Our New Laundry Room

Ta da!

Welcome to our new laundry room! 

It just needs decorated and some cabinets put in! 

I love it!  Robb did such a nice job!  (and I painted)

The basement is coming along, slow but sure!  I'm so lucky to have a handyman husband!

Christmas Tree Getting Day

We went to our favorite Christmas Tree Farm the day after Thanksgiving to get this year's tree!

We love Mountain Creek, because they have great trees and let us bring our dog!

I can't tell you how much Charley LOVES to run around the Christmas Tree Farm.  He's incredibly happy here!

Here goes Robb, sawing our tree down!

Me and my Char!

"Whatcha doing Daddy?"

Charley and our fresh cut tree!

The only thing missing was snow!  But, the farm is really beautiful either way.

All loaded up and ready to go!

Our tree this year.  All decorated and sparkling!

For dinner, we have my favorite pizza- Thanksgiving pizza!  It is HEAVENLY!

Just take all the thanksgiving leftovers from the day before and pile on the pizza with some cheese.  What a great end to one of  my favorite days of the year!

I Love Them!

Happy Christmas Eve Eve!

We're ready! Tree is sparkling, gifts are wrapped and bows are on. Christmas, here we come!

You KNOW This Is True!

We Have A Winner!

Just wanted to post a quick note that not only did Charley get a qualifying score in his first competition, he won FIRST place!  I am so very happy and proud of him!  Pictures and video to come!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Our house is glowing up the neighborhood! So pretty! Now only if it would snow...

Meeting Adalei

At the end of September, I went down to Dayton to help Jill with her newest little one.   

 I was so excited to meet little Adalei Rose.  She's so sweet!

She is a really easy baby.  She slept most of the time while I was there.  Not what I remember from Kayla and Braden!  I guess you have to be easy when you're the third kid, with such an energetic brother and sister!

Here's Braden and Kayla making me different flavors of "juice."

 Unlike Braden, which was all baby duty, and Kayla which was some baby duty and some toddler duty, most of my time was spent with the older two.  (Which I didn't mind at all.)  I love my qt with the kids.

Braden and I even got to spend the day shopping for a new birthstone present for Mommy, and picking out pizza toppings for his pizza that we made together.

Braden lassoing the horse!

I even got to go to a cowboy birthday party!  Braden definitely already knew how to be a good cowboy. 

Kayla also got her cowgirl on during a horse race.  She had the right idea, just carry the horse and run!

Braden the professional horse rider.  I think he's had some practice at this!

The highlight of the party, was a real horse!  Braden was in heaven!

Here's my two favorite cow folk   I loved spending so much time with ALL of you!  Until the next baby...

Robb's Birthday Present

For Robb's birthday, I got us tickets to see Jason Aldean at Blossom!  He sang our first dance song at our wedding.  

 The concert wasn't until September, and was on a HOT muggy Friday.

 We weren't too far away on the lawn, and really enjoyed the show.  (Robb especially)

Happy late birthday to you!  

We've Got A Swimmer!

This summer, we taught Char how to swim, and this dog LOVES it!

 Sometime in August, when it was blistering hot, we went to Fairport Harbor to cool off.  This beach is nice because it's sandy and lets dogs in.

 I swam out, and sat on the sand bar so I could stay cool and throw Charley his toy!  

 He just loves the water, and actually dunks his head under. (which freaked me out, because that's how Koby was scared for life and ended up hating swimming).  But not Char!

 I bet he could've ran and swam around in the water all day!  We had to make him stop, so he didn't collapse from exhaustion!

Charley is a true water retriever, just like he's supposed to be!  But, he doesn't know that, he just loves to play!

Paddle the Parks

This summer, Robb and I completed the Lake Metroparks Paddle the Park Series.  

Every month, we kayaked a different section of the Grand River, Lake Erie, and Chagrin River.  

It was a lot of fun to explore all of our local rivers and lake.  We saw bald eagles, turtles, many ducks, fish and geese, along our paddles.  Looking forward to kayaking more next year!

Charley's First Obedience Competition

I'm happy, nervous, and excited to announce that Charley and me will be participating in our first AKC Obedience competition December 16th.  We are about 95% ready, and have one month to work on the last 5%.  Charley will start going to competitions on a mission for his CD, Companion Dog title.  He will need to receive qualifying scores in 3 different competitions to receive his title.  Wish us luck!

Janet's Wedding

On August 18th, Janet and Nick got married!

They had a perfect sunny day, not too hot, not too cold.  

We got there just in time from our day of tourism, to enjoy their beautiful outdoor ceremony at the courtyard of the Galleria.

The new Mr. and Mrs. Wittmann!

They met in Hawaii, while Janet was working on a Navy boat, and Nick was in the Navy.

Their tables were decorated with simple elegance with lovely pink flowers.

The reception was beautiful.

Janet and Nick had a highly cooreographed first dance, and did amazing at it!

They couldn't be happier!

Their cake was so tropically decorated!

How cute!

Janet, you really picked a sweet guy!  Can't wait to get to know Nick better over the years!

Everyone danced the night away in celebration of the newlyweds.

Congratulations Janet and Nick!!

New Friends

At Janet's bachelorette party, I got to know one of her good friends Angie.  She and are a lot a like, and really hit it off.  We're both vegetarians  sell on Etsy, and are knitters.  Angie and her fiance Edvin are from Austin, so when they came to Cleveland for Janet's wedding, we spent the weekend with them, being their own personal tour guides!  

Friday night, we took them to Tommy's in Coventry, shopped around Big Fun, and then went down to the feast.

We were going to have dessert down there, but were too full for a canolli!

After the feast, we went over to Great Lakes Brewery before dropping them off at their hotel.

    

The next morning, I picked up Angie and we went to the Christmas Story House.  She is a big fan of the movie, and I'd never been.

   

    Here we are, standing by the famous leg lamp!

Leg lamp!

Christmas tree, complete with presents and the bee-bee gun!

This is how I felt dressed up as a kid to go out and play!

After the Christmas Story House we went to the observation deck of the Terminal Tower.  I'd never done that either, and we had a beautiful day to see the whole city! 

Public Square 

Rock Hall

We met up with the guys, and headed to Melt for lunch!

   

Enjoyed their selection of fall treats!

    

And indulged in some delicious eats!

I totally understand, I take pictures of Melt every time, it never gets old and is always delicious!

Angie got the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles sandwich.  I'm going to try this next time.

Angie and Edvin, we had so much hanging out with you, and are sad you don't live closer!  We're looking forward to visiting you in Austin sometime soon!