When Grandma comes to town....

I love when my grandparents come to visit us, in the motherland. They live in a most glorious land called Colorado (ever heard of it?), with my Aunt Heather and Uncle Tony. We get to see them about once or twice a year, and it's ALWAYS a party. Since Andrew is graduating in THREE days (you read that right...try not to cry), they graced us with their presence once again.

When grandma and grandpa come to visit, we like to:

Cook elaborate, gourmet meals..... (hello Grandmere, I like your fancy apron!)

...eat the above mentioned elaborate meals: 

...and then sit on the back porch and swap stories (with the top button of our jeans undone- unless you're Chris and remembered to wear your stretchy pants): 

"Now you see Chris, when you fling the angry bird in the sling shot towards the pigs......."

There is one thing that my grandma and I LOVE to do each time they visit: 

Our award winning (no big deal) Farmer's market is pretty amazing, and it makes Grandmere VERY happy. She said all other Farmer's markets she's ever been to "lack charm": 

She is smiling so big because she is happy to be in a place with such fresh organic ingredients.

  I told Grandma: "pick something up and smell it so I can take your picture....."

She chose radishes.

I chose to sniff out the onions:

I am the only person in my family who likes any onions of an sort, so these did NOT come home with us...but they did smell delish!! Is it just me or does my sneaky face say: "I've got a secret about these onions!" ?

I love our Farmer's Market, because they have some AMAZING stuff:

Just LOOK at these glorious strawberries!!

And the fresh brown speckled eggs? Fuh-get about it!

How fake do these look?
Well they aren't.

I think Grandma might be currently overwhelmed with all the choices....

A great thing about the market is you'll be strolling along, smelling radishes and onions, when you realize you're tapping your feet and swaying to some delightful music.Then you'll realize there are real live actual musicians crooning and serenading you while you make your selections:

 Hey guys! Play that "Devil Went Down to Georgia" tune again!

I was enjoying some tunes when all of a sudden I heard an excited, loud....

  "JESSICA! JESSICA! They have pea shoots here!!"
Hence the blurry picture.

It is possible to eat lunch on the outdoor, shaded picnic tables, 

 but we were excited to take our bounty home, and plan another feast:

So my next question is:

Whose coming over for lunch?!

How to enjoy a Willie Nelson concert:

Here's how you enjoy a Willie Nelson concert: 

Step one: Get into the back seat of your mother-in-law's car....

....it's best if your squished between your mother-in-law and grandma-in-law.

Second: Tell your husband, who is co-piloting for his dad, to "GET ALONG LITTLE DOGGIES!" then say ''C'MON LET'S GET THIS ROAD ON THE SHOW" and finally, "PULL INTO THE NEXT GAS STATION I HAVE TO PEE!!" and head on down the road: 

I think my F-I-L, Jeff, is saying: "Is she gonna sing the whole way there?!"

Next up, make sure you have Puh-lenty of energy for the concert, this is where the delicious food of Ebbet's Field comes in: 

I had pizza. Weird, right?!

When your belly is full of good food and a little bit of Bud Light, make your way to the concert and find your seat: 

The in-laws were all mighty impressed, and they were doing the next important step in enjoying a Willie Nelson concert.....make sure you can see the stage:

Mission: Accomplished.

Now be sure to take a pre-concert pictures, 

 and double make sure you take one of your husband's mom and grandma.

 this way you can document how all your faces looked BEFORE you rocked out to a living legend singing his classic tunes.

When the lights dim and the crowd cheers, be sure to get a picture of Willie taking his place on the stage because he's 80; and let's be honest, who knows how many concerts he's got left!

That bright shiny light is Willie, singing his heart out.

 Next, take a million pictures trying to get a good one of Willie. Then yell at yourself for not bringing a decent camera, and swear you'll never rely on your stupid iphone camera again: 

Hey Willie! There ya are!

Finally, on your way out of the concert -after you've properly rocked out to Willie Nelson and his brilliant catalog of songs- grab a random passer by and say: HEY! Take our picture!

And that's how you do it, folks.
 Wearing a Hank Williams shirt optional. Having a good time? NOT optional.

Where my heart is....

 

At a Chief's game (next year boys, next year).

 In Washington, D.C. riding segways

Standing in front of my castle at Walt Disney World....

Getting ready to go into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardy....

Eating a double-double animal style with a chocolate shake from the best place ever: IN-N-OUT

At the drive-in on a balmy summer night....

and my heart is:

  in Colorado with these fine folks....except the dog, sorry Hershey.

It's going to a Britney Spears concert: LOOK OUT!

and watching my sister-in-law getting married

and it's hanging out with this girl. 

  My heart is always with this boy:

and most definitely with this girl:

But no matter where my heart is scattered, there's only ONE place I want to be....especially with this nice weather, and that place is here:

You can come to if you want...

Programs, a baby and nose pickin' galore!

Remember in this post I told you about my sister-in-law going to give birth any day now? Remember that? Remember I even showed you how to host a totally incredible most amazing baby shower? Remember?! Well she did it. She went and had that baby boy, Jack, yesterday:

Hi baby Jack! That's a sweeeeeeet santa hat you're rockin'!

 I think Amanda is making a frown-ish face because Jack kept squeaking in possible discomfort (or cold) and wouldn't just open his mouth and tell us what he wanted....that or it could be that she just birthed a perfect human being perfectly and would like a nap and for me to stop taking a million pictures....mmmm....nah.

Since Amanda was a little busy with a new baby, SOMEONE needed to represent tonight at Alli's Christmas program. Enter: The Super bad-ass team of Uncle Chris, Aunt Jess and Nana! 

The view from my back porch tonight, told me it was going to be a BRILLIANT Christmas program.

Here's the thing: I'm a professional when it comes to these programs. Since kindergarten, I've had some school or extra-curricular activity that required showmanship and singing on my part:

and sometimes wrapping myself up as a present is necessary for the sake of the show....

Alli is just now getting into the time of Holiday programs in her academic career, and I'm just now getting to experience these programs as a spectator. Oh dear. 

Who knew it could bring out the worst in somebody......and by somebody I mean me.

You know how I suffer from the stupidity of other drivers, also known as 'Road Rage'? Evidently I suffer from 'crowd rage' as well:

Ok so it's crowded. That's fine. I can handle that. Right? RIGHT?! At least I have my own sea- Seriously 6'7 guy?! You have to sit RIGHT in front of ME?! Rude. 

Looking around, I realized something:

I hate all these people. 

Where is whistley when I need him!?

And then there was THIS lady: 

Ohhhh Grandma. You need to sit down RIGHT NOW. Quit standing up every 8 seconds to get a picture of your dumb grandchild. I'm sure Alli is way cuter anyways, and you're completely blocking her. Have you NEVER heard of 'crowd rage'!?

Fortunately, the cuteness of these darling little darlings singing their darling hearts out to darling songs AND waving like monkeys at their parents from the stage, melted my heart and distracted me from my Bruce Banner type anger.

What? You want to make a chocolate sundae for Santa? AND sing a song about hip-hop reindeer?! You're all just so cute! Look at you in your fancy santa hat picking your nose! What a doll!

Oh no. Are my eyes tricking me? What's that on the program? Could it be? A song written just for me? I think it might be....

IT IS! A SONG JUST FOR ME!

Seriously, this song describes my relationship with pizza with incredible accuracy.

Do you think it's available on iTunes??

The show was wonderful. Alli had her supreme team supporters to cheer her on, and she sang her little heart out like a boss. 

The only problem? The program ended, and everyone decided to leave at the same time: 

Welcome to my nightmare.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!

Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting......

Since my sister-in-law is due to push a human being out of her lady parts any day now, I wanted to have some special time with our 6 year old niece before her little brother got here and stole the show.  Let me just say: The kid can party! To be fair, she comes by it honestly....

 

My life's motto.

 
We started the day off at my 7th grade girls basketball game. Did we win? Oh sweet sweet reader. You are so funny. So gentle. So naive. The answer is NO. No we did not. Don't ask me the score, I won't tell you. I will not tell you the score! I will not tell you that the other team scored 56 points and I will definitely not tell you that we only scored 6 points (you read that correctly).  whistley was NOT happy! This is a conversation that might have happened between our players:  

We decided some Mexican food (translation: margarita) was the only cure to our bad losin' basketball blues (say that ten times fast) and the fam went to our favorite local Mexican restaurant. After a much needed food gorging, we realized we were on a roll and thought: "Hey! Why not keep feeling good and go see The Muppets?" Have you seen the Muppets yet? Go. Now. So worth it. Kermit speaks to your soul:

Welcome back, gang. Welcome back.

Still on a singing and dancing high from the Muppet movie, we came home and got the real party started. Homemade hot chocolate, junk food, staying up late, and candy for dinner included. Then we played THE GAME TO END ALL GAMES

                                                     
I promise you, one day I will explain my passion for Disney with you. I want to give my obsession the attention it deserves, and gather all my pictures, stuffed animals, plates, dolls, pins, clothing items, movies, etc. in one area to take a proper family picture with them.

You can imagine my suprise/shock/elation/almost cried/happiness when I learned there was a 'Disneyland Adventures' video game for the Xbox 360 Kinect. We immediately went and got it. Luckily for the 6 year old, Alli, I played on Friday night because she is a GAME HOG and I will punch a child.

Here is a picture of Chris trying to direct her through the park (psh, I could do this with my eyes closed).....

This picture tells me 7 things:
1. I still need to put my clothes and suitcase away from our St. Louis trip last weekend.
2. I should probably finish my Christmas decorating sometime before December 25th.

3. I have yet to send my Grandma the painting I made her.
4. There are 6 pairs of ladies size 8 shoes by the front door which means they are all mine.
5. My toes are very shiny and a little strange looking
6. These file folders have been sitting on the fireplace for over a month now and would probably like a more permanent home.
7. Chris needs to take this crate of books back to school already (geez! The guy is a walking mess! Oh - the walking mess is me? You're probably right)!

Uhhh....I gotta go guys, my house needs me. Maybe I could recruit Alli into doing some chores for me.

WAIT! What am I saying? Who needs to clean their house when CLEARLY painting a picture of cats sitting in a tree is a MUCH better choice:

MEEE-OW!