turkey day

we celebrated thanksgiving this year in ohio, with matt's family. this was very different for me, since i'd never celebrated away from my family, but of course, my extended family made me feel right at home! we had a great time and got a chance to catch up with the whole family and some of matt's old friends. the only downside...no snow until after we left! :( maybe next time.

thanksgiving 2008

matt's birthday

matt's 29th birthday

since matt and i were both actually off work, we got to celebrate matt's birthday on his actual birthday! we started a little after midnight by making waffle fries and cookies and watching national lampoon's christmas vacation before bedtime. when we woke up, we ate a quick breakfast then headed to the movie theater to catch an early showing of twilight. after that we headed to best buy to pick up part of matt's birthday gift - a new cell phone. we then headed to barnes and noble for some shopping fun (it is one of matt's favorite stores!), then to genghis grill for dinner. after that we went to the mall to get matt some new jeans and dress shoes (per his request) before heading to downtown dallas to watch the ad-libs comedy improv troupe perform. the whole day was lots of fun, and matt admitted it was probably his "best birthday since he was 10 or 12" (when he ended up having two surprise parties in one day)! i admitted i'll probably not be able to top that...but i'll settle for second best!
happy birthday, honey, i love you!

christmas time

we're ready for christmas, are you?
since we won't be here for thanksgiving, matt and i decided to go ahead and decorate for christmas this week on one of our days off. we cleaned the house and put up our decorations (with lexi's help) before officially beginning matt's birthday celebration after midnight with birthday waffle fries (per his request!), m&m cookies and a a christmas movie. and don't worry, you still have a little over a month left to shop for us! ;)

is there a doctor in the house?

no....there's TWO! that's right, my older sister, shari, passed her dissertation defense on wednesday, november 19th. her defense was at noon, and my mother, father, matt and myself all were able to attend and support her during her presentation. i wasn't able to stay to congratulate her when she officially passed, but matt got some great pics and the entire family went out for a celebratory dinner (and cookie monsters!) at cheddar's later that night. shari passed at the highest level possible, with no revisions required, so she's pretty much done! now we can have twice the fun after the double graduation in december! congratulations, Dr. Shari Childers!!!!

shari's dissertation defense

november birthdays

it's that time again...when half of our family was born! okay, not half, but my dad, my husband and my niece alia and nephew ben all have birthdays during this month.
ben: 11/30, turned 6
alia: 11/8, turned 7
matt: 11/21, turned 29
dad: 11/17, turned 24 (x2, plus 5...or 53)

on sunday we celebrated with our usual november birthday meal - home made chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes and all the fixin's - and actually had a birthday dessert for each guest of honor this year! of course, we had lots of fun and enjoyed spending time with our big family. thanks, mom for the chicken fried steak, and sarah, for the "apple" pie.
and happy birthday dad, matt, alia and ben!

november birthdays 2008

trick or treat!

matt and i decided to go to the proctors' for some trick-or-treating fun on halloween to enjoy the company of our previously featured tinkerbell niece and spider nephew. we had a great time, even though the kiddos are young enough to only visit a few houses and be ready to call it a night. liv was *especially* cute this year since she was able to say "trick or treat" and knock on the doors (see videos posted below). even more cute was when she'd knock on the door and immediately say "is anybody home?"
ahhh, to be 2 1/2 again! enjoy the pics!

trick or treat 2008

"happy trick or treat!"