my wonderful family

first of all, i would like to apologize to all of those unfortunate people out there that had to put up with my text messages all day yesterday. drew fell asleep in the car, and goblet of fire just doesn't have the same mystery after the fourth time reading it. (lest you think i was driving and reading in the mountains...don't worry. it was on tape.) i just needed to find someone to keep me awake. and THANKFULLY!!! andrea kept me awake. some people promised, but never followed thru. i would just like to note for the record, that i almost died cause i almost fell asleep!!!

well we got here (here being grandma and grandpa hoagland's) last night about 7:45ish. they were both in the kitchen cooking something. right after i hugged them, grandma insisted that we all eat. there was veggie soup (which, funny story about veggie soup. i have always grown up with my veggie soup having roast beef of some sort in it. large chunks of meat. i thought it was normal, but apparently in high school i found out that weird people have only veggies in their veggie soup. idiots...) and clam chowder...grandma style. huge kettles of it were simmering on the stove. grandma then proceded to clean everything out of the fridge and insist that we eat up. i love coming to g'mas. some people think that only italians have food shoved at them from all angles, but in my family we are all tall and skinny, so our big toes stay in a perpetual state of emptiness. (ok...another side note here. i am in the living room on dad's laptop typing this. out the front door, that is never used, i can see the field across the road. there is something white out there and i can't figure out what it is...it looks like a sheep. but it also looks like a dog...or a llama...i'm confused.) so g'ma feeds and feeds and feeds us. the average height of the guys in my family is 6' 4''...well actually g'pa is the shortest now. then daddy then uncle jim who is 6'7''. but uncle jim has found a way to conquor the whole skinny thing, now we just need to teach him about keeping his pants up.

i did not get to sleep in the little girl's room, because it is full of stuff. but the little girl's room was redone when i was little for me, mer, kara and chloe. there are still dollhouses, dolls, pink frilly things and all sorts of girly things. so i slept in the boys room. it is orange and dark, but the bed sure is comfy! it was lovely waking up around three this morning and just walking around the house seeing all the things i remember from childhood. one HUGE change is g'ma sold the couch. the couch that all of us grandkids would sit on. we all used to fit on it, but no more. randy takes up half of it now! =) it was sad seeing the living room change. it hasn't changed since, oh i dunno, never really. the furnature never changed, and the arangement never changed. but everything else is the same.

g'pa is in his chair taking his nap now. it is a daily ritual. he can sleep thru fire and storm! amazing. he talks in his sleep now...but it is comforting to have him here.

tonight we have the family descend on us. the rollins' from west virginia, aunt marge and uncle jim from just around the corner. i can't wait till tonight. we also head over to the papaw's. that is craziness in itself! we will have so much fun. well, its lunch time and probably time to beat g'pas socks off in mou mou...or shoot the moon.

love to you all and merry christmas.