New Years

New Years Ross mom, dad, sister, and Justin (our nephew) came down to visit. We loved spending time with them and having our second Christmas. They got here right before Ross got home and we had Christmas all over again. Thank yall so much for everything you gave us, it was such a blessing!!! That night Ross got to try out his chocolate milk mixer and we played the Wii we got from mom and dad Jenkins until the ball dropped. Then we watched the ball drop and apparently Raleigh has a acorn that drops at midnight too. So we watched both of them drop gave New Years kisses and went back to playing the Wii. New Years day was spent playing games and talking. We had waffles for breakfast and French Dip sandwiches for dinner. The cats again enjoyed sleeping all day, who knew when people come they would sleep and when people left they would be going crazy again!!!
That night was spent playing the Wii to see who was the best at bowling and tennis. Ross went to bed with a sore arm he said. But, I have to say he picked out some really good Mii's to put on our Wii. You'll have to come over and see, we even have Jesus as a Mii....not sure how good that is but, he's there.
They left after breakfast the next day, right before Ross headed off to work. Then it was time to clean up and for me to go to work that night. We had a wondeful time visiting with yall and thank you so much for come to see us!!! Sadly we didn't take any picture while they were down.

Christmas

This year was our first Christmas at our house. So we had everyone come visit us and it was great!!! Mom, dad, Renee, and Grandma all came down for Christmas day and then Christian showed up the next day. Everyone showed up late on the 23rd and they had two cars worth of stuff!!! I guess that's what happen when you have to move tons of presents. So in the matter of a few minutes out tree went from one present under it to overflowing with presents and our stocking went from empty to full!!! We had a blast, we went out on Christmas eve to pick up a few things, plus it's my dad's tradition that's when you do your shopping. I have to say though I am glad I don't shop on Christmas Eve, it was crazy out there!!!! Then we came home and hung put until Ross got home from work. Dad made homemade bread while I did homemade cinnamon rolls for Christmas morning. We were so excited he got off early (4pm), but he did have to go in early that day too (8am). Then we headed to NorthWake for Christmas Service. It was very different but the children basically put on our whole service, telling the story of Christ's birth through songs and reading parts of the Bible. Ross and I agreed we never knew that NorthWake had so many talented kids!! Everyone loved it and they got to meet some of our friends!! That night we came home and made chicken marsala for dinner. O it was delicious!!! And had goodies for dessert, there were tons in the house at that time!!! And just hung out the rest of the night. O and can't forget playing with the cats.

Christmas morning we all woke up and ate homemade cinnamon rolls with cream cheese frosting, they were really sweet but really good. And then opened presents. The cats were going crazy with all the paper and bows to play with. They had their tuna for Christmas and enjoyed every last bite of it! Both licked the bowl clean!!! Ross and I had a great Christmas, everyone blessed us so much!! (Thank you very very much for everything). Ross started the turkey in the rotisserie and mom started the fixings. It turned out fantastic!!! Christmas dinner was delicious and couldn't have gone better with the Ukrop's fudge pie mom and dad brought. This was about the time the cats feel asleep and they didn't get up for at least 24-48 hours...I think we tired them out!!! That night we started on the gingerbread house since Christian was gonna be there the next day to help us with it.

the next couple of days were spent just working on the gingerbread house and hanging out, both days everyone was still here we got to eat lunch with Ross which was great to get to hang out with him that extra time. But all in all it was a great Christmas and we loved seeing everyone. Thanks for coming down and spending it was us!!

Mom and dad got us a bookshelf while we were shopping (Thanks again). Ollie was helping Ross put it together on Christmas Eve.

Our Christmas Tree

All the stocking (l to r - Mine, Renee's, Christian's, and Ross').

Ozzy Christmas day playing with the ribbon.

Ollie didn't like us putting a bow on his head.

Dad opening his gift from mom.

Grandma got a picture frame with picture in it from Meme.

Renee's sweater from Aunt Lynda.

Ollie with his ribbons.

Ollie got to tired to play with his ribbons.

That was our Christmas and we loved it!!! Can't wait for next year.

Family Thanksgiving, Part 1

For Thanksgiving this year Ross and I got to go up to Pennsylvania to see my dad's side of the family. It's a blast, tons of people in my Meme and Pepe's house and tons of really good food to eat. We left on Tuesday night after Ross got off work to drive to my parents house and stay the night. It was nice to break up the trip. so we pulled in to their house around 1am. Ross had his pizza dinner and to bed we went. We got up at 6am and got out of Richmond by 8am. On our way we picked up Renee and Christian and got them in the Jeep (still not sure how Christian fit but he did). We pulled into Meme and Pepe's around 4ish I think. About the time mom and dad pulled in. That night was lazagana. And I made a cheesecake for Thanksgiving day.

Cheesecake into the fridge.

Thanksgiving day we were up at 8ish, because the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade comes on and you have to watch the whole thing...it's a Thanksgiving tradition!!! So all the cousins and grandma and others piled into the tv room for 3 hours to watch the parade. It's just not Thanksgiving if you don't watch the parade and plus Christmas music can't play until Santa crosses Macy's square! We also did some house warming and apartment warming gifts. Meghan got her first apartment while she is in grand school and the Ross and I's house.

Watching the parade.

Opening house warming gifts. (Thank you Aunt Darlene and Gerard and Thank you Uncle Ron, Aunt Anita, Meghan, & Ryan!!)

Apartment warming gifts.

After the parade we worked on a Gingerbread house, well Meghan, Mel, Renee, and Christian. It turned out great!!! Renee finished it that night I think...

Starting...

Finished!

Go to the nest post for the rest, blogger didn't like all my pictures.

Family Thanksgiving Part 2

The next day Ross, Dad, Renee, and Christian went out to shoot skeet. They each got to shoot about 4 time Ross said, sadly I had to work on a paper...that's what I did over break. I heard Dad hit one, Ross was really close to one, and never got a report about Christian and Renee. Here's some picture of them shooting....

Renee Shooting

Dad shooting.

Ross Shooting

Ross Shooting

Christian Shooting

I think the best part was meeting Mel (Meghan's boyfriend) and Gerard (Aunt Darlene's boyfriend). Ross and I've heard so much about them but never meet them. It was great!! Aunt Darlene brought her homemade chocolates, which were fantastic!!! Meghan and Mel even brought a fruit basket...(I have to say the pineapple flowers were the best).

Aunt Darlene and Gerard

Meghan and Mel

Us (Ross would like to say he got dressed first and I copied him)

And the family pictures....

Sitting down to Thanksgiving dinner

The whole family minus 14 who couldn't make it (We Missed Yall). We kept teasing Pepe he was gonna have to add on the house soon to fit everyone.

Ross and I stayed until Monday, on Saturday he went out in his Jeep around Meme and Pepe's property and took some pictures but again I had to write a paper. Sunday we just watched HGTV all day with Meme and Pepe, it was nice to do nothing for a change, o and I worked on my paper!!!





On Monday we got in the car and took the trip home, 11 hours later we got out and arrived at our house. On the way we saw two accidents that completely closed 2 major highways (81 & 95). Ross managed to get pictures out the window of the Jeep.

What we came upon on 81 in West Virginia.

Two 18 wheelers down an over pass onto another road.

It looked like one pushed the other down and they both went in, but we don't know

95 completely empty on the north bound side south of Petersburg in Virginia

Sorry it's fuzzy it was gettin dark, but a 18 wheeler ran into the back of a few cars that were stopping because of a previous accident. Not sure if anyone lived. The cab of the truck was completely burned.

So that was our Thanksgiving, we can't wait to do it again!!!

A Break

this past weekend we got to go to Richmond for the weekend and visit family. It was nice to get out of Raleigh for a weekend, we haven't done that in a while. Sadly I had to bring a paper to write, but it was still fun. We stayed at Mom and Dad Jenkins' house and played their Wii. I forgot how much fun and addictive that is!! Justin and Stefanie came over and we played bowling. Ross is convinced that the Wii knows when a kid is playing because it didn't matter how Justin moved to throw the ball he usually got a strike! Needless to say we all got beat by Justin and Mom Jenkins (who has prefected throwing strike on the Wii)!! Now Ross and I both want a Wii...but then again I don't know how much work would be done around here. It was so nice just to hang out and relax, well for Ross to relax. We also got to visit with Mom and Dad Singlemann. They made us breakfast Sunday morning. The fuuny thing is. I sent my phone to go off at 8am so we could get there at 9am. Well when the phone turned the time back an hour, it also turned all my alarms back at hour. So Ross and I were up and going at 7am and at my parents house at 8am. It was nice though to spend the extra time with them. Breakfast was delicious!! That afternoon Ross and I got to go to Famous Dave's....the GOOD BBQ!!!! We haven't had that in a long time, so we were in heaven. Now only to get NC to realize what good BBQ is. :-D We very much enjoyed being home, even if it was short...it'll be great when we go up to PA for Thanksgiving!!! Not to mention we are bringing the Jeep again.

Birthday Visits

A few weekends back Mom and Dad Jenkins came to visit for Ross' birthday. They came down for the day and we had a grand time just hanging out. We went of to a REAL BBQ place (not the vinegar stuff) for his birthday dinner. And it was fantastic!!! Ross and I will definatly be traveling to Cary again to go to Hawg Wild! We also got to go for a walk around the neighborhood and just talk with them about the house, seminary, and what they are doing. And you can't forget the chocolate eclair birthday cake we had, yummy!!! Now it my turn to make one. :-D Needless to say by the end of the day we were stuffed and had tons of fun. The kittens, of course, were acting crazy and keeping us all laughing.

The next weekend Mom and Dad Singlemann, and Grandma came down for Ross' Birthday. This time we went out to Old Chicago, Ross was really craving a good deep dish pizza. There's hit the spot. We got to hang out and celebrate, and with another one of Ross' favorites, chocolate Ukrop's pie, it was all gone in a day or two. Now he's on a quest to find one down here. Because one just can't seem to make Ukrop's choclate pie like they do. Again the kittens were acting crazy and Grandma was loving on them so much. We just talked a hung out at the house, and looked at pictures from Renee's camping trip she had just taken.

It was sad they each could only stay a few hours, but we just look foward to next time God gives us a chance to see everyone! But, we both agree that it was nice to have everyone down and not do any work to the house. A Happy VERY Late Birthday post to Ross!