First Family Christmas with the Kinders

Today, Dave and I had my parents, sister and her boyfriend over for a wonderful day of fun. We hosted the dinner with burger, sausages, and potato salad. Everyone had a good time and the day is almost over. Dave and I leave for New York early tomorrow morning and I am very excited. Dave gave me a the dream gift of a KitchenAid RED stand mixer and I got him a Notre Dame golf bag-

We also hosted our first Christmas party on Thursday night .. that went really well. I was nervous but I always get that way. Dave helped me a lot and it was a wonderful night...

Merry Christmas to all... and to all a good night.

Done with Marriage Prep!!!

We spent a long, but interesting day Saturday in Charlotte at Pre-Cana or marriage preparation workshop by the Church. It was NOT nearly as bad as we feared... and actually had a decent time.

Later on that night we picked up Donald, had some dinner and then we went to see the McAdenville Christmas lights. Once again, I am so amazed at the patience of my Dave... he's wonderful beyond words as he did that for me with very little complaining even though he was not feeling that great. This is a picture of the lake in McAdenville to the left...

Sunday, our engagement announcement was in the paper (here's a link: http://www.shelbystar.com/articles/kinder_27344___article.html/late_minnich.html)
and it was also my parents' 42nd anniversary. My sister and I (with significant others) took them to eat at Steak and Ale. We had good time and spent a nice half day with them.

Now we look forward to our last week at work before Christmas break!!!

First Wedding Gift

I forgot to mention that we got our first wedding presen this week-- from Steve and Beverly Moffitt! We receive four dinner plates and four salad plates. We are so excited to have been blessed with such a gift...

Updates!!

Well, not that many really, but a little to share. The engagement announcement is to be in our local paper this Sunday and I am excited about that finally happening. I need to get all the information together for the paper in New York. We'll handle that during the holidays while we are there.

We put in our order for tuxedos this week... oh what fun!!! I took Dave with me as I figure he needed to pick it out... he did his part and now we have a tux order in.

We have our day long marriage preparation class on Saturday and we have to take a test so that should be tons of fun!!!

I will add more news later after the class and post a link to the engagement announcement.

Another Sunday...

Oh man, what a busy busy week. Dave and I both had several things to do after work that limited out time together. Meetings and dinners out ruled the week. What a way to end November!!

We registered for more things yesterday at Belk, Wal Mart and Sears so we have a good list of things we wouldn't mind receiving. I hate to say that because it sounds like we are just wanting stuff- and that's not the case. Most of the time we look at each other and say "do we?".... But we feel like we have done well... although I have decided to register for some more cookware after using my skillet this morning...

We have only 3 more weeks until Christmas break and we are both ready. We will be hosting my school's party with other friends attending on the night we finally are free- Dec. 20th... Our first date anniversary is the 19th so I am excited about that one too...

Going to see if we can get appointments for the bridesmain dress situation this week... hopefully all this can be worked out soon!!

Sunday's been good.. Dave and Don went to the Panthers game today .. and that Panthers won!!

Our First Christmas Tree

Here is a picture of our first Christmas tree that was put up today. Dave is dealing well with my need to have my tree put up the day after Thanksgiving and keep my attention off the usual Arkansas-LSU game- Arkansas won today by the way and took down the #1 team in the nation. I decorated the tree, redesigned my wreath and put lights in the windows of the house... it looks very nice

We had a great Thanksgiving yesterday with the family. We were so tired and slept in this morning... I meant to do something about the dress situation, but haven't yet. The bridemaids' dresses don't fit so we might be starting over...

The Day before Thanksgiving

On the eve of my first Thanksgiving with Dave, I would like to share with everyone a little story. Last year during this week, Dave and I began "talking" (as the kids say) via email. An observation was cancelled and another time needed to be set up. We chatted and discussed the return observation and then Dave started picking on southern football teams... and well, one year later, here we are. I have to admit that I worried about Dave and where he would be on Thanksgiving... and this year, I am cooking dinner for him... how bout that sports fans?

Above is a picture of our Thanksgiving table.. ready for action!!

Finally remembered!!

I finally remembered to send off the forms we need to have our parents to witness so we can get married.. Gotta love the Catholic Church... so as along as I remember to give these forms to my mother and father, we are in business.

Today is the last day before Thanksgiving holiday break for both Dave and me... we are sooo looking forward to this little break! My parents, sister and boyfriend, and Donald are all coming to the house on Thursday for dinner. Dave is deep frying a turkey... hmmmm... little worried here, but I think it will be ok... provided the turkey thaws in time! It makes me nervous but we have a HUGE ham in case something happens... but all will be well, because he's awesome DAVE the turkey man!!!

ENGAGEMENT PHOTOS

To look at engagement pictures of Dave and Me... go to this link

http://www.millersalbums.com/?event=86482W113

and should go to the "sign in now" link...

then use email address: bskinder@clevelandcountyschools.org

if you need the event code , it is: 86482W113

Update after a long time... Sorry!!

To be honest, I have neglected to post here lately due to my own laziness. Ah well, that's life!!

The football season is over... Dave's JV squad finished 6-4 on the year and he was very proud of his boys. The varsity squad made the playoffs so we had one more week of practice. Sadly, KM lost in the first round of the playoffs Friday night so NOW after about 6 months... Football is OVER-- what does that mean? It means Dave has to start helping with the wedding plans.

I have made new arrangements for my cakes- and get this, the girl who is doing our cakes is from the same county in New York that my sweetie is from... small world, huh? I knew Betsy was from NY, but duh huh... hadn't any idea!! I am so excited to have her now doing the cakes...

Today we had our engagement pictures made at a beautiful place in Rutherford County. I am anxiously awaiting the pictures tonight from the photographer. I told her to make my wrinkles GO away!! lol.... not to mention my pimples... I did not dress us 'alike', but we did compliment each other... turns out Dave had a tie to match one of my choices for my outfit!!

I am delighted to announce that Dave is now a National Board Certified TEACHER... now he makes more money than me!!! I am no longer his Sugar Momma!!!

We celebrated my birthday last weekend with a private dinner together and then had a family dinner with my Momma and Daddy, my sister and her boyfriend, and Donald... we had mexican and boy was it good...but it was a good time with our growing family. WE are looking forward to having a good time again on Thanksgiving... we are saddened that Laura and the girls will not be able to come down, but they are MOVING so that's the best reason in the world NOT to get to come...

I will try to keep up with this as it's only 18 weeks away....

Belinda and Dave...

Dave and I met with the priest yesterday and got out initial meeting out of the way. No problems so nothing really to worry about. We have to get some paperwork done to ensure that we are 'free' to marry... it's somewhat funny all the things we have to go through just to get married. But in the end, it will be worth it.

I have secured the DJ for the reception and began to think about songs. I have an idea but still haven't discussed it with Dave yet so I won't give it away... actually I won't give it away until we dance to it!!Still have to look into to tuxedos and rehearshal dinner situation. Going to order the invitations now...

So what's going on outside of wedding? Dave's team lost in overtime to archrival Shelby on Thursday night, but at least they competed and it was Shelby coming from behind to tie! Ah well... three more games and hopefully they will get 2 more wins and finish with a winning record...My job description changes as of January 2008, but it will all be ok in the end. I am not too worried about it, but it will make me think about what I want to do in the future. I need to go back to school so I will probably do that and deal with my situation.

That's it for this post!!

Belinda and Dave

Update on Plans

All plans are going well. We tried to look at tuxedo styles yesterday but it seems the place we were going to look is being bought out so after January, they don't know WHAT styles they would have.. so we'll see about that again.

Other than that, all is well... have to call the DJ tomorrow and confirm. That will mean starting to think about songs for the wedding...

The hotel situation has been ironed out and we hope that all take advantage of a room should you need a room here in Shelby. Here is the link : http://events.ichotelsgroup.com/DPRD-77LPUX/SHLNC/website/ to book a hotel room.

Also, I decided to update on Dave's 4-2 football team. He's the defenisve coordinator for the Kings Mountain JV football team, and they are having a very good year. He had to yell at them the other night, but they got it together and posted their first shut out of the year!!

Welcome to our Wedding Blog!

I guess I should say this is my wedding blog since Dave has NO idea I just set this up. I thought that since so many of our friends and family are out of town, this would be an ideal way to keep all up to date on our plans.

To be honest, all is running very smoothly. I really am pleased with everything and managed to pin down a few things today. The most exciting thing is that we have blocked the rooms at the Holiday Inn Express. It's located at the mall here in Shelby and there are several resturants located very nearby. We recommend Ham's as the chips are awesome!!!

Check back from time to time to check our progress... we are under 24 weeks to go...

love to all,

Belinda, Dave and Murphy