Fancy

 Since NYE is the one night a year sequins are expected, I figured it would be the perfect time to show off our fancy cruise wear. 

Skills

 I know I need to blog about our cruise (which was fabulous) but I can't figure out where to start.  So I thought I'd start with something I didn't even do.

We were eating breakfast when I looked out the window and noticed half the family ziplining.  

So, yes, I took a break from stuffing my face with fake eggs (my favorite) to video this from the window of the Windjammer.

Kyle

Reed

Granny Sherry

Later on in the cruise they all went ziplining again, and I almost missed videoing them because I had just come from the nacho and quesadilla bar. 

I was actually pretty impressed with myself that I was able to balance my overflowing plate in one hand while I videoed with the other...all while munching on my nachos. 

Yep, I got skills.

Jason

JR

Christmas 22

 With some help, I got Christmas all put away yesterday and now the house looks completely empty. 

Santa did come and visit, but he's definitely not as motivated as he used to be. But bless JR's heart for thinking that he still is. 

So here's Christmas morning.

And from all those presents, this is what these 3 deemed their favorite gifts. 

A Carhart jacket, Snoop Dog potato chips, and new running shoes. 

I totally failed on my picture taking duties, as this is the only picture I took from Christmas day lunch with the grandparents.

But at least Kyle got us a video of Elvis eating his Christmas donut.

Home

 Coming home from vacation is always depressing, but even more so when you come back to freezing temperatures and a day's worth of laundry.

We went from this

to me walking the dog in everything I own.

Merry Christmas Eve!

Busy

 Someone who shall remain nameless.

Has certainly been "busy" lately.

Not a Drive

 I came home the other day and checked to see where Reed was.

I was confused on who he would be with, and who was driving him.

Then I figured out he was just out for a run.

I can promise nobody would ever confuse my jogging pace for a drive!

Six

 As of last night, I am officially done with Christmas parties for this year.  I had 7, but the host of one got sick, so that left 6. 

Reed is taking his last final this morning (Kyle finished yesterday) and then our vacation can start. 

Guess Who's Back

 It feels like he was just here for Thanksgiving break (because he was).  

And he announced his arrival with another text, this time he even included the song to go with it.

But I can't give him too hard of a time.

We got his grades yesterday and he made all A's 

(Well, 2 A-, but those are still A's in my book).

He even got a round of applause and a "Good job, but, you should have worked harder and made those A minuses A's" from Reed.  Which is huge compliment coming from that one. 

He's at MawMaw and PawPaw's so when I was talking to him he said "I want my grades posted on the refrigerator."  

I said, "Of course, I'll put them up there as soon as they come in,"  

He told me, "No, go print them off the website."

So, I did as I was told.  

Elvis Update #4

 Elvis is up to 120 pounds, and he needs to put on about another 100 pounds so he can be in the show in February.  (There's a minimum weight.)

We've learned his favorite treat is powdered donuts, which he gets after a good walk or a bath. 

 He's recently started "barking" when he gets startled or sees one of the other barn animals.  Hopefully Kyle can get a video of that soon!

Advent Calendars

 Last year I made the mistake of buying all the kids a chocolate advent calendar, but not getting one for Jason.  

I learned my lesson and bought 4 this year.  

And yes, even though JR's not home, I knew I better buy him one too.

I also have learned (from living with all these people for so long) that as soon as their advent calendar was claimed, to put their name on it.  

You shouldn't have to put family member's names on something that's counting down the days until Christ's birth, but in this house you do.

Only Child

 We had an only child this weekend, and he did quite well doing his thing. 

He won his diving meet Friday night which was fun to see.

He took pictures with his fans 

And he even wound up on the Twitter

Outdoor Decor

 Jason and I decided to not do professional lights outside this year.

But then I couldn't stand it that all our neighbors had up lights, and I decided that it looked like we didn't celebrate Christmas.

So I dug around in the Christmas closet and rounded up the boys to help.

I was trying to drape lights in the bushes, but that was vetoed by the ones that would have actually had to do the work.  

Here's the final product.  I'll give it a passing grade.

Crazy Two Days

 Here it is almost Wednesday and the kids still haven't been back to school after Thanksgiving break.

Sunday night we found out that Houston was under a "boil water" notice after 2 of the water plants lost power for a few hours.  And even though the official notice said tap water was fine for pets, "pets" did not include farm animals, and they shut off the water at the farm. 

So we had to take boiled water out to Elvis.

 

We didn't get the all-clear on the water until early this morning (Tuesday), so school had already been cancelled.  What wasn't cancelled was all of Kyle's activities. 

 I ran over this afternoon to watch him in a dive meet where he placed 6th.

As soon as his last dive was done, we had to race across town for him to attend a mandatory pig clinic. We made it with 5 minutes left to spare. 

The judge at the clinic said Elvis was the "prettiest" and had the best coloring.  

(Which we've known all along.)

Kyle said Elvis was true to his name, and totally performed on stage.  

Unlike Buddy (Elvis's next-door neighbor) who ran off the stage, tried to jump over the fence and then tried to crawl under the fence.  

And have I mentioned that Elvis is now 100 pounds! 

The Birthday Boy

 Jason's birthday was the day after Thanksgiving this year, so we celebrated with a trip to the Palm to eat lobster.

The birthday boy with all his (very skinny) boys

A table full of lobster

And birthday dessert, although we did have a polar pizza earlier!

They Trotted

 A few weeks ago I asked Reed if he wanted to run in the turkey trot.  Of course he did, but to my surprise, Kyle was adamant that I sign him up too.  Kyle's insistence to turkey trot (who said he was just going to "draft behind Reed") turned in to a full-on bet with Reed saying he'd give Kyle 10 bucks if he could finish the race in under 22 minutes. 

At the starting line

It was an up and back down the seawall, so Jason and I just waited at the start/finish, since we knew Reed would be back in about 20 minutes.

It started raining during the race, but Reed said the worst part was that when they turned to come back, he had nobody around to block the wind, which "slowed him down".

Even with the wind he finished in 20:09, came in 8th overall and 1st in his age group. 

Spoiler Alert: Kyle did not finish in under 22 minutes.

But for a nonrunner came in in a super respectable 29:24 and actually placed 3rd in his age group.

Kyle said the "worst idea" he had was trying to keep up with Reed at the beginning, then getting stuck with the "fast people" and trying not to get run over.  He also commented that "running a 5K seemed a lot easier in kindergarten", which is probably the last time he ran one. 

He was already limping as soon as the race was over, and was definitely sore for a few days!

But here they are with their winnings, and Kyle even let me put his on our Christmas tree!

Shifts

 With everybody's schedules, we filtered down to Galveston for Thanksgiving in shifts. 

Reed went down with Jason and me, so he got to be an only child for a few days.

The weather wasn't the greatest, most of the time it was cold and raining...Reed even looked like this

JR came down next

And staying behind to take care of Elvis for as long as possible, Kyle was last. (He paid somebody to take care of him for the days he was gone.)

And, of course, the baby was there the whole time, and as you can see, was quite "busy".

Early Vacay

 Kyle got to start his Thanksgiving break a day early as he had a diving meet in Corpus Christi on Friday.  They left Thursday after school and came back Saturday evening.  

He placed 4th, which we were super proud of! 

Here's some of my favorite dives.

Come Fly with Me

 Jason and I got all dressed up to go to a Catch Me if You Can themed 50th birthday party at the flight museum. 

Here we are on one of the 4 chartered buses to take us to the event

The 1960's flying theme was adorable

And my 90's college days came "flying" back to me, as Jackopierce was the band.

It was a smooth sailing night for sure.