Day 195: New Years Eve

On our first, married, New Years Eve, we had a pretty typical day.  Eric left for work in the morning and I scrambled to put the new nightstands in our bedroom.  It was pretty easy to move the bookshelf out from my side of the bed and carry the nightstand over.  But there wasn't enough space on Eric's side of the bed...so I had to move a 300 pound dresser just a few inches to the right.  Once those were in place, I spent most of the day in bed, playing the Sims 3!

Sadly, I left my phone at Steven and Leslie's house yesterday, and didn't figure it out until it was too late to go get it today. 

After Eric got out of work, I picked him up and we headed to babysit for a friend of mine, Chris Minor, from church camp and other youth events.  Because we were babysitting, we bought a bottle of sparkling white grape juice to ring in the New Year!  Lucky for us, Chris got us a bottle of champagne because he felt bad that we were babysitting on our first married New Years.  We had that first, so we would be fine for driving home afterward, and enjoyed watching some cheezy game show (Minute to Win It) and Anchorman.  Right around midnight we tuned in to the "live" New York event with Dick Clark and Carson Daly.  The kids slept through it all and we had a really good time!

Beautiful! 

They don't match, but they work great! 

We're definitely not dressed up, but we had a great end to 2010!

Grape juice toast at midnight!

A midnight kiss <3

Day 194: Let the Good Times Roll

Christmas break is awesome because Eric and I have gotten to spend multiple days together!  Usually when he has a day off we just get the evening together, because it only happens on weekdays.  We woke up early to watch Jack, the kiddo I nanny for over the summer.  We brought Frisco with us and left him at Papa's house during the day so we could let him out and go play with him while we were in Olathe.  Eric and I are really impressed with Jack's progress - he is able to make the /n/ sound and is much more clear when he says "thank you".  Plus, he's just an incredibly happy guy! 

Our friend Rob works at the Palazzo 16, so we took Alison, Zach, and Jack to see Tangled for super cheap!  We did a little shopping and then went to Mom and Alan's house and played with Andrew for awhile before taking Jack home.  We also got massages and a sauna treatment while we were in Olathe - a Groupon gift from Mom, thanks!

Later that evening we went out to Steven and Leslie's apartment in Kansas City.  All of us went out to Taco Bueno for dinner and saw one of the giant spotlights in the parking lot with a sign next to it that said something to the effect of "huge furniture discount sale!"  We fell in love as soon as we walked in the doors - a nice looking night stand that is actually tall enough for our super tall bed, for $29 each!  Not wanting to impulse buy, we walked around to see what else they had and found that everything else in the store averaged a price of $300+.  So we snatched up two of their nightstands and hauled them back to the apartment before we had dinner.  One fit in the trunk (with the lid open), and one took up 3/4 of the backseat (so Eric and I squished into the last 1/4). 

We had a really good time at dinner, caught up on a lot of overdue conversation and jokes ("how d'ya like me now, bitch!").  When we got back to the apartment we spent the night playing all sorts of good PS3 Move games, most notably one that turns the TV screen into a paint pad and you can draw all sorts of things on it - all while the background is the video image of you standing in front of the TV.  We were planning on spending the night, but we really just wanted to sleep in a comfy bed instead of a couch.  So at around 2:30 am, we drove back to Olathe to pick up Frisco and got back to Eudora around 4am. 

Silly boys!

Day 193: Work, Play, and Cleaning

Today has to have been the most productive day of Christmas break yet!  For Eric - he actually was scheduled for 40 hours, which is rare.  So he spent his day working a long shift.  I spent my day working on various neglected chores like dishes, laundry, and vacuuming.  But really, the chores didn't take all that long and were spaced out between bits of various games.

I'm loving "Just Dance 2"  it's fun to listen to music, dance, and get some exercise in!

Day 192: A Whole Day Together

Between my birthday, Christmas, and good budgeting, we've ended up with a bit of extra money that we plan on using to get a few things for ourselves before throwing the rest of it at our debt snowball.  I started it off by getting a few necklaces off of Etsy and a bedside lamp and Eric got some motorcycle sunglasses with interchangeable lenses.  We also got a Furminator for Addy and Operation Flashpoint for Eric off of eBay for $15 each.

We spent the day out in Lawrence, window shopping and grabbing lunch at Subway.  Then we headed home and relaxed - Eric playing Fallout New Vegas and me playing The Sims 3!

I made Garlic & Herb Fettuccine for dinner, and Addy wanted a bite. 

Day 191: Are All The Animals Getting Along?

Nothing terribly special happened with Eric and I today, so I thought I would update on our animal situation.  Well, they're all still alive!  I wouldn't stretch the truth by any imagination and say they're all getting along, but it doesn't seem like anyone is unhappy!

Mystic doesn't care about any of the animals.  She usually sleeps on top of the guest bed or on the back of the couch.  Addy spends most of her time cuddled inside of the cat tree - hiding from the other animals, but happy to be asleep.  The birds have only caught glimpses of the other animals while our bedroom door is open.  They're actually pretty quiet and don't require much upkeep.  Frisco is either a terror running and jumping through the house, or sleeping so quietly that you can't find him.  Finally, Moonshine spends more time sprawled out on the carpet than hiding under the bed.  She will rub against our feet and meow at us, but growls and hisses if we try to pet her.  We figure that we'll stop pressing it, as she likes to play with the string and lazer pointer with us, so we don't want to keep trying to pet her and get her upset or scared again.

I put this on her - but she really likes playing with the strings!

She was chasing the lazer pointer.

Day 190: A Visit to Warsaw

I was planning on skipping church this morning because I was tired of driving around and didn't want to drive the 40 minutes to and from church.  But then I remembered that I had signed up as Andrew's designated babysitter on Sunday's.  I found out that Mom and Alan were going down to Warsaw to see Grampa Ed and Grandma Judy, so Andrew and I decided to join them!

Andrew had a good time playing with some new and different toys, and all of the grown ups got to talk for most of the day.  The highlight was obviously going to ...Warsaw's Mexican Restaurant...  I also got to take Lego Harry Potter back to Walmart (I got 2 for Christmas) and traded it out for Just Dance 2.  Unfortunately, Eric had to miss the fun because of work.  *sings* "It's not unusual..."

Andrew and I napping on the drive down to Warsaw.

Nana feeding Andrew lunch - he's such a big boy and can just sit in a chair!

Great Grandma Judy put the stacker rings on his arms.

We enjoyed a nice massage in the chair.

And this is what happens when you try to take your own hat off!

Day 189: Christmas!

We slept on the couches at Mom and Alan's house and left for breakfast at Paul & Deb's house in the morning.  Deb made her famous french toast and homemade syrup for us, followed by the traditional stockings and "I don't want this/I want more of this, want to trade?".  We gave Shannon a water filtering pitcher, Brian a mini waterproof keychain lighter, and Jen a frog statue and frog charm.  Eric got a thermal shirt, we got the SNL Board Game, Lego Harry Potter for Wii, a giant skillet and lid, and Fallout New Vegas.  Woo!

Then we left to take Frisco on a walk and go to my family's Christmas.  Ashley traded me some Wenberg (Pilsbury) cinnamon rolls for some of Deb's french toast.  Then Alison came over and we gave her and Rob the makings for Mexican Chicken Casserole, and a pack of markers for Zach.  Alan woke up from his post-24-hour-shift-nap and Sarah arrived, then the Wenberg festivities began!  We also did stockings, with new embroidered stockings that Ashley found and Mom bought.  There we got a light up PS3 controller, KU shirt, some liquor, and a "First Christmas Together" ornament.  Eric's favorite gift of all was a stocking stuffer... orange silly putty.

This was all followed by our fourth Christmas in the past 24 hours - dinner at Victor and Jennifer's.  We had a really good time talking to some family that we don't get to see often.  Overall, we successfully went to 4 Christmases without any fighting over where we were going, and had a good time with family at all of them!  The best part was Christmas #5, going home and cuddling with our kitties.

Merry Christmas again! 

Brian & Jen (Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of Shannon and Cody or Paul and Deb, oops!) 

Getting comfy on the couch. 

Oh look!  I did get one with Shannon & Cody!   

Sarah & Andrew at the Wenberg Christmas. 

Zach and his markers. 

Andrew with Uncle Eric's mini bottle of booze, still sealed of course! 

Andrew really loved all of the Nerf darts flying around! 

The Wenberg Family - 2010 

The Wenberg-Green Nerf War 

Look!  Mom and Alan were at Christmas too! 

Andrew fed himself lunch in his new booster seat.  He really loved the fork and spoon, but this picture was just too funny!