snoring

snoring.

i hate snoring.

period.

a few years ago, i went on a trip with my dad to savannah. we were going to be there for a week, and the hotel room had a living room and a bedroom. i didn't even try sleeping in the bedroom because i knew my dad would snore all night long. my bed was the fold out couch.

that's how much i can't stand snoring.

i flew down to florida with my dad 2 years ago for the weekend. he had to go for work for the whole week, and he told me i could go with him for the weekend, so we flew down together and i flew back by myself. it was january, so of course i wanted to go! it was cold here, and warm in florida. duh! who wouldn't want to go? well, he snored extremely loud and i tried sleeping everywhere. i tried sleeping in the bathtub (which i had tried a previous time on a trip with him) and i think i ended up sleeping on the bathroom floor. i was actually tempted to go sleep in the hall or on one of the couches in the lobby. but it was a really nice hotel and i think that would have been frowned upon.

that's how much i hate snoring!!

chris snores, but not as bad as my dad. i can tell him he's snoring and he won't start again for a while, which gives me plenty of time to fall asleep. once i'm asleep, i don't care if he snores. it's just the falling asleep part that i care about.

ear plugs don't work. i have to have a box fan going for me to fall asleep. i just have to have that constant noise. and snoring isn't one of those noises. i think ear plugs actually make it worse. i'll have them in and then i'll be listening for the snoring. it's really weird.

is snoring genetic?

well, i don't snore, so i didn't get that gene from my dad. but addison has started snoring. maybe she got it from chris.

i really don't think snoring is genetic, but it would be kind of funny if it was.

apparently addison's snoring has been bothering chris. imagine that. it doesn't bother me. i can't even hear it unless i'm in her room. chris uses ear plugs because he can't sleep with noise, and he claims to be able to hear everything. except his snoring, of course.

oh snoring. why must you exist??

a tea party and lots of kisses

addison was in a very playful mood tonight. she walked around the house behind her shopping cart like a big girl. i'm so proud of her! i just know she's going to be walking all by herself soon.

after she was tired from walking, we had a tea party. actually, addison and chris had a tea party and i took the pictures!

addison didn't want to drink out of her teacup, but she did drink out of chris's!

she really wanted a refill. daddy answered the call...

yummmm...this tea is so tasty!!

oh, hell. i'm thirsty. i'll just drink it right out of the teapot...

she got bored with the tea party and moved on to destroying her toy bins. happens every day, all the time...

addison has really started giving kisses. it's so cute. she'll make the kiss noise and she'll actually give kisses. i got a few good pictures of her giving chris kisses.

after chris got a bunch of kisses, i wanted some too. chris isn't as good taking pictures as i am :) and addison was moving a lot, so some are kind of blurry. but i thought they were still really cute!

i love you addison! you're so sweet! even though you don't cuddle any more, you give the best kisses!

one of my (weird) quirks

i'm weird. i'm pretty sure we've already established that.

everyone is weird in their own way. everyone has their little quirks and habits that make them different, and sometimes make them weird.

one of my many weird habits is how i listen to music.

if i find a song (or songs) i like, i will listen to it (or them) on repeat. all day.

i'm not sure when it began, but i would say late in middle school or early in high school. i think it got worse in high school, especially when i got a car and could listen to music by myself.

i remember finding a cd i that i loved and i would listen to one song on repeat all the time. then i eventually moved to the next song. this went on until i had listened to the whole cd.

some people, chris, aren't very fond of my music listening habit. i don't think he realized how bad it was until we went on vacation together. we had never been on vacation together before. we would usually just listen to the radio when we rode together, but i took my ipod since we were going on a long trip. i had made a playlist of mainly john mayer and maroon 5 songs.

btw, those are probably my 2 favorite artists. love them.

back to the story. there were a lot of songs in the playlist, but i had my favorites. so i would rotate between my small number of favorites. it drove chris crazy. needless to say, the ipod didn't get played on the drive home.

why am i telling you this?

well, i've been listening to the same 3 songs since yesterday afternoon. and i thought it was kind of funny, so i thought i would tell about my weird habit.

i haven't really listened to much music lately because 1) my cd player in my car doesn't work anymore :( and it hasn't for about 2 years now. it's quite sad. so i'm left to the radio, and the radio doesn't have a repeat button. and 2) when i do hear a song i like, i usually turn it up really loud. i can't really do that anymore with addison in the car.

when i am in the car alone, and am lucky enough to have one of my favorite songs come on the radio, i turn it up really loud. probably too loud. and i sing. it's one of those things that just makes me feel better. i can let it all out by screaming in my car.

so, that's one of my quirks. my obsession with the repeat button.

and if you were wondering what 3 songs i've been listening to lately, here they are.

Sweet Caroline from Glee
Somebody to Love from Glee
Bad Romance by Lady Gaga

in that order.

i would be singing too, but chris is sleeping on the couch and i don't want to scare wake him. (and his snoring is the main reason i'm actually listening to music in the first place). so, i guess i'm kind of glad he's snoring, for once!

brrrrr...it's cold in here!

ok. so that was me remembering one of my favorite movies. do you know where that came from??

bring it on!!

not like bring it on for guessing, but bring it on the movie!

i used to love that movie. i still do, but i used to be kind of obsessed.

if i remember correctly, my dad bought it for me on DVD. it was the first DVD he bought...i think.

even if i'm wrong about that, i know i'm not wrong about this...

my friend faith and i watched that movie so many times that night. we learned the cheer that the clovers did. hahaha. i'm sure i still know it. actually, i know i still know it.

oh, i really do love that movie. and at the end, when they dance to oh, mickey, i dance too. just ask chris. i'll get up and sing and do the dance. because i know that one too.

well, even though it's a cheer from a movie, it's a true statement right now.

it's so cold! i'm curled up with a thick blanket. my wifi stopped working so i'm sitting in chris's chair so my laptop can be plugged into the internet. but that's ok. i'm still comfy :)

thursday we're supposed to get snow. yes, that's right. snow!

there's a winter storm watch from wednesday night until thursday afternoon. they say we'll get 2-4 inches of snow. we'll see about that.

i really do hope we get snow. i love snow. and we haven't had any this year. i don't really think we had any last year either. and addison could play in it (somewhat) this year.

we stocked up at the grocery last night, so if we get snowed in, we'll be ok for a while.

let me rephrase that. addison and i will be ok for a while. we don't mind staying at home and not going anywhere. chris on the other hand. well, he hates staying at home. we'll see how well he does if we're snowed in :)

getting things done

i'm so excited about designing blogs! i felt nervous at first, but now that i've done a couple, i'm really really loving it.

and i've had 3 people email me about designing their blogs. so excited!

chris has been really freaking out about all of the stuff we got for christmas. we got a ton of stuff. and they all need new homes.

chris usually just throws things away. i'm working on that. he piled my stuff up and told me i had to find a place for it. so i did.

i'm sure he put some stuff up in places that don't make sense for that item, but that's fine. i'll find some socks in a kitchen cabinet, or some jewelry in the tv stand. as long as it's not in the trash, it's pretty much ok with me.

my friend, mandy, came over today so i could help her design her blog. she's the one who taught me how to use photoshop. i was able to help her make a really cute design for her blog. i'm so happy. and it really didn't take me that long. which makes me feel good about designing blogs in the future.

one of chris's really good friends, james, came to town tonight. he recently joined the army and is on break for christmas. i haven't seen him in such a long time.

he was one of chris's roommates, and i saw him almost every day until chris and i moved in together. he's such a funny guy. i've really missed seeing him!

the boys just left to go play ping pong at bailey's. weird, huh? and i can't even get in there yet! because i'm not 21. but that will change in just a month (and a week).

i'm about to go get dressed and head out to hang with the boys. a few of my girlfriends are going to be there too, so i won't be the only girl :)

christmas eve & christmas day

warning: this post contains a large amount of pictures! beware!! :)

i'll start out christmas holiday off on christmas eve. i took addison over to my dad's after she had lunch so that we could exchange gifts.

this is my dad's cardboard christmas tree. yes, it's cardboard. but it's still decorated, and actually looks pretty good. i'm just glad he has a tree at all!

my dad got me photoshop for christmas. i was so glad to get it so i could start designing blogs. and i did mine first :) i had done mine before with just the photoshop 30 day trial, so i got familiar with the software.

i knew i was getting photoshop (because i suggested he get that for me, and because i ordered it). but my dad surprised me with a book for the camera. i've started reading it, and hopefully it'll help me know how to use the camera and help me take better pictures!

chris and i got my dad a new phone for christmas. since chris works at at&t, he can get some phones cheaper, and my dad hated his phone. so he picked out one and chris got it for him. and my dad says he likes the new one! good, because his old one was crappy.

that night, we went to my mom's house for dinner and to open gifts. we usually go there on christmas day, and go see chris's family on christmas eve. but this year, chris's mom had to work late christmas eve so we couldn't go then, so we just switched everything. and it worked out just fine.

i took lots of pictures of my mom's christmas decorations. i love them. i love mine, but i love hers too :)

this is what she has on her kitchen table. it's really cute!

my mom's friend made this for her. i always joke that it looks like the ball is in jail, but it's pretty cute. and she has two little sequence trees on either side.

my mom usually has 3 trees, but this year she only put up 2. she has 1 in the foyer, 1 in the living room, and 1 upstairs. but since i don't live at home anymore, no one really goes upstairs, so she didn't put that one up.

here's the one in her foyer. i love it because it's so tall...

here's the tree in the living room. it's fuller and we put all the presents under this tree. and we had a lot of presents this year! mostly for addison...she's spoiled (just like her mommy!)

this is the little tree that used to be in my room. i would put it up in there when i was younger. then we got a bigger one for my room, and the small one never got put up. but my mom got it out this year to put on a shelf in her bookcase. i think it looks so cute! i might steal it for addison's room next year, because the one we have in there now is a little large.

my mom has these 3 jars on her formal dining room table. she never uses the table, but i just love the decorations!

here's chris and addison right before we started opening gifts...

addison wasn't that into opening gifts. she just tried to play with all of her other toys. but we blocked her toys off and she started opening some stuff.

she was pretty into the tissue paper, wrapping paper, and gift bags. not so much the presents. but once we got her new toys out of the packaging, she played a lot.

she got a shopping cart for christmas. she really liked pulling stuff out of it. she hasn't really grasped that she needs to walk when it moves forward, but we're working on it!

chris had to help addison open most of her gifts...

here's my mom helping my granny open her gifts...

after we opened gifts, we had a very yummy meal of ham, mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, green peas, rolls, hashbrown casserole, and deviled eggs. i think that's all that we had...and it was really good!

addison had some food, but not much. it wasn't time for her to eat again.

i gave her a bath at my mom's and chris fed her dinner there. she wore her christmas pjs that night :)

santa came christmas morning...

i ordered this really cute painting from paint me a picture on etsy. i just love it!

addison got a laptop, 3 refrigerator magnet toys (which are really cool!), 2 shirts from luna b tee, her painting, a pair of pjs, and some other stuff. that's only what chris and i got her. she got a lot more from other family members...

addison helped me open my stocking. i got some candy, and Dear John (i really wanted the book because i want to read it before the movie comes out).

this was when i opened my present from chris. my super cute pink mini laptop. i love it! i'm actually writing this post on it now :) it's going to really come in handy for school, especially since i have 2 online classes next semester.

addison enjoyed playing with her groceries from her shopping cart...

i got chris a drill, a pullover, and a penguin game (he loves penguins). and i got him some things for his drill for his stocking. and an itunes card and lots of candy.

christmas was a lot of fun this year. addison was more aware of when was going on, and i had a lot of fun shopping for her!

oh, and if you're wondering what the refrigerator magnet toys are, leapfrog fridge phonics magnetic alphabet set, leapfrog fridge farm magnetic animal set, and leapfrog fridge wash & go magnetic vehicle set. they're all really cool, and if you have a small child, they're great! i'm sure addison will use them for years to come, and they're great to keep her entertained while i'm doing stuff in the kitchen!

low country boil

wednesday, i left for school at 8:30, saying bye to just chris and addison.

when i came home at 2:30, i was greeted by 8 new people in the house. chris's dad, rick, and chris's best friend, jason, rode together from georgia and got to the house around 11:30. jason was leaving that afternoon to go back home for thanksgiving, and then was going to come back saturday and ride back to georgia with rick. since jason was only going to be here for a short time, their friend travis (mary's husband) came to the house to see him. mary's 2 brothers were staying with them, so they came with travis. so that was 5 of the 8 new people.

chris's brother, keith, came with his girlfriend, leighann, and their little boy, lane. they came from memphis and got to the house around noon, i think.

so when i got home, there were a ton of people. addison was really tired by the time i got home. i guess playing with lane really wore her out. i put addison down for her nap, and she passed out. she usually has a hard time going down for her afternoon nap, and i was worried that all the people would talk too loud. but she was really tired so it didn't matter.

after she went down, i played with lane. he's 6 months older than addison. he was running around everywhere.

he loved looking at tybee through the door. he would just stand there and laugh.

then we let tybee in the house. and lane loved it. he would chase tybee everywhere. and when tybee would come near lane, lane would just giggle and smile. it was so funny.

chris's dad brought a ton of fresh shrimp with him. they were planning on doing a low country boil for everyone. jason left, but we had a few more people coming for dinner. my mom and dad were going to come, mary was coming after she got off work, and my uncle, aunt, and cousin were all coming too. i think that's it.

we have a fire pit on the deck that we had never used. so we decided that we should use it that night. it was cold outside, but we had so many people that we needed somewhere else to hang out. and since addison was going to go to bed around 9 (we kept her up later so she would be extra tired), we didn't want to be loud in the house.

we went outside before all of the extra guests arrived and took some pictures of the family. this was the first time chris's dad had seen either of his grandkids.

aren't we so cute? addison was wearing her cute little hat. it's really warm too! thanks mary and travis :)

that's chris's dad in the picture. if you couldn't tell. i think they look a lot alike. it's really funny because i think chris and rick look alike, but when i see keith and rick, i think they look alike too. but chris and keith look nothing alike.

rick was all about playing with the babies. and they loved him. he was playing with lane......

.....and then he wanted to play with both of them! it was pretty funny.

mommy and daughter. she never looks at the camera when we take pictures together. it's ok though, because she was smiling at something in this picture!

lane was having fun outside. keith and leighann said he loves being outside. he just ran around the yard. but once the fire was going, we had to keep a close eye on him so he wouldn't get too close.

here's some of the food. there was a ton of food. seriously. but i didn't eat any of it. i'm a super picky eater, and i don't eat shrimp or sausage. i do eat potatoes and corn, but i know i would have been able to taste shrimp and sausage on them. but the food was pretty :)

father and son talking. who knows what they were talking about though.

lane was blowing me a kiss. he's so sweet.

i think he wanted to get in the fridge. he was trying to open in, but he couldn't get a hold of the handles.

everything must have worn lane out. we were all in the living room watching tv and leighann was feeding lane in the kitchen. she came in and told us to come look at him. we peeked over and looked at him. he was sitting there and his head would just fall. he was falling asleep while he was eating. it was the funniest thing ever. addison never does that. so i had to take a picture.

we covered the kitchen table with a bunch of newspaper, and once the food was done, we just put it on the table. everyone just stood around the table and ate.

yes, there was a ton of food. but there wasn't much left over at the end of the night.

addison went to bed around 9 and didn't make a peep. after lane fell asleep in the highchair, leighann took him upstairs. he slept for about an hour, then woke back up again. leighann brought him down and he hung out for a little bit, then leighann went upstairs and fell asleep with him.

i rotated between being inside and outside. it was just really cold outside, so i couldn't stay out there long. keith ran out and got stuff to make smores, so people were hanging out outside making those. after everyone was done eating, we all went outside and talked and hung out. i was really tired, so i ended up going to bed around 10:30 before everyone had left. but then i kept hearing people talking, so i came back downstairs. everyone was leaving then, so i just went to bed after everyone left.

rick, keith, leighann, and lane were all staying with us that night. so keith, rick, and chris stayed up a little bit longer and hung out outside after everyone left. leighann got up at some point and went outside for a bit, but i was asleep by then.

it was a really fun night, and i'm glad we all got to hang out. i'm kind of glad to have an empty house now though. after addison's birthday and the low country boil, i need some relaxing time :)