Winter Break Review

I was feeling bad that I hadn't posted in a while, but I didn't really know how to sum up what had been going on since the beginning of my Winter Break. So ... here it is in pictures. I have a few more days of break, so any additional pictures, you'll just have to check out my photo blog. I've decided to continue with it for year two. I really enjoyed doing that blog since it was simple & quick. I also felt that it was a great way to work on my photography skills. My goal for this year is to save up enough money (ha!) to treat myself to a fancy digital SLR camera.

Here we go!

Part of my Christmas decor. I love the way my condo looks with all my decorations up. Last year I took it all down by January 7th. I'm hoping to put it all away by the time I go back to work next week.

This pic pretty much sums up Christmas morning. Ellen wanting to get her hands on all the presents & Minnie looking flustered and running around.

The cute moss terrarium that Molly & I made for Mom and Ann. They were doing so well the first week and now they seem to have some yucky mold growing in them. I will read into some quick fixes ... but the best fix may just be starting over from scratch. They are so darn cute, I hate to see them do poorly.

I came home on Christmas night to find this lovely leak in my living room. After FREAKING out & using my fancy ear-to-wall detective skills, I realized that it was snow/roof related ... not pipes/bathroom related. It continued to drip pretty steadily for 4 days. Now it has stopped, but the plaster on the ceiling fell off & the ceiling is stained much more than what this picture shows. The HOA workmen say they'll be out in a few weeks to fix. Hopefully this will, in fact, be covered by my HOA dues!

It snowed ... and snowed .. and snowed ... AND SNOWED! I'm not sure when I've ever seen this much snow in Kansas City! I don't think Minnie has even been alive when there has been this much snow. It's NOT fun walking her in the bitter cold, but at least she'll go out!
The crew at the Wagner's annual Cookie Decorating Party. It was the 20th (or was it the 21st?) year of the party ... so it was 1989-themed. A fun time was had by all ... unfortunately we were missing some due to snow, family & plumbing disasters!

My cookie this year! I normally just do one cookie. I earned the 2nd Runner Up prize with this snow globe. It took me close to an hour ... well worth it!

Look! It's a Snuggie! You can even knit when you are wearing it. Mitz & I were so cold, we both wrapped up in the Snuggie that Adam & Jill got at their family gift exchange.

We spent a lot of our break playing Wii. Big Brain Academy is always good for a laugh! I call this girl on the right, "angry, unicorn, gap-teeth" when I'm trying to remember what the characters look like! :)

Becca & Charlotte playing at the girls' gift exchange. Charlotte is so funny when you put a camera on her. She blinks & smiles right when she sees the flash!

It was so nice to get together for our gift exchange. Thanks to Megan & Emilie for cooking up a wonderful dinner. Love you girls!

The other way that we spent our Christmas break. A rare picture of me that Jilly took. Mitzi realized that she hadn't played Guitar Hero since she moved last March. We missed it ... but I could do without playing Van Halen GH.

Jilly & Adam rocking out to 80's Guitar Hero.

On the 31st, I actually went up to school to work for a few hours. I gave up after 3 hours when I couldn't feel my fingers to type. The temperature was anywhere from 60-64 degrees while we were up there! Brrrr!

Went later that day to play with Ellen. This was the first time I'd seen her have a bath in the big tub & not the kitchen sink. She LOVES to play with her toys & move around constantly (probably to stay warm)! Look at those lashes!

And ... here we are. A new year!