Christmas 2015

Oh boy, I can’t believe another Christmas has come and gone.

Christmas break started out with some good ol’ Christmas pictures.

In between that time and December 22, life was pretty normal. I worked both of my jobs, Morgan started working with me at one of my jobs, the brothers played their video games, and my aunt came into town.

On December 22 my dad’s brothers and my aunt’s husband came into town. On the 23rd, we all went to visit the George W. Bush Presidential Library in Dallas. My parents had gone before, but my mom loved it so much that she wanted to go back again so we took the family!

Who’s ready to learn?!?! My siblings are!! 😉

The first exhibit that we went into was the Home for the Holidays one, it mimicked what The White House is like during the Holidays. It showed how it was decorated and all the work that goes into making it Christmasy over there in DC. My favorite part was Curious George, he’s definitely the best cartoon. They have the White House decorated with all sorts of different cartoons. Alice in Wonderland too. I mean, you name it!

This is the replica of one of the many Christmas trees that decorate the White House. Each of the little characters on the tree are hand-made and signed by the maker.

I personally think they are super creepy…but hey it’s not my house 😉 Here’s a close-up of Cinderella for ya!

Rick LOVES The Polar Express so when we saw the train mom wanted him to take a picture. If you know Rick you know he hates allllllll things picture related. This was the best I could do.

One we rounded that corner we got to The Lamb of God. Every year, George Bush hand paints a canvas. They then have the painting put into an ornament and sell it in the gift shop. He’s seriously talented. It was cool looking at it from the side to see where the raises were from the paint. In the top corner you can also see a cross.

We walked to the other side of the library and the first thing you see is all this information about his life. Where George and Laura both grew up, what home was like, raising their girls, etc. There are narratives where he starts talking as well. I took a picture of this quote, because I just really liked it.

After seeing a mock oval office, we went to this theater. Every player had the opportunity to get information from congress, the united nations, and others about a situation we all voted on. Everyone in the room picked Saddam Hussein and so we’d get the information and vote on it. At the end it showed us what George Bush chose to do and what the room chose to do about the situation. Our room chose the same thing Bush did. That was really cool to see!

After we went through the gift shop on our way out, purchased little mementos, and walked out, I of course requested a picture.

The fam minus my dad and the uncle my aunt is married to! And me of course.

Then we got a picture of everyone in besides my aunt this time. Ahhhh, what a fine looking group of Middletons.

Goodbye George Bush Museum!

Christmas Eve consisted of wrapping, eating clam chowder for dinner, going to Church, and volunteering at Church. But Christmas morning came and everyone was all kinds of excited…especially Rick. He couldn’t sleep!

The Christmas morning family room!

After we opened stockings, my dad needed eye drops. Rick being the oh-so-kind son that he is decided dad needed moral support so he held his hand. Weird family…

We finished presents around 2:00p.m. and all layed around with our gifts and played with our presents for a couple hours. Around 5:00 my dad, uncle, and I went for a walk around the neighborhood. We got back, ate dinner, and then by 8:00 we were playing Bean Boozled that I had my mom get my brother!

If you’ve never played before it’s pretty simple. When it’s your turn you spin the spinner and eat the jellybean that it lands on. The spinner will show you two options that the jellybean might be…for example “Chocolate Pudding or Canned Dog Food”. This game was SO FUNNY! We were all cracking up at each other, but not when it was our turn. You should play at least once! But I will warn you: I got canned dog food and I seriously felt like I could taste it the next morning still. Awful.

My dad’s brothers left the next morning and I went into work while Morgan, my mom and aunt went to run errands. I went with them later in the afternoon and then we hung out the rest of the day. My aunt and uncle left Sunday and we’ve been unpacking gifts and cleaning up the house since everyone has been gone. Christmas was awesome this year.

I love this Holiday. And I hope you enjoyed yours too!

Friday Favorites: Thanksgiving Break Edition

I’m so ready for this week of Friday Favorites, because it’s been a good week except for this crazy amount of school work that I have to complete by Sunday.

Join in with me, Andrea, Narci, and Erika for Friday Favorites!!

Friday, my favorite little one and I went shopping so he could get some Christmas gifts. We traveled to a nearby store for him to sniff some perfumes, look around the store, and pick something out in time for me to make it to work later that night. Love having brothers!

Saturday night I was asked to babysit and I can’t say no because look how adorable this one is? She and her brothers had mac-n-cheese for dinner and then we played for a while and pulled out the game sequence. Then, when it was bath time I found my favorite animal print headband in her bathroom and had to take a selfie….

 I spent my morning at Church, because what is a better way to start your Sunday? I wasn’t able to make it the week before, so I was totally loving it and I was looking forward to hearing another message in our current series. This is my favorite part of Sundays.

Monday morning I started off with an 8:00am test. In order to make it through the day I had to swing through Starbucks for one of my favorite drinks, a Pumpkin Spice Frappuchino because how else would I have had the energy to make it through? McCafe was too far out of my way, so Starbucks was a good second.

If you follow me on Instagram, which you should, and if you don’t…what the heck, man? Do it HERE…you saw this adorable, precious, handsome, favorite boy that I got to see Tuesday morning. This is my friend’s baby and also my new boyfriend, Clay. Couldn’t you die looking at that smirk??? #heartmelted Also, when I looked at that second picture, i’m wondering….is my nose really that big? It’s true your nose grows over time, but obviously i’m clueless that it grows to be like Pinocchio.

I started wrapping presents this week and also made my favorite Thanksgiving side dish for our feast yesterday. A good start to my Thanksgiving break, indeed! And i’m feeling so relieved that I don’t have to worry about my own shopping during the holidays, and I get to relax and watch everyone else stress about last minute gifts. Ahhhhh, it’s good to be me!

Happy Thanksgiving from my home to yours!!!!!!

EEEEEK, PSA PSA PSA!
My Stella and Dot trunk show is still going on as you know, and the sale section is 25% off right now, yes!!! This ends Sunday you need to see it! I’m totally determined you will find something that you love. If you’re a follower of Shay’s over at Mix and Match Mama, you will see how much she loves Stella and Dot too!

So, click HERE and once you hit “Shop online now” you will want to head over straight to their sale page. Have a great weekend, and find tons of sales!