Happy 2008

Last night Aaron and I watched Dirty Dancing, which was his first time to see it. I think he liked it because he keeps singing the songs! Tonight we finished the puzzle Adam and Bridget gave us from "A Christmas Story" (see picture below). I wanted to go ahead and wish you all a happy new year! We're planning to spend New Year's Eve with our families over at the Rader's house. I hope y'all have a fun and safe evening...and a year full of blessings!

Ho Ho Ho

Let me back up to the weekend...we went out Saturday night to see National Treasure and then we ate at Del Frisco's in downtown Fort Worth. Aaron's company paid for it, so we ate steaks and saved room for dessert! Sunday after church, we got ready to spend the night at Aaron's parents' house. We tried to stay there with Rudy, but he didn't seem to like sleeping in another bed. Aaron ended up taking him home at about 1:00am. Anyway, we had Christmas with his family on Monday morning, then we drove to Granbury to be with my grandparents. Last night we had our own Christmas at home, and today we've been with my family. Wow! Katie was so much fun to watch :)

Doctor Visit

We got a lot of information in a short amount of time today! Dr. Kaufmann was very nice and positive. Basically, we're going to do an IUI (Intrauterine Insemination) next month and see if we can get pregnant. I could go into specifics, but all I know is I have a cyst right now, which means I'm going on birth control for a month. I'm guessing it's supposed to get rid of the cyst...which was probably caused by all the Clomid I took. He said it's nothing to worry about. Oh, when we got home, Rudy had destroyed another one of our couch pillows. I told Aaron he must not want us to get pregnant. He's acting out :) Well, thank you again for all of your prayers! We just might have a baby in 2008.

Snowflakes

I decided to pamper myself with a pedicure today, and I got in the Christmas spirit. What do you think of my snowflakes?

We have gotten so many Christmas cards this year...I've lost count! Thanks to all of you for remembering us. It's so fun to see pictures of everyone :) Many of you have been asking when we go to the doctor, and it's tomorrow (Friday) at 11am. I'll post what the doctor has to say as soon as possible!

Santa Disasters

The Eakins' girls don't seem to like sitting on Santa's lap! Take a look at the first picture with guess who? Me! My mom said this was the first and last time she took me to see Santa. Well, my niece went to see Santa this year and had a similar experience. Katie looks a lot like me!

FaLaLaLaLaLaLaLaLa

I wanted to say congratulations to the Muse family. Mindy had a baby boy today, which now that I think about it, a lot of my friends are having boys! We have our appointment a week from tomorrow with Dr. Kaufmann. I'm hoping he'll have good things to say, and I'm crossing my fingers that we won't have to do the same tests we've already done. Anyway, I know some of you got our Christmas card, but I didn't order enough for all of our friends. So, here's wishing you and your family Happy Holidays!

Reindeer Katie

I love being an aunt! You can do things like put the dog's reindeer hat on your niece and get away with it. Isn't she cute?

Rachael Ray

I did my best to get pictures of Rachael Ray today. Aaron's mother, sister, and I got to have her sign cookbooks at Williams Sonoma in Southlake. You couldn't actually take a picture with her, but you could take pictures once you were out of the line. We were waiting for a few hours, but we got to see her get out of her car, and we got free samples of yummy food and drinks.

Afterward, we went to Holiday in the Park at Six Flags. There were so many people there!!! We didn't get to ride any rides because the lines were so long. We saw a show and walked around...and now I'm glad to be home.

What a change!

Look how much Rudy has changed in the past year! This picture was taken after his first grooming experience at Petsmart.

After Rudy went to the groomers yesterday, I tried to get a picture of him in this Santa hat.

Now he's outside rolling around in the grass! Its been a busy week, since I've subbed on Tuesday and Thursday. I haven't worked a full five days in a while! At least I'll make some extra money for Christmas shopping. Any ideas what I can get for my husband?

More TV

Now that Dancing with the Stars is over, I'm focusing on another reality show...America's Next Top Model. I don't know why I like watching this show, but I'm rooting for the girl in the pink, Chantal, because she's from Austin. The other girl I like is wearing the brown shirt, Saleisha, so I hope they're in the final two.

Not much else is going on in my world. I went to yoga earlier this morning, and tonight is our church Christmas party. I'm excited that it's finally December. Yay for the holidays!!!

Crazy Days

I can't believe in just a few more days it will be December! It's about to get crazy. I feel like so much is going on with Aaron working late because his office is moving floors, my car died so I have to take it into the shop again, and there's always something wrong when you own a house! Those are just little things though. I'm pretty proud that I'm almost done Christmas shopping, except for my husband of-course. Oh, I'm excited to say Helio won Dancing with the Stars (for those of you who care). Yay...Julianne's a back-to-back winner :)

Laziness

It's a rainy Saturday, I'm doing laundry, and I still haven't gotten "ready" for the day. I've enjoyed sleeping in this past week! I got a lot of my Christmas shopping done, and I've eaten a lot of good food. You know, we got Rudy about a year ago...he was an early Christmas present! Tomorrow Rudy graduates from his intermediate training class. We're such proud parents :)

Update:

Here's some pictures from the big event...

Stars Game

Who knew hockey could be so exciting? We beat the Ducks 2-1, and they honored Mike Modano before the game. We were sitting on the fourth row, so we were up close and personal with the players. We even got to see a fight, which was fun!!! Here's some pictures from the game tonight.

Random Stuff

Not much has happened lately. I went shopping with my friend Jill today, which was a lot of fun. She tried on some beautiful wedding dresses! I can't believe Christmas is right around the corner...36 days to be exact. Katie had her 17 month pictures taken:

Starting in January she'll be coming to the preschool where I work on Fridays. Fun! Before I go, I watched Dancing with the Stars tonight and was sad to see Jennie Garth go home. Now I'm either hoping to see Mel B. or Helio win. And one of my favorite shows from last season is coming back. Notes from the Underbelly, which will come on after Samantha Who? (another one of my favorite new shows). As you can tell, I'm a total TV addict!

Go Red Raiders

Texas Tech beat OU! I don't think Aaron's cousin and her husband had as much fun as we did, but at least we had good weather in Lubbock. It was a late night since we stayed in Abilene...I think we got to our hotel around 1:30 in the morning. Oh, did I mention we won the game?

Merry Thanksgiving

This is the earliest I've ever put my Christmas tree up, but Aaron's sister did, so that means I can too! We bought a new tree at Hobby Lobby (on sale) tonight. I'm even going to attempt putting lights outside, just in our bushes. I figure I can work on it Monday since I've got all of next week off for Thanksgiving. For those of you who haven't been to our house in a while, or ever, we finally got dining room furniture when my in-laws moved and gave us theirs. I forgot what my china looked like because it was all in boxes! Anyway, I added a little holiday cheer :)

Bad Dog

Here's what Rudy did today:

Ever since Rudy turned a year old, we've been leaving him out of his cage during the day. He's been doing fine...until today. I came home to a shredded pillow (I guess he got bored)! This is what he used to do to his beds until we got smart enough to put carpet in the bottom of his cage. Dogs are a lot like preschoolers, as I'm finding out, because it's hard to explain to them what they did wrong. You still love them though 'cause they're just so darn cute! I guess we'll keep letting him sleep with us in our bed. Us and a 54 pound labradoodle, one big happy family!

Can't sleep!!!

I was wrong...Cameron got voted off Dancing with the Stars. Marie's still there, but I highly doubt she'll make it to the end. I could be wrong again though! I'm up at 1:00 in the morning because I couldn't sleep. So, I thought of only one thing to do, I took a pregnancy test. I'm late, so I thought there might be a chance, but it was negative again. I can't tell you how many tests I've taken over the past year or so! But anyway, we have an appointment with Dr. Kaufmann in Ft. Worth on December 21st. He's a reproductive endocrinologist, and I know a couple of people who went to him and are now pregnant. We're just going for a consultation, but who knows, I might be up with a crying baby (or babies) at this time next year! I hope that everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving. I'm really looking forward to spending the holiday with family and seeing some old friends. Oh, one of my best friends is engaged and we get to go dress shopping next week. Congrats to Jill and Nathan :)

Rudy

This is what Rudy looks like after taking a bath! His hair gets curly, and he rolls on the ground trying to dry off. I guess that's what he's doing. He runs around the house like a crazy dog!

He's also a Texas Tech fan. Too bad we can't bring him with us to Lubbock for the OU game. I'm sure he'd help us cheer on the Red Raiders!!

Results Show Tonight

There's two guys left in Dancing with the Stars, and my vote goes to Helio. His partner is Julianne Hough (sister of Derek Hough, Jennie's partner). I'm hoping they're in the finals together. The other guy left is Cameron, a soap star. He's cute, but he just isn't as good of a dancer. I'm predicting Marie Osmond leaves tonight.

Cute Katie

Tonight we went over to my parents' house to eat dinner, play games, and of-course entertain Katie. She was very entertaining in the bathtub, and I couldn't resist taking these pictures!

Some exciting news is that Katie is going to be a big sister in June, after she turns 2 years old. Congratulations Adam and Bridget!

Happy Anniversary :)

Happy 34th Anniversary, Mom and Dad!

Workin' Out

I've never been big on going to the gym and working out, but I do enjoy going to pilates and yoga classes. Those are the only two I've tried so far. They're a lot of fun and can be pretty challenging for me. I even bought my own mat since I've been going so much. Now that my Thursdays are free, there's a morning pilates class I go to, and Monday nights I got to yoga. They're very similar, but yoga is more balancing and stretching. Pilates is a lot of toning and uses weights...but 3 pounds is my limit. I think I'm actually getting flexible again, like back in my color guard days ;)

Marie Osmond

Okay, I found the picture at my parents' house. I think I was in sixth grade, so don't make fun of me...

Dancing with the Stars

I'm a sucker for reality shows! It used to be Real World and Road Rules on MTV. Then it was Survivor, Amazing Race, and The Bachelor. Now it's all about Dancing with the Stars! This has been the best season yet, and I'm not sure who's going to win. I'd have to pick Jennie Garth because I loved 90210 :)

I think Mel (Scary Spice) has the best chance of winning. Marie Osmond seems to have the most fans so far. My family used to take vacations to Branson, Missouri almost every summer, and I know we saw the Osmonds...I'm pretty sure I took my picture with her too. I'll see if I can find it, but I'm not going to post it if I look like a goober.

Grapevine Christian School

Working at the preschool has been a fun experience so far. I still get a kick out of seeing these little 2, 3, and 4 year olds walking in with backpacks on (some are bigger than them). They get so excited to see me. Miss Amber's my new name! I'm even relearning some Spanish words, which I get to teach on Fridays. That's my favorite day because we have chapel time, where I tell a Bible story and we sing church songs. Well, I wish I had some pictures to share, but there's not a lot going on...and Rudy's not too exciting.

He can be pretty lazy :) If you live this direction, there's a frozen custard place on Hwy 377 that serves doggy-cones. We've taken him a couple of times, and he seems to like them a lot.

Canton

Today was an adventure! We saw some interesting people, and I finally got to experience shopping in Canton. It wasn't quite what I expected, but it was still fun. I ended up getting some Christmas candles, Aaron got some jalapenos, and Tony and Sharon got a great deal on some rugs for their new house. We heard the Texas Tech game on the radio as we were driving home. They beat Baylor big time! Last weekend we went to Lubbock to see them play Colorado. Even though they lost, it was still fun because we got to sit in Aaron's supervisor's seats. In two weeks we'll be going back with April and Justin to see the Tech/OU game. Here's a picture of us getting sunburned. Can you believe it's November and still in the 80's?

Golf Game

Two summers ago I agreed to take golf lessons with my husband. He definitely enjoys it more than I do. It's a very tiring game! We played today, but I only made it through 9 holes. Luckily we drove separate cars so he could stay for the other 9 holes. I think I'm more of a putt-putt girl!

Tomorrow we're going to Canton with Aaron's parents. It's our first time going, and I'm excited because they should have all their Christmas stuff out. I'm hoping we can find some fun decorations! Thank you for the comments. It's nice to know people are reading my thoughts.

Halloween

Well, I've already learned some things about blogging from a few friends. Thanks for the helpful hints! Last night was Halloween, and although we didn't dress up Rudy, we still took him over to see the "grandparents." Really we went to see Katie (my adorable niece). You can see she's dressed as a lion. Very cute!

I also have to mention that Ashley, Aaron's sister, got a new puppy. He's a 2 month old basset hound. I can't wait for the holidays when we can get all the dogs together to play. So here's the newest Rader...Papi :)

Hello World

I'm new to this whole blogging thing, so we'll see how it goes. A lot has happened recently, so I thought I'd share. Aaron and I have been married for almost 3 years, and we've actually been trying to get pregnant for about a year and a half. Well, I took some medicine over the summer to try to help the process (Clomid). We noticed the medicine was making me very depressed, and once school started I was having anxiety attacks, which I've never had before. After about six weeks of school it was getting too stressful, so I decided to resign. Then the next weekend a friend told me about our church preschool needing a teacher for their "music and movement" class on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. I got the job! I'm happy again and less stressed, so I guess the lesson learned is to be patient and everything will work out. On a lighter note, here's a picture of the night we first got Rudy, our labradoodle. He's one year old now, and you can see from my profile picture how much he's changed.