School is out!

 School is OUT! I had my last final last Tuesday. Here are pictures from that last week of school: Christmas Chapel, CWC Final and Theology Final. The pictures aren't exciting, but the fact that they mean that school is over until January is simply thrilling!

Quarter of a Century

Today, Carson is twenty-five! 

I met him when he was 22, so I haven't been around to celebrate too many of his birthdays. Last year, he had a bad case of Pneumonia so it probably wasn't the best birthday anyway. But this year, I'm excited for what I have planned. Since his birthday is six days before Christmas, he gets to choose one of his presents from under the tree, then we're going to celebrate all over town in a way that I've planned and hope will be fun! 

I love birthdays and think they should be special and SO much fun... so I hope Carson's will be that way. He's so wonderful to me and I'm excited to do my best to spoil him :)

O Christmas Tree(s)

Carson and I dressed up and went downtown to look at the trees in the Davenport Hotel. They were beautiful, and we may or may not have entered the raffles to win them and the things around them! We started off with dinner at Red Robin, then walked around before indulging in dessert. It was a lovely time and felt so Christmassy. 

Skating

We took the Kid's Club kids ice skating. Several of them had never been and some just hadn't gone very much. There was a lot of time spent on the ice, lots of kids clinging to the sides, and some skating prodigies in our mix. We did have one injury, but for the most part, we were all just frozen :) 

My arms were SO sore the next few days, from picking kids up off the ice. A great work-out.

Girl's Night

We had a girl's night last week. It was supposed to involve all the Reilly girls, but as you can see, it didn't. Finals were coming up, projects were due, people had to work... so Izzy, Missy and I were the only ones who made it out. Incidentally, it was Missy's 20th birthday, so we celebrated.

We had a high-class dinner at Wendy's. We brought a table cloth and flowers. People stared. 

We then trekked down to the Davenport Hotel, where we enjoyed the swanky bathrooms, staircases with no end and the Christmas tree display.

We ended there with desserts... yum. It was a lovely night. Perhaps next time the rest of the ladies will join us!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

Last night, we got our Christmas tree! 

Our great plans to cut one down turned into, "It's already dark... let's just stick with what we know and pick one up". Maybe next year is the magic year we'll cut it down ourselves. 

We spent the evening decorating to the soundtrack of my Christmas Pandora station with the extra pine-y scent of a Fresh Balsam candle (the best candle ever...click the link), then enjoyed pizza and watched Home Alone. 

It was fun to see our "old" ornaments from the past two years again and make our home Christmasy. 

Love this time of year!

My Mom

Today is December First. 

My mother is turning a year older today. I feel that I can say that because she doesn't really seem too bothered when a new year rolls around. Plus, people are always telling me (and her, presumably) how young she looks and how skinny she looks and how pretty she looks. So I guess I wouldn't mind getting a year older were I in her shoes. 

She raised and homeschooled my brother and sister and I (which wasn't easy... I remember being so disobedient that I was threatened with "real" school... I cried but can you blame her?). She did all the on site work for our wedding. She is currently planning other people's weddings, my sister's included (yay!). She sews, crafts, sells things that she makes and pretends that she doesn't treat my parents' three dogs like children. She's at home in South Carolina with her only (human) child who hasn't left the nest, my baby brother. I get texts several times a week from her and we talk every couple of weeks on the phone.

My mom is one of the people that I miss the most. She gets more sleep now than she ever did when I was there because I would keep her up until very late just talking. Whenever I see a Jane Austen type of movie I think of her and wish she could be there to see it with me too. When I pass fabric stores, I think of her vast collection. When I see my "old Bible" (my big red one that is completely ripped and in terrible condition) I think of her, because she bought one for me after I admired the maps in hers. I think of her teeny tiny writing and the strange little symbols she used to mark that study Bible to pieces. It always sits in the living room right where she leaves it after her early morning devotion. 

I think of more things when I think of my mom, but that's what sticks out the most - that Bible. I think she'll be glad that that's what I think of but it isn't why I'm writing that. My mother loves Jesus and loves His word. Because of her, I do too. 

Happy Birthday, mom :)

these are the most recent pictures i have with her... haven't seen her for a year