not so bad afterall

ok so confession: im not really a "girls-night-out" kinda girl. i don't know what it is... but Ive just never been that into it. im sorta a home-body i guess. i mean, don't get me wrong, i LOVE my friends and have such a great time with them... but totally honestly, if I have free time, I ALWAYS want to spend it with Peter and the girls. Think what you want about that, but its just the way I am. I'm not lookin to get out or get-away at any possible chance and actually almost avoid it as much as possible. I TRULY would love to be with Peter (and my girls) ALL the time.
HOWEVER... a few of my girlfriends in a small group I'm involved in, decided it would be a holiday treat to have such an event. ya know... no kids, enjoy a hot meal, not rush in an out of everywhere, nothin to carry or wipe up :) anyway... they decided on dinner, some holiday shopping, dessert at the Melting Pot and a night at a hotel. So I'll admit, the home-bodiness kicked in a bit, causing me to opt out of the hotel BUT I did let loose and join in the rest of the fun. and that's exactly what it was... FUN! we had such a great time just relaxing together and enjoying lots of laughs (with the help of a particularly hilarious waiter). It was such a nice treat to enjoy some adult girl company and some yumminess. I was just as excited pulling in the driveway, knowing I'd get to see the boy... but I will step up to the plate and have to fully admit: girls night out was totally fun and I look forward to doing it again! :)... (at least our very tame and innocent version of it)

another busy christmas weekend

yet another whirlwind weekend! Saturday was jammed packed - met with some girlfriends for a little Christmas breakfast/gift exchange (one of my only relaxing minutes of the day!). after the gathering, i headed home, only to walk right back out the door. we drove to Hilliard to visit with Pete's grandparents. I just have to say, they are absolutely the cutest two people EVER! They are 93 and 94 and sharp as tacks - next year they will celebrate their 70th wedding anniversary!!! Our world certainly needs more of those couples around. What a joy to spend time with them. By the time we made it home from the visit we had less than an hour to get ready for the Messana Christmas/welcome home Joe party! Aunt Lex and uncle john came to watch the girls... BLESS THEM! :)
Sunday we celebrated dads retirement with a lunch at Roadhouse - YUM! Then we headed back to nana & papa's house to celebrate ellia's birthday with them (since they'll be in fl when her bday rolls around). spent the rest of the evening at home wrapping away!
At this pace.... well... lets just say my body doesn't handle the stress real well so I think its time to take it down a notch - try to RELAX and ENJOY this week.
Christmas shopping is done. Christmas wrapping is almost done. Christmas baking is almost done.... I think we're on the right track :)

p.s. best part of the whole weekend: sitting on the floor wrapping presents while Pete and BOTH girls were cracking up watching kung-fu panda. i LOVE hearing them laugh... all 3 of them. :)

ohhhh yea! and how can i forget. amongst all the craziness was TONs of baking and gift-prep. This year we did lots of my homemade butter cookies with icing AND i tried my hand at making HOMEMADE marshmallows & hot cocoa mix. Both of which, I think, turned out marvelously! I've never done marshmallows before, but they were surprisingly easy to make and taste wonderful in the cocoa! We packaged things up for some neighbors and friends and of course, the postman :) check it out...

weekend wonderland

well let the December MADNESS begin! The second weekend in December... and it was jammed packed. Besides the usual craziness of trying to get a tree up and decorated, the house decked for Christmas, shopping lists checked off, etc. etc. We filled the weekend with about 5 other big items. Friday my mom & dad, me and the girls took a little road trip down to IKEA. This was no easy feat... but lots of fun! I LOVE that store and I am certainly glad it takes a full 2 hours to get there - otherwise, it could be quite dangerous on our bank account. We drove back and made it home just in time for Pete & the girls and I to head off to dinner with some good friends who we haven't seen in WAY too long. It was a fun evening catching up with Kris & Maria - and I'm excited for our baking-Christmas music day we have planned soon! :) Saturday we went and got... oh wait, I just realized what we did was for a Christmas gift - so I'll share later :) Saturday evening we had such a fun night celebrating with my Dad at his firehouse - our last Saturday pizza night there. They made him a huge ax out of cake to mimic the ax he received for his retirement. I love hangin around the firehouse - something about that smell, I will never forget. I'm just glad the girls got to experience a little of it before papa finished up. I'll probably miss it more than dad ;)




Sunday we made the long snowy and rainy trek to Cleveland. but it was SO worth it. We got to celebrate with our dear friends at their baby shower! It is always a joy to watch those you love be blessed with a bunch of new beautiful things to start their family. Hung around a little after to see their new pad and chill with them. Then it was a LONG and snowy 3.5 hour trip home. I just can HARDLY wait till their little guy is born! February will bring lots of fun things :)

God's handiwork

baby shower = thrown!
Christie, Kelly & I threw a baby shower for our friend Ashley - celebrating God's handiwork... perfectly knitting together this little girl in her womb - what a miracle!
We settled on a book-themed shower, and had everyone bring a book to start their collection.
A few games, some really great food, and fun girls made it a truly delightful day. I love watching people being blessed by the love and care of friends and family. The best part was gathering around Ashley, laying our hands on her and covering her, coty and baby girl with a blanket of prayer. Looking forward to this beautiful life God has already planned every minute of. Here's a look at the day... now I've gotta go CLEAN! :)