Christmastime

Well here we are looking as Christmas-y as we ever do. I can't really believe that my favorite holiday is less than a week away (and almost over!!), especially since yesterday topped out at about 73 degrees. I keep telling my husband (see handsome man pictured above) that this is why I left San Antonio! And speaking of, we are so sad that we won't be going home for Christmas this year. It'll be the first non-Texas one in a long time and I can't help but feel a little blue. Its been a year now since I've seen any of my grandparents or cousins, and that is WAY too long! My cousin Matthew is getting married this weekend - this will be the first Warren cousin wedding I've missed :-( Hopefully we'll make it out there next summer though...

I hope everyone has a Happy Christmas full of family and fun!!

the lights on my tree, i wish you could see...

I am thankful for...

• My wonderful husband ~ he has worked tirelessly at painting the house, repairing what's broken (or hiring someone if he can't do it), making money so we can pay bills, and consistently reading the Word to Erin and me each evening.
• My sweet daughter ~ Erin says "love you!" to Caleb and me each night, and it only gets more precious each time I hear it. She's growing up so much and every day she amazes me with what she knows! She can sing "Twinkle Twinkle", "Jesus Loves Me", "You are My Sunshine", and a few others :-)
• My sister Kristen ~ I was just telling her the other day that I don't remember what I did before she moved here. Its been almost a year since their moving van pulled into Lovettsville and we've had so much fun ever since! We take turns making bread for both families (thanks to Sis for teaching us how!!) and on rainy days we fuss about how our other sisters left us.
• My family ~ We've seen every one of them this year, and had at least one person visiting every month since January! I know it won't happen every year, but I'm thankful it happened this year!
• Notre Dame football ~ Ok well, football in general is something to be thankful for but this year our team has done particularly well and barring an embarrassing loss to USC (doubtful) we'll be cruising to the Sugar Bowl... Not too shabby.

Obviously this is not exhaustive list but I'm trying to get in the Thanksgiving mindset before the Christmas madness consumes me completely!

I may be climbing on rainbows, but baby here goes...

I love this man.... isn't he handsome? And he looks so good holding his newest nephew too :-) We are blessed to have him!!

Tears and fears and feeling proud...

This morning the last of the Warren family left.... CJ and Aubrey drove away at 645a leaving Kristen and me alone our doorsteps wondering how we will fill our days. Since Bethany arrived in July we've had a constant stream of visitors through the warm summer days and we made the most of it by swimming, hiking, picnicking, or just laying around enjoying the sunshine. But now we're left to face the winter on our own. I'm gonna need a lot of eggnogg and pumpkin pie to make me feel better...

Erin is talking up a storm now, and I'm constantly amazed at her communication skills. She understands everything and can usually tell us what she wants and what's bothering her. She loves to read books, she loves to watch Dora the Explorer, and she still loves playing outside. We're still working hard on improving her attitude in certain circumstances... Its funny - when I tell people that she's strong-willed and often disobedient, the usual response is "Oh, she's just expressing herself" or "Wow, she's full of personality". I'm sure these are just meant to make me feel better about the struggle, but does that mean obedient and well-mannered children are completely devoid of personality and incapable of expressing themselves? I can't imagine that's the case. I choose to believe that while she is expressing a part of herself (her sinful nature), we press forward to make sure she's not overcome by that nature. May God grant us wisdom as we have no earthly idea what we're doing :-)

you know you're the best thing to ever come out of this place

At Aubrey's request, here are some recent pictures of Erin. Yes she has grown, but she's not driving quite yet. We've had Granny here visiting, Dok making bread (I finally learned how too!) and a new little Slaughter boy to round out the family (pictured below with Erin). Liam is such a cutie and is already too old!! Kristen and Dave already wonder what they did without him :-)

Since my last post we've been to the beach with a bunch of friends (see Cindy's blog for pics) and to Virginia Tech for the first football game of the season. Hopefully we'll make it down for one more this year. The leaves are changing here and to celebrate autumn, we've carved pumpkins (pictures in the next post) and eaten our weight in apples (no pictures available). Christmas is already too close and I'm feeling the anxiousness of being behind the curve in the shopping world. Oh well, nothing new there. Thank goodness for cooler air!

i wanna soak up the sun...

Ok ok, here are some Warren pictures. This is not an exhaustive list so I'll TRY to post some more...

a month in the country, a day by your side...

The Weltys, Russells, and Slaughters all took a picnic to Washington Monument State Park and hiked up the trail to the monument. It was a breezy evening with perfect weather. I'll post more pics once the Warrens roll in!

Here's Jonathan outside the monument.

Caleb and Erin about to walk the winding stairs up to the top - it was so dark inside!!
The whole group (or most of them anyway) having a picnic after the hike.
Annie, Joshua and Bethany at the top of the monument.
Wes relaxing with a beautiful view behind him.
Isaac on the stone wall.
Molly showing us how big the view was!

it would be so fine to see your face at my door....

I just have to say.... We are SOOOOOOO excited to see the Russells in less than two weeks!! I didn't have pics of all of them, but here are a few of the faces that will be at our Virginia door pretty soon!!

oh i wish i was in the land of cotton...

Hey, good-lookin'... Whatcha got cookin'?

Erin made her first batch of chocolate cookies the other night when we had a cookout with the Ridleys. Mostly she just stirred the batter (occasionally flinging it onto the counter and stove), but she loved every minute of "helping" her Aunt Vanessa bake!

Hello, yeah its been awhile...

Wow, we've really let this thing get stale... So here's a quick overview of May: 1.) Mom came for a visit which was supergreat. We got pedicures, ate fabulous food (chinese and Chipotle), and obsessively watched American Idol (woohoo, Soul Patrol!!). 2) Caleb and I went with his family for an action-packed weekend in Baltimore, complete with a visit to the Baltimore Aquarium and an Orioles game. Here's me and my handsome husband at the game:

3.) A couple weekends later we celebrated with friends at two weddings, both grooms being Caleb's childhood friends. We made it to the ceremony of one wedding and the reception of the other. Congratulations, Kenny & Courtney and Josh & Amy!! 4.) We rounded out the month nicely with a fun Memorial Day weekend. After lots of hard work fixing up the rental townhouse (Caleb, the Weltys, and Dave S. did it all, I just watched Erin), we had a BBQ with friends from church. The weather was great and it was fun catching up with the friends who have moved out of state.

And of course here's the little angel... Erin is such a hoot these days, and even more of a challenge each week. We're finding out (through the rod of correction) that even 100% consistency doesn't produce a perfect child immediately :-) Too bad I believed all those Michael and Debbi Pearl lies!! But we're chipping away at her, determined to train her to obey the FIRST time and EVERY time. One of these days we'll see the fruit of our labor, but until then we'll enjoy the journey - she is such a blessing!!

EDIT: I've been trying for about two weeks to post this entry... Blogger is so frustrating!!

she's going for distance, she's going for speed.

So roughly two months after taking her first steps, Erin has finally put crawling away for good. I was surprised to see her walking (or trying to walk) at 11 months since she was such a late crawler, and now she toddles all over the place looking like a drunken sailor. Blessedly, this has slowed her down somewhat... and if she tries to run away when she knows she's in trouble, she usually topples over pretty quickly. Now we enter a LONG season of bruises and skinned knees...

resurrection sunday

We are blessed this year to have my sisters Beth and CJ visiting us for the holiday weekend (see family blog for that pic), and we had a great time visiting with the extended Welty family for Easter dinner. This is Beth's first time in Virginia, so we'll take her downtown this week to see all the monuments and whatnot. More pictures to come!

it takes some work to make it work.

I love this time of year... After playing with Erin outside for awhile, I laid her down for a nap and then planted a whole row of pansies. The weather has been perfect and sunny, and I got the flowers done just in time for some good rain this weekend. Last night Caleb and I started on our spring cleaning, and its also about time to dust off the grill and start enjoying hamburgers, hot dogs, and shrimp kabobs. This is the life.

there's no time like the present...

Waiting for her guests to arrive...

Cupcakes!

Erin loves chocolate.

One of her new baby dolls!

Opening a present.

Her dad decided she needed her own cell phone and car keys... She loves them!

i'm so much older than i can take.

Today is my 1st birthday, and my parents took me to Grand Rapids Michigan to celebrate! We attended the Mangione/Bechtle wedding, played with a lot of new friends, and ate a lot of good food... and my favorite new friends are Travis and Lelia Mangione. What a great weekend!

this is as close as you and i will ever get to the ocean...

The Welty family went to Hilton Head Island last weekend for a family reunion. Here's Erin admiring the ocean.

Here's Erin before being traumatized by the icy waters...


Erin and Luke

Her adoring fans.

And finally, being rescued by Grandpa after Daddy stuck her feet in the cold Atlantic waters.