scenes from christmas weekend 2011

As if Christmas wasn't cool enough on it's own, it fell on a weekend. Which meant a WEEKEND FULL OF CHRISTMAS. I'm still recovering from the food/sugar/lounging around in PJ's coma I put myself in.

{Christmas Eve 12.24}

Since Christmas fell on a Sunday and all that good sthuff, we opted to have our family time on Christmas Eve instead. Mama's side of the family came, along with Gran Jan, and we ate & ate & ate. And admired Bullet. 

The guests converged in the living room.

The grown up table.

Mama & I worked hard on the meal of ham, mashed taters, green bean casserole, another assorted veggies, and deviled eggs. I had three of those suckers...then two more later. I'm such a pig.

Clark focuses on eating.

No meal is complete without Dr. Pepper.

After dinner, we hung around & loved on Bullet some more. Because DUH! He is just so lovable.

Dumb kit lens wouldn't give me amazing bokeh like I saw in my head.

Yeahhh...he's totally stolen our hearts.

And then there was dessert...two pumpkin pies, fudge, and Amish bread.

After everyone left and we had MORE food, we settled in the animals & opened our traditional Christmas Eve present of new PJ's.

Bullet crashed...thank the Lord! He was wide open all afternoon.

Butter, the other pet...he's such a weirdo. Slept up against the HOT metal fireplace & on Dad's wood gloves.

Wonder what it could be?! ;)

Bullet got up and helped. <3

Polka dots FTW!

My little bro

Bullet joined us in putting the star up on the Advent calendar.

We ended the night with watching It's a Wonderful Life for the first time {and then finding out it was on TV too was hilarious!} and reading Mockingjay snuggled under the blankets.

{Christmas Day 12.25}

Bullet did a GREAT job sleeping through the night, and we all slept so late that Mama & Dad had to wake us up around 8:30. Getting woken up by little puppy licks on your face is amazing, BTW.

After we had read the last installment in our Advent story, it was onto the stockings! Yesss.

I spy candyyy!

Something my readers don't know {yet}, it that I decided to become a nurse this past school year. Lots of things lead up to the decision, like my love for the medical field & the feeling that if I went with a different career I'd regret not pursuing my dream. I even wrote a paper on it for the evil English class of 2011, I'm so hardcore about it. Ha.

All that to say, I asked for a camera ornament {we always get one representing our year} but alas, Mama couldn't find one. So, I just said OK & wondered what one they'd get me...turns out my got me such a great one: it's a nurse! I was so surprised & almost cried.

it's just SO awesome.

Surveying the stocking goodies...

the size of his eyes when he saw the giant

What I made out with in my stocking this year: tea, my ornament, new mascara, pretzel M&Ms, and a giant Hershey's bar.

Ususally we get a "big" present each year...Clark's was the puppy {DUH} and mine was a Kindle Fire! I am so totally stoked; this is my first tablet/techonlogy ALL MY OWN.

Puffy & makeup-less but joyful face. Thanksn Mama & Dad!

Other gifts...

Shower radio from Gran Jan...I rock out to Maroon 5 while washing my face. You're jealous I know.

JCPenney's gift card WOOT! I can never shop there because it's so dang expensive.

My view (I didn't get ALL these gifts...both the puzzle & Yahtzee are family presents.

Puppy snuggles <3

Bullet made out like a bandit. Dog toys galore, but of course he prefers to bite us better.

In addition to the puzzle and Yahtzee, we got Hedbandz. Clark saw it on iCarly. Ahem. I am simutaneously appalled and proud.

Dad got sweatpants, flannel PJ bottoms, slippers, and a water bottle. Mama got the latter two plus hand towels as well.

We spent the rest of the day eating {I had FOUR more deviled eggs. I'm addicted, I tell ya}, watching movies {Cars 2 & From Prada to Nada} playing around on the Kindle Fire, and just enjoying each other & vegging out in front of the fire. ::sigh:: I love the holidays.

SUCH a goober.

We ended the night with football & a couple games of Yahtzee, which Clark & I had NEVER played before. It's a new favorite!

I hope you guys had a great Christmas as well!

hello monday {28}

{hello monday}

{hello after Christmas crash}

{hello after 9:30AM wake up call}

{hello lying around}

{hello WOL Quiet Times}

{hello childhood breakfast of a brown sugar poptart}

{hello chores}

{hello web surfing}

{hello playing with the pup}

{hello PB sandwich with apple for lunch while rewatching Doctor Who}

{hello afternoon watching Bullet for Clark [he went into town with Mama]}

{hello cleaning up puppy spills}

{hello fire}

{hello 2 hour puppy nap & blog design working}

{hello refreshing Dr. Pepper}

{hello laundry}

{hello Mama & Clark with FOOD}

{hello singing along with my new shower radio}

{hello dinner}

{hello Netflix watching on my New Kindle Fire ::squeee::}

{hello second game of Yatzee}

{hello blogging}

{hello rerun of Castle with the family}

{hello Hunger Games reading [book review coming AS SOON as I finish]}

{hello lights out}

{hello monday}

----------------------------------------------------------------------

This post was inspired by the one and only Lisa Leonard. If you'd like to take part in this blogging meme, make sure to give credit where credit is due. Don't forget to link up in Lisa's comments as well!

if we did a Christmas card...

...this would be it.

taken on our beach week in August 2011

Merry Christmas from our family to yours, dear readers. I hope you have a wonderful day enjoying those around you & celebrating the birth of our Savior.

Quick note: Unlike most bloggers, I WILL be around next week...no blogging break for moi! Can't wait to share our Christmas celebration with ya'll.

bullet's story

While the idea of a puppy was a total surprise to you guys, it was something that had been in the air ever since Clark was little. We even went as far as to rescue a bro/sis duo from the local animal shelter only to realize we had NO idea what they were going to be (expect for the obvs Lab features).

Turns out, the male had great dane and the girl could jump 5 feet in the air & when Clark said "dog" he meant "dog that would be little as long as he lived". It's hard to figure out what a 4 year old wants. Due to many reasons, we had to surrender them to the humane society after 7 years, and we missed the 100 lb teddybear & the spastic girl.

The idea of a puppy that would stay small throughout it's adult years remained on the back burner, and when Clark began to research what breed we should get, we knew that we were going to get a puppy. Lots of late night Google searches and visits to look at litters lead us to a breeder about an hour away. We honestly didn't get a good feeling about the breeders & their conditions for the puppy, but we didn't rule them out.

A week went by and while we had several little road trips to look at other litters, we felt lead to go "rescue" this one black male puppy that loved on us from the very beginning...and so, on Christmas Eve Eve Eve, we welcomed Bullet into our home.

Yeahhh...I took this picture & knew he was ours.

Puppy fight...it there be anything cuter?!

Even though we knew which one we wanted, we made sure to give every puppy attention.

The runt of the litter. I loved on him the most because he would just get trampled by the others.

The day we got him, a week from when we first met Bullet.

 

Today we took him to the vet and he made all the ladies swoon. He's such a cutie. <3

Funny story: he honestly can't control his legs very well and when he stood on the metal table, he just slid down into a Superman post.

Hangin' on the floor.

While he has accidents, he's getting the hang of telling us he needs to go, and he LOVES to play outside after he's gone to the bathroom. His name suits him...he runs as fast as his little legs will take him.

And eating dandelions is a top priotirty as well.

So that's Bullet's story. He always feels like he's been part of our family and we honestly love this little pup & his snuggles SO MUCH.