Speaking of family…I am SO proud of my side this year! I have silently proclaimed myself as the new matriarch of this family and hosted dinner/presents at our house this year. We had a delicious meal, talked nicely, opened gifts, and ate brownies. ALL without the first smart ass comment or sarcasm from ANYone.  Those who know us…know this was truly a Christmas miracle. I hope this is a sign of more peace and understanding to come with all of us.

Then, of course, there’s Santa! Chase woke up to everything he wanted and then some. I heard him wake up (way too early) and walk into the living room and whisper “Haaaaaaah!”. Then promptly walk his bare feet back to his room. A few minutes later he was in our bedroom talking about how Santa left a basketball goal and he ate his cookies and drank his milk.  I soaked up the excitement in his voice and listened to the quiet voice in my head that told me this may be our last “Santa” Christmas we get to have with him. It made me sad to know that my little boy is getting so big and will soon face the realities of the world, but I saved that for another day and ran into the living room to scope out the loot! Santa spoiled us, and SB did too.  He followed my Amazon wish list closely and I was thrilled.

Christmas lunch started at SB’s parent’s house.  As soon as we walked in we were greeted with hugs, presents, and the most delicious smell of a home cooked meal. Gah…I really do love these people! So different from my family, and appreciated more than I’m sure they know.  SB’s mom surprised me with a sewing machine and all the necessities that go along with it! I had forgotten I even threw one of those on my Azon wish list, but was so excited to see it! She’s going to be my sewing mentor, and I can’t wait to get a sewing table set up in the bonus room. Hand made presents galore this year!! Just as the last gift was opened, we got another surprise: a white Christmas!! The huge snowflakes were beautiful and the fact that it was Christmas just made it all the more magical. We ate amazing food (I mean really…Sandy showed out) while the snow fell and demanded took leftovers for dinner. Chase went to his dad’s to play in the snow, and SB and I came home to hibernate and rest. Deliciously beautiful holiday.

Sounds perfect huh? Well…not even 24 hours after Christmas and we grinched this place up. Tree: gone. Decorations: gone. Level 5 cleaning job in the house and we’re almost back to normal! As awesome as it was….it’s nice to have it all packed up and ready for next year also.

It’s been an awesome and interesting few weeks. I have a blog in the works about commitment and love and how in the real world – sometimes shit sucks. But until then…let’s revel in the Christmas hangover and the warm fuzzies that came along with this year’s holiday. OH! And Santa had another (large) surprise up his sleeve. He brought us a new addition. Our ‘graceful’ great dane. She deserves a post all on her own. It’ll be coming soon!

SJ

I went to restore some sanity with HBean. There’s lots to say about this weekend, but what stands out the most is the how much we laughed. It was an awesome rally to be a part of, and a great weekend.

We’ve gotten settled into the house, finally. The garage needs a weekend devoted to it, but doesn’t everyone’s? We’ve gone on dates, made chili, and SB built a doghouse that may deserve it’s only post. In wedding news, we got our save the dates, and found our counselor/officiant for the ceremony. I also found someone to make my dress! Knowing I will be fitted for it soon has motivated me to join Gold’s Gym down the road and finally see what all this “zumba” fuss is about. The jury’s still out on that one…

What’s next though: holidays! This time of year always flies by but it’s my favorite! Hopefully we can get our blog moving a bit quicker and post more often. Happy Thanksgiving!!

Tags: rally, holidays, DC, halloween
]]> http://www.sniperbear.net/2010/11/22/catching-up/feed/ 0 http://www.sniperbear.net/2009/12/15/thanksgiving-break-2009-sniper-style-part-3-the-next-day/ http://www.sniperbear.net/2009/12/15/thanksgiving-break-2009-sniper-style-part-3-the-next-day/#comments Tue, 15 Dec 2009 16:07:58 +0000 SniperJess http://www.sniperbear.net/?p=187 Continue reading »]]>

Not just 1 or 2, but 3 dancing machines!

Our week of thanksgiving bliss was trucking right along. I had good food and traditions with the Turner’s and lots of rest and cooking in Dwood with the boys, so the only thing left was turkey time with the Birney’s (Sniperjess’ family). For those of you that know us…the Birney house is always an interesting experience. It’s untraditional, and slightly unorthodox…but it’s always a good time with genuine intentions from all. My growing time in Dwood lately lead to what I would call a “catch up” session when we got there. The adult beverages were poured and we chatted about the previous week and just life in general. SniperBen had leftovers, but I was somewhat tired of turkey so I passed (which I would later regret…aLOT). SniperBen got yet another look into the life I grew up in. Our holidays are about celebration and believe me…we celebrate. There was laughing and jump roping and Madonna tunes blaring and dancing. I won’t sugar coat it…things get a lil crazy. It’s a lot for a person to take in if they are not accustomed to the Birney house, but SniperBen held his own. (and later held my own….blegghh). I will admit I may have over done the turkey day festivities, but I was still very thankful to have my guy there to load us up and take us home at the end of the night. (Sorry you had to tomtom your way back to my apartment babe…I owe you one! ..or two.)

Aww, we found our perfect tree!

The next morning (after some much needed Tylenol on my part), we had plans to get our tree! Going to the tree farm and cutting down the perfect tree is tradition I have always had and I could not wait to share with the boys. Believe it or not, this was the first time SniperBen had experienced this tradition! That made it all the more exciting for me. Chase ran around pointing out his favorites, and we scoped the place for the best tree. Of course…we found it! Ben cut down his first tree like a pro and we headed home to watch some football and trim the tree…sounds simple, right?

Um… no. We got to my apartment and fought with the #$*& tree for about an hour (at least). We put it in the stand, everything looks great, let go and…wait for it…lean. Try again! Loosen this part…tighten this part..wait for it..it looks great!…wait…lean! GRRRR! This is a classic scenario where SniperBen’s patience is just what I need to keep me from throwing the damn spruce out the back door and getting another one.

Merry Christmas from the Snipers

A deep breathe, and big ol’ hug, and that smile of his and I was laughing about it with him. He suggested dinner and a new, snazzier tree stand. While we were at it…I decided to switch up my boring ol’ theme and have a multicolored party tree!! And that we did…in addition to jazzing up the outside of the apartment too! I love our Milner tree and I love the decorations. We finally rested that night in a warm, cozy apartment filled with the glow of our hard work from the day. It’s the first Christmas I’ve had in a few years now that hasn’t felt like a chore. It’s an absolutely awesome feeling and I can’t wait to make more Sniper adventures this holiday season! (and believe me…stay tuned b/c they are coming!!)

You know we can’t do anything with out taking a ton of photos. So here’s the rest of the photos that help tell the tale of our very first Thanksgiving week together.

SniperBen,

Thanksgiving is right around the corner, so what better time to tell you how THANKful I am to have you in my life. Thank you for loving me. For buying me flowers. For making me breakfast in bed. For running with me (and always stopping when I need to stop even though you don’t need to). For saying “Good Morning Sunshine” every.single.morning. For paying attention to small details. For adjusting to life with a 7 year old. For your surprises. For ALWAYS asking how my day is and actually caring about the details of it. For still opening the car door for me. For taking me on dates. For planning things and being patient when I want to be spontaneous. For listening to me mention that I want to try a dark chocolate Reese cup and showing up with one the next time you walk out of a store. For making me laugh until I can’t breath. For never letting me go to bed angry. For singing in the car with me. For letting me love you, for making me happy, and for so much more.

I can’t wait to spend our first holidays together. <3

I love you,

SniperJess

For the past few years I’ve been collecting pieces from Spooky Town. With the sale of the house I couldn’t really put them out for display, but now that I’m in an apartment, I can put anything out I want. So when Oct rolled around it was time to load up the car with all my stuff from my parents house and decorate my house to the gills…Halloween style!

It certainly was nice to finally be able to decorate and put all this stuff out. I really felt at home once everything was out and lit up. I had almost forgotten how fun it was and how much I enjoyed this part of the season. So that was that, Spooky Town and all my other decorations went up and and the Sniper’s first Halloween was all set. We meant to get more pics of the house, but we have many, many, many more years to take care of that. For now, these pics will have to do.

Up next is Thanksgiving. I’m really looking forward to some family time with Jess and Chase. I can’t wait to have them around for decorating my grandmother’s fence (family tradition) and all the other festivities that come with the holiday season. Stay tuned, more to come.