Sorry I've been a bit MIA the last few days. 

Tonight I leave to drive up to Indiana for my Grandpa's funeral, and I probably won't have the time to continue the makeup challenge while I'm gone. But I will pick it up again when I get back.

My Grandpa was 90 years old, had been battling cancer. I will miss him very much, but I know that I'll see him again.

Makeup Challenge - Day 9 and 11 Things

It's Day 9, and it's a look that I've been really excited to try!

It's called "harlequin eyeliner"

I love it! So fun!

On another note, Lena B asked 11 questions today:

1. When did you last laugh?

Last night, when I stumbled across this gem on Pinterest:

Ha!

2. Which store would you choose to max out your credit card?

Target, easily.

3. What's under your bed?

Our luggage, the summer quilt, dust, and probably about 300 lost hair-ties.

4. What do you consider your best physical feature?

I have two: my big blue eyes, and my long legs.

5. What is your best childhood memory?

    I don't know if I have a favorite, but there has been one going through my head a lot lately. When I was really little, my grandparents owned a motel. I used to walk down with my Grandpa to pick blackberries that grew on the property. I have a memory of walking, holding his pinky finger, and looking up at him. It was sunny, so all I could see was his silhouette. I can still see it in my brain. 

6. Grab the book nearest you, turn to page 18 & copy the fourth sentence here:

"In fairness to Aberforth, it must be admitted that living in Albus's shadow cannot have been an altogether comfortable experience." 

-Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

7. Seen anything weird lately?
Um, I saw that people are getting gages in their bottom lips. Ew.
If you're confused, google it.

8. If you could change one thing about your home, without worry or expense, what would you do?
Since we are living in an upstairs apartment, I'm not sure this applies.

9. What is your favorite time of day?
I'm a big night-owl.

10. Do you believe in love at first sight?
I don't know. When I first laid eyes on my hubby, I had a major crush, but I think love develops after getting to know a person.

11.Tell me something about you most people don't know.
I can make the ugliest faces in the world, and I am quite proud of them.

You're welcome.

our holidays

It's been awhile since I've been able to post; the holidays were busy for us! What's that? You wanna hear all about it? Why, I thought you'd never ask!

Rewind about a month, to about the second week of December. Can you see it? The stores were still blasting Bing Crosby and Nat King Cole, camera-armed Santa Stations dotted every mall in the country, and the Rawlinsons were gearing up for our holiday travels!

First, we drove to Tulsa, to visit our parents. We stopped at my parents' house first, for the Annual O'Dell Grandkids Christmas Party. For those of you who aren't aware, there are 11 grandkids on my side of the family. As you can imagine, all of us getting together for Christmas is a little difficult. So, my mom and little sister came up with a plan. Every year, everyone joins together for one evening for some awesome kid-centered holiday fun! We decorate cookies, open gifts, look at Christmas lights, we go all out.
This year, we went bowling! The kids loved it! We then drove to Rhema to see the lights.

Carrie and I at the bowling alley. Something exciting must have been happening. Probably a strike.

 Me, Carrie, and Daisy, and the back of Margot's chubby little head.

My cute parents. 

There aren't many pictures of my kids, as they were too excited to stand still. Fun times!

Next, we headed to Brandon's parents house for a week. We celebrated Christmas early, and the girls made out like kings! They got Little People, Barbies, new jammies and outfits, and tons more. They were in heaven! This was the first Christmas that Margot was old enough to really know what was going on, so she was really excited.

Next, we drove 15 hours to LaGrange, IN to visit my extended family. It was a surprise, only my Aunt Peg knew we were coming, and she kept a really good secret! It was so much fun to visit everyone, especially since I haven't seen most of my cousins in years! Plus, my girls got to meet a whole new group of kids their age to play with! Woohoo! 

Portia, decorating cookies.

Tuckered out. Brandon and my dad.

My grandpa. I like him.

My beautiful grandmother.

Next, we drove back to my Daisy-sister's house. She and her husband have been married for 15 years, and to celebrate, flew to Paris and London for 9 days. We watched their kids and house-sat while they were away. They had a blast, and got to do this:

which was very important.

After that, we drove back to Tulsa, where we relaxed for a few days, then drove to my Jeannine-sister's house for a night, where we relaxed some more!

At this point, we had been away from home for a month, so away we went! 

It was so fun and exciting to travel all over, but boy is it good to be home!

The Annual O'Dell Grandkids Christmas Eve Party

The next few posts are picture/video heavy!

Ready? Here we go!

Every year on Christmas Eve, my parents and sister plan a spectacular party for all the grandkids. There are now 11 kids, so it's pretty loud and crazy, but super fun! The kids love it!

We arrived at my parents house at about 3, and the festivities commenced! First, the kids decorated gingerbread cookies. They were going to make a gingerbread house, buuut it was decided that it would be too messy and too hard, since we would have to wait for the frosting to dry. So each kid was given a bit of the house and some frosting and they went to town!

A lot of Portia's time was spent eating the candy and frosting rather than decorating with it.

This is how Margot decorates cookies:

Next came presents! We gathered all the kids into the living room and started passing out gifts. They got books, teddy bears, toy octopus (octopuses? octopi? eh), and lots of other goodies. Even the parents got presents. Grandpa's gift was the most anticipated. Everyone was so excited.

He got a muppet! My sisters and I went in together for it, Carrie picked it up at FAO Schwarz in NYC. He was pretty tickled.

Then came the traditional Nativity play. All the kids dress up, and we read from Luke chapter 2, and the kids act it out.

(I'm glad there are so many grandkids now, because a few years ago there weren't enough babies for all the parts, and Carrie and I had to step in. It's great fun for kids, but it gets a bit embarrassing for a 19 year-old to be dressed up as Mary and drug in on a rocking horse. One year I was even a sheep.)

Next we went to Rhema. For those of you who aren't familiar, Rhema is a church in Broken Arrow that puts up thousands of lights every Christmas. Thousands and thousands. Really. A lot of lights.

Margot was entranced, the lights are really exciting for a tiny thing.
Portia thought Rhema was pretty cool, she just discovered Christmas lights this year, and loves them!

All in all, a pretty awesome night!