LAUREL is here!!!

So yeah...I brought my camera...forgot the SD card!!! BOOO!! But Laurel JoAnna Barton is here (Karis' sister/ the girls I nanny for). No joke, this is one of the prettiest newborns I've ever seen!! Granted, at 9 lb 2 oz 21 and half inches long...she's more the size of a one month old, but she is SOOO cute!!! She has a head FULL of thick, strawberry blond hair, great skin and was super alert! I am SOO excited about keeping her!! I didn't want to give her up from holding her, but I just reminded myself I'd see her next week! Congrats Barton family!!

Birthday Celebration #2

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Today we went to Cindy and Thomas' to celebrate Greg's birthday! We had a fantastic lunch of deer tenderloin, mashed potatoes, peas, rolls, caesar salad, and apple crisp! After lunch Greg opened is presents. He got 3 really nice ties from Katie and Saunders, some hand decorated cookies from KA, and some money from his parents! So all in all it was a great birthday! Afterward, we headed home to make some spaghetti and head to Stephanie and Chad's for dinner with them and one other couple. We had a great time hanging out, talking, eating, and playing Catch Phrase! They have an ADORABLE maltese who seems to be just as spoiled as our two boys, so it was fun seeing other people treat their dog as their child!! We had a great time and are now off to bed...I hate for this weekend to end! Two more weeks and my birthday will be here...wooohooo =)

Brotherly Love...

Is this not the cutest thing ever?! They absolutely love each other and we are SOOO glad! They are very best friends and I am so happy we have them both! Lately, this is how they always lay while we are in the office! If we are downstairs, they both like to get in Jack's crate and sleep. I love that they love each other!

The Birthday Dessert...

A yummy, made from scratch chocolate chip cheesecake (he does not care for birthday cake)! Cheesecake is Greg's favorite dessert (well one of them, along with chocolate chip cookies, pecan pie, and apple pie) so I decided to try my hand at making one! It turned out great...fattening and delicious =) Greg was very sick allll day today and did not even get out of bed until around 5pm!! But he ended up eating a slice later this evening (against my better judgment)...but it stayed down...YAY =) After dessert we laid on the couch and watched Top Gun...classic! We had to postpone the birthday celebration at Cindy and Thomas' but are looking forward to it tomorrow! Then we have our Dinners of 8 at Chad and Stephanie's...it's a busy busy day but should be lots of fun! Here are some more pics of Greg with his cake!

Make a wish!!!

Happy Birthday Love!!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Greg turned 24 yesterday!! We had a great time celebrating and will hopefully continue to the rest of the weekend! Before we went to eat Greg opened his gift, 3 blurays (Top Gun, Transformers, and The Usual Suspects)! We went to dinner at Shogun for some delicious teryaki shrimp and chicken! After dinner, we went to US Play to bowl! We had a ton of fun hanging out together! PLUS, I actually broke 100 haha! We came home and watch some of The Usual Suspects and then passed out! It was a fun time, but we forgot to eat the birthday dessert I made!! Oh well, there's always today!

Saturday Serve...

On our way...

Today we participated in our church's new Saturday Serve day. On the third Saturday of every month, we are going to be doing different service projects throughout the community. Nothing makes me happier! I LOVE LOVE LOVE service projects and am so thrilled to finally have found an outlet in Kennesaw where we can get plugged in and help out! We of course did the Operation Shoebox and an Angel Tree angel at Christmas, but Greg and I were both wanting to do something charitable on a more regular basis. So thankfully, NMC has started this new program and we are so glad to be a part of it! There were three different sites to choose from today, but we chose to work at the Center for Children and Young Adults. This is a place where children go who have either been through DFACS, are waiting to be placed in a foster home, have just been taken from their home because of domestic violence, their parents may have been addicts, they may have been neglected, etc. There are three buildings, one was for ages 0-12, one for 13-17, and another for 17-21 where they also help the kids go to college. We were placed at the home for 13-17 and were helping out with some storage issues today. There were about 15 or so volunteers with our group and we split up throughout the building working in the areas that needed to be organized. The center receives tons of donations so all of the closets needed cleaning and organization. Greg and I took on the school/office supply cabinets as our task. Sadly, we both have slight OCD tendencies and as soon as we saw the disarray we both looked at each other and claimed it!We had to take inventory of everything in there and then organize it. It looked awesome after we were finished and I LOVED having it look so neat...it made me look forward to working on my supply closet in my future classroom! One, because I LOVE new school supplies and two, because who doesn't like everything in order =) The kids get to sleep late on Saturdays, so we only got to see a few as they were coming out for breakfast and we were heading out, so hopefully, if we're at the same location next time, we'll get to spend some time with them! Here are a couple of pictures...you can see only part of the "before" pics behind us!

Greg's cabinet...


After...


My cabinet...


After...

Give me strength...

Man oh man....school has started back! BOOOO. I am so ready to be done, HOWEVER, I am already so stressed by this semester and it has barely begun! I was going through the syllabus for each class and fill out my day planner...MY GOSH!!! When will I have time to breathe?! I have something big due just about every week after this one and next, plus two field experiences that I was not planning on (one is 14 hrs and one is 10), and just tons of other stuff! Greg is of course incredibly supportive of my hectic schedule and is willing to help in any way, which is awesome (he is such an incredible man), but I still feel so overwhelmed. But, I will do it and get through it! And then when I am just in my actual career and have my family and not having so many classes plus homework, plus field experiences, plus papers and projects, plus working 30-35 hrs per week, plus keeping up the house, plus making sure dinner is ready each night (although, Greg does help here!), plus making time for Greg....life will seem like a breeze!!! I can't wait! But until then, I will keep on keepin' on and hopefully make good grades so that I can get out =) Here's a look at my schedule...this is also so you can see when a good time to call is (when I'm not in class =)

Mon: 8-1 Work, 2-3:30 class, 6:30-9:30 babysit

Tues: 7 or 8 to 4 or 5 work

Weds: 8-1 work, 2-9:30 classes

Thurs: 7 or 8 to 4 or 5 work

Fri: 8-1:45 classes 2:30-6 work

Now add in 5-8 weeks of field experience, 7 major group projects, mandatory city council meetings (which must be attended for the entire length for full credit), several ridiculous papers, tests and finals...gotta love college =)

CUoGA Holiday Party...

Tonight we went to Greg's work's holiday party. It was pretty fun, it was a murder mystery dinner at Dave & Buster's. Greg was one of the participants in the play so it was fun watching him up there! He was Robert Carpenter, an alcoholic lawyer with a gambling problem and the great nephew of the woman murdered. He did a pretty good job with his vast acting skills =) We sat with the IT group so it was nice to know some people because there were so many people there! After the party we headed to OK Cafe for some delicious dessert...banana bread pudding...MMMmmm!!! We are now about to get in bed, watch a movie, and have some wine...ahhh married life =)

The one and only...Robert Carpenter

More of Eva and Kari's visit...

As mentioned in my previous post, Kari and Eva were here for the week! I had such fun spending time with them!! On Tues. Greg and I went to Kristin's (Kari's sister) for a delicious Thai dinner and to watch a movie. Then on Weds. Kari and Eva came to spend the night at our house! Eva was mesmerized by the the puppies!! We had some yummy spaghetti and all talked and watched RENT until time for bed! I was sad to see them go but look forward to seeing them soon! Eva will probably be one the next time I see her...CRAZY!!!

Uncle Greg and Eva


Flying baby...crazy aunt


Aunt and Uncle Love


Puppy love!!


SOO cute!


Siestas!!

Eva and Karis...

Kari and Eva were in town this week and I thought it would be fun to get Karis and Eva together! Karis loved playing with the "Eba" and was very sweet...for a while. She then realized that Eva could play with some of her toys (Laney can't do this yet), to remedy this dilemma, she simply took the toys away and hid them in another room and came back to tell us the baby couldn't play with them anymore. Nice! This definitely made me wonder what it will be like when her baby sister is born at the end of the month! We had a lot of fun though and I of course loved getting to spend some time with my niece and siesta-in-law!! Here are some pictures of Karis showing some love (before she realized she had to share)...and there is also a pic of Karis in the dress I made for KA...I brought it to see how long I need to make hers, however, she did not quite understand that it was not for her and walked around saying "Where's mah dress?!" lol!!





She's hiding so I won't take off the dress...so cute!!!

If I had a nickel for everytime I...

Thought about Greg, thought about kids, wanted to go on a diet, thought about teaching, said "true", let the dogs out, thought about school...

...I'd be rich!

That was today's prompt!

One Minute Writer...

Katie made a post today about One Minute Writer where you are given a prompt and you have one minute to complete it...here we go...

...to finish this semester, to get my degree, for Greg to finish school, for Chance to be fully house trained, for James to be here, for my own kids to be here, to go to bed, for school to start on Friday, to load the pictures I took today

Done!...The prompt was "What are you waiting for?

Another sewing adventure...

Today I went to Katie's house for a sewing lesson on how to make these adorable pillowcase dresses! She was an EXCELLENT teacher and we had a lot of fun sewing and chatting! This was my first time making an actual outfit and although it took forever, the hard work paid off in the end, because now Katie Anne has a cute new dress! I plan on making several of these for my other niece Eva (these are better dresses for walkers...she's almost there) and Karis as well! They look SO cute on and I can't wait to see KA in it! I'm so glad Katie showed me how to make this...now I just have to hope that when I have kids, I have a girl because by that time I'll be AWESOME at it haha! Here are some more pics of the fun!

Sewing fun...

Hard at work...

But of course we have time for pictures!!

The master...

The grasshopper...

The finished product!

Chance's first haircut...

Before...

After...

Is he not SOO cute?! He definitely looks like a schnauzer now! The black is completely gone (besides a tiny bit on his sides that they left longer). We've had a great Saturday! Chance got a haircut, we got all of the Christmas decor down AND put away, a few loads of laundry done, a few purees finished for next week's meals, I'm about to start on a new sewing project, AND we went to a movie. We went to see Marley and Me...oooooomg. SOOOO STINKIN SAD!! Sweet sad. We both cried like babies (Greg continued after the movie...he's very close to our puppies, especially Jackson)! It was a great movie and I loved how honest it was. I'd recommend seeing it, but bring the tissues or wait until it comes out on DVD! I am now off to sew... I'm looking forward to tomorrow and learning something new from Katie!!!

New Year's Lunch...

Yesterday we went to Cartersville to ring in the new year at Katie and Saunders' house! We had a yummy variety of finger foods to snack on throughout the day that Katie and Cindy made. The guys ended up going downstairs while the girls stayed upstairs and played with Katie Anne. While her and Cindy took a nap, Katie introduced me to the Wii Fit...I HAVE TO HAVE ONE!! I'm hoping after Italy, we'll have some play money left over to get one! It's such fun and a great way to exercise without even feeling like you're doing anything! My typical new year resolution revolves around losing weight, but this year I just want to be healthy (cutting back on portions and exercising more regularly...not on and off diets)! After the game, we headed to Cindy and Thomas' house to check out their new furniture (which is beautiful) and to grab Greg's birth certificate for his passport (YAAAAY Italy)!!! We came home and had a nice night of movie watching and me yelling at my computer screen because I couldn't figure something out in photo editing...oh well, the adventure continues today! Here some pics of yesterday's fun...

Aunt JuJu and KA


Uncle time!


=)


Sister-in-laws...with slightly different haircuts =)


Katie and Saunders


Cindy and Thomas


So cute!

HAPPY NEW YEAR...

Happy New Year everyone!!! I hope everyone has a fantastic 2009! We are about to head to the Joneses for New Year's lunch, but I wanted to post my top 5 things I'm most looking forward to in 2009...

1)Our Honeymoon in Italy! We're going in March and CANNOT wait!!! This will definitely be a trip of a lifetime!!

2) Welcoming our new nephew in April! James Andrew Hatley, II is due April 1!

3) Finishing my last year of classes before TOSS!

4) Service Saturdays! Starting mid-January, we are planning on joining our church in their new monthly community service projects! We have been wanting to serve for a while and this is a great opportunity for us to do so! We'll get to work in the homeless shelters, with the youth street ministries organizations, and much more! We can't wait! We also hope to go abroad for a mission trip, but it probably won't be this year!

5) Celebrating our first anniversary!!! We will be married a year next October! We haven't decided what we're doing yet, probably a cabin somewhere! But we can't wait to spend this next year together!

This is of course not all that we are looking forward to! But just a few things to be excited about!! Now off to lunch!