A busy Christmas season

Before I give you a recap of our marathon of Christmases, we had lots of smaller events during this Christmas season. It's such a shame this time of the year is so busy, hardly being able to think of Christ's birth. But I do kinda love the busyness and all the time with friends and family that comes with this time of the year, and I'm always sad when it's over.

The weekend before Christmas was a busy one. Friday night I went to Brittany M's personal shower. It was a lot of fun, and there was lots of great ideas for some of my friends in the future. ;) Brittany is marrying someone from Roanoke which I am extremely excited about... finally one of my good friends will be there! Can't wait to see her twice a week! :)

Saturday was a busy one. I had maybe procrastinated with cleaning/making food for Saturday night when the "Core 4" as we used to call it, came over. So Saturday I got to do a lot of grocery shopping, cooking/baking, and lots of cleaning. Daniel is so good with helping me out though and I'm so thankful. He was the designated dish washer, and he dealt with me running around like crazy. We make a good team. :)

Here we all are in our little tiny kitchen. Our first official potluck, and the first time I had ever hosted an official potluck. :) Troy finally has a guy to keep him company, and now us girls have a little baby to fight over. :) Seth & Adam came over for a bit and crashed the party...which is who got to take this picture for us. :)

Little Cyrus...oh he is getting so big and is so so precious!

Kendra holding Cyrus

Sunday night Daniel & I had our own Christmas. We got some take-out food and ate at home. We just relaxed, opened presents, and watched a Christmas movie. It was wonderful. After church on Sunday's we always go to one of our parents, and we had never had a Sunday at home. So it was super nice to be able to do that for once.

The typical Christmas pose in front of tree. Our first Christmas together. :)

Stay tuned...

Friends

Although we are busy people, I( and Daniel does too, thank goodness!) love my friends and having them over. We don't do as well as we should, but it's always a good time when we do.

In November I had a "bridesmaids night." Although it turned out to be a few more than that, because not everyone could come. So it was just all(or most) of my good friends. We had tacos and just sat around and talked. And laughed a lot.

Some left before this picture was taken, so my apologies for those who didn't make it in the picture!

 Jenna, Kristin S, Elisabeth, Kendra & I

I think Daniel will be excited once some of my friends get married, and he's not the only guy. :)

Last week Katie May was in town and came over for an evening. The other Schick girls couldn't make it, so Adam joined us. I made dinner, chatted, and played "Ticket to Ride."

 Such a fun night, and so good to see my long lost cousin!!

Blessings!

Thanksgiving Weekend

Thanksgiving weekend was once again, a packed weekend. But so wonderful. It was so wonderful to have a 4 day weekend... I could take that all the time! It was so great to get so much done and spend so much time with family.

We went to Roanoke for church on Thanksgiving day. We had lunch with the Leman's, (just Daniel's siblings), and it was great to have the whole gang together. Plus Grandma & Grandpa Knapp.

 Shiloh & Letty. Awhh they are so precious.

 Little Asher, Robert & Mary's little baby. He is soo precious, and I got to hold him a lot. :) Made my day!

Waiting for the feast: Jodi, Mary, Gabe, Robert, & Shiloh 

 After all of the dishes were done, it was game time!

 Daniel with (almost) all of his brothers

 Mom L holding little Asher.

At about 4 we made our way to my parents house to spend time with my immediate family. They were together the entire day, but we only made it for dinner obviously. :)

 Dinner in the dining room. I wonder how long this will last... I think the kids will quickly get put in the kitchen. :)

 Us :)

 We brought the game of Settlers out. I forgot how much that game stresses me out. Actually one of our new favorite games is Ticket to Ride....and I get SO stressed out about that one. I'm not sure why...

I crack up at this picture every time I see it. Carter had pneumonia and RSV, so he had to get breathing treatments and certainly was not a fan. It was a 2 person effort.

 Little dolly, so precious.

 I just absolutely love this photo. So so precious.

So that was our Thanksgiving day. Lots of food and family. So perfect, I wouldn't want to spend it any other way!

Friday Daniel had to work, so I pulled out the Christmas decorations I had, and also went shopping for more. :) I got a Christmas tree, second hand, which I was thrilled about! I'm not sure if Daniel was too thrilled about it however. :) It is a little large for our apartment, I'll just say that. :) I'll have to take a picture. :)

So Friday I spent the day trying to get my house organized and my tree up. But I did make time to go visit Ellie and baby Cyrus. Oh my word. SO precious.

 Cyrus Matthew

 Ellie & Cyrus

It was so good to go hang out with them for the morning. Ah, I think they need visitors! :)

Saturday was spent doing thank you notes. Yes, I'm STILL doing them. I think I have about 100 more to go! They will not end, I'm telling you! I will be so excited when they're done. Maybe my house won't get so neglected!

Saturday night we went hunting. We didn't see any deer, but we did see a beautiful sunset. The picture doesn't do it justice.

 We had a siblings night at Fred & Jodi's that night. We ordered pizza and played games. It was a lot of fun. And of course Letty was as cute as ever, and loved having people over!

Saturday night we stayed all night at my parents, and went to church with them on Sunday. Haha... yeah, that visit was a little belated. We hadn't both been in Washington since our wedding. Whoops. I sure hope we can do better in the future. Once Daniel doesn't have to work any more Sunday's it will be a lot easier to make it there and other places too.

Sunday was spent with my family, more games, and going out to eat in the evening. With Bridget & Carter....never a dull moment at the restaurant with them!

I'm so excited it's the Christmas season. I love it. I love everything about it, specifically listening to Christmas music at work everyday and sitting around at home with all of the greens/lights in our living room. Haha, Daniel told me he feels like he lives in a forest. :) Whoops. Maybe all of these decorations will look better once we're in a house and not an apartment. :)

Hope you all get your Christmas shopping done! I haven't started! :/

Packed Weekend

In October, we had an action packed weekend. I'm so thankful for the weekends though to spend time with family and friends that we don't see at all during the week.

Friday night was Carter's 1st birthday!! This little bud is a mommy's boy, and doesn't always like his aunts and uncles too well, but he's still such a sweetie!

He had a big sister who LOVED to "help" him with his gifts. Or do it for him. Bridget thought it was her birthday again! :)

 Carter got a play push mower which he was a little scared of. Or he just never got the chance discover it himself... :)

 Who needs a birthday party when you have your thumb? This little guy LOVES his thumb.

 Hyde made a darling cow cake

 He looks kind of terrified. :)

yumm... cake!

 But once again he just wants the thumb. :)

Saturday morning Daniel and I got up early and went hunting. This was the first time I had ever gone. My brothers have always tried to get me to go hunting, but I said I would if my husband did. So that's what I'm doing now. :) Of course I don't have a bow, but Daniel has a tree with two stands next to each other. I even brought my camera out with me. :) Sadly, we didn't see any deer, but it was good bonding time! :)

 Daniel with the sunrise in the background

Me. :)

After hunting we went to Fred & Jodi's until we went out for breakfast with them and Joe to Busy Corner. A perfect way to end a morning of hunting. 

  Daniel's brother Joe came back home from PA in mid-October and has been here since. It's been great to have him around!

After breakfast I spend the afternoon with Kendra walking and talking as much as we could in a few hours. :) That night we went to our first potluck cookout that Fred & Jodi hosted. Some young couples from Roanoke started a potluck, which I thought would be good so I could get to know some of the people I go to church with. :)

The hostess... Fred & Jodi. Or Frodi as we like to call them. :)

Little Letty, the only child in the group so far. So so precious. She finally acts like she knows me, and holds her arms out to me quite often! :)

Saturday night after potluck we spent the night at my parents house. Sunday we celebrated Uncle Ken and Aunt Sandy's 40th wedding anniversary, so we went to Eureka church with them and most of the Pfaffmann's. In the evening we went to Jared & Sarah's for dessert, had a slideshow of the last 40 years, and of course had some family time.

They had the whole cake and punch table set up and everything. Her daughters tried to do a replica of their wedding cake. This couple is SO so special to me! Everyone says I look like my Aunt Sandy. Whatcha think? :)

 Mom, Elise, Aunt Lily, and Jake & Janell's TWIN girls: Annie & Sophie. It's the 3rd set of twins on the Pfaff side of the family!

It was at Jared & Sarah's house

Us & my parents

Onto other weekend news... we went hunting again one Saturday morning. FYI, I've been out three times. :) In the evening Daniel & I babysat Bridget & Carter...and Luke came too.

Mr. Carter. He actually LOVED me that night! Probably because his parents weren't around. :)

Well that's all for now folks! Blessings!