family, fixins' and fun,fun,fun

What a grand time!

Family gathered around and we enjoyed a good ole' midwestern Thanksgiving with all the fixins'.

My cousin was able to come to the gathering...her husband is in army training right now so it was just her and her cute little baby girl...Adorable!!!

Family gatherings just aren't complete without a little card game...

The proud winners display the winning hand...alright, so it isn't really the winning hand...but they are the proud winners!!

It was fun to have a new member of the family there.

M really was good the whole time. She just didn't enjoy her new headband very much. N, however, thoroughly enjoyed it.

Can't believe I got this shot...aren't they fun?

I also can't believe that this is Eric and my second holiday season to celebrate together. What a wonderful man I am married to. It has been an incredible year and a half.

I can't wait to celebrate many more seasons with him!!!

the next aunt sally

The whole process was new to me...Alright so I HAVE baked a cake before, you have to give me a little credit. So I guess it isn't the WHOLE process, just the shaping, cutting, and frosting part (ya know, the artsy part) You can just call me the next aunt sally. I actually DID call her to get some tips.

I organized a small shower for Adrian and Maya at mom and dad's house...my SMALL trailor isn't quite sufficient for gatherings like that.

After the shower several of us went to see the new Twilight movie...New Moon. Dont' worry I am not TOO obsessed.

FUNnel cakes

Working at Cantina definitely has its benefits. 50% off our meal, a lady giving me a tip even though I don't even work there, and...getting free tickets to go and see the Sight and Sound show...Miracle of Christmas.

A few months ago a man who worked at S & S gave Eric free tickets to go and see the Christmas production. Along with this GREAT deal, since Eric works at Cantina he can get himself and one other person in for free. We thought that we would take this perfect opportunity and invite my dear friend S and her new husband M. (You might recognize her as the one who's wedding i was in recently)

We enjoyed the show and then spent the rest of the evening at S and M's apartment.

Mr Game Guru himself was very pleased to learn a new game while we were there called 'water works'. It is an old Milton game, fun, but old.

We then, of course, had to challenge the boys to a game of Taboo. Girls...notorious winners...why? is it because we are good talkers? maybe I should say we like to talk. I will just say in the end... no matter what transpired between the beginning and the end...the girls...VICTORS!

Following the game we proceeded to make some carnival funnel cakes. the boys offered to make them since they were the losers. How thoughtful! as you can see S and I ended up finishing them.

Some fun memories and some forgettable memories were made. We only took pictures of the fun memories...the rest...well they are fleeting and hopefully will soon be forgotten.

If not...well at least we can laugh about them later.

first niece

Maya Reagan Toliver

November 16, 2009

7lbs 3oz

5:14AM

19in

Our first niece...I can't wait to have another one in February!!!

doin a little self timer

had to work on the self timer pictures.

is he HOT or what?!

okay, so the rope did kind of hurt your hands...eric just expresses himself more than me.

besides the tree shining through my head...kind of cool.

gross..huh? i like to think of it as creative kissing.

puttering around with the camera.

koolaid and kuddles

okay, so not a huge fan of koolaid, but when it makes kool drops like this how kan i resist taking pictures of it? kan't!

...and this face...well i definitely kan't resist. he's a keeper!

unseasonably warm weather

with the unseasonably warm weather it is hard to imagine that Christmas in only one and a half months away... WHAT!, you may be thinking...is she crazy or what? It's not even Thanksgiving yet. Well, let me just say, I LOVE CHRISTMAS.


That really has nothing to do with this except for the fact that it truly is unseasonably warm here. Because of the warmth we have to take every chance and bask in the warm sun.
from the mouths of babes...N...'before I get out of the car I should thank God that it is so warm *bows head* 'thank you God that it is so warm, AMEN!' jumps out of van and is ready for action.
I had a great time with A, M, N, and C walking on a trail at one of the parks here in town. It is nice because I can let Jack off of his leash instead of trying to make him 'heel' beside me.
N is learning how to ride his bike without training wheels and since his dad wasn't there to do it...N claimed that I was the expert at it, not his mom, not his grandma, only Aunt Sarah. It was fun, but all that bending over, well we shall see if my back is sore tomorrow.

And C, well, he had a bike but didn't want to ride in it. all the same, we had a great time and all the exercise was great. C always says...'Say-raw..up please.' how can I resist such a cute little face...I CAN'T!

fun, fun, fun...we must do it again sometime...unseasonably warm weather permitting

vote yes for nonna's

so... I have lived in Branson nearly all my life and eric, well he has lived here alot shorter time comparatively, but that is NO EXCUSE!

Neither one of us has EVER really been to Springfield. Last night we went to the REAL Springfield for the first time EVER! We went with some friends from church, N and his girlfriend, L.

Every first friday of each month Downtown Springfield has what is called ARTWALK. New artists...or OLD artists with new exhibits hang up, open up, and speak up about their form of art...whether it is canvas, guitar, camara, or video- there were all different ARTISTS last night in the downtown square of Springfield.

We started the evening with a little ITALIAN. It's a local place called nonna's. YUMMY!! (nonna is italian for grandma). I know that when you hear what I ate you are going to be JEALOUS. Tortellini with red bell pepper sauce. It was DELICIOUS!

my vote is that we make nonna's a regular eating place...say, the first Friday of every month?!

And no evening is complete without a little coffee to get you through the rest of the night. We stopped at a rustic coffee shop called 'the coffee ethic'. Eric had his first taste of french press coffee. He may become a conoisseur of FINE coffee yet...

but in his words...'that cream soda is a whole lot better.'

We had a GREAT time and definitely plan on going back to the REAL Springfield again sometime very soon.

tis' the season to carve pumpkins

This pumpkin carving season was spent at M and R's house. They had bought a huge 106 lb pumpkin at the pumpkin patch and they wanted R to work his magic on it.

The long hard process began. One of the hardest parts was getting upstairs from the garage.

The other hard part was finding a knife sharp enough and big enough to cut the top off...

But they finally did it.





While N and J...

cut out the insides.





Next, the master artist began his final task...cutting out, shaving off, trimming up the pumpkin man...



He created a self portait.

The FINAL PRODUCT!

Everyone else had lots of fun too. N made his own pumpkin man... He did everything all by himself.

The proud creator showing off his handiwork.

And C... well, he got in on the activity too...

... he considered helping, but...

after finding the candy... he was conviced otherwise.