let the festivities begin!

it's still 2 days until hub's birthday, but the festivities have already begun! Which really is kind of the start of Christmas celebrations at our house, since his birthday is Christmas Eve-- yessss!

we met my sweet family tonight for dinner at Mattito's (birthday boy's choice, of course!) and then came to our apartment for cake + ice cream + presents. does it get any better? good food, laughter and celebrating one of my very favorite people. (with a few old jokes thrown in, of course....) enjoy!

someone got a new putter and a sharp looking maroon shirt for his birthday! On a side note, these two bicker like they've been siblings for years and it makes my heart insanely happy.

the best cake that ever was! plus cute happy birthday plates and napkins provided by my cute momma!

handsome hub before he gets any older ;)

my sweet parents with Beau.

 How does a girl get so lucky?? blessed to have all of these people in my life.

next up, birthday brunch tomorrow!
that's all for now,
kate

 

the down and the low!

Su-uup? Once again, I've fallen behind on the blog... so here's an update on life lately. it's been busy, busy, busy!!

:: thanksgiving ::

this was Russell and i's first holiday to spend together and, i must say, it's much more fun this way!  since both of our families are in the DFW metroplex, we split the day between the two families. our first stop was the McLaughlin house for a morning full of cooking and a delicious thanksgiving feast. we were responsible for the green bean dish and a dessert, so of course we brought green bean bundles and a chocolate chip bundt cake! all of R's siblings were there, our sister-in-law and his grandparents (who are new to Texas from Colorado). as always, it was a boisterous meal but we did have a sweet time telling everyone what we are most thankful for this year.

After dinner we headed to Mom and Dad's house for dessert and an evening relaxing with my family. My grandparents, Aunt, Uncle and cousins, Sar and some of her DTS friends were all there.  I managed to take zero pictures, but it certainly made us more thankful for two wonderful families to celebrate with!

:: birthday ::

 hello year 26! this year began so sweetly and holds so many things to look forward too! my celebration started a little early with a birthday celebration with the fam! we went to Matt's for dinner and did birthday cake and opened a few birthday presents at the house afterwards.

my  actual birthday started out with work (just a seasonal retail job) and then i had an interview for a full time position in the afternoon. the interview was kind of far away so my sweet hub took off early to drive me there! that way i didn't get stuck in traffic and we got to start our birthday date that much earlier :) after my interview, we exchanged a shirt i got at the mall and went to my very favorite mexican restaurant for dinner. we ended the day with a movie and a quiet night at home-- doesn't get any better!

Since we both have birthday's in december, R and I usually buy gifts for an "angel" instead of for each other. this year we chose to participate in Operation Christmas Child with our church and put together a "boy box" and a "girl box".

for exactly three weeks, hub is only "1 year" older than me and he reminds me frequently! thankfully, his birthday is coming soon and he's back to being practically a senior citizen ;)

:: christmas decorations ::

one of my very favorite things about this season has been decorating our home to fill it with christmas cheer! i've had some time to craft some things and i'm quite pleased with the results! Here's sneak peek of some of our decorations:

i love our collection of christmas ornaments even though we're just starting to collect. some of my favorites are pictured below:

a. a set of hand painted 12 days of Christmas ornaments add so much color 

b. our ornament we bought in playa del carmen on our honeymoon

c. a door ornament from my Grandma with the address of our first home on it

d. animal mercury glass ornaments that R and i picked up at Target

e. personalized a&m ornaments-- what tree is complete without a little maroon? 

I made a skirt for our christmas tree, ornaments to coordinate with the extra material from the skirt, and started making a set of 3 trees for the table, but i haven't quite finished those!

:: christmas events ::

one of the best things about this time of year are christmas parties! i love the opportunity to dress up and fellowship with fun friends and meet co-workers i've heard so much about. We've had the opportunity to see phil wickham + shane and shane in concert with some of our good friends, face off in a girls vs guys ginerbread house building contest (feel free to cast your vote!), attend a tacky sweater + white elephant gift exchange and spend time together at the Rangers Company Christmas party. 

girl's is on the left and the guy's on the right

who knew they were this serious about gingerbread houses!?

Texas Rangers Christmas at the Gaylord

:: job update ::

this is quite possibly one of the most exciting updates on the blog tonight-- i am officially employed!! i accepted a position this week as the Health and Safety Coordinator at a manufacturing facility in mansfield, texas. it's not too far from our current house and i start january 7th of 2013 (!!!). this will be a huge transition so prayers are for sure appreciated! we're beyond thankful for the Lord's provision and trust that He will continue to see us through.

thank you all for you support, text messages, emails and countless prayers. i cannot begin to tell you how grateful we are! 

:: beau dog ::

i just couldn't leave this one out-- the weather has been cold lately and beau is not a fan. here is how he has spent most of the last week: 

our sweet boy also got attacked by fire ants and spent a very pathetic week covered in these ugly spots. thankfully, he's completely healed, but it didn't do a lot for our credibility when we tell him outside won't kill him....

:: husband ::

it's official. i have the world's best husband. yesterday, while i was at work he spent Sunday afternoon cleaning our entire apartment (and yes, that includes re-organizing our storage closet) just because. he's seriously my very favorite.

if you survived all of this, i'm beyond impressed...
next up, husband's birthday and christmas!!

that's all for now,
kate