2,011 Things we have done

One last post for the year. And the only thing that seems appropriate is to re-cap the last 12 months.

So, Start your engines....Here we go! You are about to get the full recap - The highs, the lows, the trips, the blessings,the laughter. The highlights of our year. As we like to call it : Zimmerman's Traveling Circus 2K11



New Year's Eve 2011

January - We aren't going to sugar coat it. The year got off to a bumpy start. Mom and Dad closed the restaurant in December and my grandmother passed away in January. Man that's hard to write even now. But, you know what ?  Now that God has given us the blessing of time and reflection, we have been healed.  Alice Tilton died surrounded by family on January 28th - just 10 days before her 97th birthday. We miss her so very much but we know she is having a blast fishing in heaven with my grandad. I can just see her in the boat now.

February - Casey surprised me with an impromptu trip to Chicago for Valentine's day weekend. After our January, we needed to "get away" for sure! His idea was  genius. This was our first "big city" trip and it was AWESOME. Definitely wet our appetite for more traveling, as you will see.

Chicago

 March - MORE traveling. We spent 4 days in New York and 3 Days in Boston. We were by each others side for 7 days straight and we didn't even kill each other! No really, traveling together is one of our favorite things! These two cities were on our "must do" list and we enjoyed every second. (except when we thought we would get mugged on a New York subway, but that's another story)

From on top of the Empire State Building

Fenway Park in Boston

April - A few crawfish boils, baby showers and wedding showers. All good reasons to see friends

May - Casey is on the board of March of Dimes and we had their annual Fundraising Walk the first weekend of May. Great turnout for a great cause. Visited Winnsboro. Participated in a Washer Tournemant. Casey went to Vegas for a buddy's bachelor party. Wahoo!

We sad goodbye to an old friend, my 2002 Honda Civic. She hadn't quite bit the dust yet, but it was certainly time to get a bigger vehicle. I had driven that car since highschool so we had certainly gotten our money's worth out of her. We decided on a Hyundia Sante Fe and have been rocking it out since then. We've already racked up 13,000 miles on it - told you we've been traveling alot!

June - We celebrated our 2nd year of marriage. We made the big decision to start trying for kids, so I guess we both agreed this whole marriage thing was working out and we'd like to stick with each other a little longer.  :)

By the way: This is still a work in process for us so keep us in your prayers. Looking forward to 2012 being the year we get preggers and have a little kiddo!

July - Emily Marie White was born on July 22nd. She sailed into this world with a whopping 17 minute delivery and has kept us running ever since then. She added her name to the list of family members who celebrate their birthay in July. My dad, both of us, my brother and now Emily will all be able to have the same birthday cake if we wanted!



Emily's Birth Announcement Picture



August - My great friend Kelly got married, we tried our hand at hosting a garage sale (big mistake) and started our first season participating in a fantasy football league. We also started a blog.... enjoyed it more than I thought I would and now you can't get me to shut up!

The big event of the month was our nieces came to visit for their annual weekend at Aunt Kristi and Uncle Casey's. Those girls are always such a blast!

Callie, Carley and Paige

 September - Visited our friends in Bridgeport and Grapevine,had Casey's 10 year highschool reunion, and baptized Ms. Emily.

Before the 10 year reunion

Emily's Baptism morning

October - Started the month off right with a winery trip in honor of my friend Nichole's Birthday. Then we boarded another plane and flew to Washington, D.C. History buffs that we are, we walked our little selves ragged all over our nation's capital.

White House - Duh

November - Turkey Month! We celebrated with each family and our waist lines can prove it!

December - Jesus' Birthday Month! We had a WONDERFUL month full of Christmas parties and family visits.

Emily and Liz opening Christmas gifts

Now that is one excited little boy!

Paige and Kennedy posing infront of all the loot

Just horsing around

The girls got new TV's for their rooms. I think Uncle Casey was as excited as they were!

One of the women who influenced Casey growing up passed away the week before Christmas and her Christian faith was so strong that when we heard she had passed away we were estatic for her. She missed her husband so badly after he passed away a couple of years ago and she always talked about getting to see him again in heaven. We were glad she got to spend Christmas with her husband and Jesus this year. What an inspiration! I want to go out like that!




Hazel Cross

 

Thanks for being a part of our year! We can't wait to see what 2012 has in store for everyone!

Merry Christmas!

IT'S HERE! IT'S FINALLY HERE!!!!

The moment we've been preparing for is upon us.

Twas the eve before Christmas eve and all through the land, people were scrambling to to get to their families....

Wait, that's not how that goes... but all I can think about is getting to our families. Tonight we head to Pflugerville to my sister's house. Tomorrow morning will be our Tilton-family "Christmas morning" and we'll do our gift exchange then we hit the road for Winnsboro. Should arrive there by dinner and then BAM! It's Christmas Eve and Christmas.

To get our heads straight and minds focused, I've prepared a little guide for us all. Enjoy!

Top things to remember over the next few days:

• People are trying their best to provide a great Christmas for their families. Give them a break. Yes, there are too many people on the road, and the parking lots are jam packed and people have a frantic look in their eye but it's all for a good purpose. Be gentle with one another. People will be back to normal by Tuesday - hopefully.
• Be grateful. Take a look around and just be grateful.
• Do not eat yellow snow. We won't be around any snow, but I just thought I would throw that out there for those of you NOT in South Texas.
• Drive Careful. In our household. this means that Casey drives. I've got lots of skills, but being the best driver is not one of them. I am a total "woman" driver. I personally enforce that stereo-type everyday.
• Cookies on Christmas are not calorie-free. I've learned from years past that my scale has no idea it was Christmas and keeps operating as business as usual. 5,000 calories WILL rear its ugly head at some point in the very near future.
• If you are going to be around any children, just know that you are being cemented into their memories from childhood. Be fun and gleeful. They will remember it and you might be part of their stories when they get older. "When I was little we used to always________ at Christmas"
• For all those weary parents : you only have to move the Elf on the Shelf one more time this year! Hooray! No more having to be super creative on the drop of a hat.

And Last but not Least :

• God sent his Son to Earth to save a destroyed humanity. We did not deserve it, yet Jesus was born with the sole purpose to save our souls and pay for our sins. God loves us. How can we ever forget that when remember this very special birthday. The birth of our Savior. Happy Birthday Jesus! Thank you for everything.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a Goodnight!

Love, The Zimmermans


From our Tacky Christmas sweater we went to in the big 'ol town of Dimebox, Texas.



Christmas-Zimmerman Style

The 3 Zimmerman brothers. L to R : Tim, Billy and Jeff. These bandits are the reason we all get together. It's their kids and grandkids that compose the 24 people we had gathered in Georgetown this weekend. There is usually some cousins strewn in there too which makes our count about 30 or so. This year was relatively small

The brothers and their wives sitting around and visiting. Swapping stories that probably weren't true if I had to guess

Billy had the great idea to have a Limbo contest for the kids. It was hillarious! We even had the Beach Boys playing for the IPod dock.

There was also a hoola-hoop contest. This is Kennedy and her cousin Ella trying to figure out how to hoola hoop. Precious

Casey and Jeremy strumming the guitars. The guitars always come out, I think most of the men can play so we always have a good variety of songs.

My man is just so handsome

Susie and Cindy (I think these two were in the kitchen most of the afternoon - they deserve alot of thanks!). Cindy is such a calm hostess... I should take some lessons from her

The famed tree. This was always at Casey's Nanny's house when they celebrated Christmas at her house. It is now rotated from house to house each year. Lots of sentimental value in this foil tree

Another Zimmerman family tradition - wrestling in the living room. You never know what is going to start it - a stolen chair, a playful joke... all you really DO know is at some point there will be perfectly intelligent adults scrambling on the floor like fools. Ahhhh, I love my family.

Since you probably don't have "fighting" at your family Christmas, I thought I should show you it is all in fun. Here are Kevin, Kim and Casey all laughing after a little brawl. Their red faces tell me they are getting a little too old for this horseplay  : )

I won the lottery

Before you get all excited and start hitting me up for extra Christmas presents, I'm not talking about the literal lottery. (you know, the money one) Heck, If I had won THE lottery, I'm not sure I would be able to sit still long enough to be writing this. Kirklands, anyone?
But let's talk about some other "types" of lotteries... shall we? Brought to you courtesy of dictionary.com :


                              lottery   lot·ter·y  /[lot-uh-ree]

  noun

• any scheme for the distribution of prizes by chance
• any happening or process that is or appears to be determined by chance: to look upon life as a lottery.

Now that you have had your English lesson for the day.... allow me explain why I say that I won the lottery. Life is a process and certain things (such as in-laws) are determined by chance. Most likely if your spouse is a kind and caring person, that would lead you to logically believe that they came from a kind and loving family who instilled those values in him/her. BUT as we all know, there is not a science that determines the ratio of how loveable your spouse is to how loveable your spouse's family is. It is totally by chance if you choose to spend your entire life with someone and their family also turns out to be people you can tolerate the rest of your life.(That ladies and gentleman is what we call a BONUS!) I could seriously write an entire blog full of horror stories I've heard from friends with "bad" in-laws. I'm sure you've heard those stories too.
But I was reminded again this weekend how B.L.E.S.S.E.D. I am in the In-Law department. Thus, I won the Lottery! (in getting good in-laws) We celebrated an early Christmas with Casey's family this weekend and there is nothing like 48 hours together with your in-laws that can make you either crazy or very happy. I am lucky to be apart of the latter.
I've actually been meaning to brag on my in-laws for a while but now that their best qualities are fresh on my mind - I'm taking the time to send Santa an early thank-you note for the mom and dad I acquired through marriage.

Susie : My mother in-law is kind and caring and never intrudes in our life. She actually beats ALL Mother-In-Law stereo-types. We joke, we laugh and we pick on Casey together. We also have intimate conversations and can be real with one another. We love lots of the same things (probably at the top of that list would be Casey, but there really is more than him that we have in common!) She is very smart and teaches me alot of things about what being a wife to a Zimmerman man means. They are sometimes difficult to navigate, so her direction is much appreciated.

Jeff: My father-in-law is a hoot. A child at heart, he always is joking around and cutting up. I am always laughing within the first few minutes of being with him. But when you peel away all the layers of fart jokes you will find an extremely caring father who would give ANYTHING for his kids. He is a protector to his core and I like knowing we have a man like that on our team. He also always has me exploring new things. Most of those things involve horses and dirt, but none-the-less he broadens my horizons. I even drove a tractor in November - and he trusted me to do it. He's so cool like that.

I also have a fantastic sister-in-law. < I know !! I can hardly believe my luck either!! > Gretchen and I click great. Even if I didn't love her personality and appreciate how nice she is to me (which I do), just the gift that she has given us through her precious children would be enough for me to love her. Kids aside, she really is an awesome friend to me and I love not having to be stressed out around her.

Let's wrap this up before you really get jealous of all my good fortune.  :)

P.S. Pictures from this past weekend coming soon!

Stay in the Moment

Only 12 more days until Christmas! We hope everyone has had a peaceful December thus far. I mentioned before that I was hoping the Christmas season would go by slowly and I'm still standing firm on that thought. Maybe you can relate?

Hey Television: Stop advertising for the shows coming on next season. I don't care what premiers on January 2nd - I want to live in the Mooooomeentttt. Turn on White Christmas again!

Jenny Craig/Weight Watchers -  Stop talking about new year's resolutions. I'm still in the process of getting chunky on homemade goodies and want to avoid the moment when I realize my pants don't fit anymore.

Fashion Magazines - I do not care what will be "hot" for New Year's Eve. How 'bout we back up and discuss what is going to be 'hot' for advent season. OK, that seems inappropriate,but you get the point.

Tonight we are going shopping for all the kids in our families and WE. CAN'T. WAIT. What better way to enjoy the last two weeks of Christmas than to revel in the splendor of toys??? Shopping for our adult friends and family members has been special, but there is nothing like cruising the isles of Toys R Us and imaging the magical expression that will come across that little one's face when they open your gift.

Ahh Yes, the Christmas season - breathe it in. Sit down and watch an old movie and sing those Christmas carols loud.  Remember that this magical time will end soon and you'll want it back again. (And don't forget that once Christmas is over you have to take down all those decorations, so don't get so anxious for that yet buddy)  

Until next time, XOXO.

Fire Side Chats with the Dogs

There are several little quirks that we have in the Zimmerman household. Most of them you would judge us for, so I'll keep those stories to myself. But there is one little oddity that we do that is quite obvious to the naked eye, so I might as well just get it out there in the open. If you were to have dinner at our house, it wouldn't take you long to figure out :We talk FOR our dogs. Even stranger, We talk THROUGH our dogs.

Yeah, that's right. I'll be honest enough to say that we've been known to have a full conversation through our dogs. Almost using them as little puppets

Here's a common example so you can kind of get the picture:

Casey: Sam, tell your mama that we want to stay in bed longer... we are sleepy and she needs to leave us alone. It's too early.
Sam: Grunts in agreement with his dad
Kristi: Sam, you have slept in long enough and if you don't get out of bed now, we are going to be late for church. Quit your whining
Nobs: <In the background, wagging his tail in agreement> Yeah, guys - get out of bed - there is so much running and playing to do and we're burning daylight. Get up, Get up, Get uuuuuuppppppp
Casey and Sam: More grunting

Yes, there is never an argument in our house that we can't avoid by just using silly voices and talking through the dogs in order to avoid being real jerks towards one another. It's kind of fun for us. I'm not sure if a psychiatrist would approve, but oh well.

Not only do we talk through our dogs, we also provide a healthy bit of commentary for them. If Sam is looking off in the distant we'll always make up what he is thinking. Profound things like : "I really wish someone would pay attention to how cute I am being" or "If this idiot brother of mine doesn't stop shoving his toy in my face, I'm going to hide that toy where he will never, ever find it again. Ever."

You get the picture.

Needless to say, our dogs provide a lot of entertainment in our homes. Next time you come over, don't expect a movie or board game. We'll just watch the dogs and put on a show for you. Please don't put us in a psych ward - we promise it's just that we love them so much. We don't actually BELIEVE they feel the way that we display on their behalf.

Or do we?

I'll tell ya what - I'll just show you some cute pictures of the dogs and you pretend you never read this.

The handsome little men getting their Christmas pictures taken

Hilarious because it looks like Sam scared Nobs big time by just moving. You see? he's jumpy like his mom



"Seriously dad, you better throw the ball for me for like 20 minutes when we get done"



"He better not be eating my food over there"

"I wonder which book I'll read tonight..."

Such a stoic man

More Pictures, if you dare

As a follow up to the last post, I wanted to share some more pictures from our Thansgiving weekend together. I thought about not bothering you with them, but then I realized they were too cute NOT to share.
I've added a little lite commentary with each picture so you won't be lost  :)

We are starting to get more and more pictures that capture little Emily's sweet Smile. Here she is laughing with Grandma

Noah and I had a blast playing together and our only prop was a sleeping bag. Now that's creativity!

OK how precious is this picture? Makes me want to smother him in kisses

We have big smiles because the Texas v. Texas A&M game had not come on yet...

Noah is SO good about talking with his sister... you can tell he can't wait for her to get old enough to play with him

Emily's cute bib says "I'm Stuffed" Doesn't it kind of look like she's a little bird getting food from her mama?

Our little ballerina in her bumbo seat

Emily and I talking about all the shoe shopping we'll do together when she gets older

She likes that idea very much!

Sister and I making some seriously good and seriously homemade Cinnamon rolls

Noah showing Emily how cool the IPhone is. Poor uncle Casey had his phone hijacked most of the weekend

Now, all the other photos have our whole family in white shirts and jeans. This is not a hilarious coincidence, these are our "pre" photos before going to JC Penny's to get some professional photos done. We haven't had a full family photo taken professionally since about 1994 so it was about time. Amen?

Try to forget this picture as you will be seeing it on our Christmas cards very shortly :)

Grandma and Grandad

Big T!



Mom and I horsing around why the rest of the clan finished getting ready 



The Whites - this is pretty much how the whole morning went. If we got one of the kids to look at the camera, the other sweet child would look away. Pretty comical. And made for some very good memories!

Ha ha! To clarify, this was just for fun and to get Noah to have some fun and not be miserable during pictures. It's still pretty funny though