Windy Day

A few days before Christmas there was a really windy day where snow was blowing all over the place... and apparently trees were too.

This tree fell on Phil's dad's barn. Luckily it didn't do much damage and the boys were able to push it off of the barn with the tractor. Now we have more fire wood. I guess it wasn't so bad after all.

Maltby Christmas

Monday afternoon, we went to my parents house to hang out with the family. We ate a lot, played games and caught up. Monday night, we went to dinner with Phil’s dad and Grandma and then they all headed off to church while I went back to my parents house. After church the boys went to our house to drink, play games and ping pong… I don’t want to know what else they did. Sunday morning Phil and my cousin Ross picked up Grandma on their way to my parents house. We got up very early and opened presents, that afternoon the rest of the family came over for lunch and presents. Lunch was spectacular as usual and our dessert was amazing (thanks to mom & annie). After lunch we played yet some more games and watched movies. Phil and I finally made it home late Tuesday night to get some sleep before we had to get up and go to work Wednesday morning.

Me, Jenni, Annie and Mom.


Grandma playing euchre with the boys.


An intense game of Monopoly with Annie, Aunt Laurie and Staci.


Aunt Laurie during the annual Maltby family Christmas charades.


Hand and Foot anyone...


Monday night my mom and I cut my brother-in-law Nate's hair... suprisingly it turned out pretty good.


Tula, Nate and Oba after a long day of food and games.


The Maltby Christmas tree and presents.


Opening presents with the family.


Nate, Aunt Laurie and Phil.


My cousin Arianna found the Christmas gear.


Ross, Jenni and I had to squeeze on a bench for dinner... it was some family bonding time.


Phil and I in front of the stockings.


Here is the fabulous dessert... swan creme puffs with ice cream in the middle.


Notice the blue water surrounding the swans.

Amsterburg Christmas'

This Christmas season (like those past) was filled with lots of family, friends and especially FOOD! Here is a quick recap of how our Christmas played out. Friday night we went to a party at the Peterson’s house (friends of the family) for a visit with some close friends. We ate lots of pizza and let the little ones open presents to play with. Saturday my mom, sister Annie and Grandma came over to do some work. Mom helped me with my curtains and my sister and Grandma put lining in all of our cupboards and drawers. I haven’t quite finished the curtains yet, but I will post a picture when I do. Saturday night, Jon & Erin came over to hang out. We exchanged gifts where Phil got a game called Would You Rather… so of course we had to give it a try… and it was interesting to say the least. We also got a really awesome wooden garbage can (that Jon & Erin … and Larry made for us), I will post a picture of this later too.

Sunday we went to Phil’s mom’s house for our Christmas celebrations with her, Grandma and Grandpa Wallace and our friend Kerry. There were lots of present opened and a lot of food eaten. We had a great time!

Phil made a snowman for our yard... of course he has to sport the Spartans S.

Phil doing a "Challenge" during the Would You Rather game.

Pat and Phil at Christmas.

Even Tula got into the Christmas spirit.

Everyone got a chance to wear the Christmas hat.

Grandma and Grandpa Wallace

Monday morning we went to Phil’s dad’s house for brunch and stockings. I got a kit to make balloon animals… among other things so I had to try my hand at it.

Rob and Phil

Me and my balloon animals.

Christmas Bowling

This year at work, we decided to take a team outing instead of buying each other presents. So Thursday afternoon, we skipped out of work a little early and went to lunch at Fat Tony’s and then bowling. We didn’t realize that it was senior bowling leagues, the place was packed! But they were able to squeeze us in for a few games. I can’t remember who won, but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t me. Towards the end, we realized that the electronic scorecard actually keeps track of how fast you throw the ball as well as your score… so that was really fun!

Deb in her perfect bowling stance.


Me, Karen, A.T. (my boss) and Deb.

Elf Yourself

Phil's mom and her friend sent me this link... check it out.

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1605692761

We are pretty funny looking as elves!

Indy Visitors and Christmas Angels

This weekend Phil and I played host to our friends Jon & Erin and the Harberts for a birthday party for Erin. They all came up from Indiana to party with us. Saturday morning (well all day Saturday really) it snowed a lot. The girls and I went into Richland for a massage and some sauna time, then went off shopping to some antique and craft places. We also walked around downtown Kalamazoo and did some shopping as well. The site was beautiful with all the Christmas lights and the snow coming down. After shopping, we met up with the boys (who were at our house babysitting for the day… I know it’s a scary thought) and baby Lily for a quick game of Clue at the Camburn’s and then off for dinner in Richland.

Erin shopping at the craft store.


Heather, Erin and I shopping downtown Kzoo.


The boys stayed home and baby sat while the girls were out...scary thought.


Lily and Heather (baby and Mom), look at those cute leg warmers she's wearing.


Erin, Mr. Camburn & Heather in an intense game of Clue.


Jon, Justin, Rob and Phil at dinner.


Sunday we went out and almost finished our Christmas shopping, only a few things left to do. We had dinner at Phil’s dad’s house where we had an arts and crafts project before dinner. When Phil was little he made a paper plate angel of himself, so we decided to make paper plate angels of the rest of the family to go on his dad’s tree. It was too much fun.

Rob and Phil working on their crafts.


Here are all the Christmas angels we made.

Christmas Choir

Friday night and all day Saturday I spent with my friend Jess & Traci at Traci’s house. A few months ago Traci and I started our wedding scrapbooks and since I started school, they have just been lying around half done. So we vowed that on my Christmas break we would finish them…we didn’t quite realize what a big project they were. We conned our friend Jess into coming over too and making a scrapbook of her niece for her sister.

We worked on the scrapbooks from Friday night around 5:30pm until Saturday night until about midnight. There were a few breaks in there for eating, a quick run to Wal-Mart for pictures and supplies and some distractions by dogs, but other than that, it was pretty much straight scrapbooking the whole time. We were exhausted by the end, but good news is…it’s finished!! (well basically) There are a few more little details I need to do, but for the most part, it’s finished.

Sunday we went up north to see Phil’s Uncle Jan sing in his church choir. Phil’s dad, Phil and I made the trip to Durand in the morning. We saw the choir sing and then went back to Uncle Jan & Aunt Carol’s house for a huge feast. It felt like Thanksgiving dinner it was so awesome. We visited with them for a while and then I tried to convince Phil and his dad to take me to Frankenmuth so I could shop at the 7 acre Christmas store, but they weren’t having it, so we just went home instead. Oh well, maybe I can convince other people to go with me later. They have Christmas year round there!

Traci and Jess working hard on their scrapbooks... look at all that crap we have!


A few sample pages before they were finished.




Phil and Honey in Lansing before the concert.


Uncle Jan being... Uncle Jan


Rob (phil's dad) and Uncle Jan after the concert.

Wassailing Anyone?

Thursday night was the annual Richland Wassailing event. Of course I had to drag Phil down to check it out, since we missed out last year. For those of you who don’t know what Wassailing is (don’t be embarrassed, I didn’t know what it was either) it’s basically caroling. We did not do any singing, but we did take Tula down to see some live Reindeer, walk around the part and drink hot chocolate. All the shops were open with treats and goodies inside for people to check out. The best part of the evening was when a little chubby boy (probably around 9 or 10 years old) came up to pet Tula. He had hot chocolate on his face, a cookie in his mouth and another in his hand. I said “be careful or she might try to eat your cookie.” Then he asked if he could give it to her and I said “sure if you want to, that is fine.” He then changed his mind and said to me, I was going to give it to her but then I remembered that dogs can’t have chocolate. This might not be funny except the cookie he was holding was a vanilla crème filled cookie… no chocolate there.

After that, the boy proceeded to tell me that if Tula was his dog and was a boy that he would “name her Jerry Springer, because she looks like she could jump high”… ??

A little while later I was enjoying a cup of hot chocolate by the boy scouts table when this same little boy came up to get another glass. As he finished it off, he says to me…”hot chocolate makes me have to go the bathroom.” That was the icing on a wonderful Christmasy night.

Here is Tula doing her best impersonation of a Reindeer.

Phil & Tula in the town square.

The live Reindeer...they didn't look that happy.

Nose Picker

Friday night I went over to visit my friend Amy and her daughter Juliana. We had a fun girl’s night. We ordered pizza, played with toys and watched some kid’s videos. It was really good to see Amy again and spend some time together. It’s been a long time! Her daughter is getting so big, I can’t even believe it and she looks so much like Amy. She’s a ham too, couldn’t get enough of our attention, every time she would get in trouble she’d just break out that adorable smile.
Jon and Erin also came up on Friday night so Phil could have someone to hang out with and so Erin could study while the boys watched sports and played ping pong.

After my visit with Amy, I went home to join the party.

Here is Amy, Juliana and Me.


Juliana trying on mom's gloves.


The cutest smile in the world.


The end of the night.


Saturday we went to Phil’s dad’s house to cut down our Christmas tree. Then I met my sisters, my Aunt Sharon and of course Grandma to go to the annual Wings Stadium craft show. That place was crazy; there were so many people there. Overall, we did some good shopping, made a little dent in the Christmas list and had a great time.

Here we are with our Christmas tree.


Aunt Sharon, Jennifer, Grandma & Annie outside the craft show.


Saturday night, Phil and I went to my work Christmas party that was hosted at one of my co-workers houses… which is gorgeous by the way! He has a nice “man cave” in the basement, complete with a giant (wall size) TV, pin ball, air hockey, foosball and of course a bar. We played some games, exchanged white elephant gifts and ate a lot of food.

Phil and I at the party.





Tina, Stacey, Me and Holly.



Phil, Tina and Holly - trouble makers.




The man cave.





Phil and Stacey's husband playing foosball.




This is their dog... yes she is wearing a diaper (she's in heat.. i know gross)... but she did everything she could to get that puppy off.



Some of Phil’s girls from his soccer team are playing on an indoor team this winter and they had a game on Sunday, so Phil and I went to watch that. They also convinced him to coach their indoor team for the next session (it didn’t take much convincing… I think he misses them… or at least most of them). So I think that will probably start in January that should keep him busy anyways. After that we had dinner with Phil’s dad and then finally went home to relax. Whew! It was a busy weekend!