Happy Birthday, Sharon!

After our Christmas festivities, we celebrated Sharon's birthday! Sharon's birthday is December 25, and her birthday is always celebrated in the evening.

I'm very thankful for Sharon and the wonderful mother and mother-in-law that she is. She is a wonderful example of a wife, loving Sammy so well. She is a caring, giving person. She always puts others first and is very selfless. Sharon shows her love by giving to others and doing for others. She is one of the most generous people that I know. I am so thankful for her and all that she does for Aaron and me. Happy birthday, Sharon! I hope this day was filled with joy for you!

Merry Christmas!

As I said before, I love Christmas and all the things that come with Christmas. I love spending time with family for Christmas, especially since our family has grown so much. My family's tradition has always been to go to San Antonio for Christmas. We spend Christmas Eve eating tamales, menudo (which I don't eat), and KFC. The KFC tradition started with my grandpa when my cousins, sisters, and I were little. We wouldn't eat the tamales, so my grandpa would get us KFC. My uncle continues that tradition still. Aaron and I went to San Antonio yesterday. We rode down with Monica and Matt. The whole family, which has grown this year with Claire and Scarlett, got together at my aunt's house for Christmas Eve. It was so much fun, and I loved meeting Scarlett! This morning, Aaron and I flew back to Dallas to spend Christmas with his family. It was a wonderful day! I hope your Christmas was as wonderful as mine! I hope you celebrated the birth of Jesus with people that you love! Merry Christmas!

Two Projects in One Day... This is a Record!

The last day of school was Friday, so I took it upon myself to really take it easy yesterday.  I took a shower at some point yesterday morning, but I never dried my hair or put on makeup.  I love days like that.  I finally ventured out right before the massive downpour to finish up the last of my Christmas shopping.  One of my stops was Hobby Lobby, so I picked up a styrofoam floral wreath and some yarn.  Last year I had a hard time finding a wreath that I really liked for the winter months after Christmas.  I finally found a wreath that I liked, but it's more of a springtime wreath.  I decided that I would just make my own wreath this year.

This morning, after my shower, I decided to finally be productive.  But I wasn't in the mood to start cleaning my house or getting anything on my list done, so I made my wreath instead.  The yarn is light blue and white.  I bought the 'A' at Hobby Lobby and painted it white.  Total time for the wreath was probably 2 or 2 1/2 hours.  I finally have a wreath I love for January!  This wreath also cost me maybe $20 total, but probably a little less.  All I needed was the styrofoam wreath, hot glue gun, yarn, wooden letter, and some paint!

A work in progress...

The finished product!

Since this wreath was so easy, I decided to go ahead and make one for February too!  I got this styrofoam wreath, wooden hearts, and yarn from Michael's since I needed to go to Target and it was next door.  I made this wreath the same way, and painted these hearts.  This also cost me probably less than $20 to make.

Valentine's Day Wreath

I made both of these wreaths and managed to cross everything off my list for today!  Maybe one of these days I'll actually take a break when I'm on break from school, just not yet!

Christmas Cheer

Christmas is hands down my favorite time of the year.  We have gotten to celebrate with friends and family, and Christmas hasn't even arrived yet!

On Wednesday, Aaron and I had plans to look at lights from the comfort of a limo with our sweet friends Courtney and Marc, Andrea and Chris, and Stacey and Jay.  However, Baby Dane couldn't wait to make his appearance in the world.  Courtney came to work on Tuesday morning, but left not long after to head to the hospital.  Instead of a limo and lights, we headed to the hospital on Wednesday to meet sweet Dane and take dinner to Courtney and Marc.  Dane is a sweet, precious baby, and I loved every minute of getting to meet him and hold him.  He's a little thing, and I love him!  It was definitely better than looking at lights!

On Thursday, the Everitt/BitsyBug/LPR Christmas Party was at the Bowlin's house.  Stephanie's brother, Sean, cooked for us.  Dinner was delicious!  Sean is a chef at Fearing's at the Ritz-Carlton.  He can cook!  One of the best parts of the Everitt Christmas Party is always the Secret Santa exchange.  Everyone is required to wrap the gift they are giving so that the recipient is very obvious.  It's always pretty funny, and I like to see how the person who gave to Aaron wraps his gift.  This year, Aaron's gift was wrapped in red paper with Buddy Holly glasses on it.  The glasses had tape around them.  It was too funny for two reasons.  Aaron is a little bit of a nerd, and before he got new glasses, he held his together with tape.

Yesterday Aaron and I celebrated Christmas with my mom, dad, Monica, Matt, Adelina, Reed, and Claire.  We always go to San Antonio to spend Christmas with my mom's family.  A few years ago we realized that it was better to open gifts together here instead of taking them all to San Antonio with us.  We ate tamales and opened our gifts.  I love spending this time with my family.

Merry Christmas, Sweet Claire!

 

Monica, Adelina, and I are in charge of desserts for Christmas Eve, so we'll be baking on Thursday.  This is our second year to make the desserts.  We'll be baking several different desserts, but no sugar cookies.  We burned them last year, and by the time they were ready to be decorated, we were ready to be done!  Aaron and I will be going to San Antonio on Christmas Eve, and we'll fly back to Dallas Christmas Day to spend the day with Aaron's family and celebrate Sharon's birthday!

Thankful

Thanksgiving came and went without a hitch!  I am thankful for so many things this year, I know I can't list all of them.

Aaron and I hosted Thanksgiving at our house for the first time.  I am thankful that we have a home that allowed us space for 16 people to gather and spend time together.  I am thankful that we only had to do Thanksgiving once this year since both of our families are in Dallas.  Normally, we spend part of the day with my family wherever they are, then the other part of the day with the Arnolds.  Our first Thanksgiving was spent at the hospital with the Arnolds because Brian was having surgery.  This year, I am thankful that everyone is healthy and doing well.

I am thankful for our families.  I love my sisters, and I was so sad not to spend Thanksgiving with them this year.  Adelina, Reed, and Claire spent Thanksgiving with Reed's family.  Monica and Matt headed to Lubbock to spend Thanksgiving with Matt's family.  I am thankful that my sisters have these wonderful families that they enjoy spending time with.  I am thankful for Brian and how much fun we have with him.  Since he no longer lives with Sammy and Sharon, we don't see him as much, but we always have a good time with him!  I am thankful for Claire, and for the joy that she brings to our family.  Adelina sent me a video of Claire laughing so hard at Reed making noises.  It was the most precious sound, and I loved hearing her laugh.  I am thankful for my parents and Sammy and Sharon.  Both my parents and Aaron's parents have been married for 33 years.  We are so blessed to have parents that show us how marriage works, and that it is not always easy, but it is so worth it to work through the tough times.

I am thankful that Aaron and I have jobs that allows us to have a home, our cars, and enjoy the things we love!  I am especially thankful that my job allows me to have a week of rest at Thanksgiving.  It has been a wonderful week, and I am a little sad to see it end.

Last, but absolutely not least, I am thankful for my little family.  Aaron is the best husband, and I could not have asked for more.  He is kind and caring, and a wonderful chef!  Brody and Lily are sweet animals, and they bring us so much laughter on nights when we are just sitting around.  I am beyond thankful for the many blessings God has given me.

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving, and ate well!

BOO!!

I realize that Halloween was about a month ago, so this post is really late.  But, I just now decided to upload the very few pictures I took this Halloween onto my computer.  The five pictures taken were all of Claire, because she really was the only thing worth getting a picture of on Halloween.  Maybe I should have gotten one of Adelina too, because she really took the mom role to heart and wore an awesome pumpkin headband.  I love my sister, and all the things that make her uniquely her.

Claire was a ghost for Halloween, the cutest ghost you've ever seen.  I can be biased; Claire is adorable, and I made her costume.  My love for her is shown by making her costumes that result in glitter being all over me, and none left on the tulle for her skirt.

Hope you had a safe Halloween!

Cuter than Casper.

Celebrating Gabriela and Scarlett

I love babies, and I love that so many important people in my life have recently had or will have babies in the near future.

This past weekend, my sisters and I hosted a baby shower for my cousin Gabriela, along with her sister, Carissa, and her sister-in-law, Tila.  It was wonderful to celebrate Gabriela and Scarlett, her baby girl set to make her appearance in November!

Gabriela... she's very cute pregnant!

Cousins

 Gabriela and Adelina are only a couple of months apart in age, and their little girls will only be a few months apart as well.  That is something that I love!  Adelina and Gabriela are not only cousins, but close friends.  I can't wait to see their little girls grow up as close as they did.

Adelina and Gabriela

Saturday morning, Adelina, Monica, Claire, my mom, and I loaded up and headed to San Antonio.  We stopped first at Gabriela and Dean's house so we could see Scarlett's nursery.  It is adorable, with wonderful personal touches.  It's just how I would picture it.

The shower was Sunday morning, and it was so much fun!  There was such a variety of food, and all of it tasted wonderful!  A diaper wreath welcomed guests, and a well wishing tree allowed guests to write sweet messages to Gabriela, Dean and Scarlett.

Monica made this adorable well wishing tree.

This diaper wreath was so easy and fun to make!  Plus, it makes a really cute door decoration at the hospital!

 Guests were asked to bring a book in place of a card, so Scarlett's library is off to a great start!  Gabriela received so many wonderful gifts.  Scarlett is set when she arrives!  I can't wait to meet you, Scarlett!