Thursday, December 26, 2013

Christmas cheer!



What an amazing couple of days we've had here on Nighthawk!  On Christmas Eve, the Hesses, Atkinsons and Meachams came over for dinner.  It was a laid back night with a ton of food!  This was intentionally planning on my part as I had nothing planned for Christmas Day and there was going to be food left over!  (And by nothing, I mean eating and watching movie on the couch all day with Makena and Jamie.)

Because Makena is at home every day now, we were able to plan for both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with her.  And, this was the first year that we didn't volunteer at the Senior Center or make plans to do something on Christmas morning.  (Thankfully, there were plenty of volunteers signed up at the Senior Center!)  So it was just us.  I had been looking forward to this day for weeks.

If you have a teenager, you know that they don't like to get up early.  Not even to open Christmas presents!  I talked the girls in to waking her up at 9am though.  They don't mind running in to her room to wake her up.

Maddie had been sniffing around under the tree all morning, so she was very eager to help open stockings.


One of Makena's gifts didn't arrive in time, but a printed out note was enough to get her excited about a new cd from one of her favorite bands.


And Jamie always loves new Ravens goodies.  This is how far it is from Nighthawk to where the Ravens play.


And some new pajamas for our upcoming New Year's Eve pajama party.  I *may* have purchased (and wrapped) myself a matching pair.  (I know...I know...)


I've been making Makena photo books of our summer Road Trips.


Grandma and Papa thought that Makena needed a small refrigerator for her bedroom.  Great, now she'll never come out of there. :)

 

The girls got goodies too of course.

 
I received some beautiful jewelry and a stocking full of goodies too.  And we each opened our new ornament for next year. 

After a sugary breakfast, we did exactly what I had planned.  Put ourselves on the couch and watched tv all day.  White Christmas, Jack Frost, Four Christmases, It's a Wonderful Life, The Butler (it's not a holiday movie but we wanted to see it) and then we caught up on The Amazing Race.  We got up to eat.  Several times.  And it was perfect.

P.S. I know my dog is 'pudgy' round the middle.  We're working on that together.  I know exactly how she feels!  

P.P.S. Yes, Jamie does love that hat.

Saturday, December 21, 2013

The Turners

My beautiful cousin Kristen, her husband Matt and their son Asher came over one morning so that I could take a few pictures of them.  Asher is turning 3 in December and he loved his #3 that his mom made him.

 
 
 

A little Nighthawk Thanksgiving

The Saturday after we got home from Maryland, we were off to find our Christmas tree.  We planned an entire day of tree hunting, decorating and then eating a Thanksgiving dinner at home.  Yes, it made sense to us.

We tried a new tree farm this year.  Unfortunately, almost every tree is on a hill.  (Not Makena's favorite.) The sun was out, but it was approximately 30 degrees.  (Also not Makena's favorite.)  Jamie wasn't agreeing with any tree Makena and I chose, so the 'hunt' was taking longer than planned.  Usually Makena and Jamie agree on the tree before I do, but not this year.  And, in the end, we just agreed with Jamie's choice because we were numb from the cold.  (And don't let him tell you he gets to chose next year, it's NOT true!)



The best part about this tree farm is the giant gift shop.  A two story, giant house that was turned in to a gift shop.  I spent as much time in there as I could.  And I purchased my very first tree skirt.  Burlap and red velvet - perfect.


After decorating our tree, we ate as much food as we could.  Thanksgiving on the Raven's bus was missing many of our family favorites, so I cooked them all that day.  We ate, looked at our tree and enjoyed every minute of it.

A Maryland/Tailgating Thanksgiving

We flew to Maryland the day before Thanksgiving.  I was not looking forward to a single second of being in an airport or flying on one of the busiest days of the year. (If you know me at all, you know this was on my mind since we had booked the trip months before.  All the time.)  And then, of course, the Winter storms began.  More worry...

Something crazy happened when we got to the airport though - our gate was on the 'less busy side' of PDX.  There were maybe 4 people in front of us in line a security.  We went right through.  We had time to get coffee and breakfast and still wait for the plane to board.  (I was also waiting for something bad to happen.  But nope, nothing!)  We safely arrived in DC 5 hours later.  That is my kind of miracle.

We planned to spend Thanksgiving in Maryland again this year because the Ravens were playing the Steelers for the evening game.  Makena hadn't been back to Maryland in several years either and had never been on the Ravens Bus.  (Boy was she excited!)

Our first stop that morning was Starbucks.  There is one in Westminster.  One.  And the other connecting towns share it.  (I don't get it either.  Dunkin Donuts is not my idea of a coffee shop.)  And then we headed to Bruce's house (Jamie's younger brother) to get the bus ready and head to Baltimore.

 


When it's cold outside, the bus is the best place ever.  Other than one time I made her take a picture with the group, Makena never left her spot on the warm bus.  She was happy to sit and cheer on the Packers under her toasty blanket and read her books.

Bruce deep fried the turkey again this year.  Several other people brought food that could be cooked/heated up on the grill or in crockpots.   Lots of food.  (Not everything that we wanted, but lots of food.)


 
 Bruce, Jamie and I during the game.

The next day, we drove to Ocean City, MD to spend the weekend with Stan (Jamie's older brother) and his family.  They had purchased a beach house there the year before and were spending some time there during the holidays.

Makena, Jamie and I spent some time on the boardwalk.  And Makena and I walked through the Ripley's Believe it or Not! museum.

 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
On Saturday night we decided to visit the local light show.  You ride a train around a park that is decorated.  We apparently chose the busiest day of the year to go.  The wait was long and cold, but it was still beautiful.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
On our way back to Westminster, we stopped in Annapolis.  I wanted to see the Naval Academy.  We also stopped at a Veterans Memorial along the way.  So much history - I loved being there.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 After it got dark, we headed to downtown Annapolis for dinner.  Everything was decorated for Christmas and there were performances on the streets.
We spent the next couple of days visiting family and friends before returning home.  It was another great visit to Maryland!