So sorry

I know, I know. It's been a while. It's been pointed out to me several times by several different sources. I can't promise anything substantial to make up for my lack of blogging recently, but here's a brief (hopefully) update of what's been going on these past couple of weeks.

First was the MEI Christmas banquet. It was absolutely amazing. Unfortunately I have no pictures to show you. But you can take my word for it - it was an amazing night. The hosts were awesome and hilarious and the entertainment they had was great. The entire evening was amazing, especially when I went with the girls I hang out with to Lindsay's house, where we partied and stayed up all night. :P Just kidding. We had a blast, and we watched Phantom. I fell asleep somewhere in there, and at some point in the night after the movie had ended Lindsay woke up Hailey and me so we could move to our sleeping bags somewhere on the floor. I was comfortable in my position against Gabrielle's lap, but I think she was glad to have me move. Sorry about that, Gabe. In the morning Lindsay's mom attempted to wake us up, but Hailey and Lindsay, as we learned, are very slow to respond in the mornings. We had trouble getting Lindsay up until I jumped on her and shoved her off of the couch she was sleeping on. That was fun. The best thing is she was too sleepy still to really do anything to me. I love it.

Wow. Looking back now, the banquet seems like it was a really long time ago. Anyhoo, I think that's it for that time. Next was........geez, I don't remember. Did anything else exciting happen before Christmas? I don't think so. Hm.

Moving on.

I'm all better now. I'm not sick anymore, and I'm very happy about that. Being sick is not so fun. It's rather dismal, actually. I'm glad to be rid of the evil cold type thing. Bronchitis. That's what it was. Well, it doesn't matter now. It's over. Hooray for me.

We celebrated Christmas as a family on Boxing Day which was a blast as usual. We had a brunch of waffles and then played Settlers of Catan for quite a while before opening presents. What an awesome game. It's so addictive. The day was fun, as just about all times where our family comes together are. Have I mentioned lately that I have an awesome family? No? Allow me to rectify that. I have the most awesomest family on the face of the Earth. Yep. True story.

After that day, I don't think much else happened. I've been on Christmas break from school for the last week and I have another week to go still before I have to return. Good stuff. Last night Chryssie and I went to our cousin's house where Jared and Lisa are house/dog/cat-sitting and played Settlers for a very long time, with a hot tub break somewhere in there. We played until very late....well, I guess it should be very, very early. Oops. Like I said, it's addictive. And, happiness of happiness, I won my very first game! I was so excited. I'm very proud of myself. And again today I won two games in a row against Lisa and Chrystal. I'm so happy.

And I think that's it. That's my past two weeks in a nutshell. Although for some reason I feel like I'm missing something.....hm. What could that be? Oh yes. There is one more somewhat thrilling event that some people might be excited about. What is it? Well, I'm pretty sure that by now everyone on Earth knows. But whatever. Let's say it again.

On Sunday December 24, 2006, my sister Yvonne gave birth to her daughter!!! A baby girl named Kyra Makenzie Gronau. She's so precious. I love her so much. She's so tiny with little wrinkly fingers and feet and she's just so adorable! I'm ecstatic!!! It's so weird, though. Suddenly there's this whole new person in our family. Today Yvonne brought her over again and we watched My Big Fat Greek Wedding while Kyra ate for a bit. When Chryssie had to leave (ha!) and give her up, I got to hold her again. It's amazing how much joy I get just from holding her against me, watching her sleep and make her crazy faces. She's such a blessing. And she herself was blessed with some pretty darn awesome parents. If I didn't have such good ones myself I'd be jealous of her. Yvonne and Eric are awesome with her, and Kyra is going to grow to be such an amazing girl under their influence. But for now it's nice just to have her a little baby girl whom everyone can argue over whose turn it is to cuddle her. At one week old she's already growing. People always say that babies grow so fast, but I've never really seen it happen. It's unbelievable. She's still tiny, of course, but I can tell she's grown a bit. She's amazing. I think I've said that. I'm just so happy. A baby! What a Christmas present that was! Congratulations to Eric and Yvonne. May God watch over you and bless your little family. I love you guys!