Happy New Year's Eve

It's a big party around here tonight:

Reading books.......

Playing in the house.....

Spending time with MiMi and Big Daddy.....

Time just as a family....

Gus is now in bed, snack food is in the oven, a movie is about to be started
Wouldn't want to be anywhere else

Happy New Year's Eve!

Confessions and a Baby Bible

I think it is so funny to read other people's confessions posts. It makes me feel better to know I'm not the only one who..... has a dirty house, or watches certain tv shows, etc. So I will start off this post with some confessions:

~ I have not been planning our meals very well lately. I went to the grocery store on Tuesday but did not make a good list. I had to make something other than I had planned for dinner..... note to self- make a better list and actually look at it when shopping!!

~Gus stayed in his pjs all day yesterday. It's cold, and he needs pants on, but he can't crawl as well in jeans as he can in his footie pjs. So- he stayed in his pjs. Less clothes to wash.... right?!?!

~I was very proud of myself for not getting stressed out this Christmas. We planned easy meals, which was a good thing since our kitchen sink got stopped up and we couldn't use it.

~I have made two New Year's Resolutions. I never have been very interested in resolutions because the ones people chose are often hard to keep.

~I am very ready for all the snack food to be gone in our house. I want to eat all day long, even if I'm not hungry.

~All our Christmas decorations are still out. We will probably put them up this weekend. So since the tree is still up, I still turn it on! And you can't have a Christmas tree without Christmas music, so I'm still listening to that too....

Enough confessions for now.

I wanted to share one of my favorite gifts that Gus got for Christmas:
My mom and dad gave Gus this. I have been wanting to go to a Christian bookstore since Gus was born to look and stuff and never got it done. This Bible is so cute. I read it to Gus this morning, and he already can almost pay attention through the whole thing. I think it is a great introduction for kids. I highly recommend it!

What I'm up to.....

The last couple of days, we have had some visitors at our house.....
Starting from the left- Bear (the gray tiny dog), Doodle (labradoodle- my parent's dog), Samson (piebald dachshund with his nose hidden), and BeBe (Bichon Frise- my parent's dog).

My parents are taking a little trip and left their two dogs with us. Our dogs enjoy having playmates. I feel like I have my hands full though with 4 dogs and a little boy to take care of. The hardest part is when it is time to eat. I have to use some strategy to let all the dogs eat their own food and not steal from each other.

As you can imagine after snow with 4 dogs, my floor was quite dirty. So this morning, I was able to mop. It looks so much better! I just hope it stay clean for at least a little while.

We took this family picture the day after Christmas, since we didn't get one on Christmas day.... I was not too happy with myself for forgetting!

I got two book for Christmas from my mom- One Thousand Gifts and Jesus Calling daily devotional. I am very excited to read them both.

I wanted to share an easy decoration I made for Christmas. I used little Mason jars. I put some greenery from a bush in our front yard. I added a little water, a few cranberries, and then a tea light candle on top. I have made these before with big Mason jars. They look so pretty and are easy to make.

This afternoon, I will be cleaning and getting ready for my parents who are coming back tomorrow.

Blessings Abound

We had a WONDERFUL Christmas this year!! First of all, I am so thankful for my sweet husband Josh, everyday with him is such a blessing and I loved spending our 3rd Christmas together, 2nd Christmas married!

Gus had a wonderful Christmas. Santa came to visit him, and he got lots of other fun things from all his grandparents and great-grandparents. Gus has still been struggling to get over his ear infection. We got him a new antibiotic, and hopefully he will be back to himself soon. He woke up at about 5:30 Christmas morning very unhappy. We fed him and gave him medicine. When he woke up at about 8:30, he was so happy! I went to get him and carried him to the living room where everyone was. He had big smiles for a house full of people that love him so much. We checked out his stocking to see what Santa brought.
Santa visited all of the adults too of course!

His big gift this year was from MiMi and Big Daddy- a little house! He has already been playing it and has his toys and books inside. I had a little house when I was little that I loved. I know Gus is going to have so much fun with this for years to come.


I saw this singing Winnie the Pooh months ago and fell in love with it. Gus likes it too.




I sat on the floor with Gus to open all his presents, and he was perfect. As I opened each thing, he played with it and was interested. It was so sweet. Then he got tired and took a nap while the rest of us opened gifts. I will just say, we were all very blessed and I know I got way more than I deserved.

My grandparents:

My parents:

Josh's Parents:


Christmas was just perfect. But, we did have one little mishap, our kitchen sink got stopped up. I think it had been a growing problem that just decided to present itself on Christmas eve. So, all the dishes just had to sit around the kitchen for 24 hours. We did not let this little thing mess up our Christmas!
A plumber came out yesterday and everything is worked now.

One of the most fun things about Christmas was ....... a White Christmas!!! It was white when we woke up and snowed most of the day- big flakes. I just kept looking outside thinking how beautiful it was and how good God has been to us.
I hope your Christmas was wonderful too.

The Big Day is Almost Here

Our home is full
Full of family
Full of presents
Full of joy
Full of love
Full of Thankfulness

Our Loving God
Sent his Son
Because of His
Love


My parents and grandparents arrived early this afternoon. Josh's parents, after braving lots of snow, arrived not long afterwards. We enjoyed catching up, watching some football, and eating a meal. We then went to the Christmas Eve Candlelight service at church. It was such a special time to stop, and reflect on the true meaning of Christmas.

We came home to a broken kitchen sink. Dirty dishes are all over the kitchen. We don't mind.
It's Christmas :)

And now, with visions of Sugarplums dancing in our heads :)

We wish you a very Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas Eve Eve!

I just made my big trip to the grocery store to get all the food for company! My parents went to visit my grandparents, but they will be back tomorrow. And, Josh's parents will be coming tomorrow as well. So.... we will have all the family here for Christmas to celebrate Gus's first Christmas!

As I ate my lunch, I have been watching my favorite parts of the Home Alone movies. It makes me smile and laugh and is just a tradition!

Tonight I will finished picking up the house, wrapping a few more gifts, and maybe make a few more goodies. But, I am not going to stress, because it is Christmas.

I have been anxiously waiting to share some more pictures from the pictures we got taken for our Christmas card this year. This was the first time we had Gus's picture taken. So today, I wanted to share a few of Gus. I have more to show you, but these are some of my favorites:

Poor Gus is still not completely well :( And neither am I! Growing up, I was always sick at Christmas. My parents did figure out that I was allergic to the Christmas tree. But I never minded, it was Christmas!

I hope you are each enjoying getting ready for Christmas and spending time with those you love

Christmas has begun!

Christmas has begun at our house! My parents arrived yesterday. We went out for Mexican food for dinner. Gus got an early Christmas present from MiMi:

He played with Big Daddy's hat:


The dogs had it rough today.....

Gus has been talking a lot lately, he likes to say his name:





Gus also figured out he can walk quite quickly when pushing his toys today! He now worn out:



Tomorrow we will be working on food for Christmas eve and Christmas day. It is very cold here and might snow tomorrow.

Merry Christmas Eve Eve Eve to everyone!!! :)

Midweek Confessions

This is going to be short and sweet today:

- People will be at my house in a few hours, I still have piles of laundry that need to be done, but I know they won't mind seeing a few of Gus's outfits dirty, all that matters is that we are together

- I am really excited about Christmas this year. Both of our parents will be here and also my grandparents. Although Gus will not remember his first Christmas, I know all of us will.

-I have had a lot of fun being Santa this year. Yes, we do Santa at our house. We both grew up with it, and I still love it to this day. I remember the year I found out he wasn't real. I wasn't upset at all. I still loved the idea of it. I know some people don't do Santa, I respect that. But, it is something we have decided to continue.

-As it gets closer and closer to Christmas, I get excited and a little sad at the same time. I don't want the Christmas season to end! I am always sad to put away the tree, stop the Christmas music.... it never gets old. It really is the most wonderful time of the year.

-I have felt so blessed this year. Even if I didn't get a single gift, it would still be a wonderful time.

-I keep telling myself to stop eating the goodies around my house..... it isn't working very well...

-I started cleaning stuff out of my fridge yesterday, and there was some stuff in there.....well.... let's just say, it had been in there a while......Embarrassing!!!

-One of the socks I have on has a hole in it, and my toe keeps sticking out. But I don't have anymore clean black socks. No one can see the hole but me, that's ok isn't it???

That's it for now, time to go clean some more, or maybe have a cookie... :)

Whew!!!

What a day! What a week!!! This has been such a busy month for us. Today was no different.

This morning Gus and I made a trip to a nearby town for some last minute items for Christmas. We went to Hobby Lobby (can't resist getting wrapping stuff 50% off for next year) . We also went a couple of other places. We got some snow yesterday, and the road was actually a bit icy on the way, but on the way home it had all melted.

I am very happy to say, we have delivered all of our Christmas goodies to people in town! We made a list a few weeks ago, and we were able to take things to everyone on the list. I had planned to do this last year, but it didn't get done. (my excuse was that I was pregnant!)

Christmas shopping is officially finished! I still have to get some groceries later this week.

We have family coming tomorrow, and my house is still a mess. I will be running around in the morning..... throwing stuff in cabinets and closets.

It is 4 days until Christmas!!

Our Christmas Card to YOU!

Since I can't send each of you a card and some peppermint popcorn,

May the blessings of God be yours this Christmas season and in the coming new year.

"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men." Luke 2:14

Merry Christmas,
Josh, Catie, and Gus

Christmas Family Weekend

We had such a nice weekend together as a family. Josh had to work half of the day on Saturday. He came home and we relaxed for a while. On Saturday night, we cooked some Christmas goodies to take to people in town. Then Josh watched the movie The Holiday with me, wasn't that sweet!

Gus supervised from his highchair, and Bear waiting close by for anything that might fall.....
Samson kept an eye on what Josh was doing.
I made peanut cluster, and the recipe can be found HERE
Josh made sugar cookies
And we had a fire going in the fireplace

Here is how I bagged up the peanut clusters:

I also made some Tomato Basil Soup for people. This was so easy! You can get mason jars at the grocery store or Hobby Lobby. Then I just glued some ribbon on the jars.

But...... just so you know....... not everything in the kitchen comes out looking good :)
On Sunday, we as a family lit the advent candle. I wanted to get a picture, but Gus fell asleep on the way home.

It is raining and is supposed to snow this evening!! I an still hoping that it might snow on Christmas, you never know :)

Gus is slowly getting over his ear infection. I am still fighting a cold too, but we are working hard to get well for Christmas.

I hope you all had a great weekend... it is 5 days until the big day!