What's been going on 'round here...

Before I get to all the crazy Christmas posts I've been slacking on, I figured I'd letcha know what we've been up to since then!  ;)

I met up with Ryder's Mimi yesterday afternoon before my hair appointment for him to go stay with them for the night, since it had been a while.  He is always so excited to go out there & that makes me so happy!  I got my hair cut (just trimmed) then hit up Starbucks and Target for a nice, quiet, chill little shopping trip--for nothing I needed!  ;)  Still sounds heavenly to me!  ;)

 I woke up to pictures of this sweet boy playing out in the snow!

I am not normally a "breakfast" person...I used to get frosted flakes with a banana at a fancy breakfast place in town in High School...but since then, I am proud to say I have branched out!  ;)  Zac & I went to breakfast this morning at a local hangout...which was packed, but we waited anyway!  I tried Eggs Benedict for the first time...and lets just say, it won't be the last!  ;)

Then I met up with these crazies & Mimi at Burger King before heading to the movie theatre to watch Monster Inc. in 3D!  I had seriously forgotten how CUTE that movie was!  I will definitely be buying it for little man soon!

...Preface.  I have never-ever had a TV in my room.  It wasn't something we had growing up, and I've just never really been interested.  Now that it's just me and R, there ARE times when I seriously wish I didn't have to watch Jake and The Never Land Pirates!  Ha!  So...Santa surprised me & got me a TV for my room...along with a DVD and VCR player!  So...I can show R all my old VHS tapes that we don't have on DVD!  FUNN!  I don't have cable set up in my room yet...but I am proud to say that I set it all up by.myself. tonight & got it right on the first try!  R & I watched a little bit of a movie before going to bed!  =)  

While I was brushing little man's teeth before bed...I had Pandora on the Justin Bieber  station (getting ready for the upcoming concert y'all!  ;)) & as I was just practicing...trying to be like ole' JB himself...this is what my lil man did!  Ha!  Was it really THAT bad!  ;) 

We are enjoying our time away from school...and being careful & not have a bed time!  It will be over before we know it though!  :(

Mama's Randoms...

Just a few things you do as a student going into Middle Level Education Math and Science!  ;)

Build & shoot rockets with different amounts of water in them to see how high they will go...

Examine sheeps' brains and hearts...I love the one of the heart cut in half!  SOOO interesting!  If that doesn't make someone believe in God, I don't know what would!  Only HE could have come up with such an interesting, and in-depth organ that gives us LIFE!

Take life-size blue whales to elementary schools to let kids walk in and explore!  This whale even has a tickle spot by her fin, and when you tickle her she flaps her fin & spouts out of her blow hole!  :P

This is the view from inside of the whale...it really is cool!  It was built by one of my professors and a class of his a few years ago!

Instead of taking a final...the same professor let us help him build a heart big enough for students to walk-through, just like the whale.  It will have the left and right chambers on the inside, as well as all the veins and arteries.  Eventually, it will connect to a set of walk-through lungs that we are going to build as well!

We laid out the tarp, cut it in the shape we wanted and then taped the two pieces together on the outside...

...then we made a tunnel to connect to a box fan, and then blew it up!  Then we went on the inside and taped it in there just to make sure it would hold.

Pretty cool if you ask me!  We aren't done yet, but it will be really neat when we are!

I love being an Education major & seriously cannot WAIT to have my own classroom and kiddos one day!  =)

Christmas with the Duggers

After an adventurous day in LR and coming home, throwing on leggings, sipping' on hot chocolate, munchin' on KeeKee's reindeer Chex Mix, and watch Elf together in the living room...we all got ready & headed over to KeeKee & Poppy's for Christmas dinner & gifts!

We had all the goods...Honey Baked Ham, corn casserole, rolls, green beans, sweet potatoes, and some fruit salad to throw in a little bit of healthiness!  ;)  

{Mom & Dad}

{Uncle Sam & Aunt Kathy}

{Luke & Tonya}

{Me & Uncle G}--do you think we look alike or no?!

Ryder goes crazy playing with Luke & some how Luke puts up with it!  Ryder plays on his shoulders, makes him read books, sword fights...and they even have pretend snowball fights in KeeKee's living room!  R loves it though!

With all his presents!  Anxiously waiting on the go-ahead!  He got two Christmas books, new PJs, Hungry Hungry Hippos, and a light saber!  BIG hit!

Tonya & Luke lookin' all cute!  =)

This is the best I could get with these two...ha!

Playing Hungry Hungry Hippos!!  A HUGE hit for 3 year olds I might add!  ;)

We had a great early Christmas weekend!  It was fun to get things started early & actually get to enjoy each others company!

Visiting Santa!

So, before we went to Build a Bear at the mall...we stopped to see good ole Santa!  Ryder did SO good!  He walked right up to him & told him his name, and what he wanted for Christmas!  Easy as that! {Which...he wants an accordion!  Ha!}

Luke & R with his silly little bear ears he got from Santa!  Saved us $5 at Build a Bear tho!  ;)

Cheesin' with my lil man!  He truly is my best friend!

Won't they be cute parents one day?!  ;)

Here's the picture I ended up going with!  I am so glad this is something that I have made a point to do every year so I have the pictures to look back on in the future & compare!

Mall Trip With Tonya & Luke

We were so happy to have Tonya & Luke stay with us on Thursday night!  Friday was "dead day" for me at school where we don't have class--so we decided to head to the mall to see Santa & make a build a bear for part of R's Christmas!

We laughed at this pic...because it's just real life!  Tonya & I grew up taking pics together when we were together & now that hardly ever happens now that R is around!  It's not about us any more!  Ha!  SO we tried to get a good one...& of course my lil man photo-bombs!  But that's okay!  ;)

We went to see Santa (post later! ;)) & then headed up stairs to go to build a bear!  This was Ryder's 2nd experience...but probably the first he remembers!  The reason I took him was because there is a bunny commercial on TV that he cries over ever time he sees it!  He tells me he wants a bunny that will "run to him & talk to him..." #breakmyheart I was about to go & get that baby boy a bunny, to keep in the backyard, (I had one when I was little) but then asked if a build a bear bunny would be okay & he said it would!  We picked out the perfect bunny & I recorded him a message to put in it's arm & we were good to go!  

At this point...he wanted to name him "Blowy" because she was blowing the bunny up with fluff!  I didn't think that was a very good idea for a name though!  ;)

She made him do all this stuff with the heart before we put it in the bunny!  Ha!  He did great!

Naming him!  We decided on Sticky!  Ha!  But we all kept calling him "Stinky" all day!  Ha!

Giving Sticky a BIG hug!

I love these little Newly Weds!  =)  So happy to have them as my house guests for the weekend!  =)  They are a HUGE help to me as well, even though they are my GUESTS!  R has a BLAST with Luke!  They played "Woody & Bulls-Eye" & "Spiderman & Buzz" all weekend!  ;)

We forgot to fluff  & brush Sticky, so we went back & did that!

Happy with our latest purchase...& then it was time for lunch, where my child at oh, ya know...12 fortune cookies.  Ha!

Thank you Luke & Ton for going with us & taking pics for us!