Making Marriage a Priority

Today I decided to link-up with Jenna's Journey to talk about making marriage a priority. When you first get married, sometimes it is hard to imagine how you could ever NOT make your marriage a priority. But, then life gets busy and you have kids. Things change. But, you can still make things in your marriage great. 

1. Have a Set Bedtime for the Kids

We do not live close to any of our family, and we do not have a regular babysitter. It of course would be nice if we were a little closer, but this doesn't mean we don't spend quality time with just each other. We sit down and eat dinner together as a family each night, and then Josh and I spend our evenings together after the kids go to bed. We try to get the kids to bed around 8. This gives us a little time each night. We usually spend our time watching tv and relaxing. But over dinner and throughout the evening we talk and catch up on what happened during our day. We spend our evenings in the same room. 

2. Have Dates When Possible

Since we don't live close to family, we try to take advantage of them when we can. For example, this last weekend my mom was able to come stay with the kids while Josh and I went to a meeting for work. We were gone 3 nights, and we really enjoyed our time together. Sometimes when we go to visit family, we will go out to dinner just Josh and I and leave the kids with family. 

3.Have Dates at Home

Sometimes on the weekend, we will wait to eat dinner until after the kids go to bed. We will cook something special for us to eat, and we can relax and enjoy it since the kids are already in bed.

We sometimes will rent a movie to watch during naptime on the weekends too. Be creative. It isn't about what you do, it is just about being together.

4.Enjoy Spending Time as a Family

Just because you can't spend time just the two of you, it doesn't mean you can't spend quality time together with the kids too. It is so good for kids to be able to see parents enjoy spending time together and with them. This morning we all sat in Gus's room while Gus played cars. Gus loves when we are all together. I believe spending time all together makes us closer as a family!

5. Talk!

The most important thing to do is to talk. Talk about everything! This draws you closer together. It makes you better parents. You are constantly learning more about each other, and you can learn how to better serve each other. 

Josh and I have been married a little over three years, so I am definitely not an expert. But I can say that we are very happy! God has been so good to us, and I'm so thankful God brought Josh into my life.

Three Years

Three years ago yesterday, it was quite an important day :)

I honestly cannot believe it has been that long- it has flown by. I always wanted to be married and have kids. And my dreams have come true. Being married is just as great as I thought it would be :) Josh is such a great husband- I couldn't ask for anything more! 

Josh gave me two of my favorite things:

And my other gift is on its way- Season 2 of Downton Abbey. Have I mentioned how much I love that show????? It is my favorite!!!

The best gift he gave me was taking the day off from work so we could be together. 

We took a few pictures yesterday. My baby girl and me:

Josh and I (yay for the timer on our new camera!!):

 

 

We went to a nearby town and went to lunch at Red Lobster. Here is Josh and Gus while we were there:

At one point last night, both kids were crying and it was a little crazy at our house. I was thinking how it would be nice to have a quiet evening just the two of us, but I really wouldn't have changed a thing. We have been so blessed.  I know someday the house will be all quiet, and I'll long for all the sounds of my babies!

Visiting Family and Friends

While on our trip last week, we were able to see lots of family and friends!! 

First, we saw Josh's sister! We were able to meet up with her for lunch. Gus enjoyed seeing his Aunt Brittany :)

 

We also were able to meet up for lunch with our friends that live in San Antonio. I have written several times about my friend Randi and her two boys Robby and Charlie. Josh was glad to be able to see her husband Tim, and Gus and Robby enjoyed watching the ducks and throwing rocks. 

 

Gus also loved seeing Charlie, I think Gus is going to be a great big brother :)

I always love any time I get to spend with Randi!!!!

And Gus was worn out after so much fun :)

We also were able to see our friends Adam Kasie, and Cale. Cale is just 6 days younger than Gus, and they enjoyed playing together.  I sadly didn't get very many pictures. We had a great time catching up!!

My grandparents that used to live near us now live near my parents. We were able to go visit them at their new house which is really nice! We are happy that they found such a great place to live and are close to the rest of our family, although we hate them being so far from us!! Their new house is near an outlet mall, so we had to make a quick visit to shop a little (which I would like to add I actually didn't buy anything!) My sister and mom went with us to visit them.

I love this picture of my mom, sister and me.

 We also saw all my aunts and uncles at the shower but I didn't get any pictures :) We are so blessed by our family and friends! I wish I had even more pictures to share.

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!

Snow, Shopping, and Family

Growing up, my mom, sister, and I always planned a big trip to the "city" about 90 miles away to do Christmas shopping. We got dressed up, drove to my grandmother's house and picked her up, and then headed to town! It was the one time when we shopped and saw something we liked, someone would buy it for us for a gift! We always had a great time.

This year, my mom and sister flew to my grandmother's house, and I drove there, and we spent the weekend shopping, eating, and watching Christmas movies. I drove into town on Friday morning, and it was snowing!! It felt so Christmassy, it was perfect! Josh joined us after he finished work Friday night. I had not been able to spend much time with my sister in a while, so I really enjoyed getting to catch up with her. There was a beautiful light snow on the ground. It looked like a perfect white Christmas, but it was still easy to get around town.

Eating at our favorite burger place:

Aunt Grace showing Gus how to ride a bull:

Looking at Christmas Lights (and of course we had our coffee/hot chocolate with us):

Gus and Grace:

My Grandmother and I:

Grace and I used to play lots of piano duets.. Gus joined us this year :)

Fun time with Mommy:

Gus and MiMi

Gus and PawPaw

I had such a great time laughing and spending time with my family this weekend. Now I have to finish getting ready for Christmas, is it really less than two weeks away??? There are presents to order (yes, I haven't finished shopping yet!), gifts to wrap, goodies to make, movies to watch (can't go a year without seeing Home Alone- it makes me laugh!!), and lots more Christmas music to listen to! Merry Christmas Everyone!!!

80 Years

This weekend we traveled to Dallas to celebrate my PawPaw's 80th birthday. We enjoyed lots of time with our family while we were there.

On my PawPaw's actual birthday, we ate BBQ at my sister's. She and her husband have recently purchased some land so we enjoyed spending some time there.

Does this man look 80 to you???

My sister recently got a horse, so Gus enjoyed his first horseback ride.


I rode her horse in my Sperry Top Siders...

Gus enjoyed lots of time with MiMi and Big Daddy

Here are a few other pics from the evening:



The next day we celebrated with a big dinner with all of my Uncle's family too.


Grandchildren and Great-Grandson

The Whole Family!


Sisters:

Grace and Brett


While we were in Dallas, I had to make a visit to NorthPark. Gus enjoyed seeing the ducks.

We got so many fun pictures, but I know I can't share them all. We had such a wonderful time celebrating. My grandfather is one of the sweetest, kindest men I know. Gus is named for my grandfather's father. My great-grandfather immigrated here from Greece. My great-grandmother died shortly after my grandfather was born, so my grandfather was adopted. He has come such a long way in his life and has seen so much. I know that all his hard work has made things so much better for us. I am lucky to have such an amazing heritage. (I just wish I had inherited some of that Greek skin!! ;)) Special weekends like this one remind me how blessed I am . I have such a wonderful family. God is so good.