A Merry Mudrick Christmas

This post is going to have to be a photo essay in a way, since we took over 200 pictures in the last 5 days. We got back yesterday evening from a wonderful trip to Virginia. Once again it was nice to get away and spend time with all of Ben's family. When we were all together there were 13 adults and 9 children, which meant that there was never a dull moment.

The drive down was uneventful. Ethan passed the time by sleeping, watching a movie or two and playing games on the iPod.



We stayed at Ben's parents house with his sister Mary, her husband and their daughter Stella, Ben's two younger brothers and of course Ben's parents. Ethan and Stella played in the monstrous amount of snow that was outside. It amazingly almost all disappeared by the time we left.



On Christmas morning we all opened our gifts. Ben got me Photoshop which I hope to learn how to use soon, Ben opened his gift back here in Rochester since it wasn't worth bringing a speaker for our TV down to Virginia. Ethan opened a couple gifts (Mr. Potato Head and some Cars) which he loved. In fact he had a death grip on the Cars for the next 8 hours or so.





Later that night we were joined by Ben's 2 older brothers and their families for dinner and gift exchanging. We had some delicious beef stew and mushroom stew and had the little cousins do a book exchange. We made out with some great loot from Ben's parents and his sister's family. Thanks everybody! Oh and Ethan finally let go of his cars when he got a little Playmobil race car from his grandparents. His death grip switched to that for the rest of the evening and I'm pretty sure he slept with it that night.






On Saturday we went to the temple to do some names in Ben's family. It was great to be able to go to the temple without worrying about Ethan since he was being watched by his uncles. Afterward we went to Sam & Julie's for some Chinese food and the kiddos played in the bounce house that Sam & Julie bought for their kids for Christmas. It was hysterical to watch the kids go crazy in it. Luckily, no injuries resulted from 8 kids taking turns jumping around in it.

On Sunday we went to Ben's home ward, and then hung out at his parents house before going over to Sam & Julie's again for dinner. After dinner the bounce house was set up again and the kids played with that while some of the adults played Beatles Rock Band and watched the Redskins get killed by the Cowboys.







We took off late in the morning on Monday and had plans to go to the outlet mall in Leesburg, but before we left Ethan threw up on himself. When we set off he fell asleep in the car for a couple hours. We felt bad waking him up so we decided against getting out of the car. About an hour and a half from home he threw up again and we had to pull over and change his clothes. Poor little guy. He was acting ok at home last night but was running a fever at 3 am this morning. When he got up this morning after a rough night of sleep for all of us, he was totally fine. Hopefully it was just a 24 hr. bug. You can tell by these pictures that he just wasn't a happy camper.



We were bummed we had to come back to Rochester so soon since most of Ben's family was around for a few more days, but we had a great time with everyone while we were there. We hope everyone had a great Christmas and that your New Year is amazing!

All Aboard!

We're setting off for our trip down to Virginia for Christmas where we'll be able to see all these people (minus the McDaniels):


Not only we'll be greeted with lots of family, but unfortunately more snow than we have here in Rochester. What is that about anyway?!?! Since we probably won't be posting until after Christmas, here's a warm wish for you all to have a Merry Christmas!

And what's a post without a picture of the little man? Not a great one, but he's really into this Play Mobil Santa/Snowman set he got. And here's the proof:


We'll be sure to come back with plenty of pics of family, the loot and the star of our family.

All Suited Up

When we went to bed last night our street looked like this:


It was indeed a winter wonderland. And because we had to go into the office with Ben this morning to get a flu shot and to make a stop at the library to return books, we decided to bust out Ethan's new snow boots, bibs, and jacket while Ben shoveled the driveway. He may have just stood there for a while taking in the snow, but he sure looked cute. We then whipped out the sled that Ben bought for him last weekend and I pulled him in front of the house. He loved it. Maybe we'll attempt a hill one of these days.

First Real Snowfall

So it did snow last week, but only a little bit and it all melted before noon. That wasn't the case with today though. We woke up to about 3 inches of snow that looks like it wants to stick around. I do like the snow, but not for months at a time. I just need to count my lucky stars that winter came so late this year and just hope that it doesn't stick around beyond March.


Because Ethan and I are under the weather (with colds) I don't want to throw Ethan out in the snow to see how he likes it. Plus, the kid doesn't have snow boots and I don't want to stick plastic bags over his shoes in the meantime. That would be just tacky.... right?!?

So anyway, Ethan and I have decided to lounge in our pj's today and see what we can find to do around the house. I think our day may consist of:

- Dismantling the gingerbread house I made last night




- Rearranging the nativity scene into something more humorous, but by no means blasphemous

{Before}

{After}

- And well, because I'm such a great Mom, probably a couple episodes of Yo Gabba Gabba.

'Tis The Season...

to get crafty. It all started with us buying a curtain rod at Ikea while we were down in Virginia last week and then slowly progressed from there.

We'd been wanting to put up some sort of shade or curtain in our kitchen since in the summer it's pretty bright in there. I figured since I had just borrowed a sewing machine that I could probably make it myself. A trip to Jo Ann's and a couple hours later I made my first curtains.

Unfortunately I bought WAY too much fabric, that wasn't that cheap to begin with, so I needed to make something with the extra material. Thanks to Shannon (the spouse of a college friend that I've only met once), I figured I could use the leftover fabric and make my own throw pillows. A few hours later (thank you Ethan and your long naps) and voila, new pillows!


Well now I think I'm pretty crafty and I can make whatever I want! Thanks again to Shannon (she's starting to become my source of DIY project ideas), I thought I should make a wreath for our front door. It's not as good as hers, but it'll suffice for now.


And since that wasn't enough for me to do last night, I decided that I want to change the whole color scheme of our bedroom. So, I made two throw pillow covers and a bolster pillow cover.


Mind you, this was all without patterns and actual knowledge on how to make pillows and curtains, but if I can do it, anyone can. Now I have things to add to my Christmas wish list like: new sheets (which we need anyway), a white duvet cover, and a taupe accent blanket since we probably don't need a duvet in the summer. I wonder if I've been good enough this year...