Our furniture is here!!

Well, the furniture that we order right after Thanksgiving arrived yesterday. So, we spent the evening putting our dishes in the china cabinet and trying to find places for everything. The whole time I am doing this, I cannot help but think we have too much crap. We have dishes from my great-grandmother, our trip to Disneyland Paris, my grandmother's everyday dishes, and the dishes my Mom's parents bought for me when I was born. (This does not include our winter dishes, servings sets, crystal, or more of our everyday!) These are all special to me, especially the ones from my grandparents. I know that I cannot get rid of them but try to use them as often as possible. We sold our wedding china a few months ago since we never used it and we had only a few pieces. Plus, we will be getting my grandmother's china sometime in the future so we didn't need to hold onto those few dishes.
After we got everything mostly in their new places, Chris remarked that this made him feel so grown-up. And really, it does! This is the first furniture we've purchased that we plan on keeping for a REALLY long time. We foolishly bought a complete dining room set when we first married that we are still paying for but we sold it 4 moves ago!! So, this furniture is bought, paid for, and so we love it. I will try to post pics later on but feel free to come by and check it out!
We did eat dinner at the table last night and it was really nice. We bought a seat for Keegan that attaches to the table. The Dees have one that we were able to use when we went over last weekend and Keegan loved it. So, of course, we had to get it. We had hot dogs from Chapp's Cafe and fries (Don't tell my trainer!) After that, my parents came over to see it and we all sat around just talking. It was a fun time to just relax around the table. We hope to have lots more of those times! The first official meal will be Christmas breakfast. I am looking forward to it since that is a tradition that I refuse to let go. Plus, it will be easier on my mom since she will only have to make one thing.

Christmas morning

China cabinet

Our cool light that Mono and Granny got for us for Christmas. The Santas are from Grandnanny. They hung on her chandelier for as long as I can remember.

Our Welsh cubbard with my Liberty Blue dishes.

Is it Christmas yet?

While we lived in Houston, Christmas was a tough time. We had to have what we called "Chris and Sarah Christmas" before Christmas since we spent Christmas in Dallas. We weren't very good about waiting until the date we had specified for S&CC. We tended to go home and wrap the presents for each other and then exchange gifts. Made it a good joke for Mark but it got really hard once we moved up here to wait until Christmas but we've done a great job so far! Now we have to have lots of patience because we can't wait for Keegan to get to play with his cool toys!
We are glad, now we live up here, that we don't have to haul Christmas 200 miles. It was risky and we had to re-wrap presents on multiple occasions. At least living up here saves us that! So many people complain about having to drive around on Christmas Day. For us, we had no choice. We HAD to drive a while to be with family for Christmas. For me, driving around is not a big deal. This year, with our little Sweet Pea, we did have to sit down and have a discussion. We realized that we could not have Keegan in and out of the car all day. Luckily, our families understand and have made family plans spread out.
I love what the Dees are doing. With a newborn and a 2 year old, they are inviting their families to come over for a visit during certain times. That is a great way to be able to actually enjoy the day and not be stressed about getting places on time.
All of this holiday shuffling made me realize how much of a traditionalist I am. I was raised with Christmas Eve with my Mom's family and going to church. Christmas Day, we had breakfast casserole and monkey bread. We'd open presents and relax and enjoy everything. Then, we would pack and leave to go to my Dad's parents' house at Lake Kiowa. We would arrive in the late afternoon. We'd have Christmas dinner and open presents. We would then get ready and go over to the Westfall's house for their annual Christmas party. That was always fun. I really enjoyed going somewhere for Christmas. Some people may not like being away during Christmas but I enjoyed it. As an adult, I miss those set plans. Now, we do something different every year. No set plans. I am hoping for the day when we can have set plans and know weeks in advance what will be going on. That would make things so much less stressful. But that's just me and my inability to plan things at the last minute. Wonder if it is too late to ask Santa for some free-spiritedness.

In the Christmas spirit, FINALLY!

So we made it through the three Christmas parties for Chris's work. They were all fun, even the one we usually dread. That was a surprise for us. Luckily, they did have the same jazz band but we missed their signature piece, "Smooth Operator" - DARN!
We did have a busy weekend. I had rehearsal for our church's Christmas musical on Saturday morning. After that, we headed over to the Highlands in Arlington to have Keegan's pictures taken with Santa. He did great! Santa knew it was his first time to see Keegan face-to-face so he made sure to talk to Keegan and not immediately hold him. The pictures turned out cute! We then headed over to Orvis because they had Golden Retriever Rescue of North Texas there with some of their dogs. We had to go over and see them so Chris could get his golden fix. We know that our next dog will be a rescued golden. Don't worry. We aren't getting one any time soon. We know that we cannot have more then two dogs. But we wanted to go see them and have Keegan check them out. He kept staring at them. I guess they are the biggest dogs he has seen. We bought one of their calendars and asked a few questions and then headed off for lunch. Afterwards, we headed home. We were gone so much during the week that we needed to have some time at home. Keegan really enjoyed it. He'd play for a bit then get hungry. He'd eat and then take a nap. Granted, he did not want to take a nap but he would drift off while laying on my chest, with his head on my shoulder. That just makes my heart melt!
Sunday was a really good day. We had church. We are teaching the 3-4 year olds this month. It has been such a joy to have Chris help me this month. The kids really seem to like him there, too. They are so funny! We had lunch with my parents and Grandnanny at Outlaws and then headed home for an afternoon of watching the DVR (we are three weeks behind!) and laundry. We dropped Keegan of at Nanny's and t hey all took him to church for the children's program. We had an official date night! We had dinner at House of Blues and saw Chris's favorite band, Sister Hazel. They performed from their Christmas album and did some of their hits. It was a nice mix of both. Hearing their Christmas songs really put me in the holiday mood. It also helps that we actually have cold weather! Some people were complaining that they sang holiday songs but it said on the tickets that it was a holiday performance. We enjoyed the time together and the music was great. They had the stage decorated with two Christmas trees and Christmas lights. They even had their mike stands decorated with lights! It was the first Christmas show I have ever attended and realized I need to go to one every year. It was so neat sitting there and singing along. Granted, SH does have a great Christmas CD!

Aw...nuts!

So, the other night, we were out delivering furniture. We dropped off the hutch at my cousin's house and then stopped at Chapp's Cafe in SGP for dinner. They have the best hot dogs! Anyways, after dinner, I almost hit a kid with the door as we were leaving. This group of teenage boys were skateboarding right outside the entrance. Well, Chris and I, being the old codgers we are, start mumbling about how they aren't supposed to be skateboarding on the sidewalk. They even have a sign that says so! So, we are getting settled in the car and we look up to see one of the kids going to jump the curb. Well, he moved wrong and lost his balance. But this kid must be one over-achiever because he fell right on his boy parts. We bust out laughing. He's rolling around on the ground and his trusty friends are just skating around him. We start driving away and the kid starts standing up. But he stands up like a crab with his legs really bent and his arms bent inwards. The kid is in obvious pain and we are still laughing. Chris jokes that the kid should run over to Baskin Robbins for some ice cream to help cool things off. The kid then starts crab running which is such a sight. Then we notice the he is indeed making his way to Baskin Robbins which makes us laugh even more. Granted it was something you had to be there to truly enjoy but it was something I had to share.

It's party time!

This week is the week of Christmas parties for Chris's work. We had our first one last night at the Amon Carter. It was a good time even though I only knew about 3 people there. The food was really good. They had a chocolate fountain with Godiva chocolate - YUM! There was also a really cool exhibit of Frank Golkhe photographs. The really interesting ones were from the 1979 tornado that hit Wichita Falls. He took pictures right after the tornado and then again 14 months later. It was really interesting to see what changes had been made and what was still there. We have a party tomorrow night at the Old Red Courthouse. I can't wait! That is a really cool museum. Granted, I'm a geek that way. Then we have a party on Friday night that is a casino night. Not really our thing but it's a chance for Chris to schmooze some more. They have blackjack and poker which I'm not good at. Now, if they had a slap jack table, I would so be there!!
Keegan had a great night at his Nanny's house. He entertained Nanny and Grandnanny. He is so funny!! He is starting to make talking sounds so it is like he is trying to say what you say. Sometimes, he just looks at you and grabs your face and yells. What did we do before he came?
Oh and Keegan is in a photo contest again this month. Just click here once a day to vote. You can vote from one Ip address each day so vote from home and work. I have no idea what we will win but it makes for a fun month!

Happy Turkey Day!

Well, we survived so many things last week. We first survived both of us being off and having Keegan all day. I was kinda worried about it since we can only get him to nap 20 minutes at best on the weekends. Monday he really didn't nap and was kinda cranky. On Tuesday, we finally just put him in his crib and let him cry until he fell asleep. We have no idea where he gets this refusal to sleep as we wake up and can't wait to go back to sleep! We believe that he thinks we are so much fun that he doesn't want to miss a minute of being with us =). Keegan did reach some big milestones during the week. One important was that he has started sitting up by himself! It is so cool to see our little guy just start sitting up one day. He loves for us to put a blanket on the floor and spread his toys out. He will reach and grab for things. When he gets bored, he will fall over so that he can be on his tummy. This milestone gives him a new sense of freedom and we get to bring out new kinds of toys - YEAH! That means a whole bunch of new songs to learn. Keegan also turned 6 months old on Thanksgiving Day. We fed him sweet potatoes. He loved them! He kept sticking his tongue out like he didn't want a bit of it to be wasted.

Yum!

This leads to the other thing he learned this week - how to stick out his tongue. It is his favorite pasttime. If you stick your tongue out at him, he will mimic you and do the same. The first time, he did it to my mom. Chris and I busted out laughing and it scared Keegan. We were afraid that he wouldn't do it anymore but out fears were so useless. He does it all the time!! It makes us laugh and that makes him laugh.

Check our outfit out!

We had a really great Thanksgiving. We spent the morning watching the parades and being lazy. We headed up to Chris's Dad's for lunch. Josh's family was there too and we all had a good time just being a family.

Napping with Pawpi

We then headed over to Mono's house to visit with his mom's side of the family for a bit. Then we headed over to my parent's house for dinner.

Bib before

Bib after

That was really nice as Chad and Trey joined us for dinner. We also were blessed with having Clark and Traci Harbaugh join us. We haven't visited with them in a while so it was great to catch up. By the time we made our way down the alley, we were tired.

We left early the next morning and headed for Salado. We meet up with Chris's mom and family down there for a weekend full of shopping and family fun. We had such a great time.

Napping with Daddy

What happy boy!

Not a lot of great shopping but lots of laughs. Our room was connected to Josh's room. Caleb and Cole thought that was so cool! Keegan had a great time hanging out with his cousins. He loves his uncle Josh, that is for sure! Josh would how it and Keegan would reach for his face and just giggle. So cute! He is not too sure of Aunt Diane, though. I think I have figured out that wither Chris or I need to hold him and talk to the person before they address him. Otherwise, he starts crying when they talk to him.
We left early on Sunday to head home. We went and bought new living room furniture (YEAH!!), and then bought our Christmas tree. We pent the evening decorating it. Keegan just stares at it. The cats, of course, love it. They can escape from the dogs underneath it. We also put non-breakable ornaments on the bottoms part of the tree for them to play with. Now we just need to wrap presents and put them under the tree!!

Answer me this....

How is that, even when I am sick and coughing and feeling just horrible, just one look at my son and seeing his smile makes me feel better? It must truly a little blessing from heaven. This week has been rough with both Chris (food posioning from Atlanta Bread Company) and I sick (congested and coughing). Neither of us has had much energy but seeing that little boy makes all our yucky feelings go away. We keep asking ourselves, "What did we do before he came along?" He wakes up happy even though he has had ear infections over the past couple of weeks. One ear cleared up and then the other one got infected. We are hoping that this is not something he inherited from his Dad who had to have tubes in his ears. that would not be fun.

We went to Toys R Us on Sunday to pre-shop for K's 1st Christmas. So many cool things! We can't wait for Christmas Eve and Christmas morning to come so we can celebrate our 1st Christmas together. I did find a cool website that is a resale place for Little Tykes kind of toys. You know, the outdoor playthings, kitchens, car beds, etc. I called yesterday and if you buy two or more things, you get a discount. How cool!!

Oh, FYI, I am having a Lia Sophia party on November 30th at 7. They have beautiful jewelry. It runs what you would pay in the stores but they have all sorts of discounts and specials. I walked out with over $300 worth of sparklies for $130!! I love a bargain!! If you want more details, let me know.

On a sadder note, Chris's cousin Steve's wife Debbie (ok, that is a long chain of names) dies suddenly last week. She had surgery and was recovering at home. Steve is usually out of the country with his job for Nokia but he was in town last week. He went to work and left Debbie at home with a friend who was taking care of her for the day. Sometime in the morning, Debbie had a seizure and died before the paramedics could reach her. It was so sad. She was a special person and had various disabilities but she loved Steve so much. She was 37. They did not have children. I do not think they were going to in case Debbie's disabilities were hereditary but she had said something about adopting. Chris and I went to the funeral. It was REALLY long and left me feeling so empty. I could not help but think that this is so not the was Debbie was. She was full of life and love for other people. Steve did the best in summing up Debbie. He told a few choice stories about their 7 years together and really brought out the Debbie we all knew. My heart breaks so much for him. He is a fantastic man, very caring and responsible. He is just an all around great guy. To have this tragedy happen so young in their married life saddens me so much. But I was listening to the radio yesterday and "Homesick" by Mercy Me came on and totally reminded me of how Steve might be feeling. He knows she is with her Father and that brings him some relief but he must miss her so. For me, I am not sad about her passing because she is now free from her limitations and who could think of a better place to be than with their Father? But I grieve for Steve. He reminds me of Shel Silverstein's "The Giving Tree" because he gives so much to his family. He is in my prayers now and for the next few months as he struggles through the holidays without Debbie.