Sunday Snapshot - O Tannenbaum

Thanksgiving means turkey, family, pie, shopping, green bean casserole, and other tasty delights.  It also means time to decorate for Christmas!  This is just what we did, all throughout the week!  The boys had a blast as you can see from below.  Our house is now completely festive and ready for the season!  Enjoy!

 The wreath Amy and I made

 Helping Jack help us decorate the tree!

 They had the best time!

 My little reindeer helpers!

Amy doing her usual job of handing out the ornaments and telling the stories about them!

 

Our stockings hung with care!

 

Our family tree upstairs!

 

Our show tree downstairs!

Man-Made

Well, we are officially finished with decorating the house for Christmas!  It only took about a week of sporadic work, but we finished!  Downstairs, upstairs, inside, outside, it's all done!  One of my favorite parts about being in a house vs. an apartment has been the fact that we get to put up and decorate 2 trees!  The tree is definitely my favorite part of Christmas decorations.  We have one upstairs and one downstairs.  The one upstairs is our family tree.  It has all our special family ornaments from when Amy and I were little as well as ones we have accumulated together.  You know, full of memories and reminiscing.  It is artificial for 2 reasons.  One - so we don't have to lug a real tree up and down the stairs, and two - we got an awesome deal the day after Christmas a few years back, something like 80% off.  The downstairs tree has always been real.  This is what I refer to as our "show" tree.  You know, all the ornaments match and there is a theme.  Ours is Red and silver.   I have always been a real tree person, we never had artificial ones growing up.  Kroger, Houston Garden, Home Depot, and Lowe's.  All places I have purchased trees.  Moving out to the middle of suburban nowhere has it's benefits.  Not only are we 15 minutes away from Dewberry Farm for pumpkins in the fall (visit them here) but we are also, somewhat, close to a great Christmas tree farm - Spring Creek Growers (visit them here).  For the past 2 years we have been going there to cut down our own trees and it has been great.  We have gotten some great memories and great pictures.  This year though, things went differently.  We typically go to get our real tree the day after Thanksgiving.  This year we made the momentous and difficult (for me) decision to purchase an artificial tree for downstairs.  It may sound silly but it really was tough decision for me.  But, with the house being on the market it just seemed easier to go the least-messy route and get another artificial one.  It's beautiful, thank you Martha Stewart via Home Depot!  

On the bright side though, Scentsy makes a holiday scent called Christmas Tree that smells just like, you guessed it, a fresh cut Christmas tree!  And we're not talking a fake smell like those little tree-shaped air fresheners you put in your car.  This smells like an actual tree!  While I was out putting up the exterior lights Amy switched out the scent in the living room to Christmas Tree to surprise me.  She's great isn't she?  A keeper for sure! Got an artificial tree but still want to enjoy the fragrance of a real one?  (Shameless plug alert!) Visit Amy's website here to learn more about it and/or purchase!  :)  So, real or artificial?  I enjoy both.  Although I have to admit that I do enjoy the clean and less-messy approach offered by the artificial options!  Regardless, the house looks wonderful and we are ready for this most exciting season!

All is well, for real, in Drosche Land.

Gobble Gobble Shop

Well, Thanksgiving has come and gone.  Turkey, pie, dressing, green bean casserole, we had it all!  We had a lot to be thankful for this year.  In addition to the usual things: family, friends, jobs, etc. we also were thankful for the fact that this was the first full year of our freedom from debt!  It has been an amazing year and we have come so far.  We also were thankful for this because we are so close to starting the adoption!  Next Thanksgiving we will (hopefully) be fully into it and possibly thankful for some great news!

In addition to the great food, we also got to experience Black Friday for the first time.  We headed out into the cold and rainy night to wait in line for deals at Toys R Us and WalMart.  We then headed back out at the crack of dawn for more fun at Target and Costco.  We ended up saving tons of money and had a blast doing so!  Definitely started a new yearly tradition.  I am also happy to say that, in reference to the above portion about Dave Ramsey, everything we bought was paid for with cash!  Woo hoo!

Lastly, what Thanksgiving would be complete without Christmas decorating?  We actually began last week but really got into it today as we put the tree up in the loft.  The kids had a ton of fun decorating it and then decorating the mini one in their bedroom.  Tomorrow we plan to head out to cut down the tree for downstairs and that will conclude our decorating!  I'm smelling a Sunday Snapshot!  Speaking of pictures, I took loads of all the cousins playing together on Thanksgiving.  Below are two of my favorites of the boys!  All in all it has been an excellent vacation, one everyone here in Drosche Land definitely needed!  I'm excited about tomorrow!  I am totally in the Christmas spirit now thanks to the shopping, decorating, and Christmas music playing on the radio!  Just 29 short days!

All is well, will a lot to be thankful for, here in Drosche Land.

Braeden always knows how to stop and pose for me!

 

  Jack was also willing to oblige!

Hmpf!

So the last post fraught with the excited anticipation of what joys our Open House would bring.  Ok, maybe not fraught, but definitely hopeful.  Well, as one can surmise from the fact that a follow-up post was never written, the Open House was a bust.  A huge one in fact because no one, yes not one, single, solitary would-be home buyer stopped by.  The only person enjoying our freshly cleaned home was a lonely real estate agent.  For all I know he sat on my couch, watched my TV, ate my food, and rifled through my underwear drawer.  Just kidding, I doubt he did.  Although I have to admit that the thought has crossed my mind about how eerie it is to have complete strangers wandering around your house when you aren't there.  Oh well, I hope he enjoyed himself!  So what now?  I have no clue actually.  Our realtor called Amy yesterday and basically just said such is the issue with selling a house during the holiday season.  So we wait.  Some more.  In all actuality the house has only been listed a month.  Today marks the one month mark from when we signed all of the paperwork to list the house.  Again, on the bright side the house is remarkably tidy considering we have the boys who, at times, seem to think it is their sole life goal to create mess and mayhem.  Currently the house is undergoing a seasonal decoration change as we pack away the harvest items of pumpkins, leaves, oranges, and browns.  Out come greens, reds, and all the glittery Christmas paraphernalia!  Yes I know, poor Tom Turkey gets the shaft here in Drosche Land.  The world has seemingly skipped over Thanksgiving in order to get a jump start on Christmas.  We here have hopped on the band wagon, mainly because a week-long vacation is the best time for us to do massive redecorating.  Sorry Tom!  

So, the house remains listed.  You can always view/share/buy it here!  I guess in the scheme of things a month is a very short time for the listing, especially given the time of year.  I remain optimistically hopeful that next year we will be celebrating Thanksgiving and Christmas in our new house!  Look out Jersey Village, here come the Drosches!

All is well, still listed, in Drosche Land!

Wide Open

So today was our first Open House since our house has been listed.  It was scheduled to be held from 2:00 - 4:00 p.m.  I have no clue how it went and I am wondering when it will be before we hear?  We started cleaning and organizing yesterday and then kicked it into high gear this morning.  There wasn't too much work to be done since we have been so busy that we haven't had much time to clutter it up.  We left this morning at around 9:30 since we had some other errands to run and Amy had a Scentsy party to go to.  Another launch of one of her team members, Robin, actually.  So, I'm not even sure how we will tell if anyone came or not when we get home.  I counted the flyers in the house before we left - 15.  So I will see if there are any fewer than that when we get home.  Other than that I guess it is just a waiting game to see when/if the realtor calls us to let us know.  We were slightly hesitant because our realtor wouldn't actually be there, he was busy.  Instead, he was sending one of his people.  So who knows?  On the bright side if we don't get any offers at least the house will be super clean for Amy's Scentsy Open House in 2 weeks!  So, hopefully I will be back later to blog about Open House news, given there are any hints or details left behind!  Otherwise, I will just be back with a Sunday Snapshot, which I'm still working on.  Until then, we wait.  Not my favorite game!

All is well, open for business, in Drosche Land. 

Course Grind

Well, if you haven't guessed by the (I think pretty clever) title of this post and its labels, this is about the coursework for our M.Ed. adventure.  Now, don't get me wrong.  I'm all for being a life-long learner, staying on top of what's new, and furthering my education; but I'm about done.  It's not that the work is hard, just time-consuming and cumbersome.  I shouldn't complain though I know because this has all been free to me through Trinity (I LOVE my job!).  But still.  I have forgotten what it is like to not have homework or have to submit an assignment.  To just be able to come home and now worry about what discussion questions I have to answer, papers to complete, or journals to write.  Maybe I am partly (ok largely) to blame since I have become quite the accomplished procrastinator when it comes to my homework.  Much of it, ok like 99% of it, is done on Wednesday night right before the deadline.  That is unless there is a predetermined due date for something.  As tiresome as Wednesday nights have become, it works for me and allows me to almost (and I stress almost) forget that I have coursework to do.  Until Wednesday that is.

As of right now I have 2 1/2 courses left.  That fact is a double-edged sword in itself.  On one hand I only have 2 1/2 courses left.  But, on the other hand, I still have 2 1/2 courses left.  Catch my drift?  I used to think I wanted a doctorate of some kind.  I mean, how cool would it be to be Dr. Drosche?  Um, yeah, that idea is long since gone.  I'll be content to go by Master Drosche.  Yes, I said it.  Like I mentioned before, this is all free to me through Trinity.  That fact, and the fact that I am borrowing books from a co-worker who previously got her M.Ed., is more than enough blessing to not complain.  But I don't want to do my homework!  Ugh.  Speaking of, this week is a group project so that's good at least.  I need to get started on reading my portion of a 65 page article.  Instead I decided to vent/whine via blog.  Thanks for listening.  

So, I've had my say and I'm done.  I've gotten it out of my system and am (somewhat) less frustrated.  Ahhhh, I love the therapeutic benefits of blogging.  Thanks for attending my pity party.  Be sure to wrap some cake in foil and take it home with you.  Guess I'd better go get some homework done.   :)

All is well, of course it is, in Drosche Land. 

 

Sunday Snapshot - Field Day

The pictures for this week come from this year's annual Fun Run & Buddy Field Day at Trinity.  The youngest it goes is Pre-School so Jack won't get to participate until next year.  This year though, was Braeden's 2nd year.  He started off well, then had a mysterious crying spell, but finished his laps and calmed down.  Between Amy and I we got some good shots.  When looking at them though, I can see the big kid I blogged about yesterday!  Wow!  

Run, Braeden, Run!

He loves all kinds of athletics (doesn't get it from me!)

Walking with Amy after the meltdown

I liked this one so much I tweaked it!