2008---Year of ?????

Trying to decide if I should make my new year's resolutions today or not. Every year I make some goals that I try to accomplish. I did a fairly good job last year on my resolutions. 2008 is going to be a rocky road for us I can already tell. Sad that I can say that and it isn't here yet. With hubby graduating it is going to give us some decisions to make i.e. who will be working, will kids go to daycare, will we move, are we both going to have to work, will I be able to coach, will I have to change schools if I don't coach.

I am already pretty apprehensive about the year starting since we will have all these questions to answer. I want to hang on to 2007 for a little while longer so I don't have to face these decisions. When you say new year it has such a positive connotation and feeling about it. So the fact that I am dreading it is such an oxymoron. Maybe I feel differently as the clock strikes midnight.

Anyways..............

C is for Christmas!!

Santa came by our house last night and left some great gifts for the kiddos. The pictures speak for the wonderful morning we had with the kids. I do have to say that the best gift Santa left was the motorized automatic toothbrushes. Bubby got a Dora and Buggers got a hello kitty. They carried them around for most of the morning brushing their teeth. After presents we got ready and headed to Granmomma and PePaw's house. The kids love going over there. They always have so much fun with their uncle Kirk, who by the way is great with them. We had a great time with everyone. We ate, opened gifts, and played a game. Dad did a great job of kicking our butts at the game.

I have one more week off until I go back to work. I am hoping to catch up on our movies that we have laying around here. Plus we have a bathroom to paint and some light fixtures to hang up.

Hope everyone had a great time with family and friends over the past few days. I know we did and cherish the memories.

HoHoHoHo

We are about 2/3 done with the Christmas gatherings. We did our kids presents last night. They had so much fun opening their gifts. We decided to invest in some movies this year so about half their gifts were dvds. Not that exciting to open but they made it fun. Buggers got her first (well second...her first one is still in the box it is a keepsake since it has her name) cabbage patch baby. She is a newborn and just perfect for her to carry around. Santa is coming tonight and I think he is leaving her a stroller and playpen for her baby. Bubby got a Dora game, video game, and some other toys he has had his eye on for a while at Target. I think Santa might be leaving him a Diego scooter in the morning.

We went to my sister's tonight for my family's get together. Her and her husband fixed a big lunch. It was delicious!!! I am so stuffed still from all the food and desserts. The kids got lots of good stuff. You will be able to tell from the pics. I got to spend some time playing with my niece and nephew. I had a blast and I want a rematch asap. Rea got pretty good and pegging me in the face with the nerf arrow.

We will head to Hubby's family's tomorrow for food, family and fun. I will post pics from that tomorrow night.

I hope everyone has had a wonderful Christmas with their families. Merry Christmas!!!!

Move over so called divas...There's a new girl in town

I know I am corrupting the young minds of my children...but it is just too dang cute!!!

Hip Hop Tods

Creatures from the Great Unknown

You know you need some days off when.....

1. You say to a bunch of junior high teenagers during a game of trashketball, "Grab your balls and come up to the line." You can imagine the comments I got in response.

2. Then you say,"Get your three balls then throw the wads in the bucket." Again I am borderline stupid in saying this.

3. Question to hubby, "Do you want nuts in your fudge?" regarding fudge we receive every year from my aunt. I didn't get why hubs erupted in laughter until I said it the 2nd time.

4. To Basketball girl, "Do I need to have the song "Back that Ass Up' playing when you dribble?"...."You have a bad case of beeper butt...beep...beep...beep." I'm just glad they all thought it was funny.

5. To a few students in my favorite class, "Please all I am asking is that you act your age. I know how to deal with 12, 13, or 14 year olds. But I don't know how to deal with kids as tall as me who act like 3 year olds."

Working with teenagers all day tests your patience to the limit. I try to remind myself that I went to school to become a master in how to deal with these dysfunctional, hormonal, and tempermental children. And I make sure that I also remind myself that I am the adult and I should try to act so. It is sometimes hard not to sink to their level. I just found a perfect definition for teenagers---a juvenile between the onset of puberty and maturity. That is the problem they have raging hormones and don't have the brains or sense on what to do with them. I'm an thankful that I will be getting my much need days a.k.a mental recuperation time in about a week.

Pray for teachers to maintain sanity until next week.

The Queen and her Throne

One night Buggers was suffering from some serious butt burn so I put her in a pair of Bubby's nundies. She was perfectly fine in them until she had an accident in the living room. Just to see if she would take to it, I ran her to the potty. She thought she was so special sitting there. To no surprise she just sat there pulling on the toilet paper and "wiping" then throwing it in the potty. She was such a big girl.

New look

I made a few changes to the blog layout. What do you think? Some of them are very subtle.

"Tis the Season to be Jolly

I have decided to take hold of my Debbie Downer attitude and become Sarah Sunshine. Cheesy and corny I know. Anyway just this weekend there were several things that happened that made me realize that life is good and if not great.

1. I have one of two trees up. The kids and I decorated this small tree yesterday. Surprisingly Buggers hasn't messed with it. She just goes up to it and says Wow. I don't have the motivation yet to do the big tree. I just need to get in there and do it. I know I will be glad once I do.

2. I got $76 worth of fall decorations at HObby Lobby yesterday for only $7.60 since all of it was on sale 90% off. Here is one of my finds. It was originally priced $30.

3. Bubby is willing and eager to do a little housework around here. Guess I need to start giving him an allowance if he is going to do chores. (This actually didn't happen this weekend. I just came across this pic while browsing around and it made me smile)

4. Hubs put up my new lights in the laundry and master bath. He surprised me one day and did it. I didn't expect him to get to it for a while.

5. We have the outside front of the house decorated. We still need to do the back...maybe next weekend we can tackle that.

A few fries short of a Happy Meal

My new name evidently....I was asked today why I was so down by not one but three people. My reply "just overworked." I don't want to complain about the endless days that I put in at work or at home. I feel like my to do list is a endless pit. I really don't want to complain or gripe on here because that just makes me feel worse like I can't handle what has been dealt to me. My true problem is that I am a perfectionist and every "t" has to be crossed and "i" dotted. I can't handle doing something knowing that I won't be able to do it with 100% effort. This is both a flaw and attribute to my character. I guess the reason for my depressed state of mind results from unhappiness in certain areas of my life that I can not change. I feel trapped in some ways in the situation I am in. I am stuck at my job carrying all the responsibilities that I assume out of necessity. I have to coach to make end meet. I do the extra duties of team leader not for a monetary reason (since I get nothing for it) but out of obligation to my boss. I mentor, teach, counsel, mother, comfort, listen, encourage, motivate, tutor, and translate because that is my job as a teacher. Then when I get home I have to have enough energy for my two rambuctious toddlers who want mommy to play with them all evening. So between cooking dinner, cleaning up, laundry, catching up on daily duties, helping Hubby with school work and playing with my kids I'm supposed to teach my own kids their ABCs, numbers, colors, shapes, and how to use the potty.

I am ready for a change. I know I will get some relief when Hubby graduates. However he informed me the other day that unless he gets a really good paying job I will still have to work. Hopefully it will only be part time. But I have a feeling that won't happen. I think I will have to do the same thing again next year. If I do I will grin and bear it. But believe I am ready to hand over the torch,which isn't burning very bright whenever he is ready :)

The most I can wish for in life is that things will be better tomorrow.

Ice-T(oddlers)....

I was sitting her reading my sister's blog when I glance up and look into the kitchen. The following is what I witnessed. A crime in progress....

Since Bubby is too short to reach the ice cream he brought in an accomplice that he planned on hoisting to reach the loot.

Busted!!!!!!!

Happy Turkey Day!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This was my family's year for Thanksgiving. So we headed to Oklahoma to visit my family in the city and the country. We headed out on Tuesday after I got off work and stopped off in Dallas at my aunt's. Then headed the rest of the way on wednesday. It is always fun to see family. We only see them about twice a year.

We ate a great turkey dinner at my aunt's and uncle's. They started hosting T-giving dinner about 3 years ago. Then we all spend the night and play games. I need to be thankful that my family gets together each year. We don't really have any issues arise like most families. Every one is pleasant to each other. What more can you ask for?!?!?!?!?

Hope everyone had a great turkey day!!!!! We did.

Cien

This is my 100th post. I have enjoyed blogging the past year and half. I feel like I have come a long way as a blogger. I know that my blog has become the rants, raves, daily happenings, pics of kids, and updates on weight control. Most of my posts are about my kiddos to keep our families in the loop with what is going on with the kids. Thank you to all my faithful (and few)readers. You

I am so excited to announce in this momentous post some great news. We have been waiting for this to happen for some time now. It has been a goal of hubs' and mine for 3 years now. We have worked so hard, sacrificing time with each other, time with the kids, vacations, saturday morning breakfasts, church on wednesdays, and many more sacrifices. But just last night I was able to see the "light at the end of the tunnel" as I watched with a joyful heart, Hubs fill out his application for graduation paperwork. It was a sweet moment for me just telling it makes me want to cry. I am so proud of him for all his hard work and dedication to getting his degree. He will take 18 hours next semester and graduate in May. I am going to have a huge party for him!!! We have one more semester of switching kids/car in parking lots, shuttling kids to grandmas for saturday tournaments, late nights doing homework after the family goes to bed, sunday afternoon study groups, and my dining table being used as the dumping ground for school books.

He is an inspiration to all men out there. I don't know of many men that can do what he has done the past few years.

Roller Bady

When I was a little girl, my mom would put rollers in my hair at night and I would sleep in them all night. The next morning my hair would be full of curls. I came across my rollers the other night and thought I would roll Buggers' hair. Surprisingly she kept them in all night. Her hair did curl some. She has baby curls already so it just enhanced them. I caught these pics of her right after I put them in.


I love her expression in the mirror in the last picture. Such a great face!!!!

Cuties!!!

Where the Wild things are....

I took last Friday off since it was the last day before basketball officially starts. Plus I needed a mental health day so I can make it til thanksgiving break. We took the kids down to the zoo. We had so much fun. The kids were great. They loved watching the monkeys jump around and the bear pace around. It was cute to hear Bubby call the animals by their names and sometimes even make their sound. Buggers was so cute waving to all the animals. She became really fascinated with a duck that was in the orangatan (I just butchered that spelling). She called all the big cats "kitty cats". After the zoo we went on the herman park train that takes you around herman park. They really enjoyed waving to all the people and people watching. It was a great day with the fam. I wish I could do it more often. Maybe next year my working arrangements can change and I can make that wish come true.
Anyway enjoy the pics!!!

Happy Halloweeen

Last night was a blast with the kids. I rushed home after practice to get an early start before Hubs had to go to school. Bubby was asleep when I got home so I got Buggers ready. She went as a strawberry fairy. I was able to get some great pics of her in the yard before we went trick or treating.




Hubs got Bubby dressed while he was still asleep. Then we got the wagons ready to take them up and down the street. Bubby was not happy at all to wake up as you can see.

But he perked up as we went along. He liked getting the candy. When we got back we checked the mail and saw that the kids got a Halloween card from their Aunt in Utah. Bubby like the confetti that she always puts in her cards. He dumped it all out on the driveway and Buggers had a fun time picking them up.




We sat out on the driveway with two other neighbors and handed out candy to all the kids. Bubby was funny because anytime kids would head our way he would scream, "Mommy they're coming...they're coming" He liked seeing all the big kids. Buggers even walked down the driveway with one family. I guess she wanted to hit the streets again for some more candy since she ate a ton of hers.



I love this picture. That is how the spent most of the time waiting for trick or treaters. They were so cute!!!


***Note-I know these pics are crazy big but blogger's "insert picture" was not working so I went through photobucket.

9 in 9

Well I got on the scale the other morning to discover that I have lost 9 pounds since school started 9 weeks ago. When I started Biggest Loser at school last year in January, I was 26 pounds heavier than I am now. I think I am almost 50 down from July 2006 when I started doing Nutrisystem. It is hard to believe. My 14 jeans are getting lose and I may need to get a new pair of 12s!!! That will be exciting. When we got married 6 years ago, I was wearing 10s. If I can get back to that size...that would be huge!! I was my skinniest at our wedding. But I did it the unhealthy way...starving myself. It seems when I don't try and lose weight it falls off. I will have to stick with that way of thinking to drop 10 more pounds. It is funny with all the weight I have lost I still have my muffin top. I don't think it will go away. That's ok...it gives me a daily reminder what my body went through to bring my two babies into this world. For all the mothers out there you need to check out Shapeofamother.com to see that it is ok to have a muffin top!!!

I'll keep you posted...especially if I fit into those 12s!!!!

We've got a mission

Bubby had his birthday party today with all his little friends. He had a great time and got lots of great toys.

H is for....

Halloween, Haunted House, Hay ride, Hula Hoops and Humps!!!!!
We went to a Halloween Party tonight at some people from church's house. The kids went on a hay ride, went into a haunted house, chased cats, saw a horse, watched kids bob for apples, and play...play...play. I was going to dress the kids up in their costumes but decided against it at the last minute. I knew they were going to play hard and didn't want to mess up their costumes before Wednesday. So about an hour before we left for the party I made all four of our costumes. Now granted it did not take any Martha Stewart expertise. But it was super cute and was a hit at the party. No other family dressed up alike.


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Bubby turns 3

We had such a wonderful day today for Bubby's birthday. I took today off so I could spend the day with him. We had "pannicakes" for breakfast. Then headed to get Bubby's haircut. Then off to Chick for playtime and lunch. He had so much fun playing with the other kids. When we got home I let him help with me with the cupcakes. He was so excited when I put the candles on the cupcakes. He said "hirthday..hirthday." I let him play outside for most of the afternoon. Then my sister's and their families came over. It was a great day...the weather was beautiful. I'm so glad I took the day off to be with Bubby.

Thank you to my family who came and celebrated with us tonight. He had so much fun. He was asleep 5 minutes after you walked out the door. It is still hard to believe he is already 3 years old. Boy they grow up fast. :(

SuperMan

After looking at several different stores, I decided that Bubby is going to be Superman for Halloween.


But you know the real superman of the house doesn't have a costume in his size.

Tomorrow we celebrate our 6th anniversary. It is hard to believe that we have been married for 6 years already. Seems just like yesterday I was "taking the plunge". Now here we are 6 years later (actually 11 years if you count all the years we dated), 2 kids, house, jobs, and great little life. I am thankful everyday for him and all he does for our family.

"Fall"ing in Love with my Bady

I went outside with Buggers/Bady last weekend. I got some cute pics of her on the bench and in the grass amongst the leaves. She wore her new autumn dress. It was such a beautiful autumn day. Have I mentioned that I love this time of year!!!!

Lifestyles of the Not so Rich and Famous

Man have we been busy. But aren't most families. Life just doesn't slow down and take a break. Well life may not but our family did for once. This weekend we took off for our annual trip to the Winnie Rice Festival. We met up with some friends and dropped the kids off at Gammaw's and PeePaw's. We had a great time. We ate...ate...and ate. My favorite was the boudain balls and Hubs fav was the rice balls. The Hooders love love love pistolets. They were really good too. I don't think any of us ate anything we did not like. We stayed and watched a really good band then headed home. It was so hot out there. So excuse the pics we were all drenched in sweat.


We got new furniture courtesy of Phan Furniture Co. We love the new look in the living room. We feel so grown up now. The lovely blue sofa and and loveseat is now with another family. Most of you know that our house is the boneyard of my family's hand me down furnishings. I cannot and will not complain especially when we get really nice leather furniture.


The kids have been great. We are planning Bubby's 3rd birthday. It is so hard to believe that he is turning 3 in two weeks. He is going to have a Little Einsteins aka Rocket party. I ordered his invitations off Ebay. They are going to be so cute. We went down to a local Party warehouse today to get his partyware. But Little Einsteins has not come out with their party supplies yet. So we went generic with red plates and ballon napkins. I'm going to print some rocket images and use them to decorate. Plus I am going to have the lady who is doing the cake put a big rocket on it. Buggers is doing great. She is such a sweetheart. I got her costume today. She is going to be a Strawberry Fairy. I have made their costumes in Halloween's past. But I decided to be easy on myself and buy them. I saw a Buzz Lightyear today at Target that I may get for Bubby. I really want to let him pick his out. So I may take his this week and let him pick one out.




Hope everyone has a great week. Take in the outside this week. The leaves are changing and falling. The air is starting to smell crisp. And soon it will be sweater weather. My favorite!!!!!!