This Year's Completed Christmas Gifts

We are expecting Baby Fulton sometime in January, and I thought it was only right for him to have a beautiful blanket waiting to welcome him. This was Crocheted, and was a fairly quick project - 12 total hours or so - plus another hour to sew in ends.

Bernadette is Fulton's big sis, and she always wears my handmade gifts with pride. Upon opening this gift, she exclaimed, "It's a spring sweater!" This girly vest is knitted.

The Christmas present that took the most time this year was the cross stitch sampler for my big sis. Last year, after completing a sampler for myself, she immeadiatly requested one of her own... who am I to say no to a personal request for a handmade gift! I began working on this sampler in December of 2007, and completed it just in time for Christmas this year.

My 26th Birthday

Sweetie surprised me for my birthday with a visit from our favorite Mariachi.

We spent this thanksgiving at home, and I attempted to make the traditional feast. Two days and tons of leftovers later... we are still eating turkey :). The menu consisted of:

Brownsugar-Mustard glazed turkey, garlicky mashed potatoes, lemon green beans, cornbread stuffing, maple sweet potatoes, clover yeast rolls, bourbon gravy, and pear almond cream tart. Several of the recipes I got out of the Thanksgiving "Everyday Food" Magazine.

We took the puppies out for a Thanksgiving walk, and Sweetie took this very charming photo. Dax and Janeway are settling into life with us. And, they have enjoyed visits from several of our friends and their dogs. They are growing like crazy, and soon I think we will need to buy them bigger collars. Luckily, they are beginning to understand the concept of "taking a walk", though Janeway likes to try to walk herself by holding onto her leash with her mouth.

A New Bathroom and A Poor Financial Decision

With our bathroom remodel complete, we are definitly enjoying using it! The shower is awesome, and our custom sink cabinet (made by neighboor Henry) has the perfect drawer to stash all my stuff. We decided to prop our stain glass picture in the window instead of a curtain... it looks so pretty in the morning with the light shining through it.

The picture is one that I purchased in France as a souvenier in 2001. Finally it has a home that suits it perfectly. We opted for hooks instead of a towel bar, we can hang a lot more on it.

Janeway and Dax

Dax doesn't really know what to think of David.

So the story goes that we went to Wal-mart for peanut butter, and came home with two adorable puppies... it was probably the least responsible decision we have ever made, but they are just so sweet! Both girls, they are a mix of Lab (of course), Border Collie (notice the white chest), and Australian Shepherd (they have alot of brown mixed in with their black hair).

They are big Startrek fans, and like to chase David around the yard. The housetraining is going amazingly well. The only accidents that they have had have been in their crate on newspaper and they always potty when we take them outside.