THANKFUL

I know this post is late, but I wanted to still be able to document it:

My gracious Heavenly Father.  You know, at different time in our life I think we appreciate different characteristics of God.  Of course I am thankful for His unending love, His saving grace and His hand of protection in my life, but this year, at this point in my life, I am learning to appreciate His faithfulness to me, personally, each day.  My God has been with me each step of my life, guiding me, preparing a way for me, and He will continue to be faithful as He shows me each day what He has for me and how He wants to use me to bring honor and praise to His name!

Ofcourse I am thankful for an amazing family.  Don't get me wrong, we're not perfect, but I wouldn't trade them for the world.  My parents are always supportive, my sisters are always available and the kiddos are always good for a laugh.  I love love love spending time with them all and am so grateful that we all live within just a few hours drive of eachother.

I am thankful for an amazing church family, a wonderful place to serve.  It's amazing that I've been there almost 5 years now.  It's a place I feel at home, a place I feel invested.  I am ever grateful for how much I have learned in these first 5 years of ministry. 

Of course I am thankful for dear friends in my life.  I am thankful for those friends that I share life with day in and day out.  Those friends that walk through stuff with me.  Friends that I call when I'm stressed or excited or sad or confused.  Friends that I laugh with and yes, sometimes even cry with.  I am thankful for friends I share ministry with, a great group of Jr. Staffers.  I am thankful for old friends that know me.  Friends that make an effort to keep in touch. 

I know this all sounds generic, but it's very true in my life! I'm also thankful to God for all of the provisions in my life.  He has given me a job that I love, a safe place to live, a new car to drive and food each day. 

My gracious heavenly Father is so abundantly generous to me. 

Random thought/fact of the day: I'm so excited, I've already gotten 2 birthday presents!!! A fun new blingged out belt for the rodeo, and seasons 9 & 10 of Friends (a collection I've always wanted, but never started)! Fun times!

MACIE MCKAREN COLLIER

The CUTEST nursery for the CUTEST baby girl!!! My sister made this bow holder! Yes, I know, PRECIOUS!

My mom & sister are too good for a plain old nursery set, so they had this made! It really is the cutest nursery!

Ash & I with baby Macie shortly after she was born!

Traditional sister pic with the new baby!

Don't know why, I love naked baby pics!

Bow holder converted into name thing that hung on the hospital door. Yes, it was a hit! Even the nurses raved about how cute it is!

Big Brother Cole with "his baby"

I couldn't stand it any longer, we just had to try out one of the flower headbands I had made! I LOVE IT!!! She had her hospital photo shoot taken with it, and even the photographer said she had never seen a newborn baby with such a big flower on their head! ha! LOVE IT!

Macie's cousin Brady loves babies!

He loves "Maymi"

One last pic with my Macie girl! I loved spending the first 4 days of her life with her! It was hard to leave, and I already miss her terribly! She is such a sweet sweet baby and so far seems to be really easy going!

...and then there were 6...

I'm headed out tomorrow afternoon because they are inducing my sister on Wednesday!!!! Hopefully by lunch time little Macie McKaren Collier will have graced us with her presence! I'm taking my laptop and most hospitals nowadays have wireless, so I'll see what I can do about posting some pics...if not you'll have to wait til next week. Until then, you can rest assured that I am loving on, rocking, humming to, and hopefully lulling to sleep my newest niece. Ah, sounds amazing already! Yup, there's nothing better than a newborn baby! Catch ya on the flip side!

Oh, and in case you aren't keeping up, this is my 2nd niece and I already have 4 nephews, so that makes a total of 6. There really should be a gender neutral term for niece & nephew. You know, for example,

male: brother
female: sister
neutral: sibling

OR

male: father
female: mother
neutral: parent

I would like to be able to say I have 6 (insert gender neutral term here).

Anywho, I digress. Have a great week!

...lately...

Sometimes I wonder how I have kept this blog up for the past 4 years. Even though I have stuff going on, sometimes I have a real lack of motivation to update...does anyone even read anymore? Well, for what it's worth, here's what I've been up to the past few weeks.

I went home on July 1st to spend a few days at home. My 2 oldest sisters and their kids (minus Brady) were all there. We had a great time eating at my fave restaurants, hitting the beach, wrastling, and the kids favorite activity, waking me up early by jumping on me! It was the closest thing I can call a "vacation" this summer. Just a few days off, not thinking about anything related to church, which was nice considering how hectic June was!

I headed back to Houston on Sunday, June 5th, although I was sad to leave the kids, I was especially sad to have to leave Jada (yes, I finally named my new car!) in Corpus. There was a weird thing going on with the AC in my car so I had to leave it in Corpus so it could get fixed :( After driving around Houston in my dad's 2 door red Caddy I was ready to get Jada back, so I made a spontaneous trip to Corpus on Friday to pick her up! It was also fun to surprise all the kids, they were still in Corpus and didn't know I was coming back! It was a quick trip since I had to return to Houston for church on Saturday night, but I was glad I made the trip. Too bad when I got to Corpus my parents told me that they had secretly planned to bring me my car on Sunday...or so they say.

So, I've been back in the office this week. Things have really slowed down, a much welcomed change of pace. I've enjoyed getting caught up on work and planning ahead for a few special events that we have coming up this summer. I have been feeling a bit run down, so I took the morning off to rest up for............AUNT'S WEEKEND!!!

That's right! Kelly picks up Ashlyn, Brady & Blake tomorrow morning and they head this way for a jam-packed, fun-filled 2 days! Here's the itinerary:

Thursday afternoon - lunch by the pool/play in the pool
Thursday night - CIRCUS!!!

Friday - NASA
Friday night - movie night & pizza

Saturday morning - swim again
Saturday lunch - Incredible Pizza or Chuck-E-Cheese
Saturday afternoon - Kelly takes the kids back to their parents

Should be a quick 2 days! The kids are really excited! They don't know everything we have planned, so that should be fun! I just finished the t-shirts and tote bags last night, but still have a lot of cleaning to do and need to make a grocery run tonight.

So, lots to do, and I promise to give you an AW09 post!

Have a happy hump day!

The Good News: I'm forced to clean my apartment since the sister & kiddos are coming!
The Bad News: My cousin's wedding is in 2.5 weeks and I still haven't figured out if I'm going and if I am, then I need to purchase plane tix!

...Brady's baptism...

THE PROUD CHRISTIAN!!!

Along with this past weekend being Baylor Homecoming, my nephew, Brady, was also getting baptized. HE WAS SOOOOOOOOO EXCITED!!! It was precious!!! I didn't think I was going to be able to be there, but my boss insisted and made it possible for me to be out on a Sunday! I didn't realize how much I was going to want to be there, but man, I'm so glad I was able to be there! When I told him I was going to get to be there he shouted, "Woooohoooo!!!!" Glad he was so excited! Part of me doesn't want him to get much bigger, he's still in the sweet lovable and loving stage...soon to be in that tooo cool for hugs and possibly a little sassy stage...we'll see I guess.

Like I said, he was super excited about becoming a Christian, getting baptized, and the fact that so many people had come to see him get baptized! It was really great because all of my sisters and Ashlyn & Cole, plus Brady's other grandparents were able to be there! At the house before we left for church I took a few pics of Brady, to commemorate the day, and he said, "Wait, let me get my Bible. I have to take a picture holding the Bible." Who knows where he comes up with this stuff! Love it!

So, since I love posting pics, and I assume ya'll like seeing pics...here are a few from that morning!


I told you, he was excited about posing with his Bible. haha, such a funny kid!

had to put one in of my Blakers! Such a funny little bro!

soooo sweet, Brent (my bro-in-law) got choked up as he started to baptize his oldest son! There wasn't a dry eye in the crowd!

gettin dunked
family photo...with the pastor too, haha

like I said, he's a poser, look at that hand on his chin, sweet photo with the p's

with his "favorite Aunt"
Super Duper: easy smeeezy test tomorrow, then the rest of that class and my other classes are canceled! basically a free day from class!

Super Pooper: Cliff doesn't think I can keep up this blogging every day for 30 days...thanks for the vote of confidence Cliff...just because you couldn't do it, doesn't mean other people can't...and thus begins my persistence to prove you wrong!

...same song, 4th verse...

every year around this time I get excited about Baylor Homecoming

every year I have to juggle spending time with family and friends while I am there

every year I think I have coordinated everything and made plans with everyone so that I can see everyone that I want to see and do all the things I want to do involved with Homecoming

every year my family changes their plans and it messes me up

every year I get frustrated because I thought I had it all figured out

every year I still go to Homecoming

every year I still have a great time

every year I still get to see everyone that I want to

Can't we just skip the nasty inbetween frustrating part?

Super Duper: my nephew, Brady is getting baptized on Nov 2!!!
Super Pooper: when I told him I couldn't be there because I work at a church, he said, "Can't you just tell them you need a day off...it's really important." :(

...Mamaw...

This may be more detail than you need, but I'd like to catalog the past 2 weeks and the events surrounding the end of my Mamaw's life.

2 weeks ago I was in Dallas and we got word that my grandmother was in the hospital. She had been diagnosed with pneumonia. Something happened to cause her to lose her ability to swallow. They were not sure if she had had a stroke, causing her to forget how to swallow, in which case she would be able to relearn how to swallow, or if some of her brain cells had atrophied, meaning she would never be able to swallow again.

In either case, my dad and his siblings had to make the decision of whether or not to give her a feeding tube. She had ALWAYS told my aunt that she DID NOT want a feeding tube. But, for many many reasons, they all agreed to try the feeding tube to see if she could regain strength and then relearn to swallow and be able to gain nutrition on her own again some day, without the feeding tube (this was a best case scenario).

Most of you don't know my Mamaw, but she was a very stubborn, strong willed person. She had strong opinions on things and was not shy about it. Because of this, she was extremely aggitated in the hospital, for which reasons they had to sedate her many times while she was in the hospital. She was not able to talk, but was somewhat aware of what was going on. Once she realized that they were giving her a feeding tube, it is the belief of my family, that she gave up.

My grandmother lived a long life in which she was faithful to the Lord. Trust me, if you ever met her, she was asking you if you knew Jesus. She always had several tracks in her Bible, and was an amazing prayer warrior! I am eternally grateful for her life and the importance she put on passing down her faith to her children and her grandchildren. Because of her, all 3 of her children are followers of Jesus, and between the 3 of them, they have raised 10 Christ followers as well!

WHAT A LEGACY!

I can only hope some day that I can pass on the spiritual heritage that she handed down to my dad, my sisters and my cousins as well!

The Lord called her home on August 1, 2008. I am grateful that the Lord kept her from suffering and gave peace to all of us that she had lived a full and long life honoring to the Lord! Of course we will miss her, but rejoice in knowing that we will see her again in Heaven!

THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR PRAYERS for my family over the last few weeks.

Super Duper: THE OLYMPICS!!!
Super Pooper: My throat started hurting today...boooooo!

...BRADLEY LUKE BOATWRIGHT...

He's perfect!!! Thanks for your prayers!

Bradley Luke
Born Wednesday, March 19,

6:04pm

6 lbs 12 oz

19 in

about 2 hours old...nothing more precious than this!!!

Aunt Bubba with her Boatwright boys

PROUD big brothers!!!

Their family is now complete (at least that's the plan...)

Grams (my mom) eating up EVERY moment! Yeah, Blakers wants his turn to hold Bradley!

My mom with all 5 of her grandkids, wonder how long til there's 6???

Thanks for humoring me with these pics, I know, I'm addicted to these kiddos! C'mon, you know my sisters make PRECIOUS children!!! I can't promise I won't post more pics, it was REALLY hard to limit myself!

Super Duper: I usually don't allow my Super Duper to have anything to do with the "post", but c'mon, how can my Super Duper not be - Bradley is here, and healthy! PRAISE THE LORD!

Duper Super: EASTER Tomorrow - Happy Ressurection Day! Our God is SOOO GOOD!

Super Pooper: waaaaay behind with school work, going to be a gross week!

...200th post!!!

Yeop! This is my 200th post!!!

Here's pix of my new fah-bulously decorated office!!! The rents came up this weekend, we did some mad shopping and then hanging of pictures and arranging of furniture and this is how it ended up!!! Needless to say, I'm very well pleased!

view from standing at the door: desk, lamp, "JOY" painting that my friend made for me!!! & office chair, shelves & pictures on wall, vase with tall sticky things in the back, column with metal art thing...notice color scheme - red, black, and ice blue

red microsuede storage bench with 3 zebra print pillows (possibly my favorite part!!!), and book shelf with a few lucky ladybugs that survived the ladybug purge of 2008!

This is the view standing behind my desk. That is a black round swivvle chair on the other side of the desk, with a nice blue raw silk pillow, a plant & plant stand next to it, and yes, that good ole Baylor dipolma found a spot too!!

Well that's it!!! I love it and now it feels like home!

Super Duper: had a fun weekend with my parents here!

Super Pooper: its stormy outside, which would be fine if I were home, but I'm still at work, which means I have to get home in the gross rain, which means there is sure to be traffic, yuck!

...on our knees...

My brother-in-law, Brent Boatwright, is in Mali, Africa right now on a mission trip. This is his 3rd trip to work with the same people group. His church, in Academy, TX, has a full time missionary, Lori, that works with this people group. Yesterday, Brent spoke with the chief of the tribe. He told the chief that he hoped some day the people of the tribe could hear about God and the Bible. The chief asked when he would like to do that. Brent said Wednesday!!!! So the chief is inviting people and Brent will share the gospel with this people group!!! THIS IS AN AMAZING BREAK THROUGH!!! Like I said, Lori has been there full time for years, and she has NEVER had this opportunity!!! After all these years of ministry there has only been one convert. Please pray today that the people would hear the Word of the Lord and that their hearts would be open to His Word! Thanks for praying!

...a photo chronicle of the holidays...

Christmas day, yes, my dad is dressed up in a Santa suit. Brady & Blake had just driven in, they were all waiting on the steps for Ash & fam to arrive, so we'd all be together on Christmas day!

Brady helping Cole discover one of his new Christmas presents. Such fun having all the cousins play together on Christmas!


Oh yes, my mom had material for the kids to dress up like Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus...you know its presh!

Me and my boys at Jeff's wedding...no one would have bet that he'd be the first of our group to get married!!! Congrats Erin & Jeff!!!

Lainey & I at the wedding!

Fun friends having brunch the morning after Elaine's Bachelorette celebration!

Super Duper: I've unpacked, done laundry, undecorated my tree!!!

Super Pooper: LOTS to do in the next month!

...and yet, more photos...

well, it's official, I'm 25!!!! Here are pics from my fabulous day with Rebs & Kristi, and then the following Saturday in Waco with the fam...enjoy, sorry for all the pics, but something tells me you don't mind...

lunch with the girls to celebrate the big 2-5!

being silly at the mall...reading with a reindeer, duh!

one more festive pic at the mall!

Ashlyn at her party, reading a card that I put a note from "Hannah Montana" on...she really thinks Hannah Montana sent her that card!!! I didn't have the heart to tell her it was a joke! She thinks they are pin pals now!!!

Ash & I on the saddle at Roadhouse, since we're the birthday girls!!! Man, she loved lassoing that napkin. When we were done, Brady said, "I'm coming here for my birthday!" haha, that saddle thing looked pretty fun to him!

Super Duper: feel pretty good about my final today!
Super Pooper: details details details for the new building! fun, but hectic!

...the drama that is my family...

don't worry about actually following the details I am about to share, but rather, I tell you all this to give you idea of the drama that surrounds this holiday season:

Thanksgiving Drama:

My parents left Corpus today and headed to my oldest sister's, Katy, in the Temple area. They will stay til Monday to have lunch with Brady at his school, then they will head to Waco to pick Ashlyn up from school. They were supposed to stay in Waco on Monday night with Kristy, Trent, Ashlyn & Cole. But Ashlyn told my mom she wanted them to spend the night for 2 nights. So my parents changed their plan to stay Monday & Tuesday night, and then head back on Wednesday morning to Temple to help get ready for Thanksgiving day. Well, this upset my oldest sister (whose house we are having Thanksgiving at) because she had wanted my parents to get back on Tuesday to help with some errands, cooking, etc.

Kelly, my sister closest to me in age, was going to go down to Temple on Sunday and stay through Tuesday to hang out with the fam, cook, run errands, help with the kiddos, etc. But she changed her mind because she is trying to get her house ready to sale. So she stayed in Arlington to clean out closets, get new carpet, etc. So we won't see her till Thanksgiving day. Oh, and she's bringing her boyfriend, Brandon, who will join us for his first time for a big Berry family gathering. Oh, and he doesn't know that we have a mandatory Thanksgiving tradition of going around the table and saying what we're thankful for. And now Kelly is also slightly frustrated because Brandon's work schedule just got changed and he has Friday off, which she would like to spend with him since he's in his residency for med school so they don't often both have the same day off, but instead, will be spending with the day with my parents & I because we'll be staying at her house on Friday & Saturday for some good shopping!

I on the other hand am sad because I had hoped to spend time with all the kiddos for several days, but Ashlyn has school til Wednesday, so they won't come to Temple til Wednesday afternoon. But I guess that will have to do.

Birthday Drama:

My niece Ashlyn will turn 6 on Dec 5th, and I will turn 25 on Dec 7th. We had originally thought to have dinner on my birthday to celebrate, and then Ashlyn's party on the 8th. Well, my mom can't make it to Waco in time for dinner on Friday night, so my birthday dinner got switched to Saturday night, which is fine, except for the fact that I have a Christmas party that night that I am going to have to miss :(

My sister, Katy, is upset about the time of Ashlyn's party because she has a dress rehearsal for the kids Christmas program that she is in charge of that Saturday morning, so she and they boys will be late for Ashlyn's surprise party.

My sister, Kelly, is upset because she wanted Ashlyn's party to be the weekend before, which it originally was going to be, but my mom couldn't be there, so Kristy had to switch it to the weekend of the 7th/8th, so now Kelly can't be there.

My mom is upset because Kelly is going on a girls spa retreat with her church, so she will miss the whole birthday weekend. Note the irony, it was my mom's fault that the party got moved to the weekend that Kelly couldn't go, but my mom is still upset with her.

Christmas Drama:

As my family has grown, sisters married, children born, our traditions and routines have had to change. It took Kelly and I a while to get used to Christmas morning without all of us there, but we adjusted, and began creating new traditions. So the new tradition is for my sisters to drive down on Christmas day with their families, and then we have a big Christmas dinner and open presents late in to the night.

Well, Katy mentioned that Brent feels bad about having they boys open presents, and then telling them they have to leave their presents and go to Grams & Gramps'. So Katy told me a few days ago that they may wait and come on the 26th. Well, I did not like this AT ALL!!!

So I mentioned it to my mom, so that she would make sure and convince Katy to make the trip on Christmas day. Well, my mom got REALLY upset. Saying it hurt her feelings, and the least they could do was come down for Christmas night...

We'll see what actually ends up happening...

While things are never simple with my family and we are all heading in 5 different directions all the time, I'm sure the holidays will be fun as usual and we will all be glad just to be together, creating memories.

Super Duper: NO CLASS ON MONDAY!!!

Super Pooper: book review due the Monday after Thanksgiving, and I've only skimmed half the book...

...I'm an aunt, again!!!

Curtis Cole Collier entered this world on Sunday, June 24th at 11:00 am!!! He weighed in at 7 lbs 15 oz and is 19 inches long!!! He's a precious, well mannered baby!!! Mom and baby are home, adjusting to life with a family of 4!

Cousin Brady holding Cole, cousin Blake and big sister Ashlyn adoring baby Cole!

Super Duper: going back to Waco tomorrow to spend more time with baby Cole!!!

Super Pooper: my apartment is a disaster zone!

...randomness...

• i overslept yesterday, didn't wake up til 9, didn't get to work til 10!!! i love that it didn't really even matter!!!
• my soul wants to trust the Lord that He will provide all the VBS leadership that we need (yes we're still looking), but my flesh wants to freak out (b/c VBS is in 5 weeks!!!!)
• today my boss told me to take an extra day off because I have to go to a seminar all day Saturday...too bad I have 2 assignments due that I haven't even started!!! so much for an extra day off!!!
• oh, and tomorrow is my real day off...so much for that, I've been asked to come in and tour the new building with some kiddos. Don't get me wrong, it will be fun, but ON MY DAY OFF????
• we've started a diet contest at work! We're divided up in to 2 teams and we'll weigh in every Monday on the honor system (because we don't want everyone knowing how much we each weigh). There is on girl, the accountant (who is prego and can't participate), who will be the tabulator of the percentage of weight lost. She will send us all update emails to let us know how each team is doing! I hope this is a great motivator!
• next weekend my bro-in-law is graduating from Tarrelton State University. We'll be celebrating with him, also celebrating mother's day, also celebrate my oldest sister's (Katy) birthday (which is on mother's day), and then also throwing a little family baby shower for Kristy. Don't get me wrong, this is going to be super fun (and not to mention crazy), but did you notice that we'll be celebrating almost everyone in my family (except for me!!!) I don't mean to sound selfish, but its a bit of a bummer. Needless to say it will be a super fun, hectic weekend!!!

okay, i think that's the best (and worst) of it for now. until next time...

Super Duper: game night tonight with Jr Staff & spouses (yeah, I'm pumped about taking my spouse!!!)

Super Pooper: as always, apartment needs cleaning!

...you can stop feeling sorry for me now...

Not only did I have a de-lish Easter lunch with friends, but my parents surprised me and stopped in Houston this afternoon on their way back to Corpus! Totally unexpected, just to make me feel special and loved (and because they felt guilty, haha!) No, really, it was so cute to see them excited to surprise me, and have them make that extra effort. We just hung out and then went to Guadalajara for dinner, I didn't eat since I had just eaten my yummy lamb, but we sat and talked. It was really nice! Yeah, my parents are awesome, I am loved!

Super Duper: life is good, all around, for the time being
Super Pooper: busy busy busy for the next 2 months (not necessarily in a bad way, just a stressful way)

...Arrrg Mateys...

This is a slightly delayed post, but here are a few pics of Brady's 5th birthday party - Pirate theme!! It was super duper fun! I would post more pix, but I left my camera at my sister's house and won't get it back til next week. Bummer, but my other sister sent a few pics, so this will have to tied you over.

Yes, we all dressed up! It was hilarious and adorable!

Brady, trying to look tough, and Ashlyn being the "Pirate Princess" (as she put it).

My precious Blakers. Who knew an 18 month old could be such an adorable pirate?

Super Duper: My lovely friend Kristi is in town for the weekend!

Super Pooper: I haven't started my assignment that is due next week for my weekend class in Ft. Worth! boooo

...Home for the Holidays, 2006...

I'm too lazy to go into detail about all the events of my going home. Let's just say I was home for 11 days. It was great, for the most part. Of course there were some tense moments, but all in all it was good to be home and spend Christmas with the fam. All 11 of us where home for 5 days straight!!! In the midst of that 3 got the stomache bug, and we had a bridesmaids luncheon, rehersal dinner and wedding to attend!!! Here are some pics to recount the highlights.

Precious Ash & Bray on the slide in my parent's backyard!!!

Kelly & I before the wedding

The whole fam at the reception...too bad I look ridiculous!

Ash & Brady being adorable!!!

Super Duper: No school for 3 more weeks

Super Pooper: All my friends are out of town and I have nothing to do!!!

...Thanksgiving vacay...

here's the highlights:

Sunday (before Thanksgiving) - my parent had come in town to Houston, picked me up and we headed to Fredericksburg where we met Kelly. Kelly & I walked the town a lil, then had dinner with the parental units. The kind of nice thing about Fredericksburg is that all the shops close by 5 or 5:30, so there's not much to do. So we just sat around and relaxed, talked, watched TV, my dad did Sudoku, my mom & sister & I looked through some magazines...very chill!!

Monday - woke up, had breakfast at the B&B, shopped, shopped, had lunch, shopped shopped, had dinner, chilled some more...the perfect day. It was a B-E-A-Utiful day...perfect weather. Funny side note: my dad's favorite store is a jam/salsa/dressing store that has tasters set out of everything they sale. You just walk around tasting jams and salsas and all sorts of dips.

Tuesday - woke up, had breakfast at the B&B, the 4 of us headed to Temple for lunch with Katy, Brent, Brady & Blake at McAlisters. Spent the afternoon with them. Then we all headed to Waco for dinner with Kristy & Ashlyn. We were all together, except for the 2 bro's-in-law. That's 2 parents, 3 sisters, 2 nephews and a niece!!! Then the 9 of us headed to the Baylor girls basketball game!!! Super fun!! We're never all together! The kids loved it and the bears won...a great night! After the game mom, dad, Kelly, Ashlyn & I headed to Arlington.

Wednesday - shopped, hung out at Kell's, got ready for Turkey day.

Thursday - cooked, cleaned, set the table (I'm always in charge of this because I'm the baby and they never taught me how to cook...haha), Kristy & Trent drove up from Waco and joined us for Thanksgiving dinner...we had steak!!! It was all very yummy...especially the desserts (yes, plural). Played a family game of cards after dinner.

Friday - shopped, shopped, didn't buy anything, shopped, had lunch, shopped. Played with Ashlyn...my niece is wonderful!!! Sometimes she's bratty (is that a word?), but mostly she's sweet and hilarious and the more time I spend with it makes me miss her even more when I have to say goodbye!

Saturday - we celebrated Ashlyn's 5th birthday by her dad driving 3 of her little friends up to Dallas from Waco. We went to RainForest Cafe & Build-A-Bear. The kids LOVED it, it was super fun! Then we packed up and headed back to Houston.

My parents stayed with me Saturday night, came to church Sunday morn, went to lunch, then home for good.

IT was a WONDERFUL thanksgiving break. Great time with the family. I was only slightly annoyed a few times throughout the very hectic week, which is huge!

Super Duper: Craziness of Christmas parties and festivities just around the corner.
Super Pooper: Finals less than 2 weeks away :(

...more pics...

I realized that most of the pics (all but one) were from before I moved to Houston, which is fun to look back on, but now I thought I would post some pics since I moved to H-town. Here's what I came up with:

fun pic with Lainey from when she came to visit this summer!

Love love love the High School intern from this summer!!!

Words cannot express my love for Lillian!

Blake's 1st B-day!! Yes, he's precious!

Love my Brady!! He's so big now!!!

My Ashlyn girl!!! Miss Priss!!

Camp T-wood with my Rebecca!!!