Sleepless nights, and we don't even have kids yet

Lately, I haven't been sleeping well. I don't know if it's the weather, stress, or what. I even have a hard time falling asleep, and that's not normal for me. Last night was the worst though. I can handle most things that wake me up, but this was a bit extreme. It starts out with me heading to bed around 10pm, as usual while Daniel finishes watching whatever show he's watching at the time. I'm just about to doze off when I hear Moxie getting in to something she wasn't supposed to be in, so I chase her around and spank her until she's under the bed, out of reach. I had returned a phone call to my friend but left a message telling her I was going to bed around 9 30, so she calls me back around 11ish. I haven't talked to her in a very long time so I got up and we talked for about an hour. This is all well and good...until around 1am. Daniel had come to bed at who knows what time and we were both sound asleep. Now, you'll have to understand that the TV in our room is different, and the buttons are on the top of it instead of on the front. Sometimes Siggy will jump up there and turn the thing on by stepping on a button but it's never done anything this weird before...

I guess he somehow hit just the right combination of buttons, but when that thing turned on, the volume was ALL the way up, and it sounded like it was a scratched CD skipping, but 10 times worse! It seriously sounded like a machine gun going off in our room. Needless to say I bolt up and start yelling "DANIEL! DAANIEEEL THE TV!!!" as he's waking up a little. (he is a very deep sleeper) He's halfway awake, staring at the alarm clock beside him and I start shoving him and yelling "DANIEL!! GET UP!! DO SOMETHING!" I'm still halfway asleep or I obviously could have fixed it myself, same goes for him. He gets up and starts hitting every button on the alarm clock...and I'm staring at him when I finally realize what he is doing and then try to reason with him. "DANIEL! NOT THAT! IT'S THE STUPID TV! COME OONNNN!" He then wakes up completely and yells "THEN YOU DO SOMETHING!" (you have to understand, if we didn't yell at each other, you couldn't hear the other one over the friggin MACHINE GUN IN THE TELEVISION...) So he runs over there while I meet him there and he hits every button except the volume, for some time I stand there like an idiot and watch him, then I yank the dang power cord out of the wall. Silence......we both start grumbling, fall in bed, and go back to sleep. This afternoon I realize how crazy this night was so I decide to tell my mom about it, and we end up laughing and crying about how hilarious this probably would have looked. The whole time this was happening, we have the windows open, Daniel is running around in his boxers, and we're screaming over this horrific blasting sound...I'm sure we woke someone in our neighborhood up....

First Weekend of October

Well this weekend was busy! We spent Friday night at home, but our Saturday was a full day. We met my dad and aunt at my brother and sister-in-law's house at 8am. We all piled into one vehicle and went to eat a quick breakfast buffet at Rick's Iron Skillet. (This happens to be the exact location that Daniel took my parents to ask for their "permission" to marry me August 2006) It was a great breakfast. We all got back in the car and started heading for Mena. We were on our way to go celebrate my grandmother's 80th birthday. It was a surprise party, so she had no idea anyone was going to be in town. Well, we also decided to have a surprise baby shower for my other sister-in-law right after the birthday party. Seeing that my grandmother had no idea about her birthday party, she also had no idea about the baby shower. So we had to assign someone to buy a baby gift for her to give to my sister-in-law...yeah the whole day was as crazy as that explanation.

Of course we had to stop at Wal Mart on the way there, and we ended up arriving to the party location 15 minutes before she was going to be there! The rest of the day was craziness. There were kids running around, family trying to catch up, food to prepare, and while all of this was going on my grandmother arrived and walked in! One person said "...oh! surprise!!" and everyone else ran to the door......needless to say it wasn't much of a surprising welcome, but she was still very surprised and glad to see everyone. She got some great gifts and had a great time. After she had opened her presents and everything seemed to get quiet, we announced "Well, there is another surprise. We have another party!.......for Rebekah!" Everyone clapped, she was TOTALLY surprised, and all the kids in the family came out with all the gifts. It was very cool. She got lots of great things and several things that she really needed.

The day was kind of chaotic, but it was worth it. Everyone had a good time and it was great to see the whole family again. The trip back was eventful as well! Instead of just one vehicle filled with 6 people, we had 3 vehicles filled with 12 1/2 people! (1/2 for the baby boy who is due in 3 weeks. =)

Daniel and I ended up staying at my parents house that night. We got to spend Saturday and Sunday with my aunt who left to go back to West Virginia this afternoon. The last time I saw her, I was about 13. While she was down, my dad helped her learn to email and she now has a gmail account!

The moral of the story is that I love my family, no matter how crazy it can be when we're all together. Family is so important, and I am very blessed to have a great family in my life.

October 3rd, 2008

Really original title, I know. Well, I decided to start a blog, however, in order for this to work I will need some people to visit my blog periodically. I seem to do a pretty good job at reading other people's blogs, so I bet I have some friends who will do the same for me.

To start off, I am glad that the work week is over! It's been a long week seeing that we were off all last week. The week after a vacation seems to be the longest week ever. I'm loving this weather, and I have been listening to my Christmas playlist alot. I've always loved Christmas time, but now that I've married the biggest fan of the Christmas/winter season it makes it that much more fun. Daniel loves cold weather and he really loves how our house looks when it's decorated during the holidays. I thought that was really adorable seeing that it's only been decorated once! This year will make twice! Does anyone else love going to Hobby Lobby to browse through their extensive selection of Christmas decor, even in June!? We do! A friend of mine was blogging about how her husband enjoys to put their Christmas lights up every year. We didn't do lights on the house last year, but I bet we'll start that tradition this year. I would be very proud if Daniel did our house up in lights.

I've come to realize that each family has their own special holiday traditions that they do each year, and ours is no different. It's changed a little since all of us have gotten married, but maybe we can share some of those with our kids as they grow up. Here are some of my favorite things that we would when we were kids..

Essential Christmas Music- The Nutcracker Soundtrack, Classical Christmas, Anne Murray Christmas, Mannheim Steamroller, Neil Diamond Christmas

Christmas Tree- Tree trimming ALWAYS happened the day after Thanksgiving. We would decorate while singing and dancing to our favorite tunes.

Uncle Halley's Peanut Butter Fudge- Special recipe, best fudge ever

Movies-How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Mickey Mouse's Christmas Carol, Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer, Merry Christmas Charlie Brown

Presents-We opened our presents on Christmas Eve instead of the next morning. I'm not sure why or how this got started, but I love it

Christmas Story- We never believed in Santa, our parents wanted us to always know the real Christmas Story about the birth of Jesus. We would read the Christmas story in the bible before we opened presents. Now Christmas means more to me because I always knew what it was really about

More presents- We draw names almost every year. We might change it up a bit this year and play a game with it...most people know the game but everyone has a different name for it! Dirty Santa, White Elephant, Yankee Swap, Gift War, Grinch Exchange, Rob Your Neighbor, and Thieving Secret Santa are some names for it.

Now I am in the Christmas spirit, as they say! Send me some of your special traditions and favorite memories! I would love to hear all about them.

Happy Fall!