do you know how many seats are on an Air Tran 737? well, the husband knew, thanks to the wonder of the blackberry…and because it was Christmas Eve, knowing the answer earned him three business class upgrades. So he and Josh and Isabella sat up front in the land of roomier seats and more drinks, while i sat in the back with Emily, coloring in her My Little Pony coloring books, trying to keep the toasted man sitting next to me from talking to me. He was toasted before he got on the plane…and then had TWO vodkas while he sang along to his ipod and yelled at his PSP and complimented my crayon-using abilities (they should give out awards, he said). awesome. 

we got to my parents just after their Christmas Eve party which (BOO) i was so sad to miss, but lo! we’ve been partying nonstop since we got here. at my cousins. at our neighbors. birthday lunches. a night out without the kids. and when there’s partying, there’s food. lots of food.

but mostly, we’ve been doing a lot of this…

and this

oh yes. it’s all Rock Band ALL THE TIME around here. and hell, i’m pretty sure there’s something wrong with the wii, because for some reason it’s been giving me 98% when i’m on the microphone. WHAT? Ali = tone deaf. but bad. but apparently, it likes when i sing smashing pumpkins and some old school kansas. oh, yes, carry on wayward son.

we’ve also been playing with this little guy…

and no, this blog isn’t going to turn into some ZOMG! LOOK AT MY DOG! ISN’T HE THE MOST AMAZING THING EVER?!??! i promise. but, my god, he’s the cutest. really. my parents are having issues. they got to babysit Indiana for two weeks before we got here. they picked him up from the breeder…and they fell in love at first sight. and they’ve made sure to let us know that they were secretly hoping that the whole martells having a dog thing wouldn’t take and we’d just leave Indy here. notgoingtohappen. we are most definitely taking him home with us. but i’m pretty sure my parents will be sending along their therapy bills. or at least coming to visist more often. heh.

my family doesn’t like to share us when we are in town, and they like us all to do things AS A GROUP. which was a problem today when we were trying to plan what to do when we had the babysitter for the evening. we couldn’t agree on a restaurant (my choice would have been cheesecake factory) or a movie (benjamin button, of course. dying to see it) instead we ended up using the time to go to the mall. my sister and i found jeans 50% off at Bloomingdales..hello new Juicy and Sevens for under $100 and my new J. Crew cashmere hat and mitt set for $12!!

they did share me for a few hours  – but they did force Kristin and her awesome SVV to come to our house and they did kind of try to adopt them and convince the to come to our lunch today…

i have so much to tell you about and so many pictures to show you…but Rock Band is CALLING TO ME.  and i really need a piece of pumpkin pie. and i really need to take my pants off because they totally don’t fit anymore. it’s all yoga pants and hoodies from here on out…