Tis' the season.

Christmas decorations have exploded at our apartment. Tis' the season. I love Christmas lights, the smell of Evergreen candles, crazy shopping crowds and the anticipation of Christmas. We are all decked out. Saturday, we put the final touches on the outdoor lights and finished the last of the wrapping. Heading to Wheaton on the 21st and looking forward to a week of visiting with family and celebrating the birth of our Savior. Yay! Here are a few pictures of our apartment!

Christmas wreath.

Christmas tree.

Evergreen candle.

Stockings.

Our sweet pup.

Very thankful.

Sunday, we returned home from a wonderful visit with family. We traveled home to Wheaton last Wednesday and enjoyed a time of feasting, catching up, basketball, and Black Friday deals.

We spent Thanksgiving day with the Dean's this year. Mama J made a delicious feast, enjoyed by everyone. We arrived in town just in time to whip up the Cranberry relish. Other then that, we can't take credit for the beautiful festive tables, decorations and delicious food. Thank you Dean's for making our Thanksgiving so special. We also enjoyed visiting with Grandma Dean who drove in from Decatur and watching the Jess man dominate in WN basketball. And of course- BLACK FRIDAY! We hit Yorktown Mall around 5:30am, Dunkin Donuts coffee in hand. I love this tradition. The only downside is- the rest of mankind loves it too. The crowds were crazy. We also enjoyed getting to hang a few ornaments on the tree Saturday before we headed out.

Saturday we headed over to the Haist's for some Christmas decorating! Listened to Christmas music, drank delicious lattes and ate about a hundred of Gaye's delicious homemade oatmeal cookies. It was fun to jump into the spirit of Christmas. We enjoyed a little family game night of Taboo on Saturday and church at Gary United Methodist on Sunday. It was also fun to see and catch up with Ben, the movie star!

Sunday we headed back to St. Louis. We had fun carpooling on this trip with our new friends, Kyle & Christy! It made the 7 hour drive (1 1/2 hrs spent in traffic), much more bearable. We got back and after finishing my progress reports right around 11pm, we headed to bed. Needless to say, I'm feeling pretty exhausted and looking forward to Friday. Sam is cranking away at his sermon he preaches for class tomorrow- prayers appreciated!

We have so very much to be thankful for. Jesus. Our marriage. Our sweet dog, Ethel. Jobs we enjoy. Friends. South City Church. St. Louis (only October-May!). Our home. Wonderful parents. Fun and supportive siblings. Amazing extended family. Oh the list could go on forever.

Much love,
Sam, Katelyn & Ethel

Thanksgiving 2011

Baby Alex visits St. Louis

On Saturday - Robyn, Justin and baby Alex came to visit! This was our first time meeting baby Alex and let me tell you, he could not be any cuter. I got lots of snuggle time in Saturday night (I was kind of a baby hog) while Sam and I watched Alex as Robyn and Justin hit up the Blues hockey game. We felt honored to babysit little Alex and hope they all come back soon to visit us. It was great visiting and catching up with Robyn and Justin too. We've missed them. I'm having snuggle withdrawals, but look forward to Christmas time when we get more Alex slobber kisses. Until then, baby Alex- you are very loved.  Just look at this face ...

those cheeks!

snuggle time - I was in heaven.

Sam got in some snuggle time at Alex's first trip to Pappy's BBQ! 

We love you little Alex!

Mommy Robyn and Daddy Justin with Alex at Pappy's!

Lots of love,
Katelyn & Sam 

Ethel meets Shyla

On Saturday, Sam and I watched our buddy Shyla again. She is so full of personality. Ethel was VERY unsure of Shyla and in fact, wanted nothing to do with her. Shyla moves way too fast for Ethel and the words "gentle touches" don't really mean a lot to Shyla yet. Here is a hilarious video of Ethel and Shyla interacting on the couch.

We learned 2 things from this video.
1.) Ethel wouldn't hurt a fly.
2.) Children exhaust Ethel, and she feels much more comfortable when they walk away.

Too funny. The rest of the weekend we spent taking it easy. Did a little relaxing, took a nice long nap today, studied some Hebrew, did some laundry, and snuggled with the pup. And of course- Friday we watched the World Series. St. Louis has a redeeming factor- a stellar baseball team. World Series Champs! Sam has committed himself to being a Cardinals fan (I can't go that far). Needless to say, the city is lit up with Cardinals fans, souvenirs, parades, the whole deal. It's neat. 

Happy Halloween everyone!

Love,
Katelyn, Sam & Ethel

Fall break.

This past Friday we traveled home to Wheaton for a long weekend with our families. We enjoyed home cooked meals, throwing the "pigskin" with Jesse, Portillos that has been greatly missed, and so much more. We wanted to give five highlights of our weekend with our family. We love them dearly, and look forward to seeing them again in a few weeks. Thank you families for a wonderful weekend at home.

1.) Friday Night Lights - Watching the WNHS Sophomore and Varsity games. Jesse (#50) suffered a concussion two weeks ago and is still not completely healed. Here he is congratulating his O-line for a great play (talk about an emotional game!). His O-line was asked to move up to Varsity for the playoffs!

Sam and I ready to cheer on the team.

2.) Pumpkin Carving- picking out our pumpkins at Cosley and carving them with the Dean family! Sam carved theologian John Owen and Katelyn carved "Sam". Pretty exciting!

 

3.) The Entertainment - Ethel and her buddies, Daisy & Cody, provided. The ever eager-to-play Daisy with Ethel ignoring her, and the ever eager-to-play Ethel with Cody keeping his distance from Ethel.

4.) The Chicago Architectural Tour - and lunch at Rositys with Mom and Dad Haist! Sam would like to point out that the towers above are featured on Wilco's fourth album, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, and are known as the Marina City Towers downtown Chicago.

On the boat tour!

 5.) Jeopardy on the Wii - boys vs. girls. GIRLS WON!!! Unfortunately, this was not documented via camera- but lets just say, let the best team (or remote) win.

We are so thankful for family. 


Love,
Katelyn, Sam & Ethel

Fall things.

As promised, here we are blogging about fall. Unfortunately, it's 82 degrees out which is not fall in our book, but I guess this is what St. Louis has handed us. Good news is, it might be 82 degrees out but there is no humidity like the 82 degrees we felt this summer. Phew.

Onto our fall blog. The few "fall" days we've had, we have loved being outside and are trying to soak in our favorite, and shortest season. Here are a few of the things we've enjoyed most about fall:

1.) apple crisp.  

2.) pumpkin cinnamon pie.

3.) welcome wreaths.

4.) Autumn Harvest scented candles.

5.) Mums.

6.) family pictures.

We hope you are enjoying the fall weather as much as we are! Sam is off to work on a paper and I am off to babysit. Busy week ahead of us. Much love.

Katelyn, Sam & Ethel


A side note from Sam:

As you all know, I am a ridiculously huge music fan. As Katelyn can attest, it may even get out of hand from time to time... ;) But in the words of The Hold Steady, certain songs get scratched into our souls. Going along with a fall-themed post, I thought I would include a list of some excellent fall records that have provided a soundtrack to this season over the last few years!

In no particular order...

1. Hem - Rabbit Songs
2. Over the Rhine - The Long Surrender
3. Joe Henry - Civilians
4. Ron Sexsmith - Retriever
5. Wilco - A Ghost Is Born
6. John Coltrane - Blue Train
7. The National - Boxer
8. Gillian Welch - Time (The Revelator)
9. Josh Ritter - The Animal Years
10. The Avett Brothers - I and Love and You 

Breakfast FUN bowls.

For those of you that don't know, I have a very creative husband. It's not until these moments...when the pantry, fridge, freezer and everything else is bare, that I remember how creative he is. Frustrated about my lack of time to grocery shop, a frazzled morning and an overall bad work week... Sam brightened my day when he exclaimed from the kitchen Thursday morning, "Get ready for breakfast fun bowls!!!!!!" I walked out to find these...

Does breakfast get much better then the last of the cheerios, raisin bran and granola all mixed together with the last of the two Trader Joes chocolate chip cookie dunkers on top? I think not. I am thankful for a husband that uses his creativity to lighten my bad mood and even more thankful for a husband who always makes breakfast. Thanks hubs.

We are loving this fall weather, and living up every minute. Until next week ...(when we blog about fall!), we love you and miss you all.

Love,
Katelyn, Sam & Ethel