Before my shopping trip yesterday, I was Toms-less, which Lois found astounding.  Thanks to her loving guidance, however, I now own my first pair of Toms. 

*wipes tear of joy and appreciation*

Both Lois and I wore our saucy red Toms today.  When she appeared in hers, she told me that she gets a compliment on them every time she wears them.  Today was no exception.  At Target, where Lois was helping me buy a Christmas tree, a saleslady commented on our matching red Toms. 

 The Toms Magic is real, people.

Brad's parents arrived last night for a visit, so today I got to hang out with my awesome mother-in-law while Brad and his dad went golfing.

Hanging out with Lois means shopping, so I googled a nearby mall (left to my own devices, I'm not a big shopper) and we gave it a go.

Susanne and Denise, this one's for you.

Tonight for dinner, we returned to Babe's.

 Yep, fried chicken and chicken-fried-steak--still good!

Okay, so this photo was taken on the morning of December 6--please don't fire me from my blog.  Technically, St. Nicholas did his thing on December 5, so I think it counts.

Happy St. Nicholas Day!!

(um...tomorrow...)

When we moved to Germany three and a half years ago, I left all of our Christmas decorations in Michigan in storage.  My plan was that if we didn't have our tired, old Christmas stuff, I would be forced to buy cool, new German stuff (it was actually quite brilliant, if I do say so myself).

Well, I got a lot of flack from my family on our first German Christmas, because there were a couple of key things they really missed from our old Christmas bins.  One was their stockings--I really should have known better--but the other thing was this stupid chalkboard I bought at a dollar store that counts down until Christmas.

This was the first thing the kids looked for when we pulled out our old Christmas bins, and they promptly hung it up with much enthusiasm.

Now, it has returned to its rightful place, and all is right in our Christmas world.

Yesterday was Brad's and my 18th wedding anniversary, so tonight the two of us ditched the kids and went out to dinner to celebrate.

We went to Babe's, a legendary restaurant around here.  It is just as fancy as it looks in the picture.  It is also awesome.

There aren't any menus, because they only serve two things: fried chicken or chicken fried steak.  With that, they bring all-you-can-eat mashed potatoes, gravy, biscuits, salad, and corn.  You can see that Brad and I both got the chicken fried steak.  It was huge.  And awesome.

This picture was hanging on the wall above our table.  I loved it for two reasons: 1) because someone thought they were so cute to slam Genyne for being old, and 2) because there was actually a waitress named Genyne--spelled G-E-N-Y-N-E.  It just doesn't get any better than that.

Basically, I loved everything about tonight because I was out alone with my favorite person in the whole world, celebrating the fact that we've been together for 18 years.

I was wrong before.  It doesn't get any better than that.

 First Advent Sunday.

One thing we will always take away from Germany is their Christmas traditions.  We really loved Christmas in Germany.  One of the traditions we liked the most was the Advent Wreath, with candles that you light on each of the four Sundays before Christmas.

It's not easy to find Advent Wreaths around here, so I had to make my own.  I'm not gonna lie - it's lame.  I used a grapevine wreath and white candles, which makes it look like a bird's nest in the middle of the table.  My mission this week to look online and see if I can find something a little less wild-lifey.

Remember last Spring when I posted post after post about my boys playing baseball?

(Oooh, and remember when I saw Jon Bon Jovi at the ballpark?  A moment of silence please. . . )

(. . . sorry, still thinking about it . . .)

(Okay *mops brow*)

Well, now it is basketball season, so prepare yourselves for post after post about Adam playing basketball.

I like this shot because it looks like Adam is doing a swell, sasshaying dance move.

Sadly, Adam's team lost--the score was A Lot to Not Very Much--but Adam did score a basket, which means he gets a donut, as per the policy Brad's mom established when Brad played basketball as a kid.

(and now, let's go back to thinking about Jon Bon Jovi . . .)