Turkey and Family and white elephant gift.

So After my sister left, Thanksgiving came quick! Monday (3 days before Thanksgiving) I realized we didn't have any family to be with for the big day! And then I thought "gee, why don't we go visit family? We are out of school, we don't have any other plans. Lets pack up and go!" So we did. Wednesday we got in the car and drove. We picked Arizona Family because its closer, there's no snow/bad traffic, and we had some stuff to check on our Rentals. Good times. I even remembered my camera! Unfortunately, I left the battery on the charger on the counter. So no pictures this time. Oops!!  

After Thanksgiving, grandma agreed to keep Chloemonster for a week for us. Chloemonster is 4 (which I think might be one of my favorite ages of my kids-they can do so much for themselves, and usually follow directions). However, there is a reason I call her Chloemonster. She is so stinkin high maintenance. She's chit-chatty. REALLY chit chatty. And clingy. She FREAKS when she is at school and some part of her routine changes (she cried all thru picture day, one day her teacher was wearing a firefighter suit, and she honestly couldn't handle it, and one day they opened a new center and she wouldn't go anywhere near it) Never mind. Her crazyiness is a completely different post. So we left her at grandmas. We drove home with just Jerom and Avery. It was so peaceful and quiet! The house stayed WWWAAAAYYY neater and clean with her gone. I could not believe the difference. After 5 days instead of 7 days, grandma called and said "I'll meet you in vegas tonight. Chloe is ready to be home" Don't get me wrong. I love her, and I totally missed her. In fact, I couldn't let myself talk to her on the phone the first couple times. Its hard to let go and let her be somewhere else! And home is back to its usual messy/can't have my own thoughts for more than 1.5 seconds. Seriously not kidding.  

The next week, we had Dance recital performances. Avery has always done gymnastics; this time we decided to put her in an after school dance class at her school. 
Jerom thought he'd go for a drumming class. 
And chloe said she would be brave enough to go to her own dance class. 
So it was recital night!

Avery was giddy with excitement and could hardly contain herself. She practiced her songs and was excited and ready to go. Her missing front 2 teeth crack me up. I am ready for some more to grow in and take their spot!

Anyways, Chloe was really nervous about her performance. For WEeKS, she had been telling me she didn't want to do it. And for weeks, I told her she would be fine. Its scary, but she can get up with her class and do it. We practiced walking across the stage when nobody was there. Walking. She was too shy to do that some days. I don't know how to describe her. She can be outspoken, attitude, mind set on things, and other times she is so clingy, shy, hide her face in her hands kind of gal. Its so hard sometimes. Here's how Chloe was feeling before her recital.

You can't even fake that kind of excitement. Or lack thereof. She just didn't want any part of the evening. So, we headed over. I didn't talk to her about her performance. When it was finally her turn, we sent her up, and she actually stood up, walked up on the stage, and got in her spot. 
And then, SHE DID IT! 
She did her best to do her little dance. 
She stared at the floor the whole time, no smile on her face, but her feet were (slowly) doing what she learned and she even moved her arms a little.  
And then when she came back and sat down, she had this sudden burst of excitement and was joyous and happy the rest of the evening.

Abe is completely busy with school and performances. He has singing/performing groups that perform throughout the community all the time. People here are showy/singy/dancy like that. 
One night we went on a date and saw Jon Schmidt/Steven Sharp Nielsen. 
Amazing.
Look them up on youtube. 

Ok are you ready for a funny story?
Every year at the school Abe teaches at, they have an annual Christmas dinner. Its just a fun night where everyone brings a potluck dish and visits. They also do a white elephant gift exchange. From what Abe understands, gag gifts are pretty normal. Like a gigantic bra goes around every year. And the vice principal's underwear. (they aren't really his underwear, they just pretend they are). Awkward stuff like that. So we get curious about what to bring. When I was young and more creative, my friend and I would get a toilet plunger, and fill the bottom with candy. So thats what we decided to put together.

Don't worry--it was a brand new plunger. And the candy is unwrapped, inside a bag, inside a bag. Totally edible. Funny, right? 

Well, we took 2 gifts. Mine was candy and a amazon gift card. Totally likable. I'd much rather get something I can use. Anyways...we are at the party. Everyone is in a big circle. There's like 60 or 80 or more people. I don't know how many. Everyone has a gift. Then the vice principal reads a story and whenever he reads "right" or "left" you pass your gift. So whatever gift you end up with is what you get. make sense? SO we play. gifts are being passed around like crazy. and when it ends? I about died. the principal of the school ended up with our gift!! He's like a conservative, rule-following, not toilet plunger with chocolate kind of guy. I was so embarrassed!! I'm so glad it didn't have our name on it to know who it was from. BUT payback came when we opened ours...coconut bra and leis!! Abe stood up and danced it them in front of everybody. He's so silly like that.

In other news, I finally got around to printing my blog! I've been wanting it printed in a book forever now, but it always seemed so time-consuming to put together every pages format, pictures, etc. My friend told me about how she printed hers, and I ended up loving it. Instead of fancy book formatting, they grab all your posts, and put it together like a book. no fancy backgrounds or formatting.  You can choose a Hardback or softback cover, edit your writing, and get all your pictures in black and white or color. I loved the way mine turned out. So check out sharedbook.com I get email coupons all the time so let me know if you want a %off coupon. yay!

Well, thats it for now. Next time I'll let you know all about Christmas! and why our house is crazier than normal. Have a fabulous night!