Christmas Week & the future

So the blog I posted before this has the main pictures from Christmas day, so I will go ahead and explain my past few weeks. I see I haven't posted in a while, due to several factors. :)

I went home on the 23rd. But before that, after the doggies got their Santa pics made, we came back and gave them THEIR Christmas presents. (Two huge bones, two smaller ones, and some treats.) They also got a present from "Nana" (my mom) with squeaky toys. So cute. :p I finished up my grad school application stuff and mailed the part that had to be "snail mailed" when I got home on the 23rd. It was relieving, in a way.

I dropped them off at their boarding place. I hate doing it, but it makes it better that they are so excited to be there and the staff knows their names and tendencies. It's homey. One day when I'm not a poor college student, I'll tip them really well. :) We gave them a copy of the Santa picture and they put it up on their wall. I felt like a proud Mama. hahaha. I'm so lame! I love it.

So then I went home to my Mom's house. We didn't do much that night, but Will & I had "movie night." We watched 27 Dresses and talked for hours. We do that a lot, since we are both Chatty Kathy's. lol.

Then the next day was Christmas Eve AKA My Mom's birthday!! She turned 42. But I didn't say that. It was really "29." ;) We got her an awesome "Super Mom" Card. It was soooo cute. Then we all went to eat at LongHorn for her bday and then that night, Ava put out the cookies and reindeer food. Then me, Mom, Will & Zach went to the Christmas Eve service at the church. It was beautiful. Christmas music (esp Quaker style) is my favorite. Actually, church music in general is beautiful to me. It was a beautiful service and really made me appreciate it more. My favorite part? "Let the Christmas spirit affect you as it affected you as a child. Approach Christmas with the open heart that children do." We waited for Ava to be asleep after we got back, and then all 5 of us elves got Christmas Morning ready. :p It's interesting being old. lol. Will and I had a funny conversation about what Christmas will be like when she's older too. :)

Christmas morning - OH what a morning! She had us up by 7-ish and by 7:30 presents were being torn open. She got a ton of barbie stuff, I got a lot of much-needed clothes, Will got clothes and some helpful school stuff, Zach got clothes as well and some cool movies/games. :) We're so old. ;) Then we had our typical Christmas morning breakfast - Zach made his cinnamon biscuits and Mark made the sausage casserole. DELICIOUS, both of them.

Nanny & Papa got there around 12 or 1 and we did those presents. :) And Nanny tried to teach Will how to juggle. haha. Then we had Christmas "linner." lol. It was yummy, as usual. Seth finally came down a little after that and did his presents.

Then Seth & I left to go see his Mom. We went to her & Lee's house and Shane & Heather were there too. We had yummy food and did gifts there too. THEN, it started to snow and actually stick!! White Christmas, at least the most White Christmas we've seen in over 100 years. :p I had to drive home in it (not fun, kind of scary) because it was dark outside and it was like the snow flakes were attacking my windshield. :/ I was stressed. But made it home safely and played in it with Will & Zach. :p Ava wasn't able to. Bedtime and all that. But she got to the next AM when it was done snowing. :)

That day, we went to church. Another gorgeous service. I really love that church, honestly. After church, Ava went to play with her bff Rachel. lol. Mom got to sleep some more and Will, Zach & I went to Dad's for more Christmas. We did the presents with Dad & Maggie and then, of course, went to Summit for some wings and football. Some things never change. :p After that, we watched movies again that night.

I left yesterday (Monday the 27th) and came and got my babies from their boarders. They were soooo tired! :) Matter of fact they are asleep right now too! Now back to reality and bills and bullsh*t. BOO!

But I'm excited for my favorite holiday - New Years! I love the renewing sense that it brings. I hope that 2011 is 3948405493 times better than 2010. 2010 was okay, but it was not that exciting and certainly nothing of great importance really happened. I don't mean that this year hasn't had a lot of learning involved, but I feel kind of disappointed that I didn't really hit any major milestones. I'll have to get used to that, I'm sure. But I guess I did finally stop being a "teenager" when I turned 20 earlier this year, but it didn't really feel like a big deal. I didn't finish anything and I didn't really start anything either. Next year, I think I'll be both finishing and starting things, assuming I get into Grad School! *fingers crossed* I'm actually excited about grad school now. I think I am about 94% certain that I want to do this with my life, and I don't think anyone is 100% about anything like that.

I have a feeling 2011 is going to have a lot in store for me, not just including graduating college and turning 21. :) And possibly, hopefully, starting grad school. I think next year will have a lot of really neat things going on. I'm excited for our little New Years party! We only invited like 8 people, so it'll be small, but that's how I like it. :)

Christmas in Pictures

The pictures uploaded in backwards order - mainly because I forgot that they do that, and I didn't feel like switching them all around. :) SO, let's go backwards, shall we? The above picture is from where it was SNOWING on CHRISTMAS in GEORGIA. Yes, stand back in awe. It hasn't snowed on Christmas in the Atlanta area since 1882. Part of history is now on my blog. :)

And my brothers, who refuse clothing, outside in pants and gloves. No joke, they weren't cold. Except their hands. It's ridiculous. I think they are werewolves? Jacob & Sam? HAHA.

Seth & I in front of the tree on Christmas day. :)

Me & Will. I look GROSS, but it's okay. :)

Zachy & Ava, Christmas morning.

Will & Ava Christmas morning. :) Sweet.

Ava & I opening presents. This is what she got me. :) She was so cutely excited. I wore it later that day. :)

All of us, ages 6-20. LOL. What a crew.

Ava found her Santa presents! :)


Putting out the milk & cookies that the boys ate later that night. Such good elves. ;)

Puppies & Santa "Claws"

Quick Update:
My new phone is awesome, still.
And:

Today we went to Petsmart to get Santa "Claws" Pics of our babies. It's put on by the Douglas County Humane Society. They had puppies there! SO adorable. Lucy & Chevy really took to one of them.........one day they will get another brother or sister! :) Just need to get a job and house first! Ha.
Anyways, this is distorted because I took a pic of the pic with my phone, you know how that goes. BUT it's an idea. :) They did so well! Friendly and didn't bark at other dogs and Lucy didn't do her "i'm excited so I lost control of my bladder thing." The only time anything even remotely went "wrong" was when we were leaving. Chevy had to relieve himself and started to do so as we were walking out. We cleaned it up. Crisis averted. :) And their sweaters are adorable. I love my fur-babies.

Boring

OKAY final grades are in! I got 5 A's and 1 B!!! :p I'm pretty thrilled about this. Now only 6 more classes and UNDERGRAD IS DONE! :p

Over the break, I suppose I'll be working on my application to Grad Schools. I'm a bit nervous, which is leading me to procrastinate. But it's okay. I'll suck it up and do it. :)

Sunday night, Hannah & I watched three chick flicks and laughed and joked and had fun until like 4:30 am. :p It was great! Hadn't had a night like that in a long time. Then, yesterday (Monday) I got the puppies back!! :) And took a pic of them with my new phone. :p

Wow, I'm late. WHAT a weekend.

So my last update was several, several days ago. There are a few reasons for this. Here's the summary. I made it through finals and writing tons of papers and whatnot. I have 5 out of my 6 final grades - so far, really good! So far it's 4 A's and 1 B!! My only one pending is Law & Society. It will either be an A or a B. SO all the stress was totally worth it! :p

AAAANNNNDDDDD Now, to this weekend!
Hannah & I went home to babysit Ava and do stuff and go to Danny's Christmas party. So here's how that went.

Friday: Friday when we got to my house I got my BRAND NEW PHONE!!!!!!!! :p I'm so excited about that. So after we played with it and started figuring it out, we went and picked Ava up from school. She was so excited! So then we went and babysat her for a while, played dressup, and then a lot of us (Me, Hannah, Ava, Zach, Will, Tyler, Savannah) went to El Charro for dinner. After that, we watched Will & his friends (plus some that weren't at dinner) play Twister and silly string & there were glow sticks and yeah. It was pretty fun. Then we put Ava to bed and stayed up watching stuff and hanging out w the boys and such.



Saturday: In the AM, Ava got us up at 8:30. YAY. hahaha. And we watched 101 Dalmations. Btw, I really missed that movie! I had forgotten a LOT of the details. So cute. Then we ate, hung out, played, did nails, etc etc etc. Then Hannah & I got ready and headed to Danny's (Seth's bfffffff's <--- that's for Hannah) house for a Christmas party. It was pretty fun. The "regulars" were there and it was interesting to talk to Hannah about it! :p Pictures to come.

So then today (Sunday): Today was Ava's Christmas Recital with her dance group. She was SOOOO freaking adorable and cute, like OMG. So this morning when we got up (she let us sleep until 9 something!) we got up and had breakfast, then we watched Beauty & the Beast: Christmas Edition or something, it was cute. I think I'd only seen it maybe once. By the way: It SNOWED a little bit. This is completely unheard of in December in Georgia. If it snows at all, that is usually in Feb or March. So after that we took showers, we got ready quickly and then played "dress up Ava!" Her hair is really hard to get to stay up, being that it is all straight, so we put tons of gel and hairspray and then Nanny brought her curling iron and it turned out ABSOLUTELY adorable. :D See below. I put green eyeshadow on her and some blush and lipstick and she loved it. Look at her work it! :)

Quick Re-Cap

So I made it through the week! Basically.
It was pretty crappy, but, I'm alive and done with four of my six classes.
Run-down really quick:

Monday: Did Practicum for 6 hours (10-4), then studied for Law & Society final with Hannah.
Tuesday: Did Practicum for another 6 hours (9-1 and then 5-7). Took Law & Society final in between those two sections.
Wednesday: Did Practicum for another chunk of time (9-12 and 1-3). Then met up with Hannah again and studied for Terrorism final. Then TOOK Terrorism final. THEN, came back to the apt and worked some on my 10-page Corrections paper.
Thursday: Finished said Corrections paper (12 pages total) and finishing putting together my powerpoint for Corrections (had started it Sunday). Then did Corrections Presentation Thursday night (got a 100!!!!!!!) and turned in said paper.
Came home and prepared to pass out and spend today sleeping the day away.

What actually happened today: Slept for a good bit of time, but woke up before noon. This was NOT in my plan. ;) Now I'm getting all my financial aid payment stuff worked out.
Tomorrow doing more Practicum hours and then all I have next week is MAYBE a few extra hours for that and an 8 page paper to do. OH and helping Hannah study so she ROCKS her final for Methodology. ;)

That's pretty much it and I am DONE with this semester and will OFFICIALLY only have ONE semester of College left!!!!!!!! :D :D :D That is my motivation for next semester.