Catching Up and Celebrating 17 Years of Marriage!

First for some Bun pictures!! She's so cute, and getting BIG! She loves her carrots.

I gave the boys haircuts during winter break...

And I got some nail wraps to try!

As well as worked on my freehand gel polish French tips.

As you may or may not have noticed...today is our 17th anniversary! I've officially been married more than half of my life on this Earth, and I've got the gray hair to prove it! Haha. Here are a few throw back pics to our younger years ...

2002 just got engaged over Christmas

And a few weeks later we went to the courthouse with our moms and got married!! (We had a ceremony in 2004 on our one year anniversary)

We kept it low key today. We went and got couple's pedicures while the boys were in school, and I'm cooking us a private dinner tonight of fettuccine alfredo with cheesecake for dessert!

A few fun facts.....

1)We have been married THREE times (2 vow renewals, planning another for our 20th in the Caribbean)

2)Yes I was 16 and he was 21 when we married!

3)The engagement ring Nick bought me has an emerald and diamonds on it

4)We got each other's names tattooed on each other in 2004 (before tattoo parlors were officially legal in OK)

5)We absolutely love NY and have lived here almost 4 years already!

6)We are more in love than ever, and hope we are setting a good example of true love for our children ❤

Welcoming a New Decade

Happy New Year! We had fun at our library for a "Noon Years Eve" countdown for the kiddos. They had crafts, activities, music, snacks, and balloons for the countdown!

Our yearly dinner for NYE is always snacks and finger foods, so I fixed that up with some punch and we watched a family movie together. The kids still went to bed, but I think Brad tried to stay awake till midnight...

We watched our shows and shared a kiss at midnight for the new year! May this year bring joy and fun to us all.

Chop Chop

My hair was getting WAY too long, so I decided it was time to cut it! I found a great local salon, and ended up having about 17" taken off! I saved the cut hair, and mailed it off to Locks of Love today for donation!

I'm loving the short 'do!

Christmas Season 2019

I hope everyone had a very merry Christmas this year! Our December was full of Santa visits, snow, and general merriment. The boys had a wonderful holiday, and we were blessed to be able to all spend it together at home. We love our new and old traditions that make the season special!

First off was a visit with Santa at our library! He read the kids a story and handed out a Christmas book.

The first week of December Nick got down ALL of our decorations and the boys helped me trim the tree! We had an unusually warm day in the 50s, so that was perfect timing to put the outside lights up.

Then we got a foot of snow! Jacob helped me build a huge snowman. He quickly melted when it warmed back up.

Next the boys' school had a family Holiday night where they got to decorate (and eat!) cookies, do crafts, and we all took a family picture.

Another weekend, our town had a Saturday full of events downtown. We got to eat donuts and pizza with the police, lots of crafts, and meet Santa again!

Next I took Jacob to another Christmas event at the library. They read him some stories and he got a cookie.

One Sunday morning after I got off work, I met the boys in Middleport at the fire station for breakfast with Santa!

Then one chilly night at home I had the boys help me make and decorate sugar cookies! Yum.

On another weekend I took the boys to the library for more holiday fun! They got pancakes, made an ornament, and then Mrs. Claus read them a story of the Night Before Christmas.

We continued our annual Christmas Eve tradition of "Arby's" roast beef sandwiches. This started with Nick's grandparents, and we carried it on after they passed. Once we moved out to Albion, we don't have an Arbys by us so we DIY and get sliced roast beef from the Amish market. Yum!

I even caught Santa bringing presents overnight!

Christmas morning the boys tore into their presents and had a ton of fun seeing all the goodies. Then we ate our traditional biscuits and sausage gravy for breakfast, and a Mexican feast for dinner with apple pie for dessert.

Jacob got a firetruck tent, which he enjoys....the cat enjoys....and even the bunny!

We had a great day, and can't wait to see what 2020 holds for us!