Following the Kirks

The Saturday after Thanksgiving started the decorating process in our house. First stop: The Christmas tree farm. Brandon insists we have a real tree every year.  He does have a good point with the awesome smell it leaves behind, but the mess is just disastrous for the next six months. We got ourselves a beautiful 7 foot tree......that turned out being a bit tall for our ceilings :/!  Once we got the tree in the house is when we realized we got it a little too big.  It scraped the ceiling as we put it up.  After a million fights with my cousin about what colors he wanted to use on my tree, we had an agreement and it turned out great. Nathan's specialty is the topper and he did a great job! On to the next two trees..... This is our small one in the front room that we set on top of a barrel. From the outside it looks like a 6 foot tree.  Our stair banister is all decked out too..... Every year for the past 4 years we have had a wine themed tree, but since we bough...

As soon as Thanksgiving dinner ended, we immediately switched gears to Christmas.  My sister, my cousin and I left at 8:00 at night to get some Black Friday deals!  We left the chitlens with their dads and went on our way.  Toys R Us was brutal but we made it out in one piece. Target looked rough when we first walked in but ended up being very fast with an easy checkout.  Nathan gave up at the Target point and went to the truck to go to sleep......really?!  Kohls was so bad we walked in and walked right back out! Nothing there was worth a 4 hour wait!  The day after Thanksgiving always calls for champagne, Eggs Benedict, waffles, and golfing for the guys. This year we added Christmas decorating to the list.  We had our little elf out from Illinois do we needed to use him to our best ability.  My parent's house was all done by the end of Friday! Wowzers!  They have such a beautiful house that no matter what it will look amazing, but Nathan did...

So much meaning to that title!  This year was our 11th annual Misfit Thanksgiving Buffet.  We welcome anyone over who wants to come. Most people that come over don't have family nearby like us so we all just get together for a huge thanksgiving feast. Everyone has to bring their favorite childhood dish from Thanksgiving. It calls for great times, great food, and great libations including Jell-O shots! (Minus those libations and Jell-O shots for me this year, although I did drink my Sprite out of a wine glass). Dynasty? Well back in August my brother in law, Matt, called my dad and Brandon to challenge them to a longest beard contest until Thanksgiving. The person that lost had to buy the pig that we roast every year. The biggest loser was Brandon. The biggest winner was my dad!  We also get to have a lot of our family together for some family pictures!  We also had my cousin out from Illinois! It was great to have a little bit of Illinois with us. We hope you all had...

Ya heard right!  We are pregnant and expecting Baby Kirk #2!!!!! This little babes is due June 6th , which makes me a little under 12 weeks.   We are all so excited! Zeke already knows where mommy's baby is and now thinks he has a baby in his belly too!  December can't come soon enough when we find out what we are having! I know people say the best surprise is to find out in the delivery room, but I think it's just as big of a surprise when you find out no matter when it is......and being a little more prepared is always good too!  Stay tuned for Baby Kirk #2 updates!  Happy Monday! 

This month kicked off the Fall season.....and we took full advantage of it and did so many fun Fall activities.  Pumpkin patches: Zeke's favorite word by far is definitely "punkin" so him being at a pumpkin patch was by far the highlight of his month.  The farm we went to had a family night so we gathered some friends and headed out! Pony rides, petting zoo, "punkins", train rides, and even a corn maze.....done and done!!!!  Apple picking: Every year we head out to the local apple county with a couple families, choose a farm, and get a pickin! For some reason, my genius self decided to find other options than where we went last year! Obviously, that was not a great idea. Not only did we spend triple from last year, but there were almost NO apples! The pears were delicious and abundant. Like I said, apples were far from that! They had 3 different types and right before we left we found a couple trees in the parking lot where we not only filled up our bags, but al...

I have had so many questions on how to make these amazing and impactful pictures.  Here's a quick little how to! To start I bought three 20x30 foam boards from Hobby Lobby! I think they were $1.99 a piece. Use your 40% off coupon brings it to $1.19 a piece! After I brought these bad boys home, I searched my computer for some fabulous vertical pictures. This was probably the hardest part! So many pictures, too many choices, and a ton of horizontal pictures. I ended up choosing professional pictures that we have had taken throughout the years. I put them on a hard drive and headed over to Staples. What you need to tell them you want is: 24x36 engineer prints Note: engineer prints are always black and white!  Make sure the picture completely covers the 24x36. No white edges allowed! Don't forget to buy some spray glue! DO NOT buy mod podge. It doesn't work. (I learned that the hard way.) I used Scotch brand spray adhesive. Your next step will be to lay out the foam board and f...

Hi ya'll! I am so excited to start blogging! I have been wanting to start one that could combine all my interests for quite some time. Just a quick introduction about this little fam you are following! I am married to my best friend Brandon.  We have been married for 3 1/2 years. Brandon works as a heavy equipment mechanic and commutes to work every day an hour each way. He has a down right obsession with all New England sports teams (he is originally from there).  He served in the USMC for four years, which is why we met! Mama to my yellow lab, Sir Brady of New England (like I said my husband is from New England). He is almost 4 and sheds like a maniac. If you have any secrets on how to control shedding, we are always open!!!!! Mama to my crazy sweet little boy Zeke!  Zeke will be a whopping 2 in January! He has seriously brought the most joy in our lives ever.  He has the funniest little personality and is always keeping us on our toes. I am a born and ra...