welcome mid-november :)

sweet november!

I love November for many reasons, one of the main reasons is because it's thanksgiving, and just thinking about all the things I can be thankful for. My family is one of them, and so thankful that we are hosting Thanksgiving at our house this year! Mike's parents and grandparents are coming from California and St. Louis! I'm excited because I'm buying a turkey and making lots of yummy foods! oh, and decorating... which makes my heart happy! :)

Maybe one of the most exciting things about november is that it's my birthday month! ;) This year my birthday falls on Thanksgiving day, which what a blessing that is!! Everyone should be thankful for me. :) {I'm totally kidding, hehe} I've been saving up for my own birthday present this year, and I am just too excited about it... details coming soon!

I am so thankful for November and for this sweet baby girl who isn't so much a baby anymore. I'm also thankful for the excitement and busyness that this season brings.

Also for being in our new home this year. Typing that just fills my heart with joy knowing that this is our house to build our family in for the Lord! These pictures make me thankful for a my beautiful big backyard to take pictures in!

Watching this little baby girl grow has been one of the most precious things to see this year and I'm praying that her heart will be thankful the more she does grow.

I'm so thankful for my discipleship huddle that is so encouraging and challenging to me. We are doing a "no excuse november" that our women's ministry director started. It means there is no excuse to not read his word daily, so we are twittering #NEN for accountability along with a verse that we read that day. These women keep me accountable, and I am so thankful for that!

{follow me on twitter @hilarysurratt}

so blessed and so thankful!

"Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus."

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

productive friday!

Every friday is our big day off, so Mike and I always like staying busy and having a good family fun day! This morning we went for a jog at the county park and then let mags swing at the playground area. {She loves swinging at the park!} Came home and it was time for her nap.

We got ready, went out to lunch and on our way out I saw this yard sale {on a friday?!?!} and I noticed they had a lot of kid stuff. After we went to lunch, went by a friend's house, went to the store, came back home, and put Maggie Claire down for her afternoon nap, I ran by the yard sale. I saw they had this little tykes table and chairs for $7! What a steal! I came home cleaned them us with some bleach, a magic eraser, and the hose and they were as good as new!

All the while, Mike was working hard extending our back patio with these paver stones that my stepdad gave us. They look great in our backyard and give us a lot more patio space! We are prepping for Maggie Claire's big 1st birthday bash that is coming up! yay! :)

Have a great rest of the weekend! :)

we're officially in!

Wow- what a crazy busy week this has been! We closed on our house on Wednesday, painted & cleaned all day on Thursday and Friday, and moved in on Saturday! We love our house, it's so much fun being a homeower. I felt so grown up parking in our garage, and I am going to spoil myself everyday by parking in the garage. ;) It makes a huge difference because of how hot it is outside, especially putting Maggie Claire in her carseat, because it's not scorching hot!!

Here is me & Mags during her lunchtime yesterday. She is such a cutie and loves our new house too! :)

Being in my new living room is seriously like a fresh breath of air. The color of the walls is relaxing and I just want to sit downstairs, relaxing while writing blogs & drinking sweet tea all day long. It is very spacey and it's nice because the little babe has lots of room to crawl everywhere. She is like lighting speed towards the stairs too. That is another whole world to her, and it scares me to pieces.

Here is our wonderful living room. There is nothing on the walls yet, and the curtains aren't hung up, but it is so nice!

I've been looking at baby gates, but I can't decide on one. I would like to just have one and move it to wherever we are. It'll either be in the hallway upstairs, or at the bottom of the stairs. I'll probably end up buying one this week after I look at a few more. Anyone have a baby gate that they love?

Here is my cute kitchen. My mom came over and organized it put all of my stuff on top of my cabinets for decor. I love having that space up there!

I got some sticky hooks to hang up my aprons. too cute! :)

On top of all of our moving fun, Mike is going out of town for a few days and when he returns we will be heading to California!!!! YAY! We are going to visit with his parents for a week, and I am sooooo excited. It's also our anniversary which is exciting because we went to CA on our honeymoon too. It'll be so nice to go back 3 years later. We get to go on our anniversary date night while we are there, so we are going to do something fun! We are kind of nervous about flying with Maggie Claire because we have a 5.5 hour flight! I'm hoping she will be her cheerful self and have a good time on the plane! :) And possibly take a nap! We can be hopeful, right?