New Year's Eve!

The new year is just a few hours away for us!  We have been so busy that we decided staying in enjoying a taco-movie night sounded best to us!  A quiet celebration just us and our "kids". 

Brad requested tacos as the last meal of 2013!  I gladly made us tacos a little while ago.  We are currently watching Texas A&M play in the Chick-fil-a Bowl.  So far things don't look so great!  Hopefully things will improve quickly! However, will not be spending the evening keeping up with the bowls!

Just for the humor of it I proposed this question to Brad earlier...."which one of us, pets included, is most likely to wake up with a slight hangover tomorrow?"  Will it be me, Brad, or Simon?  This is the one and only night of the year we let Simon score a drink!  Last year the little guy had a bit too much!  We poured him and Cody some champagne in their bowls.  Cody of course didn't drink his portion, as he was certain we were trying to poison him. He steered clear of the light gold liquid.  Simon of course doesn't have the same fear as Cody, he drank his portion and Cody's portion before we could stop him.  It wasn't long before we had a staggering pug!  He was feeling GREAT as we welcomed in 2013!  We'll be more careful this year!  Sorry Boo-Boo but your limit is one portion this year!

When I was out shopping for our little New Year's celebration I came across Cheetos and Cheez Puffs!  As a kid in AZ, it wasn't a proper New Year's Eve celebration until the Cheez Puffs or Cheetos came out.  LOL! They were my fave!  Did I pick up any at the store today?  Nope, I kept to stuff I knew my husband preferred!  Here in TX we celebrate with fireworks and in AZ they celebrate by dropping a large tortilla chip in a cup of salsa at the stroke of midnight!  So to all the Zonies...enjoy watching the chip drop!  We'll definitely be watching the Fiesta Bowl tomorrow night!  Go Baylor!  Brad is loving all the TX schools in different bowls.  Baylor definitely scored the biggest bowl of all TX schools!

Pics from Our Christmases!

 

Pics from our Christmas!  This post will be short on words.  Here's a some pics from our Christmas Eve followed by a few pics from our Christmas morning.  I love how Cody was so willing to pose with his daddy. Then notice in the last pic which was the final pic of the unwrapping session Cody-man is tuckered out! LOL! Piper kept moving so her pics all came out slightly blurry.  And as I stated previously we lost Simon to a rawhide very early on so no pics of him on Christmas morning. The little stinker avoided the camera!

 

 Me and baby Allie!

 Simon checking for anything edible!

Merry Christmas From The Vaughns!

Hope everyone has enjoyed and is continuing to enjoy an awesome Christmas.  We started our celebration by hosting Christmas Eve last night.  I believe a good time was had by all.  One of the big attractions was of course newborn Allie!  She's my first niece!  She might get spoiled...just a bit!  The other big news is that a new marriage will begin soon.  As my nephew and his girlfriend are engaged!  They will likely tie the knot very soon, as in before the new year, then have a reception to celebrate a year or so from now.

As for Christmas morning...we did our traditional thing.  Got up when we wanted to, gave the boys a short walk.  It's Christmas so they got a little break from the morning routine by only having to go on a short walk.  We then opened presents which Cody seriously loves!  He hung in there until every gift was opened.  Little Piper liked her first Christmas.  She hung around as we opened gifts but she's full of energy and is quickly distracted by other things.  She's like a bolt of lightning.  She travels around the room striking at a moments notice.  Gone as quickly as she appears!  She loves the wrapping paper almost as much as the gift.  Perhaps more than the gift!  As for Simon, well we lost him to a rawhide early on in the unwrapping session.  After gifts it was time for what has become our traditional Christmas morning breakfast...cinnamon rolls.  This year I made the cinnamon rolls from scratch.  It was fun and they turned out yummy.  I'm a rookie at baking cinnamon rolls from scratch, it was successful enough to try again for sure. However, there's plenty of room for improvement with the cinnamon roll venture!  Lol! We've relaxed all day enjoying some of our new items we got from one another and others. 

Last year I spent so much time and effort on the Christmas Eve meal I completely forgot to plan out a meal for Christmas night with my brand new husband.  I felt bad last year having to serve Brad leftovers for lunch and dinner.  I honestly don't know how I could've forgotten to plan out a nice meal for Christmas day.  Geez!  Well not this year folks!  I planned out a meal for us to have tonight....no leftovers.  We snacked on last night's leftovers earlier but will sit down to a freshly prepared Christmas dinner for two. I'll end this post so I can go finish up the preparation of that meal!

Merry Christmas to all!   

Catching Up!

Time to catch up the blog!  It's been a long and busy week!  Super busy week!  Who's week hasn't been busy this close to Christmas?  I was up extra late two nights in a row to do Christmas baking.  I took 9 packages to the post office yesterday and 3 today.  Whew!  You should have seen me trying to haul in all those boxes yesterday.  I had to make 2 trips to the car to load them up then to unload them once I got to the post office.  I was a sight, as small as I am carrying boxes stacked above my head.  Lol!

I can't believe Christmas is on Wednesday.  I feel as though I blinked and it was nearly here. We went out tonight to try to finish up our shopping.  We're still going to have to go out tomorrow.  Hopefully, we'll finish up by the end of tomorrow.  However, I'll likely have to go get stocking stuffers on Monday.  It's definitely not as easy shopping for one another now that we are married.  I know it's been harder for Brad to find time to shop for me without me being with him.  Both of us are struggling with hiding gifts from one another! I decided one day this week the best idea would be to go shopping super quick before he gets home.  My full plan was to be speedy enough to get things wrapped too before he arrived home.  I almost made it!  He came home while I was still wrapping his gifts. I was nearly done. I was in the spare room wrapping so it was easy to shut the door to keep him and his baby blues out! 

We're hosting Christmas Eve, which I'm super excited about.  I love to have everybody over for Christmas Eve.  Or actually any occasion but especially Christmas Eve. Before I started this blog I was thumbing through a recipe book reading ingredients for the dishes I'm making.  I'm trying to figure out when in the next few days I should go grocery shopping for the Christmas Eve meal. Which day will be the least busy? Hmm, that is the BIG question. 

Before ending this post....I must mention we had an awesome celebration for our 1 year anniversary.  I couldn't have asked for more!  We saved watching our wedding video for our anniversary.  There we were on our anniversary night watching our wedding for the first time.  The video was amazing!  Brad's cousin did such a good job.  The amount of content was above what I could have imagined. And yes, we did thaw out some of the wedding cake to eat it! Since the 1 year anniversary is the "paper" anniversary I got Brad tickets to the Dallas Stars and a magazine subscription.  Tickets are made of paper and so is a magazine! Last night we went to the Dallas Stars hockey game.  We had a great time.  Nice seats!  They won too!  We sat in the lower level which was a bit colder than we experienced the previous time we went to the Stars. I didn't mind though especially since we were right at center ice a little ways above the players tunnel.  All in all I don't think we could have had a better anniversary weekend!  

1st Year Anniversary!

Our first wedding anniversary!  Let's revisit some of my fave pics from the wedding time! 

 

Our Anniversary Weekend

This is our anniversary weekend!  Woo-hoo! Yes, it's already been a year!

How will we celebrate?  We considered quite a few restaurants even looked up a few online.  In the end we have decided to return to the place where it all started for us, Uncle Julio's.  We did just go there back in September but it just seems appropriate to us to revisit where it began for our first wedding anniversary.  If the Gaylord Texan where we married wasn't so completely overcrowded we would go there. Gaylord will be a madhouse on Sunday, due to all the added attractions they have on the weekends during the holiday season. Going to Uncle Julio's for an early dinner is the plan as it stands right now, however, I just realized the Cowboys play at 3:25.  Hmm, we might have to work around the Cowboys game.  Although Brad has said he's not worried about watching football tomorrow.  I want to watch some football but agree with him that for tomorrow I don't want it to completely rule our day.  We're only going to have a 1 year wedding anniversary once!  There's many football games in a season year after year!   

I sense Brad has a surprise up his sleeve for tomorrow so I wanted to do my best to surprise him with something today.  I gave him a card late this morning that gave him specific instructions to be ready for the day and ready to leave our place no later than 2:15, dressed somewhat casual. Once 2:15 arrived off we went to the Imax to see the new movie The Hobbit in 3D.  I didn't tell him where we were going until we were in the car and about to drive out of the parking lot of our complex.  He loves the Lord of the Rings movies and he loves The Hobbit.  Last year while on our
Orlando honeymoon The Hobbit was released which we went to see while in Orlando.  This is the 2nd Hobbit movie apparently there's one more in the works. I figured surprising him with tickets to the Hobbit on opening weekend would be a nice gesture, not to mention a nice outing.

Afterwards I treated him to dinner.  The movie was great.  The scenery in the movie is worth the price of admission in my opinion.  That's my favorite thing about the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit movies, the scenery is quite exquisite.  No clue where they film at?

For dinner I told him to pick anywhere.  He surprised me by choosing a restaurant we've been meaning to try but haven't gotten around to.  We went to Carrino's...it was awesome!  We'll definitely return!  Cozy, countryside Italian feel to the décor plus authentic Italian dishes. Yum!  Highly recommend it!

When I arrived home earlier today before we went to the movie Brad had a huge floral arrangement sitting on our dining table...it's gorgeous.  I couldn't believe my eyes when I first walked in our kitchen after coming home.  Beautiful red roses mixed in with white hydrangeas and other white flowers.  Sitting beside the flowers he bought me a little sock monkey dressed in a Santa outfit.  It's hilariously cute!  I squealed with delight at both the flowers and the sock monkey. I love little sock monkeys.  My grandma made me one when I was a young child. I suppose that's when my sock monkey fascination started!  They're cute!

Woo-hoo!  I'm excited for tomorrow!  It's like waiting for Christmas!  Which is fast approaching too!   

Allie Has Arrived!

The biggest news of the week came on Wednesday.  My nephew texted me while I was out walking the boys to say him and his girlfriend were on their way to the hospital.  Baby Allie was officially on her way.  Born in the mid-afternoon she weighed in at 6 pounds and 7 ounces measuring 19 inches long.  She's a cutie!

Just in time for Christmas!  She'll certainly be the main attraction at Christmas this year!  As everyone will be clamoring to hold her. There sure have been quite a few little girls born recently!  Plus I know of 2 others that are pregnant with girls!  I'm just saying!

Return of Sunshine!

It's currently 26 degrees outside.  The sunshine returned yesterday.  The high temp stayed in the low maybe achieved the mid-30's.  So when the high temp hits 40 degrees today we will feel like we are basking in the sun! :) 

We didn't go anywhere this past weekend.  We were snowed in all weekend long.  Only exposure to the outside was when I had to walk the boys.  We all had at least one Bambi moment, where we lost our footing and went down for the count.  During one of the walks Simon wanted to go in one direction which I was not anticipating, down I went along with him.  Our balcony is still filled with a thick layer of ice.  It's like stepping out on to our own private ice rink.

I didn't mind staying home all weekend.  It was quite relaxing! I think the only slightly negative thing was that after such a weekend we feel a little behind with our Christmas shopping.  The plan is to go out tonight to catch up a bit. I'm sure the department stores and malls are feeling behind as well, behind in reaching their goal sales!  They want to hit high totals for sales, which certainly didn't happen for them last week.

I ventured out to the grocery store yesterday.  The most interesting thing to see as a result of the winter storm....empty store shelves.  I heard on the news that shipments couldn't get in town due to the weather.  I bought the last 2 steaks in the store yesterday. The produce was horrible.  I came away with only broccoli...no fruit, no tomatoes! And forget about getting Cheez-its I came home with goldfish crackers instead. ;)  The last time I had goldfish crackers in the house was for a snack mix recipe I was making for my father-in-law.  Well I forgot to inform Brad to not eat the crackers.  When I went in to get the goldfish crackers for the recipe I realized they had been opened and Brad was the guilty party!  Once again, I'm thinking about making that snack mix since we have those crackers in the house....I might have to guard them! ;)

Happy Birthday Cody!

Woo-hoo, Cody-man!  You made it to 12!  A few weeks back I wasn't sure he was going to make it to a dozen.  I was terribly worried about him.  Here we are celebrating his bday!

He's handled the cold temps like a champ.  On day one of this winter storm for the first walk of the day he was difficult.  However, since then he's just been rolling with it.  He doesn't like it that's clear but he's not having an attitude about it.  Which is good!  However, he would prefer 80 degrees and sunny for his bday weekend!

I love how he watches my every move when I walk him in the icy conditions.  I'm not sure if he's watching me out of concern.  He doesn't want me to fall or he doesn't want me to fall into him or possibly he's watching me in a more hopeful manner that I'll turn for home sooner than later.  LOL! It didn't seem as cold as they were predicting.  It's cold don't get me wrong.  The high today was only in the low 20's. It just doesn't seem as cold as they said it would be.  However, I sure have learned how to bundle up when going outside.  It's much more bearable these days then it was my first winter here.

Cody just finished opening his gifts as did our other two.  Cody received a Christmas toy as is tradition!  Piper got a cute pink owl, but has been fascinated by the wrapping paper for quite a few minutes now.  Simon unwrapped a dinosaur with some orange on it....he likes orange!  I baked Cody a cake last night.  I changed it up a bit.  Hopefully they still like it.  I'm sure I won't hear any complaints.  I planned on going to the store on Friday to get peanuts to garnish Cody's cake with but that didn't happen since we've been snowed in.  Therefore, Cody's cake has a peanut butter flavor with pecans for a garnish.  As I said before I doubt I'll hear any complaints. ;) I think the pecans might hold up better in the fridge.  Peanuts get slightly weird when chopped up and refrigerated, I've noticed.

Up next a baker's dozen, Cody-man!

 

  

Cody's Bday Forecast!

I have only bad news weather-wise for my dear sweet Cody-man.  I just read the weather report for tonight and tomorrow.  In the next few hours it will dip down to 12 degrees with a windchill that will make it feel as though it's 0 degrees out.  As far as tomorrow goes the high is supposed to be 25 with a windchill that will make it feel as though it's 1 degree.  Intense fog will set in tonight.  And by late afternoon tomorrow ice pellets are predicted.

Happy Birthday Cody....it's 0 degrees out! I'm thinking we might be stuck inside all day again tomorrow. I wish I would have gone to the store before all this set in.  Although we have plenty of stuff to make for food. But I would have liked to have gotten a few baking items to get going on holiday baking.  One web site I was just on featured tips on meals to make when you are stuck indoors and can't get to a store.  I have tonight's meal planned....chili and cornbread.  This time of year I always make sure the makings for that meal are in our pantry and in the freezer.

Well I'm off to take the boys out before it gets dark! We won't be out long.  Would like to get them out there though before it chills down even more.  Pray for Cody!                                                                    

Snowed In

I'm not sure if we are snowed in or iced in?  Plenty of freezing rain fell all night long.  Brad received a message around 1:00 AM that his work would be closed.  I think most of the city is shut down for today. Hardly any cars around when I have been outside. The high temp of the day is 27 degrees, with the wind chill it's probably feeling more like 17 degrees.  It's cold!

Neither boy was interested in taking a walk this morning.  But I still made them get up and go.  We didn't go the full walk. Too cold for the full walks today.  All walks for the boys must be shorter than usual.  The boys are struggling big time to walk on the sidewalks that are similar to ice rinks right now.  I'm sure it must freeze their little paws and legs to the point where they are likely numb.  They walk as if they are walking around on 4 numb legs.

So here's the visual....I'm doing my best to drag two pugs while remaining upright, trying to keep from slipping.  While the pugs are doing their best to not freeze to death as they walk around on chilled to the bone legs. I'm sure it's a sight to see! Me with two pugs attempting to prevent a Bambi moment where we all go down.

I'm curious what tomorrow will bring.  Brad is scheduled to work since it's the first Saturday of the month but maybe he'll get lucky again.  Then again can they close his office 2 days or what would be 3 days in a row since they are normally closed on Sunday?  Not sure! It's rather quiet out right now.  But I think the forecast calls for it to start up again later tonight. 

Below are pics I took this morning, it's mostly accumulated ice.  Lots of icicles.  Snow brings about icicles too, however, I don't remember seeing as many as I did this morning with this ice storm.

 Yes, folks the fire hydrants here are painted in Cowboys colors. Not sure if I've ever mentioned that before. LOL!

The chair on our balcony.

Christmastime with a Kitty!

Well our little kitty daughter is growing.  She's at about the age when most people adopt a kitten.  So I feel we are quite lucky that we've actually had her for a little over a month.  We've had her since she was considered a newborn.  I think she's doubled in size since that evening Brad brought her home in a box.  She was so tiny I told him right away that I wasn't sure she would make it.  But we did it...we got her the necessary stuff and nursed her along!

She's a very active little one!  She moves from one thing to the next.  Earlier today the toilet paper was hanging down quite a ways so she jumped up to get it.  She was successful, all the toilet paper was unrolled by her.  Thankfully not much was left on the roll.  She's also a napkin thief.  When we sit down to eat at the coffee table if we put a napkin on our lap she comes to snatch it. 

It's definitely fun watching her.  We were commenting last night how much fun it will be when we get a Christmas tree up.  I've never had a pet this young at Christmastime.  Since Cody was born in early December he would have been a newborn and not yet weaned for his actual "first" Christmas.  Cody was right at a year when his first Christmas with me came around and Simon was nearing the year old mark.  It was still quite interesting, rather comical to watch the boys during their first Christmas.  I'm thinking with Piper's age it will be an enjoyable experience yet different from the boy's first Christmas.  However, it's likely going to be harder to discipline her concerning some stuff because she's still learning the boundaries.

I freaked her out with a singing dog Christmas decoration yesterday.  When I saw it at the store I had to buy it just to see the reaction of the boys and Piper.  The boys were not impressed.  They're used to me attempting to freak them out.  Piper on the other hand went scampering across the room as soon as I turned on the singing mechanism.  Brad and I busted out laughing while the boys looked around to see where she went!  LOL!

Time to share some pics of our Piper!

 Her first bath!

 She loves the boys toys!  Especially Fozzy bear!

 Climbing out of the boy's toy box.

 I know you can't see her face but I like how you can see her stripes.

 Relaxing with her big brother!

Winter Has Arrived!

I've never experienced freezing rain until I moved to TX. It's still rather fascinating in a weird way to me. The freezing rain started coming down a little while ago.  Our balcony is covered in ice.

For those that are not familiar with freezing rain, mainly Zonies that might read this blog, I'll explain it.  Freezing rain comes down like rain but it's got a slightly icy feel to it.  Due to the low temp outside soon after the rain hits something it freezes.  It messes up the roads and bridges like you wouldn't believe.  Unlike snow it's not as easy to see patches of it.  Snow is more visible and accumulates in a completely different way. Snow is light and fluffy.

Freezing rain and ice is what made Super Bowl week a couple years ago somewhat of a nightmare for Jerry Jones.  You never know what December could have in store. However, this type of weather does seem a little early to me.  Usually the first snow or true winter storm occurs in late December. The last few years it's hit right at Christmas Eve or Christmas.  This year we've already had 2 winter storms.  We have yet to actually get snow, so far it's been freezing rain.  I have a feeling snow is coming though. 

Brad's work closed it's doors early this afternoon due to the weather that was just beginning to get bad.  They wanted to let the staff get home before the winter storm actually set in. Our city might be closed for business tomorrow!  We'll see how bad it gets as morning approaches.  

BRR...Another Big Chill!

The big chill has arrived!  This morning I had a lovely conversation with Cody concerning the chill.  The conversation went somewhat like this:

Mommie:  Cody guess what? I have good news and not so great news. First off it's only 2 days until your birthday.  Woo-hoo!  Right?

Cody:  A new Christmas toy and cake is what that means!  The cake or the toy....not sure which one I prefer more! And the bad news?

Mommie:  Well my nearly dozen year old boy, the weather is not pretty out. 

Cody:  How "not pretty" is it?

Mommie:  You remember when I told you to enjoy yesterday's weather because a big chill all the way from Canada was approaching.  The big chill arrived!  It was 80 degrees yesterday a bit out of the norm for this time of the year.  It warmed us up to freeze us out! 

Cody:  Break it to me gently...what is the temp outside?

Mommie: It's currently 36 degrees with a wind chill.  I won't tell you what the wind chill is making it feel like out there.

Cody: Holy cow!  I changed my mind...no cake, no toy for my birthday....someone send me a oneway ticket to Cancun or the Bahamas. 

Mommie: Not so fast Cody-man.  You would miss all of us too much!  Who would walk you in the Bahamas?  Who would play with you?  Simon and Piper are staying home.  Here's the bright side....this birthday of yours could be the first birthday you've celebrated with snow.  Another first for you!  Exciting! Your daddy is currently hoping for major ice so he can stay home from work. 

Cody:  You say all this with a smile on your face!  Unbelievable!  It's like you are trying to convince me this is great!  I'm not going to be convinced!  I've spent so long praying for good weather for my bday. I can't believe I might have to slosh around in the snow.  And I can't believe my daddy is hoping for the opposite he could be offsetting my hopes!  Messing everything up!  How long is this big chill going to last?

Mommie:  I can't help but chuckle at you.  You are so dramatic during bad weather days.  Nothing makes you happy!  The chill will last too long in your opinion!  The super cold temps will last thru Tuesday.  However, Tuesday is predicted to be super cold but should feature the return of sunshine!  By Wednesday we should be back up to the 40's. 

Cody:  Oh gee, the 40's....You say that like that's a huge improvement? It's not in my opinion.

Mommie:  I know sweet boy.  I know!  But trust me after days of 30 degree temps with a ridiculously low wind chill and no sunshine....45 degrees is going to feel good!  It always does after a big chill!

Cody:  Well, I must go review my birthday wish list.  I need a new sweater, one of those with a hood to protect my ears.  I hate it when the cold wind blows my ears upward.  I need long johns too!  And I'm still considering asking for a ticket to Cancun or the Bahamas. Anybody want to send me one?