pictures galore

I uploaded these in backwards order, so I guess I will just leave them and explain them that way too! (less time/work).
On December 18th, I hosted our 5th annual Family Christmas Party. Every year we play some kind of game. Some of the past years we have played Christmas Win, Lose or Draw, Bunco and this year we played Minute To Win It. 19 rounds to be exact! It was SO FUN! We drew numbers (either a 1 or a 2) to determine teams. The rule was that everyone on the team had to play at least one game. Each person had given me $10 ahead of time so that I could purchase the prizes--which were $20 gift cards. Since we had 16 adults playing....a total of 8 gift cards were purchased to all different stores/restaurants. Once we figured out which team won the most games, then we had each person on the team complete a timed challenge to determine 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc. place. It worked out perfectly. 1st place person got first choice of the gift cards..and so on. If any of you want to copy this idea for a party, feel free to contact me and I can give you lots of pointers that I figured out along the way! :)
Here is a picture of my niece, Jessica, playing High Roller. This is a pic of Jess playing Stack Attack.

My nephew, Cale, playing Do You Hear What I Hear?

My dad and nephew, Craig, playing Yank Me.

My uncle John and brother, Doug, playing Breakfast Scramble.

My nephew, Cale, playing Noodling Around.

My niece, Jess, and her mom (my SIL), Teresa, playing Dizzy Mummy.

My HILARIOUS SIL, Pudgy, playing Face The Cookie.

My brother, Doug, playing This Blows.

The Battle of the Matt's! My nephew Matt and my hubby Matt playing Don't Blow the Joker. By the way...neither of them could do this--even with 2 tries each. But I did it and showed'em how it was done the first try! :)

Me and my new great nephew, Marshall! What a DOLL! He's only 3 weeks old! (8 lbs)

My beautiful and sassy Santa girl, Brooklyn!

Brooklyn and my great neice, Alexis!

Me and Kinley girl! (and that is my adorable great nephew Kyen in the background!)

And now here we are at some random pictures that I took one night for no reason.

Me and Matt....more in love than ever!

Me and my pretty little Christmas girl!

I know I'm partial, but I think she is just beautiful!

And lastly, one of B and her best girlfriends F and T at their Christmas Party~!

And that's it for now! I'm sure there'll be more to come since Christmas in in 5 days!!! MERRY CHRISTMAS Y'ALL!!!

Maybe someday...

Maybe someday I'll be a blogger again. I want to be. I miss it. I miss all my friends and your comments, but for now, I just can't do it. Even though I want to..and I think of things that would "make a great blog post" all the time, I just can NOT seem to get my booty in here and actually take the time to think it through and type it out...not to mention taking the time to actually upload photos.
BLAH!
That's what I feel like. BLAH!
I don't know what's going on with me lately, I'm definitely changing. Hopefully they're changes for the good...right now it's all a bit weird and foreign to me. I've never been so disconnected before. In ways, I love it and I feel so free and in some other ways, I feel a bit lonely and left out. I guess (as much as I hate to admit it) I'm realizing that I'm not really THAT important. All these things I was SO involved in...things that I thought practically couldn't function without me...are doing JUST FINE without me.
Even Facebook....I've been off for a whole week now...and no one has even seemed to care or hardly even notice. I think maybe 3 people have asked me about it...which is TOTALLY fine, because quite honestly, I'd rather not talk about it a whole lot...but I guess I just expected a least 25% of my 300+ fb friends to say "OH MY GOSH WHERE IS MY FAVORITE PERSON JEN???" ha ha ha ha..I'm just kidding, I don't have THAT much pride...but...it's just humbling I guess to realize that everything goes on just fine without me. The children's department at church, the PTO, the kid's class parties, blogging, facebook , etc.
Wow, does it sound like I'm throwing a pity party or what? I'm NOT. :) I'm actually quite content at the moment...just reflecting on what's been going through my brain lately, that's all.

What I was really getting on here to say is HI! I hope you have a Merry Christmas! and if I don't talk to you again before then...HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Please feel free to e-mail me anytime!
jennimatt10@hotmail.com
Love,
Jen

Here's a topic for ya...

So, my hubby and I had a fight conversation last night about what defines "flirting" versus "being nice" to someone of the opposite sex.
He is very conservative, in that, pretty much everything other than a nod hello is flirting.
Me, apparently the liberal on the otherhand, is oblivious to the fact that anyone could read more into my giggly conversation than what is intended.
It's actually quite an oxymoron, because by nature, I am QUITE intimidated by men in general. I practically avoid conversations, interaction with and even looking at men other than my dad or my husband. Of course, there are a few other exceptions, like close friends and other family members that I am comfortable with, but for the most part...men freak me out. I've always been this way and even now I struggle with my face turning beet-red when a man I am unfamiliar with talks to me. It's some kind of odd and very irritating natural reaction my body exhibits when I feel uncomfortable. It's totally embarrasing and it's probably part of the reason that I just try to steer-clear of these types of situations.
For instance, the doctor I work for---I rarely ever see him, just occasionally when I go to pick up my paycheck, he'll be there. Because he is my boss and my job is bascially at his mercy, I am very intimidated-feeling by the relationship between us. I constantly stutter over my words, my face stays flushed and I almost always leave feeling like a COMPLETE IDIOT because of something I said that didn't even make sense because my heart was pounding. I don't know what is up with that but I HATE IT. (imagine you're having a conversation with the President of the United States---and you want to make a good impression...)
Well...Matt sees that as me being flirty. He thinks that somehow, that is sending a message to the guy that I'm interested in him.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!which is just astounding to me that after 13 years together, he doesn't know me better than THAT!?!?!?!

Anyway, this is a recurring problem in our relationship, because as those of you who know me very well know, I am a talker and a joker, silly and giggly and I can be quite sarcastic at times with people who I feel really comfortable with. Well, all of those things-when done by me with another man-are considered by my hubby-to be flirtatious. There aren't too many men who ever make it that far with me...meaning that I ever become comfortable enough with to let my "real" self show...but there are some. Every 10th or 15th guy we come across-whether at church or elsewhere, I might just click with....as in--I can tell we have a similar personality and the comradare of sacrasm and jokes just flows. It means NOTHING romantic...just that we "get" each other and it's innocent fun to just joke around. Not like hiding it from our spouses...but right in front of them.
I'm trying to think of an example....Okay, here's one...a female family member of mine and her boyfriend came to one of my classes at the gym. Afterwards they came over to talk to me and he said(sarcastically) "I thought you were going to work us out." To which I replied, "HA! I don't think ya'll are tough enough to handle the kind of workouts I dish out!" Then we all laughed and that was the end of it.

I hope I am not crossing over some invisible line right now by telling you all this, but who knows. I am forever getting reprimanded for saying too much. Ugh.
But I really need to understand this. Am I actually crossing a boundary by being jovial with other men----other women's husbands?
Does it bother you when your husband talks to/laughs with/jokes with another female?

I can honestly say that I have a few female friends who are like this with MY husband and it doesn't bother me AT ALL.
First of all, I am COMPLETELY secure in my marriage. I know he wants me and I want him and that we are committed to each other for life.
Secondly, I am also very secure in my relationship with these particular females. I know them, I love them and I actually appreciate their thoughtfulness to talk to my husband and I love it that they like him enough to joke around and punch him in the arm every now and then.
Ironically enough, I actually PREFER my good friends to be this way with him. He likes it...which makes him like them better...which means he likes me to spend time with them more...which in the end...means I get more girl-time with my best friends. :) YAY!

I'm sure I'm not the only woman who deals with this issue...so maybe some of you can give me some ideas on how to resolve this issue. It's a lose-lose deal because I either
1) Be myself, end up being "too friendly" and making Matt mad
Or
2) I keep to myself, don't talk or joke (which is SO NOT me and actually seems rude and stuck-up) and keep the peace. (except I end up resenting hubby for "forcing me" to be someone I'm really not.)

Ahhh....help!
And if you think that I AM INDEED being flirty, please don't hesitate to tell me. If he's right, I want his opinion validated.