Thanksgiving 2010

We had a pretty non-traditional Thanksgiving this year. Neil's parents, brother, sister, and us headed to Dallas to watch the Saints stomp the Cowboys. Bennett had the privilege of going with "Dammy" to Oneonta, AL to spend Thanksgiving with my side of the family. We left around lunch time on Wednesday. It was hard to leave a house that was still in boxes, but some how we found a way.

We arrived in Dallas and met Nelson Hunt (a distant cousin of the Lewis'). He used the extra ticket to the game. I was excited because while they had coffee, I went to Crate and Barrel!

We took a Saints garb family photo before the game. This is going on Richard and Janine's Christmas card.

Neil and me

Beau and Leigh drove over on Thanksgiving morning to go to the game with us. They love the games as much as we do.

Cowboys stadium was HUMONGOUS! We knew that our seats were going to be pretty high up, but not near as high as we were. We were literally 5 rows from the ceiling of the stadium. We all had vertigo as we walked up the 20 flights of stairs to get to our seats. With the Jumbo-trons, there is really not a bad seat in the place, though. Keith Urban was the half-time entertainment. They showed him and Nicole on the Jumbo-tron with their daughter.

Lindsey and Kyle Allen happened to be in the section right next to ours. No one ever came to the 2 seats in front of us so they moved near us!

Our half-time entertainment..Keith Urban.

We had a great time with family at the Saints game. The Saints won! It was a nail-biter, but they pulled it off. Thanks for everything Richard and Janine!

I borrowed these photos from my cousins facebook page. It looked like Bennett had a great time in Oneonta, Alabama with my side of the family. My grandfather (Grump) has a few sisters and brothers and they rent a big cabin on Highland Lake. My mom said there was so much food and tons of people.

Uncle Michael, Bennett, Jason and Carrie Baehr, Uncle Mike, Charlie, Courtney, Steve, Aunt Carolyn, Grump, Mom and Cal (only thing missing is me and Neil!)

Uncle Frank and Bennett had a great time!

Cute boy!

We all got back home on Friday. It was the longest trip home from Dallas ever. LONGEST. TRIP. EVER. We left our hotel around 10:30 and headed to Allen, TX to go to the outlet mall. We were only about 20 minutes away from the mall. We used the Garmin, I-phone GPS, and numerous people to give us directions and they all failed miserably. We made it to the mall after 3 hours of driving around aimlessly. It was awful. We arrived at the mall and it was so crowded that we didn't really even buy anything. We headed to Central Market and then finally got on the road home. Central Market is awesome by the way. We need one in Shreveport!

On Saturday, we woke up and had a list a mile long to get done. We successfully unpacked almost every box. I am so glad because I cannot stand to have boxes every where. Kyle and Lindsey happened to be staying with his dad in Shreveport so they stopped by to see the house and then we went to Good Eats.

All in all, it has been a great, productive Thanksgiving Break. I still need about another week off to get everything done though!

Thankful

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours! What are you thankful for this year? We always go around the table at Thanksgiving every year at Thanksgiving and say one thing we are thankful for right after the prayer and right before we eat.

I decided to make a list of things I am thankful for this year...in random order

• Family

• Our home
• Jesus
• Our Sunday School class
• My job (even though I don't act like it sometimes!)
• Neil (I realize he is in the family category, but I thought he deserved his own bullet point.

• Days off of work to spend with family
• Lazy weekends
• Friends

• Food
• Blogging (It has made memory keeping so easy because nowadays I just don't have time to scrapbook)
• My health
• Education

There are so many things to be thankful for when you really start thinking about it. There are too many to list! Happy Thanksgiving 2010!

The BIG Move

Boy was this an ordeal!!! We have had our house on the market since August with a Realtor. We finally had an offer that we accepted in October when we were in Nashville. We haven't been talking a ton about it just in case something fell through. We found the house we live in now sometime in August and had it contingent on the sell of our house. When we finally had a legitimate offer...we were thrilled! We began to set everything up to move.

We started packing, scheduling workers, and getting ready for this big event. We had a variety of people at the new house on moving day. I scheduled everyone to be there at 1 pm because our closing was at noon. Everyone showed up...which was great because Neil and I were spent and could not have gotten half the stuff done without those people.

We did have a little glitch to our system on moving day. I dropped Bennett off at daycare and they called me about 30 minutes later to tell me that he was running a 103.2 fever. I ran to get him and we headed to the doctor. I took this picture with my phone. He was so sweet and just wanted to be held. He even fell asleep on me...he hasn't done that in ages. He ended up having a little infection. We were at the doctors office for 2 hours on moving day. It was not fun at Mid-City, but my baby is well and that's all that matters!

So, on to moving. Best money ever spent during this process below:

Everything taped up and ready to go. The buyers wanted every single curtain/window treatment in my house. I was glad that I left them with something that actually wanted them, because they were going to be left anyway.

The movers moved everything into the new house. They said that the leather couch would not fit up the stairs. We didn't believe them so Neil and Andrew gave it a whirl. It did not fit. They even tried the smaller couch, too. Nada. The only thing that happened was they tore up their hands and knocked light bulbs out of the light fixtures. We might have to put it in through the window. Good try guys!

The sweetest helper loves playing in the boxes!

Did I mention that the buyers wanted everything? We had to leave the fridge, so we had to buy a new one. Best Buy delivered bright and early.

The yard guys were awesome! They worked from 9:30-7. They worked so hard. We had a huge pompous grass on the side of the house. They are not my favorite so they dug it out. He had to use the chain saw to deal with that thing. He also said they are razor sharp and he found 2 snakes in it. Gross. I am so glad it is gone. BTW: Jeff is SUPER reasonable with his landscaping. He would be a great guy to use if you need someone.

The electricians were so efficient. They even helped Neil install the TV mount.

Plumber installing new disposal

We have had a few busy days. I am so ready to get settled in and decorate for Christmas!

Welcome Home!

I have been sort of Bloggy MIA for a little while because we moved! We just got the Internet up and running so I wanted to make a quick post.

Here is our new house before the yard got it's much needed TLC!

And after...You can barely tell that it is different, but it was so overgrown because the house had been vacant for almost a year. You can see sneaky Neil making a silly face in the window in this one:

We have spent 2 nights in our new place and it is already starting to feel like home. We are so excited about our 'new normal.' We are so thankful for yet another blessing being given to us by the LORD!

Embrace the Camera

Here we are using the hold the arm up to try to get a picture of us together. I thought they turned out pretty cute!

You can almost see me in this one!

Shower and Birthday Parties

This morning I hosted a baby shower for my friend and college roommate, Merideth. She is due with Molly Caroline on December 19th. That was Bennett's due date, so it is extra neat-o.

Her mom made this cute diaper cake.

I ordered the cupcakes from a guy I work with...his wife make cupcakes and they are fabulous.

Amy, Rebecca, and I made the favor. They are just rice krispy treats on a stick. They were easy and tasted pretty good, too.

The Maple girls. (We lived on Maple street in Ruston!) Amy, Merideth, and me

The hostesses: Alicia/Callie, Amy, Merideth, Me, and Shelby

The Scott girls!

I got home just in time for Bennett to get home from birthday party #1. Mom took him to the Demole twins birthday party at Gymboree. She said he had a good time at the party.

Daddy had to go hunting so we went to a fun Superhero birthday party for Shep and Caroline. Bennett wore his "Super Bennett" cape and got his face painted with a little mask. So cute.

I thought he looked so cute in this mask!

Lindsay always makes everything so cute. Look at all of the superhero cuteness.

Mmmmm...cupcake!

23 months

I have skipped these monthly updates for the past few months so here goes...

Bennett, I cannot believe you will be 2 years old in only one short month. It baffles me how fast time flies. You are the joy of our lives and we love watching you grow and learn everyday.

What have you been up to?

• You LOVE to play with balls. You will make anything into a ball...even pumpkins.
  
  
  
• You talk so much now. Your speech is getting so clear. Sometimes, it is still jibberish but you are learning!
• When you see football on tv you used to say "feetball!" Now, you say "football!" or "go go go!"
• You love to bring books to us to read to you. Sometimes, you will go get a book and "read" it yourself.
• You still LOVE milk. You would drink it all day if we let you.
• You are really attached to your "babies." You have 3. You love to carry them around in the mornings.
• You wear mostly 24 months clothes. Some are pretty long, but they work.
  
  
• You wear a size 5 diaper and are not looking like you will be potty training anytime soon. You will tell us "poo poo" sometimes.
• You cannot seem to grasp your colors. I think you may be colorblind because you say that everything is green. I have been trying to drill colors with you for months. You know the names of colors, but cannot identify them.
• You started saying Gammy finally! It sounds like "Damy," but it works. You said it on 10/28/10...I know this because it was Aunt Rebecca's birthday.
• You speak some in phrases like: "Look Mommy," "Here Daddy," "Want some," and others.
• You have been moving your little chairs over to this toddler play table like your own little work area. It is so cute.
  

• You have started loving "The Mouse!" You say either "the mouse" or "Me Mouse" in the mornings. Dad sometimes plays it for you while he is getting ready for work. You dance around saying "hot dog, hot dog, hot dog."

You are pretty much the most handsome, sweetest, perfect boy we could have ever asked for! We love watching you grow into such a sweet boy. We love you.