Monday, November 28, 2011

Kaden Turns 5!!

Over the Thanksgiving weekend, we celebrated Kaden's 5th birthday!  I can't believe he's already 5... Yikes!!

He celebrated his big day with a Batman-themed party, a delicious cake, yummy food, lots of presents, and surrounded by quite a few people who love to spoil him rotten! :)  Overall, he had a great birthday!  He even admitted at the end of the day, "Everything I wished for came true!" :)  Now, that sounds like one very satisfied birthday boy! :)

He doesn't look spoiled at all, does he? :)

Me with my favorite little 5 year old! :)

The cake...
It was very tasty! :)


Lots and lots of Batman! :)

Trying on his snowmobile helmet from Uncle Jason. :)

His 4-wheeler from his mommy and Randy... Doesn't every 5 year old have a quad?! :)
This made for one very happy birthday boy!! :)

And off he goes! :)

The Birthday Boy...
He's just too cute! :)  But, he's got to stop growing up so fast!!

Blowing out the candles...
He informed us that his "wish" came true! :)

Happy Birthday, Kaden! :)
I love you bunches!!

Friday, November 25, 2011

Thankful...

Wow!  I can't believe that Thanksgiving has already come and gone...  It was the first Thanksgiving we were able to celebrate in over three years, and what a wonderful feeling it was to be able to partake in the festivities again this year.  Thanksgiving has always been one of my favorite holidays... Primarily for the pure simplicity of it. :)  It's a holiday that simply revolves around spending time with family and friends to celebrate all the things we have to be thankful for.  I always enjoyed it because it meant that it was the one time of the year where our whole family would gather together to feast on a delicious dinner, talk, laugh, and enjoy each other's company. :)

And, after missing Thanksgiving for the past three years, I'm happy to say that some things never change...  This year, I was surrounded by my family (unfortunately, my husband wasn't able to be there with me. :( ), I stuffed myself full of delicious food, and I can't even begin to tell you how much laughing I did throughout the day... It was wonderful!! :)  And, as the day went on, I was reminded of all of the things I have to be thankful for...

-I have an amazingly wonderful husband... I can't begin to tell you how fortunate I am to be married to him... He's my rock, he supports me in whatever I do, he makes me laugh when I'm sad, he has faith in me even when I don't have faith in myself, he puts up with my goofiness, he pushes me to my fullest, he listens to me ramble on and on and on about randomness, he encourages me to try new things, he's my fellow adventure partner, he puts a twinkle in my eye, and makes me smile daily!  :)

-I have the most wonderful, supportive, and loving family anyone could ever ask for!  They've always been there for me, they're the people who have molded me into who I am, they're the reason I'm the person I am today, and I can't begin to thank them for always standing by me and loving me unconditionally.  (I'm also extremely thankful to have been blessed with being an aunt to the cutest kid ever... Kaden can always put a smile on my face like no other. :))

-I am also thankful to have wonderful in-laws who have welcomed me into their family with open arms. :)

-I have the best friends, both here and abroad, a girl could ever ask for! :)

-I'm thankful for the past three years... I am forever grateful to have been given the experience of living in Germany and being able to travel through Europe!  It's something I had always dreamed of doing and never thought it would happen... But, somehow that dream came true.  The past three years have taught me so many things, and I've learned so much about myself.  Because of this experience, I've turned into a more compassionate, adventurous, confident, caring, and worldly person, and for that, I will be forever thankful. :)

-I'm thankful for my cute little house that is starting to feel like "home" to us. :)

-I'm thankful that we both have jobs so that we're able to continue to do the things we enjoy doing.

-I'm so very thankful for our health.

-I'm thankful to have my little furball, Riley, back in my life. :)  I can honestly say that I missed having him curled up in my lap, purring away over the past three years.

... and the list could go on and on! :)  Needless to say, as I start adding everything up, I am one very lucky girl! :)

I hope you all have as many things to be thankful for as well!  I hope your Turkey Day was fabulous and you were able to spend the day surrounded by the people you love! :)  Gobble, gobble!!

Monday, November 21, 2011

Silver Bells in the City '11...

After missing it for the past three years, I finally made it back to one of my favorite holiday traditions... Silver Bells in the City! :)

Every year on the Friday before Thanksgiving weekend, downtown Lansing kicks off the holiday season with an electric light parade, the lighting of the state Christmas tree, Christmas carolers, and a firework display...  It's always a fun way to start the holiday season! :)  

So, this past Friday, Brian and I hopped into the car, headed to Lansing, met up with some friends, and joined in all of the festivities...  It was actually Brian's first time at Silver Bells in the City, and he really enjoyed himself! :)  It was a great night filled with tons of Christmas cheer, great friends, lots of laughs, and so many memories of previous Silver Bells in the City festivities! :)  What a wonderful way to start the holiday season! :)  


Waiting for the tree to be lit...
Counting down to the tree lighting...
The capital before...
... and after! :)
So pretty! :)


After the ceremony, we headed to Kelly's for a bit of Christmas cheer... :)
Brian, Jessi, me, and Rachel having fun at Silver Bells! :) 


Renee and Kory were racing to the end of their water! :)


This is where the night took a random turn...
Suddenly, Rachel and my hats became the highlight of the evening! :)


Kory and I in front of the capital and the state Christmas tree... :)
Holiday greetings from Brian and I! :)

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Beautiful Colors...

Autumn in Michigan has been absolutely stunning this year!!  The colors have been gorgeous!  The other day Brian and I went for a walk in the woods, and we were met with such a beautiful sight!  Check it out for yourselves...







Hope you're all having a wonderful fall! :)

Saturday, November 19, 2011

Oktoberfest '11...

Wow!  It's been quite a while since my last post... Sorry about that dear readers!  Suffice it to say, it's been quite busy around here...  My class has been keeping me extremely busy (I think I'm up to writing about 10 -14 pages of papers per week... yuck!!),  I started subbing full time, plus all of the fun-filled fall activities that come with this time of year, and our weekends have been busy with traveling and home improvement projects... Lots of stuff going on to say the least!  And, unfortunately, it hasn't left much time for blogging. :(  But, I do promise to try to get better about it, especially with the holiday season approaching and all of the fun things that go along with that! :)    So, please be patient, and hopefully I'll get back into a normal routine before too long. :)

So, let's do some catching up... Back in October, Brian and I decided to host an Oktoberfest party!  We wanted to show our friends and family how to celebrate Oktoberfest the German way! :)  So, we promptly decorated our house (actually our garage! :)) in an Oktoberfest theme, made some authentic German food (yum!), played some of those famous Oktoberfest tunes, dressed up in our dirndl and lederhosen, and purchased a couple kegs of bier... And, then it was time to celebrate! :)

And, celebrate we did!  A fun time was had by all! :)  So, thank you to everyone who came out to celebrate with us!  We hope you had as much fun as we did!  We look forward to seeing you all at the same time (well, hopefully during the actual Oktoberfest time! :)), same place next year! :)  Prost!!

Wilkommen zu Oktoberfest!! :)
The set-up...

Unfortunately, we didn't get a picture of all of the food as once the party started, we kind of forgot...
But, we had the table covered with food such as homemade kasespaetzle (which was quite tasty for our first time making it! :)), obazda, delicious bratwurst, homemade German potato salad, brezeln, and some yummy German chocolate cake... Amongst all of the German food, we also made sure we had some all-American style food as well... Which consisted of artichoke dip, pinwheels, and lots of yummy dips and chips! :)  
The music... :)

Lots and lots of brezeln! :)
German chocolate cake... Yum! :)
Authentic German bier... :)

Maria and Ken were happy to celebrate Oktoberfest with their German neighbors! :)
Renee and Jessi trying to keep warm in the garage. :)
It was quite chilly in the beginning, but once those heaters kicked into gear, it became toasty warm in there! :)
Brian and Maria prosting! :)
Damon and his girlfriend... 
Ken, Marianne, and Scott...
Renee and Dan...
Jessi was having fun reliving her time in Germany! :)
Ian, Natalie, and Andrew...  

Steve and Jessi felt like they were right back in Germany! :)