Merry Christmas!

For unto us a child is born,

to us a son is given;

and the government shall be upon his shoulder,

and his name shall be called

Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Isaiah 9:6

Twenty-five

Happy birthday, Taylor Baylor! I love celebrating your birthday with you.

Christmas Decorating!

This weekend we started decorating the apartment for Christmas. Penny is so bad about handling new things and so she barked angrily the whole time. I don't know how we'll put up the tree. But, this little grouping was a fun project to do. I printed Christmas song lyrics and titles (in some of my favie fonts like Futura and Helvetica Neue Ultra Light) on the left; I found the silver Merry Christmas at Hobby Lobby; the paper with antique furniture is just scrapbooking paper from my stash; the Merry Merry Merry is a Christmas card; Santa Claus is coming is a favorite Sufjan Stevens lyric that Taylor picked out and we framed; and the mirror is something I've had forever but never actually hung up! In January, I'll just switch out the Christmasy things and leave it up.

Swing your partner round and round...

I wish we had taken more pictures! This is the only one. We went to the youth square dance and hot dog roast at church a few days ago. It was so fun!

O, How I love fall!

A few more from Tanner's with Jamie and Teejay...

 Acting cool in the pumpkin patch.

 Some friendly apple throwing competitions. ((Only old apples on the ground, though!))

Tanner's Tanner's Bo Banner's.

More to come! I can't think because I'm tres sleepy.

Sushi Gawa

 Taylor and I had a sushi date tonight that was so much fun. I am trying to like sushi, but it just doesn't appeal to me so much. I do like a California roll, but that's about all that I've tried and enjoyed. We went to Sushi Gawa and then walked around a board game store and Fresh Market afterward. Now Taylor's doing internet things (and I suppose I am too!) and soon we'll watch a movie. I haven't cooked in a long time! We've been living on a batch of fajitas and sandwiches for a quite few days. Maybe this weekend I'll get to do some cooking!

School news: Today was grandparent's day and also parent/teacher conference scheduling day. I can't believe we're almost done with the first nine weeks! I love this time of year at school...fall stuff...new good books from the book order...and the kids are in the routine of being at school now!

Good Bye Old Church

Next Sunday will be our first Sunday in the new church, so Taylor took this with the panoramic setting on his phone. This past Sunday, there was a really awesome video with scenes from Grace way back when it started. I just love seeing old fashioned church clothes and hair and styles! There was also a quick clip of our wedding in it at the very end! Dad had everyone stand who had been married, baptized, or met God for the first time in this building. It was an emotional moment to see so many people stand. I've only been going to Grace for a few years, but I do have some good memories in that church...getting married, getting to know my in-law fam, hearing moving sermons from my father in law, watching the splendor of Grace Family Christmas, the amazing bagpipes, the Revival, great moments and laughs with my jr. high girls small group in the Dunn Center, and so much more. I am someone who gets very attached to physical things and places, and change can be really tough on me on the inside. We were reminded that the church building is JUST a building. We can worship and praise God wherever we want. We will continue to do that in the new building, and everywhere. I am so thankful for this great blessing God has given us and I hope we use it according to His will!

Pumpkin Festival Weekend

Friday after school, I hurried through all of my grading and lesson plans and gym workout so I could have a weekend full of fun. We spent Friday night at the fest, with two friends, Dave and Megan....

We had Uncle Bud's cider slushes and pumpkin ice cream. Taylor and Dave rode the Zipper, and we just walked around for a couple hours enjoying the sights and such. The weather was chilly and perfect!

Saturday morning, we attempted pumpkin pancakes in the tent, but the line was way too long and we weren't sure if Taylor could get to work on time. So...we went to a little breakfast restaurant (which used to be called Penny's! But now is called Sidwell's.) Their pumpkin pancakes were pretty delish...

Taylor left for work, then my family and I went to see the craft booths and found our spot for the parade. My mom's brother and his wonderful family were in town for their first pumpkin festival experience. The parade started out pretty good.....

Jessica (13), Paige (4), and me sitting on the curb waiting for the floats!

 Mom, Uncle Chris, and Aunt Jean 

But, we didn't get to see any of it because of this quickly moving thunderstorm.  Bummer!!

Because of the festival, my best friends, Jamie and Emily were home from Chicago and we went out to dinner at Noir. A fabulous tapas restaurant in Peoria Heights. Go there! Here's the website to see the menu and such. 

These pictures are from the website...

We talked about Jamie's wedding, Emily's future plans for owning and operating an orchard (so awesome), and having our babies together someday. We're in our 12th year of friendship, me and those girls.

Oh, and we got this new delightful coffee maker...

LOVE IT!