap), and we're a little upset about it all.  Mark plans to be a part of the HOA next year to get this all figured out, and of course, to steal the position of President from whoever currently holds it.  From what we've seen, they really like blow up figures in your front yard, not our classy wooden cut-outs, so we'll see how it goes next year.  Mark is already talking about a giant gingerbread man and woman standing taller than our house.  I'm anxious to see that!!

Other than that, we had a great Christmas!  We got so many great gifts and we're so thankful for our families!! 

On Christmas Eve, we went to my mom's to help bake and then pass out treats to her neighbors.  It was very cold and very rainy, but we walked around the street passing out banana nut bread anyway!

Then we went to Berna's that night and the kids got to open their pajamas

On Christmas morning we woke up, opened our stockings (I got candy and socks and Mark got a photo calendar for his desk), but Misha was the big winner this year!  Her stocking had a laser in it, for Mark to play with her, and a little Christmas mouse that we put catnip into!  The pups got squeaky tennis balls and a tiny knotted bone that they can play tug of war with!  Then we opened our presents.  Mark got 3 pairs of slacks and underwear.  I got a white hooded peacoat and a speaker dock for my iPhone and iPad that I'll be getting soon!

Then we got dressed and went to Dayton to my Mawmaw and Pawpaw's to celebrate with my family.  We got lots of neat stuff and had a lot of fun there!

Mark got new shoes from my mom, since his old ones no longer had a sole!

We messed with Alaina and Douglas like always!!

Alaina and I gave Mawmaw pink glittery Toms and she loved them!!



And we took a sisters picture!!

After that we went to Berna's for lunch and celebrated Christmas with Mark's family.  Again, we got lots a great gifts and had a fun time!  We do not have any pictures, but trust me, it was fun!

Then today, the day after Christmas, my sister Alaina got a new puppy!  They've been thinking Tucker was bored all day and wanted another one, and they got this little beauty:

We went over to see her.  The pups were very excited about meeting their new cousin!!

Here is the proud new mommy!!

Tucker, Bella and Edward sort of attacked her when we first got there, but we put them all outside and let them in one at a time to sniff her.  Here is Bella with her.  I think she likes her, and she's glad she's no longer the only girl!



Alaina was not sure what to name her, but I got a text tonight saying it was either going to be Hazel or Zoey.  I voted for Hazel, so we'll see what Kirt thinks when he gets home!!

More sweater pictures and hungry Edward

Here are a few pictures from the sweater party that I just found.  The first is of Mark holding his nephews, while wearing his pedophile costume.  The second is of him being creepy with Misha...

The pups were apparently given so much human food the Saturday of the party, that on Sunday, they wanted nothing to do with their dog food.  They sat around and begged at our feet all day.  By the end of the day, I was sitting at the table eating, and I looked up and saw Edward:

I told him I was not giving him any food, that he had plenty of dog food in his bowl.  Then he did this:

And then I guess he got tired because the next time I looked up, this was what I saw:

I can't say enough that this dog is a total mess!  An adorable little mess that we love so very much!!

Ugly Sweaters!!

We've been very busy lately!  I just finished the fall semester of school and Mark has not stopped decorating the outside of our house!  The TV shorted out the other night because he tripped some kind of breaker.  He's determined we will be the victors this year!

Last Saturday we had an ugly sweater party, complete with a visit from Santa.  Here are some pictures:

But the winner was Tomas, for his plush Snowman toilet seat cover glued onto a sweatshirt:

He won an ornament shaped like a trophy that said "Ugliest Sweater 2011"

It was a lot of fun! 

Then on Monday, there was some miscommunication, and I thought my cousin and I were both going to wear matching elf costumes to work.  It turns out, I was a lone elf, but Mark made this for me, to advertise my Elf on the Shelf business:

That's all for now.  We have a very busy weekend up ahead, so maybe I'll post pictures of that next week!

Edward and Baby Jesus...

For those of you reading this who do not have Facebook, I wanted to share this story with you:

My mother in law gave me this beautiful Nativity Scene that we have on a wooden chest in our living room.

I was watching TV in the living room, the pups were asleep, and I get up to go to the restroom.  I'm gone for maybe a minute, and when I return, I see this:

Edward jumped onto the ottoman, jumped again to get onto the wooden chest, snatched the Baby Jesus from the Nativity, jumped back onto the ground, and started eating him!  So I walk in, after being gone maybe a minute, and find my dog... eating the Baby Jesus.  What do you do in this situation?  Obviously, spanking his little butt does not get a message across to him, so I just laughed and took a picture.  I think I've given up on disciplining this dog.  He is obviously going to learn things on his own time, so maybe I should let him go about that, but seriously?  Eating Jesus??  Out of all of the figures that were up there! 

And all of this after his episode yesterday.  Again, for those of you without Facebook, here's the story:

When we're at work everyday, we have baby gates to keep the dogs in the kitchen.  Well yesterday, Mark came home for lunch and decided that when he left, he'd give the pups a little more trust, and let them have access to the kitchen and living room.  The living room, where the Christmas tree is...  So I get home 5 hours later to find that they (Edward) took it upon themselves to open one of the gifts under the tree.  Once he got it open, he found a gift card inside, which he then proceeded to chew completely!!  His face was hysterical!  When I walked in, I was mad, and his tail went completely between his legs, so that I could see it underneath his face, and he groaned. 

I spanked his little butt, thinking that we just lost all of the money on the gift card, and all of a sudden, he wanted to cuddle!  He never wants to cuddle!  So I gave in and sat there with him on the sofa...  He is such a bad dog, but knows how to give faces like the one in the above picture, to let you know he's very sorry! 

 I don't know what to do with him...

Heritage Park #1 Christmas decorated house!!

Last year our house won 2nd prize for decorations in the neighborhood

But this year, Mark will settle for nothing but 1st place!  So here is what he's done:

The giant December calendar that stands in our yard: 

The wooden Santa that Mark made:

To go next to the walkway that looks like this (please note that this was taken before the lights were hung behind it, Mark would be mad if I forgot to mention that!):

So we're just waiting for our "1st place" sign to be put in our front yard!

Meanwhile, I bought the pups Christmas sweaters, and they came in today!!

 

Of course, Bella was very uncooperative, but Edward was posing for pictures left and right!!  Here's our little model in his sweater, while Bella was hiding under the bed! 

He's lying on top of the wall decor from Mark's nursery! Berna found it in her attic and let us have it, and it is a favorite of Edward's to lay on! Who would have thought that 29 years ago, Mark, Sr. and Berna would decorate their baby boy's room with space shuttles, and now he works with NASA!!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!!

We put our Christmas tree up and our house is looking quite festive!!  Here is Edward putting the star on top of the tree!!

And then he cozied up underneath the tree while we finished decorating

We took our family pictures for our Christmas card (which you should be getting soon)

That's all for now!  We're getting ready for the holidays and we're all very excited!!

My 24th Birthday celebrations!!

Well, it's official, I'm in my mid-twenties!!  This is how it played out...

I woke up Thursday morning to a note on my night stand.  It said Happy Birthday, and that I had breakfast in the kitchen.  When I walked into the kitchen, there was a plate with a bacon croissant and a kolache and another note next to that.  Also, there was a very sweet birthday card.  So I warmed up my food and sat down to eat it.  All of a sudden, the door bell rang.  I went to the bedroom to put clothes on to answer, and then the door opened.  It was Mark with a beautiful bouquet of flowers for me!  (He was knocking to surprise me!)

I had field experiences for school, so I had to do that during the day, but then Mark took me to the midnight premiere of the new Twilight movie, Breaking Dawn Part 1!!  On Friday, I had to go to work.  They had a cake, balloons, flowers, a card, and a Starbuck's gift card for me!!

When I got home from work, Mark took me to a live comedy show!  It was so great!  I loved it!!

On Saturday we went to his cousin's wedding, and then to the high school Texas Invitational to see my sister perform. 

This is Gabbi with Ronald McDonald...

Then on Sunday I went to see Breaking Dawn again with my mom, Amber, Alaina, her boyfriend Douglas, his friend and his mom.  It was amazing, again!  Then my mom, Alaina, Amber, Ricky, Mark and I went to Gringo's for dinner.  I got a Keurig machine from my mom and Kirt, Silver sparkly Toms from Alaina, and a beautiful candle holder and candle from Amber and Ricky!

After dinner, we went to Mark and Berna's to have cake for my birthday.  I got lots of funny cards and gift cards and this wonderful ice cream cake:

Berna did not have a "2" candle, so the two ones worked just fine!  I was not turning 114 years old, but I was 1+1 and 4 years old!  I love this family so much!!

Edward and Misha

Mark laughed out of nowhere tonight, and I looked to see what was going on. I saw he was looking at this...

Edward is constantly messing with Misha and trying to bite her tail and lick her face, but now, it looks like he just wants to be like her!  He's sitting here, exactly like Misha, watching Mark hang a mirror.  Words cannot explain how funny this puppy is!  He makes me laugh every single day!!

I'm thinking we should have a baby soon, because pretty soon, people are going to get tired of hearing about how cute my dogs are!