My Sweet Husband

I must brag on my sweet husband! Although my birthday was earlier this month, better late than never for me to brag on him, right? The days leading up to my birthday he gave me a little gift each day. They were VERY sweet and thoughtful things that he knew I would enjoy. He definitely put time and thought into them, and I was very pleasantly surprised each day!!

Day 1: He gave me a Starbucks gift card, because I like to occasionally treat myself to an Iced White Chocolate Mocha even though they add up quickly in the budget!!

Day 2: He gave me a gift certificate to get my nails done.

Day 3: He gave me an expensive set of Nexus Shampoo and Conditioner :), which I thought was the most creative! I always talk about wanting to try "nice" shampoo and conditioner since I blow dry my hair and use a straight iron on it every day. I'm always curious to see if it will make a difference for my hair, but I hate to spend the money on it.

Day 4: He also gave me a gift card to Chick Fil A, which is located downstairs in my office building....as well as the mall and right next to my nail place - we frequent Chick Fil A quite often!

He always had Campbell bring me the gifts. She'd hand them to me and say "Daint you Mommy", which means Thank you Mommy. She always says "thank you" when she gives something to someone - so cute!

Then for my actual birthday he bought me a ring that I have been wanting for my right hand ring finger. It just arrived this past Friday!! We had to have it adjusted to fit, so it took a couple extra weeks. It fits perfectly, and I love it more than I remember when we picked it out!! Thanks honey!!!

Besides being a sweet husband by giving me GREAT birthday presents, Matt is actually a wonderful husband year-round! He is so involved with EVERYTHING.....chores around the house, getting Campbell ready in the mornings or getting her ready for bed....he's the greatest yard-man, garbage-man (I NEVER take out the trash unless Matt is out of town, and usually then I forget since I'm so used to him doing it...in fact, he'll usually get it ready for me before he leaves town so all I have to do is carry it to the curb), car-man (he always fills my car up with gas and takes the cars in for any maintenance or inspection that they need), bills-man (he handles ALL the bills even though I know sometimes he wishes I would), Shelby-man (Matt always takes her to the vet when she needs to go and he keeps her nails trimmed, hair trimmed, teeth cleaned, everything).....and best of all MY-man!!! I love you Matt!! I don't know what I would do without you honey!!

Thank you Jesus!

We've started saying a prayer with Campbell each night before she goes to sleep. Usually the prayer goes something like..."Dear Jesus, thank you for Shelby, thank you for Mommy, thank you for Daddy....." Then we go on to list all of our family and friends. She has started to say it on her own once we get her started. It's interesting what she chooses to say thank you for :) ! Last night, Matt and I said "Dear Jesus..."and then she took over. See below what she said and also the translation I've included in case you don't follow along :).

Campbell: "Daint you Pots, daint you Nannie, daint you wed, daint you orange, daint you yeddow."

Translation: "Thank you for Pops, thank you for Nannie, thank you for red, thank you for orange, thank you for yellow."

Seriously, Mommy and Daddy get no love!

Christmas in the City....ALREADY!!!

My sister has gotten an early start and already setup her Christmas village. She decided last year (or maybe the year before) to start collecting the Christmas village, Christmas in the City. You can see that she is off to a great start already! When she told me on the phone tonight that she had it setup, I told her I would love to post pictures on my blog :) ! Anyways, she had some helpful "information" that she sent for my blog post to go along with the pictures, so I just figured I'd post Christy's words:

"I have a couple new additions this year. One is the stoplight in the front left. Another is the table skirt, which is handmade and I'm afraid would put my grandmothers to shame. Since I can't sew, I glued on Velcro to the top to stick it to the plywood. I glued together the two pieces of fabric (you can see the seam on the front right of the table), and then to hid the uncut hem on the bottom, I glued Christmas fabric. Also, Dad made my shelves for the building. While my husband may pretend not to care about my village while in public, trust me, he is actually as obsessed as me! The other night I was in the middle of setting it up when a friend called and invited me over. While I was gone, Kyle continued to setup the village!"

That was excellent blog material Christy! You should start a blog of your own :) !!! Love you! The village looks great!

See pictures in the post below...

Aunt Kiki's Christmas Village

Shout out to Mary!

Hey Mary!!! We wanted to give you a shout out on Campbell's Scoop (it was Matt's very sweet idea)! You'll have to bear with the video, because given that the "actress" is not quite two yet, she needs quite a bit of prompting with her lines. She's a little distracted at first since Shelby is trying to steal the spotlight from her, but she quickly sends Shelby off "dat way"! Campbell also came down with the hiccups right before filming.

Anyways, we wanted to give this shout out to our sweet cousin Mary in Colorado!!! We are thinking about you and sending you hugs and kisses! We hope you get better soon! We love you Earles!

two cute bumble bees!!!

Campbell was a bumble bee for Halloween last year, her first Halloween, along with her friend Karsyn. We were able to pass Campbell's bumble bee costume along to our sweet friend Ellie this year for her first Halloween. The funniest thing is that neitheer of them have much hair - which makes it even cuter!! They sure did make cute bumble bees! It will be hard for a new bumble bee to fill those shoes next year ;) !!

Here are Karsyn and Campbell in 2007......and Ellie in 2008! Too cute!!!

Halloween 2008

Gigi got Campbell a treat bag for Halloween that included a bucket of sidewalk chalk - what a hit that was!! Nannie got Campbell the pumpkin "Crocs" for Halloween, which she is also a big fan of. She insisted to wear them today with her pink and brown jogging suit.

Here are some cute pictures of the pumpkin shoes and the chalk going to good use on Saturday!

Palin and McCain Sighting!

We saw Sarah Palin and John McCain at our Halloween party last weekend!! We're hoping that means good news to come tomorrow ;) !!!

Cake Balls

I had my first try at a CAKE BALLS! I made them for our Halloween party at work! They turned out better than I thought! I made two batches.....one with German Chocolate cake mix, Pecan and Coconut frosting and chocolate almond bark....the second batch with Red Velvet cake mix, Cream Cheese icing and white chocolate almond bark. Then I drizzled orange candy melts over the top to make them festive for Halloween. Although, I was told that both were good, the German Chocolate ones were my favorites!! They turned out pretty cute like a box of chocolates that you would get as a gift. I would probably not use the white chocolate bark again though - way too sweet for me, and did not cover nearly as easily as the regular chocolate bark. It thickened much quicker.

Directions:

Bake a cake mix in the flavor of your choice in a 9x13 pan as directed. Let the cake cool completely. Crumble the cake into a large bowl and mix in the can of frosting with the flavor of choice. Use a large spoon, I used a wooden one, to mash the cake mix and frosting together. Once they are mixed well, roll the gooey mess into quarter-sized balls. Set the balls on a cookie sheet and place in the refrigerator for a few hours until firm. Once the cake balls are firm, roll them in melted almond bark or candy melts and lay on wax paper to dry. You can sprinkle with nuts or sprinkles before the almond bark hardens, or you can drizzle colored candy melts for added decoration.


These are so cute for holiday parties or even as favors or gifts. They were a big hit at the party, and I would definitely make them again! The key is to find the right combination of flavors!!


Good luck! Enjoy!!