Life in bloom

Get us outta here!

2012-02-10T14:58:00.001-06:00

Inspired by Kylie's outfit choice today.....we're headed to Norman for an over night stay and swimming. Yay :) Some fun family times are desperately needed, Momma needs it bad!

Thursday musings

2012-02-09T20:55:00.002-06:00

I don't want to give you the wrong idea or anything......so no, Kylie is not potty trained at all. I don't even know that I would say she is "potty training." This was pretty cute though, and totally not staged. Yay for cuteness!

I have an MRI tomorrow morning. I have never had an MRI before, and I'm not looking forward to it all because I know it is going to be $$$. I really considered cancelling my appointment because of that. My doctor said she didn't expect to find anything, but it would be good to check out anyway. I pretty much had myself talked out of it, but then I had a bad night last night. I kept getting waves of sickness during bell choir last night. And by sickness, I mean I started feeling like I was headed toward passing out. When I had that seizure last week, I had no clue it was any different than any other fainting spell I've had when it came on so it scares me now that every time I feel that way I am going to be scared of a seizure. On top of that, there have been a few times when I just don't feel totally "with it." I felt that way during zumba this morning, it was weird. And there have been a few times when I have to think a little too hard while writing a check or something simple. I still don't think the MRI will show anything or that anything will come out of all this, but it will give us peace of mind that we are checking in to things instead of just letting it go. I can't tell if I am being paranoid about things since the whole seizure thing. Eric is generally the paranoid one, he's the one that I am constantly rolling my eyes at and it's not my nature to be paranoid about things. Things, things, things. Who knows.

For one of my classes I have to do 10 hours of observation with a principal and today was the first day I went to school for my "shadowing." It was actually really fun! Of course, I was only there for a couple hours (not all day) and I just had to watch (not actually do anything). Can I shadow for a living??

Self indulgent blogging about priorities

2012-02-06T14:24:00.002-06:00

I started thinking today that I am letting myself get too busy. Too many things I want to do, and the people in my life are more than willing to help me get what I want. Before we moved here I had almost no opportunity to do things I that I wanted. I think I need to cut down on my activities. That was one of the first things I thought of when I was sick last Tuesday. It had been a really busy day for me, running from one thing to the next, and the girls were even in school so I didn't even have them with me! I don't think being tired and doing too many things triggers a seizure, but I know it isn't healthy to have too much on my plate.

Here's what my daily activities usually consist of ;
Monday
5:30am boot camp
noon Bible study
3:45pm band rehearsal
6:30pm Bible study

Tuesday
5:30am zumba
9:30am Bible study
11:30am Running
7:00pm band rehearsal

Wednesday
5:30am boot camp
3:45pm band rehearsal
5:00pm after school program at church
6:00pm bell choir

Thursday
5:30am zumba
9:30am running
3:45pm band rehearsal
5:30pm Addison's gymnastics class

Friday
5:30am boot camp

(Saturday is always different)

Sunday
Morning church
Afternoon oboe lessons
Sometimes, running

So, on top of the daily activities I also squeeze in there; school work, house work, and errands......oh yeah, and playing with the kids :) When I look at it here, I think, "Why can't I do all of this?" It doesn't seem like much. For me, though, I think it's cluttering my brain. 3 Bible studies every week? Band rehearsals? And yeah, I have a lot of time devoted to "fitness." School work and my kids are what really get neglected in all of this. Of my priorities, health/fitness and church are the only ones that are obvious from my daily routine. I need more time for my classes. I also need more family time......which is a whole other story. Eric is busy most of the time, and this may be part of the reason why I have gotten myself too involved. Also, the idea of backing out of some of these things will get me feeling guilty.

What things are not getting dropped? My 5:30am fitness classes, running, bell choir, Sunday church, and oboe lessons. These things are not negotiable.

So that leaves me with, what am I going to drop? I think 1 Bible study a week is plenty (instead of 3), and I really want to drop the after school program on Wednesday, and probably 1 band rehearsal or none would be better than 3. Sometimes I just want to quit all of the "negotiable" activities! Like right now. I want my time back.

I want to get back in the habit of napping when the girls nap. Going to bed early enough so I feel rested in the morning for boot camp and zumba is almost not possible. Eric gets home late enough on most nights that I would be totally cutting out time alone with hime (a non-negotiable). While a nap sounds luxurious, I think it may be a necessity for me to get more family time at night.

My school work and house work just barely get done. More reason to cut down. House work really is a priority for me because I have a hard time being relaxed in a messy house. It really distracts me from other things, like homework and family time.

Hmmm, feeling more peaceful already.

Source: itworksforbobbi.com via Yvonne on Pinterest

A slow start

2012-02-06T10:09:00.000-06:00

I had the best of intentions last night to get back in my 5:30am fitness classes today.....

Kylie had other plans. I always intend to "get over it" when she keeps me up, and just go to class anyway. Good intentions, whatev. I turned off my alarm during one of my trips in Kylie's room last night.

This has been a slow morning so far.

Tomorrow I WILL get back to class!

I was really dreading getting my homework done, I have 3 writing assignments due Tuesday. But....I did them all yesterday, yay!!! I keep reminding myself that I should be super pumped about that.

Here's some music for Monday morning. My new favorite is Sara Haze, which I found thanks to listening to Pandora all the time!!

Sleep strategies

2012-02-03T08:59:00.000-06:00

I think a daily trip to Grammy's to wear out the girls in the bounce house is a must!! Last night we moved it inside, totally awesome :) They sleep really well when physically exhausted!

This morning I am procrastinating more than ever!! I have a writing assignment due tonight and I just can't get myself to work on it! I am also dreading getting on my school work because I have neglected it all week (thanks to not feeling so hot for a couple days) and I also have 3 more writing assignment due Tuesday, BLECH!!!! I would much rather clean house right now, and that's just sad.

My MRI is scheduled for next Friday. I'm glad I have another week to think about any of that again, I'm getting really sick of thinking and talking about it. Over it!

Oh happy day

2012-02-02T10:36:00.001-06:00

Although it looks like winter

It feels like spring

You won't hear me complaining!!

I am feeling so much better today, finally normal, and I am so grateful for that!! I went to see my doctor this morning and she said what I experienced was a seizure and not vasovagal. I feel relieved that she said that because I just did not feel like I was diagnosed correctly at the ER (since I'm an MD and all!!). She suggested I have an MRI done for peace of mind. She said she doesn't expect to find anything, but since it is not normal for someone like me to randomly have a seizure it would be best. I am just so happy to finally feel like myself again. I kinda don't even care that the girls wrecked the house this morning and I have lots of homework to do. Just don't care. I feel good!

And I am so greatful for wonderful friends. I guess this is probably a bigger deal than I feel like it is, it was definitely scarier for my family than me. But when I talk to my wonderful they saying, "Ok, praying right now!" and I know they mean it. I love you!!

Ready to be better

2012-02-01T19:39:00.001-06:00

I'm so ready to move on from the episode that was "last night." I am feeling better, but definitely not 100%, which needs to happen soon. I have a lot of things I want to do, and a lot of things I need to do. Cleaning house isn't on the list right now, Eric did that for me today :)

We have bee having some ridiculously warm days here. And playing outside, getting fresh air...

February 1st and wearing summer clothes. Are we going to get a winter at all this year??

An ER visit

2012-02-01T15:13:00.000-06:00

Last night I had a pretty scary experience, scarier for my family though. We had just finished eating dinner (at a restaurant) and we were sitting and talking. Very quickly I started to feel tingly and queasy, like I was about to pass out. That's the last thing I remember. I did pass out, and my family thought I was having a seizure. When I woke up I was very confused and it took a few minutes for me to realize where I was and what was going on. I could feel the vomit coming, so I managed to get outside with the help of my dad and sat on the ground. I did get sick, all over the flower bed just outside the door of the restaurant, oops! I started feeling a little better after that, but still very bad. Eric took me to the ER and we spent a few hours there. They gave me lots of tests, oxygen, and a saline flush. By the time they released me I was feeling a lot better, but very tired and the queazy feeling is still coming and going. The doctor in the ER diagnosed it as vasovagal syncope. After reading the information thy gave me at the hospital, and looking in to it online I'm not convinced that is what it was. I'm going to see my regular doctor tomorrow morning.

So, that's about it. I need to get back into taking pictures, but I just haven't done it! Go figure, I get the camera I really really wanted for Christmas and then I kinda stop taking pictures!!

I need some magic fairy dust, stat!

2012-01-25T10:03:00.000-06:00

I had an amazing experience this morning, one that almost never happens.......when I woke up, I felt rested. Crazy. That is so foreign to me! Last night I was talking to Eric about how great I feel, except I am just too tired. I know I don't get enough sleep, but he laid down the law with me and said I really need to be going to bed at 9pm since I wake up at 5am everyday for exercise classes. I didn't quite make it at 9pm (I'm still working on the last Hunger Games book!), but I was in bed at 9:20pm. Kylie has been waking up at 5am a lot lately, and she did it again this morning, before my alarm even went off. So when I heard her complaining about wanting Belle, I sat there and wondered if it was time to get up because I felt ready to wake up. Again, that is so foreign to me, but just then my alarm went off. And I had no trouble hopping out of bed. Crazy. Hopefully I can make this a habit because that sure was an awesome feeling this morning!

Of course, now I am feeling a little drained, I have a lot of house work to do, and a lot of homework on my mind. I'll be hitting the coffee, again.

I think I need to get back to my New Year's Resolutions, as I type this I can't even remember what they are......so I need to check and see how I'm doing (haha!)

Super mega catch up

2012-01-24T14:20:00.000-06:00

Last night Eric commented on my lack of blogging, what he said was, "My family is going to get mad at you!" I know, I know. He's right. Sometimes it feels like we live in a tornado! So this is a major catch up post, and I don't have any good pictures......but I posted the bad ones anyway so you can get the idea!

Backing up to last Friday. Eric went to see an attorney about our "house problems" that no one really had the answers to. Turns out, everyone we were dealing with gave us bad advice or was giving us advice without knowing the whole story. YAY! Everything is going to be OK. We still just have to get it sold...

Addison has started wearing underwear to bed. Some nights are more successful than others :) But she is doing a great job, and has been getting some cool rewards to waking up dry! We went for ice cream the other night, it was freezing outside!!

So that was the end of the week, last week.

This weekend, Eric played with Zoom City at the Rhinestone Cowboy in OKC. We decided to take the girls with us and have some fun(I had to drop off Eric in OKC). We met our awesome friends Matt and Ellen for lunch, and then we took the girls to the movies and saw Beauty and the Beast (not 3D).

Addison wasn't feeling the camera!

Kylie is showing me her movie ticket

Sitting in the theater, Kylie is giving me a smile, Addison and Daddy are eating popcorn in the background

The dogs went with us and stayed with Grandma Mary while we were having fun. After the girls and I dropped of Daddy we went to visit Grandma Mary for a while, and Grandma sent me shopping alone for a bit. So fun!!

My obssession with green

2012-01-20T13:35:00.001-06:00

Two meals in a row of GREEN. This is a new record for me, and I didn't even do it on purpose!

I went out of my green smoothie comfort zone today (peanut butter, banana, strawberry, blueberry) and tried something new. It was an awesome color of spring green, it made me really happy. I tried to get Eric to taste it because it was really good, but he said he couldn't get past the green color. So lame.

Ingredients; spinach, banana, almond milk, mango, pineapple

Lunch was super green too. The girls told me, "Green spaghetti is yucky mommy!"

Ingredients; Whole grain pasta, pesto (spinach, pine nuts, basil, garlic, salt, pepper, olive oil)

This is a South Beach Diet recipe, but you are supposed to use arugula instead of spinach, and it's supposed to be covered in parmesean cheese. Without it, it was still yummy!

I'm hopefull that one of these days my family will catch on to my passion for green food. It's so good for you, and you just can't deny how much better you feel when you at "good" foods for at least 3-5 days in a row!

Enter the circus

2012-01-19T20:08:00.000-06:00

We have had a beautiful January day (ha!), so I took the circus to the park this afternoon. We had a really good time!

Tonight was Addison's first gymnastics class since last semester. She was totally different than when she started last time! She jumped right in and had a great time, I was so happy for her!

Life has been busy

2012-01-17T20:38:00.002-06:00

And really, we're not even into a lot of things are starting. Eric and I are still in the honeymoon phase of our new classes where the work hasn't really started, and Addison doesn't start her gymnastics class until later this week. I am on the verge of being overwhelmed, and I will have to work really hard at not slacking off with anything so I can keep those feelings away.

I want to post more, but blogging is one of the things that is being greatly cut down because of everything else going on. Hopefully I can get into a really good routine soon so everything I want can get accomplished!!

Tonight we went to school with Eric since he hasn't been home all day, and won't be home until late. It was our first basketball game in Ada. The girls ran around and pigged out on junk food. Good times!

I want to share something that has been weighing heavily on us lately. It's a long story, so hopefully I can remember all of it;

Our house is still for sale, it's been 7 months
We thought we had a serious buyer last week. A lady wanted our house, and was getting pre-approved with her finance company. We were digging up lots of info for her, for her finance company (where this all started). We were told an offer was coming any day! We were hopeful that this nightmare of a financial situation was finally coming to a close.
Our realtor suggested we start getting our papers together so there would not be any hold up if we got a contract (I am so glad).
I started trying to hunt down the title to our house (since it is a manufactured house it has a tag and title just like a car). It was not in our closing papers, and I went through ALL of the papers in our house. No title.
I went to a tag agency to ask what I needed to do since I can't find it. I had all my closing papers with me and could not find the VIN (again, just like a car) anywhere, but I did have a serial number. The agency told me the number I had wasn't a VIN, and to bring in my tag and they would look it up that way.
I drive down to the house (1 hour, 15 minutes away) to look through the papers again, and to grab the tag in hopes that it would help. I took the tag to the tag agency and the tag was registered to a 1957 car.....so the tag is totally wrong for the house. And she looked up my serial number again, and confirmed it was not a VIN. The agent referred me to the county assessor's office.
I called the county assessor's office and explained the title situation. She looked in her records and basically was not much help either since they did not have the VIN on our tax papers (although she tried really hard). She did tip us off to something.....on our deed, it lists just the property when it should have the property and the house. If this were the case (and it should be) we wouldn't have to mess with the title since the deed supersedes it.
At this point, I had a mini breakdown :) This all happened on Friday
Today I spent time on the phone with our mortgage company and insurance company to see if they have our VIN in their files. Nope, just the "serial number." (Since the tag is wrong, the tag agency needed the VIN to look up the title).
(Are you tired of this mess yet?? I am!!!)
I called the central office of the tax commission to ask about the title situation. Again, I gave them the serial number I had that I thought was the VIN......and guess what, it is a valid VIN!! Say whaaaaaat? How did it happen that two agents checked this number and said is wasn't a VIN?
At this point I was really excited that this might be getting resolved TODAY. I went back to the tag agency, and gave them the serial number exactly as I had given it to the guy over the phone and this time it worked. Yay! I thought we were going to apply for a lost title and get this over with.
But.....the tag is not in our name, nor is it in the previous owner's name. The previous owner bought it from a repossessor, and the title was still in the repo's name. AND IT HAS A LIEN ON IT!!!!! The agent tells me to contact the previous owner and see if she has the title, so she can transfer it to her name, give it to us, and then we put it our name. At this point I called our realtor to consult with her. She suggested I call the tax comission again to see if they can tell me who is the person/company that has the title.
So I call, and of course they can't give me that information. But the lady I talked to explained to me that because of our title and deed issues (we have to get an amended deed because the house is not on the deed, just the land), we would probably end up in court. Our realtor thinks that is a little dramatic at this point, and I hope she is right!!
Currently our realtor is trying to contact the previous owner to see if she has the title, or any information. Did I mention the previous owner is a realtor also? Yeah.....

This just keeps getting worse and worse. I'm starting to get afraid of where it goes next, since I think we will get it resolved and then......more problems. So here are my questions that are not being answered yet;

How did we close on our house without a title (and a survey and abstract, which I guess we should've had copies of as well).
How did this happen with the seller being a realtor? Two realtors, out of the same office, working on this sale and all these problems slip by? (the title, the deed......even the incorrect tag).
If the house was sold to us in this condition, why are we the ones that have to fix it?

I'm just a bit beyond extremely freaking frustrated. I think Eric is too, but he's not as emotional as me, thank GOD! How long is this going to go on???

Eric is going to call an attorney tomorrow. Luckily, he specializes in real estate law, goes to church with us, and is a band parent. Yay connections!!!

Snowman Shuffle 10K

2012-01-14T20:32:00.000-06:00

Booyah!!!

Steph and I ran our first 10K this morning at White Rock Lake in Dallas. It was super fun. And I even have a picture of me crossing the finish line because my super awesome friend, Steph, ran the entire 6.2 miles!!

Me?? Not so much, I think I walk about 1 mile of it, or less. It seemed like I didn't walk much and that was really exciting for me! My chip time was 1:30:22.

I had a request for my playlist. So here's my "Snowman Shuffle playlist" for today;

Give a little, Hanson
Dog Days Are Over, Forence & the Machine
It Will Rain, Bruno Mars
What Doesn't Kill You, Kelly Clarkson
I Do Not Hook Up, Kelly Clarkson
Give a Little More, Maroon 5
Stutter, Maroon 5
Moves Like Jagger, Maroon 5
Pumped Up Kicks, Foster the People
Woohoo, Christina Aguilera
Paradise, Coldplay
Charlie Brown, Coldplay
Princess of China, Coldplay
Rolling in the Deep, Adele
Diva, Beyonce
Radio, Beyonce
Just Can't Get Enough, Black Eyed Peas
How I Roll, Britney Spears
Till the World Ends, Britney Spears
Forget You, Cee Lo Green
Big Fat Bass, Britney Spears
Lovers in Japan, Coldplay
Race You, Elizabeth & the Catapult
I Don't Want to Be, Gavin Degraw
On the Floor, Jennifer Lopez
We R Who We R, Kesha
Pretty Girl Rock, Keri Hilson
All These Things That I've Done, The Killers
Sex On Fire, Kings of Leon
Telephone, Lady Gaga
Judas, Lady Gaga
Uprising, Muse
Hotel Song, Regina Spektor

Ok, I realize this list is really long......but this is actually just my current favorites off my usual runnin playlist!!! I'm a music lover :)

Wordless Wednesday

2012-01-11T14:12:00.000-06:00

Firsts and a funny

2012-01-07T17:46:00.000-06:00

First green smoothie of the year!!!

It got me thinking while running this afternoon, I thought of a shoulda-coulda-woulda New Year's Resolution list!

365 cups of spinach this year
365 miles running
365 gallons of water
365 blog posts
365 hours of reading (not including school work!!!)

Why didn't I think of this sooner!

Today we went down to our house to fix the driveway. Everytime it rains a lot thedriveway washes out. We've been having people looking at our house, so we figured we really needed to get it done fast! Eric rented one of these things;

He had a little too much fun. Maybe he missed his calling as a construction worker??

I thought this picture of Addison and Gigi was super funny today

The catch up post

2012-01-05T19:59:00.000-06:00

I need to get back to blogging daily because I end up with too much to say, and too many pictures. Since we last talked......

We ended our time in Illinois with Grandma Lesa

Sad face :(

We drove to Minnesota

In case you were wondering, Illnois, Wisconsin and Minnesota are super boring to drive through.......and so it Missouri, Kansas, and Iowa.......and Oklahoma too.

We spent 2+ days in Minnesota with the Hall family.

Great times, as usual. We love hanging out with these kiddos, the girls have so much fun. But, we were really ready to get home when we left on Tuesday. We made it home from Minnesota in 12 hours (we only stopped twice).

We brought back some sickness with us. Kylie has it now and we went to the doctor for medicine today, and tonight Addison seems to be catching it too. But....it's not as bad as puking ;) The weather is super nice, so we went to the park for a while this afternoon.

So, that's where we are. Trying to get back into daily life routines, and it is so painful!!!

Sears Portrait Studio

2011-12-30T22:11:00.000-06:00

Obviously, we did pictures today at Sears!! It went really well, and I can't wait for our prints!!! The best part of this was the super-hollywood-diva Kylie turned into. She was really pissed every time we took her out of the picture to try and get one of Addison alone. So funny, she is a super poser!

Nothing new

2011-12-29T20:45:00.001-06:00

Not really much to report around here. We've been hanging around and being lazy, shopping, reading, and eating waaaaaay too much. It's been nice :) Tomorrow is our last day here in Illinois before we head further north for a few days. We're also taking the girls to have their pictures made, can you believe it's been over a year since we've done that??

Birthday and books

2011-12-28T09:06:00.003-06:00

First, some pictures of the girls.

Addison's birthday party, #2. Grandma Rena made her a princess cake, and they played some games. And guess what, we even had pizza again for her party :)

I'm always so impressed with Rena's baking and cake decorating, here's why.......my one and only attempt at making a birthday cake (2008).
Obviously, you can understand my amazement :)

I don't really like posting about all the awesome Christmas gifts we hae received this year, but I will talk about this one....

It's pretty great and I love it!!! My first book read on my Kindle is this one;

Crazy Love, by Francis Chan

Love, love, love this book! I highly recommend this read. Definitely one of my favorite books I have read about faith. I've been a bit on fire for learning about this subject lately, and this book was perfect for me at this time!

New Year's Resolutions

2011-12-26T22:11:00.001-06:00

Are you thinking about New Year's Resolutions yet? I am. Some years I am just not into it. I don't feel like I can set a cool goal, and actually accomplish it. What does that say about those years? Pessimism, table for one?

Here are some goals I'm thinking of for the new year;

Personal goals

Sell our house at Texoma
Fast for 21 days
Get even better at battling procrastination
Go on a vacation that doesn't include visiting relatives
Read at least 1 book a month
Potty train Kylie
Keep in touch with friends better
Do more for other people

Professional goals

Do more. I don't know if that means more lessons, more playing, more teaching, or even....gasp....get a job :) but I want to do more.
Finish my masters degree

Health/fitness goals

Run a 10k
Run some more 5k races and beat my 5k time of 35:32
Lose some "Kylie weight," 20lbs
Get Addison involved more in gymnastics or dance

This is just my first time to sit down and think about it, so this is my first draft and it may change. What are some of your goals for 2012?

Christmas in captions

2011-12-26T11:00:00.003-06:00

Grandma Lesa and Kylie sharing some love after presents this morning

Kylie is showing us her horse, she loves it so much

Addison and her horse

"Smile, girls!"

"Okay, try again.....smile!!"

Headed to Grandma Rena's

Opening presents, staying out of the action

Lots of action!!

I tried to be in the pictures for once, it didn't really work!

Still cheesing it up

Attacking Brian with bows

Kylie is puckering up for a kiss

Linnea reading to the girls about cake decorating

Posing some more

Christmas morning

2011-12-25T20:30:00.001-06:00

I love garlic

2011-12-25T08:29:00.001-06:00

While making Bagna Cauda last night, we found a new kitchen gadget! Brian's mom found it, so it's not ours :)

It's called a Zak garlic crusher/peeler. It worked pretty great for Eric, but took too much effort for me.

1. Pop in a garlic clove

2. Crush and roll

3. Voila! Peeled garlic!

Eric and Brian......chopping 12 heads of garlic!!! Yummy!!

Christmas Eve

2011-12-24T13:02:00.000-06:00

Last night the girls made Christmas cookies with Grandma Lesa. I think this is one of their new traditions, as is making Bagna Cauda on Christmas Eve. We did it last year, and we're doing it this year again!

We didn't intend on going anywhere today, but we ended up making a trip to Walmart for more toys :)

First of all, Lesa bought Addison a horse for her birthday (that a big doll would ride on), but I told her she didn't need to get one for Kylie too. I was wrong. And I also failed to realize she doesn't have a doll to actually ride the horse. Oops! So we went to Walmart to buy those items :)

(Still no snow in Illinois. I'm hoping for a Christmas miracle!!)

Christmas break day 3

2011-12-23T16:16:00.000-06:00

We haven't really done much here. We take daily naps, eat a lot, and watch Frosty the Snowman before bed.

Today we actually got out of the house early and went shopping. Although we didn't actually buy anything.

Oh yeah, we did buy Addison a new car seat. Her doctor told us we could put her in a booster now if we wanted. She was very excited about using a seat belt!

We had a pretty fun day. This evening Eric and I are going out to meet up with some of his friends from high school. Always a blast! I no longer dread these functions since I know these people a lot better now, being married for seven years has it's perks!

Christmas break, day 1

2011-12-21T19:24:00.001-06:00

We rolled in to town around 2am last night.....we're a little tired :)

Eric has been on a cooking kick, and trying new recipes lately! This is always fun. Seriously, it's awesome! Tonight he made Scotch Broth Soup

Ingredients; beef bone, carrots, turnips, celery, onion, salt and pepper.

And ham and swiss panins

Ingredients; sour dough bread, ham, swiss, dijon mustard

The girls have been pretty happy so far, but Addison is wondering where all the snow is!

We tried out Kylie is panties today, again, but it didn't go so well. We'll probably wait a few days and try again!

Playing at Grandma Mary's house

2011-12-19T14:00:00.002-06:00

Birthday pictures!

2011-12-14T20:47:00.000-06:00

This picture is for Grandma Lesa. She reads one of her recordable storybooks every night, she even had it going during a diaper change tonight!

Today's the big day!

2011-12-14T14:33:00.001-06:00

Today is Addison's 4th birthday!! Like everyone else says when their kid has a birthday, I CANNOT believe she is that old already!!

I've been really looking forward to this day for a couple weeks. Addison is finally old enough that you can really talk to her about things, and she talks back.....and understands. She is truly a little girl. No more baby, no more toddler, she's a little girl!

I got really excited about buying her birthday gift this year because one day I suddenly realized that every time we walk by the pillow pets at Walmart, she begs for one. I was so excited when I remembered that! She can actually tell us what she really loves and wants! Also, we aren't buying any Christmas gifts this year and allowing ourselves to buy her a birthday present....it's our one chance to buy gifts! (Kylie is getting a pillow pet too!). She and Kylie are in love with horses right now, and I've been so excited about showing her the birthday cake with horses on it that I ordered for her.

And, she loves going to Mazzio's for cheese pizza so we're doing that too. One more thing I've been looking forward to.....singing happy birthday to her this morning and telling her all about the day she was born (for the first time), and telling her about all the snow we had on her birthday (she loves snow!!!). I've just been really excited :))

This morning Grammy dropped by before going to school and brought Addison some doughnuts and chocolate milk. This girl is getting spoiled all day!!

Before lunch today we went to Walmart to pick up her cake (she loved it!), and Addison picked out some flowers and a couple balloons. It was very exciting ~~for me~~! Now the girls are napping, and I just pulled out the gifts and set up the table for Addison.

I hope she has had a wonderful birthday, and hopefully an even better evening when we go to Mazzio's and she gets to open gifts and eat cake!

I don't know what everyone else does for little kid birthdays, but it seems like everyone else throws big parties. I just don't really get into parties. When the girls are older and ask for a birthday, then we can start doing parties, but I just prefer to go do something fun. Kylie and Addison have both been getting party invitations from friends and classmates, but we haven't even attended any of them. Am I a horrible mother?!? That's probably why they don't ask for parties yet, haha!!

Hopefully we'll have some more pictures to share later!

She knows best

2011-12-12T20:06:00.000-06:00

After bathtime tonight, the girls and I were playing cars. I let a pretty big one rip, laughed about it, and Addison said, "Mooooooom, what was that?" I said, all proud of myself, "I farted!" Addison replies very matter-of-factly, "Mom, you need to stop farting, no one wants to hear that." I thought I was going to die laughing! It sounds like she has been hanging out with her Papa too much!!

I've been looking through pictures from this past spring and summer. It makes me miss our old house, just a little. There was so much room inside the house, and outside to run and play. The horses behind our house, which the girls loved. And the playset.....Yeah, I do miss living down there. I still wish it would sell ASAP.

We haven't been on a road trip in a few months and I am ready to travel! 1 week from tomorrow is the last day of school before break, and then we are heading out to Illinois and Minnesota for our break. We are hoping for LOTS of snow!!

TGIF??

2011-12-09T16:02:00.000-06:00

This is about how our day has been today. Not exactly going down as one of my favorites :)

I really want to take advantage of the whole, "Yay! It's Friday!" thing, but I can't really think of anyhting to do. I really wish we could go do something fun tonight. We'll see :)

Getting started

2011-12-09T10:21:00.001-06:00

I'm having such a hard getting going today. So I checked out some inspiration from Pinterest.

Source: tumblr.com via Jayme on Pinterest

Source: Uploaded by user via Shelbey on Pinterest

Source: imgfave.com via Shelbey on Pinterest

Haha!! Ok, I'm ready now. I'm going to make myself a green smoothie and get my day started. Hopefully the girls will cooperate and it won't be one of those crazy days where they tear apart everything as soon as I finish cleaning!!

Procrastination

2011-12-08T14:28:00.002-06:00

I've been so much better about procrastinating things lately, with the exception of doing the dishes and folding laundry. Today my big thing I keep procrastinating is checking our bank account and seeing how much we've spent this week, that kinda thing. For reasons I just don't feel like getting into (because I'm also working really hard on not worrying about it), doing that little chore is a major bummer. It's even more of a bummer than talking myself into running 6.4 miles in 35 degree weather.......which I did this morning :)))) So, I guess I should get to it. Right now, my goal is to get that done and off my mind before Eric gets home. That gives me a couple more hours.

I did pretty well this semester (and last semester too) about not procrastinating getting my homework finished. Everything was turned in early!

I forgot to share this picture I took last week sometime. I was working on a final while the girls were around (I try not to do homework when they are around because I can't even THINK STRAIGHT!!), and they wanted to do their homework too. So cute. Hopefully I can instill in them a desire for getting an education, even if you think you might not use it, haha! Just for the record, it still makes me smile when I remember the super high grade I got on that particular final and the B I earned!! Still haven't heard yet about my other class, but I'm pretty sure I will get an A in the class, so not much suspense there except the grade on my final!!

Here's one more picture of Kylie. She was so proud of picking out this dress Grandma Lesa bought for her!

Shocker of shockers

2011-12-06T08:51:00.001-06:00

I just checked my grades for my classes, just in case any test grades were posted.....

My class that has been kicking my butt all semester, and I wasn't even sure if I could pass, I got a B!!!!!! And 180/200 on my final (a paper). I can't even believe it. I've been watching my scores carefully all semester, and working hard, which has been hovering around a C the whole time. I was hoping my final would at least be good enough to keep my C, so I wouldn't have to retake the class.

Wow, I can't even believe it. I never would've thought this would happen! My heart actually skipped a beat when I read it!!!!

YAY!! I don't know that I have ever been so excited to get a B!

Over the weekend

2011-12-05T07:41:00.000-06:00

Since the last time I posted;

I finished both of my classes for the semester!!!!!!
All State tryouts were Saturday, but my student that was trying out didn't make it and I think I was more upset than she was!
OU lost bedlam :(
We spent almost all of our Sunday at church between services and Hanging of the Green rehearsal and service last night. It was really fun and I REALLY wish I had more opportunities to play oboe! Something to pray about :)
When I came outside from boot camp this morning at 6:30am it was SNOWING!!!! I wasn't expecting it to be snowing, and when I went outside I was thinking, "What the heck is all this stuff flying around??" Haha

I'm looking forward to another really great week as we get closer and closer to Christmas break!!!

Amazing things happen

2011-12-02T08:59:00.000-06:00

Last night I had no intention of staying up late and essentially finishing my last project for school. It just kinda happened! I just need to proofread and basically I'm done! I can't believe it. I already feel happy and relaxed just thinking about not doing any school work for the next few weeks, or longer, I'm not even sure when next semester starts! I will admit that I specifically prayed for wisdom and strength to get my classes finished this semester, maybe that's how it happened?

3 more semester.....3 semesters.....3 semesters....almost there!!

Getting there

2011-12-01T22:30:00.000-06:00

I finished the final/case study assigment for one of my classes.....so I'm done with 1, and 1 more project to go before I'm done for the semester! This makes me really happy, but I would be even happier if I knew how to make a flow chart and conceptual map in word or excel or something. This may take some time :(

Tonight was the Christmas parade here in town. I only went because the band was marching, and luckily it was a pretty funny parade so the kids weren't the only ones having a good time! I think the theme was supposed to be "Classic Christmas Movies" or something like that, but really it should have ben "Redneck Christmas."

The first of two Christmas Vacation floats

Santa's sleigh.....with real deer heads

Yay band! They look so pumped, and professional? Daddy stopped to say high to the girls!

The second Christmas Vacation float. This one was much more realistic with the station wagon and a Randy Quaid character. I was disappointed he wasn't yelling, "Shitters full!"

This was the best non-redneck float

We had a good time!

Good vibrations

2011-11-30T13:37:00.000-06:00

(This is post #1100.....can you believe it?!?)

For two days in a row Eric has gotten the girls out of bed and delivered my coffee before he goes to work. How spoiled have I been? Honestly, I think it has made a difference in my day. I start off with super sweet gestures, and it just gets me in a good mood right off. I was even super productive this morning. House cleaning, dog bathing, playing with barbies......and even getting a little work done on my dreaded final for my education law class (basically it's just a 4 page paper backing up a postition and citing lots of cases and statutes.....totally exciting). My semi-goal is to get this final finished tomorrow, and then get working on my other project that is due Monday. Once this final and another project are turned in I am DONE for this semester!!!!

Look Mom, there's a rose outside!

Oh, it's pose time? Got it!

We've had a pretty good morning around here. I've been productive AND I played with the girls, score! It's usually one or the other :) Now that it's nap time......Y&R and cuddles with the animals!!

2011-11-29T08:11:00.002-06:00

Source: pearls-curlsandasoutherngirl.tumblr.com via Yvonne on Pinterest

I have so much to do, so much on my mind about how I'm going to get it done......I am frozen. I don't know where to start. I just want to skip ahead to Christmas break, and skip ahead to our house selling. Eyes on the prize, eh?

Trying new things

2011-11-28T11:22:00.000-06:00

This morning I tried two new things!

Yoga Meltdown, Jillian Michaels
Pomegranate

Yoga Meltdown was pretty great. Often with video workouts I just don't get enough out of it, and it seems like a waste of time (except for P90X, that is tough!!). This was great, yay!!

A couple weeks ago Caitlin posted about how to open a pomegranate, so I decided to try it!

I did it!

I ate it on oatmeal, it was really yummy!

The girls have done nothing new today, they have; played, watched Cinderella, and made some big messes :)

I can't wait for some leftover Chicken Noodle Soup at lunch time!

The Lady's Chicken Noodle Soup

2011-11-27T19:34:00.000-06:00

Eric found this recipe today and it looked delicious. It was :)

See what I mean about the pictures?? Horrible!

Can you ever go wrong with Paula Deen? And there wasn't even any butter in it. Don't get me wrong, I don't have any problems with butter, but it is surprising that this recipe has no butter!

Here's the recipe link; The Lady's Chicken Noodle Soup

Post Thanksgiving hangover

2011-11-27T16:37:00.001-06:00

We spent this weekend with our dear friends in the city. It was so much fun! We went to the OU game, which was awesome even though it was cold, rainy, and miserable, we played rockband (good times), and we ate lots of yummy food. So.much.fun.

We've been meaning to go home (the old house) and get our Christmas tree, since the day after Thanksgiving is the official day to put up your tree, but really struggling with the idea of driving down there and spending so much gas (and time). We bought a cheap mini tree and some non-breakable cheap ornaments instead. Perfect!!!

The girls had a really good time decorating a tree just their size! It's kinda nice having a small tree because we weren't sure how our big tree was going to fit in this house. There isn't room for one more thing in here!!

I feel like I haven't been able to get very many pictures on here lately because I've been having a hard time getting ~~good~~ clear pictures unless we are outside in the sunlight. It seems like most of my pictures are fuzzy and out of focus. I haven't been able to get pictures of yummy food like I used to! Do digital cameras wear out?? Are there only so many pictures you can take with a point and shoot before it starts to wear out?

Eric is making homemade chicken noode soup tonight and I really want to share some pictures!

Plan of attack

2011-11-20T20:44:00.000-06:00

I'm so glad I ran that 5K last night. It was a little bit of a last minute decision because I didn't know about it until a couple weeks ago. I have re-evaluated my "training plan" for the 10K I am running in January. I have to say that daily I think, "Oh my, what have I done, why in the heck did I sign up for that?!?!?"

In addition to adjusting my plan of attack for completing the 10K, I've decided to stop being so hard on myself about a run/walk method instead of just running. I know that I can pace even faster by taking walking breaks, I do it all the time, and I need to stop shaming myself for it. Lately, I haven't felt good about a run unless I do it without a walking break. I need to stop that. It just doesn't work for me right now. Maybe later when I get better at running I can work at cutting out the walking breaks and running faster.

Chigger Chase 5k

2011-11-19T20:54:00.001-06:00

Tonight I did the Chigger Chase 5k in Ardmore.

We had to show up kinda early so I could pick up my packet. Luckily everything was at the park and the girls got to play a lot while we were waiting.

This race did not seem to be run as well as Germanfest, this was more like slightly organized chaos. I think a lot of that was because they had 2 different short runs for the little kids (with a person dressed up as a chigger), so there were tons of kids everywhere. The kids went first, which seemed like we were waiting around f-o-r-e-v-e-r. The crazy thing was when the gun went off, no one even knew it was time. That was a little crazy!

So, how did the run go?

It went well, I ran all of it except when we got to the water station. I didn't want to walk through it, but the way they had it set up it seemed like they expected you to stop (there was no throwing of cups on the ground!). I was feeling pretty good until the last mile, and that was kinda rough. The last .10 mile I saw my mom and the girls walking down the trail to look for me. That really helped me push through the very end! But.....I have to admit my heart sank a little when I crossed the finish line and the clock read 40:02. I tried really hard not to be upset, and I almost cried. That is 5 minutes slower than I ran the Germanfest 5k. I shouldn't be surprised, I know I've been really slow lately. I don't know what to do about it. Some of it is probably because I used to run with K-Lo and she helped me go faster, and I wonder if some of it is because I've been doing boot camp 3 times a week, which leaves me really tired for running and I only have 1 rest day all week. I really don' know if that makes a difference for me or not. Boot camp is over December 9 an I'm not planning on going back until I do a couple more races. I also think I may be about 5lbs or so heavier than I was in May, which I'm sure would help slow me down!

I'm trying to take Steph's advice and not worry about time and such, because just doing it is better than not running at all. So true.

I think the girls had a good time. They see me going to run all the time, so it was fun for them to be there for a race. It was nice to have a cute little cheering section. I loved it!

Does anyone have advice for speeding up, and why I'm running so much slower now?

Eeek!

2011-11-19T08:37:00.001-06:00

I have to admit that I am really kinda nervous about the 5K I am doing this afternoon. I don't feel prepared at all, I didn't get a good night's sleep.......did I mention I don't feel prepared? I keep reminding myself "It's just 3 miles!"

My goals for this are;

run the entire race
finish faster than my last 5k (in May, Germanfest)

I'm really not sure if I can do either one of those right now! But...last time I didn't feel prepared either. My biggest thing I don't like is that I have been running so slowly lately. The farthest I have run recently without a walking break is 2.5 miles (last time around 2.8 miles was the farthest I had run). I'm trying to feel confident since my adrenaline and running with other people made all the difference for me.

Wish me luck, the race is at 4:45pm :))

Thursday

2011-11-17T19:25:00.000-06:00

It's been a long 18 hours over here! We woke up early this morning with Addison puking. Luckily it only happened twice, but I had to keep her home from school so she wouldn't make the other kids sick. This was a really bad day for her to stay home! I've been studying and working on a study guide for a test that was due today, and I had planned to spend all of school time (9:30-2:30) working that. It was a little more difficult (and stressful) with someone else here! I did get it finished, and it looks like I will pass my law class that I have been so worried about. All we have left is a final :)

When I finished with my school work, I only had 1 hour before it was time to pick up Kylie. It was nice to have that hour to relax and watch some Y&R, but I realized, during that time, that I had been super tense while working on my test (it took over an hour, and I had a 79 minute time limit) so I gave myself a horrible crick in my neck. (Is "crick" actually a term?)

Eric was feeling especially nice and helpful today. When he came home for lunch (I was in the middle of my test), he did some housework since I obviously had done nothing. So thankful for that! And then tonight he cooked us a great dinner, cleaned, and took Gigi on her nightly poop walk. Even more thankful for that!!

Here are a few pictures from this afternoon and evening. We watched Elf this afternoon, and had a major cuddlefest (minus Kylie).

The other day Eric had the bright idea of looking for a new "Bear" on ebay. We've looked before and never found it, but this time hit the jack pot. It was really fun showing Addison :) We also found Kylie another "Bunny." She hasn't lost him yet, but just in case!

Oh yeah, and Kylie threw a tantrum. Pretty normal for her!

Princess pumps

2011-11-15T18:41:00.001-06:00

I think Kylie pooh is getting sick. Sometimes you just have to put on your princess pumps to make yourself feel better.

Today was a school day for the girls, so I stayed busy doing all the things I want to do, but can't when they are around. I have started to going to a Bible study at church on Tuesday mornings after the girls go to school. Of course, everyone in there is quite a bit older than me. I knew this before I went, but it didn't bother me at all. I'm used to going to church and being the youngest people, by far. These ladies that I've been meeting with seem to have quite an issue with this (they don't realize it). They are happy I am there, or so they tell me, but they say many times in our conversation comments about younger people that are not so flattering. Things like; they pray so much better now because they just weren't ready for their prayer life when they were younger, their faith is so much more important to them now, etc. Basically hinting (not on purpose, I'm sure) that younger people are dumb about their faith. It's funny to converse with them because one of the ladies (the youngest!) sees that they talk like this and will stumble over words trying not to sound so........you know, judge-y? I know they don't mean to be like this. And they seem to think it's their responsibility to educate me. They are coming from such a loving place, and I'm sure they just want to help me......but why can't we just have conversation and learn about our faith together. I mean, if you have it all figured out, why are you going to Bible study? Anyway. I'll keep going for now. I'm trying my best to speak up and not be a wallflower. Maybe if they realize I'm not a lost soul, they'll stop trying to collectively "teach" me. Haha :)

After Bible study I went running. Just 2 miles today, but I didn't take any walking breaks, yay me. I feel really unprepared for the 5k I'm running on Saturday. I remember feeling that way last time too. I'm just running soooooo slow, and taking so many walking breaks, ugh! I'm taking it easy this week and drinking lots of water, hopefully it will help :)

When I picked up the girls from school we went to the park.

Although it looks like fall, it is extremely warm (78 degrees or so). I'm ~~not so~~ secretly wishing it was cold and blustery.....maybe even an ice storm! (since we usually get ice instead of snow, let's be real)

They were trying to chase (and catch) the leaves that were falling.

Bag lady

2011-11-14T20:46:00.001-06:00

My little bag lady

I know you probably can't really tell from this picture, but her clothes don't go together at all, but when you check out the shoes.....it is actually coordinated like she did this on purpose, and picked out clothes around her shoes. Funny stuff.
(bag lady in training........"big smile, Kylie!")

Tonight we went to our house (maybe I should just call it our "lake house" to make myself feel better) to get Eric's car. It hasn't been driven since early this summer, and since then we haven't been able to get it started. But it was time to wake the beast.

Eric got it done. Yay!

The girls had fun playing on their playset.

When we stopped for dinner, we ran into a past-alumni president in Kingston. "What are you doing down here?" That was awkward :)

Posers

2011-11-13T19:35:00.001-06:00

When Grandma Lesa was here last week she took the girls dress shopping....a couple times. They have been looking forward to Sunday all week since they knew they could wear their new dresses.

I have to confess, we did something we have never done before. We went to Sunday School this morning, went to service, and 5-10 minutes into service I looked at Eric and said, "I really want to go home." I don't know what the problem was, but I was just not feeling it this morning. We picked up the girls and headed home. That was a little weird. Does anyone else ever do this or I am just a really bad person?

Drowning in homework

2011-11-11T13:07:00.000-06:00

The next week for school is going to be more work that I am used to for my classes. I have 1 big project, a test, and a "learning module" that I need to be working on. Where do I begin?! I find myself working on the project, but thinking about the smaller assignment I have due on Sunday. Eeep!

So I'm procrastinating for a few minutes to post some pictures of the girls.

When I picked them up from school yesterday we went to the park for a while. The ECU band was practicing a couple blocks over while we were there so we listened to them play. It reminded me of being in college, and spending my afternoons on the marching field at this time of year!

This is from last week when we had to drive home for my paperwork.

Can you believe it?

2011-11-08T20:57:00.002-06:00

Can you believe I haven't posted any pictures of the littles in such a long time?? Crazy! Maybe tomorrow?

Love this

2011-11-07T20:50:00.000-06:00

(first of all......we just had another earthquake, as I was opening up this post.......oh.my.gosh)

video platform video management video solutions video player

This is the school Eric used to work at, and the blonde kid was in Eric's band!

Monday morning confessions

2011-11-07T08:57:00.001-06:00

This is one of those days where I am trying really hard not to be overwhelmed by all the little, insignificant things I need to do today. Nothing is really as important as having a good time with my little girls (and making sure the bills get paid!).

Today started in the wee hours of the morning. First it was Kylie, not sleeping well, and it turned into one of those morning where I find out how many times I was up with her by the number of discarded sippy cups next to her bed. At some point early this morning Addison ended up in our bed, it was storming and she was scared. She slept the rest of the time in our bed, and I tried to sleep......but man, can that little girl snore (in my ear, of course)! With so much sleep disruption I'm surprised I got up for boot camp this morning. As usual I am so glad I did, it was a tough workout! Before I left for boot camp I couldn't get the front door locked, and I thought it was just me being super sleepy.......but when I got back I realized that there was a problem with our front door. I don't know if it's all the rain from last night or if it's the earthquakes we've been having, but the front door has majorly shifted and won't lock. I can fit my entire finger between the door and the frame! Hopefully Eric can get that fixed at lunch because I really don't want to leave our house unlocked.

So, deep breaths.......

The hoarder style mountain of dirty clothes will get taken care of :)

Earthquake!!

2011-11-06T18:21:00.000-06:00

Literally right after I posted last night we had an earthquake here. Crazy, right? It was quite a strange sensation since we aren't used to that here. The only thing I could compare it to is being on a cruise ship, and the moment the engines are turned on and you take off. Only......if you were like sitting right on top of the engine :)

ESPN was on air when it happened. Funny stuff!

Weekend

2011-11-05T21:54:00.001-05:00

Grandma Lesa has been here this weekend and we are really enjoying her being here. We always do. She has taken the girls dress shopping, they are very happy (and very spoiled) little girls.

With the time change tonight, I can't believe that everyone is in bed already. Craziness. I'm indulging in my favorite thing, watching Hoarders :)

Grandma Lesa goes home tomorrow, and we will all be pretty sad about that.

I need to share that I am really proud of myself for downing 34oz of water tonight. Drinking enough water is sometimes a struggle for me. I go through phases where water just doesn't taste good to me, even though I feel so much better if I just drink it. Other time I drink water constantly, no problem. Lately has been one of those times when I just don't want water. Even when I go running, I might drink 8oz after running and that's it. I am so dehydrated!!!

Work life vs. home life

2011-11-03T07:36:00.000-05:00

I have to brag on my husband for a minute.

Last night he was telling me about a discussion he was in online. The response one person gave was shocking, and he told me about that, but forgot to mention at length the response he gave.

I snuck into his account :) only because I just happened to remember this password, it's super simple, this isn't a habit of mine.....I promise!!

The original post was asking other band directors how they balance home life and school life. There were a few good answers, and then this one;

When you started as a undergraduate as a band director the instructors should have told you this.

1. Your Band becomes your wife, your wife becomes your mistress.

2. Your Band Room becomes your home, your home becomes your apartment.

3. Your Band Kids become your kids, your kids become the step children.
Thats why you get paid the stipend, DEAL WITH IT.

Wow, really? People really think this way?!

And then there is Eric's response;
This time of year (the time between the beginning of marching contest and all-district try-outs) I find it hard as you do spending enough time at home. I make one point very clear to my students….band is NOT life. I have a life, and so do they, if it’s on the schedule it’s required of my students and myself. I try really hard to be in the bandroom for at least an hour and a half after school everyday. Sometimes I’m here for 3 or more hours. Sometimes I just can’t be here, however, I don’t think I’ve ever had a student not understand, when I told them “I’m sorry, I’ve got to be home by such and such a time today” In fact, right now I’ve got kids practicing, and I had to tell them, “hey guys, I’ve got to be home shortly after 4 to get my kids” They understand and are happy to help. Here’s my only suggestion: If you don’t find a way to make your home life a productive, content, home life, you will not be productive and content in your job. In my opinion, church and family come first. However, I always have to understand that my students should have the same values and communicate the schedule clearly. As for the comment you get paid a stipend, deal with it. Your stipend is not a life sentence, I try to be a good father, husband, and band director all at the same time. Don’t make band your whole life or your students. The one thing I see in common with the band directors who make band their entire life and expect their students to do the same is that their students do not want to continue playing an instrument after high school because they were burned out living in their high school band director. I always ask myself, do I want my kids to love music and making music, or do I want them to love winning trophies. So far, I’ve found that taking care of the first, takes care of the second, and as far as I know my students enjoy coming to my class almost everyday.
In short…..
Teach your students about life, don’t teach them that band is life.

I'm so proud :)

When Eric and I were talking about this last night, it always brings up the question of, "How in the world will our family function when I go back to work??" The way things are now, me staying home is by far the very best thing for our family because Eric's job is so time consuming and demanding. If I were working, doing the same kind of job, we wouldn't see our kids much, we would never cook meals, our fridge would be empty, our house would be a disaster, and we would have to hunt for clean clothes to wear everyday. I don't mean to sound like those things make life happy (a clean house and cooking meals), but when the house is in order and everyone is taken care of.....it leaves the time to really enjoy our family time.

We don't necessarily talk about this much, we've just found a way to work it out (mostly). I'm just so happy that this isn't something we have to argue over. Family comes first, end of story. I love it.

bitter

2011-11-02T14:11:00.000-05:00

Thank you, East Central University, for having such archaic recording methods. I'm very excited that I got to spend $20 in gas and 3 hours of time helping you keep track of my records. That's awesome......not. By the way, I want my tuition waiver back!

I'm so irritated, but feeling better now that this little problem is taken care of. I have some bitter feelings towards ECU right now;

We have to take a writing proficiency test in the first 6 hours of graduate class work. No big deal, I took it and passed in 2007. ECU has no record of that. All of my records prior to 2011 have been shredded. (say what??) I had to drive home (as in Kingston) today to get my letter that confirms that I have already passed this test.
Did I mention my tuition waiver was taken away? I'm still bitter about that. The reason was I'm "over 30 and married." I need that waiver now a heck of a lot more than I did when I started this!

Ok, I'm done. I'm going to have a great day from now on :))

2011-11-01T20:29:00.000-05:00

Source: itworksforbobbi.com via Yvonne on Pinterest

Source: thoughts-of-a-jesus-freak.tumblr.com via Amanda on Pinterest

Source: observando.net via Amanda on Pinterest

Celebrating Halloween

2011-10-31T21:03:00.000-05:00

We've got our pumpkins carved

And we're so excited!

This was an evening the girls have been looking forward to for quite a while! We like to trick or treat in my parents' neighborhood because their neighborhood is just that great! About half of the people sit out in their yards with candy so the kids don't even have to go to the door. And there were so many kids out tonight!

We took a quick break for some candy......and then we took off again!

Happy Halloween!!

Workout woes

2011-10-31T16:00:00.000-05:00

I'm sure I will have the full Halloween update later tonight, but right now all I can think about is how every workout I do.....I am completely drained and exhausted for the rest of the day. Why is this? Running has been particularly painful and slow since Thursday, but boot camp has been great and I'm working my butt off there.

Seriously, I need a nap everyday after I run or go to boot camp. I know I'm not drinking enough water, but could it be that simple?? After almost every run or boot camp I make a green smoothie (lots of protein!!!), and I thought that would help.

Ugh, it's 4pm and bedtime can't come soon enough tonight!

Anyone have any suggestions or advice??

Cornerstone Kid's Ranch

2011-10-29T20:37:00.006-05:00

This is going to be another one of those posts where I tell you how much I love our new home, so get ready!

Tonight we went to Cornerstone Kid's Ranch with our church, which I am loving....more on that later :) They have a pumpkin patch there in the fall, which is the main reason I wanted to go since we have never been to a pumpkin patch......and I have been feeling like a bad mom for never taking my kids. I am so glad we went, there was so much more; petting zoo, pony rides, bounce houses, hay rides, and of course the fellowship! Here's the picture tour of our time there;

First we took a short hayride down to the barn, and we visited the petting zoo.

There were some goats trying to hump each other the whole time, it was hard not to giggle like a little girl! I'm not proud of myself!

Next, pony rides! When I saw they had ponies I was really hoping the girls could ride. They love horses and talk about horses constantly, so ponies are awesome!!

After the pony rides, which Kylie was very upset about leaving, we did the little bounce house.

Addison and Daddy went up the hill to the bigger bounce house, but Kylie just wanted to make circles around the barn.

Did you check out the view behind the bounce house?? Amazing!!

Then we took a hayride to the pumpkin patch.

Before heading back to the barn, Miss Cindy did a short devotional with the kids.

She talked about how taking out the yucky stuff in the pumpkin to make a jack o lantern is like how Jesus takes out all the yucky stuff from us.

We headed back to the barn, and roasted some wienies for dinner.

It was such a fun evening! I feel so blessed that we have been given the opportunity to make our home here, and blessed that we are in such a great church family. I'm so glad that we visited our church before we ever knew we were moving here, that way when we did move our family here there was no question where our new church home would be. We are so so lucky!

Here's what the girls picked out

Cinderella complex

2011-10-28T14:36:00.000-05:00

Big girl steps

2011-10-27T20:17:00.000-05:00

When Addison went to gymnastics today she participated the entire time and had a lot of fun! It only took a little coaxing by me to get her out there, but as soon as she went she was totally fine! I haven't been able to take pictures yet because she is so high maintenance about gymnastics.

After class Addison and I went on a dinner date, at Subway.

I was proud of her there too because she ate a sandwich......with lots of veggies on it!!! (by choice, I didn't make her) And she picked out apple chips instead of potato chips, yay!!!

look at all those yummy veggies!

I just might be able to bring her back from the dark side.....meat and potatoes, in all their various forms.

While Addison and I were eating dinner, I kept thinking about how great it is to live here! There are so many more opportunities here for the kids (mother's day out, gymnastics, a great park, church), and also more for us adults too. But the great thing also is because it's so much easier for us to do things since my parents are here too. I love this place!

Rainy day

2011-10-27T14:18:00.000-05:00

Today is Halloween dress up day at school for the girls! Of course, they were very excited about wearing their princess dresses Grammy made for them to school :)

Here are some of their details

Hopefully they don't destroy them today before they even get to trick or treat Monday!

After dropping off the girls I went to the gym to run 3 miles on the treadmill (it's raining and cold!!). I totally wore myself out, and I didn't even see it coming. I didn't even feel like I was working that hard because my stomach kept cramping, and I would walk.......a lot. But then I came home, and I totally crashed!

I rarely sit on the couch and watch TV or read during "school time," but today I did. I neglected my mountain on clothes that need folding (more on the way),

and I sat on the couch snuggling with Gigi and watching Y&R. It was fun :)

Now it's over!! Time to pick up the girls from school!

Road trip

2011-10-26T16:20:00.000-05:00

Ugh, so tired. I don't know if I can come up with enough sentences to describe today so I may have to resort to some bullet lists :)

Here's how our day went;

The kids left school for contest at 4:45am
The girls and I stayed in bed, drove ourselves, and left home a 6:15am
The drive was easy and I didn't get lost, yay!
Kathy and her baby bump met up with us to watch he band perform (they made a II)
Kathy, the girls, and I went to Steak n Shake for lunch, and shopping at Sam's
Now we're home....and I'm oh so tired!

A bit about contest......

Eric was very happy with the band's performance, and he's ok with them scoring a II. I guess you could say he's at peace about it, but I'm not it. (The scoring system in I-II-III-IV-V, with I being the best and V being the worst.) Of course I think they should've have scored a I. The circumstances the kids dealt with is totally unfair and maybe if it would've been better circumstances........wah, wah, wah, right?? Here's what I think is ridiculous about their circumstances;

The schools in their class performed between 8:30am and 1pm (roughly!), our kids' time was 9:30am and they had to be in warm up at 8:20am. This probably doesn't sound like a big deal because that isn't very early, but they had to drive 3 hours on a school bus to get ther. So, yes, you read that correctly when I said the kids left school at 4:45am this morning!!! That situation is stinky, but it's stinkier.....
The schools around the Tulsa area (not us!!!) performed later in the day. Are-you freaking-kidding-me-that-is-so-mean!!!! Really, that's unfair to expect high school kids to get out of bed at 4am, drive 3 hours, and then peform at their highest level.

I know it sounds like I'm making excuses, but I'm just frustrated that these kids weren't given the best opportunity to succeed!

Anyway......it was still a great day, and I didn't take any pictures (obvsiously!!).

My daily mile

2011-10-25T11:23:00.000-05:00

This morning was like a lot of Tuesday mornings; we get up, watch some TV, eat breakfast, get dressed, and the girls go to school. They are always really happy about going to school, such a great thing! I'm getting the feeling that Kylie can't wait to go to school sooooo much, that she is mad at me in the morning waiting until it is time to leave! Yesterday morning when she woke up I got her out of bed, and immediately changed her diaper and dressed her (like we always do) and she gave me a biiiiiiiiig Kylie kiss during this time. We lock lips and she stares at me wide-eyed until she decides our kiss is finished. Yesterday's kiss was extra long, and I loved it! However, this morning.......as soon as she woke up I went to change her diaper and clothes and she screams and fights me the entire time. I hate it when she does this! And she acted like this all morning until we left the house to go to school. Such a stinker!

This is what happens when you cry too much!

Addison was totally fine this morning and in a really good mood, but she still is bashful and difficult when I try to take her picture!

Leaving them at school is always such a great feeling. They are excited to go, and I get some much needed time to do "my" stuff. Lately, I have been heading to the park to run right after dropping off the girls. Today I had planned to run 2 miles, not really a big deal, except I am really bad at taking walking breaks when I really could keep going. It isn't physically hard for me to keep going, but mentally I really struggle. Today I over came the mind games and ran 2.25 miles with no walking breaks! I am so proud of myself for that!

Towards the end of my 2.25 miles I started getting excited that I was actually going to do it (not walk!), but I was really struggling with the voice in my head that was telling me there is no shame in walking. I don't think there is any shame in walking, at all, but for me I feel like I should be able to over come that desire to slow down and walk when I can keep going. A few times this week I have wondered if I am totally nuts to think that I can run a 10K in January. Usually I don't run more than a mile a time without a walking break! I knew I had to start getting over this and just push myself to keep going......no matter how slow. And today I did. Now I just have to push myself more and more. Even today I could have kept going, but I stopped at 2.25 miles because I had it in my head that I would only run 2 miles. It's so crazy how I'm not even out of breath while running, and my body isn't even hurting, and I still have to battle with myself over walking!! Running is a beast I am slowly trying to figure out......there is a lot to learn!

And don't you love the endorphin high you get??? Today was awesome! Towards the end of running I was praising God for my running shoes, a beautiful park to run in, free time to run, and just the ability to run!! Now that I've come down from my high it's just funny the craziness that goes through my head while running! What's even funnier to me is that while I was thanking God for all this small things in life.....I was listening to Regina Spektor, not exactly assuming running music OR religious :)

Funny stuff!

So now.......

Green smoothie time!

It's also time to get to work because I have so much to do today! My house is a total wreck, and I have lots of homework and assignments due in my classes today and tomorrow. 2:30pm always comes way to fast for me!

I have to peel my tired butt off the couch first :)

internet

2011-10-24T16:03:00.000-05:00

We finally have new internet service, yay!!! Hopefully this means it will be much easier to post pictures and videos of the girls!

Today I prayed

2011-10-23T20:15:00.000-05:00

I prayed for a friend, and I prayed harder than I ever have. Prayer is nothing new to me, but to sit and try really hard to quiet my mind and pray for someone else is something I don't do very often. I really should make a habit of this. There are plenty of friends going through trials in their life and focusing on something other than my own problems would be good.

Sleepy day

2011-10-22T20:06:00.000-05:00

I'm a little sad that tomorrow is the end of fall break. It was great this year! I spent most of the day sleeping on the couch, that was pretty amazing!!

We have a couple a really amazing band parents that are always there to help when needed, and are super kind and generous in general! Tonight they brought over some game day snacks for us; stuffed jalapenos, candied jalapenos, and fruit snacks for the girls. I was super excited and ate all but 2 of the stuffed jalapenos right away! Luckily, they also go to our church so we will get to see them all the time even after their son graduates this spring!

Here are the pumpkins we carved yesterday. The girls love them!

Starting fall break

2011-10-20T22:18:00.000-05:00

Today we went down to our house to bring the Blazer back to Ada. Surprise, surprise.....it wouldn't start. Oh yeah, and Eric got pulled over on the way down there, he was only driving 7mph over, but he knew the patrolman so he just got a warning :)

The girls got to play on their play set for a while. They were really happy about that!

Tonight we had a Thursday night football game. I took the girls to rehearsal before the game since I figured we wouldn't stay very long. The girls were really tired and they needed to be in bed!

Good times!

After rehearsal I took the girls for dinner. For some reason they wanted to go to Long John Silver's? And they wanted to eat inside. It was actually really fun, I'm glad I did what they wanted this time :)

Tomorrow, fall break really starts for us! We have nothing to do, and nothing planned for Friday and Saturday. So exciting!! Other than running, and possibly picking out some pumpkins to carve.......we have nothing planned and that is exciting!! I see lots of couch time and naps in my future!

Anyone else have some good fall break plans??

Wednesday recap

2011-10-19T20:53:00.002-05:00

Wow, can you believe we are on fall break? Really cool stuff, I tell ya! And.....it's cold here! Seriously, it's cold for Oklahoma. It's supposed to get down to 32 degrees over night tonight, that's for real!

So anyway.....here's what we did today.

We played inside for most of the morning because it was pretty cold out.

Shout out to Rae! Little pink car LIVES!!!

I had my green smoothie.

Ingredients: spinach, almond milk, vanilla protein powder, frozen strawberries, banana

I'm trying to make this a daily habit again. Last time I was drinking green smoothies daily (in addition to lots of water) I could tell a huge difference in my skin. Spinach is amazing!!

We went to the park for a bit. It was pretty chilly compared to what we are used to!

When we used to visit my parents here it was a big treat for us to come to the park. The parks in Durant are not well kept, in bad neighborhoods, and graffiti'ed. So coming to Wintersmitth was awesome. Now, we come her a few times a week. Sometimes I still can't believe we have moved here!!

It was a pretty great day.

Although, I'm not gonna lie. Money issues are a big concern with us lately. As you can imagine, paying for two houses (mortgage and rent, plus utilities on both) is quite a financial burden. I'm second guessing whether we have enough to cover it all. I'm tired of trying live by an impossible budget. I'm tired of trying to eat super cheap and eating ramen, corn dogs, and other crap more often than not. Something has to change in order for us to afford all that we are trying to do, so I'm done putting so much junk in my family. In other words, we are going to start eating a little better around here. And we're upping the prayer in our house. Feel free to join us :)

Giving the finger

2011-10-19T07:34:00.001-05:00

We've had internet trouble ever since we moved into our rent house on September 1. For some reason our air card doesn't work at our house except for certain, random times of day. Sometimes it will work for a little while first thing in the morning, and sometimes it will work for a while late at night, but it never works at 100%......just enough to actually use it! And of course, there is not telling when it will work on a daily basis so I usually go to my parent's house to get homework done.

As you can imagine this has been super frustrating. Eric and I have both been on the phone A LOT with US Cellular. Basically, they tell us that there is some interference here in our area and they are trying to locate it, and resolve it. Sounds great, except when it takes weeks......and nothing is accomplished.....and we are still paying for service......and no one can give us an idea of how long it might take. So frustrating!!!!

Yesterday, after talking to someone at US Cellular AGAIN, I decided we are cancelling. We have been wanting to cancel, but haven't since we have to pay a termination fee since we are under contract. Our termination fee is $127, and it occurred to me that $127 is equal to 2 months of service and this could easily go on for 2 more months......so it's worth it to cancel, pay the fee, and move on. I set up new service (but not until Friday) with At&t and we will only be paying $24/month. I'm really excited. Here's why;

12 months of staying with US Cellular, $60/month, is $720
Switching to At&t, $24/month, $127 cancellation, $36 initiation fee, is $451
Even after the fees, we are saving $269!

It feels good to have made a good decision for once. It's not like I usually make bad decisions, but I don't always know if I've made a good decision when it comes to finances! And I probably should wait until we get our new internet installed before I get too excited :)

I'm really excited about giving US Cellular the finger. I just wish I was the one that gets to call and cancel, but Eric gets to do that.

Monday fun

2011-10-18T08:50:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was a beautiful day around here! I spent most of the morning cleaning house and trying to recover from our crazy weekend, so we headed outside for some fresh air before lunch.

It's hard to put everything down and go outside for some relaxation time (play time for the girls!), but I managed!! I made a green smoothie for the first time in months! I'm starting to run more than I have in months so I need to get some better fuel in my body.

In the mix

spinach
milk
frozen strawberries
banana
splenda

In case you were wondering what in the heck Kylie is wearing in the pictures above.....

She is sporting a swimsuit. Kylie is showing signs of an eclectic fashionista just like Addison, good times ahead!

Recovery mode

2011-10-16T21:08:00.000-05:00

This weekend was tons of fun, and tons of coughing too :(

Friday afternoon we hit the road with the band for the Friday night football game in OKC. Cougars won, yay! We stayed in a hotel up there and then headed to UCO on Saturday morning for OBA. The kids were awesome, very excited (code=borderline annoying), and we had no problems.

Prelims went well, but we weren't sure if they would make finals or not. Partly because we only watched 2 other bands in prelims, and partly because you just never know what the judges would think of the show. When you're not obvioiusly the most amazing band ever, you just don't know. It was a little stressful when they announced the finalist bands, in random order.......and Ada was the very last band they named. We were all worried and sad, and then elated within seconds. Very exciting! Finals also went well, so proud of the kids! They ended up placing 10th (out of 12 in finals), a very good thing!

Some interesting things happened over the trip:

One bus broke down, the school sent up another one for us to take home
One equipment truck broke down, one of the parents towed home that trailer
I was so sick when I woke up Saturday morning that I had to call my grandma (she lives in OKC) to come get me and take me to Walgreens for some medicine.

This morning I went to church in a total fog. I would have stayed home, but the bell choir and the kids I help with were performing so I had to be there. I skipped out of service early :) When I hit the couch at nap time, it was glorious, and I woke up at 5:45pm! At some point during that nap the girls woke up from their naps and I think I ever got up to help Kylie out of bed.....not sure. I'm definitely feeling a marching band hangover today!

I'm disappointed in myself because I took NO PICTURES. I charged the battery before we left and even took the chrager with me in case I took too many! This is a bad habit for me, I get so annoyed when I don't have picture documentation of every day.

So, that's about it.

Short school week for Eric this week, we have fall break! OSSAA contest next week, which means the end of marching band! I love marching band and all, but it is nice when it is over and we get a little bit of time to spend together before the next thing starts up.

Friday

2011-10-14T06:58:00.000-05:00

Is it Friday already? Wow, where did the week go?!

This weekend is going to be lots of marching band fun and child free! This afternoon I'm going with Eric and the band to their Friday night football game in the OKC area, we're all staying the night at a hotel in OKC, and tomorrow the band competes at OBA (also in OKC). And......the girls are staying at Grammy's house. Sometimes I think they should just move in with Grammy because they always want to go to her house and visit Grammy. Listening to them complain about it gets a little old :)

I'm going to try and take some pictures this weekend, I haven't gotten my camera out all week!

This morning I decided to sleep in instead of going to boot camp. Yesterday the girls sleep in until 7:00am and I was hoping that would happen again. Well, both girls were up before 6:30am, which is when I get done with boot camp so I didn't actually get to sleep in like I had hoped. Lesson learned, go to boot camp!

I stand corrected

2011-10-13T15:31:00.000-05:00

Eric informed me last night that when I blogged about contest last weekend, I gave you wrong information. I said the band won 3rd place, when what I should have said is:

They won 1st place in their class, in prelims
They won 3rd place in finals, which is overall

So there you go!

Monday mugs

2011-10-10T20:29:00.001-05:00

I've been wanting, for a long time now, to start running again. Right now I might go run 2 miles once a week, so not much. I keep looking online for a 5k I can sign up for this fall, but I haven't found anything. I was thinking about setting a bigger goal for myself, and I figured out that if I start slowly adding mileage now I could get up to a half marathon by my birthday in April. And then tonight I realized that if I really wanted to set a lofty goal for myself like that I should sign up for the half at the OKC Memorial Marathon on April 29th. It's a thought, but I'm not committed to it just yet! I may change my mind after I do my weekly 2 miles tomorrow morning!

Tigerpalooza!

2011-10-08T23:30:00.000-05:00

Great day for a band contest!

Addison and J had a lot of fun playing in the golf cart together

The band did a great job in prelims and finals! They won 3rd place in their class and also won the Bron Warren trophy, a spirit award. The kids really deserved it. They are excited about life, excited about band, and just very excited in general! Eric is lucky to have such a great group of kids his first year here!

Friday catch up

2011-10-07T22:44:00.001-05:00

Wow, life has been busy, but I am so thankful that we made it through the week without anyone getting sick (except for Eric being sick on Monday).

When the girls went to school on Thursday, I went to work on a midterm and just when I was almost finished I got a call to go sub at their school. I probably should have said I couldn't do it because our house was a disaster and I had a huge to do list that still hasn't been completed! Geez! Sometimes I think I could easily keep myself busy even when the girls are in school all day every day. I don't know how I will ever transition back to working full time. I'll try not to worry about that too much until I actually have to face that time!

Tonight I took the girls to the football game and they were so good again! They have gotten really good at making through the first half of a football game so we can watch halftime and go home. Pretty sweet. I guess there are some perks to them getting older!

Tomorrow is Tigerpalooza! If you have no idea what I'm talking about it is the marching band contest at ECU. Good times. I'll probably spend the morning taking the girls up there to watch some bands and hang out, but in the evening I have a BABYSITTER!! Woooooo!!!

I've been bad about taking pictures the past couple days, so much has been going on! Thursday Addison had her first gymnastics class. She was painfully shy and wouldn't participate for the first half of the class. I was really proud of her by the time it was over because she was participating with the other kids and I didn't even have to stand next to her and hold her hand. Huge strides for Addison!

Here are some pictures from Tuesday night when we went to school to visit Daddy.

If you can believe this

2011-10-03T18:15:00.000-05:00

Addison is well today, and Eric texted me mid morning and said he was throwing up again. Totally amazing. This is beyond ridiculous.

When the girls got up from their nap we left the house and did some errands before landing at my parents' house until bed time. The last thing I want is for one of us well folks to be sick AGAIN.

In case you're keeping track

2011-10-02T21:08:00.000-05:00

Addison woke up this morning, puking, at 4am. Can you believe it? I don't even know what to say.....

In case you're keeping track, the first sickness/puke episode in our family came on Friday, September 9. It's almost been a month straight of sickness here.

Have I done something to upset the universe enough that my family (and myself) are suffering like this??

I just really hope this is the last of it. Addison seemed better this afternoon and evening and hasn't been sick since about lunch time.

Tomorrow really needs to be a healthy day. We really need to have a good time, with no puking or snotting.

On to something much happier. Yesterday the band went to contest, did a great job, and totally cleaned up with the trophies! I will post a video as soon as I come across one. What was also really fun about band contest yesterday was taking the girls. They were so good and we stayed the entire time! The only time that was a little sketchy was when Eric's band was on the field and they freaked out. They were cheering and screaming and dancing the whole. This isn't too much of a problem except for the times when the music is pretty soft and the entire stadium can hear them. That was a little embarassing. It made me feel a little better about that it Eric thought it was funny and didn't really care that they made a big fuss :) It was kinda cute!

We have another big contest here at ECU this weekend. Hopefully we will all be well so we can hang around band contest some more. I really wish Nanny Carson was closer so he could stay with the girls, I doubt they can hang all day!

So...

2011-09-30T21:37:00.001-05:00

The sickness is in our house, AGAIN. Oh....my.....gosh.....will it ever end????

Can I just say that cleaning up puke will break your spirit like NOTHING else........

Kylie is the puker in the house. She was super pathetic all day and I sat in the rocker with her and watched TV all day long. Whenever I would get up to try and get something accomplished (like the mountain of dirty dishes or the mountain of dirty laundry), she would come find me within 3 minutes and ask me to sit with her. How can you say no to that?

She was better this evening, although still puking and diarrhea-ing. I'm really hoping she is MUCH better by tomorrow evening so we can go to band contest. It seems like we have missed so much because someone is always sick around here.

By the way, one of my classes is still kicking butt. I even emailed my instructor to check and make sure that I can actually pass this class (I have to get a B), and it turns out that if I get full credit for everything else we have left to do I can finish with an A!! Awesome, right? Haha, you see, the "getting full credit" is where I am having some serious trouble!! I studied like crazy for this week's test.....and I got a 61%. I couldn't believe it. My main concern with the whole passing issue is that most of our points come from tests. Eeek!! I need some major prayers for an educational miracle. Please!

Wordless Wednesday

2011-09-28T21:58:00.000-05:00

Some randomness for Tuesday

2011-09-27T20:08:00.001-05:00

Today's prayer: Lord, please help me survive my kids' bedtime. I promise I will try to be less grouchy in the morning if you will just let them go to sleep and stay asleep without so much screaming. Amen.

It seems that Kylie's new sleep issues have transferred to school. I feel sorry for them. She turns into a she-devil when she has a tantrum about something. Last time she went to school she screamed instead of sleeping and they put her in a different classroom. Today.....she was put in solitary confinement (she was put in a room alone to sleep) :) From what they tell me her tantrum was so bad that no one could console her (this is normal), but the custodian was able to get through to her and rocked her to sleep. I was impressed that, 1. they didn't give up on her and call me to come get her, and 2. she slept at all. Good times. I'm really hoping this is some kind of phase or a growth spurt. In general she has been even easier about sleeping than Addison. And they both have been pretty easy about sleeping.

Bed time has become a little nightmare-ish. Even Addison has been getting in on the action by needing a laundry list of things in order to go to sleep. Drink refills, a kleenex, a kiss from the dog, etc.

On to something totally different...

You know how when you swallow a pill funny and it feels like it is stuck in your throat and hurts for a bit? That happened about a week ago, and I'm still having discomfort. Every time I swallow liquid or eat (it's really bad when it is hot or cold.....as opposed to room temperature), I have pain from the bottom of my neck all the way down about 7-8 inches. Isn't that ridiculous??? What the heck is the problem??

Today we went to see Daddy after school. It is one of those days that we don't see him unless we make a trip to school.

The girls did make me really happy tonight before bedtime. They both ate their dinner! This is a really big thing, especially for Addison, who likes to skip meals completely. We had a fancy meal; chicken strips, mac and cheese, and carrot sticks.

I need this, I love this

2011-09-26T20:51:00.001-05:00

Here are a few pictures from the other day. I'm not sure when, but I just remembered I took a few pictures and didn't have a chance to post them!

I really need these super cute faces right now as we figure out how to deal with Kylie's new found sleeping issue. I could go on and on about this.......but I won't.

You know, it's weird how I feel "busy" all the time, but I'm really not that busy. I've decided it's because there are so many things going on around here (like my grad classes, keeping up with 2 houses...) and my mind is constantly working on something. Constantly. That's a good thing. I would rather not feel bored, because then I feel useless, and that's not fun. So, what are your best tactics to keep everything calm and not lying awake in bed night? My best are;

Keeping everything organized, easier said than done.

Staying on top of my calendar, and checking all emails, classes, bank accounts, etc. daily.....even one day without starts me wondering if I missed something!

I loooooove this

Sleep deprivation

2011-09-26T08:46:00.000-05:00

Being sleep deprived is one of the absolute worst things for me, it affects me in so many ways. I have to work really hard at not hating life when I am really sleep deprived. Why am I sleep deprived? Miss Kylie had a totally random night of not sleeping.

I don't know where it came from and if it will happen again, but it was miserable. Not totally miserable, because she could have been crying the whole time too, but she she didn't. She was just awake and walking around.......all night. It started when we put her to bed. She kept getting out of bed and coming out of her room. I didn't even know what to do about it. We just kept putting her back in bed, and she kept getting up.

I really don't want her to start a habit of this, but I'm not real sure what to do about it. Here's what I've got so far;

Watch for her caffeine and sugar intake, maybe she's getting more than I think?
Wake her up from nap time, maybe her 3 hour naps are keeping her from sleeping.
She should probably go to bed more tired
I'm thinking about getting a baby gate to put on her door, so she can't wander around the house and at least she could be kept to her room.

Any suggestions? Why do they do this?!?!?

Higher education

2011-09-22T08:32:00.000-05:00

My new favorite way to wear out the girls in the morning (so hopefully they both nap) is to walk up to campus. They absolutely love going to all the different fountains. Usually by the time we get about a block from being home they are seriously dragging their tails!

One of my classes this semester is totally eating my lunch. The amount of reading and studying required is hard for me to keep up, and as you can imagine my grade is struggling. It doesn't help that said class is about education law so I don't understand half of the jargon I'm reading about! Since today is a school day for the girls I will be spending most of the day curled up with my education law textbook......after I get the house cleaned!!

Big girls

2011-09-20T21:27:00.000-05:00

This morning when the girls got dressed for school they looked so grown up, so I took their picture :)

Isn't Kylie's expression just melt-worthy?!?

Addison's fashion sense and need to "do it myself!" is really giving me a challenge. Lately she has gotten much less embarassing and is picking clothes that are generally on the same color wheel, bonus. My challenge is that I want to tell her to change, and tell her, "No, that doesn't match, that looks dumb!!" But I contain my thoughts as much as possible because I love her so much and don't want to hurt her little feelings. There is no need to feel embarassed by a 3 year old's self expression......I just have to get myself to really believe that!

What you missed

2011-09-19T23:13:00.000-05:00

Hopefully one of these days our internet will be working at 100% again. I really miss blogging daily about nothingness. Until then, here are some pictures you missed. This was a few days ago.

Things that make me happy

2011-09-16T08:55:00.000-05:00

Early in the morning, having coffee in the chair with Kylie while she drinks her milk, watching the Today show together and cuddling while Addison sleeps.
RAIN
Getting myself out of bed for boot camp at 5:30am.....even though I totally hate it at the time
A home for my family
The loud pounding of Addison's feet while she runs around the house playing excitedly

It's been a rough week for us, I'm glad it's almost over. We're really looking forward to some football tomorrow, and some serious couch time tomorrow night.

Hopefully the internet will keep working today and I can get some pictures posted of the girls later.

Ugh. That's it, just ugh.

2011-09-13T20:01:00.001-05:00

So.....again, I spoke too soon. Addison was up most of the night vomiting. Kylie was up some of that time too with a high fever, and because we were making so much noise in and out of the bath and washing sheets all night. Wow, a horrible night!

This morning I took Kylie to the doctor and she has an upper respiratory infection, so she is on antibiotics now. Addison is still sickly, but so far she hasn't vomited again since this morning. Hopefully she can get some sleep tonight.

Also, we've been having a moisture issue in the laundry room. The landlord came over this evening to check it out, and we have a busted pipe under the house. Renting is awesome. I don't have to pay for it. But we don't have hot water now and hopefully a plumber can come out early tomorrow, otherwise we have to wait for our landlord to come out and fix it himself after work.

With everything going, it has taken a huge toll on me getting my school work done. It's not getting done at this point. A lot of that is because of the internet only working sometimes, which someone is coming out to our house tomorrow to check on that problem. And we have to pay to get that fixed, boo.

I really hope the girls are well enough for school on Thursday because I have so much work to do!!

I did it!

2011-09-12T20:14:00.001-05:00

I made it through the day without a nap, yay!!

Addison, Kylie, and I have all had the snotty nose and congestion passed around between us the past week or so. Addison and I are much better, but I think Kylie ended up being the sick one. She threw up Friday night, has seemed ok since then, but this afternoon started acting clingy and tired, and has a fever. Addison will go to school tomorrow and Kylie will visit the doctor :) I'm sad she is sick, and I'm also sad I'm going to miss out on a day of silence and productivity!

A lofty goal

2011-09-12T07:32:00.002-05:00

My goal today is to stay awake and not take a nap!!!

I love my naps, and it's been neccessary since boot camp started last week at 5:30am. I've tried to catch up on sleep this weekend so I'm not exhausted.

More later.....pray for my alertness!!

Catching up again

2011-09-10T19:34:00.000-05:00

I really hate doing the catch up posts. I prefer to just post what I'm thinking about on a day to day basis. Hopefully that will change this week!

Today was our first free day in our new house, and it was amazing. We did what we normally would do on a free Saturday; the girls ran around playing all day while Eric and I sat on the couch watching football.....in and out of sleep. It was great!

We've been having some internet issues lately, which is why I haven't been posting at all. Hopefully that will quit because it is really stressful trying to take online classes when your internet isn't working, ugh!

Let's see, what else do we need to catch up on??

I started boot camp this past week. Lot's of fun! Getting up at 5am isn't really that hard, but staying awake and being productive for the rest of the day is....

This week really started feeling like we're getting back to normal. I keep saying that, but it just keeps getting better. The only thing that was out of the norm, and throwing me off, this past week was the whole internet situation and doing my classes because of that. Hopefully this week will be even better!

Moving in

2011-09-06T22:11:00.002-05:00

Living room/dining room

Kitchen

Bathroom

Master bedroom

Kylie's room

Addison's room

We're pretty comfortable!

Keeping up

2011-09-02T22:49:00.002-05:00

The days are slipping away too quickly this week. I need at least 6 more hours everyday.

Thursday we moved into our new place, a rent house just steps from campus. It was really hectic that day. Eric worked all day while I moved in everything I could on my own (the girls were at school), and then Eric did all of the heavy lifting after school. He had to do all of it by himself because we couldn't find anyone with free time to help. What a superman!

About 11pm last night the air conditioner quit working. Luckily it was cool enough that we weren't totally miserable. I called our landlord first thing in the morning and someone came out to fix it around 2pm. We spent a lot of that time at my parent's house because it was way too hot! If you're keeping count that makes 2 in a row. Two houses that have had a/c issues within 24 hours of us moving in.

I'll try to take some pictures in the next few days. So far this house seems to meet all of our needs, and then some. The only thing that would make it better is if it were FREEEEEEE! Haha, yeah right :)

Tonight was the first football game, and the band's first performance. Addison and Kylie did great, until halftime. Kylie had a major meltdown, but I still got to watch.....on my way out :) I was so impressed with the band. I have been to rehearsal a couple times, but I was really shocked at how good they sounded and looked. I guess Eric really does know what he's doing! I can't wait to see how the rest of the season goes if this is just the beginning!

Grammy bought the girls matching Cougar shirts since we don't have any gear yet. They were so cute, and can you believe how big my babies are looking????

Happy Birthday Kylie!

2011-08-28T21:42:00.000-05:00

Today we had Kylie's birthday party #2!

We got a call today that we get to move in to the rent house on Thursday, yay!!!! I don't know if I can wait that long! Here are some pictures from online,

Flame free confessions

2011-08-26T13:01:00.000-05:00

We looked at a rent house today, it was great, I want it baaaaaaaad. But the lady wouldn't take a deposit from us just yet because there are a couple girls looking at it too so I guess we have to wait and see if they want it since they found it first. I was about to go all crazy bitch on this lady and start offering insane amounts of cash so she would just give it to us. And I also considered throwing a baby fit. She said she would let us know sometime next week. What I wanted to say is, "For real???? We're offering you cash right now, in your hand, and you're going to pass that up??" But I didn't.

We like free stuff

2011-08-24T13:28:00.001-05:00

It doesn't even seem like it's almost September. With the 105 degree weather it may as well be an eternal July here. The good thing about it being the end of August and crazy hot? The splash park at Wintersmith is open and FREE!! There are two splash parks here; one is at Wintersmith Park and it is connected to the pool which means when the pool is open you have to pay to go to the splash park (the pool is closed now....that's why it's free), and the other splash park is on the other side of town which happens to be a little suspect and not as nice/clean. We stopped going to that one (it is always free) because the kids and people there were so rowdy and scary that Addison and Kylie wouldn't even go play. So I am really happy that the nice splash park is now free!