Before Christmas Things

My parents recently moved into their new house a week before Matt and I arrived. It was strange not going home to my childhood home,but also surprising familiar since they have all the same stuff but in this new house. I got confused the first night trying to remember where the bathroom was,but by the end of the trip the house didn't feel as foreign. Since we got there a whole week before Christmas Matt and I helped with unpacking and setting up the rooms for everyone coming. We also were able to see some familiar faces that we had missed! 

Flying with the bump                                         Unpacking

Temple date- first time at the temple since knowing we were having a boy!

Saw my cousin for the first time since his mission

lots of fun with my cat bear

Celebrated Caiti's birthday at Red Robin

Matt's heaven- Whataburger

High School Friends

PreChristmas

Before we head off to our families each year, Matt and I open our presents from each other. This saves us having to ship or pack these presents and it is nice to have some presents under our family tree. Matt and I do a homemade and a bought gift every year. I love this tradition of having our own celebration before going with family.

Homemade gifts: Initial ornaments K,M,C/ a snowglobe

Bought gifts: frames ( not pictured pjs, pie dish, and guardians soundtrack)

U-G-L-Y

Matt and I attended an ugly sweater party held by one of his PHD friends. Matt and I don't own any ugly sweaters and we didn't want to spend money on something we probably wouldn't use again,so we decided to be creative with our outfits. At first Matt wanted to do some kind of Christmas future sweater with fake spit up and twigs,but I just wasn't the biggest fan of the idea. So he changed gears and decided to go as Ralphie from the Christmas Story. I already had the pink bunny suit from my high school/early college days and the hipster glasses, so all he had to do was make some ears and he was set. Matt had the brilliant idea of me wearing our tree skirt as a poncho type shirt since I have a growing belly and it was festive. It was a fun night filled with delicious food and fun games! Matt ended up winning a prize for the best "ugly sweater".

 A favorite part of the night I have to mention was when we first showed up; Matt wasn't sure we were at the right house,so he asked me to go knock and see if it was. These were people from Matt's program who I have only met a few times so I was nervous to just go up to the door and knock. I suggested Matt just go to the door and if it was the wrong house we could start caroling. Matt quickly said that probably wouldn't be the best idea and it would probably scare whoever opened the door seeing a man in a pink onesie trying to carol. Thankfully we were at the right house so all of that could be avoided. Also Matt brought a change of clothes since he knew wearing a pink bunny suit is a little weird but by the end of the night everyone was so comfortable with seeing him in it that he didn't need to.

 

Last day of nannying

Get ready for a huge blog updating! I have about 10 blog posts just sitting in my drafts waiting for pictures so they can be posted! 

Right before I left for Texas for Christmas I had my last day as a nanny. I started nannying Jackson and Lily last April and my last day was December 11th. I really enjoyed working with them and getting to know their fun personalities. I will miss them,but I can't wait to be a full time mom once Cooper comes. I still have a few weeks of being a tutor before I'm finished completely with work.

This is their front yard

Always got in some good car selfies while waiting to pick them up from school

She wanted me to paint her face my last day

In return I let her paint my arm- with a snake and dragon

Excited for my next adventure!

Other fun things we did in Virginia

Even though our trip was short, we tried to fit in as much as we could!

We always make a stop at Cafe Rio

Coop turned 27 weeks and Nana Starliper loved talking to him and feeling him kick

The Starliper men went to a Caps game and looked so cute in their matching jerseys

Thanksgiving 2014

   It was so nice being with family on Thanksgiving! Matt and I wanted to help with something so we decided we would make the rolls since I have a great recipe. We actually made them the night before so we just had to pop them in the oven on the big day. Everyone was impressed with them,so we were happy that they worked out so well! All the food was delicious and it was fun trying out some of the Starliper traditional food. It was a great day reflecting on the things that we are thankful for! We are most grateful that Cooper was able to be in my belly this year and enjoy all the yummy food!

                     

 

My plate (loved having grandma's mac and cheese)

 
Pecan Pie is probably my favorite Thanksgiving food!

Getting to Virginia

This year Matt and I got to travel for Thanksgiving. This was Matt's first Thanksgiving home in 8 years! It was a quick trip we left early on Wednesday morning and came back on Saturday night. We left our apartment at 3:30 in the morning to make sure we had enough time to get to the airport. There wasn't anyone on the roads so we thought it wasn't gonna be crazy at the airport,but we were so wrong!  The security line was the longest we had ever seen it before. There were a ton of news stations there and Matt and I got interviewed by one. Right before it happened I turned to Matt and said I hope they don't interview us,because I hadn't put any makeup on! Thankfully they just used our comments and not the actual video of us.

Once we made it though the line and onto the plane we thought all the craziness was behind us. This was definitely not the case! Matt and I were sitting in the last row of the plane when all of the sudden we hear squealing and this lady quickly walking toward us with what looked like a brown duffle bag that was overstuffed. It turned out to be a huge 40-50 pound pot bellied pig! According to the pig's owner it's medicine was making him sick aka loose bowels! The reason she was running down the aisle was he was going the bathroom everywhere! Her seat was right next to mine and the pig was huge so I was thinking the this pig is sitting next to me on this flight, and I'm pregnant so I really hope I don't get sick. It was the most bizarre situation. She tried to keep the pig at the seat but he wasn't obeying and she had to clean up the mess and she was crying. Finally the airline asked her to leave since the pig wasn't following the rules. Thankfully the flight attendants were able to get rid of most of the smell and the flight was only an hour. It was a bumpy flight because we were flying through a storm,so we were so excited once we landed!

Since we got in so early Matt's parents were still at work,so we decided to go see the new Hunger games movie! I was definitely feeling the lack of sleep during the movie so I was glad the movie was so  action packed so I could stay awake. After the movie we went home and waited for Matt's mom and went to lunch at Panda Express,which we hadn't had in over a year since Mass is lacking in food chains. We spent the rest of the day just chatting up and being together with family.