13 Years of Wedded Bliss!

Today is our 13th Wedding Anniversary...wow!!  Where in the world do the years go??  We were so young...both 23 years old and thought life would be one big honeymoon.  All married couples go through ups & downs, we are certainly no exception, but we've worked through them, and know now that more are bound to come our way.  One thing is definitely true, life is so much fuller & more wonderful having you to share it with, as well as being a partner with you in parenting our 3 beautiful babies.  

Thank you for all the memories we have made together and the incredible life we have, babe!  I love you!

The song "True Companion" was our first dance...

On our way to Happily Ever After...

Christmas Card Photo Shoot

For the 3rd time in the last few years, we decided to dress up as a family for Halloween AND use that opportunity to snap some pictures and use it for our Christmas cards.  The outfits are bought anyway, everyone feels like having fun, and it is done waaay ahead of time so there isn't a big stress to find other clothes and time to take an "official picture."  This year, as you may remember, we went back in time to the 50's!!!  The boys usually go with anything we choose, and all we had to tell Annie was that she could wear a pink poodle skirt, and she was THERE!!! You know Haley, my brother's longtime girlfriend, and now official college graduate!!  Yay, Haley!  I'd post pictures from her graduation, but she's not walking...she chose to go on a cruise with friends in January instead!  Anyway, she is 23 and an absolutely awesome photographer!  I've talked about her several times & have her referenced on my sidebar...so occasions like these, it pays to have a photographer in the family...or ALMOST in the family.  She took these of our crew in our neighbors yard, before we went trick-or-treating, because our yard was full of tombstones, fog machines, and other crazy stuff.  I loved the end result, but here are a few others that turned out cute too!  Thanks, Haley!  I've gotten lots of compliments!!  I'm sure one of these days, MY children will make your blog!  

Are we so hip & happenin'?!?

Our pink lady & t-birds...

One cool little dude...

Jack is Mr. GQ!!  Once you get him goin', he gets all into it!  

All my boyz!!!  Handsome & oh so cool!

The lovely pink ladies...Annie had fun, but she doesn't like to be photographed on her own much.

Loved this one!

Danny & Sandy 2008!!

It was so hard not to just crack up, especially with neighbors walking by...

"Tell me about it, stud!"

Too funny not to laugh...

And Ta-Da!!  The end result!!  Haley has awesome templates to plug the pictures in and found this card to match our "theme" perfectly!!  After doing all the editing & such, the cards were here in 3 days!  It's electrifying!!!

So, from The Holland Five, our best wishes...

Priceless Gift!

HARK!!

Look what our precious angel brought home for us yesterday to adorn our Christmas tree...

My heart just about leapt out of my chest when I saw it.  This is a gift that could NEVER have a price tag worthy enough to be on it.  I love these treasured keepsakes from these oh so, treasured years!!

Sooo you....

Christmas is 10 days away!!!  Are you ready???

It is chilly again this morning, and cloudy...my favorite kind of wintery day!  Sam and I only have one errand to run and we don't even need to get out of the car, hooray!  I've got my mulling spices brewing on the stove & butter set out to soften 'cause I'm in the mood to bake!

Hope your Monday isn't making you pout...remember he's watching!!

A Few of My Favorite Things...

I love, love hearing testimonials from friends about things that THEY LOVE and enjoy using and/or giving as gifts...remember when I did my Summer Favorites??? 

I thought it was a fun post to share, and now that I've been finding some great things now around the holidays, I wanted to do it again!  

So here are a few of my FAVORITE things that are making my life so much better & fun this hectic time of year!  Some are very cheap & basic, but hey, I'm a simple gal, so bear with me!

Ok, first up...very basic, Dixie Grab 'n Go cups!  My mother-in-law had gotten these cups to have at her house because all the grandkids drink hot cocoa like crazy around the holidays.  Our house is no exception!!  My kids drink it daily this time of year, and I hated giving them an actual glass mug, and with Sam, it was easy to spill, so these are great!!  Prevents big messes & they're able to sip easily!  Found 'em at our grocery store!  

Raspberry Ginger Ale & Cranberry Splash...I love feeling festive with special drinks & these are all good for me & the kids because they're basically just flavored Sprite & Ginger Ale.  Very tasty & you feel like you're at a party everyday!!!  Our grocery store has 'em stacked on the end caps and have them priced at 5 bottles for $5!!  Can't beat that!

Red & green tortilla chips...in San Antonio, a definite MUST!!  They seem to be everywhere, but HEB makes these in the bakery and they are EXTRA good!

Blue Diamond Honey Roasted almonds...I discovered these in my marathon training, as a way to snack & get protein, and now I can't get enough of 'em!  So, so good!  I've bought two cans at a time lately, because I just grab a few during the day when I just need a little somethin'.

William Sonoma Mulling Spices...I think they are really meant to make for drinking, but I put just a bit with a little water in a pot on the stove & simmer all day and WOW it makes your house smell incredible!!  They always have deals where it's a better bargain to buy 2 cans vs. one!  I buy this every Thanksgiving season and it lasts FOREVER!!! 

I love to cook and I love to bake and consider myself pretty good at both.  But something I really have not mastered is the art of candy making.  I just can't figure out the whole boiling to a certain temperature, hard ball stage thing...SOOOO when I saw this at the store, I was skeptical, but thought why not try it!  It literally takes 1 minute to make, a minute to stir, and then you pour in the box tray that they include, chill & bam, you have awesome fudge!!  It really, really is good!  It even includes the walnuts!!  If you have a sweet tooth like me, try it!!

Our personalized return address stamp that Wes gave me for Mother's Day one year is awesome, especially when you are sending out a gazillion Christmas cards...makes the job a snap!  This one is from PSA Essentials but I just got one for my sister and her husband as a housewarming gift from Three Designing Women  .

I think it is a great thing & lots of fun designs to choose from!

Philosophy Holiday Party Pack with Pomegranate Bubbly Body Wash & Lavender Bubbly body wash.  If you checked out my summer favorites, you know I love, love fun scented body washes.  This packaging was too cute & fun!!  I use it all the time!  Found it at Sephora...

Another of my favorite body washes this special time of year is the Philosophy Hot Cocoa body wash/bubble bath...smells absolutely heavenly!!!  WARNING...it may cause you to crave lots & lots of chocolate!!

I got this necklace for Annie's 2nd grade teacher because she loves wearing t-shirts about "2nd grade Rocks/ Math Rocks" she is waaay cool like that.  Meg over at Whatever, talked about seeing this girl at a fair in Kansas and when I checked out her website I fell in love!!  So many fun, fun things to choose from, great prices & awesome for so many people!!  Go check out 

Tommicrystaldesigns.com

Mom Agenda day planners, calendars & products are awesome, because they have space for you to write in schedules for you & up to 4 children!!!  Wes got this one for me for my birthday last year and it is invaluable to me!!  They have incredible deals going on right now too...

I love wearing fun t-shirts and my sister-in-laws have these in their shops.  I've also seen fun t-shirts from Gap and Target this year.  Who says we can't feel like a kid too?

So that's it!  I'm sure there are lots more things that I'll think of, but these are the ones that just make me smile & happy & enjoy the ins & outs of everyday life just a bit more...PLEASE, PLEASE share some of your favorites...or things that you love to give to the special ones in your life!

  Happy Friday!!

Baby, It's Cold Outside!

Wow!  Mother Nature sure is somethin'...We had 85 degree weather yesterday at lunch, kids wearing shorts & tees,(no joke!)...and this morning, woke up to find snow & ice!!  Not much, but enough to be way cool!  I think some of our good blog friends a few miles up the road actually had lots of snow flurries & even had it stick!!  Pretty incredible!

Only in South Texas...

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

It truly is the most wonderful time of the year...despite Duran Duran cancelling on me!  I love the excitement in the air, the colors, the sounds, the decorations, and the traditions!  We have several, as I'm sure all of you do, and I love how every family does different things that kind of speak to them and who they are...very special!  Saturday evening, we took Annie out to eat & to the Nutcracker...as per OUR tradition with her since she was 3.  It's a time with just mama & daddy without baby brothers tagging along.  They had their own special evening, thanks to Maggie, our niece and lately our resident babysitter, as she took them to a Christmas parade in Boerne.  It was a win-win for everyone!  She promises to get pictures to me soon...my only stipulation of Jack and Sam going with her...I need to SEE the memories made!  

Our usual favorite spot to take Annie to, the Gunter Hotel, was not offering their usual holiday fare, so we ventured out to our vacation spot, the Hyatt Hill Country, and enjoyed their delicious food!  I think we all agreed, we have found a new place to go.  The Hyatt was decked out like no other...lights lining the streets and sidewalks, themed Christmas trees throughout the lobby, and an INCREDIBLE gingerbread creation that would probably take up our entire family room.  It was an added bonus to going there for sure!

The Nutcracker was beautiful and it was even better this year with the San Antonio Symphony accompanying the production.  You just can't beat live music!  Annie said she was ready to go again next year, so it looks like the night was a success!

We've had our tree up for a week now, and Wes and the kids helped get the house all decorated the weekend after Thanksgiving.  It's so fun to watch them as the first boxes come out of the attic and are opened.  All the memories surrounding these special mementos come flooding out and make me smile and my heart swell with love when I see them.  

Here is our finished result from this year...

Some of my favorites that I tend to forget about during the year but love so much when we pull them out...our faux leopard trimmed tree skirt!  An awesome find at Hobby Lobby a few years back.

Our Nativity in its special place of honor...

One of a kind precious, treasured keepsakes...I can't wait to add Sam's to the mix now that he's in preschool.

Our Mickey Mouse glass ball from our DisneyWorld vacation summer of 2004.

This Christmas crab from our Gulf Shores, Alabama vacation last year...

I always forget about these glass dice that Wes and I purchased on our Las Vegas getaway in 2003, but love them so much!

A beach buggy ornament from our trip to San Diego/Coronado Beach in 2006...

An ornament that we got ourselves to mark our first Christmas as a married couple...

We found this Christopher Radko "Braveheart" ornament the Christmas after 9-11, and it takes me back every time I unpack it as to how we all were so proud to be an American...

We bought these Hallmark Wizard of Oz ornaments the year after we dressed as all those characters for Halloween 3 years ago...such fun memories!

This Mickey Mouse Santa came home with us when we were on our honeymoon at Disney World 13 years ago the end of this month!!

We love our SPURS!!!  And have a Championship trophy ornament that we got at one of the games we went to, to remember how excited the city and ALL of us were to win big!

Wes likes Star Wars as much as the next guy, and isn't a huge crazy fanatic, but this ornament is a favorite of the kids because Darth Vader speaks every time you turn the tree on, because he is plugged into the lights...it's amazing he still works after all the times the kids have turned it off/on just to listen over the years...

Can you tell I'm a former Kindergarten teacher???  I love, love, love children's books and have a designated "seasonal" book basket in the family room.  At Christmas time, we have a hard time fitting them all in, but it sure makes reading fun at bedtime because we have soooo many to choose from!

This wooden sign is hung on our bench in the entryway because I just love the message...

Christmas dishes make eating any meal that much more fun, especially in the mornings at breakfast.  I got these years ago at Target...they are just a hard plastic, but have held up great!

Years ago we started collecting Department 56 Snow Village pieces, much like my parents and one of my aunt & uncles...we have 11 pieces that we put in various rooms of the house, including the kid's rooms, but this one has always been my favorite because of the nostalgic looking diner.

This house & decorated yard display are in our playroom...Wes says it reminds him of the Grizwald's and National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation...

It's so wonderful when you have keepsakes that speak volumes without them saying a word.  I think that's what makes this time of year even better, when you can recall a memory just by opening a box or listening to a song.

What special decorations make your heart smile when you get them out every year???  

Wishing you a season of priceless memories with your family & friends...