O' Christmas Tree!!!

Kyle and I got our first Christmas Tree this year!

We finally get to use the ornaments that Kyle's grandparents gave us for Christmas a couple years ago! We are excited to start building up a collection of Christmas ornaments for our little family, and these are the perfect ones to start it off!

The kitties are very interested in this new toy. Since we got a living Christmas tree, they love to dig in the dirt (since they never get to do that in the house). They also like to chew on the needlesand bat at the ornaments. So far nobody has tried to climb the tree, but I'm sure it will happen! We're hoping that they don't pick on the tree too much so it will stay beautiful to put on our balcony. We hope it does well enough in a pot so we can keep it and plant it somewhere special!This is Bella's first Christmas so she is very excited about all the new decorations I've put up around the house. We decorated her stocking and hung it next to Lady's so we can fill it with kitty treats on Christmas eve. We are going to get her a kitty bed for Christmas so she stops stealing Lady's. Lady is asking for a kitty condo for christmas. We'll see if Kyle has time to put one together (cross your fingers!)
Since we don't have a chimney for Santa to fly down, we figure he'll come in through the window. We hung the stockings next to the tree so he'll see them when he puts the presents there ;)
We're really excited about the holidays this year and we can't wait to see family and friends! Let the holidays begin!

Thankful

This year Kyle and I stayed home and enjoyed the holiday with each other. Kyle went out for a bike ride during the day and I surprised him with Thanksgiving dinner that evening. It was really nice to enjoy a nice dinner at home and relax together. We had quite the feast for two people, which means tons of leftovers!

This has been an awesome year for us and we are so happy to have time off to think about all the good stuff and forget about the day to day stress. We're thankful to have each other and our cute little apartment for the kitties to roam around in. We are thankful for all our family and friends. We missed hanging out with everyone this year! We love you all and hope you had a great holiday weekend!

Happy Thanksgiving!

You might be a cat lady if...

...Your co-workers make you a "litter box" cake for your birthday. Yes, this disgusting looking creation is actually made of cake (and tootsie rolls). Believe it or not it tasted delicious!!

You might be a cat lady if...... most of your birthday presents have a cat theme. (and you love it!)
Check out this mirror that Kyle's mom made for me.


Each little square is handmade with a cute design and she put Lady and Bella on each of the corners.


This year my birthday was a little rough because I am still getting over the flu. We postponed my birthday dinner until Saturday and Kyle took me out to one of our favorite restaurants, Flemings. It was sooo delicious! Even though I was sick, it was still a good birthday because of all my awesome family and friends that sent messages and called to wish me a great day. Thanks for all the sweet words guys. I love you all!These are my beautiful roses that Kyle brought me. Sweetie :)

When I got home from work I had these waiting by the door. Thanks Ry and Erin! Awesome surprise :)

Unexpected Visitors!

This weekend Rhiannon and Corey came up to the bay to help Corey's sister move in to her new place in Palo Alto. Since they were in town we went and had dinner at Tracy and Nolan's new place. We didn't know they were coming so it was an unexpected and pleasant surprise to get to see them and the little "Brockstar". He is 3 months old now and even cuter than ever!

Here is Lady sniffing at the baby. She is very confused.

He was really worn out on Saturday night from all the excitement, but he was still a trooper and let me play with him a bit! Everybody stayed at our place last night and the kitties had a fun time investigating all the baby equipment. Bella kept wanting to snuggle up to Brock in his little basinet, so we kept the kitties locked up tight for the evening!

What's up in S-8 this year?

On our way back down from Sacramento, Kyle and I brought our fish tank back home from its extended stay at Ryan and Erin's house. We decided to put it in my classroom since there's no space for it in our apartment (much to the disappointment of the kitties!)

I was surprised how excited my students were to have a new addition to the classroom! It has now become a competition amongst my classes as to who gets to name the fishies. I told each class that they could name one if everyone had their homework in on time (a challenge for my freshmen). I said this jokingly thinking that they could care less about naming some fish, but apparently they feel that they will become famous if they get to name the most fish or something because it has become quite the motivation for them! So far we have two fish that are due to be named (we have to have a class vote before the final name is chosen). This is very serious stuff! So far we have the two tetras that Ry and Erin bought and I added two dalmation mollies, and some red and black platys. I love having mollies and platys because they have live babies. My students are really excited about this as well and keep asking if they can take the babies home (I don't have the heart to tell them that I only bought females).

While I had my camera at school I thought I'd take some pics of my setup this year...

 

Here are a couple of my students working on their "Seasons" experiment. We are studying Ecology and climate right now. (They're testing to see how the temperature at the equator and the poles of the planet changes as you change the tilt of the Earth's axis by shining a heat lamp on a globe with thermometers placed in several places on "Earth")

 

Halloween!

This Halloween Kyle and I went to go visit the nephews up north. It was the first time I got to go trick or treating with any of my nephews on Halloween since it fell on a Saturday this year! Kyle and I joined in the festivities by dressing up as a slutty sorority girl (Kyle) and a Spanish Señorita (me).

Kyle's costume was so ridiculous, especially when he carried around a basket to collect candy and a beer as he trick or treated with my nephews. When we were in the grocery store picking up some rum for Ryan's spiked spiced apple cider, everyone was either horrified by the sight of my cross-dressing fiance or dying of laughter. Some of the Bel Air workers were taking photos of kids in their costumes and they snapped one of my mom the pumpkin and Kyle to hang on the wall. I'm so glad my family has a sense of humor!  

 The little ones were adorable in their costumes. Hayden was a little clown just like his dad was when he was his age. Brady was a little cowboy, Cole was a pirate, and Isaiah was the grim reaper. Mom made Brady and Hayden's costumes and they were so adorable. There really is something special about a homemade Halloween costume. One of my favorite things about growing up was picking my costume and showing it off once my mom finished making it. I'm sure all the little guys love having something made especially for them. 

 

Tucker even got a little doggy version of Hayden's costume (though he ate the pom-pom off the top of his hat as soon as he was left unattended). After the trick-or-treating we all relaxed in the front yard and ate and talked with all the neighbors. We were all so glad to have Ryan safe and sound back from Afghanistan (and making us yummy food) again!  Perfect Halloween if you ask me!

Candice and Able's Wedding

Kyle and I joined his family in Nipomo at his cousin Candice's wedding on October 17th. It was a sweet ceremony and everything was so beautiful. Check out that view over the valley and off to the ocean! We were also lucky enough to catch an awesome sunset - one of the prettiest I've seen since we were in Hawaii!