We're not in California anymore Toto... I mean Carter!

I came up to Chicago to visit my brothers who are in town for Christmas and was surprised (ok, not really) by yet another Chicago winter storm!

Here is Sunday's forecast...

A high of TWO

And here is the storm advisory. 40 mph winds and temps near zero... sounds fabulous!

And there was also an ice storm before I left Indiana. All the trees looked like there were under the spell of the White Witch in The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. This is at a rest stop...

Ezra being goofy

Eleanor showing off her reading skills.

Uncle Dan being goofy.

Six month anniversary festivities...

Carter had off work yesterday, which was perfect timing for celebrating our sixth month anniversary. We haven't really celebrated any other "month" anniversaries, but this one is special because it was this time last year that we got engaged too!

Anyhow, we spent part of the evening putting the final decorating touches on the tree...

We had a bunch of ornaments from growing up, but we didn't have any colorful glass ball ornaments... so we added these at the end!

The final tree

We decided to get one decorative ornament that we can always remember our first Christmas together as a married couple. We thought two snowmen (I guess a snowman and snow-woman) would be appropriate! Cute :) 

And finally, the ever-important STAR :) It is very sparkly! 

Christmas Picture 2008

Thank you Natalie!

My sister-in-law Natalie loves to quilt. In fact, last May she presented me with a quilt she is making for Carter and me as a wedding present. I had posted on it earlier, so if you click on the word "quilt" in the second sentence, you can view it!

Anyhow, she sometimes stays with us when she is working in Indianapolis and last Thursday she did just that. It was so great to have her here! She also presented me with a quilt that she made, and STARTED making as a wedding quilt for me, just months before I was even dating Carter... SHE KNEW!

With the new quilt she prefaced everything about it. She basically has had the appliques (spelling? I think appliques are the flower designs) made for a long time (she started the March before Carter and I started dating in June), but never liked any way she put it together. Then, because of that, she used it as a practice quilt to practice with her new long arm quilting machine. She used lots of different thread colors/types to test them, practiced different pattern techniques, and just had fun with it! So cool!

Anyhow, she gave this to me as a Christmas present. Our family decided not to exchange presents since we are not going to be together this Christmas, but she gave it to me anyhow... wahoooo! :) 

I love the quilt and I love the fact that it was a practice quilt for her to try new things. Natalie is so creative and it is so fun to be a part of that. I have a piece of art history! Plus it gives us a LOT of color in a pretty much bland room :) What a popping piece!

Side view

Every day my favorite flower design changes... so I put up a few!

View from the end of the bed

THANKS NATALIE!

Quilting Beeeeeeee

So the camera my mom and dad are letting me borrow arrived today, so I am posting a picture of the table runner that Carter's cousin made for us. We love it so much we hung it on the wall so we could see it all of the time :)

Breakfast

This morning I asked Carter if I could make him anything for breakfast. His response was, "No thanks, I think I'll just have some more cookies." 

Yesterday I made some Christmas Spritz cookies (tea cookies) that my mom makes every Christmas. They are pretty easy and fun to decorate, but I think next time I won't make a full batch! We now have a LOT of cookies :) Cookies anyone?

P.S. The middle cookie in the second picture (the one with all the red hots) is mine ;)

Where is the star???

The lights are finally on the tree!! It only took three trips to the store (some of the strands weren't working, and then I exchanged them and the same thing happened!!) 

So after a completely rearranged room, and all of the trips to the store, we have a lit tree! Time for the ornaments... And a star! :)