It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas at the Cravens home. After much thought and deliberation, we decided to put up a Christmas tree. At first, we were not going to put one up, because we are hardly ever home. Because our ceilings are so high in our house, I knew we would need at least a nine foot tree, but I already had a seven foot tree that I wanted to use. After looking at the Mississippi Magazine, I decide to try and find an urn to put my seven foot tree in. Kyle and I LOVE Umi's Japanese steak house and so we figured why not just drive to Starkville to go to Lowes and eat Umi's. While at Lowes, I found a perfect nine foot tree, that cost 349 dollars. I would have loved to have that tree, but instead I bought a 60 dollar urn to put my seven foot tree in. I think it turned out pretty good and Kyle was happy that I saved him A LOT of money!

Our first tree!

Our first Christmas ornament that Aunt Kim gave us.

Bride and groom ornament, also given to us by Aunt Kim

School, Married life, Thanksgiving, Gram

My, oh my, it has been sometime since my last post. There are lots of things happening at the Cravens home. One of the main things, which I am very grateful for, is that I will be done with this semester on Monday. I can FINALLY see the LIGHT!!! Praise the Lord. The last time I posted I announced that I was placed at Winona Elementary for student teaching, but what I didn't tell you was, that I am in Mrs. Becky Surrell's classroom. I cannot think of enough good things to say about her! She is absolutely WONDERFUL and an answer to my prayers! I LOVE her to pieces. I also love her classroom. She really has a great class and I am so excited about spending next semester with them! I wish I had a picture with her and her students to show, maybe I will take one at the Christmas party.

Married life is going great! I find myself falling more and more in love with Kyle. He is pretty close to perfect! God definitely blessed me with a one of a kind. My favorite thing about being married is knowing that at the end of the day Kyle will always be there. 

We had Thanksgiving at our house this year and might I say, it was good! Kyle and I really enjoyed everyone being at our house. We had so much food it was ridiculous. One of my favorite dishes that we had was Harvest Salad, from the southern living September '11 edition. 

My favorite part of the meal desserts...

pecan pie, skillet apple pie, strawberry pie, sweet potato pie

This is how Gram waits for us to get home.

School, Babies, and Kittens

Life for Kyle and me is very busy!!! After I finished classes in May, I didn't stop. So, I have not had a summer, but that is ok because I am SOOOO ready to be done with school. For two days I observed at Kirk Academy in Mrs. Windham's classroom, and might I say, it was such a treat! The kids were very respectful and listened very closely to every word Mrs. Windham said. I was very impressed in the students behavior, I wish I could do my student teaching there. On the student teaching note, I was placed at Winona Elementary and I am very excited about it! 

On March 31, 2010, we welcomed Jack, Allen and Terra's first baby boy and might I say, on August 15, 2011 he was very excited to become a big brother!

I was so so so very excited to receive a call at 7 in the morning on August 15, 2011 announcing that Terra was at the hospital and the baby would be here before lunch! I could not wait to see him! At about 11:55a.m. Wittman Moody Cravens, "Witt" made his arrival!

Witt!!!

What a precious baby he is!!! (I stole this from Terra's FB page)

I Just love to hold Witt, Kyle on the other hand, is not so sure what to do with a baby... Looks like when we have kids I wont have much help. Kyle holds him for maybe two minutes and then he is done and ready to pass him to the next person.

I know everyone is dying to know how the kittens are doing?? Well, they have adjusted very well to their life outside!!!

I snapped this Saturday afternoon! Caught them snoozing..

Kittens

About a month ago Kyle and I found a snake in our yard, so we decided we needed some cats to keep the snakes and mice away. Friday afternoon we picked up the kittens and when we got home Kyle began playing with them and trying to get them acquainted with their new home. When he came in from playing with them he began complaining and saying he didn't feel well. I didn't pay much attention to that because it is not unusual for him to feel bad and then be fine within thirty minutes or so. About ten minutes later, we went walking and when we got finished ran to Wal Mart to get some things for the kittens. When we got back, Kyle was playing with the kittens in the utility room before we locked them up in the kennel for the night. Right before bed time Kyle made the comment that he just didn't feel right and I just thought to my self, "You'll be fine in the morning." Yeah right, Kyle woke me up at about 2a.m. saying his throat was swelling and he was breaking out in hives. In panic mode, we jumped up and ran to the nearest gas station, that was open, in search of benadryl. The gas station only had children's benadryl so Kyle drank about half the bottle and luckily by morning he was fine! The point of the story is Kyle is allergic to the kittens and now the poor things must stay outside. Even though, outside is where they are intended to stay I feel sorry for them because it is so hot!

Neither of them have names yet. We are still working on that.

Our dog Gram just loves the kittens and is constantly begging to go outside and play with them. The kittens, on the other hand, do not feel the same about Gram. They are not sure what to think of him and are constantly hissing at him. I feel so sorry for Gram, because he means well and is trying to be nice. 

Gram is begging them to play with him... Poor guy...

Welcome home!

We are so happy to be moved in our new home! Our favorite part of the day is coming home to this beautiful place. My favorite part of the house is our bed room, partly because I am obsessed with our new bedroom furniture. It is absolutely gorgeous, when you walk in the room you feel like a queen. Maybe a little over dramatic, but it is really beautiful! Just so you know, I am LOVING having my very own garage door opener! It is so convenient and I don't know what I did without one. My new kitchen is wonderful! I am loving the double ovens and storage space and Kyle is loving me cooking every night! I know by now you are dying to see some pictures and I am going to share a picture of the room that is off the kitchen...

We love this room! We spend most of our time here.

House

After we sold our house we moved in with Kyle's parents instead of renting the house I posted earlier. Kyle and I found a house that we absolutely love and decided to buy it instead of building. Living with the in-laws has been fun and, I must say, I have enjoyed coming home to clean cloths and a bed made. It has been nice not to have to wash or clean. I guess all good things come to an end and Kyle and I are ready to have our own space and enjoy our new house!

Yes, that is our new home!!! We closed on it today and will be moving in tomorrow!!! I am so excited I can hardly stand it. I think my favorite part will be having my own garage opener! I know that is crazy, but I have never had one and I can't wait to have one of my very own.

Packing and weekend project

Before Kyle and I started packing, we went to get boxes and we thought that eight boxes would be enough to pack our entire house. We didn't think we had much that needed to be packed... Little did we know! It took me about ten minutes to fill the eight boxes and we were headed back to get more! I think we packed a total of thirty boxes. I guess you do not realize how much stuff you have until you actually start packing.

So sad to leave, but we were very blessed to sell the house!We hope that the new owners enjoy it as much as we did.

Kyle and I love weekend projects or any projects for that matter. This weekend we found these beautiful cement flower pots. When we got them they were just ordinary cement with no color and look at them now...

I am very proud of these!

While I was planting these, Kyle said "Regan, there are two things I love to watch you do, the first is mixing and the second is potting plants." If you know me, you know I do a great job mixing food and I guess potting plants reminds Kyle of the way I mix.