~A Family Christmas~

Michael and I continued our tradition of a family filled Christmas again this year. We kicked it off with a Read extended family Christmas Eve at Maryanne's and Ernie's. I neglected to bring my camera so unfortunately I have no photos, but almost everyone was able to come, minus Elsa who was dutifully working, as Nurses do. The best part of the night was when Mike Sr. got one of our secret santa gifts and opened a Snuggie. Sharon's face was priceless. He was good enough to try it on for us! :)
The next day Mike and I woke up semi early and did our Christmas with Charlie. Mike got some new clothes from his favorite store Banana Republic while I got to open a new flash for my camera! Charlie even lucked out in getting a micro-fiber towel for after his baths.
After the presents and stockings were unwrapped, we headed over to the Schillinger's. There was yummy breakfast food, mimosas, and more presents. We were truely spoiled.


















About 2pm Michael and I drove over to meet Mandy and Philip at Mom's. Here we opened even more presents and ate yummy chilli and salad for dinner. The dogs had a good time playing and it was funny to watch my very pregnant sister crawl around on the floor handing out gifts. Thank goodness she only has about a month left! Of course little "Clark" received a bunch of clothes, along with the Mariner's outfit I got him!



All in all we had a great Christmas. Family, food, and pretty decorations. What could be better?

Early December Moments!

Well looks like I am slacking again! No new blogs in almost a month! So to catch you up, I will run through the highlights.

There were three main birthday's this month. First was my Bestie's, Kerry. Then, Michael's was on the 7th, which makes him a whopping 27! Which still makes me two years older, arrgggh. Then Mike Sr.'s birthday was the 12th. Luckily, with most of the Schillinger family's Birthday's a week apart, we decided to do a big birthday dinner at Sharon and Mike's in late November. This took care of Amy, Sharon, Michael and Mike's celebrations. It was a good time all around.

Then, I geared up for Mandy's Baby shower. This was a lot of fun and all had a good time! There was good food, pretty decorations, fun games and lots of wonderful friends. We all teared up a bit when Nichole offered to read the message to mandy from our mom out of Mandy's baby book. It couldn't have gone more smoothly thanks to the wonderful party planning of Mandy's sis-in-law, Nichole. Mandy closed out her Shower with lots of goodies, having seen some old and new friends and a general excitment about the upcoming due date of little "Clark". Here are a couple of cute pictures my mom managed to get.


















Let's see...
Mike and I joined the Issaquah Community Center to get back in shape. It's freezing in our garage where our work-out equipment is stored, so we broke down and decided to buy our way into a heated facility. Had my first 'go' at it today and my legs will be complaining tomorrow, I can tell you that!
















Went to Mike's work Holiday Party for Comcast at Emerald Downs after the the Baby shower last Saturday. It was nice to meet some of his coworkers and meet his boss. It was a typical work party with little booze and lots of food.
Then Sunday, I met up with my monthly movie girls to watch a Holiday flick. We (me, Mindy, Megan and Breann) met over at Megan's new place and threw on "Scrooged" while eating home-made cookies. Mmmmmm....
I have always loved that movie and Bill Murry cracks me up, so we had a great time. Then to end the evening, we watched Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, an old clay-mation show from the 60's. Good memories and a good message about getting past discrimination. "Silver and Gold...Silver and Gold..."

As for the Holidays...we are right on track. Cards in the mail, tree and decorating done, and shopping done (for the most part). I am feeling pretty accomplished right now. There is just something about having a Christmas tree in my living room all light up and shining that makes me happy. I sorta wish we had one year round. I will be keeping it up until it's totally inappropriate. :)

Well, that's about it. Hopefully I will be better at this whole blogging thing after the new year. Happy Holidays!