Day 225 (12/27): Some of my favorite gifts

Not only was I crafty this year for Christmas but my friends and family members were too!  I got some amazing homemade gifts this year. 

My neice made Mark and I some KSU canvas pictures using duck tape and spray paint.  She drew them out with the duck tape by hand and then had Matt spray paint them and then peeled off the duck tape.  She has so much talent as I can't even trace a wildcat this well!

Mark made me a piggy bank out of an old post office door that is super cool. I saw one made for my friends child from their grandpa and I loved the code aspect of it.  He made it out of mahogany and it has a slot on top to slip money into.  You have to twist the knob with the secret code to get the money out.  This is a horrible picture of it off of my phone because it is still packed in the boxes we used to get everything home and I'm avoiding unpacking at the moment.

I have been begging Kristi for a wreath that she made off of an idea on pinterest.   She flat out refused to do another one because of all the work they are. She made it out of old book pages.  Ignore Kristi's old curtains used to hang it. I'm going to get a wide maroon ribbon to create a hanger for it when I get some free time.

Check out the roses that make up this masterpiece! 

 Matt and Madeline helped her create some of these roses.

Destiny made me this awesome purse made out of KSU fabric.  I absolutely love it!  I think the kids thought I was a little crazy when I opened it because I was so excited!  It has a row of pockets on the inside too and I'm always looking for places to put things so I can find them easily the next time.

It was a great Christmas and I'm happy to have shared it with so many friends and family members.  Hope the new year brings many more joyous times!

Day 224 (12/26): Sexy and He Knows It

It all started about 2 months ago from a facebook post my "sis" put up.

So all I could imagine was Matt walking around doing the video and dressing like they did in the video.  For those of you that don't have a clue what I'm talking about...check out the video.  You must start watching at the 1 minute mark to see what I'm talking about.  It is an image I unfortunately cannot get out of my head.  I really want to gouge my eyes out thinking about my brother in a speedo gyrating like the video but well...Kristi said it and my mind goes there.


So I decide to get Matt a speedo for Christmas.  I search the stores for a speedo but am unsuccessful since is October in Manhattan and usually about 40-50 degrees so not a lot of swimming done at that time.  Plus I'm cheap - I refuse to pay $30 for a gag gift.  I even asked my friend who works at the Salvation Army if she has seen one in their goods.  No luck but she had a good chuckle looking for one.

I look on Ebay and buy the cheapest one I can find from a reputable person.  It is $5 with $3 shipping and handling.  So about a week later I get this white squishy envelope in the mail and I rip it open and out pops this speedo but it has an extra pouch sticking out. Not having ever bought a speedo before I was shocked and quickly shoved it back in the envelope and thought Oh My Goodness!  How am I going to have Matt open that in front of my parents on Christmas day because it looked like Rated X stuff???  But I bought it and was still going to do it.

I used Photoshop to make a photo similar to the video with Matt's head on the lead singer.  I about died laughing making it and thinking about how funny it would be to see him open it.

I addressed it to: Sexy and He Knows It from Santa. I couldn't wait for the giver of the gifts to read that and say "Who is Sexy and He Knows It?"

Matt hung onto the box for a while and let Madeline and Colton unwrap some gifts.  He kept on looking at it and shaking it around a little to see if he could figure out what it was.  I wondered if he had a clue based on the To: part.  It was 2 months ago...surely he didn't. I could not stop laughing as he pulled out those special pouch speedos and held them up in front of everyone.

And then we got an extra Christmas bonus.  Not the jelly of the month kind Griswald's boss in Christmas Vacation sends him but the real awesome kind as Matt did the dance for us.  Thank goodness he didn't put the speedo on and demo as I'm sure we would all be gouging out our eyeballs with rusty spoons but it was our very own Christmas Classic.

I snapped pictures as furiously as I could and Mark was able to get a small video clip of Mr. Sexy himself.  Get ready and make sure you have an empty bladder in case you start laughing hysterically.  This is something that you will want to see and try not to have Matt gyrating in a speedo engrained in your head forever!  Merry Christmas from our very own homemade Christmas Vacation movie!

Day 223 (12/25): Memorable Christmas Day Quotes

This year if you were a fly on the wall, you would hear some funny stuff at our house for Christmas.  These are just a few.

I think those are Santa's balls.
Colton got a ping pong table from Santa and his stocking was loaded with ping pong balls. He took them out one at a time and laid them on the ground.  Mom said something about Santa loosing his marbles and Terry chuckles and said "I think those are his balls."  Boy are we dirty minded at Christmas!

I'm a Doctor.  Do you have too much KSU in you?
Colton wanted a snuggy for Christmas and immediately put it on.  He waved it around like a cape and said he was a doctor.  He then went right over to Mark and said, "Do you have too much KSU in you?"  It was so cute the way he said it- sounded so professional and doctor-ish.  He is on his way to being an actor like Andrew!

He's a he-she.
Well I must have had too much eggnog at one time or all the grading made me a little delirious and ended up buying the Justin Beiber Christmas CD. He was on the Michael Buble Christmas show and I must have transfered my love for Micheal to Justin on the song he sang and just wanted to hear it again. It was on sale on iTunes and I bought it.  There are some catchy tunes but I really didn't want to tell anybody that I bought it...but I did.  It is $7.99 that I can't get back so I guess I'd better fess up - I have been baking Christmas goodies to the sound of Justin Beiber in the background.  The subject got brought up on Christmas and Madeline said he was a girl dressed up as a boy or something to that effect and Colton pops up and says I guess that makes him a He-She.  Not sure what one of those was nor do I think Colton knows what one is but it was said at the most fitting time. 

Day 222 (12/24): Christmas Eve with Family

It is Christmas Eve and we have had the busiest days I think anyone can have. Mark saw a post on facebook from one of his friends that said "I've driven a lot, stayed a little, driven a lot, stayed a little."  That about sums up our whirlwind Christmas plans. We got on the road Friday morning and drove to Mark's parents in Pittsburg, KS. We ate a lot....thank goodness for elastic waist pants...played the longest game of Phase 10 ever, and exchanged the dirty Santa gifts.  I came home with a cool KSU truck collectible, Mark some golf stuff, and Colton loaded up on gift cards and a humongous nerf gun. 

We woke up the next Morning to drive to our next destination - El Dorado, KS.  We were having Christmas with my dad at my cousin's house.  I hadn't seen Destiny, Shane and their girls since last Christmas.  I was so excited to have the girls open their gifts because I don't get to buy girly stuff very often.  I made sure I got some great pink stuff! 

Colton remembered who they were and had so much fun playing with them.  It was like they had just seen each other yesterday and not 364 days ago. I wish we lived closer so we could get them together more because they had so much fun.  They chased each other through the house playing tag, made crafty things, colored and just played like kids do. 

Emi was so quiet but so cute.  She ate about 3 bites and said she was full and then 2 minutes later after Colton asked for a cookie, she was hungry again.  She even ran off with a bag of chips without her mom knowing.  Addie and Colton played like brother and sister.  She even shared her Barbie bike with him....and I'm sure he will want me to burn this picture when he's older but I couldn't resist.

They had this Barbie rope thing that would swing around in a circle and you had to jump over it when it got to you.  Of course, I wanted to try it and I think there are some pictures of me doing it (which was not pretty) but I did get a belly workout from laughing so hard.  Let's just put it this way - the kids were way better at it than me!

Gosh it was fun to see family that I hadn't seen in a year.  It really made me question all the traveling sports I have Colton in that suck up our weekends.  My New Year's resolution may be to skip a few of these sporting events to make some trips to El Dorado more to see my family that I don't get to see very much.  It was so good to see the kids play together and have so much fun.  More family fun for the New Year is definitely a must!  Life is too short not to enjoy it with family and friends!

Day 194 (7/27): Beaver Lake Vacation Tidbits

A couple more posts of Beaver Lake. We had so much fun and learned so much about each other. It is always interesting when you stick different families in a house for a week. Here's just a random listing of tidbits:

1) When you tell everyone to bring snacks, they might think like you and love sugar! I think we went into sugar comas at night when we were playing games.

2)  Mark likes to play games by his own rules.  And yes I will admit after almost causing World War III and having to call the game publisher in order to settle the argument, Mark was right and I was...well...less right.

3)  When you leave your swimsuit on the deck, creatures of the night might come and try to steal it away.  Kristi found out the hard way and Matt was very good at using a broom to get them out of the tree.  Whatever it was, they literally got Kristi's panties in a bunch as they tried to carry it off and they were twisted around the tree branch.  Come to think of it..her panties were in a bunch that next morning as she realized that it was her suit on the tree!  :)  Remember I love you Kristi!

 4)  It is an art to be able to jump in the lake.  This getting older has done weird things to me.  I used to be adventurous but the older I turn, the more I realize that my body is not the same and does not do the same things.  The kids wanted me to jump in the lake instead of taking my slow dip from the ladder.  I was nervous....what if I didn't pop right back up?   Yes I know I was probably the one telling the kids two years ago to not worry and you'll pop right back up because of your life jacket.  So when it was only Mark and I on the dock, I tested out this old body and jumped in.  Wow who knew that you could get a LOT of water up those two little nostril holes?  It burns!  But I did it and I flopped right back up.  So that next day when the kids were jumping in, I was going to show my stuff and jump in.  But I was going to hold my nose.  Wow! Who knew that you could cough up a lung when you leave your mouth open while jumping in?  I thought I was going to die in the water with all that coughing and hacking.  So jumping off the dock is an art, a skill, that I don't have. But I had to do it again for pictures so much concentration was done but this old body learned how to hold her nose and keep her mouth shut.

5)  No matter how old you are, jumping in the lake is hilarious to watch!  I'm sure I looked like some kind of alien art form when jumping in the lake.  The kids did tons of tricks and got tons of "air".  They perfected the craft of butt busters, cannon balls, catching balls in midair and flips in the water. 

6) When it is 100 degrees outside, stay at the lake.  Do not go into Branson.  We had fun but we were so ready to go back and jump in the lake to cool off!

Day 193 (7/26): Beaver Lake Talent Show

It has been an extremely busy June and July - baseball about every weekend, 2 weeks in Europe, 1 week in Arkansas, teaching 5 classes online, Colton's birthday, and the list goes on.  I'm extremely thankful that I'm not teaching face-to-face classes at this time!  My online classes just ended and I have 3 weeks until the next round of classes start.  My plans are to blog and sew and possibly clean the house a little....but I think that sewing and blogging will take a lot of my time!

We were fortunate enough to get to rent the "cabin" down at Beaver Lake again.  It is one of my favorite vacations because all you do is relax.  There is very little cell service so work has to wait and sometimes you just can't answer your phone due to the poor service! 

We still had the annual talent show and this one was the best!  Colton, Madeline, and Parker worked for 4 days perfecting their songs and actions.  They guarded the basement stairs whenever they were practicing down there so we could not peek and find out about the show.  You will have to excuse the extra commentary in the video. Check out the future superstars:

I think they should take their act to America's Got Talent.   They outdid Louie, the fart impersonator, in my opinion. I laugh every time I watch this one...and they call this talent? I'm think I am very talented! :)

Day 138: (7/5): Quilt Show with Grandma

My dad and grandma came up to go to one of Colton's basebal games. Grandma think these are little mini vacations so I was trying to think of something for her to get out and see in Manhattan.  The Mariana Kistler Beach museum was hosting Pieces of Time: Quilts from the KSU Textile and Costume Museum. I love quilts and it is FREE to get into the museum!  There were only about 12 - 15 quilts but some were over 200 years old and they gave stories about each quilt.

This quilt was called tumbling blocks and if I remember correctly it was from the late 1800s. It had a brown striped backing.

This was the showcase quilt and it was interesting to read about the differences in flags on the quilts.  You would never have noticed if you didn't read the information but there are different numbers of stars on the flags to represent the addition of more states in the union by the time the quilt was done.  It read that it was a true testament to how long it takes to finish a quilt with a time of over 3 years for the addition of Minnesota and another state to add stars to the flags.  I don't feel as bad now when it takes me a long time to finish up my UFO's (unfinished objects).

Another misconception I had about older quilts was their lack of color but some of these quilts were bright and cheery. I assumed that quilters used scrap gunny sacks and flour sacks and such but these were very colorful.  The quilting on them was so tiny just like my Grandma Doornbos.  They were truly works of art!

I strongly encourage anyone in the Manhattan area to visit the Beach Museum. It is FREE (well you can always put a donation in the donation boxes) and they have wonderful exhibits.