gigantic snowflakes are the new black

We went to our first holiday party last night. The theme was ugly/tacky holiday sweaters. I found this gem:

I know, I know. Please try to hold back your feelings of jealousy and envy.
That thing was about 5 extra pounds of stretched out fabric and shoulder pads.
The get together was lots of fun. We exchanged white elephant gifts, feasted on delicious cookies and other treats, and enjoyed cranberry slush and hot apple cider. We managed to give away our "For Him Only" and "For Her Only" books. Hopefully Danielle and Geoff can find another couple to pass along those brilliant books to help save their marriage from the crazy, insecure women that always ruin relationships. Thank goodness for getting rid of those two books. We ended up getting a Christmas tree coat hanger? Stocking hanger? Whatever it is, I think we accidentally left it at the Kaufman's.

Today I finished up reading some research paper rough drafts, graded letters to the editor, put in grades, and had a brilliant idea of what to do with my 11th graders to help them finish off their sources and body paragraphs. It was very productive.
Then, I turned on some Christmas/Holiday music and dragged out all our Christmas decorations. Here is our mini-tree, filled to the brim with ornaments.

I also put up a garland across the entrance to the kitchen and some lights (the only strand left that works! How did that happen?) across the sliding door. Way to go, me! I am patting myself on the back as I type this.

Of course, once the tree is out, the cats have to investigate. Jackie was hiding behind the tree trying to act like she wasn't going to attack an ornament once my back was turned.

She was laying in the back, eyeing that moose. She never attacked it, but she did attack many of the smaller, rounder, easier to remove ornaments.

Silly kitty.

time for pictures

I finally uploaded pictures from my camera. Some were there since September!
Gabriel's favorite blanket. We bought this last month for $10 at Target, it's soo incredibly soft and warm and Gabriel loves it. Everytime it's on the love seat, he's on it, fast asleep.

Jackie's been sleeping out in the open more recently. She's enjoyed the top of the fridge.

And she even cuddled up with David when both of us were in the same room. She usually will only allow herself to be cuddly and be pet when one of us is there.

The rest of these pictures are from Ladies Night last month.
There was a lot of attention given to the newest lady to join us, Lydia:

(arrg! my computer won't let me rotate it for some reason. sorry about it being sideways! haha)
Megan and Lydia

Danielle and Kristie with Lydia

Abigail and Shannon


and that's all I got! I should start taking more pictures.

pictures galore!

We went to a Harry Potter party at B&N

Meg got a tattoo. It has Harry's face in it.

We both got sorted into Ravenclaw. Helllllzzzz yeaaaah!

When David showed up, we convinced him to be sorted, too. He was Hufflepuff, poor boy. Haha.

There were sooo many people.
The 7th book was good, except the epilogue was... um, strange. Too perfect? I don't know. Let's pretend it never happened.

Then we went to Busch Gardens.

This is the Griffon's first drop. 205 ft up. 90 degree drop straight down. Freaking. Crazy.

They dangle the people at the top, leaning over the edge for almost 10 seconds (I think, I didn't count it. It has to be between 5 and 10 seconds that they're stuck in this position, though). Uhh.. yeah.

Megan went on her first rollercoaster. It was incredibly fast, but very fun. We got soaked on a ride calld Roman Rapids. I jinxed us by saying "I really don't want to get caught under the waterfalls". We hit all three of them! haha. I had fun watching people come around the corner for the first drop on the Griffon and be waving their hands, all excited and then they clutch on for dear life once it releases. Next time, I'm going to ride the Alpengeist. I couldn't quite convince Meg to get on that ride. It's a really nice park, though, I was really impressed.

I went to College Park/D.C. area with Kristie yesterday, to pack up Maurice's stuff and see David. We walked around Georgetown between rain drops. I dropped into an Urban Outfitters for the first time since we moved down here and found these cute little things:

We'd been looking for a coat rack or something similar for a while, these were perfect.
David surprised me with this:

He picked it out allllll by himself. Well done, boy! (it's a fake/imitation, btw. haha. I love it.)

Here's a cute cat to cheer up your day:


And, finally, something for you to read.