Christmas

Christmas began on the 20th for us this year. with the kornelsen and friesen (mom's side) falling on the same day we decided to not drive the extra hour to winkler and went to the kornelsen gathering at joe and carols. almost everyone was there, it was nice to spend time with family we see far too little. it's funny how this used to be the calm quiet gathering, but with the addition of 8 little kids in the last few years, it is anything but calm and quiet! darcy and i stayed out for night at his parents place since we were having Christmas with them the nest day. it was a wonderful day filled with lots of food, games, presents, laughter, and sleep! we then headed to my parents place for 2 nights to cut down on driving, darcy had to work monday and tuesday. on the 23rd we went to nick and jacquelines for darcys dads side gathering, it was nice to spend time with family we don't see often, and jacqueline even planned a craft for us!

after a long 3 nights away from home we headed back to the city and relaxed and had our Christmas on the 25th. we had such a relaxing day together it was wonderful to spend our second Christmas together in a new home...i got to thinking and in 4 years we will have Christmas in 3 homes! yikes i hate moving.

on the 26th we packed our bags again and headed back to rosenort for a night with tyler and stef. the 26th was the waldner gathering, for the last few years (maybe only 2) someone (usually auntie m i think) puts together a little program for the family to enjoy consisting of singing, little kids reciting their poems or singing songs, and then every family says a blurb about their family or what God has done in their life that year. the highs, the lows, the times of growth, and times of struggle are shared, and for that time that people are sharing our family seems really close, in some ways we are but everyone has their own busy life. but when it comes down to it our family is there for each other, when someone is hurting, we hurt with them. it is truly a blessing to be part of such an amazing family. i got to connect with a few aunts and uncles and cousins that i only see at gatherings, it was really nice to connect with them. i never really made an effort to talk to them at gatherings, it was usually just a "hi, how are you doing" but this time i sat down and had a really good conversation with them. if i have learnt anything this Christmas it is that family is so important, and we need to take time for each other, even when life seems too busy.

the 27th marked the day of our last Christmas gathering at mom and dads. am, erik, and the girls came to mom and dads for brunch, and after games, jayda naps, and maddy nuggles we dug into presents. more games were played more food was eaten and a wonderful Christmas was had by all!

Christmas pictures in no particular order, and am we never did take family pictures....next year!

games at mom and dads

matching outfits from auntie steffy and uncle ty

appetizers at mom and dads

kitchen aid!!!

stories with gramma lill

grandma, grandpa, and me

rook

"steaaaak, where's my steak?"

FRIENDS SERIES!

biggest. stocking. ever

dads new awesome chair we picked out

friesen family

this weekend darcy and i headed out to rosenort for the night. we had our college and career chirstmas banquet at hilda's cabin on saturday. it consisted of a potluck, gift exchange (sadly d and i ended up with our own gifts : ( ), games and spending time with friends. sadly, i have no pictures to share with you....sunday was spent with family, it was nice to go home for a night!

i got up with darcy at 5.25 this morning to trek out to rosenort to bake with mom, amber, auntie martha, and grandma. it was a lof of fun!don't ask....

hailey bird

moms pretty tree

such a sweetie

sleeping madda

kisses

when darcy stops by his parents place.....
banana muffins, bran muffins, soup, rice krispee squares, chocolate sauce, and toffee marshmallows follow his home...mmmm : ) we have such a wonderful family!

my mom...

...is the kind of mom you can phone day or night to talk to when you feel sad
...is there to lend a shoulder to cry on when school is too overwhelming
...will drive an hour to bring me lunch when i've had a tough day
...will come clean the apartment when it is left in a jumble due to inconsiderate neighbours
...helped clean our house before we moved out and cleaned the apartment before we moved in while i sat there, too sick to move.
...will stop whatever she's doing to help us with whatever we need
...will pray for me daily
...send food home with darcy for us
...always thinks about others needs before her own
...hates surprises
...is a better mom than i could have ever asked for
the list could go on and on...but i'll just get to the birthday festivities. all mom knew was keep saturday december 6th open. bring a change of nice clothes, and makeup to get ready later. having that much information she thought....
1. swimming at the hospital across from our place
2. skating on the river behind our place
or
3. that i had arranged to have massages at school. that one was pretty close...

moms birthday surprise....

started off at the fort garry hotel
at ten spa to be exact

the steam room

the lounge area...

...where you waited to be called
for your appointment

the after lounge

the spa was amazing! we went an hour before our appointment to change, and enjoy the steam room, each others company, relax and spending time with our wonderful mother. erik came along to take care of maddy while we were in the spa. it worked out that maddy ate in that hour at the spa so erik could go back to the apartment with the guys for the rest of the afternoon. definitely something we were hoping would work out well. our appointments were at one and we all had an 80 minute relaxation massage. it was wonderful! after we could hang out in the lounge, get food and tea, and just further relax. side note, they made the best cheese and grainy muffins there.

after the spa we headed back to the apartment to lounge around and get ready for our dinner reservations at ichiban. i love going to ichiban, the food is delish and it is so entertaining to watch. mom has wanted to go to ichiban for a while now so we thought it was the perfect way to top off a spa day.

"you can't catch the egg with your
arms folded"

it was such a wonderful day celebrating moms birthday and spending time together with family, exactly what mom wanted! happy birthday mom, i love you!

what have i done?????????

this is what i was doing at 6.15 today.....

this is my "oh man what have i done"
face

.....what'd you do?
on the bright side i got "jade" my stylist from chatters (she was really good, i think i'll go back to her, too bad shes preggers and won't be around too much longer) to do multi-functional (??) bangs, i can wear them swooped to the side if i want. funny story about her doing my hair first off her boyfriend is also a massage therapist! i thought that was kinda crazy, and she was kept asking questions about my hair and said my old hair dresser used to be really good, but she kept getting worse and worse. she said my layers were SO uneven and she had no idea what was going on...but not to worry she'd fix it! she said a few times that she was confused as to why another hairdresser would cut someones hair that way! yikes....good thing i switched! I just need to dye it now, hopefully stef will have time tomorrow morning before our day of awesome-ness!!!!

oh and be honest, what do you think of the bangs its been probably 5+ years since bangs have occupied my forehead.

just one of those days....

that is the best way how to describe how i am feeling right now. wednesday's are usually bad, i have come to realize that. wednesday means all day anatomy, for the most part i enjoy anatomy. call me crazy but i love learning osteology, and arthrology (bones, joints and ligaments). myology on the other hand (muscles) are a whole other story...there are so so so many muscles and have different actions, and origins and insertions. it is very overwhelming to learn 20+ muscles a class and know where they all start/end, and what they do (most muscles move in more than one direction). i feel so overwhelmed with school and studying, the only way i make it through the week is knowing that come thursday i can sort of take a break. no quizzes on friday, and thursday after school means we go to ty and stefs, or they come here. sometimes for supper, other times just to watch the office at 8. i know school will be worth it in the end but some days are really hard to get past (kara, i am sure you know what i mean!) i am so excited to be a massage therapist and am very anxious to get my own table. there are many days that i come home and wish i could do an hour or two massage to strengthen my hands and for practice. i think that i will invest in one in the next few months, and when we come out (or anyone can come by anytime) i can to get some practice hours in and be critiqued...there has been more than enough people volunteering to help me out! on a happier note i got a wonderful call from my sweetheart sister today. she phoned just to cheer me up, i felt really special. my sweet husband also phoned on his way home to let me know everything would be ok, and to let me know he was going to pick up a pizza for supper so i didn't have to make anything. what a guy. only 12 school days until christmas, and 16 total days. that also helps to get me through. christmas will be a very much welcomed break to school, and even more than the christmas break i look forward to semester break where i don't have to pick up my books for a whole week....

on the brighter side....

....which reminds me, keep january 26th 2009 open for an epicure party i am having! hopefully at mom and dads place, but i should check with mom first! i am rather excited about it, i love epicure and the consultant i talked to said that the new catalog should be out and i think i may be the first rosenort party to have a new catalog party!

things to be thankful for
- talking to amber - the times we talk now that we are in the city is far to few
- darcy's encouragement
- talking to kels about school
- not making supper
- tomorrow being thursday
- being able to see auntie m and jer on friday
- not procrastinating and finishing tomorrows physiology assignment yesterday
- this weekend spending time with family, celebrating my wonderful mothers birthday
- a God who is always with me in my highs and lows

We set up our Christmas tree on saturday evening and then realized as we got to our storage unit that we left all the decorations at mom and dads place in the basement. so the tree went up and sat there bare for two days. considering how it looked when we first set it up i am quite happy with it. our star was too heavy for the flimsy top branches so we had to do some serious cramming to get it on, it's still a little crooked.

darcy thought it was a good picture,
and made me post it

last year we got a real tree, so darcy
surprised me with part of the stump he cut
off as an ornament

our apartment
well...the living room/dining room/office
and kitchen

any suggestions for what to do when you have no ambition to study for school anymore? i seem to have hit a studying wall. i don't spend as near as much time studying since my last midterms were done. my marks are a little lower in quizzes...i guess we've only had 1 since our last exam and i didn't do too bad but i just don't feel like studying anymore. ever. that is all.