O Christmas Tree

After many hours, our Christmas tree is finally up! Last year, the popular Christmas fad was this deco mesh. I wanted to buy some last year to put on the tree, but didn't think I would be able to do a good job getting it on the tree. It's still really big this year, and I decided to give it a try after watching a mesh demonstration from Joe Turner at Mistletoe Market this year. (The mesh is red and green striped on my tree.) I fluffed each branch on our tree for probably 2 hours last night. Then, I put all 4 rolls on the tree, and I didn't think it looked good so I took all of it down.

I decided to give it up for the night and go to bed.

This morning, I put all 4 rolls of mesh on the tree again and I was finally satisfied. I put on as many ornaments as I thought I needed, but stopped with a whole tub of ornaments left over. Is it just me, or does it take hours to get the tree up? I had had enough fun for the day and thought the tree looked good enough, so here you have it...the Freyaldenhoven tree.

I really don't like the whole process of decorating for Christmas...I just really like the end result. I don't want to stress myself out about it this year, so I'm going to try to tackle all of the other decorations tomorrow. I'm really not in a hurry to get them up this year. It's just really hard to do with a baby. Notice that we did get a baby gate to put around the tree. I have tons of glittery ornaments and branches in my tree, and Madison loves to everything right now. I can just see her pulling everything off of the tree, much less pulling the tree on top of her. The baby gate just sounded like the safest best right now.

So, I really don't watch a lot of t.v. now that I'm a mom, but I do love a good Lifetime or Hallmark movie. Hallmark has the best holiday movies on right now. They go from noon until midnight. I haven't watched a whole movie yet, but I've caught bits and pieces.

Baby's 1st Thanksgiving

We ate a ton today and had a great time with our families.

Madison w/Grandma

Madison with Grandpa on Uncle Ryan's motorcyle

We even took some pics for the annual Christmas card. The yard was a bid shadowy!

We thought this was cute!

This one may be a keeper... ;)

Hope you had a great Thanksgiving with your loved ones! Don't shop too much tomorrow. Watch out for the crazy crowd on BLACK FRIDAY!

Happy Thanksgiving

Madison and I spent a great day together. We ran a few errands this morning, and pretty much stayed home this afternoon. I bought Madison these new footed sleepers (the one she has in the pic below) and the the feet have little grips on them. They are great to wear around the house because she can just crawl any where and pull herself up and I don't have to worry about her falling. I let her crawl all over the kitchen today. She pulled up on the bar stools, opened cabinets, and played with toys on the floor. She even helped me unload the dishwasher. Well, kind of. :)

This afternoon, she knocked over the bowl of peppermints that we have sitting on an end table in our living room and had a blast "inspecting" each mint. It was the cutest thing ever. She took out one at time, put it in her mouth (with the wrapper), pulled the wrapper, and then threw it on the floor. Then, she pulled out a new mint. I video taped her doing this because I thought it was so cute! She really is getting so big.

I've wanted to take a picture of her standing up naked looking into her bathtub for some time now, but never had the camera with me. Tonight I caught it! She's a big girl now because she's taking a bath sitting up in the "real" bath tub. She loves bath time and cries every night when I take her out. She also does not like to lay still while I put her diaper on. This is a real problem. We have lots of diaper fights! I guess she is going to be independent (and strong willed) like her momma! ;)

Beautiful Baby Girl. I sure do love her, especially her tuff of hair that stands straight up on her head! (Sigh!)

Tomorrow we will be enjoying our Thanksgiving meal at my parents' house. I'm sure we'll also get some good snackin' in at the Freyaldenhovens' in the evening. I'm so thankful that Gabe and I were both raised in loving, Christian homes, I'm thankful for my soul mate who I dreamed about my entire life, I'm thankful for our beautiful baby girl who brings so much joy to our life, I'm thankful that we are blessed as a family with food to eat, clothes to wear, and a house to live in, and I'm thankful for God giving me what I don't deserve...a personal relationship and eternity with Him.

Have a Very Happy Thanksgiving this 2009...our baby's first!

Stomach Bug

Watch out, because the bug has been floating around town! I felt a little nauseated Wednesday night, but felt better during the day. I also felt nauseated Thursday night, and went to bed feeling queasy. Gabe and I both woke up in the middle of the night sick as a dog! Thursday night was the longest night of my life! I can't remember having a stomach bug this bad in a long time.

I called my dad Friday morning and he came and got Madison. There is no way we could have taken care of her. Friday evening, my dad had caught the bug. Then, my brother, Ryan, came home from work, and he had the bug too. My mom was feeling a little queasy, but said she could still take care of Madison. ;) Well, sure enough, she had a rough night too.

Gabe's Dad also came home Friday after school feeling sick, and Margaret started feel sick on Saturday as well. WOW! It's amazing how this bug can travel so fast. We picked Madison up Saturday morning and brought her home. We felt better, but it was still hard taking care of her and ourselves.

The bug pretty much just lasted 24 hours and we are soo thankful we are over it! Thank you, Lord. When I was feeling so sick, I thought about people who are chronically ill and go through this all of the time. I could never make it. Thank you, Margaret, for bringing us Campbell's soup and medicine. And thank you, Megon, for bringing us Sprite, crackers, soup, and jello. That was so thoughtful of you!

Thank goodness, Madison has not gotten the bug yet... and hopefully, will not get it. Madison has been happy as a lark the past couple of days. I think she enjoyed spending time with her grandma and grandpa. She is getting so fast these days. She has worn me out the past two days. I have basically had to just give up getting anything done around here.

Here she is in one her new outfits...size 12 months! The past couple of days she has been blabbing non-stop. She's learned a new word. Lah-lah-lah-lah. I asked her if she is going to be a singer like her momma. Her reply? Lah-lah-lah-lah. So, I guess the answer is yes.

9 Months Old and Counting...

Look who's 9 months old...

ENOUGH! ENOUGH! ENOUGH!

If these people can't tell that I'm cute by now, then forget it!

What is Madison up to these days?

*eats baby food 3 times a day- introduced meats at 8 1/2 months

*wears size 3 diaper

*starting to grow out of some 6-9 months outfits and fit into some 12 months outfits

*weighs 17 lbs, 4 oz

*crawls great, and is getting faster

*loves to pull up, pull out drawers

*smashed fingers in drawer for the first time, fell and hit head on tile for first time

*says Mama, Dada, bye bye constantly

*waves, claps hands all the time

*wakes up twice a night...we need to work on this

*not real big on playing in playpen, exersaucer, etc./wants to be on the floor on her own

Madison, it won't be long before you turn 1 year old. I can't wait to plan your 1st birthday party. Of course, it will be decked out in pink. You are doing so many cute things at this age, but this is definitely the hardest age so far for momma! I just can't get everything done around the house AND watch you, too. Slow down, girlfriend!

Gabe celebrated Thanksgiving with his employees at RVT today by frying a yummy turkey for them. Everyone brought potluck and enjoyed a wonderful meal. Madison and I got to tag along, too! I usually don't like turkey because it is usually dry, but a deep fried turkey is juicy and great! The crispy, fried skin is great, as well!

My dream come true...

I have told Gabe before that I've always wanted an ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins...my favorite ice cream parlor! My favorite flavor of ice cream there is mint chocolate chip, so...I told him my dream cake would be a chocolate cake with mint chocolate chip ice cream in the middle. Well, Tuesday was our wedding anniversary and Wednesday he had to go to UCA to teach some physical therapy classes to the P.T. students. He drove to Greenbriar to get me this wonderful cake. I made myself sick last night by eating not one, but TWO pieces. I felt nauseated in the middle of the night while feeding Madison. Tonight, I took a break from this cake and ate a piece of turtle cheesecake instead. Not much of a break, huh?

Happy 9 months, Madison. We love you, baby!

Anniversary Celebration!

Tonight we celebrated our 2 year anniversary with a crab leg dinner. We love crab legs! There is a great seafood restaurant in Heber Springs called McPherson's that has all-you-can-eat crab legs on the weekends and we love going!!! Tonight I steamed 4 lbs. of crab legs from Kroger. They were good, but I wanted way more. We'll have to go eat all-you-can-eat crab very soon.


This dessert is called Chocolate Melting Cake. It is Gabe's second love. He had it on a Carnival cruise that we went on with another couple last year and fell madly in love with it. This is exactly what it looked like on the ship. He always ordered 2 ice creams! So, for dessert I made him his new favorite dessert. I'm really not that crazy about it. It's basically a smooth chocolate cake with hot oozing chocolate in the middle. Some people call them baby lava cakes. When you puncture the middle, semi-sweet chocolate pours out. Too much chocolate for me! But...I did eat one tonight so I guess they don't taste too bad.

Happy Anniversary, Babe. I sure do love you.

Love,
Kristy

Celebrating Two Wonderful Years...

Gabe covers all Pottsville football games each year as their athletic trainer. He just finished his last game last Friday night, so this Friday was our first Friday to spend together in quite some time...well, since about August or September. We are both glad to be able to see other on Fridays now.

Saturday, Gabe and I spent the day in Fayetteville. We ate at our favorite Italian restaurant in Tonitown...Mama Z's. They make their pasta from scratch, their rolls from scratch, and their Italian salad dressing. Their food is soo good! We did a little shopping, and then headed to the game. Madison stayed with Gabe's parents and had a great time following her cousin, William, around their house. She adores him, but he's acts so scared of her. I think he's just not sure how to act around her yet.

Tomorrow is our 2 year anniversary. It seems like Gabe and I have been married so much longer than 2 years, but that's all it's really been. We didn't wait very long to have Madison, so I think that's why it seems like it's been longer. We are going to celebrate our anniversary with a vacation to the Mexican Riviera...an all-inclusive resort. We can't wait. Madison will be staying with our parents. This will be our first time to be away from her overnight. I know I'll miss her, but I'm really looking forward to some time with just Gabe and I, and I'm really looking forward to sleeping in!

Blowout!

This afternoon Madison was sitting on Gabe's lap and had a huge blowout in her diaper. He picked her up and had poop all over his stomach and pants. All I could was laugh. He got mad at me because I didn't take her right away. What a mess! You should have seen the look on his face. I took her and just kept laughing as I cleaned her up. I told him at least now he knows what it's like to be a mom! Ha. He doesn't know the half of it!

Just call me Paula Dean...if ya know what I mean!

Madison is quite the crawler these days. She loves to pull herself up around the house. She likes to try to pull herself up in the kitchen and bathroom, but I don't let her since we have tile floors. We are so afraid she will hurt herself in these rooms! I bought Madison some new "big girl" pajamas at Wal-Mart today. They are size 12 month! She is getting so big.

Our little crawler...

Tonight, I cooked a good southern meal...fried pork chops, turnip greens, french rice, and a yummy salad with homemade ranch. (my favorite dressing.)

You've got to try the French Rice. I got this recipe from Gabe's mom and it is by far one of my favorite dishes.

French Rice

10 1/2 oz. can French onion soup (undiluted)

1 stick melted butter

4 1/2 oz. can mushrooms

8 oz. can sliced water chestnuts

1 cup uncooked regular rice

Combine soup and butter. Stir well. Drain mushrooms and chestnuts reserving liquid. Add enough water to liquid to make 1 1/3 cup. Add mushrooms, chestnuts, liquid, and rice to soup mixture. Stir and pour into lightly greased 10x6x2 dish. (I use a rectangular corningware dish and prepare it all in the dish.) Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.

I very rarely ever make desserts, mostly because I'm a cook...not a baker. But, tonight I thought Gabe really needed a chocolate pie. Just Gabe...not me... ;)

I used Gabe's grandmother's recipe. You should try it out. Now keep in mind that most grandmothers do not actually use recipes. They just know their recipes!

Mema's Chocolate Pie

1 cup sugar

3 slightly heaped T. flour

3 T. cocoa

2 cups milk (can use evaporated milk)

3 eggs

couple T. butter

In a cast iron skillet, mix sugar, flour, and cocoa. In a separate bowl, beat eggs and milk. Add egg and milk mixture to skillet with dry ingredients. Cook on medium heat, constantly stirring until mixture becomes thickened. Take off heat and stir in butter. Pour into baked pie shell. Can top with meringue if you would like.

Go HOGS!

Madison dressed up in red and black tonight. I bought her this cute little Razorback bow at a craft fair in Russellville this weekend. I do have to say- this bow was the ONLY cute thing I found at the fair...besides, one other cute bow I bought.

We ate dinner at Italian Garden's tonight with my parents. They just finished remodeling the restaurant and it looks great. It has a modern feel and the lighting is really neat. In the picture below, Madison's eyes are glued to the t.v. She loves watching cartoons.

Lovin' on Grandpa

Getting a horsey ride from Grandpa- having trouble hanging on...

Getting an airplane ride from Grandpa- not quite sure about those yet...

We had a lazy Saturday today. We just stayed at home. I rented The Proposal and watched it this afternoon. I really liked it!

Have you seen it?

Festival of Occasions

Madison wore one of her cutest outfits the other day.

I just love hot pink and lime green together!

Occasion #1: I took Madison to the doctor yesterday because she has had a cold for several weeks now. The medicine that the doctor gave her never helped, so he said to bring her back in. It turns out, she has an ear infection in her left ear. I never would have guessed that. She hasn't been pulling at her ears. She scratches the inside of them occasionally, but has been doing that for some time now. It's usually because I need to clip her fingernails. It makes sense that she has an ear ache though because yesterday she would just start crying hysterically. I knew she didn't feel good. She has been whiny today, but I think the medicine will start kicking in tomorrow. I hope she gets to feeling better soon.

On another note, she is moving all over the place. She wants to pull up on everything and I'm just not used to this sort of thing. I like to get things done around the house, and well...you just can't with her around. She falls and bumps her head several times a day. She should be toughened up pretty soon. ;)

Occasion #2: Last night, we had a Ladies' Night Out at church called Festival of Tables. 8 ladies pick a table and decorate it with a Christmas/Winter or Fall/Thanksgiving theme. We ate a yummy meal, watched a craft demonstration, and listened to a wonderful speaker. I was blessed to be there and had a fun time with the girls. We used my china, Michelangelo silverware, and crystal goblets. You would have been so proud of the table setting, MeMommie! (My MeMommie loves to decorate/set the table with fine dishes. My love for pretty dishes is definitely something I inherited from her.

*Our Sunday School class filled two tables. I wish I would have taken some pics of the other table, but I didn't. I thought both tables turned out great. They were both decorated with a Christmas theme with gold and silver trees.

Gabe and I are still training for the half marathon. I'm up to 6 miles and Gabe is up to 9 miles. We are still eating very well though, so we look pretty much the same. ;) My body is very sore from today's run, so it's off to bed for me!

Trick or Treat

our little ladybug

Madison's Aunt Melissa

William, Aunt Becca, Momma, & Madison

William, Aunt Becca, & Madison

Madison, Daddy, & cousin William

Cousin William is Wolverine!

Madison & Grandpa

Happy Birthday, Grandpa!

Love, Madison