Thanksgiving.

We enjoyed Thanksgiving this year in Jacksonville. It was a fun filled week with kids, catching up with family and ping pong...lots of ping pong. :)

Here are a few photos of the festivities:

A trip to the Pumpkin Patch

We've been planning for a couple weeks now to carve pumpkins to put in front of the house. I've been very excited to finally have the opportunity to give out candy to all the little kids for Halloween! Here are some photos of our pumpkin carving extravaganza.

We didn't even make it to the end of the patch...this place was HUGE

Lawton found a not-so-pretty one.

Hard at work.

Lawton made me take the guts out first.

Kobe was very skeptical of the pumpkins.

They came out pretty well:)

Seaching for our first home.

Well, not really our first home. Since Lawton and I have been married (it was 2 years in July!) we've lived in 3 different places. All rentals, all great experiences. Now we're ready to begin looking for our first home...to BUY! We're very excited and can't wait to start the process. We don't want to actually purchase the home until sometime next year, but we want to get a head start on feeling out what we like.

Here's a trip down memory lane. The different places we've lived since July 2008.

This was our first place. We had a great deal from one of Lawton's friends.

This was one of the three bedrooms we had. The place was really meant for roommates: 3beds/3 baths.

  

This was our 2nd place, but Kobe's first home. It turned out to be a pleasant surprise living across the street from one of our now very good friends.

 We lived next to great people, but the down side to this place was that it only had ONE drawer in the kitchen.

  

The kitchen was teeny, but it was functional enough for the two of us and Kobe.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 This is our most recent rental. Lawton's great uncle has been so kind to let us rent his carriage house. It's in a beautiful neighborhood and is just the right size for us.

 We've made a lot of changes to this house. Here's the living room. You can't find those smaller pillows in a store. The material can be found at Joann Fabrics, but Lawton's sweet mother made the pillows.

View of the windows. Curtain material can also be found at Joann Fabrics. Curtains made by Betty Ann:)

Our kitchen is once again teeny,but it's functional enough.

And we have four drawers!

  

This is my favorite room. It's filled with furniture Lawton's grandmother refinished for us and photos of our family.

This place has been the best so far. It's got a big yard that Kobe can run around and the details of the place are charming, definitely my style. We looked at four houses today that all ranged from 1600-2000 sq feet. Some had great yards with a porch, some had smaller yards with a deck. It was fun for us to decide what we liked most and what we didn't like at ALL! It was also a great experience to see what we're willing to compromise on and what we're not. One thing is for sure, older homes that have been added onto in a cheap way are not our style, but kitchens larger than 150 sq ft right up our alley.

Our new life in Jacksonville

During the past four months we've been adjusting to life in Jacksonville. I'll admit, it's quite different from life in Tallahassee. Back then one of us were always in school, we lived around our friends and we always had a million fun things to do with our church, friends and family. Jacksonville has been fun, but much slower (which might be something we really need). Now we are both working and we have no friends. Ha, not true but we do have very few friends here. We're making progress though and Lawton's parents have been wonderful in making our transition nice and easy. There were a few bumps in the road in the beginning, but we're getting more into a routine these days. Lawton is LOVING his job and I'm still having a great time with mine. Here are a couple photos of where I spend most of my time during the day:

If you notice on the bottom, my candy jar is empty. It never stays full very long. :)

This GINORMOUS cork board saves my life. I wish I had one of these at home.

I don't make very much as a Social Worker but I will say this, it takes me 6 months of work to pay for this piece of paper.

  

When the day gets too hectic, I daydream out this window.

I've been pretty blessed to have this office. It's nice and spacious enough for all my paperwork. :)

Tallahassee Family Visit

This weekend we went to Tallahassee to have a family get together before Matt leaves for New Mexico for the semester. We are so proud of his accomplishments and can't wait to hear all about his experience in Los Alamos.

It's been nearly three months since Kobe and Cooper had seen one another, and boy did they make up for lost time! Kobe has had low energy for the past couple of days, and something tells me Cooper is feeling the same. Here are some highlights from our weekend:

 

The boys had a great time running around with each other

  

Lawton having a training session with Kobe and Cooper

Time for a rest

Cooper with his military grade cooling vest (it's filled with fat - seriously)

Kobe

Mom with her grand dogs

Mom's cooking: yakimandu, chop chae and rice

Lunch :)

Raleigh Vacation

This week we've been in Raleigh, NC relaxing and having a great time with the Graves bunch. It's been a lot of fun hanging out with family and playing with our nephew and new niece. Here's a little preview of our week so far:

Chesson and Kobe picked up right where they left off. Instead of calling him "Ko Ko" like he was in the last time they saw one another, Chesson now calls Kobe "Kobu". It's really the cutest thing ever.
 

Little Anna Corbin is doing great. Lawton and I are getting excellent practice with this whole baby thing....for the very, very distant future. Now weighing in at 6 lbs 15 ounces, she's a little peanut.

Life has been pretty much cake the past week or so. We've been having such an amazing time here. It will be very sad when we all have to leave. More fun to come later in the week. G'daddy comes in on Thursday and we will also be taking Chesson to gymnastics too. More pictures to come! 

Ears Lowered

For my birthday I asked for (and received) a nice pair of hair clippers, hair scissors, and thinning shears. Not only are these useful for giving Kobe a trim, but Sarah has also graciously agreed to start giving me haircuts.


(A "before" shot of Kobe)



("After")



("During")

Cellmates

That's cousin Cooper Small in the back.

My Wide Mouth Can

Vacation

We recently went on a Graves family vacation to the mountains in Cashiers, NC. These are a little late, but better late than never.
 

The relationship these two have cracks me up and melts my heart. Here is Chesson giving cousin Kobe some hugs.

It snowed!

Kobe didn't get to go on the mountain trails, but he had a great time playing in the leaves.

Our very first mountain trip with the Kobester. Hoping there will be many more to come:)

Like Christmas Morning

Look at all the free treasures that I found in my mailbox today. They are both the result of couponing and not checking the mail for a few days.



1. Sample of Prilosec OTC (treats frequent heartburn!)
2. Olay body wash (7-in 1 advanced anti-aging)
3. South Beach s'mores bar (and $1 off coupon for my next purchase)
4. Jetstream Uniball pen
5. Metamucil powder (berry burst AND pink lemonade flavors + $2 off my next purchase)
6. Tide sports detergent (it's the #1 detergent for stain removal)
7. Pampers cruisers diapers (size 5 -- so if you have a baby who wears size 5 let me know and they're yours...I wear a size 33 so they're useless to me)
8. $15 rebate check from a $13.80 Olay purchase (that's a $1.20 moneymaker folks)