Tis' the Season

We have been busy over the last couple of days getting the house ready for Christmas. This is a special Christmas because it is my first Christmas with a real tree. Living in Texas growing up, we never really had real trees. So we were sure to get my first real tree this Christmas. I can honestly say that at this point, I enjoy the fake, pre-lit trees as putting lights on the real thing took much longer than expected. Meanwhile, Ed worked on the outside lights. In doing so, he has almost broken his big toe. That's right...he kicked a brick, broke it in two, and is now limping. All in a day's work in hanging Christmas lights! Here are the results of our efforts this past weekend. Hope each of you are enjoying the holiday season!

Happy Turkey Day!

Happy Thanksgiving! We had a great Thanksgiving with all the works. We had Mom, Larry, Fern, and Carla at our house for Thanksgiving. We cooked for what seemed like days. I successfully messed up the pecan pies but I figure if that's all I messed up, then it was a successful Thanksgiving. You can check out more of our pictures on our Google Picasa page at http://picasaweb.google.com/edandjody/Thanksgiving2008#

Larry doing what he did best all week - eating!

Fern and Ed fishing at sunset. Brotherly bonding!

The candid shots of the chefs! This is scary that Mom and I were the head chefs for the big day. Luckily, Ed cooked the turkey.
This is what turkey and a few beers does to Ed.
We scheduled an appointment for family portraits during the holiday week. This is Lou getting ready for the pictures. Stay tuned for those pictures!

The final hair product! How can a little girl have that much hair!?! I'm so jealous.
Lou roasting smores. As the afternoon progressed, her "smore mustache" grew.

The Spartans

It has been brought to my attention that I failed to post a picture of my Halloween Spartan costume. Well, to those of you who actually care to see my poor choices at Halloween, here you go. By the way, Halloween is one of my least favorite holidays because we all look ridiculous the following day. Nevetheless, here is one of our NOT FINER moments. -Ed and Jody, The Spartans

Happy Halloween!

We had a great Halloween, complete with lots of candy and great costumes. Lou was a Southern Belle. The best part was hearing her tell you she was a "Southern Belle". She can't really pronounce it so it comes out with about 6 extra syllables in "southern belle". It's hysterical. Ed and Jody were "Spartans". Ed was the Spartan off of the movie 300 and Jody was a Spartan cheerleader off of the SNL skit.

Lou getting all decked out....

The prettiest Southern Belle and pumpkin dog!
Off to trick or treat, with Biscuit leading the way.

Lou and Scooby Doo
Looking over the evening's loot....

The Spartan and his southern belle

The Priest and Poon family (our great neighbors!)

Sunsets, House Projects, and Family Time

We've spent the last few days working around the house. Lou came to visit this last weekend and we had a great time. We tackled a few house projects, watched the sunset, and just hung out. It's so nice to just be sometimes.

Ed and Biscuit watching the sunset in the backyard.

Girl time! Lou painting my fingernails. The result was quite hysterical.

The oak chest we restained this weekend. Just a little house project we had to show off.

What We've Been Up To

The last 2 weeks have proven to be very busy for the Priest family. Lou came to visit last weekend and we went to a neighborhood party, where she played with some of her friends. She's quite the little social butterfly. Jody has been in DC for the past 10 days attending classes for her MBA program. Ed held down the homefront back in NC. Now we're all back in NC and enjoying being together again. Lou is coming to visit this weekend and we have Halloween costume shopping on the weekend's agenda. Stay tuned!



Ed and Lou hanging out at the neighborhood bbq

Lou and Alinzia playing at the party - they are the same age.

At this point in the evening, Lou's tummy hurt because she had one too many brownies!

Lou's First Wedding

We went to a wedding this weekend for one of Ed's work buddies. It was the first time Lou has been to a wedding and she loved it! She wanted to be the flower girl. She loved the bride's gown and afterwards, she was sure to tell the bride she "looked beautiful".




Lou ready for the wedding. She wore her pink dress, complete with pink shoes.






Lou and JodyKae at the reception.





Lou found a friend, Olivia. They danced all night long together.

Tropical Storm Hanna

It appears we have survived Tropical Storm Hanna with little damage. It rained all through the night. The weather reports are saying we have received at least 6 inches of rain. The wind gusts were not nearly as bad as we thought they were going to be. We are thankful it was as mild as it was. We took some pics of the backyard. You'll notice in many of the pictures that the water level has risen alot. All in all, it could have been much worse so we are thankful.

We used to have a deck and a few stairs. As you can see from the picture, the water level is so high that it is even with our yard.

The water running into the backyard, over the bulk head.

The water up over the potted plants.

A New Do!

After several years of the same length of hair, I took the plunge and chopped it all off. I was very nervous that Ed wouldn't like it. I chose to surprise him with it and in the end, it worked out well. He loves it! He says it's his favorite haircut. So in the end, it was a success!

The Backyard Playground

Ed has worked so hard to get this playground put up in the backyard. It has finally come together and since completion, it has become the neighborhood playground. He was even sure to put the finishing touch on the playground - a Texas star! It's a great addition to our lake view and the kiddos love it!