"Christmas sure does go by fast"

The title definitely cracks me up because this was once said by Lindsey during an awkward moment... no one knew what to say, so that's what she came up with. Although it is an ongoing joke, it is true. This week has flown by! We have had such a great time with family. We spent Tuesday evening with my dad, opening gifts before he went to Oklahoma City to be with his family. Eliana had such a great time and LOVED the pig and cat that my dad got for her. The cat is pretty hilarious. It is a "Fur real friend"... and is kind of creepy. It meows, purrs, moves its tail, and hisses. Since Eliana has a love for Daisy (and sadly, Daisy doesn't share the same love), she now has a cat she can love on without being scratched all over the face. 

Christmas day was really meaningful for everyone. We spent the majority of the afternoon serving food at the Salvation Army. We did this 2 years ago and absolutely loved it. Too bad there aren't any pictures to capture me in my hairnet (I was briefly on the news...hopefully no one saw it), putting food on the plates. I might have missed my calling as the lunch lady. Everyone else served food and talked to all of the guests. My mom did such a great job talking to everyone. She has such a gift of loving on people and making them feel extremely special. It was really neat watching my family interact with everyone. I still don't know how I ended up in the kitchen, but I really enjoyed the perspective that I had. After that, we came home and opened gifts. We didn't have too many to open, but it was enjoyable. Once again, it was just neat to watch Eliana have so much fun! Then my mom made her Christmas tree pizza...which was MUCH better than mine! Our evening ended with a really fun game... and my Gran-D made the game even better! She wasn't too great at it, which just made it way more fun! Here are some pictures from our Christmas! 

How precious is Harper's stocking?!?!? She got a teething toy and a bottle in it! Santa knew exactly what she would need! 

Eliana with her new kitty

My dad with his girls

Eliana in her finest for the Christmas Eve Service

All of the ladies

Me and the Corbster

All the "kids"... and the picture my mom used for her Christmas card

Eliana's cross that she got from Gran-D, which doubles as a phone (bet you didn't know that!)

Lindsey, Chris, and Eliana got this dress for Harper... how precious! 

Fun can always be had with Christmas ribbon!!! 

Harper is VERY popular!!

Today was Harper's shower in Little Rock. It was so much fun! My friends did such a great job with everything. Currently, I'm not sure where I'm going to put everything that Harper got today... her room and closet are VERY small! But I am so thankful for everything that was given to us! Here are a few pictures from the shower...

The Hostesses: (L to R) Kelly, Chelsea, Mary Helen, me, Aubrey, Ann Marie, and Jeanelle

My best friends from high school: (L to R) me, Mary Helen, Jeanelle, Aubrey, Ann Marie, Emily, and Bethany

The VERY cute diaper cake that Jeanelle made!

My mom's living room with all of Harper's gifts.... unbelievable! The black and cream bag you can barely see is my new diaper bag!!!! I've been eyeing it for months, and Lindsey surprised me with it!!! I'm still in shock!

Make new friends, but keep the old...

No, this isn't a blog about being a girl scout, even though, as I wrote that title...I definitely just sang the whole song in my head (Shout out to Troop 503???? Was that our number?). On Wednesday night, we had our old home group over for dinner. We had such a great time together! One couple moved to Denver in August, so having them back in town was such a treat! I love these girls so much!!! They are definitely one of the reasons I love living in Dallas so much! I hate that we aren't in the same group anymore, but we know that the Lord had a purpose in splitting us up. Hopefully some day we can all be back together! 

And speaking of old friends, I am SO excited to see several of my best friends from high school and college on Sunday! They are throwing me a baby shower, and I can't wait to be around all of them again! Whenever we all get together, it's as if time has stood still from the time we were last together... and I love that! The Lord has definitely blessed me with amazing friends, both old and new, and I am forever thankful to Him for that! 

Harper and her "Greats"

Harper has a lot of family that is really excited about her arrival... but I would now say that she has a #1 fan! Chris' brother, John Jr "Bulldog", just found out that we were having a baby- and he is ecstatic! He found out through our Christmas card... which shows a picture of me looking rather pregnant and a mention of Harper's name and due date. John Jr has been making several phone calls and they have been HILARIOUS! 

Phone Call #1: To Chris

This is all left in a message: "Chris.... Congratulations! You're going to be an uncle. Lauren and Corby are having a little boy in March named Harper! I don't know what this means for everyone else... but I know that it means you are going to be an uncle and I'm going to be a great uncle!  

Phone Call #2: To Mr. Wheeler (John and Chris' dad)

This too is left in a message: "Dad... Congratulations! You're going to be a Great-great-grandpa!!!"

We love Bulldog and can't wait for him to someday meet our baby GIRL, Harper! He is hilarious with family titles. For instance, I am only allowed to call him my "brother" not "brother-in-law". So now that he's throwing around the word "great" totally cracks me up! 

Thank you, Bulldog, for being SO excited about Harper!!! She's going to love you so much!!! 

 

A Night at the Tartan Thistle

Last night, me and 3 of my very good friends stayed at a bed and breakfast in McKinney. It was quite a hilarious experience! From the outside, the house was absolutely beautiful! However, the inside was a whole different story. Nothing matched and all of the decor was "country clutter" (as my cousin Brent and I like to call it!). I kind of have a love for tacky country decorations, so I had a blast looking at everything. I was only able to capture a few of my favorite things. I was headed downstairs with my camera to take some pictures of the living room, but the owner was down there... so I refrained from mocking the room right in front of them. None of us slept very well, but we had a great time together! I am so thankful for those girls!! It is truly a blessing to have friends like them here in Dallas!

Some pictures from the Tartan Thistle: 

There are several things to note in this picture. The wallpaper is probably where your eye went at first, and rightly so.... it is very distracting! The "fancy" bed was also a favorite! And lastly, the ENORMOUS lampshade on the lamp gave us all quite a good laugh!

This picture is from the room across the hall from ours. Everything in it was pink...including everything in the bathroom too. It can be a lot to look at! 

We're pretty sure Karen (the owner) makes these little kleenex holders because they are ALL OVER the house! Each one is unique too: different fabrics, different positioning of throw pillows, etc. We laughed so hard when we first saw these! Country clutter at it's finest! 

This bear was at the top of the stairs. The picture doesn't really do it justice, but there were really long, fake eyelashes on the bear. It was hilarious!!! 

My favorite time of the Year!

I absolutely love decorating for Christmas! I definitely get that from my mom. She would probably keep up her Snow Village all year long if it was socially acceptable. Growing up, we had many traditions at Christmas, and this year we brought one of them to our family.... Christmas Tree Pizza! My mom used to make this on the night that we decorated the tree. Now we eat it the first night that we are all in town. Well... Corby requested it yesterday, so we ate it while we watched "Charlie Brown Christmas". It was so much fun, and I can't wait until Harper gets to experience this amazing time of the year! Here are a few pictures of our decorations and of the pizza. 

I love our tree this year. I wasn't in the mood to make bows, so I just wrapped the ribbon all around the tree. I really like how it turned out! It is artificial, so I have a wonderful candle that makes our house smell like we have a real tree. :)

I, too, love my Snow Village. Most of the pieces have some significance to me and Corby, and the ones that don't...they are just cute! I always think it's going to take way too long to put up and then it is always so easy! I really enjoyed putting it up this year! 

This is my favorite nativity! Corby and I got this the Christmas before we got married. I can't wait for Harper to help me put it up! 

And last, but certainly not least, the Christmas Tree Pizza. My mom's has many more details, but I decided to go for the simpler tree. It was very tasty. However, I am now even more excited about having my mom's pizza on Christmas Eve! 

Just as fancy as ever!

This past weekend, Corby and I went to visit Annalise in St. Louis. It was our first time to visit that city, so we really enjoyed the trip! Thankfully...Annalise hasn't lost her "fanciness". It is clear that she still wants to be just like Fancy Nancy. It was really good for me to see her in her environment and for me to see that she is doing well. She appears to really like her new nanny, so that makes me so happy. I didn't get to meet her, but I'm sure she's great too! 

Annalise pulled everything out of her jewelry box on Friday night and put it all on. She has on a beautiful necklace, clip-on earrings, and several rings. She's hilarious with her jewelry! She has to have something on...

in order to look fancy, of course. 

We never had very many pictures together,

 so I wanted to make sure and get one. 

Underneath her sweats, she has on her very fancy ballet outfit. She had a make-up ballet class on Saturday morning. We had so much fun watching her. I think it was great practice for Corby. He said that he loved every minute of it and couldn't wait to be watching Harper some day! 

Here she is in her Disney princess boots... please note the shiny black purse on her arm! She wouldn't leave the house without her purse!

Lastly, Annalise and Corby played "horse" several times over the weekend. My absolute favorite part of this is her riding "side saddle". This is how she rode on him every time... simply mimicking how Snow White rides a horse. 

26 weeks and counting...

Well, I took that picture by myself, so that's why the angle is pretty terrible. But I realized the other day that I haven't been very diligent about taking "pregnancy pictures".  So here I am, in all my glory... almost 27 weeks. I had another successful doctor's appointment today. Harper is growing quickly and moving all of the time! I love how it feels!!! My doctor did inform me that I'm anemic, so I am now on extra iron. I'm praying that it doesn't make me sick (or extra constipated...she warned me!). 

Corby has been busy this week painting Harper's room. I know it wasn't how he wanted to spend his evenings, but I REALLY appreciated all of his hard work to make her room look perfect! It is a very pale shade of pink....I love it! Here he is- hard at work! 

Lastly, we are heading to St. Louis this weekend to visit Annalise and her parents. We are SO excited to see her! Her dad informed me that every morning this week, she wakes up and asks if today is the day that Laloy comes! Isn't that cute?!?!? I can't wait to play with my little friend! We (and by "we", I mean Corby) are also hoping that Alabama pulls out a big win over Florida on Saturday.... it will definitely make the evening more enjoyable! 

That's about it...nothing else going on here. Enjoy the rest of your week and weekend!