Untitled, a photo by dbinatx on Flickr.

On Wednesday I did a little shopping with my birthday money :) I wanted to wait until after Christmas to do my shopping just to make sure I didn't buy anything that somebody might have gifted me. I had my eye on this ring for a few months. I found it on South Congress in a shop that promotes local artists. I can't remember the name but it has the word Gift in it and it is in the back of another gift shop that is right off of South Congress. As soon as I figure it out I'll update the post. :) Anyway, I love the simplicity of this ring. I’m not a big jewelry wearer but I can see putting this on for a night on the town.

Playing through the curtians

Kitty on the other side of the sheer curtain, a photo by dbinatx on Flickr.

The kittens are growing so fast!! That is Jelly in front, and Slinky behind the curtain. And their playing abilities are amazing! They are only 6-7 weeks old and they are leaping, stalking, rolling, figuring out all the hiding places and overall having tons of fun! They are hilarious to watch running around the room. I'm sure I'll have to replace a few curtains since their sharp little claws are being used to climb on them, but it is worth it :)

Christmas 2011

This year Christmas really felt like it snuck up on me. I think part of the reason was due to our Seattle trip earlier in the month (which I STILL need to post pictures from!!). But we did get our tree up and decorated around the house just a little later than normal. The weather around Austin also helped get us into the Christmas mood... lots of cooler wet weather, which I loved. After the hellacious summer, any type of rain and cold is welcomed.

During Christmas we found out that the foster kittens prefer used boxes and wrapping paper as their toys over all the little cat toys that I have bought them :) They played for an hour in the wrapping paper, playing hide and seek.

For dinner we had ham, chicken Florentine, au gratin potato's, green beans flavored with a Cesar marinade, stuffed mushrooms, broccoli rice casserole, and rolls. We also had plenty of snacks before dinner... veggie tray, roasted red bell pepper dip, and deviled eggs. And for dessert we had 3 different options... a pudding and whipped cream dessert, a raspberry dessert and my Bavarian Apple, Cranberry and almond torte. We ate very well on Christmas Day!


The kids at the kids table :) They didn't mind missing out on the adult talk, they watched Christmas Story while they ate.

Poor Chewie. I know he doesn't really enjoy putting the headband on,

but look at how damn cute he is!! Don't you just want to kiss that face?!?!?

Abbey is still getting used to the headbands. She figured out that if she dipped her head it would fall off :)

Abbey and Jamie (Jim's sister)

Jay, Caden and Dawson getting ready to open presents.

Travis and Caden goofing off

Jim and I... showing off my new hat from my In-Laws. Can't wait for cold weather to wear it

Ryan with Jelly and Caden with Slinky

Opening presents in the living room

Family Photo- Even Abbey and Jelly got in the picture... Chewie was off to the side and not sure where Slinky was hiding

After everybody left, we settled in for some couch time to relax. Here is Jim and Slinky. The kittens are cool with being held for a bit, but then they want to go off and wrestle. :) They are hilarious to watch wrestle.

Me and Jelly

Freakin Adorable Photo!!

Christmas!!

Hello Blog world! Did you have a nice Christmas? We had a pretty nice Christmas this year, but of course it flew right on buy and now it is over :(. I don't have the holiday photos ready to post yet, but I do have some photos from Christmas Eve and the animals. Of course I chased them around with the camera while trying to dress them up. It just wouldn't be the holidays without those type of pictures! :)

The Kittens (Jelly and Slinky) were to small for all of my Santa hats so I had to quickly take a picture before they took off running in seperate directions

Chewie and I



Can't you tell that Chewie loves his Santa hat?

Jim and Chewie

The pups near the Christmas Tree

The pups dressed up next to the tree. Chewie doesn't mind the hat, but Abbey doesn't exactly like it

In fact, I'm pretty sure that Abbey is plotting a way to get back at me for making her wear a hat.

The Cuddler, a photo by dbinatx on Flickr.

This was the The Cuddler (who we named Peanut because he was the smallest kitten) on Sunday. On Monday he started to take a turn for the worst, very lethargic, the weight started to look like it was falling off quick, didn't want to play with his brothers. I took him into the vet on Tuesday and they said he had a parasite and gave us medicine. He started to eat again, and it appeared that he was starting to come back to his normal self. Unfortunately on Thursday I came home from lunch to find a very sick kitty and rushed him back to the vet. The vet took one look at him and said they were going to put him down. Peanut was only in our lives for 2 weeks and I wish we had been able to nurse him back to health but I understand sometimes that isn't possible. Rest in Peace little kitty, We loved you while we had you and we hope we gave you a comfortable home for the last 2 weeks!

Thanksgiving Day

We started our Thanksgiving day with a 5 mile run.... well..... Jim and his sister started their Thanksgiving day with a 5 mile run, I simply drank coffee, took pictures and cheered them on. There were 21,000 runners in the race and people were all over.... people with strollers, people with dogs, people in costumes, people, people, people!

There was a band playing at the packet pick up area, good way to get the crowd pumped for the race
Jim and his sister Jamie getting ready to run!

I'm at the starting line for the race.... look at all of the people! I was looking for Jim and Jamie, but I didn't see them.

Look at how CUTE this dog is! I imagine he is really soft and fluffy and would be fun to cuddle.

Run, run run!

I love this chicks hat

I hung out on a median near Congress and Cesar Chavez to watch for Jim and Jamie run by.... and of course I didn't see them in the crowd but there were plenty of people/dogs to watch!

I have no idea how this guy didn't pass out since his entire head was covered. I'm sure the red fabric was breathable but had to be hard to run 5 miles in it. And this guy was at the front of the pack so his pace was fast.

Here we have a tequila bottle and a taco running in the race

Thanksgiving wouldn't be complete without an Indian running in the race

Lots of cute dogs running with their owners. Many had little jackets/sweaters on

Not sure why, but the Queen of England decided to change genders and then run in the Turkey Trot

A turkey and a pilgram walking together :) Shouldn't the turkey be running from the pilgram?

Lots of runners!

After the race we headed to Lubys to meet Jim's family for Thanksgiving dinner. Jims familiy prefered to go out instead of home cooking and hanging at one of the houses so we met up at Lubys for the holiday. We met up with his parents, sister and her family, 2 cousins and his aunt. It was a nice showing!

Jim's cousin Lori's Kids.... Jace, Charles, and Celeste

Jim's sisters family.... Caden, Jamie, Ryan, Travis and Dawson

Here we are one big family. Thanks to the lady walking by who took our picture! :)

And I couldn't pass up posting this picture of Chewie... he is running towards me while licking his nose. He is my adorable boo-boo! :)

Mike and Erin's Engagement Party

I'm playing catch up on the blog, so I had to go back to the middle of October for this party :) Mike and Erin got engaged this summer and are planning their wedding for next September. Their Aunt and Uncle very generously offered their house for the party. This is the house where Mike and Charlie have their boat on Lake Austin so we have visited the house a few times. The party was beautiful and of course having Lake Austin as your backdrop is always pretty darn nice.

Jason, Ashley, Jim and Lindsay enjoying some cocktails and the view



Jim, Jason and Charlie

Some of the ladies.... Cheryl, me, Erin (the soon to be bride), the next two ladies are Erin's friends from Colorado and can't remember their names, and then Lindsay

Giving the speeches

Lindsay, Chris Jim and I

And to end the post, me and my bud Lindsay!