A Merry Little Christmas

We were in Corpus this year for Christmas with Jaime's family. We stayed at the Omni downtown because of all my health issues. The hotel was nice and everyone was supper friendly, but it was not the same as staying with family.

Christmas Eve we went to Jaime's aunt and uncles house for dinner and presents. We had a great time and all of James' dad family was there. It was so nice to have everyone together. We enjoyed a wonderful dinner.

Grason and Uncle James

Grason enjoying his gift sack

Sweet Jackson

Aunt Jennifer and her new float

Christmas morning Jaime went to his grandparents house. I did not because Jaime's aunt and uncle on the other side of the family tree had been diagnosed with Swine Flu. We decided it was to risky for my health to go. I stayed at the hotel by myself while Jaime went for lunch and presents.

I ate Christmas lunch at the hotel. I could not get a reservation till 2pm. By the time I got there a lot of the food was gone and some was cold. I am so picky and the only thing that looked very good was the prime rib and dressing. My prime rib was delicious and the dressing was okay.

Once Jaime got back to the hotel we opened presents together. You probably already know Jaime got a Keurig one cup coffee maker and I got a pair of Bose head phones. We went really small this year. I wasn't up for shopping and Jaime never is so it worked out well this year. It really isn't about the presents anyways.

We had a suite at the Omni with a great view.

The weather on Christmas day was beautiful. You could see for miles.

Christmas evening we headed to Jaime's brother house. We had a delicious Christmas dinner. Derrick and Kendra did a great job with dinner. I don't really like sweet potatoes, but whatever Derrick and Kendra did to their sweet potatoes has changed my mind. I am afraid it was lots of butter and cinnamon that made me like the sweet potatoes. We also had green bean casserole which I usually don't like. Once again Derrick and Kendra have changed my mind. Derrick doesn't like cream of mushroom soup so he used cream of chicken soup in the green bean casserole. I loved it. Maybe I don't like cream of mushroom soup either.

Grason and his new Kawasaki

Popsci and his favorite gift - iTunes gift card

Kendra and Gramsci

Derrick

James and Grason playing around

They stopped playing for a minute to take a picture

Gramsci and her bell

Hope you had a wonderful Christmas like us. We are so blessed to have wonderful family and friends in our lives.

All Is Well

Jaime is feeling much better and so far I am fine. Jaime didn't have any problems yesterday and tested his stomach last night with Mexican food. I guess he is over it and can move back to my side of the house. I am still worried that I am going to get the bug.

We spent yesterday running lots of errands. We went to Target where I found lots of good Christmas decorations for half off. I am thinking about putting my new small tree in the dining room next year and making it a "Tech" tree. I found lots of red and black ornaments and some silver tensile. I will need more Tech ornaments to actually make it a Tech tree and not just a red and black tree. I will have to look for Tech ornaments all year to make it work.

We also made it by Academy. Jaime really wants a ping pong table. We just moved out our pool table that was up stairs and he has already found something to replace it. I thought we were clearing out some room for workout equipment. I guess I was wrong. I have already told him I will not be playing ping pong with him. He better teach Mily to play ping pong otherwise he will have the table against the wall playing the wall.

Finally we headed to the airport to pick up Dad. He had some vacation time so he decided to come hang out with us this week. So glad he is here. We went and ate dinner at La Fogata last night. If you are ever in San Antonio and looking for good Mexican food you should go there. They also have the best margaritas, but I don't know that from experience.

Once we got home from dinner we finished taking down all the Christmas decorations. I took down all the decorations except for the tree on Sunday night. Since Jaime was sick he basically passed out and I decided to make myself useful. I had a burst of energy and got a bunch put away. Jaime and Dad helped get the tree down last night. It is so nice to have the house back to normal.

I know I said I would be back today with the Christmas wrap up, but I am being lazy. I haven't downloaded any of the pictures and what is Christmas without pictures? Maybe tomorrow?

The Stomach Bug Invades

That is right, the stomach bug invaded our house yesterday. Jaime woke up sick. He has now taken residence on the other side of the house.

I am on "my side" which includes the living room and our bedroom. I lucked out. Jaime got the guest bedroom and the game room. We are staying separate.

I don't have the bug yet, but I am not sure that will last. We ate after each other all day on Saturday so I am afraid I might be next. I am really hoping not! I don't want to have to call the doctor and say, "Remember how you told me not to get sick? Well I got the stomach bug, now what?"

Hopefully I will be back tomorrow with no stomach bug and the Christmas update.

We Wish You a Merry Christmas

Christmas A La Hotel

We are spending Christmas in a hotel this year. When we arrived yesterday it didn't feel very festive. I fixed that little problem.

I did a little light shopping yesterday to make our room a little more festive.

The first store I went to had all the Christmas decorations half off. I totally took advantage of that sale. I found some really cute ornaments.

Love these cowboy boots!

I saw Raider Red and knew I needed him.

This little train is cute and reminds me of John.

The candy cane is so pretty.

I couldn't resist the gingerbread house.

I also found this cute snowman. I love him here, but can't wait to find him a place at home.

I also decided I needed a place to put my new ornaments so I headed to Hobby Lobby for a little Christmas tree. I really wanted a pre-lit tree, but with it being two days before Christmas it is hard to be picky. I settled for the only little tree they had which was $10.50. I found everything I needed to decorate the room at Hobby Lobby all for under $50. I was so excited.

Now our hotel room feels festive and ready for Christmas. I am so ready for Christmas. I can't wait to spend time with family and some really good food.

Merry Christmas Eve!

My New Internet Addiction

I have found my new addiction.

SKYPE!

Yesterday Doneece picked up Caroline from school and Mom picked up John. Once they were all home we Skyped. Doneece got it all worked it.

Mom and Dad have a fancy computer with a camera built in and so does my Mac. We finally put those cameras to use. I have been feeling home sick the past few days. It has finally hit me that I won't be going home for Christmas. This is the first year I have not seen my family at some point during the Christmas break. It makes me really sad!

Mom, Dad and Doneece are coming to San Antonio for the Alamo Bowl so I will get to see them. I will not get to see Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Anita, Uncle Darrel, Ann, Jeff, Caroline or John. There has never been a year that I have not seen all those fabulous people and it is really hard. It is hard to believe I won't be at my parents house to celebrate Christmas with all my family.

I asked Doneece if we could Skype once my peeps were there. She agreed and after some technical difficulty we got it to work. It was wonderful. I got to see Doneece, Mom, Caroline, John and Ann even made an appearance. Caroline and John were high on sugar and really funny. John just got a hair cut and is super cute. The kids were interested for about 2 minutes and then moved on to more exciting things. Doneece and Ann were much more interested in me.

The internet is amazing and I love it. Thank goodness for Skype. I got to see my favorite people and it made me feel a little better. Hopefully we can Skype Christmas morning so I can see my wonderful family. Thanks Doneece for getting it set up. You are the best!

Peanut Butter Wheaties

Peanut Butter Wheaties are a tradition around our house. I remember growing up and helping mom make these. Now I make them every year at Christmas. Usually I take one day when Jaime is at work and spend the day making Peanut Butter Wheaties, but this year I had help. There is no way I could have done it on my own.

Saturday afternoon Jaime helped me make them. He was a great help and I think it will be our new tradition to make them together. I think he will probably disagree. After the second batch he was asking how much longer. I have no idea how many batches we made. We kept going till we ran out of corn syrup. I think we probably made 6 batches.

We don't keep it all for ourselves. We give most of it away to our friends. We are trying to fatten our friends up. Not really, but once you see the recipe you will think it is true.

Wax paper

1 cup corn syrup

1 cup sugar

1 1/2 cups peanut butter

4 cups Wheaties

Bring corn syrup and sugar to boil. Add peanut butter and stir it in real good. Add Wheaties and coat with mixture. Remove from heat. Make into balls and place on wax paper.

I am not Pioneer Woman so don't judge the pictures. Just be happy you get pictures.

Corn Syrup and Sugar. I like this wooden spoon because the ingredients seem not to stick on it as bad as other spoons.

Corn Syrup, Sugar and Peanut Butter all mixed together.

All the good stuff, but it is hot! Don't burn yourself.

I don't actually make them into a ball. That requires too much work. I just get a spoon and spoon it out on the wax paper. I make mine small, but Jaime's were huge. Whatever floats your boat will be just fine.

The best way to make this is to sit on a stool and make your husband do all the moving around. He may pay you back by dropping a spoonful of HOT Peanut Butter Wheaties on your hand while transferring to the wax paper. Said spoonful will burn the first 2 layers of skin off your hand, but will still taste really good. I know all this from experience.

Do you have any holiday recipes I should know about?

Spotted Update

I no longer have to go to the doctor. I don't know if the doctor got tired of seeing me or just felt sorry for me having to pay a co-pay every time I went to the office. I don't really care what the reason, my wallet is happy and I am happy.

Instead of going to the doctor I have to call the doctor every few days to update him. I talked to Dr. Nichola last Thursday. I was out of the steroid, but still had the rash. Dr. Nichola decided I should take the steroid for another 30 days to be on the safe side. I also have to continue the zyrtec once a day and two benadryl at night. The benadryl is suppose to help the rash, but also help me sleep. The steroid causes me not to sleep. I will take the benadrly for about 35 more days and the zyrtec for 60 more days. I can't come off all the medication at once because the rash may come back.

The rash is looking better, but I still have it on my stomach and back. If you see me out in public you would never know I still have a rash. I have started working out again. Dr. Nichola really wanted me to get back to working out. I have only been working out about once a week and I don't do much. I take it nice and easy, but it feels good to workout. I have been trying to walk each day It has been cold and rainy here so the walking isn't going very well. Hopefully this week I can walk everyday. I still get tired really easy, but have a hard time sleeping. I actually have tons of side effects from the steroid and can't wait to be done with it.

Dr. Nichola still wants me to take it easy and not push myself. I promised him I would. I also promised him I would call if I had an problems. Dr. Nichola has been so great with everything. I love having a doctor who truly cares, too bad I had to find him this way.

I mentioned on Friday that I was done wrapping all the presents. I forgot to mention non of the presents have a bow. I think the presents don't need a bow this year. Does anyone really care if the present has a bow or just what is inside?

The Presents Are Wrapped Almost

I am 99% done and I am exhausted! It has been a long week.

Where has this week gone? I feel like it passed me by and I was suppose to lay on the couch all week.

Monday was not a very good day around here. I had a migraine all day. I have not had a migraine in a long time, but Monday the migraine would not leave me alone. Finally, about 6pm it went away. In all my pain on Monday I forgot to take the steroid till late. Monday night we had our Bunco Christmas party. It was fun and the food was delicious. I didn't have the energy to take my camera so no pictures this year. Once, I got home from the party I was wide awake. Not taking the steroid till late really messed me up. The only positive was I occupied my late night with wrapping presents. From midnight till 2am I wrapped six presents. That doesn't seem like a lot to me. Am I a slow wrapper? The wrapping wore me out and finally I was tired enough to go to bed.

When the week started I had no plans except the Bunco party. That all changed. I ended up doing the Murphy's pictures Tuesday afternoon. My Christmas cards finally arrived Tuesday evening. Why is it once you become a photographer your Christmas card is no longer a priority? My card has never gone out this late, but at least I sent one out. I addressed envelopes forever Tuesday night and then stayed up till 2am again editing pictures.

Wednesday was about the same. Pictures of Riley and Avary and another late night editing. I did sleep in Wednesday morning. After I got the Christmas cards to the post office I did a little more wrapping. I was finally starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. One good thing about ordering all the Christmas gifts online, they all came in a box ready to be wrapped. I didn't waste countless hours this year looking for boxes.

Yesterday I had another migraine. I think I have spent way too much time this week looking at a computer. I am at least blaming the migraines on the computer. The computer really wasn't my friend yesterday. I spent the morning trying to place print orders and it did not go well. I could not find the pictures I was looking for and was convinced the computer had "lost" my file. Come to find out I was not looking under the right file name. The brain still isn't working very well. Finally, I decided to head back to bed. My head hurt and it seemed everything was going wrong. After napping for three hours everything seemed better. I spent the rest of the afternoon wrapping.

I am happy to report that all our wrapping is done and no gift bags were used! Actually, I ordered one more last minute present on Tuesday. It should be arriving next week and I will have to wrap it when it does arrive. Besides that one lonely present I am done and it feels so good.

Because I am done wrapping our guess bedroom is no longer a guest bedroom and is now a present storage room. I never put all the packages under the tree. It seems pointless to me. I arrange all the presents under the tree and mess up half the ornaments on the bottom trying to fit packages under there. A few days later I remove all the presents from under the tree and mess up the other half of the ornaments on the bottom. I finally just gave up!

If you were planning on making an unannounced visit to stay with us next week, just know you will be sharing a bed with the presents.

Next week I really am going to lay on the couch!

Riley and Avary

Riley and Avary are super cute and so much fun to be around. We had a great time taking pictures yesterday. Theses girls should be models. They would pick the place and just beg me to take a picture. I love my job!

Brandi is Riley and Avary's mom. Brandi was in charge of our bedroom decorations. She picked out everything that went in there. If you need someone to help you decorate a room, she is your woman. She does amazing things! I can't wait for her to do another room in our house, just don't tell Jaime.

Riley for her half birthday wants a really big picture of herself for her room. She kept asking Brandi how big will it be. So cute!

Thanks girls for letting me hang out and just have some good 'ole girl time.

Murphy Family

This is one of my favorite families. They were some of the first people we meet when we moved to San Antonio and have become some of our closest friends. This is a wonderful family!!! They adopt me often when Jaime is out of town and feed me dinner.

David did our landscaping when we moved in and we love it. If you need any landscaping call him and he will take care of everything! Check out his website.

I have really wanted to take the Murphy's pictures since I started my business. We have tried to schedule a time, but something has always come up. The Murphy's are busy people. Yesterday it finally worked out. The sun hasn't been out here in days, but yesterday afternoon it decided to come out and greet us. It was beautiful.

I really didn't have to do much work to get great pictures. David did all the posing for me. I just stood back and took pictures. He is hired as my assistant anytime he wants. This family is so photogenic that it was hard to narrow down my favorites. After much consideration I have narrowed it down to these. What do you think?

Love you guys tons!!! Thanks for letting me take your pictures. I had a fabulous time.