3 christmases

I know what you're thinking, and it's ok to be jealous. Getting 3 Christmases? It was pretty awesome. The first was in Austin with my girlfriends. We had dinner over at Allison's house, some of us dressed in our ugly sweater finest. Mine is legit, I found it in my grandma's house when we were cleaning it out last spring break. We also did our annual white elephant except with things we would all want. It was great! The next night we followed it up with Stephanie's party which was a blast!

The next Christmas was in Houston with my parents. Since we were doing a late Christmas in Chicago we did actual Christmas together. While Miles was in Houston for Thanksgiving, he got to get his own Christmas tree and decorate it. My parents kept it as our tree, it was a very Charlie Brown Christmas. We also all helped make our usual fancy lunch. It was delicious! I also made a really good gluten and dairy free pumpkin bread pudding. Super awesome! I also got to see all of my girls while I was home which was great. 

We then went to Chicago to celebrate Christmas with my sister and her people. Miles was obsessed with my mom which turned out to be great for us! Rebecca, Michael and I actually got to hang out for several days. We hadn't been able to do that since Miles was born, so I loved it! (yes I love Miles, but I've missed my sister time) We even got to see 2 movies! The trip started with our annual Christmas Eve tradition of making pizzas...

 and watching a Christmas movie.

Michael also chopped wood. Apparently this is something people do up north.

On "Christmas morning" the last present opened was something from my parents for Rebecca and I...

I can tell through the computer how jealous you are of these jackets! Again, another find in Marion and Joe's house. The best part about them? They are so old Russia is still the USSR, and it's made out of paper...we think. The worst part? It smells like their house. I'm currently trying different things to get the smell out so I can wear it for my Olympic opening ceremonies party. 

We played a lot of games and listened to the Mary Poppins record. (No, the polar vortex hadn't started at this point, but it was still about 9 degrees outside. No thanks)

I stuck around for New Years Eve and spent it eating lots of amazing food made by everyone,

hanging out with Rebecca's super fun friends, 

of course, getting to hang with this pregnant lady,

listening to the boys fight about football, again, 

stand up comedy from the guys,

complete with a champagne fountain!

The day before I left the insane snow storms started. I was luckily able to get out just before the worst of it hit. 

It was a great vacation with lots of fun people and great food!

thanksgiving

We decided it would be a good idea to do the whole Houston-Shreveport-Austin trip again. Remember the last time we tried? Yeah, that was the year Miles got everyone sick. I was worried the entire trip, just waiting to start puking. Spoiler alert, everyone was healthy and no one puked! 

To make this quick, here is a picture rundown of things that happened in Shreveport and Austin. When we got to Shreveport Diane had made red beans and rice for everyone. The stand off began for the cousins, all waiting to see who would be brave enough to take the first bite.

Miles was entertained, and not at all worried that "Carly was trying to eat him".

Dinner theater....

and a marching band performed.

Thanksgiving day Scott made his amazing duck, jalapeno and bacon appetizers.

We also pigged out on 5 pies. That meant each person would get to eat about half a pie. 

We fed turtles and tried not to fall in.

Back in Austin we rode the Zilker Zephyr, a first for me.

We went to Toy Joy, with Miles in the awesome shirt I bought for him.

That would be my dad, laying down on 6th street. 

A Very Hanksgiving at Alamo.

And that's it! Happy Thanksgiving y'all!

run forest, run!

Dad ran his second half marathon in November and totally rocked it! Mom and I were able to catch him at mile 9, and he looked great!

I know I'm super behind on posts when I log in and see the many drafts I started that I never posted. Enjoy going back in time to see how my 2013 ended.

a lesson on turducken

We were writing a how to on catching turkeys. This conversation followed when I asked if there were any questions.

Kid: Can I draw a turducken in the last one? You know, showing what I did after I caught it?

Me: Sure.

Kid: Even with the kitten in there?

Me: Wait, what?

Kid: The kitten.

Me: Why would you draw a kitten?

Kid: Because that's one of the things in there.

Me: What? I'm so confused. What do you think a turducken is?

Kid: A turkey stuffed with a duck stuffed with a kitten.

Me: Why do you think a kitten would be stuffed in there?

Kid: Because of the -en at the end. Like kitt-en. Right?

Me: Um...no. Not right. Why would anyone want to eat a kitten?

Kid: I don't know.

Me: Maybe let's not draw what you think a turducken looks like.

I hope everyone had a great, kittenless, Thanksgiving!

ugh. welcome to monday.

Only teachers have these types of conversations:

Kid: Ms. Ewing, XXX just threw up.

Me: He threw up? XXX are you ok?

Kid 2: He made himself throw up. He was doing that forced burping thing again.

Me: Well...maybe you shouldn't keep burping like that anymore.

XXX: Should I go to the nurse?

Me: No you're ok. Just stop forcing your burps like that.

cats on the mayflower

Me: Why do you think every ship would have a cat on it?

Kid: Maybe so they could shave it and use the fur to keep them warm?

Me: Wait, what? One cat could do all that?

Kid: Yeah, why not?

the big game

Larry got 4 tickets to a suite for last weekends Texas game. I had never been in a suite and didn't know what to expect. When we got to the stadium we were sent to the elevators. The elevators! I have never taken an elevator to get to my seats! When we got up there we walked into a huge room with a buffet on either side of the room, popcorn stands, Blue Bell station with a lady scooper, a bar...it was amazing! As we were buying drinks Larry asked the ticket person and we found out all of the food was free! Say what?!

The seats span the entire length of the suite, and we had seats in the first row at the 50 yard line. Right before the game we went down to our seats and they opened all the windows. It was a super fun game with some super fancy friends! I can only hope that family at our school can't use those tickets again soon.