Just wanted to get a quick post in before we fly up to NE this afternoon. We will be in NE all week and I probably won't have time to post pictures and fun stories from Christmas until after the holidays.
So, I hope you all have a wonderful, blessed holiday and I hope to see some of my NE buddies soon!
Merry Christmas!!
Monday, December 22, 2008
Monday, December 8, 2008
Happy Birthday Justin-the most fabulous husband ever!
Just wanted to blog a quick Happy Birthday to the bestest husband in the world! He turns 31 today (or 29 + 2 as he calls it) and I am so thankful and blessed to have him in my life! I could list countless reasons why he is the best in the land...but here are just a few:
1. He loves me just the way I am, and even loves me when I'm not being very lovable
2. He teaches me how to save lots of money, and I teach him how to spend just a little
3. He is gracious and freely gives to others
4. He will clean the house, do dishes, even fold laundry when I'm too exhausted or busy with school work to do it myself
5. He ALWAYS dries the dishes for me (I HATE drying dishes!)
6. He makes me smile and laugh each and every day
As I said, I could go on and on...but I'll stop there for now. We're off soon to a "surprise" dinner with his parents (though it turned out to not be really much of a surprise) and then back to our house for gifts and birthday pie!
If I snap any good pics, I'll post them soon!
1. He loves me just the way I am, and even loves me when I'm not being very lovable
2. He teaches me how to save lots of money, and I teach him how to spend just a little
3. He is gracious and freely gives to others
4. He will clean the house, do dishes, even fold laundry when I'm too exhausted or busy with school work to do it myself
5. He ALWAYS dries the dishes for me (I HATE drying dishes!)
6. He makes me smile and laugh each and every day
As I said, I could go on and on...but I'll stop there for now. We're off soon to a "surprise" dinner with his parents (though it turned out to not be really much of a surprise) and then back to our house for gifts and birthday pie!
If I snap any good pics, I'll post them soon!
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Bitter Yuck!
Well folks, we may have found a cure to Sierra's destruction! (I'm crossing my finger and toes and knocking on wood as I type this...haha). We made the fine purchase of a bottle of Bitter Yuck! And let me tell you, it is VERY Yuck! We have sprayed it on the stockings, on the one remaining chair pad, on the tree skirt, on the tree, on our movies, on the stereo/speaker wiring...and so far, so good. She tried the chair pad one day, and since then, hasn't touched it. Yesterday, however, we made the mistake of thinking surely she would not chew up her own bed...the bed that she adores and curls up on every day/night...that would just be silly....ooohhhh silly us! Yesterday everything else was full of Yuck...so she decided to eat up her bed. So, this morning, her bed got a good dose of Yuck...and hopefully she will still tolerate laying on it, but will not be eating it. We are sort of waiting for to discover anything else that is non yucky, but I am hopeful that maybe she will just think everything is now yucky and stick to her 8-million bones that we've given her =). Anyhow, since I have no real children to update you all on, I thought I would update you on my crazy dog.
In other news, tomorrow we are super excited to go and babysit all three of our nieces (oh holy cow!). It is Andrea's birthday and we are pretty sure Andrea and Kyle have not had a date night since last January...so we wanted to give them a night out to celebrate her birthday and get away from "the little people" (that's what Andrea calls them!). So, Justin and I will be on our own with two babies and McKayla...and we can so totally handle it (right?). Ha! I know we'll be fine, and it will be such good experience/practice for Justin. I'll let you all know how it goes =).
Then, on Saturday we are venturing up to Waco (yes, where the Branch Dividian (sp?) thing went done a few years back) to meet Justin and Katherine for lunch and games and hanging out. I can't wait to see them, it's so exciting to me to have seen them in late Sept and already be seeing them again in December! Yay for family close by!
We'll top off the fun weekend by celebrating Justin's birthday on Monday (he's going to be 31...but shhhh...I didn't tell you that!). His parents are coming to Austin to have dinner with us, and it should be a good time.
Hope you are all enjoying your week and getting into the holiday spirit!
In other news, tomorrow we are super excited to go and babysit all three of our nieces (oh holy cow!). It is Andrea's birthday and we are pretty sure Andrea and Kyle have not had a date night since last January...so we wanted to give them a night out to celebrate her birthday and get away from "the little people" (that's what Andrea calls them!). So, Justin and I will be on our own with two babies and McKayla...and we can so totally handle it (right?). Ha! I know we'll be fine, and it will be such good experience/practice for Justin. I'll let you all know how it goes =).
Then, on Saturday we are venturing up to Waco (yes, where the Branch Dividian (sp?) thing went done a few years back) to meet Justin and Katherine for lunch and games and hanging out. I can't wait to see them, it's so exciting to me to have seen them in late Sept and already be seeing them again in December! Yay for family close by!
We'll top off the fun weekend by celebrating Justin's birthday on Monday (he's going to be 31...but shhhh...I didn't tell you that!). His parents are coming to Austin to have dinner with us, and it should be a good time.
Hope you are all enjoying your week and getting into the holiday spirit!
Monday, December 1, 2008
Happy Thanksgiving and Fun Black Friday Shopping!
Happy (belated) Thanksgiving to all! We had a really wonderful time this year, and had a very productive long weekend. Where to begin? I had two staff days last Mon and Tues, so I enjoyed getting my classroom cleaned up and leaving very early on Tuesday. We had received a coupon in the mail for a sale at Ashley Furniture, so I convinced Justin that we should go look for a dining room table again (I've been taking him to look at tables for, oh, about nine months now...this is how things work with an accounting/budget man). Anyhow, we actually found one we both liked and it was 20% off (which is a lot for furniture). We took some quick pics with our phones (aren't camera phones great?) and then went home to discuss. After some discussion, Justin agreed it was a good deal and we should go for it. So, Wednesday I returned to the store to purchase our new table-yay! I was hoping for delivery before we hosted our small group Advent this weekend, but alas, it was not in the warehouse...so I have to wait until December 13...but it will be WELL worth it. And, since I've waited for nine months already, what's another 12 days?? So, that was the first big event of the weekend. Then, of course, we celebrated Thanksgiving with Justin's sister and family. His parents decided to go gambling (apparently the retired folks needed to get away and relax) so it was just us "kids" and a lady that Kyle works with and her husband. Turns out Vinnie is a musician and super funny, so we enjoyed listening to his stories. I had the luxury of taking care of Hailey for most of the day, and even got to feed her twice since Andrea was taking the afternoon off from feeding them (she needed to enjoy some wine with the rest of us!). It was great, and I got in some play time with McKayla as well. I swear she gets taller every time I see her, even if it's only been a few days! It's crazy. And I have to share a quick cute story too. Andrea told me that the other day she was quite frustrated with the twins and how their feeding was going. She yelled a little louder than normal and startled McKayla. She immediately said, "I'm sorry sweetie, your sisters were frustrating mommy, but I should not have yelled." McKayla thought this over and then said, "Mommy, the next time my sisters frustrate you, you should make a better choice." Andrea said, "Uh, yes, you are right". She supposes all those lessons they are teaching her about making right choices are sinking in, and now coming right back at them! At least she is learning! Anyhow, we had a great Thanksgiving and we certainly have so many things to be thankful for this year. The twins are such little miracles and God has really blessed all of our lives with their presence.
On Friday, it was time for Black Friday Shopping. Yes, as I mentioned in a blog last year, I am totally into going to the stores at 4am (considering that we normally wake up to go to the gym at 3:50, shopping at 4am really is no big deal!). In fact, I was at Kohls, ready to go at about 3:30 this year (and I was pretty far back in line, mind you). I would have to say that even though I always get good deals, Kohls is by far the MOST annoying place of all. That's why I do it first, to get in and get it over with. This year the checkout line took me precisely 52 minutes. Ugh. I so wish my mom and/or sister lived close so I could have someone to stand in line with! After Kohls, I made the rounds at various other stores and almost finished all my shopping-yay! I only have a few small things left, and I got some really terrific deals! I even got Sierra a new bed, for only $6.99--incredible (and she hasn't tried to eat it yet, which is even more incredible!). After my shopping whirlwind, I returned home to help Justin begin installing the speakers on our new home theater system (a very small, simple system...remember...this is Mr. budget we're talking about). Mr. Budget is also a tad-bit anal when it comes to installing anything (this is one of the things I LOVE about him, really...because it also means he'll help clean the house to keep everything in order!!). Anyhow, after awhile it became apparent that he didn't really need me as much as he thought, so I got to take a nap (I was quite tired from all that shopping). By Saturday evening, the speakers were fully installed and we have been enjoying them ever since! And for the final big event of the weekend, Justin FINALLY purchased his new laptop! His old laptop was becoming quite ancient and I could barely stand to do anything on it anymore, but was often forced to when I had to print things. He'd been looking at them and thinking about buying a new one since the beginning of the year, but kept saying "I have to get four years out of this thing! (he purchased it four years ago Sept.) I did not feel the need to get four years out of it, but it's his laptop, so I couldn't really argue too much. I tried to talk him into a Mac (because they are FAR superior to PCs), but he said we could not be a "two Mac family" and that we needed to diversify...whatever. He ended up ordering a really nice Dell, and we both can't wait for it to arrive. Maybe then I can convince him to join the rest of us on Facebook =).
That about wraps up this year's Thanksgiving/Black Friday fun. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday! Sorry, no pictures to post from Thanksgiving this year...I was too busy holding a baby all day long!!
On Friday, it was time for Black Friday Shopping. Yes, as I mentioned in a blog last year, I am totally into going to the stores at 4am (considering that we normally wake up to go to the gym at 3:50, shopping at 4am really is no big deal!). In fact, I was at Kohls, ready to go at about 3:30 this year (and I was pretty far back in line, mind you). I would have to say that even though I always get good deals, Kohls is by far the MOST annoying place of all. That's why I do it first, to get in and get it over with. This year the checkout line took me precisely 52 minutes. Ugh. I so wish my mom and/or sister lived close so I could have someone to stand in line with! After Kohls, I made the rounds at various other stores and almost finished all my shopping-yay! I only have a few small things left, and I got some really terrific deals! I even got Sierra a new bed, for only $6.99--incredible (and she hasn't tried to eat it yet, which is even more incredible!). After my shopping whirlwind, I returned home to help Justin begin installing the speakers on our new home theater system (a very small, simple system...remember...this is Mr. budget we're talking about). Mr. Budget is also a tad-bit anal when it comes to installing anything (this is one of the things I LOVE about him, really...because it also means he'll help clean the house to keep everything in order!!). Anyhow, after awhile it became apparent that he didn't really need me as much as he thought, so I got to take a nap (I was quite tired from all that shopping). By Saturday evening, the speakers were fully installed and we have been enjoying them ever since! And for the final big event of the weekend, Justin FINALLY purchased his new laptop! His old laptop was becoming quite ancient and I could barely stand to do anything on it anymore, but was often forced to when I had to print things. He'd been looking at them and thinking about buying a new one since the beginning of the year, but kept saying "I have to get four years out of this thing! (he purchased it four years ago Sept.) I did not feel the need to get four years out of it, but it's his laptop, so I couldn't really argue too much. I tried to talk him into a Mac (because they are FAR superior to PCs), but he said we could not be a "two Mac family" and that we needed to diversify...whatever. He ended up ordering a really nice Dell, and we both can't wait for it to arrive. Maybe then I can convince him to join the rest of us on Facebook =).
That about wraps up this year's Thanksgiving/Black Friday fun. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday! Sorry, no pictures to post from Thanksgiving this year...I was too busy holding a baby all day long!!
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