This year's family portrait, ha! :D

Consider this your Christmas card (since I didn't send any out this year- whoops!). It would say:

Merry Christmas!
Love, Elizabeth, Jeremy, Parker, and Zoey

Christmas, Part I

Our whirlwind Christmas extravaganza kicked off on Saturday with a visit to Jeremy's Grandma's house for a drop-in party. That's Reese there on the top left, Jeremy and Grandma Jean top middle, and his nephew Ryan on the right. On Sunday we went to the zoo, which was so much fun. I haven't been in a really long time, and it's lots of fun to go in the winter because it's not very busy and the animals are out and about (it was sunny but chilly). Check it: Jeremy ACTUALLY talked me into going through the snake house (very quickly, with tears in my eyes, with a death-grip on his arm), but I did it. I'll never do it again. On to more festivities!

Christmas, Part II

Our next celebration took place at Melissa and Greg's on Christmas Eve. The grandparents gave the kiddoes a trampoline, which was a huge huge hit (for us as well, see the middle top picture). Melissa cooked an awesome meal. She even gave us Christmas crackers (hence the crowns).

Christmas, Part III

Finally, Christmas morning was spent putting bows on the dogs' heads and opening some presents. We went to Jeremy's great-aunt's house for lunch that day, and then we hung out with his folks and uncle in the evening. LOTS of really good food and family over the past few days. It was a great time. I'm really glad I have a few days off to recover. :) Merry Christmas to all!

I'm the cream of the crop, I rise to the top

I never eat a pig cause a pig is a cop... Or better yet a terminator.... Like Arnold Schwarzenegger.... Try'n to play me out like as if my name was Sega

Report card's out, Ma! Boo.ya.kah.

PSYC 6330
ADVANCED PSYCHOLOGICAL STATS
A

PSYC6354
THEORIES PSYCHOTHERAPY AND COUNSELING
A

PSYC6370
ADVANCED DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY
A

PSYC6375
PROFESSIONAL SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGY
A

Work it, Karl. OWN IT.

Best.dirtysanta.of.the.night. Karl scored big with his Nepalese corta that (GUESS WHO?) Chandle brought for the festivities at Leah and Blue's. BIG score. We had a blast on Saturday night. It was like old times having everyone in town. Virginia was here, and even Blake was there! I really think it's been about a year and half since I have seen ol' Blake, and that is just SAD. It was great to catch up. Arts and crafts kits seemed to be the theme of the evening with lots of felt posters and foam art to play with. Even a latchhook kit. Ohhhh yeah. It was FREEEEEEEEEZING that night, so not a lot of firepit action, but the food was delicious and the jello shots even better! Thanks for hosting, Leah and Blue!! Let's do it again next year!!!!

Congrats to my darling Chandle!

Super, super congratulations to my Chandle who graduated from the awesomest of all awesome schools on Friday. Clinton himself was there, and I got to hear him speak on global warming and healthcare (*swoon*). ;) It was great. Afterwards, we headed to Stickey's for some tasty lunch and that evening we went to Market Street to see "Shotgun Stories," a film by Jeff Nichols, of the Ben Nichols (Lucero) familia. It was really really good. Very very "Outsiders" in Arkansas in modern times. I liked it. Go see it. It's already won a bunch of awards, and Lucero does the music. Anyway, then we headed to Stickey's again for the afterparty.... featuring.... Ben Nichols and Smoke Up Johnny (one of the guys from that band was in the movie). SUJ was a little too loud for my old lady ears, but it was a good time. Congrats again to Chandle... and have so much fun moving and goin to Vegas!! ;)

She got hoooooooded.

Cue the Hallelujah Chorus, everyone.

Can you hear it? That's the sound of me being DONE with my first semester. Oh, my God- I survived it! Whooooooooooooooooooo hoooooooooooo! And let me tell you, that last stats test was NOT enjoyable. Nope, not at all! 7 questions, and it took me 2.5 hours to complete. But it is over and done with, and the best part is twofold:
1. I have a month
off.
2. I never have to take a statistics class ever again.
So after our final we went to Gusano's to eat and celebrate. Check out our grins. From left to right: Amanda, me, Amy, Jaime, and Kara. Second picture is Kara and Elizabeth. Holy, goodness- I'm done.
I still have a bunch of GA hours to get in before the end of the semester, so I'm going to be at work all day today and most of next week. Chandle's graduating tomorrow- yay!! I get to see Mr. Clinton himself, which I'm pretty pumped about. I haven't heard him speak in person (ok, so I will see him on tv from another room, but it's totally close enough) since he was governor of our great state. Leah's party on Saturday... it's going to be a good weekend!! Can you tell I'm happy? ;) Whooooooody whoo.

Introducing, Part Deux

Meet baby Reese, the newest addition to Jeremy's familia!

She's Jeremy's stepbrother's baby girl (does that make her my niece at all?? Hee hee), and she's just the sweetest thing ever. That's her proud big brother Ryan holding her, and she's looking so adoringly at him already. :D Welcome to the family, Reese!

Two down, two to go

Be thinking of me at 1 p.m. tomorrow cause I will be in my (dum dum DUM!) LAST final of my first semester of grad school!

Unfortunately, it's stats. Kind of poetic that it's the last test, isn't it? And by "poetic", I mean stressful.

So also be thinking of ANOVAs or something useful. ;)

I will then be celebrating in true jubilation afterwards. That's right. See you on the flip side!!!

Fra la la la la, la la la la

Deck the halls with bourghs of hahr-ry, fra la la la la la la la la. Tis the season to be jahr-ry.....!

Hoooooorah for putting up the Christmas tree- it's my favorite time of the year (well, October-January)! This year, there are two new ornaments: the wine rack that says "Twelve Days of Christmas" and the moose-in-a-tent from Kat and Karl (cause we got engaged while camping). LOVE them!

Last week of classes..............! Be thinking of me! And if you don't hear from me for quite some time, you'll know why. Here we go!!

Introducing!

McKinnley Maia Kroos... the newest member of the Schirmer clan (my mom's side)! She was born yesterday and is quite possibly the cutest. Ever. That's her big brother Bridger holding her in the first picture.

Congrats to my cuz Sarah and hubby Christian!

The Nightmare Before Christmas

Ugh. I have been waiting 365 days to put up the Christmas tree. I love doing it, and it makes me oh-so-happy. This year, not so much.

Last year we had some definite difficulties with the tree stand (as in, the bolts were completely stripped and did nothing), so we splurged and spent $3 after Christmas on a new stand. Turns out, it's $3 for a reason. It didn't work at all... The bolts just went right past the tree when you tighten them. Result: the tree starts to dramatically lean/fall every time you start to think maybe it'll stay up. Awesome. So Jeremy worked his magic and rigged up a system to get it to stand right (nice job, by the way). Right when we were starting to breathe our first sighs of relief.... TOTAL blackness. That's right. ALL the lights on the tree went OUT. Poof. Nothing. So we get to tackle that today. So this is why people buy those pre-lit tress, eh? Good thing we bought sweaters for the dogs to make me happy. That's right. Sweaters. I did it, and I'm not ashamed. They get sooooo cold (they're tiny, you know), and I can't stand to see them shiver. THAT problem's solved now, and I think they're pretty happy with it (despite Parker's face in that first picture, ha ha).

I'll take seconds, please.

Mmmmmmm, casseroles. I gotta say, my mama, my sister, and I make one heck of a team on Thanksgiving. It was a tremendous, delicious extravanganza. Jeremy and I started off the casserole marathon at his parents' house for breakfast (Thanksgiving breakfast- an AWESOME idea, so tasty), then we finished off the day at my folks' with MORE food, Scene It Squabble (a victory for the women, of course), and a firepit. Hope everyone else had a fantastic time as well! I have TWO weeks left of class. That equals 2 more class sessions of most of my classes. I can do this! ;)

Ch-check it out!

Holla, holla, we famous! We're on the blog Diamond Playground, the blog for the company that Jeremy used to purchase my ring. Check it out!
Here we are! Go visit us in all our track pant/camo pant glory! :D

Happy tofurkey day

You all know I am not one of those people who is shocked and appalled at meat-eating. My mama makes a turkey that makes even ME drool. But you gotta see this-- those PETA people are hilarious and nuts.

That being said, have a good Turkey Day, and be sure to eat some for me. ;)

Mmmmmmmmmm.

So it turns out we all love Thanksgiving (you know, that holiday that revolves wholeheartedly around food). So everyone post your favorite T-giving recipe to make. I know, cheesy, right? But good LORD it's fun to eat casseroles, who's with me?

The Best Dang Green Bean Casserole There Is

2 cans cut green beans

1 can wax beans (that sounds scary but it's not... they're just the yellow green beans, makes it pretty)

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 small jar pimentos (that's the secret yumminess)

1/2 c. cheese (who am I kidding? I use way more than that)

As many of those crunchy French fried onions as you can take

Open the cans up and drain them well- nobody likes a runny casserole. Mix all of it up except the onions, and cook it on 350 degrees for 35 minutes. Take 'er out, stir it up, put onions on top, and stick it back in the oven for another 5 minutes.

I swear, it's fantastic. :D Who's up?

Cause inside out it's wiggity wiggity wiggity whack

Updates time....

*It's finally starting to be Fall out there (for the second time).

*I have just slightly over two full weeks of school left (not counting the 2 days next week or exams week). TWO weeks. That boils down to 5 more tests (including finals) and probably 5 more papers. Some of which are just 2-pagers. I can do this.

*I registered for classes for next semester... NO night classes, baby. Whoot.

*We're looking toward next winter for the "big day." I'll let you know more details once we figure it out.

*I have been having a lot of fun looking at bridal magazines already. Is that too much? :D

*Went to dinner with Melissa and Greg on Tuesday cause they moved "to town" (AKA Little Rock). She will never again have to say, "I'm coming to town today." YAY!

*I got a 100% on that 40 min. presentation I had to do. Yeah, that's right. It's incredible. Melissa says I need to stop overachieving because she misses me. She might be right....

*I have a month off in just over 2 weeks.........!

*Turkey Day is next week- hallelujah!! What's everyone doing?

Pootysaurus Rex

Ahhhhhh Monday, once again. I only have four more of these left in the semester though. FOUR. That's crazy and wonderful.
The weekend was fantastic. Saturday we had lunch with all the fam- Jeremy's side and my side. It was a lot of fun. Then, that evening Jeremy's folks took us to Walking with the Dinosaurs at Altell. Awwwwesome. The T-Rex was LOUD and scary and I loved it.
PS, this is Parker with both her own rope toy AND Zoey's. She takes it from her every time and walks around the room with both of them in her mouth. Showoff. :D Have a great week, all!

They're not really going to make me do homework this week, are they??

Not when I have such exciting news! Jeremy proposed this weekend in the most wonderful of ways! We went up to Flatside Wilderness for his birthday celebration (or so I thought!), and when we got there, we stood on some rocks overlooking the view. Then he completely surprised me and got down on a knee and proposed. I had absolutely no idea! He apparently talked to my parents on Tuesday of last week, and I can't believe they didn't let on that something was up. ;) It's for the best, though, because I was incredibly surprised and incredibly happy. I was in track pants. And hiking boots. And my hair was in braids. Kat says that's ok because she was in a bathing suit when she got engaged, ha ha. It makes me smile because the whole thing was completely "us." I am a happy happy girl, and I'm really excited for the upcoming months...! Details to come. I love my Jeremy.

It's a little early, BUT...

The happiest of birthdays to my Jeremy (who turns the big 2-8 tomorrow)! I had to wish him an early one because we are going camping tomorrow (thank God) with the pups for a night. Camp fire, cool air, pretty leaves. A much needed break!

So an early happy birthday to my baby. I hope you have a fantastic year, and I love you very much. You make me oh-so-very happy, you have no idea. ;)

Feliz Dia de los Muertos!!!

Here is the jack-o-lantern that we made this year! I wanted a scarrrrry one this time, and I have decided he looks like El Chupacabra, but no so much that one as the one that's found here.

Yesterday started El Dia de los Muertos (do we see a trend here?) and it ends tomorrow, so eat some candy skeletons and celebrate at the cemetary. ;)

Last night: passed out mucho candy to trick-or-treaters, although there were MUCH fewer this year than last year. I have a ton of candy left, even though I tried my best to dump it all of on Andrew (who looked adorable). He's so sweet, he just wanted to take a few because there are other trick-or-treaters who need it too. ;) What a cutie, Kristen and JR. Watched "Saw III" (eeeeeew. sick.) and ate Little Skeezers. Then studied for my big Developmental Psych essay test today. Again, eew. Sick.

Had my stats test yesterday..... no comment yet on how I think I did. It's bad luck, but I might feel ok about it. On to week 2 of Hell Week(s)! Here we go.....

Yay for Halloween!

Hooooooooray for Halloween parties and dressing up! The evening was a tremendous success, and I daresay these were the best costumes I've seen yet. I know, it's hard to say. This year: Jeremy was a Crazy 88 from "Kill Bill" (complete with sword and ninja yell) and I was Gogo (complete with a homemade mace by Jeremy) . It was pretty incredible. Yes, that's a Mount skirt. YES. The firepit was good, and the punch was even better. Here come the pictures...!
David= Rico Suave (boy, he stunk of cologne, and notice the sheen on him)
Jaime= Elle Driver from "Kill Bill"
And that's Ryan on the right there....!
Katie= Jem from the 80s cartoon. Kate, I am very impressed. NO wings, and you were actually a character, not a color. VERY good job!
Leah= Marie Antoinette- incredible!!
Kristen= Lucy. Perfect!!
Kara= Chesire Cat
Evan= Mad Hatter
Elizabeth= Alice.... lots of group costumes this year! I love it!

Kelley and Ben= June Carter and Johnny Cash
JR= Richie Tennenbaum (niiiiiiiiiiiice!)
And there's Miss Kristen again, lookin cute.
Leah again, with Blue= Mr. Rogers (ALMOST too perfect!!)
Christy= Master Shake
Brad= Frylock

Best part is, they have formal wear on under those costumes (they came from a wedding).
WAY TO GO, Mama Sherry! :D

Mmmmmmmmmm smoking punch:
1 recipe Kool-Aid
1 bottle Ginger Ale
1 bottle Vodka
Dry ice.... = delicious!
This is quite possibly my favorite picture of the whole night.


That's all, folks!
This is my hell week. My presentation got bumped to next Monday (WHEW), but I have 3.5 papers and 2 tests this week. EEEEEK. See you on the flip side!