Christmas is one of our favorite holidays. Anthony and I truly enjoy shopping for our family and friends, creating our goodie packages of cookies and candies that we mail out each year, baking for our friends and family, wrapping gifts, decorating and all the other fun festivities that come along this time of year.
One of my favorite things about Christmas, though, is the music. When we get so wrapped up in the festivities and the chores that have to get done, the music has the power to bring us back around to the true meaning of Christmas.
Before Thanksgiving, I bought and started listening to Josh Groban's new Christmas cd. He has one of the most beautiful voices, and it gives me chills to listen to the words of these songs we all know so well. I was a little disappointed that the following song was not included on the cd, so I'm posting it here so I can pull it up and listen to it every day - easy access!
I hope this Christmas season brings you all peace, joy and many blessings. Enjoy the time you have with your loved ones, and remember to give thanks for the real meaning of Christmas.
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Thanksgiving 2007
We decided to stay home this Thanksgiving because Anthony had to work the day after Turkey Day :( . It was great to celebrate Thanksgiving in our own home for the very first time! Andrea joined us in celebrating!
We cooked waaaay too much food, but it was all delish! I am especially proud of my dressing. Copying a recipe that was perfected by my Nannie (and the recipe is not really written down anywhere with exact measurements - she just always knew how to make it just right!)was tough, but I did it!
Thursday was Also Anthony and my 9th dating anniversary! I know, a little silly to keep track of that, but it's still a special day! And it's also the half year mark from our wedding anniversary!
And even though we didn't have Mom and her sisters there with us, we're sadly ;) taking after all of them...we couldn't put the camera down! I'll spare you the pain of looking at all of our goofy pictures, but here are a few of the good ones!
Zoe didn't like taking pictures! Bah humbug!
We cooked waaaay too much food, but it was all delish! I am especially proud of my dressing. Copying a recipe that was perfected by my Nannie (and the recipe is not really written down anywhere with exact measurements - she just always knew how to make it just right!)was tough, but I did it!
Thursday was Also Anthony and my 9th dating anniversary! I know, a little silly to keep track of that, but it's still a special day! And it's also the half year mark from our wedding anniversary!
And even though we didn't have Mom and her sisters there with us, we're sadly ;) taking after all of them...we couldn't put the camera down! I'll spare you the pain of looking at all of our goofy pictures, but here are a few of the good ones!
Zoe didn't like taking pictures! Bah humbug!
We're Homeowners!!
Yep, we finally did it! We closed on our new home October 30! The sellers leased it back from us for a few days, so we didn't actually start moving in until November 1.
The first order of business was to repaint - and when I say repaint, I mean repaint everything. Seeing that we've never painted an entire 2200+ square foot house before, we didn't know what to expect! Boy is it time consuming and expensive! But it's coming along nicely and is worth every penny!! We've almost said goodbye to all of the horrible pink walls!
Yes, I said PINK!!
We moved most of our stuff over by ourselves and had movers take care of the big items. We're still trying to get all of the boxes unpacked!
Zoe is absolutely LOVING her new backyard! She's never been able to run and chase her ball (and us!) off of her leash unless we were visiting our parents outside of the big city! She is having a blast!
My commute time has gone from 15 minutes to about 30-35, but it's really not that bad! I've actually made it to work early the past few weeks (I used to be 5 minutes late every day)! Anthony's commute is about 20-30 minutes, even though he works only 12 miles away from the house. The only super long drive is the drive home from school at night. Only two more years of that drive, though!
So, that's the lowdown on the new house! It feels funny to talk about "our house," but it's slowly sinking in that it really is ours!
The first order of business was to repaint - and when I say repaint, I mean repaint everything. Seeing that we've never painted an entire 2200+ square foot house before, we didn't know what to expect! Boy is it time consuming and expensive! But it's coming along nicely and is worth every penny!! We've almost said goodbye to all of the horrible pink walls!
Yes, I said PINK!!
We moved most of our stuff over by ourselves and had movers take care of the big items. We're still trying to get all of the boxes unpacked!
Zoe is absolutely LOVING her new backyard! She's never been able to run and chase her ball (and us!) off of her leash unless we were visiting our parents outside of the big city! She is having a blast!
My commute time has gone from 15 minutes to about 30-35, but it's really not that bad! I've actually made it to work early the past few weeks (I used to be 5 minutes late every day)! Anthony's commute is about 20-30 minutes, even though he works only 12 miles away from the house. The only super long drive is the drive home from school at night. Only two more years of that drive, though!
So, that's the lowdown on the new house! It feels funny to talk about "our house," but it's slowly sinking in that it really is ours!
Monday, November 19, 2007
To Ohio and Back!
We flew to Ohio October 24th and enjoyed a brief visit with the family! We bought Anthony's Grandpa Shaw's car, so we flew up there to drive it home. It was a great mini-vacation (all 2 days we were there!), and we even enjoyed the two-day ride back home!
Here are a few pics of our visit with the family.
Anthony with his Grandpa Joe and Ofelia
Anthony with his Grandma Lou
Us with Grandma Shaw
We flew up there with one suitcase and came home with a car loaded down with stuff! Grandma Shaw was sweet enough to send us home with some of her Christmas china, decorations and such. Of course, Grandma Lou also had gifts and goodies for us.
We left Perrysburg at 6:30 am (Eastern time!) that Saturday and began our trip home. We made a few pit stops to see the sights along the way.
Here we are at the Cincinnati Red's Great American Ballpark
And in Louisville at the Louisville Slugger Factory
We also stopped for dinner in Downtown Memphis for some authentic Tennessee ribs! It was great, but we didn't take any pictures!! We ended the day in Little Rock after about 17 hours of fun! The next morning we made it home without any problems!
It was a great trip, and we can't wait to go back and see the family again!!
Here are a few pics of our visit with the family.
Anthony with his Grandpa Joe and Ofelia
Anthony with his Grandma Lou
Us with Grandma Shaw
We flew up there with one suitcase and came home with a car loaded down with stuff! Grandma Shaw was sweet enough to send us home with some of her Christmas china, decorations and such. Of course, Grandma Lou also had gifts and goodies for us.
We left Perrysburg at 6:30 am (Eastern time!) that Saturday and began our trip home. We made a few pit stops to see the sights along the way.
Here we are at the Cincinnati Red's Great American Ballpark
And in Louisville at the Louisville Slugger Factory
We also stopped for dinner in Downtown Memphis for some authentic Tennessee ribs! It was great, but we didn't take any pictures!! We ended the day in Little Rock after about 17 hours of fun! The next morning we made it home without any problems!
It was a great trip, and we can't wait to go back and see the family again!!
We're Alive!
Sorry for the lack of new posts lately. To say that we've been busy is an understatement! We've had a lot of great things happen this past month, and I'll do my best to get pictures and updates posted asap! Stay tuned...
Zoe says hi, too.
Zoe says hi, too.
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