Deck the Halls

I love the Christmas season. I can't wait until the day after Thanksgiving to break out all my boxes upon boxes of decorations and Christmas cds. The thing I hate, though, is all the mess that decorating the house brings. I guess it isn't a mess, just chaos. Well, I am happy to say that we finished everything last night and our house is on it's way back to order. Yeah! We even trekked out yesterday to, not only one, but two Christmas tree farms to find our perfect tree. The first farm we went to had lots of nice trees but they were all too small for our front room. So, we went to a different one. Kylie had fun riding in her wagon (after we got moving...she wasn't too happy to be woken up and placed into another confining seat... but she got used to it), and when we found our tree, walking around the rows of trees and inspecting the freshly cut trunk of our new Christmas tree.

Birthday Girl!

We had Kylie's first birthday party on Saturday. It was a ton of work but loads of fun.. until the birthday girl got tired and cranky.We had all our family and friends over. Kylie got tons of presents. She is such a loved little girl. She wasn't totally into opening all of them. She seemed to like climbing on them better. She is such a monkey. The cutest part was the cake. Of course. Our little Kylie is such a girl. She wouldn't mash the cake. Instead, she started out licking the icing, the nshe put one finger in and put it in her mouth. Michael and I had to help her dig in. But she had a good time with it.

All about me

Alright, Sarah tagged me to tell 6 things about myself, so here I go...

1. I absolutely love chocolate! If there is any chocolate in our house, it is normally gone within a day. Poor Michael, he hardly ever gets any.

2. I love to cook & bake. It is my time. Michael takes Kylie and I get to spend 30-45 minutes in silence baking/ cooking and relaxing by myself.

3. I hate to shop. Don't get my wrong, I love new clothes and things. But, I despise crowded stores, dressing rooms, lines, and everything that goes with it. Especially during the holiday season. Thank goodness for the internet.

4.I am a piler. I have to have things clean and organized, but I normally clean papers into piles. I have my 'file' pile and my 'do something with this' pile. This drives Michael nuts because he likes things out of sight. So, when I am not around he picks up my piles, mixes them together and shoves them in a drawer or cabinet... normally not remembering which when I ask about it. This drives me crazy!

5. I hate when someone breathes on me... This is normally Michael while we are snuggled up sleeping. The hot breath blowing on me just drive me nuts.

6. I would love to travel the world. I was blessed to go to Italy, Austria, & Hungary when I was 14. But I would love to go back there, and many more places. Michael and I keep telling each other that we will go all over with Kylie to give her as many world experiences as we can. We shall see where life and our funds take us.

Birthday Fun

Michael's birthday was this past Sunday. He didn't want to do anything for it, so we had a family day. It was a lot of fun and low stress which was great. We had a wonderful breakfast, went to church, and then had a picnic lunch (which didn't last long because the cold and wind got the best of us). We went to a nearby forest preserve which is a place we love to go because it is so pretty and peaceful. Kylie had a great time wandering around outside, playing in the leaves, and helping daddy throw the ball for Shea. Later that night, we met Michael's family at Olive Garden to get a good dinner and celebrate. What a great way to spend his birthday!