Almost Here!

Things have been moving at a pretty fast pace around our house this year. We have been out and about a lot this month and once again, I find myself shopping for Christmas on these last days. I always kick myself around mid-December for not shopping earlier. But, when I was out yesterday (I did take the day off and was out shopping around 10 am) the crowds weren't bad at all and I found that the stores were having some really great sales. Things I had debated on weeks ago, where on sale big time! So, I decided that my procrastination, this year, has paid paid off for me :)

So feeling pretty good about myself.....had the day off, got shopping done and wrapped a few gifts, I decided to make Patrick's favorite meal....spaghetti (one of my least favs ;) Only to realize, no sauce in the pantry. Okay, I'll make my own sauce.......and I still had some really great looking flat-leaf parsley in my herb garden and a little oregano and thyme, guess it just hasn't been cold long enough to kill all that back yet.

It turned out to be one of the best sauces I have every made and it was pretty quick and easy.....I will no longer Prego it ;)



So now I'm relaxing, made us a cup of hazelnut hot chocolate and I'm taking a minute to enjoy the house! Here is a look at our home dressed for the holidays......







From our home to yours......Merry Christmas!

Howdy Ya'll!

Couldn't let our annual Halloween party at the Munzer's go by without posting pics for the family.

As always, we had a great time. We laugh so much at ourselves.....when else can you dress up goofy and act like someone else for an evening. This year it was all cowboys, cowgirls and Indians......well one Indian anyway.......I kinda liked the cowgirl life!
















We had cowboy chili, white chili, homemade salsa and Alex fixed us up with some of her yummy cupcakes!



The boys here, takin care of bidness!








Josie and Ava came by to trick-r-treat before we headed out....so cute!



Good times!

Painting Pumpkins!

We were a little late this year getting together to do our annual pumpkin paintings with the boys.....Jeremiah has been pretty sick the past couple weeks, but he managed to recover enough to join us. He was so into it that I think he painted about 3 pumpkins himself!




John was pretty into it too.....he did a great job on his owl and moon!




Hmmm.......wonder if this one is any good with a brush ;)














and here is what we ended up with.......pretty good I think!





Happy Halloween!

One Of My Favorite Things!

Us girls just had our 4th annual girls weekend! We had a great time and I find myself looking forward to this all year! Not sure why we only do this once a year....but I guess it kinda makes it special. We head out on Friday to Columbus Ohio....we use the Country Living festival as our "reason"....but really it's just about us getting away, being free, eating when and what we want, shopping as long as we "need" to and just laughing at the stupid things that only your closest bud understands. We really do enjoy the festival and we have been so lucky every year to have awesome weather. I think it was like 72 and sunny, how perfect is that!

Here we are, coffee in hand, beautiful morning and headed to the fair!!!



Alex was the only one who had a really awesome find....she picked-up these cool cowboy boots from one of the antique booths....we were a little jealous, how cute is she!





Love you girls and thanks for sharing another awesome weekend! Can't wait until next year!!

Our boy is home!

I love this picture of my mom hugging James. He had just pulled in for a visit....this is the first time we had seen him since December 2010. He spent a little over 6 months in Afghanistan, lost about 30 lbs and missed his momma!




Dad a little tearful, but over-joyed!



Now what we do here, when someone comes home, is eat! And well, when they are down 30lbs....why not!

Rebekah made shrimp-n-grits.....now these aren't just any ole' shrimp-n-grits...these are some of the best ever!(and I've had them lots of places!)





and a little bruschetta.....

makes for a very happy family!












We love you James and welcome home!

Vacation

Well...I'm sorta back-tracking trying to remember the things we did this summer and post pictures. Hard to believe it's August, kids are back in school and fall is on it's way (I will now go into my winter depression!)

We've had a pretty full summer, I guess....I never get "enough" sun or the beach...it's my favorite place and time of year. Although, I can hardly endure long periods of time in the sun anymore and now, you'll find me under my hat, under my umbrella, instead of basting in the sun! I still like it, but my skin tells another story, the one I want no one to read :)

We made another trip to the Destin beach area in July...actually Grayton beach. I love this area, the water is typically beautiful there....well, not this year! The seaweed was so bad, I mean bad. Never seen so much. There was no one in the water the first day we got there. I thought, this can't be good and from the looks of it, we knew it wasn't something that would clear in a day or two. So, unfortunately this year wasn't one that we got to enjoy the beach much, but we still made the best of it and enjoyed our time there. The girls were great and we got a lot of Josie & Ava time in!! I think we played Pinkalicious about 100 times that week! I'm still playing it in my sleep and I can hear Ava saying "do you wanna play Pinkalicious adain"......lol!









We attempted to get pictures at the beach before dinner one night, the wind was pretty bad and it was very difficult to get everyone looking in the same direction and hair intact...but we had fun trying!










Grayton Beach 2011!!......I miss it already!! (and I could go for one more game of Pinkalicious Ava!)