Travis' 17th Birthday was January 3rd. Hard to believe he's 17... I still remember his chunky body and spikey, mushroom cut blonde hair as a toddler - hence he got the nickname Spike for awhile. Travis had quite a few nicknames in his life, (Trav, Travie, T-man, T, TJ-My-Buddy, and Bumblebee) the most common being T.J. Since he was the first son to my parents he got my dad's name for a middle name, Travis Jeffrey (T.J.). He got called that for A LONNNNNNG time. Now it's just Travis or Travie. :) Whichever we feel like yelling to him when we see him.
Love it when he really smiles.
We went to an AGR wedding a few weeks ago in Livonia so we made a weekend out of it by staying Friday and Saturday night at a hotel in Novi. We made a quick trip to Twelve Oaks Mall on Saturday morning before the wedding and got a down comforter for our bed. At first I was slightly disappointed at how thin it was, thinking there's no way it was going to keep us warm at night. I was completely wrong. That thing is stinkin' hot! We have to turn the furnace WAYYYY down at night to keep from sweating under it! But is super soft and cozy and it's never going to leave our bed - except maybe in the summer when we can't turn the heat down... I got way off topic. Anyways, Zach got to talk with a lot of former housemates and AGR alum and it was a good catching up time.
Matt, Zach, Dave, & Will
It's been really great getting together with our small group again after a break during the holidays. We've been going through Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace series and it's been incredibly helpful, challenging, and encouraging for all of us. The last week, our group's dinner theme was Thanksgiving - main dish was turkey, sides were stuffing, salad, corn, etc. and we signed up to bring dessert. I wanted to make something pumpkin-y but not quite an original pumpkin pie so I made pumpkin cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. I added some white sugar sprinkles and mini chocolate chips on top for decoration.
They were delicious! Fall inspired but not totally typical Thanksgiving dessert. You can find the exact recipe I used by clicking here.
That's all for now. Parent Teacher Conferences are just around the corner again so I'm off to work on report cards. Oh happy day. It'll be okay. Later in the day we're going to hang out with some friends at their family cottage. I see games and cocktails ahead!
Love,
Sarah
