Christmas Party

We had a grand old time last night at our house. I had my grandma, 14 of my 15 cousins and their families, my parents, and my aunts and uncles over to celebrate the holidays. Good times were had by all. It was nice to talk with everyone, especially since this is the only time I may see some of them this year.

We even had a visit from the Sheriff (that hasn't happened at a party that I hosted for a GOOD long time, let me tell you...at least it wasn't for rowdiness!!) One of the guests parked on the street, which made travel down our snow packed, dumb one lane roads tricky, so one of our more friendly neighbors called the sheriff's office. Didn't even bother to come talk to us first!! I may or may not have told the sheriff that this wouldn't have been a problem if the streets were plowed a bit better. *cough*

I made this pie:



And it was delicious, if I do say so myself!

My handsome brother Creighton, and his lovely lady Lindsey were there. I love this girl. I hope Creighton makes her an official member of the family very soon. That was just a subtle suggestion, dear brother.



This is me with my mother (in red) and my Grandma Rose (in black-I am named after her!). God gave all of us the exact same face, so I am relatively sure of how I will look at 57 and 88.



And this is Grandma Rose with 14 of her 15 grandchildren. Of the 15, only 3 of us are girls. There are WAY TOO MANY BOYS at our family gatherings. Also? All of those boys are VERY VERY TALL. Just look at them...



Too bad the three tallest are seated. They are all over 6 foot 6. No kidding!

This is me with my best cousin pal growing up, Jeremy. He and I are the oldest grandkids, and we kept everyone in line when we were younger. Which is a nice way to say, we were very very bossy. And of course, I am not bossy anymore. Oh no! (Jeff is laughing because he knows the truth!)



We had lots of good food, including a monster 14 pound ham I baked. Somehow, we planned the food very well, and there was plenty, but not gobs of leftovers. Which is nice for my waistline.



The only downside to having a party in December in Nebraska is this:



A pile of shoes at the door, all of which are coated with a thick layer of sand and ice melt. Makes for fun cleaning times in the morning!! But it was worth every grain of sand. I wish Christmas came more than once a year so that we could see more of these wonderful people.

Brag

I had to stop a minute and brag here for a second. My cousin John started a rockin' new website for college football fans. So if you are like my husband, and are crazy with excitement that it is almost August (which only means ONE thing-FOOTBALL SEASON!) check out this site:

www.collegefootballtimes.com

It's worth the trip!

A Girly Day, Complete With a Tiara

Today I had a wonderful morning spent with some of my favorite gals. The awesome Christi and I took Alyssa and my niece Brooke (aka Brookie Cookie/Brookelina) to see a performance of High School Musical on Ice. It's so nice to be able to borrow Brookie when I get a craving for something girly, pink, and full of singing and glitter.

Watching Brooke's face as the skaters first came onto the ice was priceless. She breathed an impressed and reverant "WOW!!!!" I'll never forget it. After a few minutes she declared," I NEED to know how to do that!"



The skating was great, and came complete with pyrotechnics, which impressed the little ones. I was amazed at how they could skate while dribbling a basketball, driving a golf cart, and riding a bike. For someone like me who can't even stand up on ice skates, this was nothing short of miraculous.



At the intermission we got some obligatory event food. Brookie had a hot dog, a pretzel with salt (which caused her to ask me why the pretzel had rocks on it, and why she was supposed to eat them), and a coke. That girl has a bladder of steel. She drank almost the entire medium sized pop, and then didn't have to go to the bathroom the entire rest of the time we were together. Wish my kids could do that!



Afterwards we got a souvenir of our day, which I found to be the perfect excuse to buy Brooke a pink, glittery, High School Musical tiara. I do love me a good tiara.



Thank goodness that with all of these boys around I have Brooke as my go to girl for an old fashioned girl day.

Thanks Christi and Alyssa!

Christmas Playdate

We had a terrific morning around casa de la Kleffman today. My niece and nephew Brookie Cookie and Colin came over to play. Colin and Evan had a lot of talking and playing to do with their new Star Wars things, Brookie let me brush her hair and put a pony in (ahhh! The joy of little girls!), and we all played a little Wii. We stopped mid morning for this:



There's nothing like a little chocolate cake at 10:00 in the morning for a snack! Even though Colin doesn't have any in front of him in the picture, he had already polished off two pieces. What are aunts and godmothers for if not a little spoiling?

A fun morning that has provided me with a lovely stretch of naptime, since my kids are all worn out.



See that rock star pony tail?!

I so love these two kiddos.