Christmas & Junior's Birthday @ The Drenn Lodge

Day 2 of waking up to this little pile of love (:

slumber party girls

We left early this morning with a car full of myself, Rob, Sydni and whatever Christmas gear we needed for the quick weekend getaway at the Drenn Lodge. We made it there in no time, and it wasn't long before the Christmas festivities were well underway.

here we go!!

Our first item of importance on the agenda was getting Sydni's little Christmas tree decorated in her room, and assembling her very own gingerbread house!

Christmas tree decorating

gingerbread house

her mickey mouse gingerbread clubhouse!

I'll stand by my word that this is my favorite place still, on planet Earth; holidays especially, make this place come alive and I most love that. We started out small, with just the five of us and some of our small gifts [Sydni's stocking stuffers included, of course].

duck dynasty, hahaha..

my succulents!!!!

stocking stuffers from nana & pappy

There was just enough time for us all to squeeze in a nap before my cousins arrived for the evening; once they did, it was a Saturday night filled with my laughing family gathered around the table in the living room. 

rob. ty. markie

my two goofballs ♥♥

my, how i love them.

probably my favorite picture from today... hahaha.. love love love her.

my gorgeous, age-defying, gravity-defying mother...

best. friend.

And of COURSE, my little cousin Markie, aka Junior's birthday! The kid turned 22 today, and for what that's worth, I feel older than ever before. Haha. Jokes aside, HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my not-so-little-but-still-baby cousin, Mark (:

happy 22nd birthday, little cuz!!

The night finally started to wind down, but it didn't stop when the family headed out the door. Mom & Dad of course had prepared the annual bag of reindeer food to be sprinkled outside for Santa's diligent antlered team. Sydni very strategically dumped the bag across the front porch, and helped put out the cookie and milk on the counter before she headed to bed.

reindeer food!!

dad. me. syd. mom ♥ my family!

f a m i l y !

 Tomorrow we'll see what Santa brought us ;)

For now, we'll go dream of sugar plums and dancing fairies..... or whatever that poem said goes on while you're asleep through Santa's visit (:

xo | cmd

!! THANKSGIVING !!

🍗 + 👪 + 🏈
{{IT'S HERE!!!}}

There is so much signified by this holiday, and for ALL of it I am wholly grateful.
The first thing on my agenda today: Bake a pie. Ya know, because food is like, 90% of why we all gather together at 2 in the afternoon on Thanksgiving as opposed to normal-people dinner times of like, 5 or 6....

>> 🍛 <<

And then, we loaded up the pups for the mini road trip to Mt. Vernon [Sydni's with dad this year for Thanksgiving.. she'll join in on the travelling extravaganza for Christmas!] to my parents' house.

💑 + 🐶🐶 ➡🚕➡ 🏠

Once we were there, it was only a few short hours before we all loaded up again for the short trip out to my cousins' house in Fredericktown, where the real festivities for the day would be taking place. We probably would've opted for a later dinner, but since my cousin's wife is in retail, and the world has disappointingly digressed to a place where we just... must... shop ON Thanksgiving, she had to leave earlier than originally planned.. to go to work.

Let me just take one second to say, on behalf of my family & every other family who has been interrupted by this STUPID new phenomenom of "pre-Black Friday" shopping:

 

{{NO. YOU REALLY SHOULD BE ASHAMED if SHOPPING on THANKSGIVING is a higher priority to you than spending time with your family. SURE, I get it: some of us don't have the opportunity to be with our families today, or even more unfortunately don't have families we want to be around, but really? We're diluted, admit it.
I REFUSE to shop on THANKSGIVING... because MY PRIORITIES are PEOPLE, not THINGS. }} //end rant

 

Aaaaanyway, we made the best of the day and wasted very little time digging into the meal collaboratively constructed by my family. It of course, wouldn't have been complete without a little company. Mine happened to be my cousins' 15-year old parrot, Joey. He, like a typical teenage boy, seemed fascinated with the simple fact that I was a female, and refused to perch on anyone else's shoulder for a few hours. Oh, teenagers... ;)  

🐦 💘

😏🐥

It was so nice to spend the evening with my cousins; the "younger" ones, both now in their twenties, are 6 feet tall with beards. With my birthday being tomorrow, I feel exponentially older combining that with the fact that I remember them both when they were babies. Good grief. I love my family (:

Oh, and I almost forgot... [sorry!!] our family's annual, sometimes grueling tradition of watching THIS... literally every..... year on Thanksgiving. I somehow skipped last year, so by default I was way overdue.

🎄 griswalds! 🎄

That's a wrap here, blogbots.
Happy Thanksgiving, to you and yours!

xo | cmd

HOME!

I'M HOME! 

mtv, ohio!

Welcome to good old Mount Vernon, Ohio (: This is the first and only place that's ever really been home to me, and now that I only live a couple hours away, it's again becoming a more frequent check-in for weekend plans. Sydni and I loaded up this morning and headed off to Nana & Pappy's for a day celebrating Dad's birthday. 

best. roadtrip buddy. ever!

We pulled up to the house, and almost immediately, I felt the stress of a long week and the disappointment of Rob not being able to join us slightly subside. This house will never disappoint me. There's a Miranda Lambert song [House That Built Me] that is beyond appropriate and applicable when it comes to me and this house.. 


home.

"Up those stairs, in that little back bedroom.. is where I did my homework and I learned to play guitar... And I bet you didn't know, that under that live oak, my favorite dog is buried in the yard" - Miranda Lambert, 'House That Built Me'

*Sigh. Being home, in this house, is one of the most relaxing things I think I'll ever know in this world. This is the house my parents built, from the ground up. I grew up in this house, and for every line of that Miranda song, I truly do believe this house built me more than I ever built anything around this house. 

i can never get enough of this place! back deck sittin'.... (:

Sydni and I took a nice mid-morning/early afternoon nap before the family started showing up; we spent the afternoon together catching up, playing games and of course celebrating Dad's birthday weekend. To say I love my family is an understatement. 

the little girls - best friends!

seeester ♥

[dutch] sister. [italian] mom. [filipina] me. #ADOPTEDKIDS! haha 

badminton is bloodsport in my family :/ ha

favorite of the night.. all of us!

dad & his favorite birthday present:
hangtime with sydni!♥♥

So uhhh, yeah! We were also supposed to make an appearance at the Dan Emmett festival downtown Mt.V tonight, but we hadn't anticipated the family staying as late as they did. It worked out just as well, because if I'm being honest, I have very little interest in seeing the Osmonds. Sorry. I'm sure it would've been fun with the family and such, but I'll take my family over that any night.

Tomorrow is more of this, before I head home again.
*Yawn..

xo | cmd

Birthday Birthday Birthdays! (:

I feel so old.

My little cousin Mark turned 21 today. Let me be very clear when I say that I very distinctly remember changing this kid's diapers. I'm sure he appreciates me divulging that information, but whatever. He's all grown up now and I feel like a dinosaur knowing he's a big kid. Haha. Love you little cousin... HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

cousins! hbd, mark!!

And I wouldn't dare forget to wish a VERY happy birthday to one of my oldest childhood friends, Krystal!!

friends since elem. | hbd krys!!

Oh, birthdays. Love love love 'em.

Happy birthday to ALL the 12/28 babies!!

xo | cmd

And I am HOME for Christmas (:

I MADE IT!!!!!

this is my vacation. home at the one & only dren lodge for the weekend.
i'm in country heaven. parents' house = ♥

I can't even tell you how much I've missed this place. Welcome to the Dren Lodge, otherwise known as my parents' house in Mt. Vernon, also the house in which I grew up. My heart will always be dedicated to this place; Mom & Dad built it themselves when we first moved to Ohio and they're still there. [Cue Miranda Lambert song...]

So I almost lost hope in making it home for the weekend. I had every intention of leaving yesterday to start on my trek back to Ohio, but after creeping through traffic at a neutral ONE mph from my office to my house, I quickly put a nix on that. Never has it ever taken me an hour and 45 minutes to get home from work, and with the traffic moving at the pace of sap, I had lost all patience in the thought of attempting to wait that out.

That meant falling on a backup plan of going to bed early and getting up by 3am to hit the road early with hopes of being home by 1pm EST. I was gonna make it here one way or another, daggonit.

Sooooo.. I met up with Rob, Mike & Kelly for dinner, before calling it an early night. Setting the alarm for 2am was painful in and of itself, but actually getting up when it went off was another story. At least I made it to the gas station for coffee and out on the road without too much fuss... and that was that.

Fast forward five hours to Cincinnati, when I stopped in at Joe's to grab Sydni, and then another 2.5 and I fiiiinally made it!!!

Just in time, too... My cousins rolled in the driveway shortly after we did, and we proceeded to spend the evening with them. As a note, the younger of the two turns 21 in a few days... and that ... makes me feel pretty freakin' ancient. Thanks a lot, Markie. Hahaha.

Here's how that went: 



top: christmas 2007 | bottom: christmas 2012
look at those boys! lol... love them (:

cousins + mom & dad + syd!

I love my family. This was night one of two that I'll have with different parts of my family, and I can't wait. (:

Speaking of being home, I just got back from the new BDubbs in Mt. Vernon [that's another story: I come from a small town and they are just now getting one of these... you would've thought we adopted the Statue of Liberty for as much fuss as they've made over it.. haha]. I got a message from Dusty earlier asking if I was available for a few minutes to catch up, and we opted for Bdubbs.

I was instantly reminded of what it means to be raised in a small town, leave, and then come back. Basically, every fifth person, on average, is someone you know, had a class with, lived by, dated, or avoided at one point growing up. Haha.  

hey, dusty! (:
neighbors since first grade, still an awesome friend!

krystal!
friends since elementary school... and yeah we've been through it ;)
top L-R: 2003. 2007 | bottom L-R: 2009. 2012!

Of the handful of people with whom I coincidentally reunited tonight, I was definitely pleased to run into one specifically - Krystal! We've known each other since fifth grade and I still love her to pieces. I shouldn't be surprised. Familiar faces have a way of aligning themselves at the same time in the same place when that place is so condensed :)

That being said, it's an early day tomorrow... time to get munchkin to bed.

I'm out (:

xo | cmd