Merry Christmas Eve!

Just wanted to pop by and say MERRY CHRISTMAS EVE!!!  I know tomorrow will be crazy so I might not get a chance to blog but hopefully I will later in the week.  Enjoy the holiday with family and friends.  Take a moment to reflect on the real meaning of Christmas, that many years ago a little baby was born to save us all.

An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.  But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.  Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.  This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."  Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,  "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests." Luke 2:9-14

Merry Christmas everyone!

Snow Day #2

One of the perks of being a teacher is not having to brave the messy, snowy roads to get to work.  I feel so thankful and blessed that I am able to stay home when the weather is bad.  And I am thankful because before teaching, I was considered emergency personnel at my first job and we had to be at work, no matter what the conditions were.  If you remember back in 2009-2010, our region experienced the Snowpocolypse.  Three blizzards from December to February, over three feet, of snow, and I still had to go to work.  I even had to spend the night once there and I experienced driving on 495 with no other cars other than the snow plows.  It was scary and dangerous and I am thankful that I don't have to do that anymore!  I am also thankful that Ben's job allows him to work from home from time to time so on days like today, he can be safe and warm inside with me.

Yesterday, we missed school because of ice but the roads were okay so I was able to go out and finish Christmas shopping and then wrapped everything.  I was really busy all day so part of me was hoping that we would have today off just so I could recover from Monday!  Today has been nice so far.  The snow started around 7am and we have close to two inches now and it's still falling.  The snow has put me in a baking mood and in the first two hours I was up, I made soup (yes, I know that's not baking but it's still making something) for friends for tomorrow, breakfast for both Ben and myself, and a spice loaf.  I already have the recipes pulled for what else I want to bake today while I wait for the dishwasher to run it's cycle.  I despise washing dishes so I'll just wait for the dishwasher to finish before moving on to the next recipe.  I think up next I have walnut cranberry chunk cookies, possibly chocolate chip cookie dough truffles, and maybe something else.  We will see how long my baking streak goes today before I collapse on the couch with a good book!

Here's the snow at about 7:30am.

Deciding what to make.  Oh the choices!  Maybe I should start putting recipes on here.  But I'm not really sure anyone actually reads the blog, haha, so would it be worth it?

Snow covered ground and roads around 9:30am.

Our front yard and Penny braving the snow.

Our pretty snow covered house!

So Sunday's snow was Penny's first time seeing the snow and walking in it.  She quickly found a love for playing and running in the snow.  However, she does not like going potty in the snow!  Not good for the house or me since I have to stand outside in the weather trying to get her to go.  Though, I can't say I blame her.  I wouldn't want to be out in the cold like that!  Hopefully she will get the hang of it sooner rather than later.

Happy Snow Day wherever you are!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wow, can you believe it is December 1st already???  2013 has flown by and there is only one month left!  And 25 days till Christmas!  I always use Thanksgiving weekend to decorate and this year, I have a whole house to bedazzle in Christmas cheer!  I have quite a bit of Christmas decorations but I am always looking for more.  On my list to acquire over the next few years is lighted garland for the banisters, a fun Advent calendar, a way to display Christmas cards, and stocking holders.  I keep looking for ones I like but either I don't like them or they are SUPER expensive!  Who knew they were so much?  The search continues!

We hope you and your family had a wonderful Thanksgiving with friends and family.  Ben and I switch sides each year and this year we spent Thanksgiving with my family.  We were able to see both sides so we had double the Thanksgiving food and fun!  I don't think either of us ate till middle of the day Friday, haha!  It was great to see most of my family.  Ben and I also did a little Black Friday shopping but this year, we didn't go until about 8am.  It was less crowded, the lines were shorter, and we still were able to get some gifts for people.  We also got ideas for others so this is the first year I can say we know what we are getting everyone by the beginning of December!  Woohoo!  Now I am working on Christmas cards and checking everything off the list.

25 days till Christmas!!  Can't wait!

The Color Run!

This past Sunday, Ben and I participated in the Color Run with both of our families!  If you don't know what the Color Run is, it is considered the happiest 5K on the planet!  You run around while people throw colored cornstarch at you.  You are encouraged to wear white and you come out looking like a rainbow at the end!  Check it out here!  There are runs all over the country all year long and each one benefits a charity in that area.  In Baltimore, the race was for the charity Cool Kids Campaign, which benefits children in the oncology department at Johns Hopkins.

Here are some before pictures:

Here's my brother, Derrike, warming up for the race.

And my dad getting ready.

My parents, David & Carla.

The Hill family!

The Alvarez siblings

Check out Kevin's sweet ink.

Heading for the start line!  There were thousands of people there!  They let waves of people go about every five minutes.

Me and my brother

The first station was yellow and the color throwers were kids and their families who are involved with the Cool Kids Campaign.  They had so much fun throwing color on us!

It's hard to see the whole sign but it said "Oompaloompa Land Ahead"...next stop, orange!

Some of the pictures are blurry because I took them through a plastic bag. 

Lots of orange!

Right before I took this picture, we were walking along and all of a sudden we heard lots of cheering and clapping.  After looking around, we saw a couple off to the side and the guy was down on one knee!  He was proposing to his girlfriend during the Color Run!  It was so adorable and the girl said yes.  It really must've been the happiest 5K for them!

Blue was the last station.  I somehow missed getting a picture of the purple one.  

Isn't my mama cute?

Heading through Camden yards to the finish line!

After the race!

Ben ran the course, I walked it....guess the walkers got more color!

Christmas card photo?

Each participant got a packet of color to throw at the end of the race.  Instead of throwing it up in the air like most people, our families decided to throw it at each other and put it down each others backs.

We had a lot of fun!  I don't know about everyone but I would definitely do the Color Run again. Hopefully next time it will be a bit warmer though!