Midnight Madness

Last night I had a blast going to the San Marcos outlet mall from 1030pm-1am with my 2 besties in the world! I've known Christina & Stephanie since high school and I love them dearly! I told them that we must start a new tradition and shop with each other every year. We will see! I didn't buy anything (my shopping is done) but I had a wonderful time catching up and loving on those girls!
PS: do you see how much my hair has lightened up?? Hmmm

Birthday Bash

Every year on a Friday in February there's a party. It's the most fabulous of days (other than the 9th of such month) celebrated with 4 dear friends who all happen to have birthdays in the month of love. Our first one was a pink and black bash and while planning this event there was no intention (at least from this birthday girl) to make this an annual event but it just caught on. The birthday bash has gone on successfully in my book for the past 5 years and it holds the best memories. The themes have been:
1) pink & black bash
2) famous couples
3) 80's bash (I have the perfect curly hair for this kind of party)
4) Wear a Wig bash
5) Gold & Glam
Im not sure of the date for next years party but I CAN assure you that the theme will be talked about soon & you'll have a great time. Here are some pictures from this years party & happy 28th birthday today to me :)
I love you Jenny H, Jill, & Nocona!

Merry Christmas

6am: shower get ready
7am: Wake up Kennedy
715: Little perfect Christmas with Kyle, Kennedy, & me
745: Arrive at Kyle's parents
8: breakfast
830-930: gift exchange which was a blast
930-noon: playing with Kennedy and all her sweet gifts
Noon-2: lunch & grazing on desserts
2: started watching True Grit by the fire & naps

Plans for later:
850 showing of Sherlock Holmes with friends who are dear to my heart.

Merry Christmas! It's been the best one yet!

Oh, and our chocolate lab Jingle Belle turned 2 today. Happy birthday Belley Brown

Wednesday and Thursday

Wednesday was a great day and "Christmas" at my dad and Diane's house in Seguin. I gained 2 pounds. That should tell you how great it was :) We had a wonderful lunch, exchanged gifts, and played all afternoon. It was so much fun to watch Landon and Kennedy interact. They are becoming little buddies! It was such a great day.

Thursday my mom came to our house in Austin and surprised me with the best surprise. She handed me a very heavy box and kept telling me to open it all day. I kept putting it off because I like Christmas to last longer. I finally opened the box to find HER WHOLE LIBERTY FALLS COLLECTION! This might sound boring to some but to the girl who went to Dillard's every week with her momma to get a new little house for the collection and then strategically placed the new house in it's new place in our Christmas village It's THE most perfect gift! I'm still in shock! Yay! I LOVE them and pray that Kennedy will cherish them as much as I do.

Merry Merry

The Perfect Ending

What a day!

Finished with our family tradition of eating dinner out at Mamacitas and then on to Santa's Ranch. We bought the season pass this year so we can go as many times as we want. You should go there too!

New Traditions

Kyle and I carved our first pumpkin together tonight for the first time in 4&1/2 years of marriage. We decided that from now on we will carve a pumpkin every Halloween eve. Fun huh?
I'm looking forward to the seeds drying over the next 24 hours and then I will roast them. Yum!
Hope you've had a great weekend & happy Halloween!

Paper Plates

There's a family tradition on the Ratliff side where if any of the kids or grands are missing from a family event a paper plate is held up in their honor. (We don't remember when this started & we used to draw faces on the plates) Yesterday we celebrated my paternal granddaddy's 80th birthday. It was a celebration enjoyed by all who attended and those of you who could not make it were missed. If you see people holding up paper plates in Facebook pictures they just might belong to our family.

Do you have any interesting traditions?