DOVE FAMILY

I am so thankful that Dave can put up our tree, untangle and test the lights and brave the cold weather to decorate the exterior part of the house each year. Although I start complaining about lights early in the season he still manages to get the lights up and working so we can enjoy the pretty sight for a few weeks during the holidays. Each year my family and I also help my mom and Dave's mom get their decorations up so their tree is twinkling and they can enjoy the holdiay decorations as well.

I think sometimes we forget that there are some people who do not have family in the area to help put up their tree or lights up. It's also just too cold in our area for older people to stay outside and put up lights.

I'm sure services such as lighting service has been available for sometime now, but I just recently heard about this. Homestead Gardens in Davidsonville has a lighting service where they will help you decorate both inside and outside of your home or business and they come back after the holidays to take it down and store it for you. I don't know how much this service is but its a great idea for those who want to celebrate the holidays but can not do it themselves or do not have the help. I have also heard about friends, neighbors, lawn services and students helping those who need an extra hand with their decorations!

Last year for my mom's Christmas Eve dinner & Christmas Day burnch I made cookies for everyone. I made a variety of cookies that the kids and adults devoured! So this year I am looking for something different to add to the normal mix of chocolate chip and sprinkle cookies!

Last year I made chocolate chip cookies, sugar cookies, snickerdoodle and also Ritz Thin Mint Cookies

If you have any good cookie recipes, fudge, or sugary treats I can try for this year-- send them my way dmdove@comcast.net!

The last few weeks have been very busy -buying presents, joined the fun during Black Friday Shopping, and decorated3 beautiful trees! Thanksgiving weekend,we put up our tree,decorated the house and started watching all of the fun and festive movies to get ready for Christmas. Julia & Matthew were so thrilled about putting up our tree. Matthew even decorated the fireplace by putting a step stool down for Santa to sit on, the remote control next to it in case Santa wants to watch TV and the Santa plate is in it's place ready for cookies. I have to keep reminding him that the big day is still a few weeks away!

We also helped Grammy (Dave's mom) and Lola (my mom) with their trees and decorations! We just love the holidays and so glad that we can share these times with family and loved ones!

Matthew & Julia infront of our Christmas tree!

Matthew & Julia infront of Grammy's tree

Lola's Christmas Tree

Matthew & Julia wearing Santa hats!

November 7th my sweet baby neice Amaya celebrated her 1st birthday! We had so much fun at the festivities and enjoyed great food and cake. She is also starting to walk and she is just so stinkin adorable! I just love her so much! Happy Birthday sweetie and we all love you!

Amaya & her proud mommy & daddy

Sweet baby Amaya in her dress & matching cake!

Lola & her gals- Amaya & Julia (all sporting PINK!)

Buddies Alex & Matthew

My sweet friend Stephanie married her best friend Nick November 13th in Annapolis. The wedding was a traditional catholic wedding at St. Mary's Catholic Church and the reception was held at the Annapolis Marriott Waterfront hotel. Stephanie was so beautiful in her dress- I swear it was made just FOR her!
The ceremony was so beautiful and of course I cried when the soloist sang Ave Maria. I had wonderful memories of my own wedding! The reception was so fun and beautiful. It was also a nice treat to be able to spend the evening with my friend Heather and her husband Corey. We had a blast dancing the night away. What a great wedding for a beautiful couple! Congratulations Stephanie & Nick-- enjoy your honeymoon in the Dominican Republic!

Another Halloween filled with candy, costumes and trick or treaters have all come and gone. We are left with two cute costumes that are going to sit in the closet and buckets full of candy that my kids ask for everyday. Our plan is to have Dave bring the bags of candy to work so it's not anywhere close to Matthew & Julia.

My sweet neice- Amaya the LadyBug

Boys WILL ALWAYS be boys! Dylan as an Army guy & Daniel the Ninja!

All six of Lola's grandkids sitting nicely for a picture...WOW....really....WOW
How'd they do that?