The New Treadmill

We (Jared) were finally able to put the treadmill together this past Sunday. Following this great feat, Jared and I rewarded ourselves. We went out to the Corns. Jared stayed in and watched football with Jamie while I went with Nikki to watch the very adorable Marley and Me. So far, the treadmill has seen one workout. Here's to many more!

Christmas, Christmas time was here...

There was lots of joy and cheer this year. We kicked off our Christmas celebrations earlier in the month by traveling to Raleigh, NC to visit with Jared's family. We followed it with our tradition of spending Christmas Eve Eve with the Corns. We always have a feast of Spaghetti and Meatballs and then exchange our gifts. Wow, how Eli and Atticus are growing. Atticus is all smiles (although Nikki claims that he throws a tantrum every now and then), and Eli is at just the right age to really appreciate and glow in all of the gifts that Christmas has to offer. The hit of the night, for me, was the Chocolate Mint martinis. They left me with a teeny headache Christmas eve morning, but it was SO worth it.

Christmas Eve I trucked down to Warner Robins (sans my hubby who was working) to celebrate Johnson family Christmas. It was a real treat because Crystal and Uncle Butch were able to come. We snapped this family photo.
On Christmas day, Jared came home exhausted! He'd only gotten 3 hours of sleep the night before. He came home and crashed for a couple of hours while I whipped up a breakfast casserole (and played a little pathwords). Once I put it in the oven, I awoke my slumbering husband, and we emptied our stockings and exchanged cards! We'd each gotten our Christmas gifts prior to Christmas (Jared went to a Clemson game, and I got a treadmill).

The true treat of the morning was watching Jasmine. She was SO excited about her new bone and three new stuffed toys. She sashayed around the living room all morning so happy and so proud. She became even happier when she realized we were packing her bag and taking her with us to Eastman. She ran out the back door and sprinted to the Rav4, not stopping until she reached her place in the backseat and happily waited for us.

We jumped in the Rav4 and headed to the Joiner family Christmas. As always, it was a treat. Good food and good times with good family. After lots of coffee throughout the day, we were both ready to crash pretty early that night. We awoke to a delicious seafood quiche that my mom prepared (shrimp, scallops, crab meat on a grits crust...yum!). We exchanged gifts with my mom, brother and his girlfriend that morning. Again Jasmine was the hit of the morning. She stared excitedly at me as I removed each of her toys from the gift bag my mom had placed them in. She sat so pretty and at full attention. Jasmine made out like a bandit this Christmas!

Afterwards, we headed out to my Dad's house to exchange gifts with him. Once we got out to his house and inside of it, Jasmine could not wait to get outside and run around in the wide open. She sat at the door and whined and whined until we finally let her out. She had a blast chasing after the new toys that my mom had given her. When she was all done, Jared had to spend a few minutes picking sand spurs off of her. Once we were all done, we hopped back in the trusty Rav4 and headed home. What a wirlwind of a trip, but what a blast.

Go Thrashers!

We went to a Thrashers game last night. Our friends, Joyce and Desmond, had extra tickets. Wow! The Trashers stink this year, but we still had a good time. Some of Desmond's family (younger nephews and cousins) came, and it was a hoot to listen to them cheer and copy sayings that the adults were saying.

Womanizer Cover - Hilarious!

Holiday Madness

Why, oh why, did I wait until the weekend prior to Christmas to do my most important Christmas shopping? Am I getting old or what? I despise the malls. Jared and I went and split up so that he could pick up some stocking stuffers for me. As I am traveling through the mall and teenagers are running wild and people continuously bump into me, I feel as if I might break out into hives and have a fainting spell. The mall, the Saturday prior to Christmas, is NO place for me...not anymore. We gave up on our mall shopping, hit Kohl's then headed to the Corns so that we could fiesta a bit at the Mexican restaurant. Good times!

Today, it was back to the shopping. Then I came home to wrap, wrap, wrap and bake, bake, bake. I made my boss a basket which featured a coffee cake...made by me. I made cookies for all of the associates, paralegals and secretaries that I've worked with this year. These are money savers, but they are definitely not time savers. I'm happy to have most of what needs to be done, done. Maybe, I can relax and enjoy the rest of the holiday season...doubtful! :)

Hanging with the Fam

This past weekend we traveled up to Raleigh, NC to visit with Jared's extended family. We stayed with his aunt and uncle, Trish and Kirk. What a great time we had! When we arrived Friday night, we had a wonderful dinner of homemade clam chowder, cornbread and other snacks then stayed up late into the night talking and catching up. Saturday, even more family came over, and we ate all day. We started the day shucking and eating 2 bushels of steamed oysters then moved on to a ham with all the fixings and then stumbled over to a full dessert table. What a treat! My eggnog pound cake seemed to be the choice dessert if you wanted to get a little tipsy just from eating. Of course, there was Debbie's divine chocolate cheesecake along with delicious chocolate peanut butter oatmeal cookies by Grandma, frosted rice krispies and many other treats. Following all the eating, we played basketball and cornhole (Brad (Jared's Dad) and I were self proclaimed champs!). Later we were treated to the musical talents of the family. Simon and Nathan played a little piano then Kirk, Brad and Matt played us a little blue grass while Grandma Alma took a turn on the figurative microphone. It was such a fun weekend, I hated to see it end.

Deck the Halls with the Purintons

Jared and I finally put up our Christmas tree! In order to have my husband help me, I had to provide spiced eggnog. During one moment of decorating the tree, my heart warmed as I remembered that Jared proposed last year as we were taking down the Christmas tree. The holidays will always hold a special place in my heart. I will always be reminded of my special surprise proposal when trimming the tree.

Fun with Anna & Gracie

Jared and I kept Anna and Gracie this past Friday night while Keith and Carolyn went out to dinner and Christmas shopped. We had pizza, walked to the town square to look at Christmas lights and decorated cookies. It was a funfilled night. Gracie and Jasmine became fast friends by the end of the night, and Anna finally conked out despite her best efforts.

Got Rear-Ended Last Night

Last night on my way home from work, when I was likely less than 5 miles from our home, I was rear-ended. What a bummer! Luckily, I was fine and the guy that hit me was fine. Both of our cars had some damage, his more than mine. I felt fortunate to be hit by a nice guy. While waiting for the cops for 45 minutes, we discussed mutual hobbies, his education (going to life), my husband's schedule (he noticed our firefighter tag), and lots of other things. Good luck to Joey, and I am sorry that we met under such unfortunate circumstances. Now on to trying to get my repaired during the holiday season and holiday travel. Fun, fun!