November: Thankful for Great Family and Friends!

November was filled with lots of time spent with our wonderful family and friends whom we are so thankful for!  

• Phi Mu Thanksgiving Dinner - This year was our 6th annual Phi Mu pledge class Thanksgiving Dinner!  It was hosted at our house this year which was fun!  Amanda, Jennifer, Andrea, and Christina were able to come and it was great to catch up with everyone!  Jennifer and Christina are new moms and Amanda is pregnant - so babies were the most popular topic of conversation this year!  It is fun to see everyone growing up and our lives changing.  For a history on our tradition, read my post from last year!



Love these girls!

I had fun designing the invitation

Kevin did a great job with the turkey!

Our spread!

So fun to use the dining room :)

Mommy to be getting some practice!

• Meet Baby Joseph - The following Saturday we went to Columbus with my parents to meet my baby cousin's baby, Joseph Arlin McMillan.  I can't believe Zack has a baby!  He was so little and cute and looked just like Zack :)

My cousins Amber and Zack

• Fundraiser for Nick - That night we went to a great fundraiser event for Nick Whitlock.  It was put on by his family and friends who have started up the Capt. Nicholas Whitlock Foundation.  Even though I'd rather there not be a reason to get together for this occasion at all, it was a wonderful event with good friends, food, lots of silent auction items, and music, and we even got to hear Casey sing karoke and do a little dancing at the Alamo.  The event raised $20,000!  I continue to be amazed with how well Nick's family and friends honor him and I'm proud to have known him. 

The only picture I took that night!

• Stevens Layne at Vinyl - I saw on facebook that Stevens Layne was coming to town again so the following weekend Kevin and I went to see them.  We went by Kevin's friend Kyle's condo beforehand to hang out and then we headed to The Vinyl.  It was lots of fun!  They have great music and soul and I hope more people get to hear them.   

• Sushi /Karoke Night - The next night (Saturday), we didn't intend to pretend to be Japanese for the night, but we did end up going to eat sushi and singing karoke!  Maggie's friend Colleen was in town from NY and they came up to visit us.  We met Zack and Katie for sushi at Nagoya just south of downtown Roswell.  I knew that this karoke place that our friends Jody and Lydia had talked about was close to there - so I texted Jody and turns out it was almost right across the street from Nagoya.  So off to karoke at Chaplins we went!  It was so much fun - something about that place just isn't intimidating so we all participated!  Plus we had a little bit of liquid courage.  Of course looked to see if they had any Prince songs I could sing - the selection was slim but they had a few - so Party Like It's 1999 it was!  Then I looked for Kanye - that selection was slim too - but Kevin and I did a hilarious rendition of Gold Digger.  The night was complete with a cab ride home and a stop at Taco Bell along the way (after we stole pizza and chicken wings from the cab drivers).
• Falcons Game - The next day Kevin went to the Falcons vs. Giants game with his friend Matt Miller so I went down to Newnan to watch it with my parents, Malcom, and Tiffany & Hayes.  What a fun crowd!  Malcom and Hayes were instant friends and I just love both of their little hearts.  "1, 2, 3, RISE UP!!!" was shouted lots throughout the game!

• Thanksgiving - I took off work the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and drove down to Newnan to cook with Mom.  I did this last year and it was so nice I had to do it again this year.  I had lunch with Brianna and Kristyn (and Tenley!) at Newk's on my way in to Newnan.  Always fun to catch up!  Then I went home and hung out with mom and dad and helped cook.  Mom always cooks quite the feast for Thanksgiving!  Nana and Papa and Brenda, Bonita, and Joe (Dad's side of the family) came over on Thanksgiving Day.  We had a delicious lunch with them and then went over Kevin's grandmother's house.  It was a fun day of delicious food and wonderful family we are very thankful for!  

My sweet parents with our spread!

Most important part of the meal!

Joe, Kevin, and I sit at the kids' table

Floyd looking sharp for Thanksgiving

So thankful for my sweet boys!

Roger was exhausted!

• Thanksgiving in Alabama - The Saturday after Thanksgiving we headed to Alabama to see more of my dad's family.  It was another day of great food and family!  We made gingerbread houses and my cousin Brooke challenged my cousin Hannah's boyfriend (first time he was around the family) to Indian leg wrestling; Brooke won 3/3 :) 

My masterpiece

initiating the new boyfriend with some Indian leg wrestling

• Keith’s 24th Birthday - The next day (Sunday) was Keith's birthday.  Keith, Kevin's parents, Maw Maw, Kevin, and I went to Red Lobster for lunch after church to celebrate.  I hadn't had those cheddar biscuits in a while!  Then we were glad to get on the road home.  We had been in Newnan since Wednesday!  It was a nice visit but always good to get home :)
• Dinner w/ Rachel & Jason - The following weekend was the last weekend in November and we went to dinner with Rachel & Jason.  When we had them over in the summer we talked about going to eat Ethiopian food so we found a good Ethiopian restaurant in town, Desta, and tried it out!  It was really good!  We got the platter with everything on it.  It was a fun night!

•  Here are just some other miscellaneous pictures from November... 

Roger playing with the water hose for the first time!  He kept running back and forth through it and barking at it

I think this was the last time he laid in his small kennel.  We had  been using the big one for about a week but still had this one set up.  I found him laying in it while I was getting ready and I thought it was so cute!

The scene hasn't changed much...

Sweet boy!

October: Welcome Fall!

October was a great month of festivities that made me really excited for it to be fall.  I love the changing of the seasons (speaking of which, it is currently winter and I can't wait for spring!)!

• First Furniture Painting Project - Mom spent the night the night before we had a party at our house (described below) to help us get ready for the party.  We prepped food and painted furniture.  It was our first experience using chalk paint, and we were pretty excited with how it turned out!  We used Annie Sloan paint in Antibes Green.  First we put clear was on top but it was a really bright green so we bought dark wax and it made it so much better!  It was a little expensive but cheaper than buying a new piece of furniture! Brianna also came up to help bake cupcakes, and Zack and Katie came over so Zack could help Kevin install the new fans Mom and Dad got Kevin for his birthday on the back porch (thank goodness Zack was there to help, it was quite a chore!).  We munched on pizza and beer and it was a fun night.  Productive too!  Well productive for everyone else at least, baking and distractions don't mix for me :) But I sure was glad everyone was over here :)  

The dog-chewed edge added to the vintage look with a little bit of paint and dark wax!

Finished product!

• Happy Birthday Kevin/Come See the House Party - We kicked off October with a party at our house to celebrate Kevin's birthday and for our friends to come see the house.  It was so fun to see lots of our friends fill our new house!  

Chocolate/Guinness flavored cupcakes with Guinness bottle caps, orange flavored cupcakes with Shock Top caps, and lime flavored cupcakes with Corona caps :)

  

The spread

It was fun decorating our home for fall before the party!

• Roger Meets Jeffery and Becky/Watch Falcons Game with Malcom - The day after the party (Sunday), we went down to Newnan for Roger to meet Uncle Jeffery and Aunt Becky and to watch the Falcons game with Malcom.  We wanted Roger to meet Jeffery and Becky because he was going to be staying with them in a couple weeks while we were in Maine.  The meeting went pretty well!  Roger was dying for them to play with him but they are well past the playful puppy stage :)  It was also our first time meeting Malcom, a 4th grader my mom has been somewhat of a mentor to this past year.  We had heard so much about him we couldn't wait to meet him.  And once we met him we couldn't stop talking about him!  He was hilarious - so loving and just didn't hold anything back - telling us he loved us, shouting for the Falcons, and his sweet dance moves.  It was an exciting Falcons game - lots of double high fives going around the room!!

• Boston and Maine Trip! - Kevin and I traveled to Boston and up the coast of Maine to celebrate our two year anniversary!  It was a few weeks after our actual anniversary, but we wanted to go during the fall when the leaves would be pretty.  It was an awesome trip - read more here!

• Walk with Malcom/Roger Visits Moreland Elementary School - The night before we left for Maine, we spent the night with parents so they could keep Roger and Floyd.  They did great, so glad they were in good hands!  We got back from Maine late at night and had to get Roger and Floyd from my parents' house, so we spent the night with them.  Kevin went to work the next day but I took the day off, so I visited Moreland Elementary School, where my mom works and I went to elementary school.  She and Malcom walk everyday at 9:30, so I met them and went on their walk with them. Malcom always makes announcements when they get to the Moreland Mill, and it was so fun to be a part of his announcements!  Usually he just yells out how much weight he's lost or a football game he's looking forward to.  Roger came along for the walk too, and afterwards we took him into the school to show him off to some of the teachers.  One of the teachers got me to take him into the classroom and show the kids so that was fun :)  He did so good!

• Isaac’s 3rd Birthday Party at Amicalola Falls - We celebrated Isaac's 3rd birthday on a beautiful Fall day at Amicalola Falls.  Brianna and Josh prepared a yummy lunch and cupcakes and then we walked to the top of the falls - well most everyone but Kevin, Roger, and me.  We had to let everyone go ahead of us because we kept getting stopped by people wanting to pet Roger.  I can't blame them, he was pretty darn cute!  Then we all headed over to Burt's Pumpkin Patch.  Such a fun Fall day!

• Meet Baby Hudson - The next day Kevin and I went to visit Heather and Rye in their new home in Woodstock to meet baby Hudson!  He was so cute!

I couldn't leave out Stanley!

• Schutzhund National Championship - The following weekend we went to Newnan.  Schutzhund is a dog training sport that teaches obedience, protection, and tracking; it's what we're doing with Roger so we were excited to find out that the national championship was in our hometown at East Coweta Middle School!  My mom and Kevin's mom joined us.  It's so neat to see such well trained dogs!  

• Watch Falcons Game with My Parents - The next day we watched the Falcons game at my parents house.  Kevin and my dad have always been Falcons fans but this season was especially fun to watch them because they did so good!

• Happy Halloween - Halloween fell on a Wednesday this year, and we were excited to pass out candy for the first time in our neighborhood!  It was fun having all the little kids come by in their costumes.  I put Floyd in  a jack-o-lantern shirt and a bumble bee headpiece that we already had for him so he was decked out.  I got Roger a shark fin for $4 from PetSmart - I was so excited because it was cheap and perfect for him - he was quite the "landshark," as German Shepherd puppies are often called, at that stage!

Roger had fun waiting on the Trick-or-Treaters!