Merry Christmas 2014

We had a very family filled Christmas. We started at home with Bob's parents. We had a very nice Christmas Eve Mass and a wonderful meal of fillet mignon. 

After opening presents on Christmas morning, we drove to my parents in Illinois. 

Papa and the girls

Nana and the girls

Bob and Papa eating giant crab legs

Silly girls

Maria

Leah (Check out my parents beautiful home!)

Yesterday I cleaned out the pantry. That usually means one thing...Homemade chex mix! I make mine in the crock pot and I use odds and ends. 

This batch only has one kind of actual chex mix cereal. I also added pretzels, broken bread sticks, the bottom of three jars of nuts, a little snack bag of cheezit, the last bits of a real bag of chex mix and more cashews.  I put a little Tabasco in the sauce so it has a kick!

Sometimes when I clean out the pantry I make granola instead. 

There is a little bit left from my last batch.

Surgery update

Jenn is recovering! She only missed 2 days of school but by the looks of her foot she probably should have kept her legs elevated and rested for longer. 

Leah's left foot is on the left and Jenn's is on the right. The girls are done with finals and can rest and relax until January 5.

Speaking of January 5, that will also be Maria's first day of her BSN program in Arizona. She is almost done packing. She can only take belongings that fit in her little car so most of her junk will stay behind. Once Maria leaves, Leah will move into her room. Jennifer wants to stay in her present room and Leah's room will become Maria's. I dread moving day but it will be a great opportunity to purge!

Jenn

Jenn had surgery today!

Specifically, she had a faciotomy which gives the muscles in her calves more room to work. She was in continuous pain and couldn't even run.  If you know Jenn, you know running is a huge part of her life. The recovery time after the surgery is 6 weeks. She is in great shape and should be back on her feet very soon. For now she is in a wheelchair for the next two weeks.  

Christmas Cookies - This is only the beginning!

This project takes sooooo much time. I made the dough from my Grandma's recipe. It calls for 8 eggs and makes more cookies than most humans could ever need. This is 2/3 of the recipe. I cut out and baked the cookies in the morning with a little help from Bob. After dinner I couldn't stand looking at the naked snowmen any longer so I started "dressing" them. I probably should have started sooner because the process takes hours. I like how they turned out! These will be given to the girls' teacher plus we will share them throughout the holidays. 

Back to Indy

Our very busy trip to Phoenix is over. I have to say it was a huge success. We all love Maria's new apartment and the school is a perfect fit for her. Now she just has to start packing. She can't take all her belongings but rumor has one of the twins wants her room. This means some major purging and organizing needs to be done!

On Sunday we took a drive up to Sedona. What a beautiful place!  We will definitely come back during on of our future visits to Arizona. 

Maria ❤️ Arizona!

Maria will start her newest course of study on January 5 in Arizona! After lots of thought, preparation and determination she has decided to pursue an accelerated nursing degree. This plan lets her build on her BS degree from Purdue and finish with a BSN in 16 months. 

Maria is very excited and so are we. This weekend we traveled to sunny Phoenix to secure an apartment and get her registered for classes. 

Her apartment is tiny but it has all the conveniences.

We went to IKEA twice to window shop, bought a bed and a couch and scoped out the area. She is all set to go!

One of the perks of living in Phoenix is the fact that my Aunt Ruth and Uncle Jim live in Scottsdale just 30 minutes away. We enjoyed a great dinner with them at Houston's. 

Bob came along too but he was the photographer. 

Another perk of Poenix is that Nana and Papa will be there as usual this winter.  I know Maria will be well cared for. The twins, Bob and I are planning to go in March during the twins' spring break. The weather sure is beautiful in Arizona. Maria may think differently in August but I'm sure glad she didn't pick Michigan!