1.27.2008

A beautiful shower

The baby shower for my sister last night was absolutely wonderful - what an incredible group of Christian women she has as friends and support! It was very special for me to be able to come, now that we're living here, and I'm even more excited to be here to meet this new little May baby when he/she arrives. Here are a few of my favorite pictures from our evening:

Kim and Jennifer

Jennifer opening the name frame I made for their soon-to-arrive baby, Kate!

This is the baby blanket I knit for May baby #4

It was a special treat for Avery to get to come to the baby shower with all the big girls. She looked like a doll, and was a perfect little lady the whole time!

And finally, this is the group of "prayer coffee" girls and family there to celebrate with Kim and Jennifer, two very special women. Many blessings to them both and their growing families!

1.25.2008

Pretty darn cute...


...if I do say so myself. My sister's prayer coffee group is throwing a joint baby shower for my sister, Kim, and her friend Jennifer on Saturday. Kim and Jennifer, being the sweet girls that they are, decided they'd like to make some kind of a "thank you" shower favor for all of their friends that are attending. When Kim called me for ideas yesterday, I, of course, completely took over the project as I had the "perfect thing" to make for them. Anyway, this is what I came up with:



Inside each box (all 3o of them) are four little chocolate nuggets made by Nestle, which I wrapped in a stamped mailing label. I wish I could take credit for the "nugget box" idea, but alas I borrowed it from one of the many SU websites I visit - but I did come up with the design myself! :) Anyway, I think they're darling and I hope that Kim and Jennifer like them and enjoy giving them to all their girlfriends. More pictures to come of the shower and the special gifts I've been working on for the girls after the shower is over on Saturday - so stay tuned!

1.22.2008

Let's catch up

Ugh... so I don't even want to mention how woefully negligent I've been in my lack of posting lately. Here's to getting back into the habit! :)
So, we're about 95% unpacked - woo hoo! The living area, kitchen, bathrooms, kid's rooms and our room is unpacked. I just have the last few boxes of my craft things and my half of the office to put together, plus a garage that desperately needs some organization. Aside from that, it's mostly finding the perfect spot to hang our family pictures and such, and committing to leaving the dresser in that spot, etc. that's left. And to think, we may end up doing this again in the near future, once we have a house of our own to settle into! Here are just a couple of pics of the kid's rooms.
Moira's room is pretty well finished now - I think if I tried to put much more in there it'd just end up being too much. But it's very cute, and befitting a little girl that fancies herself a princess. It's loaded with pink and flowers and butterflies and such. I think she's happy with it for now, but we've all decided that once we buy a house, she'd like to do a fairy theme with purples and greens and maybe even a "pixie hollow" tree painted on the wall (if she can puppy-dog-eye Daddy enough to get him to do it!)


Ian's still needs some decorative things done to his room... we've finally decided on a Mickey theme for his room, which he's very excited about, but we still have some work to do on it. We'll be putting up on shelves the adorable hand-painted ceramic Mickey & friends that my best friend Dara was sweet enough to give us a couple years ago, and we're on the look-out for other Mickey themed items to coordinate with his room. We've already found a cute crib/toddler bed sheet, and we'll be looking for a navy comforter and red pillow to match it once we switch him into the toddler bed in the next month or two. I found some wall stickers online of Mickey & friends (like the flowers in Moira's room) that I'd like to get, and I'm looking for a Mickey throw pillow for his bed. If any of you see anything Mickey-ish, and have the inclination, please let me know where... it's harder to find Mickey themed decor than one would think!


The kids are doing great, although we've identified a major need for Moira to be enrolled in a new preschool... soon... as she's taken it as a personal mission to try to push our buttons (just for a lack of better things to do), and she cries hopelessly when it's time to leave her class at church or her cousins have to go home. Poor little thing... she's so darn social, and to be out of preschool since before Thanksgiving has just been torture for her. Touring/researching potential schools for Moira is mission #1 for Mom this week. Fortunately we have a couple of birthday parties for the kids to attend in the next few weeks, so that'll be loads of fun for them! Ian has been taking all the moving and unpacking and change like a trooper - he's very much like his Daddy in that way. I look forward to finding him some play friends soon too, and starting the dreaded potty training routine in the very near future.


I'm looking forward to getting my Stampin' Up stuff going again - with a new catalog and weeks of being away from all my yummy goodies, I shouldn't have to difficult a time of getting the creative juices flowing again. While I'm excited about doing parties and maybe starting a club, I'm very much wanting to make some new friends here first and not have anyone feel like they're "just a customer." I'd give it all up before I'd want any of my friends to feel that way! So, it'll be a delicate balance for a while. In the mean time, I have some projects I'm very much looking forward to - a name frame for a baby shower that I'm going to this weekend, and some cards for a swap due at the end of the month, and finishing a project of hanging picture frames I started for my 89 year-old Grandmother of all her great-grandchildren (all 26 of them)! If I had to guess, I'd say you'll all be seeing some "finished product" pictures here in a week or two!


The job search is still going, and we're all remaining optimistic and trusting that God has the perfect thing for him. There are still some opportunities that need to be followed up on, which Collin will be doing this week, but I think it'll be nose to the grind stone now that we're here, Christmas is over and we're mostly unpacked. Please pray. I'll try to keep you posted as there are new developments.


I'll leave you with a couple of pictures of the end of our day yesterday. We all went to see the new Veggie Tale movie at the theater with my parents, grandmother, my sister Kim and her three (1/2) cutie-pie kiddos. Then we went back to my parent's house for a yummy dinner and let the kids all play while we visited. We brought my family back to our house to see it "mostly done" as the kids were itching to show the cousins their new rooms. We had a fun day.


My cute-as-can-be pregnant sister checking out all the pics on our new fridge, whilst little Ian takes over his Grammy's attention with something of the utmost importance, I'm sure.

Ian proudly shows off his room and toys to his cousins Carson and Valie, while Moira and Avery have a tea party in her room. It's so fun to have cousins around to play with!

12.19.2007

A new Christmas tradition!

Last night we bundled all seven of us (Grammy, Papa, Mimi, Moira, Ian, Collin and me) into the van to go look at Christmas lights. We decided to hit Krispy Kreme on the way there for some doughnuts and coffee for the road, and got to see where the magic is made! Then we hit the road and headed for Windcrest, an area of San Antonio known for their Christmas lights. For most of us, it was our first time every seeing Windcrest's annual "Light Up" and it was definitely a sight. The neighborhood was strung with all sorts of lights and decorations, and we were one of the many cars slowly winding their way through the streets to see it all. We found out that this year is the 50th year of the Windcrest Light Up and we enjoyed seeing all of the contest winning houses that we could find! The kids had a lot of fun (and the adults too) but were definitely ready to get home and to bed when we were through. We had so much fun that I think this just may become a new family tradition for us!





Papa holding Ian up to see the doughnuts take their dunk in the fryer - yum!



This was Ian's first time experiencing Krispy Kreme and it's yummy goodness!



Moira's had them before, but in no way did she mind "experiencing" it again! :)




Grammy and Moira on the way to Windcrest to see the lights.


Check out the size of the wreath on their front door!!


Can you imagine what their electric bill must be like for the month of December?!


One of my favorites... simple, yet classy!


Merry Christmas!!!

12.17.2007

Home is where the heart is...

We've been so busy enjoying our family, the holidays and being back in San Antonio, that I'm afraid I've gotten a bit lax in my posting! So, here's a little update. We finally found a rental house that we like and got the lease signed this week. It's a little one-story in the new section behind Westcreek (Vistas of Westcreek) with 3 bedrooms, a garden tub in the master bath and a nice big office for Collin and me to share. One of the best parts about it is that the owners were willing to give us a 9 month lease with month to month after that - that way if we decide to buy or build in the near future, we won't be locked into a 12 month or longer lease. (I can't tell you how much I'd like to have my own home to decorate for the holidays next year! This is the second year in a row that we've been in the middle of a move and without a house during Christmas!)

We'll get the keys to our new home on January 1st and hopefully have our household goods delivered that week. Our new contact information will be sent out to everyone soon, but here's a sneak peak at our house on Mexican Plum:


For those of you wondering about the job search, all is well. Most companies have slowed down or stopped looking at resumes for the holidays, but we imagine it will pick up again once Christmas is over. There are two GS (government) jobs that Collin has applied for in the last week, that look to be good prospects, so please say a prayer over those for us! There will be more on all of that after the holidays. Thank you for your continued prayers!

12.10.2007

We're here!

It's been such a long time since I've posted because of the move and drive to San Antonio, but we're here now and getting all settled in! Our move and drive here went well and we're happy to be among family once again, especially as we're gearing up for the holidays. We've kept ourselves busy with visiting loved ones, searching for a rental house and enjoying the city. It's hard to believe how much this side of San Antonio has expanded since we last lived here! There's not a whole lot to report on the job search, since it appears that many people are slowing down for the holidays, but please continue to keep us in your prayers now that we're here, and we'll continue to try to post when we have news. Meanwhile, we have the rental house search to keep us busy. We miss you all in California and elsewhere, so be sure to keep in touch! Much love to you all!

11.17.2007

La Purisma Mission

We decided to take a break from all the moving preparations and go down to La Purisma, a mission just outside of Lompoc. Tonight we have dinner plans with our good friends Paul and Diane, and their two kids to go to A.J Spurs together - and it'll probably be our last dinner with them before we leave. :( Here are some of the pictures we got at the mission today: