HALLOWEEN

Normally, I'm all about dressing up & acting like a kid, but for two halloweens in a row, I've failed to dress up. I remember Jake calling me last year asking what we were going to be for Halloween, & I said, "A bride & groom." Oh yeah. Since our wedding was just a few days after Halloween, we didn't have time do add one more party/shindig to our list of celebrations that week. 

This year, a little bundle of joy in the form of a baby graced us with her presence three days before Halloween. Since we were all a little smitten & not wanting to leave her side, we all stayed in & just stared at her. Seriously. It never got old either. 

Then, the world's cutest little owl came to visit baby Evelyn!

THANKSGIVING

This is another one of those days where I realized at the end of the day that I didn't take any photos. Jake & I spent Thanksgiving at my parents' this year & I spent pretty much the entire time snuggling with the baby. (Those photos are coming soon!) We did go out in the front yard to play a little baseball, & I think we all agreed that I missed my calling. When I almost broke a window with my powerful swing, I switched to batting left-handed, but still had so much power. (I'm not really kidding, either. Is it time to get out my Humility Award & polish it? True story, I do actually have a humility award trophy.)

CHRISTMAS

This was my first Christmas morning at someone else's house, & boy was it different from what I was used to! When we left, Jake asked me if I was overwhelmed. haha No! I wasn't!

One of Jake's uncles is an illustrator here in Austin & always designs a new shirt every Christmas. This year it was an awesome sweatshirt that I've had a hard time taking off. Be sure to check out his work!

The newest addition to the Ross family is puppy Dooley!

Morning devotion before we were allowed to open gifts. :)

But not everybody was happy with his or her Christmas gift.

Two bows & arrows were left by Santa under the tree, so guess what we spent all day doing? That poor bag of potting soil didn't stand a chance.

Apparently, Christmas afternoon is a White Elephant exchange...& Jake & I did not do so hot with our winnings. There's always next year.

NEW YEARS

New Year's Eve was a fun evening filled with steak, Taboo, Apples to Apples, & grapes. (I'll get to the grapes in a little bit.) Dinner was at the Longhorn Steakhouse, which was a lot less crowded than we thought. Afterwards, we headed back to the apartment for some board games & watching the ball drop in Times Square. Amanda & Trey were in visiting from Canada, & I'm just now realizing that I didn't get a single photo of them. I'm so sorry, you guys!

So, Ellen decided that we needed some new traditions, so she found the grape tradition. Apparently we were supposed to eat our skewer of 12 grapes; for every good grape, we had a good month, for every bad grape, it was a bad month. I think we all quit around grape 5 or 6 because all the grapes were terrible. I don't think we'll continue this tradition. Good try, Ellen...

Baby's first photo bomb!