Diana's Giveaway

Diana over at To Everything A Season is having her 2nd giveaway. Check out the bag & jewelry she is giving away. It's super cute! Be sure to enter the giveaway for a chance to win! :)

Glory's 1st

Glory turned 1 on September 25th and we celebrated with her on Saturday evening, September 26th. I cannot believe she is already 1. How is that possible? It seems like just the other day that we were all at the hospital just after she arrived. Time sure flies when you're having fun. She is a precious baby girl! She got lots of good girl stuff as presents, like barbies and baby dolls. Happy 1st Glo! We love you!

Birthday Princess Glory (in a tutu 'Aunt' Kristi made her)

Yummy cupcake!
just us girls

12 Weeks of Christmas

Keelie over at Red Writing is doing the 12 Weeks of Christmas starting October 4th. Which means there is a chance to win 12 different gifts. I don't know about you but this sounds AWESOME to me. I LOVE Christmas, blogging, and free giveaways. So join in on the fun! She'd love to have ya!

Why God Why?

So I turn 30 in 2 weeks. 2 weeks from today to be exact. To be honest with you, I'm not at all excited about it. Don't get me wrong, I really love birthdays. The day gets to be all about you, everyone sends you birthday wishes, you get presents, you get to eat cake...you know, all that good stuff. I like that part. The part I do not care for is the getting older. I know, I know, age is just a number. But 30. :( I will not longer be in my twenties. It's sad times. My friends who have already turned 30 have informed me that they have no sympathy for me. Whatever! :P lol. Remember when you were a kid and 30 was SO old?!?! But apparently 40 is the new 30 now so I assume that makes 30 the new 20 so really I'm not getting older at all...right? I'm just going to warn you now that I'll probably do a lot more complaining in the next two weeks. Get ready. It's not going to be pretty. I'm going to turn 30 kicking & screaming...or at least whining on my blog.

I'm A Winner!!!

I won, I won, I won!!!! I won a door prize at Keelie's Fall Wreath Party over at Red Writing. I won this adorable hand-tied rag bag, personally made by Keelie at our Labor Day craft weekend. That makes my winning that much better! I love that Keelie lost her crochet needle in the over-sized chair while making this bag (we never found it) and that I tried to help her cut the material strips for the bag and I got one strip cut in 20 minutes time. Keelie took the chore over after she saw my progress. I'm so excited to get the purse from her on Saturday. I also look forward to what she'll have planned for Christmas. Stay tuned!

Fall Wreath Party

Today is Keelie's Fall Wreath Party over on her blog, Red Writing. I got the idea for my wreath off of a picture she posted on her blog when she first announced the wreath party over a month ago. It was simple to make...just a bow, fake pumpkins, and a grapevine wreath. I made most of my wreath on our Labor Day crafting getaway (pictured above). After bouncing some ideas around with Keelie, I decided to make my wreath a little more "halloweenie". So tonight (yes, I'm last minute) I added some spider webs and four spiders. I'm not sure I love it. It might look a big cheesy now, but it'll serve it's purpose as my Halloween wreath. I do have a rule though, I don't put Halloween stuff up until the evening before October 1st. So come next week my wreath will be proudly displayed on my front door for everyone to see! Yay for fall! I just love this time of year!

James Pemberton Thrush

Elizabeth & Kevin Thrush welcomed their baby boy, James, into this world on Tuesday, September 15, 2009 at 7:28 in the morning. James weighed 8 lbs 10 oz and was 21 inches long. He came out healthy and happy. Elizabeth was scheduled to be induced on Wednesday, September 16th, her due date, but James had other plans. Elizabeth woke up at midnight in hard labor. She monitored her contractions and headed to the hospital around 2 am on Tuesday. After a few hours later James was here!!! He's gorgeous!!! He has dark hair, like his mommy and daddy, and cute dimples.

I headed to Houston on Wednesday around noon to see James and his parents. It was really great to spend time with them. I got to experience all the trials and tribulations of new parenthood. Let's just say it will for sure be a great while before I have kiddos. ;-) Everyone is doing great though. They are troopers. I headed back home tonight and hated leaving, as I know the next time I see Baby James he will have grown by leaps and bounds. His mom will definitely need to keep me updated in pictures. I love you James!

Keeping The Kiddos

I kept Jonah & Glory on Saturday night while Keelie & Justin attended Aunt Alicia's birthday party. As usual Jonah and I had some interesting conversations. Right when I walked in Jonah told me that his mommy was going to teach his Sunday School class the next day and asked "Kristi, do you have church?" in an almost concerned little voice. Keelie had some left over icing from Alicia's birthday cake so she told Jonah we could put it on the chocolate graham crackers. From the picture below you can tell that not much of the icing made it onto the crackers. He had red icing all over his mouth, some on his hands, and on his nose. Jonah also liked pulling at my hair saying he was cutting it, and he enjoyed jumping on me and sliding down, which he did multiple times. I don't know what I ever did to make Jonah think I wanted to rough-house with him but every time I see him he's ready to hit at me and jump on me. Maybe I have that affect on people?! lol. Jonah enjoyed using my camera and taking 18 pictures of Glory, me, and the living room. I had to keep reminding him to not play so rough with Glory. He likes to pull and push on her. Glory took a bottle and was down for the count early on in the evening. Jonah would lay on the couch, rub his eyes, and I'd think he was for sure about to fall asleep and then he'd get another burst of energy. He was fighting sleeping BIG TIME. He asked when his mommy would be home. I guess he was tired of me, since he told me to go home twice. One time he said "Kristi, you've been here ALLLL day. When are you going home?" I told him that wasn't nice and asked him if he wanted me to go home because I was so mean to him. He cut his eyes at me and started laughing. Jonah & I ended up watching lots of cartoons until Justin got home to relieve me of my duties. I'll admit some of those cartoons were pretty good and we always learned an important lesson. Oh how I love these kiddos! :)

Jonah enjoying icing

one of the multiple times Jonah HAD to be in the basket with Glory

Love her expression! Photo by Jonah.

Entertaining Kitties

If you have kitties you MUST buy this feather toy, found at PetSmart. It will entertain them for hours!

I Had Forgotten

Jax crawled up into my lap while I was putting make-up on yesterday.

Our little family...neither were happy about this picture! lol.

I had forgotten what it was like to have a kitten. It had slipped my mind. I brought Sylvester home when he was 8 weeks old, which was over 5 years ago, so he hasn't been in that kitten stage in quite a while. In the last two weeks it has all come screeching back to me. Here's just a glance at what I had forgotten about kitten behavior:

1.) They are super needy. Jax requires a lot of attention. He needs me to play with him lots. He hates being put in the bathroom for the night or if I'm leaving for the day. (I still don't trust the cats alone together.)

2.) They scratch. Jax still has his front claws. Yes, I'm one of those people that declaw their cats, but my vet likes to declaw and neuter at the same time and she wants them to be around 6 months old. So for now I'm getting pretty scratched up. Although not as bad as I did with Sylvester. Thank goodness! Jax likes to dig his nails into my furniture as well. He'll take a flying leap at the recliner and claw the rest of the way up. Yikes.

3.) They bite. Kittens like to play bite with their razor sharp teeth. I had really forgotten this. I'm trying to teach Jax to not bite but it's a process. I can't let him even play bite a little or he'll never stop. His biting also leaves me with scratch marks.

4.) They play a lot. Jax can be compared to the energizer bunny. He just keeps going. Sylvester was not this way, so I hadn't technically forgotten this, I just never knew it. Sylvest would play lots, but there was also definitely down time. Some friends came over to see him for the first time a few nights ago and they were cracking up at how he just never stops. (Also a reason he's put in the bathroom at night. He doesn't let me sleep!)

5.) They are curious. After having cats I get the old saying, "curiosity killed the cat". Jax likes to check out all the items on the end tables, and then knock them off. After putting the flowers back on the table about 5 times I gave up. They will stay off until he's older. One morning I let him run around while I was in the shower and Sylvest came in the bathroom with me. I come out to find the bedroom trash can knocked over, trash strewn about, and Jax standing in the middle looking at me like "What? I didn't do anything!"

Life with kittens is definitely an adventure; one that provides for some good photos ops and stories! :)

Laboring

This past weekend Keelie and I headed to her parent's cabin near Broken Bow, OK. We spent a lot of time laboring this weekend, on crafts. That was the goal for the weekend; bring all your craft stuff and we'll get as much done as possible. My personal goal was to finish a scrapbook and make a wreath for Keelie's wreath party she is having on her Red Writing blog. I am happy to say that I was successful and even got around to starting on another scrapbook as well. Keelie was VERY successful. She made a purse as part of her wreath party giveaway, got a lot done on a mock scarf for the same giveaway, made a wreath for said giveaway, made a super cute chalkboard decoration with fall embellishments, made a fall swag-like decoration, made a christmas decoration, and made me a frame that I can give my friend as a gift. She is a master crafter.


Keelie & I had planned to leave her house at 8 am but decided to shoot for 9 since we were both still up at midnight the night before. Then as soon as we left her house and got to the next town we had to stop at Hobby Lobby right after they opened for those forgotten supplies. After spending time at Hobby Lobby we were on our way. We started crafting nearly immediately after arriving at the cabin. We were able to get in a few chick flicks while we crafted. Those included Never Been Kissed, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, and Runaway Bride. We also watched a quite a bit of Food Network and I have become a bigger fan of it. We enjoyed some awesome fudge from a local shop, spinach dip and corn dip that we made, along with brownies. We ate out once at a local restaurant that was pretty good, minus the beer soaked veggies. Word to the wise, do not say that a dish comes with a side of mixed veggies when you really mean they are mixed in some strong beer. Not so great! A funny/frustrating event of the weekend was when Keelie lost her crocheting needle in the over-sized chair. It was frustrating that she no longer had her much needed needle and because we could NOT locate it. If was funny because we were moving this chair all over the place, titling it to one side or the other, laying on the floor looking for the blasted needle. It was NEVER found and Keelie's aunt & uncle picked her up another when they headed to Wal-Mart on Sunday. (They were staying in her parent's other cabin nearby.) One of my favs of the weekend was the drive home. Not because we were headed home but because we were sharing old stories and singing old country favs. We always have a lot to talk and reminisce about. I guess that happens when you've been friends over 28 years.

mock scarf in process

quiche for breakfast on Sunday morning; it was delivered to our front door by Keelie's uncle, talk about good service :)

yum spinach dip; think Olive Garden

the awesome purse, which I hope I win

table full of crafts

Check out more pictures from our weekend at Keelie's blog.

Welcome to the Jungle

Margaret's Sunday School class threw her a Baby Shower last Saturday, August 29th. It was a very nice shower with a jungle theme, playing off of her safari nursery theme. We enjoyed lots of good food, super cute decorations, and lots of present opening. Marge & Paul are waiting to find out the sex of the baby, which is due November 10th. He or she is off to a good start with lots of fun shower gifts being given!

part of the spread & decorations

All the food was labeled so cutely. "About to Pop" for the poppy seed muffins, "Babies in a Blanket" for pigs in a blanket, etc. Such a cute idea!

Lots of fun gifts!

Marge & Me

sisters - Elizabeth & Margaret - due 6 days apart

Happy Birthday!!!

I've helped lots of people celebrate their birthdays lately. Deborah's birthday was August 27th and we celebrated by having a surprise dinner for her the Saturday before at Pappadeaux's. She was extremely surprised! We had a blast celebrating with her.

Birthday girl!

Cheese!

Deb loves pigs so I got creative with cupcakes!

Jonah turned 4 on September 2nd and we celebrated the Friday before with a football themed bbq. The kiddos enjoyed coloring footballs, running around with the noise makers, and breaking the pinata. I just can't believe he's already 4 and in pre-school. My how time flies.

cousin Brooks, Jonah, & cousin Mitch

Birthday boy with his new jersey!

Last but not least Courtney turned 27 today! I can't believe my little sister is 27. How is it even possible?! Love her bunches & bunches!

Celebrating at Joe's Crab Shack last Sunday.

I made Court a Coach purse cake. I'm definitely no professional, but she enjoyed it! :)