Christmas Eve Eve 2016

Friday I had to work until noon, Lyla had school until noon and Gary took the day off.

Lyla was BEGGING to open one present before school, so we gave in and let her do it!

Once we all got home we allowed Lyla to open the rest of her presents from us.  Then we packed up the car and headed to West Virginia. 

We stopped in Morgantown and had dinner at the Boston Beanery, then we checked into our hotel room. 

From there we went to visit Gary's Uncle Delmus and Aunt Patti in Fairmont.  They've been through a lot this year and I'm thankful everything worked out and we were able to visit with them.

They are really fantastic people and any time we get to see them, I always cherish it.

After our visit, we went back to Morgantown and stayed over at the hotel.

Little Bit of Snow & a Couple Early Christmas Presents

Last week we got a little bit of snow.... It was pretty and exciting and I would be completely overjoyed if that was the last of the snow for the season!  I'm not sure I could be that lucky though...

But I will admit that the Christmas lights all look so much better in the snow!

Friday I got Lyla out of school a little early and drove her down to stay at Grandma & Pappy's for the weekend.  While she was there, Gary and I put together her surprise Christmas present from my parents.  They got her a loft bed for her room.  A loft bed is basically a bunk bed that only has the top bunk.  Its so nice in her room and gives her more space.

She was so surprised when they brought her home on Sunday!  I'm glad they were here and able to see her reaction!  It was so much better than her opening a box on Christmas and trying to explain to her that it will be a really cool bed once we put it together.

Yesterday Maria sent her present for Lyla home with me.  She got her such a pretty dress to wear and a matching tiara!

Lyla was so excited about it when she tried it on.  She was prancing all over the house telling me she was Cinderella because it was so obviously a princess dress!

"Baking" Christmas Cookies

Lyla was all excited about this Shopkins gingerbread house kit, so her and Gary got it out Saturday morning while I was in the shower....  It was a bit of a let down!  I think she still had fun though!

 

 

Later in the day I invited her friend Hailey to come over and do cookies.  I found sugar cookie sheets all ready to go.  Already rolled out and everything!  Basically all I had to do was put them in and out of the oven... other than that the girls pretty much did it all on their own!



Hopefully Santa likes sprinkles!! 

Ugly Sweaters & Happy Birthdays

Friday we had our annual Christmas party at work.  This year, Maria and I made it an ugly sweater theme.  I was really surprised by how many people participated and how many made their own - truly ugly sweaters!!  We stuck with the kinda ugly - cute but we wouldn't wear them on a normal day - variety!  ;)

Today is Gary's 37th Birthday!  Lyla insisted that he open his presents very first thing this morning.  First thing in the morning at our house is about 5:15...

She also made him a special birthday hat!

After work we went to Ladles for dinner.  Lyla asked the waitress to sing happy birthday to her dad, but she said they don't really do that there.  But she must have been pretty convincing because her and another lady who works there came over and sang!

Sooo.... November Happened....

November is pretty much a complete blur, but some things happen that I definitely want to mention to the world!  I'm going to just break it down in order of events!

November 1st:

Ari William Jinkens was born to proud parents Erin and Andy and big brother Hendrick!!

7 pounds 4 ounces  and 20 inches of perfection!

November 4th:

I went to a dermatologist to have my moles checked.  Two were suspicious so the doctor shaved them off and sent them for a biopsy.

November 5th:

The three of us, along with Mom, Dad, Em, Gerald and Carter, plus my friend Tasha, her husband and two sons all went to the circus.  The circus wasn't as good as the last time that we went, but we all had a lot of fun!

November 6th:

I got to meet Ari!!  I love snuggling babies!

November 8th:

Election Day.  I was so proud of myself for voting.... and then so disappointed to not get an "I Voted" sticker!  I later found out that Allegheny County took them out of the budget..... whatever.  Braggs made me one at work!

November 9th:
My doctor's office called with my biopsy results.  One of my moles was almost melanoma.  So they scheduled me to come back in as soon as possible and have the margins around the mole cleared so that it wouldn't turn into cancer.  This news threw me into an emotional breakdown.  I did not take it well at all.

November 11th:
My mom friend Lindsey and I went for a much needed mom's night out that included margaritas and shopping!  We were both happy campers by the time we got home!

November 12th:
Lyla and I went to see the Troll Movie!  We loved it and to make it even more fun a bunch of Lyla's friends just happen to be at the same movie so we all sat together.  The girls were thrilled!

November 17th:
Maria and I finally went to dinner to celebrate her birthday!  Her birthday was October 3rd by the way... that's how crazy things have been!

November 18th:
I started my morning with a woman who works in my building hitting my car while it was parked in the parking lot..... That was a downer.....

Then things got a little better at 10:00 when I logged on to Ticketmaster with my presale codes in hand and got Ashley and I Bruno Mars tickets for August and tickets to New Kids on the Block in July for me and the girls at work!

And then Gary took me to my doctors appointment to have my mole removed.....   I was a complete nervous wreck about the whole thing.  And let me just say that it was so much worse than I was anticipating.  Thank goodness I didn't go by myself.

November 19th:
We started our morning at the mall for Santa's arrival.  Its such a fun tradition that we have been doing every year with Lyla!  We all look forward to it!

After that we drove down to Washington for Hendrick's 2nd Annual Chili Cook Off.  I was kind of disappointed because I couldn't help as much as I wanted to since I had my procedure the day before, but we were able to raise $7,000 for Hendrick and FAST!  So it was definitely a success!

November 21st:
Brantley Jaxon Lochner made his arrival!  I am beyond thrilled for Ashley and Jeremy!

November 22nd:
WE GOT NEW CARPET!!!  Since the day we moved into this house we have been saying we need to replace the carpet.... and we FINALLY did it!  Leading up to the date of the carpet installation we (Gary) worked really hard at painting and changing out outlets, light switches and a couple light fixtures!  Everything looks so nice!  We have a couple more rooms to finish up after we get through the holidays, but the house is feeling so much more homey now and more like its ours.  We are just thrilled!

Lyla's nasty carpet before:

And her new purple carpet!

All the other carpet:

November 24th:
Thanksgiving!  We all went to mom & dad's this year, including Gary's mom.

This year I was thankful for my selfie stick and all the fun pictures it let us take!

After dinner, me, mom and Em went shopping.  It was really fun hanging out just the three of us with any kids of husbands tagging along!

November 25th:
Black Friday - Gary got up and came shopping with me while Lyla stayed and played with Grandma.  Then on our way home we got to stop and meet Brantley for the first time!  :)  What a little sweetheart he is!

November 26th:
Gary made the mistake of letting Lyla and I go pick out new Christmas decorations without supervision....  We only came home with two flamingo decorations.... among lots of other fun stuff!

November 27th:
Lyla went to see Santa and tell him what she wants for Christmas this year - Pie Face Showdown.... (insert eye-roll)  She's pretty smart and always asks Santa for things that she knows I would never buy for her! (Poop doll)

November 28th:
I finally got my stitches out and my results.  Everything is clear - thank goodness.  Now I just have to go back yearly for check ups.

And now its December 1st already!  I'm hoping this month is a little less crazy... but its December so that doesn't seem very likely!