Long Lost Blog, Part 2

Well, since the following activities were in the new year I decided to make a new post to cover them. We kicked off the new year by making our way to the Dallas/Ft Worth area for Tech's bowl game. The day we were supposed to leave to go to Ft Worth, which was also New Year's Eve, so many things went wrong and we ended up getting a very late start on our trip. We finally got to my sister's apartment at 11:45 pm, just in time to ring in the new year! When we got to the door we were welcomed by some very "swanky" hosts. My crazy sister & BIL decided to dress to the nines for us! She was in a cocktail dress & fancy wedding shoes and he was in a full tuxedos with his cuff links and all. The lights were out in the apartment and it was only lit by candles and the Christmas tree, jazz music was playing, and drinks were being served. Us weary travelers were tired and wearing sweats so we didn't quite compare to the swanky atmosphere but we tried our best to fit in. Jonathan even had a gift waiting for him; a pair of suspenders with shot glasses attached to them. My sister and brother in law are absolutely crazy but it made for a really fun time.

 
 
We had a great time at the bowl game! It was cold and early but it was a bowl game nonetheless so it was fun. I had actually never been to a Tech bowl game so the TicketCity Bowl was my first. Tech won and wrapped up the crazy season on a good note. Go Tech!

January 8- Happy Birthday Elvis!

As a crazy Elvis fan I celebrate all things Elvis, especially his birthday! This year he would have been 76. To celebrate his birthday we had a day full of Elvis' favorite things. To begin, we were all decked out in our Elvis attire. I wore my Elvis shirt with a 50's style skirt, Kate wore a little onsie with Elvis' face & a mini version of my skirt, and Jonathan even amused us by wearing his black leather jacket. We were a little 50's family in the making! We listened to Elvis Radio on the satelite station and danced til we couldn't dance anymore. (The "we" being Kate & I, Jonathan mainly laughed at us) Kate may not quite understand who Elvis is just yet but she does enjoy his music and dancing around. I love dancing like a fool with her and giggling until my stomach hurts. Once we were danced out we began making our feast of Elvis' favorite foods. We made southern style comfort foods- fried chicken, mashed potatoes, cream gravy, cornbread, & for dessert sponge cake- everything made from scratch! After eating our great Elvis style feast we spent the evening watching Elvis movies while I was wrapped up in my Elvis blanket. It was a fabulous day!

 
 
 

The end of January and beginning of February brought on some freezing cold weather- literally freezing. Highs in the teens and wind chills in the negative teens & twenties. In the words of Kate, it was "Ooo, burr cold." It was absolutely miserable so Kate and I hibernated for about a week. We didn't leave the house at all and looked at the snow from inside. Once the snow melted Kate was sad that she couldn't see the snow anymore and kept looking outside the window saying, "Oh no snow, what happened?" It was kind of fun to see the pretty snow outside for a few days but I was glad to see it go and hope its gone for good.

 
A little peek of Kate's toys buried in the snow in the backyard.


 Valentine's Day!
So I'm actually not really a big fan of Valentine's Day, I think its a little pointless; however, it is fun to spoil Kate a little and have a special day to do fun things. Grammy sent her some money for chocolates so we went to the candy store at the mall to pick out red and pink M&M's. Kate's discovery of bins filled with her favorite candy in every color possible was like finding buried treasure! After she realized that there were even more goodies all around she really went crazy. I now fully understand the old phrase "like a kid in a candy store." After the mall we made a trip to Target to pick out Kate's Valentine's gift. Kate loves Target. She loves going around the store trying to spot the Target dog. Some people look at her like she's crazy when she starts barking randomly throughout the store but it amuses me. We followed up our trip to Target with a stop at the movies to see "Gnomeo & Juliet." It was a sweet movie & very fitting for Valentine's Day. That evening we finished up decorating the cake we made earlier in the day & had a yummy steak dinner with Jonathan once he got home. We got Kate some flowers because lately she has been obsessed with them. Every time we see flowers she insists on stopping them and giving them a little sniff. (See the pictures below to see how Kate likes to smell the flowers!) If you want to make your way into Kate's heart these days bring her flowers, or M&M's...or both- so I guess Valentine's is right up her alley. The day was full of fun adventures and most of all, filled with love! I love you Kate and hope you stay my Valentine forever. To Jonathan, I love you so much- everyday of the year. I'm blessed to have the love of a devoted husband and sweet little girl.