Wednesday, December 30, 2009

New Furniture!

Rob and I were blessed this year with some monetary gifts this year for Christmas and we decided to use it to help us purchase a new bedroom set and mattress as well as a new entertainment center. We had been to several places before Christmas and didn't find anything we couldn't live without. After Christmas though, we made a trip to a few places - one of them being The Dump. We found a great deal on a bedroom set as well as a super comfy mattress. It was delivered the next day (the 28th) and it has been so nice to sleep on it! It is a King size bed - which is a change for us because we've been sleeping on my old bed which was a Full! Can you imagine?! So yes, we are loving the space. And not only do we love it, but our cats seem to rarely leave the bed during the day and even the night. These past few nights when I am about to go to bed, I usually have two cats between myself and Rob - if not all three! We also purchased a new entertainment center from Rooms to Go which will be delivered in about two weeks - so I will post pictures once that gets set up. For now, here are some pictures of the new bedroom!!

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Christmas 5 and a Birthday too!

Our final Christmas celebration took place at my Aunt Jo's house on the 27th. The 27th also happens to be my sister Catherine's birthday so we had much to celebrate! We had a great dinner with much to talk about, and then had a yummy fruit tart for dessert. We exchanged presents and opened them. Catherine got my the movie Love, Actually which I lost somewhere and my other sister Carol sent a cookbook as a birthday present. Rob and I gave everyone else their presents and everyone seemed to like what they received. It's been a good and long holiday season for us Biddle's and we are ready to celebrate with a new year!

Saturday, December 26, 2009

Christmas 2, 3, and 4..

For the actual Christmas holiday, Rob and I went to Bridge City to be with his family. We left the morning of the 24th and got there around lunchtime which was just in time to head to Whataburger for a free hamburger! Although, we had to pay for drinks and fries, but it was still a good deal. Then we headed over to Aunt Pat's house (my father-in-law's sister) to visit and have a Christmas exchange with them. There were a lot of really great while elephant gifts going around, but I must admit I think I got the best one which was a handmade blanket that Kelly made. I'll have to take some pictures soon to show it off! Rob got a Hickory Farms gift box with some meats and cheeses, and I think he was pretty happy with that too. We stayed and visited for a while and then went back to the Biddle house. We went ahead and had our Christmas even though Wes wasn't there because he unfortunately had emergency stuff with work and couldn't make it in. We all got some really great gifts. I got a warm-up suit, a beautiful bracelet, and a jewelry armoire from Peggy & Sam, and got two pairs of handmade earrings and a choker from Kelly. Rob got a new shirt and sweater, an edger/weed eater, and a game called LittleBigPlanet from his parents and Kelly got him a beard and mustache trimmer. That evening we hung out with more of the family and had a good time. On Christmas morning, we went to mass and then went over to Carrie and Daryl's house to watch their little boys open their Christmas gifts. We went back to the house afterwards to start on lunch and not too soon afterwards there was a knock on the door -- it was Wes!! He surprised us all by coming in and not letting any of us know! I know Sam & Peggy were pretty happy that he was able to make it in for Christmas. So, we ate lunch and then had another little Christmas with him. Wes and Sherri got us a wine grape tree that we're going to have to plant soon - which I'm pretty excited about. And, there is another gift coming next time we see them too.. We played a game of Mille Bornes before Wes had to head back home. Then we (me, Rob, Kelly, and Uncle Randal) went to go see the new Avatar movie - which was pretty good, though I don't have a strong desire to see it again.. Then today we had our 4th Christmas with the Klein side of the family. We went over to Uncle Glen and Aunt Susan's house for pizza and the Klein gift exchange. I always enjoy it because there are always so many good gifts going around! This year, Rob got a remote controlled car that he played with not long after getting it, and I got a really pretty candle holder that I can't wait to put up in the house. We stayed until later in the afternoon and headed back home to come be with our kitty cats. :) We have one more Christmas tomorrow and then I think we're done for the season! I'll be posting some pictures shortly but until then.. Merry Christmas, y'all!!

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Christmas #1

Since Rob and I haven't had the chance to head over to Midland/Lubbock to visit my family much this year, we decided that we would go in for a pre-Christmas Christmas visit. We left on Saturday the 19th, and came home Tuesday the 22nd. When we arrived in Lubbock on Saturday, the first place we headed for was Rosa's - one of my favorite Mexican food places ever! From there we drove about two hours to Midland to see my family that lives there. We stopped first to see my sister-in-law Staci and nephew Cameron. From there, we all drove to my brother Jon and his wife Amber's house to say hello to them and then left a bit after that to go on a "hayride" at a local church. It was actually a lot of fun - we were given hot chocolate, kettle corn, and a ride around Grasslands to look at the Christmas lights for free. When we went back to Jon and Amber's house, we opened up some presents and had our mini-Christmas. It was a good family night of fun. Afterwards, Rob and I went to go visit my friend Ashley (and Kelli and Andrew) at her house. On Sunday, we headed back to Lubbock with Cameron in tow. We played a bunch on the Wii with Cameron that day, and that night Rob and I made Chicken Parmesan for dinner. Monday was a bit laid back - we ran a bunch of errands around town with my mom, and of course, played more Wii with Cameron! For dinner that night, we went over to Grandpa Henderson's house and had Spaghetti with Bacon with him and my Aunt Annie. Afterwards, we played a fierce couple rounds of spades but ended up calling it a night because it was getting later in the evening. Monday morning we headed over to my Aunt Maura's house so we could say hello and whatnot, and she wanted to cook us breakfast. How could you say no to that?! We had some yummy omelets and pancakes. After running a few more errands, Mom took us to the airport to head back to Houston. All in all, we had a great trip and would have loved to have stayed longer -- but my Mom promises that she's going to head this way next year and visit us instead!! Here are a few pics from our visit!

Monday, December 14, 2009

The good, the bad, and the birthday!

One of the great things about having a birthday fall on a weekend is that you pretty much get to celebrate ALL weekend! And that's exactly what we did! On Friday as I mentioned, Rob and I went to visit Kelli and Andrew for dinner and games and to celebrate Kelli's birthday. We had lots of fun and the home cooked meal was de-lish! For lunch on Saturday, Rob and I drove downtown to have lunch with my sister Catherine, my Great Aunt Jo, and my Uncle Bill at a wonderful restaurant called Prego's. It was really great getting to spend some time with them and all because it was my birthday! From there, we came back home and had a little time to relax until it was time to go to my holiday party for work. It turned out to be a lot of fun and I am glad we went -- especially because they had Olive Garden cater the food! My favorite! On Sunday (my actual birthday), Rob's parents and sister Kelly came up north to take me out to lunch wherever I wanted! So after some thought (since I had eaten my favorite the night before..) we decided on The Cheesecake Factory. And, as expected, it was amazingly good. Of course, my wonderful mother in law just HAD to tell them it was my birthday so I would get a group singing to me.. :) All kidding aside though, it was really sweet that they drove up to see me for my birthday. I got some really great presents from everyone which was good - but I won't go into detail about those - except for the one Rob got for me. Being the sweet guy that he is, he knew that my iPod was older than dirt and surprised me with a new one! It was totally unexpected and it was pretty exciting to see that ALL of my music could fit onto it. But here comes.. the bad. Since it is a newer model, I wanted to check and see if it would fit in my old iPod speakers. Well, I looked and looked... and looked. And.. Gone. And so was my old iPod. It was taken in the robbery, and we didn't notice it missing because I hadn't used it since the break-in. Good news is that we have added the two items to the insurance claim and will be getting a new set of speakers for my iPod shortly. And that's the good, the bad, and the birthday!!

Friday, December 11, 2009

Happy Birthday to...

...one of my best friends, Kelli!!!! (Maroon of course because she's an Aggie too!)

Rob and I are going to the Burrow house tonight to have dinner and play games and celebrate our birthdays! I'm so glad it's our birthday weekend!

Thursday, December 10, 2009

How it's going..

Just a quick update from our recent break in.. We finally were able to get our insurance adjuster to come visit this past Monday to assess the damage and take pictures. We are still waiting on the financial part from them because we are waiting on the police report to be completed, faxed to us, and then faxed to insurance. So, here's hoping all of that gets taken care of soon and we have money to replace some of our stolen items. Once we had the adjuster come out, we were able to have our glass replaced. We also have a security system in place which is making things feel much safer while we are away at work. And that's how it's been going..

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Nothing dashes your Christmas spirits...

..like getting your house broken into :( On Tuesday, Rob and I had our house broken into and had some items taken out of the house. Although it really sucks, there are a few positive things - the first one being that the break in happened while we were gone at work so both of us were unharmed. Thankfully all three of the cats were all accounted for inside the house which was my first thought after finding out the house had been broken into. And finally, we were lucky because a neighbor several houses down from us had noticed there was a suspicious car driving around and he called the police. He also called again once he saw that car parked in front of our house, and the police showed up not too long after.

So - the robbery happened around 1:30, the neighbor called as soon as he noticed the car, and the police arrived around 2. From our looking around so far, it seems they took Rob's Mac laptop (super bummer), the Xbox 360, the Wii, and a flat screen computer monitor. When the police got to the house, the robbers were already gone. The witness got some information, but who knows if anything will come of it. Anyways, once the police arrived, they called Rob who headed home to see the damage. Our back window was busted by a brick being thrown at it, and there was glass everywhere. The thing that saddens me the most (besides all the things that were taken) was that my babies were here alone and I don't know where they were when the brick came thru, or how they were treated once the robbers came in.

We are hopefully getting the window replaced next week -- it takes time to make one our size apparently, and the insurance adjuster should be coming out Monday. I'm not sure how much money we will be getting from insurance, but I'm sure it won't be too much since we have to meet our deductible first. I'm starting to understand the saying - Bah, Humbug!

Monday, November 30, 2009

Happy Thanksgiving!.. A few days late..

I know, I'm a little late on posting, but Happy Thanksgiving! :) Rob and I have been pretty busy this past month (and actually will be this coming month too..) so that's the main reason this post is coming a little later than it should. For the Thanksgiving holiday, Rob and I headed to Bridge City to spend some time with his family. We arrived Thanksgiving morning with two homemade apple pies and a pumpkin pie in hand. We had a great lunch and got to play several of the new games we purchased from BBG-Con. On Friday, we celebrated Wesley's 25th birthday, and participated in Black Friday which was not completely worth it. We ultimately did get a new small camera which will be great to take on trips. We wrapped up our weekend on Saturday with a family reunion. It was great to get to see so many family members and share a bite to eat. We also got to exchange ornaments, and play Bingo and win prizes! Here are a few pictures from the weekend:





Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Board Game Geek Con (BGG-Con)

This past week and weekend, Rob and I attended a board gaming convention -- BGG-Con. We have never attended an event like this, so we weren't quite sure what to expect. The convention went from Thursday morning until Sunday afternoon. We were lucky that the hotel where the convention was being held near my Aunt Marty and Uncle Bill's house, and they were amazing hosts as usual. Anyways, we arrived early Thursday morning to get in line to register and possibly win some games! They ended up starting registering people early because the turn out was huge. We got three games waiting in line and registering.

The Con lasted from Thursday until Sunday, although our last night of gaming was Saturday. We participated in a few tournaments - one was Alhambra, and the other was Ticket to Ride. I did not fair too well in either tournament, but Rob started off doing pretty well. He won the first round of Alhambra, but didn't make it after the next round. Ticket to Ride was a little bit harder for us, but it was still a fun tournament.

We played lots of games (obviously) and some of them were new. Let's just say, we came to the Con with zero games, and left with about 6... But they were well worth it! I really hope that Rob and I can make this a yearly event we attend because I had a BLAST!


Game On!! :)

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Renaissance Festival 2009

This year we took a trip to the Renaissance Festival. Kelly, Wes, and Sherri went with us and I think I speak for us all when I say we had a great time! We planned ahead and decided to go to The King's Feast - which is basically a two hour feast with tons of food and drink! We went to it last year by chance, but got seats for all five of us this year. We arrived at the gates just after 9, and went to see Arsene - a silent French comedic magician. His shows are always so great! From there, we walked browsing the stores until it was time for The King's Feast at 11. We had much to eat and drink, and were stuffed upon leaving. After being stuffed to the brim, we went to see The Other Brothers who were also very entertaining. From there we caught Cast In Bronze and ended our day seeing our favorite, Sound and Fury.

Here's a few pics of all of us dressed up and having a good time!



Friday, November 6, 2009

Wisdom!

Life has been going pretty well for us recently, but it's also been busy. This past Wednesday, Rob had to go to the dentist to get a wisdom tooth removed. Only one - because there was proof that once it grew in completely it would be touching and pushing on his other teeth. When I had my wisdom teeth removed, I had them all done at once so that I would never have to go through that again. Rob's logic is a little different than mine - and since he only needed one out, that was all he was going to get out. He did really great throughout the entire process. I was able to stay with him in the room which was interesting...and kind of gross... I've never been able to see things getting done on someone because I'm usually the one in the hot seat! Rob was drugged up pretty well, so from the moment he was given his meds to the next day when the drugs wore off, he was out of it. He's been recovering great though, and is only a little sore - mainly because his mouth had to be open so wide for a long period of time. And another positive thing is that fact that he's been growing out a full beard (because I thought he'd look handsome with it!) and it makes it really hard to even notice that he's swollen on one side. Happy Friday!! :)

Saturday, October 31, 2009

This is Halloween, This is Halloween!

Happy Halloween! :)

I must admit that Halloween is one of my favorite holidays - I'd say it comes in second after Christmas.. I love getting to dress up and see what all the kids wear each year. It's always fun to give out candy - although I do miss getting to go trick or treating myself! Here's a few fun pictures -- the ones of Rob and I are from our Halloween party, and these first ones are my babies all dressed up and loving every second of it! :)


The Meow: This is my Halloween Costume
Meme: A Texas Aggie!
Tuxie: Guess Who?!


AAhhh... Zombies! Bride and Groom to be precise!

**Don't forget you can click on the picture to get a larger view!!**

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Party!

This weekend, we had some of our gaming friends and family over to eat food, play games, and have a fun time. And we did all those things! Our theme was Halloween - even though it was a week early - that way I could decorate the house in cute Halloween stuff and make people dress up! We also had our guests bring "scary foods" and it was really fun getting to see the creative items people brought. Rob made intestine-y spaghetti and I made putrid pumpkin pie with blood topping. Here are some pictures of some of the treats that were brought to the party:


Roasted Fingers - by Wes


Kitty Litter - by Kelly


Ghastly Grins - by Sherri


Haunted Graveyard - by Peggy


Putrid Pumpkin Pie - by Christine

Friday, October 23, 2009

Happy (Early) Halloween!

Rob and I bought our pumpkins a little early this year because we are having a little get together this weekend to play games and dress up in costumes! We wanted to have our pumpkins ready for the party, so last night we decided to start carving! We had a lot of fun during the process - although Rob still doesn't understand how I'm ok touching all the nasty stuff inside the pumpkin and yet I have a problem touching other things -- like meat. Of course, the logical explanation is that I don't have to EAT what comes out of the pumpkin. Makes sense to me..

Anyways, here are the two pumpkins we carved:

This is the Joker based on Arkham Asylum, carved by Rob. I love it!

This pumpkin was carved by me, and it is Jack from The Nightmare Before Christmas - which is one of the greatest movies ever made. :)

Monday, October 12, 2009

Happy Columbus Day!

And, I say that only because today is a holiday for me! :) Sadly for Rob, he had to work - but on the plus side, he was able to work from home which was a treat for both of us! It's nice having an extra day off.. but it makes it that much harder to want to go back to work! :)

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Canton, Oh Canton!

This weekend, Rob and I drove out to Canton for First Monday and met lots of family members there. We got to stay onsite in Sam & Peggy's trailer which made it really nice to go shop and come back and take break and start again. We had so much fun getting to hang out with family as well as getting to shop and look at all the neat things for sale! The only downside was that the weather was rainy Saturday evening and Sunday morning. But that just meant more games and family time! Anyways, here are pictures of what we bought this weekend! :)

Out new table decoration - I just need a new candle for it!

It's Fall Y'all.. door sign! And two bats that will be hung up for Halloween! So cute!

Mummies! Oh my!

Welcome Home Honey! :)

Rob and I found this a long time ago at Half Price Books but didn't buy it.. went back to get it and it was gone! But we found another one!

Magnetic picture holder that will go in the kitchen

Cookbook holder!

New shoes from my in-laws! Love them!


Snack food! Yum!

Saturday, September 26, 2009

Special all around!

This past Thursday, September 24th was a special day for a few reasons. First of all, it marks my Aunt Colette & Uncle Bill's 26th wedding anniversary! It is interesting to note that they got married 26 years ago - which would make the year 1983. That, my friends, was the same year I was born, and only 3 months after their marriage. So it is really easy for me to remember how long they have been married because of how old I am! :) Lucky for me they got married when they did - otherwise they might not have been my godparents!

On this same day, Rob and I were invited to the Contemporary Handweavers of Houston (CHH) Annual Sale. My aunt, amoung many others, are members of this group and had items in the sale. So Rob and I wanted to attend in order to support those members (especially my aunt!) as well as share in their anniversary! So, we went downtown to go to the sale and there were so many neat things up for grabs! We ended up buying mainly from family, but there were a couple of other neat things we bought too.

Here are a few of the things we bought!


This is a purse made and painted by Caryn (my Aunt Colette's sister). It is a "Green" Bag as it is made from recycled and fused Target shopping bags. It was handwoven with hand felted embellishments. It is absolutely adorable!


This is as it looks -- a pumpkin on a stand. This item was made by Aunt Colette. The pumpkin was hand felted, wool fiber fill, and then the metal stand. There are also sparkling pieces on the leaves and top of the pumpkin that really make this piece stand out! We are excited to have this piece just in time for the season and holiday!


This is another hand made felt piece made by Aunt Colette. The bottom of it has an antique clip which can hook onto say, a Christmas tree..!

This last piece we purchased was made by D.D. Woodbury. Before the sale started, Aunt Colette told me all about this item - and said that it should be the first thing I look for. This is a handwoven dove made from silk. D.D. had a little fabric left from making her daughter's wedding dress and used it to create this. I even had the pleasure of meeting D.D. during the sale which was really neat. Let me just say that everyone who saw this in my basket was sad that they were not one of the first people in line because they wanted it!

Saturday, September 12, 2009

I <3 Beer

The outside of St. Arnold's
This was stamped on my hand earlier today, but has since been washed off. Today we (me, Rob, Wes, and Kelly) took a tour of the St. Arnold's brewery. This was of course Wes' idea, but we were glad to come along and sample some beers. The placement of the brewery was interesting - it seemed to be quite small and in a business center. There was no a.c. which made it a bit hot, but the good news is that they will be moving to a new location which will be bigger and be air conditioned! Yay! For the first 20-30 minutes of the "tour" we heard this guy talk more about how the company got started.. all the history.. Then we got to get in line with our drinking glass (included with the 5 dollar entry fee) and taste some beers. I think we had two each - although we had the chance to get four. Hunger and heat got the best of us! Anyways, we had a great time, and would consider going to the new cooler location! Here are a few pics from our day today! Drink on!

Rob's "beer goggles" --- I think he liked the beer :)

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Happy Labor Day!

Ok, Happy Belated Labor Day, but you get the idea! Even though we had an extra day added onto the weekend, it seems like time flew by! We did have a fun weekend though so perhaps that is why things went by so quickly. On Saturday morning, Rob and I headed down to Deer Park to spend some the day/evening with the family. To our surprise, there were more people coming in than originally thought - but that made it all the better! :) We had an amazingly good and big lunch and of course, we played games throughout the day. The next morning, we played more games and watched an episode or two of Bones before leaving to go to our next destination! Rob and I went to Kelli's house to spend the day/night with them. Rob hadn't met Jackson yet - so we needed to get that done! Also, one of my best friends Janae was coming into town to meet Jackson - and bringing her main squeeze Daniel for us to meet! We all pitched in cooking different things for dinner that evening, and played a handful of games with them. On Monday, Kelli's parents came into town and all 8 and a half (Jackson!) of us went to eat a great lunch at BJ's.
Here's a great pic of Janae being the sheriff in the game Bang!

All in all, we had a great weekend, but like I said, time flew by. I would have loved to have spent more time with friends and family, but am glad we got the time in that we did! By the way, is it the weekend again yet?? :)

This picture was taken on our trip into Bridge City to celebrate Peggy's Birthday! Yay family!

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

3 Years

While it seems like it was just yesterday that Rob and I started dating... today is our 3 year anniversary! I can't believe it has been three years -- Three of the best years of my life! Three years ago, my life completely changed (for the better) and I met someone amazing and incredible, and lucky for me, he felt the same way! I love you honey, and can't wait for another year of loving you!!

This is one of our first pictures together.. Can't you just tell we're a perfect pair? :)

Sunday, August 30, 2009

Happy Birthday to...

Rob and I would like to wish two special people a very happy birthday!!

Happy Birthday to my sweet mother-in-law Peggy!

And Happy Birthday to my littlest sister Claire!

We hope you ladies have a great birthday!!

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Work!

Well, I've almost made it through my first week of work. It is so nice to be back at the school I worked at before because I know so many people and have friends there from last year. This year is a little different than this year, but in some ways the same. Like last year, I am still working one-on-one with a student but this student is much less of a behavior issue. It's nice to not have to worry about if I'll get beat up or not each and every day.. And it's nice to be working with such a sweet child who needs lots of love and attention. It's definitely different than my year last year, but so far so good!

Saturday, August 22, 2009

Another Vet Visit...

My poor little kitty Meme had to go the vet :( Rob and I have been noticing that his gums have been a little more than pink where his little teeth are in the front. His teeth grew in crooked which we thought was funny and cute - but as time went on, I noticed they were an issue. Meme likes to nibble on my finger sometimes and he often likes it when I give a little push on his little teeth. However, when I did it the other day I could tell it was a little tender. Long story short, we took him to the vet who said that in fact his teeth were tender and many of them were loose. So, we had to do a little bit of dental work -- and he got all SIX of his little bottom teeth pulled. Poor baby! When I picked him up from the vet, he was still drugged out but seemed to be in pretty good spirits. I think the hardest part for me was (and is) giving him his medicines because I know they help but I also know he doesn't like it. He had to get a few stitches on his bottom gum and already we are seeing a few of the strings stick out of his mouth! Anyways - he is having a great recovery and I think we will all be much happier once all the medicine is gone and he is back to his usual self!

Monday, August 17, 2009

HAPPY 28TH BIRTHDAY, ROB!! :)
(Picture from 26th Birthday... my how time flies!)

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

I got a J.O.B.!!

Today I received a call from the school I worked at last year officially offering me a job for this upcoming year! Yay!! I had the choice of two para (teacher aide) positions - one being with the student I worked with last year, or with another special needs student who needs a lot of love, care, and attention. In other words, nothing at all like my student last year.. I had my choice between these two, and I picked the new student. I'll be a full time para - which will be great because I will get health insurance, sick days.. many more benefits than working as a long term sub like I did last year. The best part of the whole thing was that I didn't even have to interview for either of the jobs because the principal knows what an great employee I am! :) I am really looking forward to working with so many of the people I worked with last year, as well as seeing some of the kids I fell in love with too!

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Pictures!

Well that was fast! I already got the pictures from Kelli (well, off her facebook, but..) so here are a couple of cute ones from yesterday! Enjoy! (And don't forget you can click on the picture to make it a little bit bigger!)

Rule #1 : Never come empty handed!!

Christine & Baby Jackson!

Baby J & Mommy K

I forget exactly why they were laughing,
but I think this picture is adorable!

The Burrow Family!

And from above.. :)