The Juergens Family

Christmas 2013

We were pretty jazzed about not traveling this Christmas. As fun as it is to get away, it's also really nice to be in your own area! Though we still packed bags and stayed at Gigi and Poppy's house instead of our own, it felt different knowing that we were only 10-ish minutes away from our own house if we needed anything.

Christmas Eve Millie woke up pretty cranky. The poor girl has been rocked by our crazy weather the last little while (80 one day, 40 the next, back and forth) and she had been coughing for a couple of days already. We laid low in the morning, finished the puzzle, and tried to get her feeling as well as she could be. We met up with Poppy, Heidi, and James at Poppy's office and then we were off to Grammy's! She served us (all of her kids and grandkids) a yummy lunch and we played fun games- 4 on a couch, Left Right Center, and Picture. Grammy made us laugh with her green light-up wig she threw on at the end of the day. We had a great time with everyone!

Once we got home, we put on our Christmas jammies (which Millie was super-excited about, since she is obsessed with this video).

Not sure why...

Millie loves Uncle James

The boys

The girls

We snacked on yummy treats, read the account of Christ's birth, and watched "Joy to the World" before putting Millie to bed. After that we ate some more, played games (Qwirkle and Tenzi), and watched Person of Interest. It was so fun laying out Santa's presents before going to bed- the boys brought in the play kitchen Gigi and Poppy got for Millie and I wanted to go wake her up right then!

They had the pleasure of assembling that beast

Since Millie still wasn't 100%, I did not want to wake her up early on Christmas morning. Instead we enjoyed breakfast casserole and orange rolls before she got up! When we brought her down around 7:30 she gasped and pointed to her new play kitchen- it was all about the kitchen from then on. It was so fun to watch her be so excited! We opened presents and felt pretty spoiled/blessed.

I asked for a smile and got this instead

The plan was to talk with Uncle Tim at 8, but due to technical difficulties it happened at 10:15ish. Then we got to see Uncle Andrew at 11! We loved seeing our missionary brothers so happy and doing the Lord's work. Technology is pretty wonderful sometimes.

Nana and Gigi made a yummy lunch for us and we feasted pretty hardcore! Heidi and James went to see James's family after that and I put Millie down for a nap. We played Tenzi with Grammy, Nana, and Botz, and watched some more episodes of Person of Interest. Meaning, I slept through some more episodes of Person of Interest.

In the evening we packed up and took all our stuff back to our house, including the play kitchen. Millie kept shouting "Hooray!" and "Oh yes!" as Tyler and Kurt loaded it up and brought it inside. She put all her dishes in it and immediately started making us some "soup."

Reading "Fancy Nancy" which she calls "Antsy antsy antsy"

Tyler and Kurt grabbed some dinner and a movie from redbox ("Now You See Me") and we stayed in for the night! A perfect way to end a wonderful Christmas.

As I was singing to Millie before her nap, she requested "Families Can Be Together Forever," one of her favorites. I looked up and saw a picture of Christ on the wall as I sang to her and it just hit me all over again how thankful I am that a little baby was born in Bethlehem all those years ago. His life, Gospel, and sacrifice made it possible for me to be with my little family forever! Merry Christmas.

Christmas break begins

Between holidays and vacation days, Tyler has this whole week and next week off of work! That's definitely something to celebrate. We started our partying towards the end of last week.

Thursday night we had a visit from my parents and Sarah. They came and stayed the night since my dad had meetings in Houston on Friday. While the men worked on Friday, Mom, Sarah, Millie, and I went shopping. Well, until a migraine cut the fun short for Mom. Sarah and I went to a few more stores in the afternoon while Mom slept it off and Millie took a nap too.

That night the Juergens, Morris, and Andersen families all had dinner together! We have 2 married couples and one other possible couple mixed and matched between our 3 families, so it's fun to get together. After dinner my family left and the rest of us checked out the Johnson's Christmas lights! It was such a warm night that we hopped out of the car and walked down the street instead of driving.

Saturday we went up to the Woodlands to see Grammy. It was raining like crazy on the way there {why does it always rain when we're going to the Woodlands??} but luckily we made it safely. We picked Grammy up and went to The Woodlands Mall right as Santa was arriving. Unfortunately, this year it was even more traumatic! As we stood in line, Millie clenched her legs around my belly tighter and tighter as we got closer. She wouldn't let go of me and certainly wouldn't sit on his lap! So I sat next to Santa and she screamed. It was hilarious!

I don't know how my phone did this. It's funny.

Millie had fun playing with the puppies in the pet store and then we met Gigi and Poppy at Jerrybuilt for lunch. After a couple more little errands we took Grammy home and headed home ourselves. That night I took Gigi, Poppy, Tyler, and Millie back to the light show I saw with our YW- Christmas in Cypress. Millie wasn't as into it as I'd hoped, but we adults still loved it! We're thinking we might have to go one more time before it's over for this year.

Drawing on the chalk walls at Jerry Built

After church on Sunday we packed a bag (okay, a few) and went to Gigi and Poppy's so we could be with everyone instead of having to go back and forth from our house all the time. They had a Christmas puzzle all ready to go and after dinner with Nana and Botz, Tyler rarely moved from his spot at the puzzle table. We were up late working on it and made lots of progress.

Monday morning I had a doctor's appointment. Tyler got to come with me and Millie got to play with Gigi while we went! We were especially excited because the Grand Parkway just reached 290, making the drive out to the doctor's office in Katy SO much faster. We were probably more excited about it than we should have been, but it's a big deal!

More puzzle progress

We laid low the rest of the day- took a walk to the park to play and feed the ducks, watched How the Grinch Stole Christmas a bunch of times, and of course worked on the puzzle.

House tour: Living room at Christmas {and new couches!!}

This was our living room, until about 8 days ago.

Almost 2 weeks ago we picked out new couches!! A big thank you goes to Gigi and Poppy for one of the best Christmas gifts ever. Thanks also to Star Furniture for having great deals. I love the dark gray and am excited to find a new rug and cover the coffee table to make it an ottoman!