holidays

Things were so hectic for us the last couple of weeks, but we have been having A LOT of fun!

After being sick for THREE days (!), I finally was able to get up enough to get the house ready for Christmas.  We thought it would be really special to have the family over for Christmas, and it was a great time.  It was definitely hard getting the house ready for it, but I'm so glad we made it happen!

We had a wonderful Christmas! 

We went to church on Monday night with my mom.  This was the first Christmas service we had been to at our new church and we really enjoyed it.  I thought the message was great, not just like a traditional Christmas service. 

We went to my mom's and Mark's mom's on Christmas eve.  We opened lots of gifts and spent some quality time with the families.  At my mom's, we had a good time playing Farkle, eating and opening some gifts.  We were able to spend a little time with my sister and her family before we headed to Mark's mom's.  We were able to eat dinner with them, and then we spent time opening gifts.  It's always fun spending time with our niece and nephew.  The baby, Eva, doesn't like me very much yet (haha) but Greyson always has fun playing with us. 

Than on Christmas day, my family came to our home to celebrate.  This was the first time we had a party at our house (after living here for a week) and our first time cooking lunch for Christmas too!  Mark made ham, and I made some sides.  Luckily mom helped out and brought some things to eat too.  It took the pressure off of us a bit.  We spent the day playing games, hanging out with the newest member of the family, Abe (my sister's tiny puppy), and eating!  It was a blast!

Christmas

We had a very busy Christmas!  We had my dad and his girlfriend over on Sunday (the day before Christmas eve).  Then we went to my mom's and Mark's mom's on Christmas eve.  Christmas day we visited Mark's dad in the morning, my mom for lunch, and Mark's Aunt's for dinner.  BUSY!  At least we had a great time at each :)  Here are some photos from all the fun...

MaryLu and Dad

Gifts from Stella and Luna

Grams

Mom loved her beads for her bracelet

Santa's babies

puppy play date

We had a puppy play date at our friend's, Jake and Penny's house.  Our friend Johnny came over too and brought little Addie.  Penny made an amazing dinner of Baked Mostocholi!  It was SO good!  And Stella and Luna were so happy getting to play with all of their friends!  We also did a gift exchange between the dogs, so they were so thrilled to play with all their new toys.  The biggest hit was the edible Christmas cards that Johnny got for all the dogs.  You can buy them here. 

Luna and Maddie chewing on their edible cards!  So cool!

Jake and Jett

Jett

Addie and me

Mark playing with all the doggies (minus Jett)

Maddie getting a chunk of Addie's cheek

We are so greatful to be able to spend time with such wonderful people!  And it's also great to let the dogs get all their energy out ;)

Christmas Tea

 Yesterday I made the long drive (about 7 hours round trip) to visit my sister, Sara, and go to the Christmas tea at her church.  I decided not to stay with her over night because I made Christmas cookies with my mom and Grandma today.  Anyways, the Christmas tea was a BLAST!  I got to meet all of Sara's Northwoods friends.  It was a lot of fun dressing up and listening to the story of Jesus's birth and all of the wonderful music!  Glad I made the long drive, and hopefully will be able to go again next year! :)

s

Sara and I

Sara and Sarah

Christmas time

Last week on my break from school, I wanted to make sure I got up all of my Christmas decorations.  I always try to get this done on Black Friday, even though I typically have to work on that day as well.  This year I only had to work for 3 hours, so I got a lot done before work, and then had Mark help me set up the tree and houses when I got home.  I love how everything turned out!  I always love my Christmas decorations!  I think I may get that from my mom... seeing that I grew up with a different Christmas tree in each room of the house, with a different theme for each one.

Christmas tree all decorated!  I didn't use all of my ornaments this year.

This is my first year putting up the village.  They were my mom's and she knew how much I loved them growing up, so she was kind enough to give them to me!

 I was really hoping to be able to get an awesome picture of the girls in front of the tree for our Christmas card, but it is near IMPOSSIBLE to get them to sit together and look cute.  This is the best picture I could get.  They look SO cute, but it didn't make it onto the Christmas card.

Luna and Stella looking to daddy for treats

And lastly, Stella was super excited that I got her a new bed for a Black Friday deal. She was so proud that she sat in it the whole time we were decorating.  She is so dang cute!

Thanksgiving 2012

We always have SUPER busy holidays because we have a lot of family to see!  Thanksgiving this year was NO different.  We went to my mom's for lunch and Mark's uncle's for dinner.  AND we had dinner last night with Mark's mom's side.  BUT even though we are busy, we are grateful to be able to see and spend time with everyone.  It was even EXTRA special because my sister came down for Thanksgiving this year and we did a gift exchange since they won't be down for Christmas!  I LOVE my new scarf that she got me :)  I have fallen IN LOVE with infinity scarves!

-link-

 I didn't get many pics so I only have 2 funny ones to share...

Luna and Stella on the way to Aunt Carol's

Mark looks thrilled...NOT!  But at least Stella is smiling :)