It's beginning to look a lot like...

... Halloween???  Although our house is now decorated for Christmas, Annie and Amos look a little out of place.

 

On my way home from work today, I stopped by Petco for dog food, and they had their Halloween costumes on sale for $1 {down from $25!}.  I never would have paid full price for something that I knew both dogs would hate, and unfortunately, they only had one that was small enough, so they'll have to share, but this purchase was definitely worth the dollar bill.

 

So Happy Halloween Merry Christmas from my little pumpkins!

 

They obviously love their costume as much as I do.

Obviously. ;)

Happy 84th Birthday G!

We had fun celebrating with you yesterday and hope you know how much we love you!!!

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to all my blog readers!  I hope all of you a wonderful day filled with lots of food, family, and friends.  I personally have so much to be thankful for, and I will be celebrating that today -- 3 times over. :)

And speaking of being thankful -- I love that something so small as "coupon shopping" can bring me so much joy! I got up early this morning and went to CVS to shop their deals.  I spent $19 {$7 in ECBs and $12 out-of-pocket}, and I got $26 back in ECBs.  So, essentially, I got paid $7 to buy everything shown below.

Pretty good if you ask me.  I am so thankful.

3M Half Marathon

 

I got an email from the people coordinating the 3M Half Marathon that's scheduled for January 29th.  The email said that "Americans will swallow an average 3,000 calories each at the Thanksgiving dinner table on Thursday, according to the American Council on Exercise" and then encouraged me to sign up and train as a means of burning off all that food.  So, considering I will be eating 3 Thanksgiving dinners on Thursday {3 x 3,000 = 9,000 calories!}, I'm thinking I need to sign up.  Who's with me???

Happy 3rd Birthday Will!

"Happy birthday to you..."

"Happy birthday to you..."

"Happy birthday dear Will..."

"Happy Birthday to you!"

Today was Will's 3rd birthday, so my mom and I went over to their house for cake and ice cream.

His best friend Katie and her little sister Audrey were there, too, and all 4 kids had a great time playing with all of Will's new toys.

My mom gave him a really cute Tonka play mat and some trucks, and I got him a Melissa & Doug 60-piece block set.

And if you know me at all, you know that I got a amazing deal on it.  So amazing that I have to brag a little.  It's a $50 block set that JCPenney was selling online a couple of weeks ago for 2 for $25 plus free shipping.  I ordered 2 sets, but unfortunately, it was a misprint on JCPenney's part, so they were only able to honor this price on one set per household.  I was still happy with just the one though.  Will loves the blocks, and I love that I got a $50 block set for $12.50.  Ella loves the block set, too, although she's not as into stacking them as she is into slobbering all over them.

Happy 3rd Birthday, Will.  We love you {even when you're too busy playing to stop and take a picture with us}!

Happy 1st Birthday Charlie!

Today is Charlie's 1st birthday, so we went over to his house to celebrate with a party.

We recently found out that Charlie is a fan of sweets {it runs in the family!}, so we couldn't wait to watch him dig into his little cake.

Unfortunately though, when we all gathered around his highchair to sing "Happy Birthday", he started to cry.

Apparently having 20 adults gathered around and singing/staring at you is just a little bit overwhelming.  Poor guy.  After that, he wasn't really interested in the cake.

Molly decided to bring out an oreo instead, and all at once, the world was better again.  That also runs in the family. ;)

Happy 1st Birthday, Charlie.  We love you!

After the party, Ben and I went over to his parents' house to hang out with his cousins Matt and Sam.  We don't get to see them nearly as often as we'd like to anymore, so we had a great time just hanging out and watching football.  

Sam is a senior in high school now, and Matt is junior in college.  Hard to believe that I met them when they were just 9 and 12 years old.  My how things have changed -- especially now that they're both bigger than Ben and have more facial/chest hair!

A Christmas Affair

I went to A Christmas Affair today for the first time ever.

Stephanie goes every year, so this year, I decided to tag along with her and had a great time. 

 

We got there at about 10:30 this morning {about 30 minutes after they opened}, and we spend a good 4 hours just walking around and checking everything out.  We loved looking at all of the clothes, jewelry, purses, home decor, Christmas decor, and kid stuff, and I'm pretty sure that we tried almost every food/drink sample available.  We definitely had the most fun looking at all of the precious baby and little girl clothes/accessories though, and I'm telling you right now -- if I ever have a girl, I'm going to be broke.  I ended up getting a really cute charm to wear on a necklace and a really delicious spread called "Toscana", which is marinaded asiago and parmesan cheese and sun-dried tomatoes.  There were a few booths that we wanted to go back to after we had walked through the entire thing, but as Stephanie had warned me earlier that morning, it's a lot harder to go back and find a booth than you would think.  When we first got there, there weren't too many people there, but by the time we left, it was packed!  We were able to find a couple of the booths that we were looking for, but we had trouble finding one of them, and eventually, we gave up walking down each aisle at a snail's pace and called it a day.

Overall, today was very girly and lots of fun, and I'm already looking forward to going again next year.

Aiden & Evan

We had a couple of surprise visitors up at the office today.  My friend Erin's nanny had a family emergency today and wasn't able to watch Aiden & Evan {Erin's precious 3 month-old twin baby boys}, so she brought them up to the office to meet everybody at our potluck Thanksgiving lunch.  I was so excited when she called to say that she was downstairs and that she had somebody that would like to meet me {and by "somebody", she meant TWO somebodies!}.

Aren't they precious?

Everybody in the office loved getting to meet them, and they were such a sweet addition to our lunch.  Both boys were so good the entire time that they were there, and it was so much fun watching Erin be a mom.  Congrats again, Erin.  Your boys are absolutely precious, and I'm so glad that I finally got to meet them!

Goin' through the Big D

Please say a prayer for my family.  My parents' divorce is final as of today, and even though I know it's for the best, I can't help but feel a whole range of emotions.

Happy Birthday to the World's Best Mom!

After work today, we went over to G's house to celebrate my mom's 54th birthday.

G made creamed chipped beef on toast {one of our favorite meals!} for dinner and a delicious coconut creme pie for dessert, but unfortunately, after spending all day in the kitchen, she didn't really feel like being in any of the pictures.

We had a great time hanging out at G's house, and after my mom opened her presents, we headed over to her house to watch the news segment that Holly was on a couple of days ago.

This past Saturday, Holly was downtown with her friend Meagan and ended up being on the news for the second time in the past year or so.  I'll let the news clip tell the rest of the story, but I'm so glad that I finally got to see it.  And if anyone is interested, she did mention that she is giving out autographs.

 

Happy Birthday Mommy!  I hope you had a wonderful birthday, and I hope this year is the best one yet!

Boys & Girls Club and Special Olympics

This weekend was another busy but fun one.

On Friday night, we went to the annual Black & White Gala to benefit the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Austin Area, which was at the Four Season's Hotel again this year.  Aaron & Norma, Rusty & Catherine, and some of their friends were there, and we had a great time catching up with all of them and raising money for all of the clubs.  We had a delicious prime beef tenderloin and quail dinner, and after all of the items were auctioned off {in addition to raising $96,500 in the "paddles up" part of the evening alone}, Cory Morrow took center stage.  It was a very fun night, and even though I was disappointed that we didn't win any of the silent auction items that we bid on, we didn't walk away completely empty handed.  Thankfully, because of the way that they did their raffle, we were able to score gift cards to both JCPenney and Saccone's {a pizza place up in North Austin}.

 

On Saturday, Ben went into work, and I got things done around the house -- laundry, dusting, bathrooms...all the fun stuff.  When Ben got home, we watched the A&M vs. K-State game {although I wish it had ended a little differently}, and after the game, I realized that I had left the binder that I need for Special Olympics that next morning at work, so we made trip up to the office.  Neither one of us really felt like cooking so we also stopped by BJ's Brewhouse for dinner on our way back.  I love their pizza, and I am so glad that I decided to try their seasonal beer -- Pumpkin Ale.  It tasted just like a beer mixed with a Pumpkin Spice Latte {my favorite Starbucks drink}, and although I admit that it sounds like a gross description, it was delicious!

 

This morning, we woke up early and spent the entire day volunteering at the Special Olympics Bowling Competition.  I worked the volunteer table and had over 180 volunteers sign in throughout the day, but thankfully I had some help at the table this year {thanks to a new organization at UT called "Longhorn Volunteers for Special Olympics Texas"}, so today wasn't nearly as stressful or exhausting as it usually is.  When we left, we headed up north to Ben's parents' house to see how things are going.  Steve is still pretty sore and is still working on getting his appetite back, but overall, he's doing pretty well, so I am very happy about that.

This weekend was definitely a busy one, but when I think about, I feel really lucky that I got to be a part of two very fun events that make such a wonderful difference in so many lives.

Mine & Molly's Christmas Pictures

I got an email today from the company that took pictures when Molly and I ran the Cap 10K a few months ago.  They were advertising the fact that I could order holiday cards with our pictures on them.  So...who wants a Christmas card from Molly and me?  I'm assuming all of you do.

Because who wouldn't want a picture of us with such beautiful looks on our faces?

 

I wish you could see Molly in this one because it is obviously the best one of me.

Amazing doesn't even begin to describe it.  Let me know if you want one. ;)

Good News

We got the test results back from pathology today, and everything came back CLEAR.  Yay!!!  Words cannot express how relieved I am.  Thanks again for all of the prayers.  Now Steve just needs to heal, and he'll be good as new.

Our Stakeout at Jason's Deli

After spending 10+ hours at the hospital yesterday, there was nothing that I wanted more than to go to bed early.  Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned though.  We stopped by Jason's Deli on the way home for dinner, and as soon as we got home, Ben realized that he had left his phone in the restaurant.  He went back up there to get it, and a few minutes later, he called to say that he had looked everywhere for it, that no one had turned it in, but that according to the "Find My iPhone" GPS tool, it was still in {or near} the restaurant.  Duh, duh, duhhhhh....

He decided to wait outside to see if he could figure out who had it by watching for any movement of the icon on the map, so I went up there to join him.  I went inside to do my own investigating and asked the manager about their video surveillance, and after sitting outside for a couple of hours watching the map, we decided that one of the employees must have picked it up.  They didn't close till 10:00 o'clock that night, but we decided that our best bet was to just sit there and watch the map till closing time.  As employees began to leave, I took notes on my phone of the people and their cars while Ben kept his eye on the map.

The bus boy {the employee that I thought looked the most suspicious from the get-go} came out at about 10:30, but instead of driving off, he dropped his apron off in his car and then went back into the restaurant.  He came back out with the manager a few seconds later, stood outside for about 30 seconds or so, and then the manager went back inside, and the busy boy drove off.  I really expected for the icon to start moving at that point, but instead, Ben's other cell phone rang.  It was the manager saying that they had his phone and that one of his employees had found it on the ground outside.  Not a very likely story considering we never saw the bus boy {or any other employee} bend down to pick anything up, but I am glad that we got the phone back -- even if we did have to sit outside for 3+ hours.  Mission accomplished.

Update on Steve

Steve's surgery went well today.  The doctors were able to remove everything that they wanted to and said that we should hear something back from pathology in 2 or 3 days.  Unfortunately, they had to make the incision a little bigger than they originally intended, and as the doctor put it, "there was a lot of pulling and tugging" {yikes!}, so needless to say, he's pretty sore, but overall, he's doing pretty well.  Thanks so much for all of your prayers, texts, emails, and phone calls.

Prayers for Steve

Please keep Steve {Ben's dad} in your prayers as he is scheduled to have part of his colon removed tomorrow morning at 9:00. Please pray that the doctors are able to remove what they need to, that he will heal quickly and completely, and that it is not cancer.

Miles & Me

I babysat Miles yesterday while Cheryl visited a few patients.  We had a great time together, but as I've mentioned before, it's really hard to take a self-portrait with a baby.

He did not want to be held, so every other picture looks like this.

We had lots of fun reading and playing in his playroom.

And I had fun trying to capture his sweet personality on video.

The weather was perfect, so we also spent some time at the playground.

I sang songs and counted, and he practiced all of his favorite words {yay, touchdown, and hot dog}.

He also loved crawling around...

...and examining all of the bark chips.

The slide was definitely his favorite part though.

Thanks for such a fun afternoon, Miles.

 

Let's schedule another playdate soon.