O Christmas Tree

It was so nice out today, so Brian and I headed to Goshen to Wilfong's to get our Christmas tree. It took us less time to pick out our tree that it did at Meijer to pick out what ornaments we wanted for the tree! :)

Thankful!

I have so many things to be thankful for this year! Actually, every year, but this year, I think I am more aware of it.

First, I am thankful I have such a loving God that always provides! I am thankful for such a wonderful husband. To name a few...he runs to Goshen at 11:00pm at night when I realize my pump is empty and my insulin is waiting at the pharmacy, when I get home from the grocery store, he meets me in the garage to help carry stuff in, he does the dishes 98% of the time! Need I say more...the dishes! :)

I am thankful for my family! I am thankful for my parents, my sisters and their husbands, and my ADORABLE nieces and nephews! No matter what my mood is, they always make me smile!

I am thankful for our jobs. There are so many people that have lost their jobs and Brian has had to deal with this first-hand, so we both realize how fortunate we are that we are still employed.

Thursday, my family came over and we celebrated Thanksgiving. We had lots of food and fun! Grandma came over and brought Floy. It was wonderful to have her join our family celebration.

Tonight, Brian's parents came over and we had dinner and a nice time with them. Lots of laughs!! :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

I got this picture in a text message today from my brother. My caption for this is..."Yuk! No turkey for me!" :)

Flower girl

Today Senica got to be a flower girl in a wedding for one of Seth's coaches. She went and had her hair done and it looked beautiful! I stopped by to take some pictures and did her nails and toes too! :) We asked her mommy and she even let Senica wear a little bit of make-up. Just a little eye shadow, blush and lip gloss. That is the top right pic...see, it wasn't much! :) Also, in big news of the day....drumroll....Anitra spent money on herself, and it was on CLOTHES!!! Wowzars!!! Doesn't she look great too?!? :)

The whole time I was taking pictures of Senica, Ty was saying "Cheeeeeeeeesse" so I threw in a pic of him too!

Third Day!

For Anitra's birthday, she wanted to go to the Third Day/Need To Breathe/Revive concert at the Morris. I was lucky enough for her to ask me to go with her! Yeah for me! :) Seth stayed home with the kids so we could go...thanks Seth!

It was such an amazing time! Now, anyone who knows me knows I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Tim McGraw...and I have seen him quite a few times in concert. And when I saw him at his debut at the Grand Ole Opry, I screamed like a teenage girl at a Jonas Brothers concert. Yes, it's true! Anyway, my point is...as exciting as that was, I had bigger goosebumps standing next to my sister and praising God!

It was so awesome to stand there and sing and dance and listen to the whole crowd singing...no music, just us singing. It gives me goosebumps now just thinking about it!

So, thank you Anitra for asking me to go with you. Thank you Anitra for challenging me everyday in my walk with God. Thank you, thank you, thank you! I hope you had as good of a time as I did!

Happy Birthday Billy!

My nephew's birthday was yesterday...Happy Birthday Billy!! I was looking for some pictures of him, and don't have any on this computer, so I used an old collage I had.

Uncle BK and I hope that you had a WONDERFUL birthday! We love you!

Visitors!! :)

What's the common theme here? Oh yes, Senica and babies! She is such a good little helper. She loves the little ones so much! Oh - and Dave bowling with Senica. :)

Full House

This weekend was a busy one, so I am gonna just do it in one post. Bear with me...

Thursday night April and her girls came over and Anitra and her kids too. We had dinner and then the girls and Ty played and then we all watched the Wizard of Oz. April and I hadn't seen it in a long time and we forgot how bad we felt for the scarecrow, tin man and lion. Too funny!

Friday I had 2 dr. appointments in the morning. At my second appointment, my Dr. wanted me to go over to the hospital and have some x-rays and labs done. I have been having some problems with my shoulders for quite awhile and we are trying to figure out what is causing all the pain. By the time I got home, it was almost 3pm. So, Cheryl said I didn't need to come into work.

Friday night April and Brian dropped the girls off so that they could have a date. Anitra came down with Senica and Ty so they could all play together. The kids played really nice together and it was a wonderful evening. April's Brian put up a new porch light for us and it looks wonderful! Thanks Brian! April and Brian took the 3 youngest girls home and Janae spent the night with us. We stayed up watching Jon and Kate plus 8 and playing on the Webkinz. I am now addicted to Webkinz too! :) Sorry to Anitra who I was making fun of for playing Webkinz all the time! :)

Friday night, Janae and I slept on the blow-up mattress in the basement and we woke up to breakfast in bed. Thanks honey...that was a nice surprise! After we got around, Janae and I went and got groceries and then I met April at mom's to drop Janae off.

Saturday night, our friends Jim and Keia came over with their little girl, Kaeleigh. Anitra, Sencia and Ty came down too and we had dinner and the kids played in the toy room while the adults played on the Wii. I think everyone had a great time!

This morning after church, Kristi and Dave and their little girl, Savannah came over for lunch. Anitra, Seth, Senica and Ty came over for lunch too and Senica and Ty were loving on Savannah. Ty was rubbing her belly and Senica was telling him "gentle, gentle". :) We had a nice time and Dave amused Senica by bowling with her on the Wii.

The weekends always seem to go so fast!!

I am so thankful for my family and all my friends. Thank you God for blessing me with these special relationships!

Fall Pictures

The other week, we tried to get some pictures for Anitra and Seth's family picture. Janae wanted to have a "photo shoot" too. :) She is quite the little model!

WARNING!! Bambi lovers beware!

April called today and said that Brian got his buck...a 10-pointer and one of the biggest ones he has ever gotten! She wanted to know if I wanted to come and take some pictures. I was at Kari and Don's house so BK came over and the four of us headed to April and Brian's. We ordered pizza and made a night of it! :)

Janae was so proud of her dad...she even went with the guys when they went to gut it. The rest of us stayed home with the babies. :)

Tagged!

I've been tagged.

Share 7 facts about yourself. Some random and some weird.

Tag 7 people at the end of your post. By leaving their names.Let them know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Let us know who tagged you.

1. I'm a pack rat. My husband tries to throw away stuff of mine and I get upset. I have my 6th grade 8-pocket folder. I don't know...I might need it some day. Maybe to burn and provide heat for our home this winter. :)

2. I'm diabetic. 12 years this December. It's hard and frustrating at times, but I am thankful that it's treatable. I try not to whine too much about it, but it sucks!

3. I love Chili...without the beans. Kinda weird, but the texture of beans is gross to me. The same with the texture of Tapioca pudding and cottage cheese. Yuk!

4. I hate turkey. Even on Thanksgiving. I'm spoiled because mom always makes me ham too! :)

5. I talk with my sisters...on average, between the 2 of them...probably 5-6 times a day! Yes, a day. A lot of the time about nothing real important...but it's comforting for me to hear their voices.

6. I'm a Diet Coke addict. People joke with me about having an IV with it, but I don't think I would like that because I honestly love the taste of it. 12 years ago before diabetes, I wouldn't touch diet soda.

7. I'm a night owl. I H.A.T.E. mornings. My husband hates waking me up in the morning...I'm a little grouchy!

I don't know how random or weird these were, but thanks to Rene for tagging me!

Now I'm tagging:

Anitra
Jessica
Peggy
Leah
Cheryl
Jess
Tracy

Senior Pics - Kaytie

Today after work, I met my cousin for some Senior pics. She is so beautiful that we ended up getting a lot of good shots! The sun was gorgeous and made it a really nice fall day!

Here's a little sample. Thanks Kaytie! You did awesome!

3 or 33?

Tonight we had Anitra, the kids and Mom and Bobby over for Anitra's birthday dinner. We had steak...since we bought steak, we couldn't afford a big cake. We did get her a mini-cupcake. And since, we didn't have money for a big cake, we just bought her one "3" candle. If you look at the middle picture and cross your eyes, you will see her real age. :)

Ok, so the real story is this...

Anitra wanted steak, rice, broccoli & cheese and rolls for her birthday dinner. I told her for her dessert, she could have anything she wanted...cake, cookies, brownies. She wanted to make sure that I really meant anything and when I told her yeah, she told me, "in that case, I want Apple Dumplings...and can you make them taste just like mom's?" PRESSURE!! So, I tried. She liked them. They didn't taste like mom's...but they passed the test. :) But that's why the candle is in the cupcake. Much easier than sticking it in an Apple Dumpling. ;)

Happy Birthday Anitra!!

Happy Birthday to my favorite 33-year-old!!

Today is my oldest sister's birthday. I was trying to find some pictures of just her to post, but there are very few of just her alone.

I am lucky enough to live down the street from Anitra. I am also lucky enough to have 2 of my very best friends be my sisters. The older we get, the closer we get. I am so grateful for the relationships that I have with them.

Anitra has been a wonderful sister! I have watched her in recent years not only be a wonderful sister, but an incredible mother. She has guided me in so many ways. She has helped me in my walk with Christ, taught me too many things to count...probably the most important, the act of forgiveness.

She makes me laugh! If we are really honest, sometimes she makes me mad too. She supports me. She encourages me. She pushes me...when I think I can't do it. But most importantly, she loves me. Unconditionally. And for that, I am forever thankful!

I love you Anitra!!

Picture Time!

Saturday morning I headed over to Jessica and Corey's house to take some pictures of Ethan. Isn't his little giraffe outfit so cute? I really enjoyed getting to take pictures of him! He's such a cutie!

After I went and took Ethan's pictures, I picked up Brian at home and we headed to North Webster to take engagement pictures for Andrew and Katie. Katie's parents have a house on the lake and that is where they are getting married next June! We also went and took some pictures where they are having their reception. It's this beautiful place that overlooks the lake. We are so excited and happy for them! We love you guys!

When we were done taking Andrew and Katie's pictures, we headed over to April's house. Anitra, Seth, Senica and Ty came to Syracuse too and we all met at the church down the road from them for a fish fry! It was delicious and the kids did really good behaving while we ate. From there, we went to the Syracuse Community Center for the Fall Carnival. They had games for the kids, a cake walk and a costume contest. None of our kids won in the costume contest, although I think they should have! :) While I was taking pictures of the kids, the lady in charge asked me if I was from the paper. I told her no and that I was just the proud aunt! :) Well, the paper was supposed to come and they never showed up, so she asked me if I would take pictures of the contest winners. So, keep an eye out in the Mail Journal. You might see some of my pictures in there! :)

It was a really busy day, but I am so thankful to be able to spend the day with my family and friends! :)