wordless wednesday...

Dear DART,

I ride your rail every day ((unfortunately)) to and from work. I love that it will only take me 35 minutes to get where I am going, and I get some "me" time to read blogs, facebook, or just chill every day. It also only costs me $15 a month to ride, which definately out-ways parking in downtown Dallas, gas, and the wear & tear on my car if I drive in.

All this is not without sacrafice, however. In my two years "being green" the train and I have our share of ups & downs. Just last week I sat down in a seat that I realized was SOAKING wet only after said wetness had soaked through my jacket, dress, and tights.

And still I ride.

But today you have crossed a line. It is 29 degrees out, and you have the freaking a/c on full blast. For The love of all things Holy, please use our money to invest in heat, or ATLEAST turn off the air.

Now my nose looks like Rudolph, and my fingers nearly work. Thanks a million...

Love your faithfull commuter,
Candace

wordless wednesday...

he's making a list...

Prepping for Christmas has been SO much fun this year!  Ava is so excited about the season and all that it brings with it, and the joy she has makes me feel like I am experiencing the holidays for the first time! 

First up, Ava's annual Christmas shirt and bow.  She recieved it as a gift from two sweet ladies I work with three holidays ago.  I cannot seem to find our "08 photo, but here is Miss in '07, and again this year in front of the tree.  Sadly, I think this will be the last year for this precious shirt :(

This past Saturday we set down to write our very first letter to Santa!

How sweet is that?  A bit of a beating (hey, I am just being honest.  Have you ever tried to help a four year old right a letter? Seriously stressful! Ha)  But SO worth the end result! 

------------------------------------

We had a mini photo shoot on Saturday to get the perfect picture for our Christmas card. Priss totally loves to pose, so we got some really cute ones!  These are the two we ended up with :)

((sorry for the glare, not the best iPhone photo!))

----------------------------------------------------------

Tonight, Ava has her first ever school Christmas play, and we are so excited!  She has been practicing signing & singing "Do You Hear What I Hear" for the past month!  She got the big role of "Mary" and is so excited to get to hold baby Jesus ((don't worry, baby Jesus is only a doll!)), and this proud Momma can't wait to see her baby girl on the big stage!  

-----------------------------------------------------------------

wheew!  Did i seiously just blog four new posts? 

best idea in the world...

its a...

lets just pretend...

Finally, I feel a little better! Now I just need to catch up on my google reader ;)

Happy Tuesday!!

best idea in the world...

so a few weeks ago, i posted about a wonderful girl and her blog , and her fabulous idea of doing an ornament exchange!  She matched me with sweet  mommy-to-be Megan, and my package came Saturday in the mail! 

I swear I felt like a little kid on christmas morning tearing open the package!

 I thought I signed up for an ornament exchange, so you can imagine my surprise when I peeled back the tissue paper to find...

 

ALL of these beauties inside!!!

I immediately set out to find the perfect places for my new sparkly gems!

I started with the Mantel.

And the rest found a spot on the tree...

((times two))

(times two))

Seriously, so so precious!

  Thank you so much Megan!  You seriously made my day! 

its a .......

BOY!!

Bradley and Sarah will welcome Preston Robert Emerson in April 2010!

I am SOOOO excited to be an auntie to this precious baby boy!  Ava said from day one that she wanted a baby boy cousin to play with because they are "so cute", and she got her wish :) 

Brad and Sarah will be wonderful parents, and we are over the moon happy for them!!!

((the above photo is Ava's impersonation of Aunt Sarah! ))

lets just pretend...

That I am not just now posting about our first ever Emerson Thanksgiving!  I suppose this needs a little further discription.  Obviously, we have had many Thanksgiving feasts, but this year the hubs demanded asked if he could make a Thanksgiving feast at our house, and invited his best friend from high school over for lunch, as he is going through a divorce and needed some cheering up.  Reluctantly, I said okay.  See, I am not a huge fan of Thanksgiving food ((please, don't send me any hate mail)), and so I really thought it was a waste of money.  On top of that, I wasn't so sure that the hubs could actually pull it off.  I am here to tell you that i was (gasp) wrong!  It all turned out so wonderful!  We had way a little too much food left over ((justin and I totally argued in the target turkey aisle for a good ten minutes about what size of turkey and ham to get --- he won the arguement, but I ended up being right--we so did not need a 13 lb. turkey and half of a ham for three people!)) , but it was still a great day!  I am actually looking forward to a feast again next year!!

The spread :)

The Turkey, obviously :)

Delicious ham and rolls...double yum.

Meme's dressing.  Justin stayed up until 11:30 making his Meme's famous dressing.  If only I could get him to stay up until 11:30 doing laundry ;)

The proud chef and his bird.

The boys and their full bellies ;)

Wordless Wednesday

baby it's cold outside...

What a great way to start the Holiday Season!  I love the cold weather-- it gives me an excuse to stop by Starbucks for a zebra hot chocolate :)

My tree has been up for two weeks, and I am just now getting around to posting about it!  I love our little tree. I don't have a ton of Christmas decor, but I am working on it ;)  Every year my Mom ((my whole family still lives in Ohio)) sends me a box with new holiday goodies.  This year I got snowflake ornaments and towels for the guest bath. 

Now on to the photos!!

The ornament tree is my newest addition, and I big pink puffy heart it!

The Santa plate my momma sent me last year.  I love this too :)

Santa and Baby Love!

So this is my first blog attempt from my iPhone! Fingers crossed that it actually works!!

It has been crazy busy in my neck of the woods lately, and I have a ton to share! Christmas decorating, a Thanksgiving first, tree pictures, baby news and a few future events to discuss are all on the way!

I just need to find the time between my normal job and my new job ((more on THAT too)) to blog!

Stay tuned!