Christmas Traditions

The Tree

Sunday Michael and I put up our tree!!  Last year after Christmas I did a lot of bargain shopping for decorations.  I decided then, that this year we were going to decorate our tree in brown and gold.  So last year I bought all the decorations I'd need for this year.  Let me tell you, our tree looks BEAUTIFUL!!  We also put a few of our special ornaments on the tree to give it some personality.  I'm really pleased with the way it turned out.  Last year we had a real tree and it was a big pain, so we have a fake one this year.  It's much smaller, but has been far less hastle so far.  Enjoy the pictures!

The Christmas Dishes

I don't remember for sure who I stole this tradition idea from, but it worked out perfectly to start it in our family since we just got married.  The tradition we began is that each year we would buy a set of Christmas dishes.  The set includes a dinner plate, a salad plate, a bowl, and a coffee cup.  Each year I get a different matching set and write the year on the bottom of each piece.  This is our second Christmas as a married couple, so this year I bought our second set of dishes.  The reasoning behind this tradition is that one day long into the future, we will have a family and will host a Christmas dinner for all of our family members.  Then, based on the number of Christmas' Michael and I have spent together, we will have an different, individual place setting for each person who comes to have dinner with us.  :)  Last year we only had one setting, so we didn't get to use our nice new dishes.  But, now that we are on Christmas #2 and I bought a second set, Michael and I will both have nice, special dishes to eat off of on Christmas Eve (because that's when we'll be in Manhattan together).  If you are a single person, maybe you'll be the lucky one invited to join us next year when we have a set of 3!  (Don't get any funny ideas, we won't be "making" our own 3rd person by then.)  And in another 2 years we'll be able to invite a couple to join us!  :)  I'm pretty pumped about this tradition.  The dishes I picked out this year are from the St. Nicholas Square "Let it Snow" collection at Khols.

Ornaments

The last Christmas tradition I have to talk about is our ornaments.  All Michael's life his aunt sent him and his brothers a new Christmas ornament every year.  Michael's ornaments were a classic car collection from Halmark.  We have decided to continue this tradition and to change it just a little bit.  Each year, Michael and I will pick a new ornament for each of us that will go on our tree and be a little something about each of us.  Last year I got a teacher ornament, as it was my first year of teaching.  Michael got a snowman playing basketball because, as you can see from all of his posts...  He likes basketball.  :)  This year I got a little Starbucks cup.  :)  I'm pretty jazzed.  We're still on the look-out for a new ornament for Michael, so keep your eyes peeled and let us know if you see something that screams "Michael!"

We can't wait to see everyone for Christmas!!  We'll be in Topeka the weekend of Christmas, and then in Wichita the weekend of New Years.  See you then!!

Thanksgiving Recapped

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving break!!  We spent from Wednesday to Sunday in Wichita.  It was a fun little vacation, but we were exhausted when we got home.  Here's a short breakdown of what's been going on with us.

Wednesday - After cleaning the apartment (so things would be nice when we came home), we headed to Wichita.  We spent some time with Sis and Adam, then, left Harlee with Ducky and Mila and went to the movies.  Mama bought us a gift certificate to the Warren Balcony for Valentines Day last year.  So on Wednesday we went to the balcony to watch the newest Harry Potter movie.  It was a great movie and we enjoyed our first experience in the balcony.

Thursday - Happy Turkey Day!!  We had 2 Thanksgivings to attend on Thursday.  For lunch we were at Grandma and Grandpa Counterman's.  It was nice seeing those family members that we don't see very often.  It was exciting seeing Josh and Amy who are expecting their first baby boy in March.  Amy is starting to show, and Sis was lucky enough to feel the baby kick.  Can't wait to meet the little guy!  Later that day we were at Grandma and Grandpa Heorman's house for dinner.  We enjoyed seeing family there as well who we don't see but on the holidays.  We browsed the ads and started making our gameplan for Black Friday.

Friday - Michael slept through most of the craziness that was Black Friday.  Sis and I started our shopping at Midnight at Wal-Mart.  We got there about 11:45 and the DVD's were already pretty well picked through.  However, we found a few things and got out in about an hour.  Then, we went back to Sis' house and slept for about an hour before getting back up around 2:15 to get ready to head to Khols (which opened at 3).  We did really well at Khols this year, including my Christmas dishes (I'll write more about those later).  We got out in about an hour again, then were headed to Target (which opened at 4).  I did the best at Target this year.  One of the exciting things I got at Target was a new Christmas tree!  (I'll post more info and pictures about the tree later.)

Saturday - Saturday was a day of old friends!  We got up early and packed up our car before we headed to Starbucks to meet with the Mays!  John and Meredith got married this summer and moved to Colorado Springs where John is going to school.  We haven't seen them since the wedding, so it was good to catch up with them and splurge on some expensive coffee.  :)  Later, we went to Mama's house to spend the rest of Saturday and Sunday.  We caught up with her a little more (we saw her on Thursday before she had to go to work), then we went to Newton.  (Can you tell we spent our whole break traveling?)  We went to Newton to see Michael and Amaia Tuszynski who also got married over the summer.  However, we didn't get to go to their wedding because it was in Idaho.  Michael's (Tuzy's) parents had a reception for the people here in Kansas who didn't get to attend the wedding.  It was nice to meet Amaia for the first time and to sit and chat with them as well.  They are also in Colorado, so we may need to make a trip to Colorado this spring to see our friends.  :)

Sunday - Sunday we went with Mama to visit Daddy.  It was a good visit.  We played pitch, Daddy and I won and claimed ourselves the champions of the world.  :)  Then, after a long drive back to Towanda, Michael and I finished packing our stuff into the car and headed back to Manhattan.  It was a LONG, but GREAT vacation.  :)  We were pretty exhausted when we got home, but we still managed to get our tree set up on Sunday when we got back to Manhattan.  :)  Stay tuned for our next blog where you can see how it all turned out.

Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving too!  We love you!!
-Jen and Michael

PS - Harlee had a great break also!  She got to play with Ducky, Mila, Buddy, and Bear!  She was pretty wore out at the end of the week also.  :)

Life After the Tourney

Well as many of you know, KSU lost the other day against the defending national champions #1 Duke. As good as KSU is, Duke is just that much better.

Kyrie Irving played phenomenal. He managed to shut down Jake Pullen, who scored only 4 points, and walk past him anytime to score. This was one major problem, but not the only one. Duke defends against the 3 point shot better than anyone in the country. We live on the 3 point shot. During the Gonzaga game, I think 7 different people scored a 3 point shot. Every shot was contested. We also live in transition, and we had like 3 transition plays the whole game. Duke was just too quick at getting back. We would have simply driven the ball inside, but Duke also has the #1 rated big men in the country.

During the game, we kept up with Duke for about 10 minutes, and the remainder of the game, we were about 10 points down. We pushed every now and again, but never got close enough. Oh well. Our team is young and I am sure this will be a good learning experience. My delusions of grandeur has lessened a bit from dominating everyone and winning the national championship to simply winning the big 12 and going to the Final 4.



Well in some non-basketball news, Jen and I are in Wichita for a few days visiting her family. We also get to go to the wedding reception of my Freshman year roommate Michael Tuszynski. It should be a great time. I will update later about that. For now, I will just get pumped up for the basketball game tonight!

New Things in Jen's World

A few things I would like to share with you today... 

First, I went through my first bomb scare today.  Everything is fine.  Our staff did exactly what they needed to do, but it was definitely scary.  Staff was alerted through a message (in code) to tell us that something was happening.  Because the message was in code the staff knew what was going on (and frankly, I was scared out of my mind), and the students didn't have a clue.  So they were just confused about why they couldn't leave or go to the bathroom.  Other staff went through the building looking for anything out of the ordinary.  The whole drill took about 15-20 minutes.  The longer it took, the more worried I got.  To make it worse, the warning we received was not a bomb threat warning (we don't have a code for a bomb threat), it was the warning that an intruder was in the building.  Everything I've seen on the news about school shootings flashed through my head.  All that to say, everything is fine now.  Just a scare that sent my heart racing.  Strange the world we live in now.

Next, today is the last day of school for the next 5 days!!  Woohoo!!  I think teachers get more excited about breaks than students do.  :)  I'm not looking forward to all the grading I have to do over the break, but I am looking forward to a nice little break from work.  Michael is already on break!!  Friday was his last day of school.  KSU didn't have Fall Break this year, so he gets the entire week of Thanksgiving off.  :)  He's been relaxing at home the last couple days. 

Last, I got this from a co-worker.  It explains women and how men end up in the doghouse.  I thought it would be a nice light-hearted way to end this blog that began so seriously.  :)  Enjoy!!

How Men End Up In The Doghouse

KSU rolls over Gonzaga

For all of you that don't follow the basketball world, KSU defeated #18 Gonzaga last night by 17 points which puts them in the title game against #1 Duke on Tuesday night.

KSU jumped to a quick 10 point lead and kept that lead for the rest of the game. A slight scare came early in the second half where Gonzaga pulled within 6 point after being down 18. Pullen drain a contested 3 to put the Wildcats up 9 and it stayed that way for the rest of the game.

Duke played Marquette yesterday. Marquette is a very rough, hard nosed team like K-state. They play a physical game which hopefully means Duke will be tired today. Since we were ahead most of the game, we didn't have to wear our best players out too bad, so hopefully that will be an advantage.

Curtis Kelly has been out due to a suspension for 3 games but he is back and playing well.

Tonight is the KSU-Duke games. Duke is obviously favored, but only by 6 points. KSU has a shot and win or lose, this will be a good game.

Last 3 Games

Hello all,

It has been 3 whole games since I bothered to update the blog so I will have to compress everything together!

Oh where to begin? I guess the first game would be a good place! The season opener came against James Madison about a week ago. Jamar Samuels had been sitting out with an "eye injury" and Had just made it back in! It was very exciting. However, Curtis Kelly was now on the bench for an unexplained reason. Because of this our big guys were not as good. We didn't rebound very well. If I remember right, Freddy and Jordan had a combined 2 points and 5 rebounds. This was also the game our guards shinned in. McGruder, Russell, Pullen, Spradling, and Irving all played and all hit 3's. This is a big deal because people were talking about how our guards would step up with the loss of Denny Clemente who was our emotional leader and point guard last year. Our front court was suppose to be the best thing to hit college basketball since Beasley, but since all of our bigs guys have not been able to play, it has been lacking of late. Oh, this game also saw the sitting out of Nino Williams. He is a great small forward, but is still a little raw. He has not yet played a game this year and it is my hope that he will get red shirted. That means that he will have 4 more years to play. Jamar did this and he is one of our best players as a Junior! Nick Russell also played very well which is a relief. He has always been a great offensive player, but has not been great on defense so he didn't play much. Between him and McGruder, I think Denny's spot will be well covered.

Ok, for those of you that made it this far, thanks for reading! Now onto the second game. This game was quite a big deal. It was against Virginia Tech who was #24 or #23 in the nation. It was also part of 24 hours of basketball on ESPN. A big game where our opponent actually expected they would win the game! Needless to say, the place was rocking as far as the crowd went. VT threw a new style of zone against us that the team wasn't used to seeing. It threw off the big guys and we played ok in the first half. We were up by one going into half time. Well after a surge brought by 2 dunks by McGruder, we ended up winning by a comfortable amount. Frank said he was proud of his team for powering through the new zone type. Oh, Jacob Pullen was out for most of the game in foul trouble and Curtis wasn't playing and Jamar wasn't doing a lot. This meant that this game was won by Freshmen and Sophomores. By March, we should have a pretty awesome team!

The last game we played was against Presbyterian. Oh, you haven't heard of them? Well that's because they aren't very good. Or at least weren't suppose to be. At the half KSU had like a 10 point lead. Well All of our players decided at half that the game was over and started looking forward to the next game. Well that gave the Blue Hose (yes, that is the team mascot!) enough time to widdle away the lead to like 3 with 7 minutes left. Our team played terrible. Frank was quoted to say about our team, "I hope they have a good social life, because I am going to take it away from them!" It didn't help that Curtis still was not playing.

Well to be fair.... our next few games are a big deal. We are playing in a tournament on Monday and Tuesday. On monday we play Gonzaga to see if we can play DUKE! Duke is #1 and won the tournament last year so if we beat them, we might jump to #1 in the Nation! KU fans would have a fit! It will be awesome. (As a fan, I am obligated to say that we will win every game, but as a rational person, we might struggle on monday and tuesday...)

From the past 3 games we have learned a good bit about our players. MgGruder is going to be a stud in two years and will go in the first round of the Draft if not a lottery pick. Spradling is a pleasant surprise. He is only a freshman, but he is running the point like a pro. He may not have as much of an upside as the others, but he will be a solid player. We have learned that Asprilla has been over hyped. He is definitely better than our previous center in Luis Colon, but is not the all around dominating machine that we were lead to believe. Oh well. Once Kelly and Samuels get on the court at the same time, we will have a pretty awesome team. I am going to throw out there that KSU is the team to beat for the big 12 title.

24 Hours of Basketball!

Be watching ESPN today at 3:00 to see K-State playing in ESPN's 24 hours of basketball!  We will be playing #24 Virginia Tech!  Should be a great game!  Michael will let you know how things turned out later today or tomorrow. 

Go State!!

49 News Weather Comes to School

Yesterday was an exciting day in my classroom.  We had the opportunity to have 49 News Meteorologist Matt Miller come to our school and talk to all of the 4th grade kiddos about weather and weather safety.  The kids were on their best behavior and did a really great job.  There's not much of a video, but if you'd like to see it, check the link below!  
Jen and Kiddos on the News

Ugh... Winter.

This morning I had to scrape my windows before going to work.  It was just a little frost, not a sheet of ice like I expect to see in a month or two, but it's was winter's way of getting at me and saying, "Hahaha!  I'm coming!  Enjoy autumn while you can!  Bwahahaha!!"  Winter is evil that way.  Seems like fall hasn't been here so long.  It seems impossible that winter could be practically here.  However, there are a few positive things about this time of year...  Christmas!!!  (Ok, that's only one positive thing, there are others, but this is the one I look forward to the most.)  :) 

I've already begun my Christmas shopping.  Lots of gifts for family members, and I've even started working on gift ideas for some friends as well (my work family).  I have tons for Michael already!  Most of which he knows about because I wanted him to help me pick out something he would like.  I still have a few things, though, that he doesn't know about.  :)  I've already had people asking what we'd like for Christmas (not that we really need anything anyway).  So I thought I'd make things easy for everyone...

This link will take you to my (Jen) Christmas wishlist.  You can buy things off amazon and it will reserve it off the list so no one else will buy it, or you can click the "buying this gift elsewhere" button to reserve the gift without having to purchase from amazon.  Either way, make sure Michael knows what you're planning on getting so he can make sure no one else gets it.
https://www.amazon.com/Jennifer-Voss/wishlist/24UN9CQFKW7MH/ref=cm_wl_search_bin_1

This link will take you to Michael's Christmas wishlist.  Same rules apply: buy on amazon or somewhere else, note it on amazon one way or another, and tell me (Jen) that you're getting it so he doesn't end up with duplicate gifts.  :)
http://www.amazon.com/Michael-Voss/wishlist/207Z50931H7MF/ref=cm_wl_search_8
PS - Michael does not want Moulin Rouge...  That was supposed to go to my list and ended up on his by accident.  :P

We'd also like to know from all of you, what you'd like for Christmas!  So comment on here (please leave your name as well) or shoot us an email and tell us what you'd like.  :)

I was going to get Harlee a Christmas outfit and take pictures and put it on here, but Michael said no.  :(  Humbug!

Breakfast for Dinner

Who says all our blogs have to be full of life-changing events? :) This blog is just to say that Michael and I had breakfast for dinner tonight. :) We had eggs, toast, hashbrowns w/ onions, and bacon. It was very tasty! Especially the hasbrowns! When it comes to our hashbrowns, we prefer a 1:1 onion:hasbrown ratio. Come over for dinner or breakfast sometime and we'll share with you. ;)

More Basketball

This time it was against Washburn. Still an exhibition game, but even so, there was a good turnout. We managed to get 4th row seats at the half court line. It is where we expect to be for the remainder of the games.

Well against Washburn we looked pretty good. We are still in exhibition mode so the score shouldn't have too much attention paid to it. If I remember right, it was like 90 to 42... Oh also since it was an exhibition game, people shouldn't compare the results of this game to KU playing Washburn. Both teams are trying out different combos trying to figure out the best line ups and aren't really concerned with the score.

In Frank's post game, he mentioned that we have yet to run plays for specific people. Apparently they have designated plays to get Jake open at the 3, or Asprilla open down low. He said they will incorporate some of these things in the next game.

Anyway, I don't have too much to say about this game. Rodney decided to show up which was nice. He lead the team with 18 points and made 5 of 5 from the 3 point line. He is my pick to start opposite of Jake at the point.

Another note, Jamar Samuels was still out with an "Eye Injury." Personally, we think he is in the doghouse. Frank has made it clear that just because you are one of the best players, that doesn't mean he has to play you. It reminds me of a game last year against Fort Hays State. Frank played walk ons for most of the game to prove a point to the starters. At any rate, I expect Jamar to be suited up for the season opener against James Madison on Friday.

For anyone watching, we expect to be mid court a few rows up. I will try talking Jen into getting a large Green Wig or something! :P

Thanksgiving Plans

Holidays are always quickly approaching, and are always a busy time for us.  Between spending time together and with our friends in Manhattan, going to Wichita to spend time with my family (at several different locations), and going to Topeka to spend time with Michael's family, we are pretty booked!  So I thought I'd post our plans so everyone knows when and where we'll be.  (Christmas plans are still in the works, let's get through Thanksgiving first!)

Sunday, Nov. 21, 7:00pm - Thanksgiving in Manhattan!  Michael and I will be hosting our friends in the Manhattan area at our house.  Bring a thanksgiving dish, see the facebook event for what everyone is bringing.

Wednesday, Nov. 24 - We will arrive in Wichita and be staying with Sis and Adam.

Thursday, Nov. 25, 11:00am - Thanksgiving lunch at Grandma and Grandpa Counterman's house

Thursday, Nov. 25, 5:00pm - Thanksgiving dinner at Grandma and Grandpa Heorman's house

Friday, Nov. 26, 3:00am - Black Friday shopping with Sis and Mama (?)

Saturday, Nov. 27 - We'll go over to Mama's in Towanda to spend part of the break at home with her

Saturday, Nov. 27, 2:00pm - Michael and Amaia Tuzynski's Wedding reception in Newton

Friday-Sunday, Dec. 3-5 - Weekend in Topeka with the Voss family to celebrate a belated Thanksgiving.  :)

Think we're busy enough???  Thanks to everyone for your patience with us and our crazy schedule this holiday season!!  Love you all!!

Bowl Eligible!!!

Well, K-State beat Texas last night to make our 6th win of the season, which makes us bowl eligible!! Woohoo!!! We have 3 more games this season: @ Mizzou, @ Colorado, and @ Northern Texas. I'm predicting an 8-4 finish to our season with one more loss to Mizzou. I'd like to hope for the stars, but I'm trying to be realistic here. Last season everyone (including myself) was disappointed to see Snyder return. He made us belive, finishing last season 6-6 (much better than we ever expected). Now we've already got 6 wins under our belts and more to go! I have to say, Sorry I didn't believe, Bill. :) We'll see where the rest of the season takes us.

A couple of stats from last night's game:
K-State rushed for 261 yards
Texas rushed for 140 yards
K-State passed for 9 yards
Texas passed for 272 yards
Obviously, Texas smoked us in total yardage. K-State didn't need to march all the way down the field, though, to be successful in this game, because Texas couldn't do anything right, all game. Nothing seemed to go their way. There were times when I almost felt sorry for them. The cards were simply stacked against them. Their quarterback didn't help the matter. Gilbert passed 5 interceptions in last night's game. 5 interceptions!!! Some qb's don't have 5 interceptions in a season! I was shocked when we got the third one, after that all I could say as I watched was, "Really?! Really?!" I'm sure many Texas fans were sharing those words, but in much more frustrated tone of voice. After a frustrating early game for Texas fans, Texas finally scored a touchdown and got on the board, only to have a holding penalty take their points away. They failed to convert again on that run. Texas' qb Gilbert managed to complete more passes into K-State hands than K-State's surprise starter Collin Klein did. It was just an amazing game for us, and Texas just couldn't get it together. Reminded me a lot of the KU game earlier this season. For more recap and game highlights see espn.com. Go State!!

Oh yeah, by the way, we STILL own Texas! :)

http://m.espn.go.com/ncf/gamecast?w=1a1ub&gameId=303102306&i=scw

Music Concert!!

Hey Friends!
Just wanted to update you all on my school life.  This week my students have been working really hard to get ready for their music concert.  We've had hour long practices each morning all week long.  Well, last night, it all came together!  We had about 75% of the 4th grade show up for the concert last night!!  That might not seem that great to you, but to give you an idea, last year we had three 4th grade classes, my class had the most students show up for the concert, and I had about 9 students here (less than half of my class).  So we had a GREAT turn-out last night!!  The gym was packed with parents and family members eager to see the children perform.  It was such a great night!  The kids did awesome, and looked stellar!!  It was a great night and it made me a very proud teacher.  :)

Jen's basketball thoughts...

This post is going to make it look like I don't know much about K-State basketball, but rest assured, I know my fair share. While, true, it is not as much as Michael's fair share, I would say I can hold my own, fan-wise, as most anyone else. All that being said... My favorite player is Martavious Irving. Check out the link below to see why.

He's in cornrows (that's a hairstyle, for those of you who aren't in the know) in the center with a crazy-big, goofy-looking smile on his face. He's the one having the most fun. :)

Http://www.YouTube.com/watch?v=5a9ohBNiH6Y&feature=related

K-state Basketball has arrived!

For those of you that know me, you will know that I am a huge Basketball fan. Through the desert months that are summer sports I kept myself alive by digging up any basketball info that I could find. I frequented forums, ESPN, obscure newspaper articles, anything to get my fix. Well now that the season has started I can gorge myself again on KSU goodness.

To start off, lets cover some summer events. Over the summer, KSU jumped from a lowly 7th place to 3rd in the nation! Frank Martin was voted the big 12 coach of the year, and KSU was voted by the coaches to be the best in the Big 12. In the summer, the only basketball news to be found is on the recruiting front. Newcomers such as Freddy Asprilla, Nino Williams, Will Spradling, Juevol Miles, and Shane Southwell created some excitement. All hope was given up on a recruit named Devon Peterson until he was declared as a walk-on a week or so before the season opener. For some background, he transferred here 2 years ago, but never made it onto the team.

The real excitement of the season comes from team leaders Jacob Pullen, Curtis Kelley, Jamar Samuels and Wally Judge. Jake has been getting all sorts of awards including preseason first team All-American.

My favorite player has yet to be named so I will give a shout out. It's Rodney McGruder. He is the guard that I think will play opposite of Jake the most often during the season. The frontcourt is going to be strong this year, but the only question lies in who will take over the spot of quickster Denny Clemente.

Well I have been waiting since march for this day to come. KSU basketball has officially started against powerhouse the Newman Jets. (not really). And now some thoughts from that game.

*KSU looked kind of raw in the game, but that is not necessarily a bad thing. These early games are scheduled so that the players and coaches can make adjustments before serious competition comes along.

* I was unsure about Freddy Asprilla. He was given a lot of hype in the preseason, but after watching last nights game, I think I like him. He has some work to do, but he has the size and power to be a good substitute.

* Will Spradling was impressive. He may not be as fast as Denny, but he handled the ball well and ran the point. For the first game as a freshman, he was focused.

* Wally Judge did not play well. Sure he had the second amount of point with 13, but his mind seemed to be elsewhere.

*Jen's favorite player is Martavious Irving. Should be a solid player.

* I was impressed with Henriquez. He is still very skinny, and he made some mistakes, but by Big 12 play, I think he can be a good substitute.

Well for all of you that made it to the end of my blog, I thank you. I know if you are not as insane about basketball as I am, it may not be so much fun! I look forward to keeping you all up to date of Basketball and our lives!

And so it begins...

Ladies and Gentlemen! The time you've all (and especially Michael) have been waiting for.... *drum roll*. K-State basketball has officially begun!!! More details to follow from Michael. :)

Halloween

 We went to a costume party on Saturday with some friends of ours.  Michael and I dressed as zombies going to prom.  It took a lot of work to get ready for the party!  I woke up and began cutting pieces off an 80's bridesmaid dress (puffy sleeves, a big bow in the back of the neck, and a hemline on that got longer in the back of the dress).  I also took the dress in a little bit, and was pleasantly surprised with my altering abilities (I haven't sewed much at all).  Then I spent the next several hours (while watching the K-State football game) working on my hair (a real prom up-do).  Finally, we were ready to begin the makeup!  I mixed a nice shade of gray to go all over our faces and necks.  I used a purple/brown mix to make our faces look sunk and gaunt.  Then, I used red, brown, purple, and black paint to perfect our sunken eyes.  After putting on our costumes, it was time to go outside and roll around in the dirt (literally).  My dress was really good at repelling dirt, but we weren't going to let that stop us!  We got a cup of water and made mud, which stuck quite well to the dress.  Next, Michael mixed up the fake blood (a combination of corn syrup, red food coloring, chocolate syrup, and a drop or 2 of blue food coloring).  It was VERY sticky!  Luckily, we had the foresight to apply the blood in the shower for easy clean-up.  We smeared and splattered blood till we had the desired effect...  The we stood, sticky, in the shower for about 10 minutes waiting to dry and stop dripping (although we actually continued to drip slowly for some time after that).  Finally, we were ready to go!  We snapped a few pictures, grabbed the camera to take more as the night went on, and headed to the party.  It was a great night!

The Beginning

During a boring day at home from work with a stomach bug, I (Jen) got the idea for this blog.  We (Michael and I) have many family members who don't live close to us who would like to keep up with us.  So, for those people, I have created this blog.  :)  Michael or I will update the blog from time to time to keep our friends and family "in the loop" about our lives.  Enjoy!

Much Love,
Jen