Tuesday January 30

So I know all three people who read this blog are tired of looking at K-fed and his little wanna be.

Today is the 100th day of school. Hard to beleive it has already been 100 days. For the celebration Jacob had to make a shirt with 100 items on it. It could be buttons, bows, beads, whatever. We choose stamps, becasue, well, it was easy and could be completed in 2 nights. He is very excited to wear his shirt to school today and show Mrs. Smith.



So there is my little man, almost all grown up.

Here is a picture I captured of Emily this morning when we went in to wake her up for school:



Such a sneaky dog. He is not supposed to be on the bed. But he sure is proud of himself.

I suppose I have lots more to report. I got a hair cut. Not just a trim, but a CUT. You can see the back of my neck if you look at me from behind. I will try to post a picture soon, none of the ones I have tried to do myself have turned out at all! I can't think of anything else. My life is SO fun of cookies right now I can't hardly think straight!

Decision 2007

Here is my post showing our Japenese Steakhouse Chef compaired to K-fed. You be the judge.






























Whats your vote?

On Friday night I had planned on having a nice, quiet dinner for 2 with my husband. He told me about a week ago where he wanted to take me and almost told me but I quickly stopped him and told him to keep it a secret. So up until this point I have no idea where we are going. Well we finally pull up to Tokyo and I was pleased. I love this restaurant. I have even blogged about it before. Well we have a hard time finding a place to park, and I am SO glad we have a reservation. We walk in and the nice Asian lady at the front desk tells us that our party is over by the bar. Our party? What? We walk over and there is Amy, Sarah, Kara, Rob and Brandon. Three more of my friends from work were supposed to come, but all had minor emergencies come up at the last minute on Friday night. I was so happy, excited pleased to see everyone! I was totally surprised. I had no idea. And let me tell you, Josh can rarely pull off a surprise on me. I usually can figure stuff out, but I had no idea! I had such a great time visiting and laughing with my friends! It was the best night I have had in a long time and the best birthday I can remember- (well besides the sleep over I had when I was like 9 or 10). And on a side note, wouldn’t you know it that the chef we got was the one who looks like K-fed? Again! But this time we got photographic proof! Sarah brought her camera and we took shameless pictures of the guy while he was cooking, hopefully she will post them soon!

My birthday

My birthday was fabulous. The best birthday present was the kids got to go back to school.

When I got off work I met Josh and the kids for dinner out at what had become our Birthday place: Cracker Barrel. I think everyone in our family picks it for their birthday dinner. When I got home I came home to these lovely flowers sent by my dad, left on our porch!



And when I walked in I found the kids birthday present to me:



I LOVE IT!!! It was ll theri idea, Josh just helped them a little bit. They are so precious those kids of mine. Being away from them for a few hours yesterday made me appriciate them even more!

Josh is taking me out tonight for a nice dinner alone. It is a suprise, so who knows what he has planned. The kids are staying at the MIL's and then it is COOKIE time!

January 18

I can hardly believe it is already Thursday. The "vacation" has been nice, but I need to get out of this house! Well, we are finally going to get back to normal. I am not at work yet, but will be in a few hours. School is only delayed for 2 hours. The kids and I are sitting here just waiting for time to pastso we can get going. I was just outside putting stuff in the car, without a jacket, and i survived. It is chilly, but nothing like it has been. I am glad the cold is finally moving on a bit, I mean we have lots and lots of Girl Scout Cookies to sell this weekend.

"Snow day" Again!

Argh! No school again today. I may just go crazy! I know I want to be a stay at home mom, but I want to be able to at the very least leave my house! I am a prisioner! I now know what Amy must feel like everyday, except that she can throw her kids outside (when the weather permits!) so even this that I am doing is more crazy! I think all parents are going crazy! Not that I haven't enjoyed my time at home this week, I have SCRUBBED my kitchen! It is spotless! At least until the dogs drag something in or we use a dish, but for now....ahhhh I will enjoy it! I have done 4 loads of laundry with another 3 or 4 calling my name today. We have made cookies, Magic Rocks, forts, played with their kitchen, played school and played in the snow! But now Emily is sick, so today should be REAL fun! She was going to spend the night at her friend Chelsa's house last night. With no school I said, "Sure! Have fun!" We got a call at 1am that she was puking! Fun! So she is home and sick. In fact she is still asleep. That never happens. We, or Josh, are going to have to brave it out in the cold today, we are out of dog food. The one thing I didn't make certain that we had before all this hit. They ate the last of it this morning. So I will need to get back out, but luckily the snow they predicted did not come and now it is all slushy and icy. With more to come...or so they say. Here are some pictures with my children and their pathetic "snowface" from yesterday: Enjoy!

yes that is a hotdog. We didn't have any carrots and it worked for them. Plus, think of the memory that will be when they are teenagers!

And now look what my life is about to be: Cookies! The Girl Scout cookie sale starts on Saturday morning and my life is officially over for 4 weeks. I am already looking forward to being done with it!For now, my living room is filled with cookies!!! I guess it is not a bad thing that I don't even want any of them. So not even one box has been opened! But if Jacob had his way, he would eat a whole case of Caramel deLites. He is holding off until Saturday, but I am not sure what we will do after that!

Ice

Here are some pictures of the ice. And now its snowing!!


Ice on the car.




Front porch




Ice on the car.




After Josh "punched" the car- to break the ice.




Front area of house.




Josh pulling the ice off the car.

Revenge of the Chow

Because of the cold weather of late the dogs have been spending quite a bit of time in the garge, drying of after they have been outside, another place to be so that they don't drive me crazy! and a place that I will be less likely to be angry if they poop.

Josh keeps his little (big) collection of the Star Wars figures out in the garage (I won't let him display them in my house) on a shelf. Well the following is a re-enactment of what must have happened sometime in the previous night.


Commander Cody is manning his post.






The enemy approaches...





Watch out Commander, they are getting closer!!!





Oh NO!!!! Commander, you lost your valient battle!





Lord Brownie stands over the poor limp corpse of his vicitm, satisfied with his work.





You put up a good fight Commander Cody, but you were no match for Lord Brownie in Revenge of the Chow.

Ice

We are holed up in our house due to the ice storm. The kids and the dogs are officially stir crazy. I am trying to keep them occupied with stuff to do, but we are on day 3 of not leaving the house and they are tired of TV and computer games. We have Easy Bake ovened about as much as I can, I have Play Dough EVERYWHERE in my kitchen and the dogs are barking. They don't bark. So I know its bad. I hope school is cancelled tomorrow, because the ice is only supposed to get worse as the day/night comes- with tomorrow being the worst. I am already off today because of the holiday- but I hope school is cancelled, because I don't want to drive in this mess. There was an 8 car pile up this morning, and that is with holiday traffic. What a mess. I wish I knew now if school was going to be cancelled, but we will have to wait till the morning. Josh just left for work with a change of clothes and enough food to feed an army. The guy on the radio this morning said- if you go to work today don't expect to come home tonight. I hate that he works in a prison. They can't close like a school can. Ugh.

So I am off to watch the Rescuers on the Disney channel with my kids. Should be fun.

Movies, Movies, Movies

I am currently in Little Rock, Ar for work and while I am away from my family the one perk is that I see movies. Lots of movies. Movies my husband has no desire to see. So in the last 36 hours I have seen 3 movies. I thought I would give a mini-review of these films, well because my opinions matter so much to the like 4 people who read this. Yeah, right.

1. Dreamgirls: I saw this yesterday afternoon in the ONE theater in Little Rock which is showing it. I had a hard time believing it was only showing on one screen, but whatever. The movie was ok. I didn't leave a changed person. It was an enjoyable time, but Beyince was trying WAY to hard to be a star. Way to hard. Jennifer Hudson is totally the leading lady. She did wonderful and her voice is AMAZING. The story is a bit, ok alot, predictable. And I have a hard time prediciting movies. I am way gullable in what they want you to believe right before the big reveal in the end. I saw this one coming a mile away. I have seen better movies this year. Plus, Beyonce was trying to lead the group even when she wasn't supposed to be. Way overacted. Eddie Murphy and Jamie Fox where both excellent. I really liked Eddie Murphy.

2. Running With Scssors: This also qualifies as the last book I read. I read it on the plane here. When I saw it on the TV as a movie I could order, I did. It was bad. The book was extremly disturbing and wrong in so many ways that made it good, but the movie tried to hard to keep it main stream and left some of the crazy out of it (and it was all about crazy- whole concept is crazy) and let the movie deflates around it. It kept fairly close to the book, but then left enormous chunks of important stuff out. I did not enjoy it. I thought Annette Benning was horrible, and Evan Rachel Wood was too skinny for the role. Natalie was suppose to be over weight, she was a stick. And Gwewith Paltrow seemed as though she was too good to be in the movie. And looked WAY to old.

3. Babel: This was the best of the three movies I have seen this week. It was sad and crazy and well edited. The way they wove four completly differant story line together in 4 differant countries was amazing. It worked. Brad Pitt was Brad Pitt. He over acted and tried to look old. Who has the buzz cut with gray hair? Seriously. But the movie was excllent. Even if I had to sit in a crazy little art house theater to see it. Good stuff. You ache for the folks on the screen. You don't want it to end, even after 2 and a half hours.

I am debating seeing The Good Shepard tomarrow. I think it looks good, but Angelina? I don't know if I can stomache her. We shall see.

THE concert

The concert was last night and the fun that we had! It was loud and crowded and Emily had the best time ever! I have never seen so much cheetah print in one room before. There really isn't much to say, it was a concert for little girls and their mothers. So, here are some pictures from that fateful night.

The outfit



Ready to go!!!



Everlife- The opening act.



The look on Emily's face when The Cheetah Girls came out!



The Cheetah Girls!



Screaming!



And the trip home. She had a great time and was so happy that she got to go. She has been singing the songs all morning, and is about to drive me crazy!

The Cheetah Girls- Rrraarrr!!!

I haven’t written about Christmas because it seems so long ago. It was good. We had fun, everyone was generally well behaved and we were all happy. I got to make cookies with the kids and sing and dance to Christmas carols. I went shopping and enjoyed my parents being here. They may not come next year for Christmas, but that’s ok, we might be able to survive with out them-maybe.

My daughter received a CD and tickets from “Santa” for The Cheetah Girls. When she opened the CD she was happy, until she found the tickets. Then she was SO excited.

The funniest thing is the tickets were the last thing that was purchased for her and really an after thought. I thought she might like them, but I had no idea she would be this excited!
There has been a countdown to the concert since 9 days out. The concert is tomorrow night. We have even purchased a new shirt for the event and as every moment ticks by she gets more and more excited. She has been giddy and squeally for days and all she can talk about is The Cheetah Girls. It reminds me of when I was a young girl and totally into NKOTB. When I was in middle school and we lived in Germany the New Kids On The Block came to Europe. They were having 2 concerts within driving range of where we lived. After hours of calling (before the days of internet ticket buying) each of the separate numbers trying to just get through the line and not receive a busy signal my mom got through. She bought us tickets. At the time I didn’t realize that she had to buy 3 tickets, one for me, her and my poor, poor father. I don’t think I cared. I was so super excited that I was going to get to go to the concert. I have a few fuzzy memories of the concert. One is of the show itself. We were HIGH in the arena. I could barely see a thing, but the noise! I remember the volume of the girls. The other memory I have is after standing in line for what was probably hours for an over priced concert T-shirt the one I wanted was sold out. But not to my mother! She made them sell her the one that was stapled to the display. I had to wear a shirt under it because they must have used shingle staples to place it on the board and the holes where more than noticeable. I loved that shirt! I bet it is still in the closet at my parent’s house. I hope Emily gets some of the same memories of her first concert when we go tomorrow night.

Hold your breath and say a prayer for me as I venture into the land of Tween. I think we may have officially arrived at the Sumpter household.

Thirty by Thirty

I did something like this before, but with no real deadlines-just wishes to do before I die. Now with inspiration from a blog I have been ready lately I think I am going to try for thirty by thirty. It doesn’t give me much time- I only have 12 and a half months to go until I turn 30, but I want them to be fun filled and productive.

1. Read a book a month.
2. Organize house. Figure out a way to keep it at least de-cluttered and almost clean most of the time.
3. Finish painting and decorate the living room.
4. Be doing a job I love, whether it be something different, or finally finding the love for the one I am in.
5. Purchase a new car.
6. Become a grown-up with our finances. We are off to a good start, but have a long way to go.
7. Have money saved in the bank.
8. Learn to cook 5 new dishes that my entire family likes in order to add some flavor to the menu each week.
9. Learn to crochet. (Mom, I may need your help with this one.)
10. Travel more for fun. I do it so often with my job I forget how much fun you can have traveling to see family and what-not. I traveled a lot with my parents growing up and want my kids to be able to say the same when they grow up. They may not see as much of Europe as I did, but, we don’t plan on moving over seas anytime soon. We have a few trips planned already, but I hope to add a few more.
11. Be less serious. Loosen up and have fun.
12. Catch up on my scrapbooks. I enjoy this SO much, but have but it off for SO long.
13. Loose some weight. Drink more water. Eat healthier.
14. Try yoga.
15. Read the Bible through entirely.
16. Take a class in something that intrests me.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
30.


I will add some more as I think of them.

It's been a while

I just wanted to go on record.

All the bills that were due in December and the first two weeks of January are paid. A little late or (gasp!) early. It's been a while-boy it sucks being a grown up.

Anyway- We are officially putting on our grown-up panties and doing it right. And it feels good. It sucks, but it feels good.

Three big payments left to make this month, with 4 more checks to go this month. We may even be able to save a few dollars. What a concept. We are trying to teach our children that idea. I purchased an incredibly cute piggy bank at the new Ikea and we are putting any loose change we find or receive as change into the piggy. They finding random change, which is all over my house for some strange reason, and running back to the pig and feeding him. When it is full we are going to roll it up and put it in the bank to save for a family fun vacation. Not that the vacations we have planned to see family aren't fun, but the ones with rides are fun- just in a different way. If I can earn enough frequent flier miles and with our loose change savings plan, we might be able to see Disney World before the kids leave for college. But heh, it's a goal, right?

It's beginning to look alot like Christmas

All but one present is bought, all the presents are wrapped, the parents are on their way here, Josh has strep throat, I still have baking to do and it is FINALLY “cold” outside. We are down to about 59 degrees. It is beginning to look a lot like Christmas. Today is last day at work for a week, so I maybe MIA for a while. With the parents here, and staying for a while (YEAH!) and the kids out of school (darn) I will be busy with life.

Things I am looking forward to this next week:

• My parents arrival.
• My husband getting better.
• The kids NOT getting the gunk.
• Me NOT getting the gunk.
• Baking cookies with the kids.
• Opening presents, I haven’t peeked AT ALL this year, a first I do believe.
• Watching the kids open their gifts, because I haven’t peeked AT ALL this year.
• Watching my husband open his gift, hee hee. He is going to love it!
• Making a ham AND a turkey-although not at the same time for the same meal-thank goodness.
• Shopping-with mom of course, see previous entry.
• Having my parents meet Amy’s parents. It’s almost like we have been dating for years, and are going to “take the plunge” and now the parents have to meet. We truly believe that two sets of parents who have such decent kids must be able to get along, maybe even like each other. We also don’t know how 10 years have past and parents have never met. It may just be our Christmas miracle.
• Opening our gift to “baby Jesus”-After watching A Charlie Brown Christmas with Jacob he asked some questions and decided that because we are celebrating Jesus’ birthday that he should get a gift. He doesn’t even want to open it, but keep it forever and take it with him when he goes to heaven to meet God and Jesus. I told him I thought it was a fabulous idea to get Jesus a birthday gift, but I think we should open it and remember why we love Jesus and are happy he came to earth for us. He seems ok with that idea. So I think we maybe starting a new family tradition this year with a gift for Jesus and his birthday.
• Finding a really cool nativity scene after Christmas, maybe it will help facilitate some of Jacob’s questions next year.
• Just slowing down. This has been two of our most busy weeks in months.
• Not working.
• Finishing the play-room- It has the first coat of paint, but needs another.
• Singing Christmas Carols with my kids. They love Feliz Navidad.
• Enjoying the precious time that God has granted me with my family.

Conversations with my daughter

While out doing some more last minute shopping last night with my two kids, mostly to get out of the house and away from my strep infested husband, I look over at Emily who is sitting in her seat with her eyes rolled back into her head almost comatose.
“Sleepy?” I asked her knowing full well that the last two weeks have been go-go-go for her. She has been loving it, but by about 7pm she is wiped.
“No, no” She says, and tries to perk up, afraid she might miss something. I say to her, “Well, Emily starting on Saturday, Memaw and Pepaw will be here and we should slow things down. I will be off work and we sill just kinda chill-out for a while and catch our breath.”
“What about treasure hunts?” she demanded, “and shopping!”
“Shopping?” I say, thinking what a little brat, she just assumes that because I won’t be working that she will go shopping.
“Memaw loves to SHOP!” Emily exclaims and I chuckle to myself.
Yes mother, be prepared to shop, Emily expects it!

Kevin Federline (K-Fed) cooks us dinner

Josh took me out for a nice no kid dinner on Friday night to Tokyo Steakhouse. It is one of our favorite places to eat without kids. We tried taking the kids there once, but it just wasn’t happening. While we were waiting for our cook to come over and, well, cook we got to know some of the people we were sitting with. One “older” couple (and when I say older, I mean about the age of my parents) who had requested a specific cook. Now, when Josh and I go we prefer to have an actual Asian dude cook. Even if he is as American as they get, it’s better than the white dude. Well, this very nice couple had requested K-Fed come and cook our dinner. I swear to you as soon as I saw the guy it is what I thought. So he does his little thing and we eat and leave. AS we are walking out the door Josh says-wow, now I know what K-fed’s doing since Brittney dumped him! I just about died!

From my son after I have been sick for over 24 hours.

Eww, mom, the bathroom is smelly.

I love that kid.

My weekend recap

I realized with all the worry of late I totally forgot to talk about my trip “home” to Las Cruces. I got up early (earlier than I do for a work day) and caught a plane into El Paso Friday morning. My dad picked me up and took me to breakfast at Village Inn where I had strawberry crapes without spilling any on my white t-shirt. That’s a first. We went back to their house, but the maids where there so we went pooting around town for a while. When we did finally return to the house I just sat for a minute and then went shopping. I found the coat that Emily wanted from Old Navy, that we couldn’t find in any store in Austin in her size. They had about 40 of them in her size in all sorts of colors that were already sold out in central Texas. I was thrilled, as was she when I got home with the jacket. I also purchased a gift for the wedding I was attending the next day. I didn’t want to show up empty handed. That night I went out with my dear high-school friends Heather (and her husband) and Serina (and her husband and adorable little girl). We ate good Mexican food and I laughed harder than I have in ages. It is always so nice to reunite with old friends and catch up and just laugh. We closed the restaurant down that night and Serina’s little girl Samara (I’m sorry Serina, I know I butcher the spelling of her name, I just did it phonetically) was SOOO well behaved. She was playful and liked all the attention, but she was pleasant and fun to be around. The next day I went grocery shopping with my mom. Well, we “attempted” to get to Albertsons, but it never happened. My mother hates to go to the grocery. She would rather gouge her eyes out than go to the grocery store. I enjoy going to the grocery, but she doesn’t have a wonderful HEB in her neighborhood. We first went to Glenn Cutters Jewelry and that is were I fell in love with a $15,000 set of rings. They were beautiful, but probably not going to be seen on my hand anytime soon. Then off to Target and to lunch at a new restaurant in town that was so nice. Fast Italian food-that was good. We both had salads that were good and kept me filled all day long. I truly enjoyed it. It was wedding time next. It was a nice simple ceremony in which I saw many old friends that I haven’t seen in years! However, the most surprising bit to the whole thing was there was a dance! at the reception and champagne! drank for the toast. This is a Church of Christ! What?!?! They almost had issue when we drank milk at my wedding as part of a frat tradition.

Overall it was a good weekend, I got to see most everybody I wanted to and I enjoyed spending some time with my parents without the craziness of the kids. It also gave me some time to think about how I want to change my life. We have made some decisions and choices about the next year because of the quiet time I had on this trip. Josh is going to get his tclose license, which will open doors for him in the field he has chosen for a career. I am going to hang tight where I am and save up to open my own businesses. Yes, plural. I don’t want to talk to much about them, because I have some fabulous ideas I don’t want to have stolen from me-thanks to Amy and I’s constant email brain-storming yesterday. I am very excited, but have but some real time and financial plans in place in order to make it happen. We have other fish to fry first and then begin saving for a fantastic new life! By this time next year big changes will have been made! This is the year for the Sumpters!

Just call me "Lumpy"-they did in highschool

Well, it is official. I went to the doctor this morning in regards to this and there is nothing “officially” wrong with me. I just happen to be lumpy right now. Tender and lumpy. Almost an Elvis song. I can hear it now…”Love me tender, love me lumpy.” Well, ok, maybe not. I am to start taking Vitamin E supplements and return back to the surgeon in 3 months to see if my tender lumpy spot has turned into a good old fashion lump. No biopsy, no lumpectomy, no nothing. So all the worries and all the questions and all the little ladies at church coming up to me asking if I have cancer were for nothing. Now I can start worrying about something new, like how I am going to save up for this, this, this or this. These are the wonderful things that I want. It’s only about $60,000 worth of “stuff”-but at least that is what I am worrying about rather than my health.

Shopping!!!

For Emily’s birthday she received quite a bit of money for gifts. The night before last we went on a shopping spree of sorts after I got home. Taking Emily out shopping with purchasing her clothes in mind is hysterical. She loves to shop. She loves to try on clothes and model them in the mirror.

When I picked her up from the neighbors and told her that we were going shopping she asked to go to the mall. Uh, no. The outlet mall? Uh, no again. How about Old Navy? Ok, she says. Off to Old Navy we go. We find a coat, but it fits just right and we want a size bigger. I am hoping to find it at another store. We picked up a pair of chocolate velvet pants, a scarf, two long sleeve t-shirts and a pair of pj bottoms. Everything but the scarf was on-sale. We headed next door to Justice. It is a store for 8-12 year old girls. I think Emily fell in love the moment we walked into the store. Jacob wanted to go to a boy store. It was so pink and frilly. It was also very pricy. Emily found a diary here that she wanted to get. So I let her. It is a High School Musical themed journal and she was SO excited!!



Here is a picture of her in her pink sweater and velvet pants with the journal.

We ran into Target and picked up a pink sweater to go with the pants we got at Old Navy and a red shirt with sparkles. We had a good time and she still has quite a bit of money left.

We got home kinda late so I sent her into the house and we brought the packages into the house later that night. Josh was looking through the bags at things she picked out and was less than pleased with the journal she picked out. You see, it has a picture of a boy on the front, and that’s it. It is the boy from High School Musical, but he still was less than pleased with it. I personally think Emily only likes it because it is High School Musical, not because of the boy, but I will let her daddy squirm for a while before I let him in on that little secret.

After shopping!! She was so excited!

When I go shopping I try to prepare a list in order not to forget anything important. I guess I have passed this little bit of OCD onto my son. Josh had started a list of things for me to pick up at the store and Jacob took it upon himself to finish the list. Here is the photographic evidence:

I suppose he thinks we need:
granola bars
Sprite
Ritz Bitz
Ponpela Oil
Cookie Dough

Isn’t he sweet? It wasn’t all for him, he want to make sure I pick up some olive oil for my cooking as well. He is so considerate and loving. I don’t know what I would do without him.

Watch out, here I come!!

I am very excited. I am going on a mini-vacation/weekend getaway. I am flying back to New Mexico, by myself, to attend a wedding for a good friend of mine. Because I am taking Friday off from work I will have 2 and a half days there, to run-a-muck without a husband and children. I am sure I will be dreadfully bored and ready to come home by Sunday, it is Las Cruces after all, but right now I am excited to travel for fun, something I haven’t done since I went back for my high school reunion!

Birthday Weekend

Emily turned the big 8 this weekend and celebrated non-stop. Especially if you sing the words to “It’s my party and I’ll cry if I want to…” in your head as you read this. She is only 8 and acting like 16. Well, maybe 12. She is crying all the time, for no reason.



She had a party at Mrs. Ann’s house on Friday afternoon. I had pictures, but accidentally erased them all. She received an Easy-Bake Oven from Mrs. Ann. They are really great babysitters.

On Saturday we went to get her hair cut and then dinner, Emily’s choice. She chose Fuddruckers, and so off we went. We ended up getting it for free because they lost our order. Plus they gave us way more food than we ordered…. too many French fries. When we got home, Emily opened her presents from us and the grandparents. She received a Barbie head, a do it yourself build a bear, a beautiful necklace from her daddy, books, an electronic pet, a jewelry box and some smelly soaps. She was pleased.

On Sunday was the big party. We invited 11 girls to attend a Diva Spa party, where they got to dress up, get their nails painted, their make-up done and walk the runway, do the electric slide, eat some gold fish/cake and open presents.





It was fun. The girls had a blast and Emily got s few books from Claire, a Bratz doll (that we are only letting her keep because it has more clothes on than normal. She has flannel pj’s, a t-shirt and a robe. No prostitute action figures for my girl, no-no! And she got a lot of money fro her shopping spree that we are going to have some time this week. I can’t wait! So over all a good weekend, if she wouldn’t have cried most of the time. I think she was just way hyped up for her party. Because once we had the party, she was wonderful the rest of what was left of the weekend.

The treasure box

In Jacob’s kindergarten class everyday one person gets chosen to pick from the treasure chest. He has gotten to be the lucky winner twice this year. The winner is chosen based on how well they behave during rest time. If you are quiet and don’t wiggle and squirm you get to be the winner.

Jacob was the winner on Monday. He was so tired he slept through rest time, so of course he didn’t talk, wiggle or squirm at all. Poor guy wasn’t used to school after 6 days off.

When we all get home I have started making dinner, spaghetti (an all time fav around here) and Emily says, “ Jacob, show mom what you got from the treasure chest!” I turn around from my browning meat and addition of Girl Scout money on the counter to ask him, “Jacob, what did you choose?” He runs to his backpack and runs back to me with
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
a button.



“A button, wow, um, that’s nice.”

He just grins at me.

“Well, Jacob, what do you want to do with your button?” “When we go to the store we can buy some yarn and put it on there and swing it around and it will make noise.” he says with more excitement than I could ever muster over a button. “What other stuff was in the treasure box?” I ask, thinking maybe the pickings were slim; it is near the end of the first semester, maybe Mrs. Smith needs to restock. He tells me he skipped over kaleidoscopes and cool sunglasses and pencils. For a button. Now the button rests in a very special spot in my jewelry box, safe from all things evil. He is a special boy; I wouldn’t have him any other way.

Two posts in one day!

My last week and half as told by Susan:

• Monday: Make appointment with Doctor regarding pain in breast and lack of sleep. Attempt to get work done, but am to consumed researching the internet about breast cancer.
• Tuesday: Go to work for half a day, at noon head to doctors appointment. Doctor feels something, recommends an ultrasound. Leave doctors office, call Radiology Center and schedule appointment for 2 hours later. Return to work for 45 minutes to inform bosses what is going on, finally call parents to inform them what is going on and head back into Round Rock for ultrasound appointment. Arrive at appointment and get forgotten. Finally get called back 30 minutes later and get goop put on. They proceed to tell you that you are the lucky winner and get a mammogram as well. Stick around for that, head home and worry yourself sick.
• Wednesday: Half day at work means no work actually gets done. It is now 1 full week after visiting properties and no work on reports have been started. Deadline looms ahead.
• Thursday: Turkey Day! Sleep in! Get turkey started with help from the hubs, cook all sides I am responsible for. MIL shows up with uncooked sides and seems bitter about it. Claims she has the flu and hasn’t worked all week. (She is a temp) Look at ads and plan following days shopping adventure.
• Friday: Rise before the chickens and get my shop on!!! Have a great time shopping. Come home to cranky kids and crankier husband. Receive call that I have been referred to a surgeon for the boob. Make appointment for that “consultation” and begin worrying again. Worry myself sick, literally, halfway through the night.
• Saturday: Continue worrying, try to have a decent day with the kids. Josh goes off to play Santa, for Brown Santa, has time of his life, but hurts his foot somehow. He can hardly stand now.
• Sunday: Too sick for words-No church today. By mid-afternoon feel okay enough to take kids to movie. Jacob asks to leave every five minutes, where is my peace and quiet? Attempt to ready self for school/work again. It has been a while.
• Monday: Go to work, actually make headway in reports. But not enough. It is going to be a long week. Get home from work and have to chase down Girl Scout money and turn in financial reports to peoples houses in the dark with kids in the car. Not fun!
• Tuesday: Go to work, Attempt to make more headway. Get one report first dratft done! Receive call that MIL has been taken by ambulance to hospital. Leave work, with plenty to do and head to hospital. Then there is the whole missing children fiasco.
• Wednesday: Get one report turned into big boss! Yeah, one down, two to go, by Friday. Get call at lunch from husband, MIL admitted to hospital, and dogs out loose in neighborhood. Josh also waiting to hear about an assignment change in the jail. Josh calls to tell me dogs were swimming in the lake! That is 5 miles from my house! –I still don’t know what is up with MIL, he hasn’t made it to the hospital yet, but I am sure this is only going to get better.
  
• Friday to come: DEADLINES!! All three reports due to big boss by this day. Work Christmas Party…thinking about asking good friend Amy to be my back up babysitter since MIL will probably not make it.
• Saturday to come: Girl Scout meeting I still haven’t planned and its Emily’s birthday.
• Sunday: Emily’s party.
  

Of all weeks, this is not the one where I need so much drama!! I need calm, well behaved, no issue filled days! I got enough without all this other junk!!!

How do you get 4 cops and a home searched?

I was going to talk about Jacob and his button (that will have to wait until tomorrow), but we had some excitement at our house/neighborhood last night.

Josh’s mother was taken to the hospital yesterday, no worries, NOTHING was wrong with her. But I was called out of work early to make sure nothing was wrong. So I left the office yesterday about 2:30 and headed to the hospital. I arrived and stayed with her until 5:30 at which point I had to leave to pick up the children from the sitter. When I arrived at Mrs. Ann’s house, she asked if Emily could go with her and her cub scouts to a performance at UT in regards to medieval times. They should return around 8:30ish. No problem I say. It is a little late for Emily, as her bedtime is 7:30 but I think, “I am going to be the good, cool mom and let her go” So off Jacob and I went to have dinner and hang out until Josh gets off work at 7:00 so we can worry with how to deal with the whole MIL’s car in a different city situation. Josh gets off work at 7:00, and my MIL calls at 7:11 to say they will be releasing her in about a half an hour. So as soon as Josh comes home we are off to the hospital. We pick her up, drive up to Georgetown to pick up her car, drive her home, and head home ourselves. As we are heading home, I am worried because it is like 8:40 and I hope that Emily is not waiting for us. Even though I explained to Mrs. Ann that we might be out dealing with this I still wanted to be home when they returned.

We drove up to the house, and Mrs. Ann’s garage door is open. I even commented to Josh, “Hmmm, they must have left the garage door open, that’s odd.” But we didn’t think anything of it and took my poor, tired baby into his room and down for the night.

At about 9:00 we started to worry and decided to call Mrs. Ann and ask, hey, what’s up? But her phone was not working. Hmmm. So we wait and watch a little TV and at 9:30 we really start to worry and called to make sure no accidents had been reported on the highway and none had, so Josh went outside and started looking at the garage door that was opened and noticed that the inside door to the house was opened. So now we are worried, calls to police are made and 4 cop cars and lots of interested neighbors later they “sweep” the house. We see the flashlights through the windows and guns are cocked and they tell Josh that if we hear anything there is a rifle in the trunk, come in after. (I secretly think Josh wishes there was a bit of trouble, just so he could cock a rifle, but he would never admit to it) The cops found nothing unusual, just a home that looked as though it had left in a rush, with about 10 kids under the age of 10. And that is was. The kids drove up at about 10:30, safe and sound and tired.

I am glad they are safe, but man-o-man was Emily cranky this morning. I think she will appreciate it when we put her to bed tonight.

A big fat pain in the breast--Edited at the bottom

I have had a bit of sharp pain in my left breast for about a week. Along with my more frequent that not insomnia that I seemed to have developed over the last couple of months. On Monday I made an appointment with my Doctor for the following day. Prior to arriving for my appointment I have researched the tar out of breast cancer, breast pain and anything breast related. Everything said most cases of breast cancer do not begin with pain in the breast. Well Josh thought he felt something and the doctor agreed to having felt something. I am not sure I have yet to actually feel what everybody is feeling. But I am ready to feel a golf ball sized lump, like I had while in high school and this one appears to be much smaller. She said it was probably a cyst and that I would need to have a breast ultrasound. Which I really ok with, I had to have one for the breast in high school and several with my babies.

But, imagine walking into a cool room, the last one of these you walked into was to take pictures of the baby inside of you. You could hardly walk because all the liquid they make you drink before peering into a mass of wiggly black and white lines until you see the precious face that will become you child. That was not the feeling I encountered once I walked into the room, I laid down and they put the goop on me, (at least it was warm) and started looking. I was scared. My very first mammogram from my youth did not show the very obvious lump that could be felt, but the ultrasound confirmed its existence. This time it seemed to me at the time that they were to just skip the mammogram and head straight to what would diagnoses what could be my greatest fear in live. Josh said he thought he saw something back that looked like a bean. But he said he could not see much more than that. I was just trying to keep my composure, and not be THAT lady. Of course the technician leaves, and then comes back to do some more, leaves again and decide to take a mammogram, even though my PCP didn’t order one. They squeeze me into (literally and figuratively) their schedule and 10 years after the first, I get my second mammogram. It did hurt more than I remembered, but more of just an unpleasant pulling that knife wielding pain. They told me not to change back into my clothes yet; they had to look at the images. The nice little nurse came back and said it looks good, you can get dressed now. My only confusion is: do the pictures look good because they are clear and readable or good because they can’t see anything on them. They tell me to follow up with my doctor, but give me no indication of when. How soon is too soon. So as the risk of being THAT lady I call my doctor and state, “ I had these procedures done today and was wondering when I could expect results? “You just did them TODAY?” I say, “Yes, I know they are not ready today, I am not THAT person, I was told to follow up with the doctor, but they didn’t give me time frame, two days, two weeks, two months? So I am simply curious, when should I start to call you if I haven’t been called?” “OK, they should have told you… By next Monday at noon, give us a call if you haven’t heard from us.” That I can deal with. Sort-Of. Now I wait. And wait. And wait. And worry.


But on the plus side the doctor gave me ambian to sleep, I did sleep all. Night. Long.
It was amazing. I am having some time in the morning shaking it off, I am not dopey-like hung over but like my mind is sharp but body is still a few feet back. It is interesting; hopefully my Dr. Pepper will help fix that.

************************************************************************************
The doctor's nurse called me the day after Thanksgiving, to inform me that I have been refered to another doctor. So I now have an appointment on December 12th with a surgon. Not sure why, they wouldn't say anything more to me.

I have turned in my leave request for the doctors appt. and now will do my best not to even think about this for the next week, I think I have made myself sick over it all. Literally.

Plus, Ambian does not work for me. It worked the first night like a dream (ha ha) but the next two nights it felt like my head was being squished, but I could never actually fall asleep. PLus, I was tired all the next day becasue I did not sleep. Yuck.

The bird

Thanksgiving

A time to stuff yourself so full you can’t hardly think. This will be the first year in my 8 years of marriage that I have been responsible for the turkey. In previous years, when we still lived near my parents or Josh’s parents we would go to their house for Thanksgiving and I would bring a dessert, because that is what I am good at. I am not a terrific chef. At. All. But I try and I enjoy it, I just haven’t had the opportunity to practice enough. Last year, when Josh’s mom was not living here in Texas we were invited to my dear friend Amy’s house. She made the turkey and I made all the side dishes. I was extremely proud of myself, because as I mentioned before, I am not a cook. Well this year Josh’s mom is living here, but I have become responsible for the turkey. And most (all but 2) side dishes. I am a bit scared, mostly about the turkey. I purchased a turkey on Sunday, a butterball at my mother-in-laws request and after frantically calling several people to find out where to put the darn thing placed it gently in my refrigerator. Now, I felt the darn thing yesterday and it is still frozen solid. I am glad I have chicken breast frozen in my freezer, just in case. Last night I call my mother to ask her how to cook a turkey. She is my mom, and I call her for cooking tips from time to time. She promptly replies, “I don’t know, I have only cooked a turkey once, and really Daddy Grand did it because they were here visiting.” Great. Now what. She suggests calling her dear friend, wife of the man who married Josh and I eight years ago, Sandy. So I fully intend to call Sandy tonight, last night was way to hectic with Girl Scout stuff, and no time was available. But just for fun I am also making the green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, corn, rolls, strawberry cream pie and pumpkin cheese cake. All from scratch. Yeah. For. Me.

I am still worried about that silly frozen bird.

Weekend Arranging

The re-arrange is semi-completed. We moved both beds into one room and sorted through books. My children had every book they had ever owned, including the ones from Chick-fil-a that were junk. So we sorted into good, torn-ripped and babyish. We got rid of over half of the books, mosted ripped and torn! But we moved in a "new" bookshelf (one that was in the other room, but will complement the whole room once we have painted) and filled it nicely with books the correct way. Hopefully we can get the other two bookshelves into the garage -for use out there and get their pplay room worked on this weekend.

And the Christmas mess is here in full swing. But I have to pat myself on the back. We are having a hard time giving gift ideas to everybody who asks, becasue my wonderful children only have three or four things each that they want--and Emily has a birthday to take from the gift pull as well! They seem to understand that if they ask for a few good quality items that they might actually get them rather than a bunch of junk that they won't get. It is wonderful.

Rearrange-Again

Jacob will not sleep in his own bed. Only twice in the last 2 months as he sleep for a full night in his room. So we are getting drastic here. I am tired on legs in my back and being crawled on at 3:14 am for his to get snuggly in the bed with Josh and I. We are rearranging. We have already rearranged his room once; after that was the 2 nights he slept in his room. But he got scared again and is back in our bed or in Emily’s bed. This weekend, we are going to begin the big move. We are going to move Jacob’s bed and dresser into Emily’s room. This will be the sleeping room. They will keep their beds, dressers and books in this room. Everything else will be in the playroom. We are going to repaint the rooms, we are not quite sure what yet, but we are going to start with the sleeping room and get it set up, hopefully this weekend, in order to eliminate anymore bed sharing. The kids want to paint the playroom orange with longhorns. I am not sure about that! But I do want to put up some chalkboard paint and have it be a fun room, where they can keep their cool Christmas present from my parents. Plus, I hope that they can keep the sleeping room “clean” and the playroom can be destroyed and cleaned together, faster. That is my hope anyway! They are excited about it and can’t wait to get started. I plan to get busy this weekend-and hopefully have most of the project done by Emily’s birthday.

Fashion Emily

It’s started. For the longest time Emily has only cared about her appearance if I made her care. I would be the one to tell her that while both pieces of clothing are pink, they don’t necessarily match and stripes and floral prints in clashing colors are not appropriate for leaving the house. This morning she wanted her hair straightened with a hair thingy placed in it and a cute outfit that she chose all on her own. BUT WAIT!!! The shoes, her pink sneaks don’t match, she is wearing blue and white. What to do? “Mom, can I wear my cheer shoes? They are all white and MATCH!!” Yes, Emily, you can wear your cheer shoes in order to match. I thought I had a few more years, but my nearly eight-year-old daughter has chosen to become a bit of a fashion diva. I hope this hasn’t happened because we watch Ugly Betty together; it is our new favorite show to watch together. Hmmmm. But I was a quick enough mother to grab the camera and mark the day my daughter figured out how to be “fashionable.”

The fog

Have you ever felt like you stopped living? Not died entirely, but stopped enjoying your children and your family and just went about your life a day at a time with not much though about much of it. Like you’ve been living in a fog for a while and your not sure when it started, but you are ready for it to end? I am ready for my fog to lift. I want to be outside with the kids and watch them grow into wonderful beings that will help cure cancer or prosecute a bad guy or check your groceries out pleasantly at the local HEB. I am tired of the fog, and I feel like I don’t allow myself to enjoy life like I should, and I want to enjoy it more than anybody can imagine! I want to say home and watch my children flourish in a clean home and loving atmosphere. I want them to be able to play with their friends after school and get all the homework done before 4pm. I want to be able to take off for a month in the summer to the hills of Kentucky and let them enjoy their ailing grandparents and learn to appreciate homegrown tomatoes. I feel like I may be in a fog until I can give a little bit of this to my family. I hope that it can happen, and we can enjoy ourselves, laughing and learning about life together.


Taken two summers ago at my Mamgrands house. The kids loved ridding the tracter and spending time with their grnadparents.

A little test

A little personality quiz because I have nothing to say today.

UPDATED BELOW************************************************************************

Your Five Factor Personality Profile

Extroversion: You have low extroversion. You are quiet and reserved in most social situations. A low key, laid back lifestyle is important to you. You tend to bond slowly, over time, with one or two people. Conscientiousness: You have high conscientiousness. Intelligent and reliable, you tend to succeed in life. Most things in your life are organized and planned well. But you borderline on being a total perfectionist. Agreeableness: You have medium agreeableness. You're generally a friendly and trusting person. But you also have a healthy dose of cynicism. You get along well with others, as long as they play fair. Neuroticism: You have high neuroticism. It's easy for you to feel shaken, worried, or depressed. You often worry, and your worries prevent you from living life fully. You tend to be emotionally reactive and moody. Your either flying very high or feeling very low. Openness to experience: Your openness to new experiences is medium. You are generally broad minded when it come to new things. But if something crosses a moral line, there's no way you'll approve of it. You are suspicious of anything too wacky, though you do still consider creativity a virtue.

The Five Factor Personality Test

UPDATED******************************************************************************

Per my fathers request:
Extroversion: Nothing new there. I know I am shy in social settings. This was one of the hardest things for me to do in the hotel business: talk to stangers. I have a few very good friends and they have been my friends for years and the friendships grow stronger with time (Amy, Serina)

Conscientiousness:
I think this is sort of right on. I like to beleive I am reliable. If asked to do something I can't say no-but since I am so shy I rarely get asked. I try so hard ro be a perfectionist, but I fail at it on a daily basis.

Agreeableness:
I agree completly with this statement. I think I am very agreeable with a spice of sacasim-thanks mom and dad.

Neuroticism:
I also agree with these statements. I think I am a bit crazy-but I don't know many peopl ewho are not. I do worry, all the time. Usually about stuff I can't change, however, I don't worry about certain things like my kids playing at the neighbors, I worry about big ticket things like money and my craziness.

Openness to experience:
Also agree alomst completly. I think I want to try new things, but sometimes get scared and back out. I do find creativity a virtue, one that I don't have. As much as I wish I were creative-- I am just not.

So I think it was fairly spot on. I am not nearly as smart and successful as it says, but otherwise...

Weekend Update

Well our weekend got pooped out…we were to go to Amy’s twice this weekend, but had to reschedule both times due to sick kids and sick adults. Josh is nearly better I am getting worse and now Emily seems to have quite the hacking cough. We are a sight. Jacob had a soccer game on Sat, but the field was muddy and once he got a little muddy he didn’t want to play any more, Emily had Girl Scouts and Cheer, she got all ready for cheer and then chose to stay home at the Girl Scout meeting. I guess my safety quiz was more exciting than I thought.

We stayed home from church on Sunday and laid around doing a whole lot of nothing, getting sicker by the minute. I know Emily wasn’t feeling well when she only asked twice to play with friends and didn’t fight a nap.
We are quite pathetic. I hope whatever this crud is that it would hurry up and leave!

I was able to get some pictures off my camera so, here is a little bit of what's been going on:

Halloween:
Jacob was a fireman, Emily was Pocahontas.



I made my cake for my work's Thanksgiving Lunch, I won second prize!!!


I have been asked a half a dozen times about the cake today!!

And a picture of Jacob with his pumpkin, he was so very proud!!


That is our week in a nutshell. We have big plans for tonight and tomarrow, will post next week. Since I am without a computer until who knows when, it will have to wait until Monday when I return to work!!