Friends..

We have so many good friends, but many of them don't live in Birmingham so we don't get to see them very often. Our friends Leah and Rick who live in Seattle were in Atlanta visiting family for Christmas. Our other friends Katie and Trey who live in Chattanooga were in the Atlanta area also visiting family for Christmas. We were all able to meet up and have lunch and visit for a few hours. It was so nice! All of them were a part of our wedding and they are very special to us! Thanks guys!

Rick, Chad, and Trey

Katie, me, and Leah

I'm 30!

Well, I can't believe it, I'm 30! Chad is very happy that he is not the only 30 year-old in our household now and he does not want me to forget it. For the last few years I have had the privilege of celebrating my birthday with Chad's family and my family so the celebration gets drawn out. It's fun to celebrate more than once! Thanks to everyone for going out of your way to make my birthday so special.

First celebration-Dec. 27th: Chad's uncle Mark's birthday is on Dec. 31st so we get to celebrate our birthday together. This year we each got our own ice cream cake. Yum!!

Second celebration-Dec. 29th: My very own homemade cookie cake-my favorite! Plus a gift bag with nothing in it. My mom wrapped a gift card in the small bag you see in the picture. When I went to open it there was nothing in it. We think the cats got to it!

Thanks for such a wonderful birthday! It is so nice to be able to celebrate with family.

A Wonderful Christmas

We had a great Christmas this year! Here are some pictures:

Our unsuccessful gingerbread house

Christmas morning with Chad's parents and grandparents.

My new pashmina scarf that Teah and Ryan bought me in Prague




Dustin and Shannon-the newly engaged couple

The Pickle Game-We started this last year. My mom hides a small pickle in the Christmas tree and we take turns trying to find it. The one who finds it gets a special gift. Chad found it last year and I found it this year. So far it's a James family sweep. In the picture Dustin is looking for the pickle.

Thanks to everyone for making our Christmas so special and enjoyable!

First Sewing Project...

Here it is! I made 2 pillows this size for my couch and a smaller one for my chair, with a little help of course. They turned out well and I'm very proud of them. I hope to tackle some more difficult items soon. We took a break with our sewing classes during the holidays since everyone is so busy. We hope to start up again in January and learn to make some children's clothes.

Merry Christmas!!

We hope everyone is having a wonderful Christmas! We are so thankful for all God has provided for us in our lives. We are so blessed by wonderful friends and family who support and encourage us. We are having a great time in Chattanooga with Chad's family. We will be here a few more days and then we go to my mom's for a few days before heading back to Birmingham. Enjoy the holidays, spending time with family, and get some rest!

Our Christmas Tree

Wishing You a Merry Christmas...

The Christmas decorations are all up and we are about half way finished buying presents. Hopefully this week we will get all the presents bought and my goal is to wrap the ones I have this weekend. That way we can have a stress free week next week with not much to do.

We survived hosting our first Christmas party at our house this past Sunday for our Core Group at church. We spent most of the day on Saturday putting up our lights and decorations outside, which you can see here:

This year we added the wreaths, which I LOVE, and the lights on the small bushes. Chad did a great job cleaning up the yard and putting up most of the decorations outside. We also cleaned the house on Saturday. Secretly, I love having people over because it forces me to clean my house really well and I'm always so glad it's clean when I finish!!! Last, but not least, we decorated our tree on Saturday night and it looks so beautiful. We didn't take a picture yet, but we will try to post one later.

On Sunday I finished some last minute things in the house and made some appetizers for our party while Chad went to the Samford track Christmas party. We worked really hard on our table decor and really enjoyed using some of our wedding gifts that we have not used yet. Here is the table we set up in the study:

We also had our kitchen table set up, but we didn't get a good picture of it. We had a great time visiting with everyone and of course the guys played the Wii for a while. We would love to do it again some time soon.

We are going to Chattanooga for Christmas this year and then to my mom's afterwards for my birthday and New Year's. So, lots of traveling, but we are looking forward to seeing our family and hopefully some friends along the way.

We have officially received 5 Christmas cards as of today and we are looking forward to receiving alot more! We love seeing pictures of all those babies!

It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year...

I'm so happy that Christmas is so close. I just love this time of year! We are doing well with our decorating. I decorated the house before we left for Thanksgiving and we bought our tree when we got back. Now all we have to do is decorate the tree and put up the lights and decorations outside. We are hosting a Christmas party this weekend for our Core Group and I'm excited because I love having people over to our house! So, we must finish all our decorating by then. Also, our Christmas cards are just about ready to be mailed. Everyday I go to the mailbox hoping to get our first Christmas card in the mail and we have yet to receive one. Maybe tomorrow will be the lucky day. Now I've just got to start buying Christmas presents!! Better get started!