Santa's littlest (and cutest!) helper

Hey everyone! We're only 11 days away from Ruby's first Christmas and Shane and I couldn't be more excited. 

This Christmas is going to be a little different than usual, and not just because we have another stocking to hang up. For the first year in either of our lives, we won't be spending Christmas in Knoxville with our families. Both sets of parents and my sister are planning on visiting us around Christmas, but we won't be making the rounds of Christmas parties or seeing any of our extended family.

It was a really hard but necessary choice for us to stay in Nashville this year. Ruby will be just twelve days shy of two months old, which means she won't be vaccinated yet. It sounds like tempting fate to have her in close contact with so many people at the height of cold and flu season. We're just not ready to test the limits of her little immune system yet and would rather not spend Christmas Day in the ER for a fever. It also doesn't sound like much fun to cram her, our two dogs, and our luggage plus Christmas presents into our VW Golf for a three-and-a-half hour car ride. Considering she screamed her head off on the way home from the grocery store right down the road, I don't think she's ready for long trips yet. 

In spite of the change of location this year, we're determined to have an awesome Christmas. It would be impossible not to, with such a little cutie pie to celebrate with! Check out our fun Christmas activity from last night, a photo shoot with our little elf baby in front of the Christmas tree! 

Disclaimer: I am in no way a professional photographer and was using a camera borrowed from my sister. In case you notice the lighting looks a little funny, it's because I waited until nighttime to take pictures (silly me) and was depending on lamps for assistance. 

I know all people think their baby is the cutest, but c'mon...she's adorable! 

I'm still amazed we were able to get this shot. This took a lot of patience and Shane dangling a dog treat over my head. They'd each take turns trying to come get the treat from him, so it's a Christmas miracle that both dogs were still and looking at the camera at the same time. 

If you look carefully in the background, the large white oval on the tree is her footprint ornament. Directly under it is a Santa head ornament with my fingerprint on it from my first Christmas. Didn't plan that but it's a nice coincidence :) 

Elf feetsies! The booties are from Target.

  

Ruby with her reindeer ornament from Little Sapling Toys, it's personalized with "Baby's First Christmas 2015" engraved on the back. 

She's getting a few of their adorable toys in her stocking but shhh, it's a surprise! 

We'd already bought her plenty of gifts but I couldn't help myself when I was shopping for the other kids in the family a few days ago...so the new presents got tagged from Santa to cover my tracks ;) 

Eventually even the best models get tired and ready for some milk. This was the one good shot I was able to get of her adorable Rudolph onesie from Hello Half Pint which we bought at an arts festival this summer. She had so many cute tie dye onesies and shirts for little ones, it was hard to pick our favorite! I'm sure we'll be visiting her booth the next time she's in town. 

To our friends and family in Knoxville...we hope you have a wonderful celebration this year, and hopefully we'll get to video chat you. We look forward to visiting you all at the next big holiday celebration when the weather and new parent stress levels are more amenable :) in the meantime, if anyone's ever in the Nashville area, be sure to stop by! 

Day 14: More SNOW!

Nashville had pretty much recovered from the crazy snow and ice storm two weeks ago. We even had a day here or there that felt pretty warm. I went to the gym in SHORTS and felt fantastic. 

Spring isn't quite here yet though, and that groundhog was so right when he said we'd get six more weeks of winter. Last night around midnight the rain turned into sleet and didn't stop. By the time I woke up this morning, we'd gotten around three inches of snow and it was still falling. 

So pretty! Charlie and Sheldon had a great time hopping around in it today. Charlie wanted to stay out there for a while, we had to make him come back in! Then Shane and I got out and tried to play in the snow a little bit. I was sad to discover it wasn't good snowman snow :( so we walked around our neighborhood to scope out the road situation. We even got to do our good deed for the day when we helped push a neighbor's car over an icy patch. 

Of course Nashville State cancelled classes for the day. Since Thursday is my last class day, I got to start Spring Break early! I cannot tell you how much I was dreading today's biology lecture, so I'm super glad to miss out on that one. Of course both my biology and precalculus teachers made sure to post make-up homework assignments online. Maybe I'll go sit in a hot tub somewhere while reading my bio book to make up for the lack of beach-like atmosphere around here. 

It was a great snow day with Shane and the doggies. I know I'm getting spoiled with another day off, but I can't help it! What can I say? I love spending time with those three, and I wouldn't trade it for anything. 

Day 2: SNOW!

Since Sunday, everything in Nashville has been coated in a layer of ice and topped with a sprinkle of snow. We have even more in the forecast for tonight! 

Based on the way things are going, it's likely my Golf won't make it out of the driveway until spring. They've finally managed to clear most of the major roads, but our neighborhood is treacherous. If I had ice skates, I'd take them for a spin. 

I'm really thankful that we insulated under the house this summer, or we'd be frozen. We've been extra lucky that our power hasn't gone out, I know some have been without for days. 

Our backyard hasn't been so lucky though. Our tropical oasis bamboo privacy screen has turned into a pile of limp spaghetti. 

I'm hoping / guessing that they'll bounce back? If not we're gonna have some problems, because the view of the neighbor's yard is bleak. 

Our gutters also filled and froze, and then overflowed to create an icicle jungle, which is magical. 

Charlie and Sheldon have enjoyed playing around in the snow. We even let them off leash for a while so they could explore. Don't worry, Shane was close by with his daddy voice ready in case he needed to call them back. 

Sheldon had such a good time I could barely get him to sit still for a picture! He spent a lot of time running around the car, hoping we were going for a ride.

Charlie really likes the cold and wants to spend a surprising amount of time in it. We basically have to drag him in after potty breaks. My theory is that the white snow makes the brown squirrels so much easier to spot. 

** Note to readers: if you see Charlie's bare patches on his legs, don't despair. He has pretty serious skin allergies, which we work hard to keep under control with help from his vet. He's okay, I promise.

I am thankful that I got to spend this impromptu vacation with Shane and the doggies. We've had fun watching tons of Hulu and vegging out on the couch for nearly a week. Plus I finally got a chance to take the tags off my snow pants (had them 5 years now?) and break out my snow boots (which I almost got rid of a few weeks ago). 

Three school snow days have spoiled me, I'm not ready to go back to the real world!

Capitalism at its best...Super Bowl 2011 Commercials

Did you miss the Super Bowl XLV commercials? Or just want to watch them again? We all know that's the best part (although the Black Eyed Peas performance was pretty kick-a**)! I had a hard time choosing which ones were the best, so here are my top 10 favorites from this year...

1. The new VW Passat. Even though they didn't show the cuter, extended version during the Super Bowl, this was still my favorite ad. 

2. The Audi A8. Awesome car, hilarious commercial. 

3. I was determined to hate the new New Beetle out of principle (seriously, why make a "Final Edition" Beetle if it's really not the end?) but this commercial has me thinking differently. 

4. That beaver is just absolutely adorable. 

5. I don't even like Coca Cola (much more of a Dr. Pepper addict) but this one made me smile.

6. Again, I don't even like Bud Light, or beer in general, but this one was too good.

7. She hits a chick in the head with a Pepsi Max can. OMG

8. "I feel like a wrestler in a folding chair factory!"-- new favorite line

9. "Are you trying to steal my engine?"

10. This one teaches an important life lesson...always let others go first, or you could end up with a foot for a head. 

Honorable Mention

11. While watching this commercial, I didn't really know what to think. Doritos commercials always seem to be pretty out there, and this one definitely followed suit. Even though it ended funny, it was kinda iffy there for a minute. 

So now that you know what I thought of the commercials, let me know what you think! What was your favorite Super Bowl commercial this year? 

...and now I've run out of milk.

Guess I won't be getting any more hot chocolate :( 

I might have joked before about Snowpocalypse 2011, but this could be the real deal. The dogs and I went outside today to survey the damage.

Louie wondering if he's gotten in over his head. 

I kept trying to get Charlie to climb the snow pile, but no dice. 

I fell in this giant pile of snow just minutes later when I had to chase after Charlie. That's what I get for exploiting him for funny videos I guess. 

Why I'm glad we don't live on the first floor.

And if you want to see the reason why I'm not leaving the house today...

Now get me some hot chocolate!

Today we got a crazy amount of snow! Well, crazy compared to what I am used to in Tennessee :) Lucky for us, we got to go outside and play in it, right before the snow plow showed up (right now we're watching the plow out the window, we think it just hit a Mercedes...somebody's gonna be in trouble!)

This was right outside our door! Some places, the snow was so deep it was up past the tops of my boots. 

 With a little help from the piles of snow, we're almost the same height!

 Our condo

Poor little thing, looks cold :(

 Shane and John made snow angels! 

Then Shane got started on a snowman...

 ...I helped with the face...

...and voila!

Oh almost forgot the best part! 

It's a little dark, but still funny!

Ask and ye shall receive

I complained about not having any snow up here in Maryland, now it looks like a winter wonderland! I guess I did the right sort of snow dance or something. Now if i could just figure out how to work that same magic and get a job :)

This will be a long, long ride...

The day after Christmas, Shane and I packed up my car (2004 New Beetle) with as much stuff as we could cram in it and headed off to Baltimore! Let me just say, nine hours in the car is a long time. The weather forecast had said that driving would be impossible and to not even try to get out on the road because of snow and ice, but fortunately the weather lied. It was dangerous driving around Knoxville, but once we got onto the interstate we didn't have any problems.

My favorite part of the trip was stopping in Johnson City to see my best friend Beth and her new husband Lyle. I hadn't seen her in a few years and it was nice to get the chance to catch up for a while. I am glad that we got to stop in and see them. 

And don't worry, my laptop still works just fine :)

Snow much fun

While I hate being cold, I love the snow. Maybe it is because I was born during a blizzard. Who knows. What I do know is that while Tennessee is currently in the middle of Snowpocalypse 2011 (which is probably like 3 inches of snow), I am up in Maryland with no snow on the ground. Sure, it feels like an Arctic tundra outside, but unfortunately no snow at the moment.

So while everyone in Tennessee is outside sledding and making snow angels, I decided to make a video about New Year's, when I actually did get to go play in the snow. We went up to Wisp Resort in western Maryland and had a great time. John, Peter, and Tad went snowboarding, while Liz, Sarah, Tony, Shane and I went snow tubing. That was a first for me, and it was a blast. Shane and I wanted to try snowboarding the next day but it rained :( Hopefully we can try soon! 

The New Year's Eve party at the resort was interesting. They had an oldies band play, which wasn't very popular. They actually had more people dance while the band was on break and they were playing the radio to fill time! We still had a fun time though, Shane and John even sang some of their fraternity songs for the whole bar. 

Well that's enough talk, why don't I just let you see for yourself? 

Christmas part 2

So I was just messing around on my new iMac trying to figure things out, and I made a movie! Well a trailer really, but I thought it turned out pretty good. So here's the Horner family Christmas from a different perspective...

Keep an eye out, now that I kinda know how this thing works, there are going to be a lot more videos on the way!

Christmas, a little late

First off let me apologize for not posting more often, I have been holding out for my lovely new 27" iMac to arrive so I can better edit my videos. Unfortunately for me, it is currently stuck in Reno. So until then we will just have to make do.

I realize that I never posted about Christmas :( well better late than never right? Here it goes...

 Mr. and Mrs. Shaney Claus

The Horner family got together and got their Nana and Pappy a  new TV for Christmas. They were so excited!

Shane dressed up as Santa, but we couldn't find the beard. We had to improvise and call him Shaney Claus instead. The kids still enjoyed it, so I call it a win.

Later at the Horner house, we played the Christmas game. This year it was a new game, instead of everyone having a gift to swap, everyone had an envelope and there was one prize envelope. It's kind of hard to explain, so just watch the video of the last minute. It gets pretty intense!

And you'll never believe it! I won!

I didn't take any videos at the Elliott family Christmas, mostly because I was the one handing out the presents and I'm not good at multitasking. So here are some pictures instead. 

 

How precious. 

 

Me, my parents, and my sister

Josh and Dad showing off the new snuggies

If you want to see any more pictures from Christmas, you can see them right here. 

And last but not least, one more video (if you aren't already sick of them) that shows why sometimes the best place to be is at the kids table.