Merry Christmas

We wanted to wish everyone out there a very merry Christmas and have a safe holiday season! Hopefully the weather person is right and we will have nice warm Christmas here. But hopefully everyone else will stay warm! We are staying home this year, Aaron even as a 5 day total Christmas holiday! Have a great one yall!

Christmas Tag

I saw this cute Christmas tag on my friend Audrie's blog.
1. Wrapping Paper or Gift Bags? Wrapping paper
2. Real Tree or Artificial? Artificial
3. When Do You Put Up The Tree? Thanksgiving
4. When Do You Take The Tree Down? Sometime between Christmas and New Year's day
5. Do You Like Eggnog? yes, in small quantities
6. Favorite Gift Received? Massage
7. Do You Have a Nativity Scene? yes
8. Hardest Person to Buy For? Men in general
9. Easiest Person to Buy For? Emilie
10. Worst Christmas Gift You Ever Received? Any gift is a good gift
11. Mail or E-Mail Christmas Cards? Mail
12. Favorite Christmas Movie? The Polar Express
13. When Do You Start Shopping for Christmas? I shop all year long
14. Have You Ever Recycled a Christmas Present? Probably
15. Favorite Thing To Eat at Christmas? Mashed potatoes and gravy
16. Clear Lights or Colored On The Tree? Clear
17. Favorite Christmas Song? Carol of the Bells
18. Travel at Christmas or Stay Home? Stay home usually
19. Can You Name All of Santa's Reindeer? Yes! Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixon, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen, and Rudolph!
20. Angel on the Tree Top or a Star? Neither, I have bows
21. Open the Presents Christmas Eve or Morning? We open one
present on Christmas Eve and the rest Christmas morning
22. Most Annoying Thing About This Time of Year? How sometimes people forget the true
meaning of Christmas.
23. Favorite Christmas tradition? reading the night before Christmas the night before
24. Up Early or Sleeping In? Early! Up early
25. Who Hands Out The Gifts? Whoever is closest to the tree
26. Does Santa Wrap Your Gifts? Yes
27. Do You Tell The Christmas Story? Yes
28. Do You Leave Cookies For Santa? Yes
29. Are Your Stocking Presents Wrapped? not yet but will be
Tag anyone who wants to play along.
I hope you all have a Wonderful Christmas!!!!

Facebook

I don't know a lot of things to do on facebook, but I did join. So if you want to find me there, I would love to hear from you there as well.. Somehow I do have 10 friends on their. Some of the people I know are only on facebook and some are only on blogspot, I figured if I did both I would cover a lot of friends. Have a great day all!

Santa Visit

The Learning Express here had Santa from 10am-noon. We got there early and each of the kids got to sit on Santa's lap and tell him what they wanted. Santa gave them each a candy cane and a small bag of reindeer food to spread on the lawn on Christmas eve. I even got to be nice, there was a lady there with her kids and she had forgotten her camera. I took her kids pictures and e-mailed them to her. I love technology sometimes! The rest of the day was spent running around here and there, but we finally got home and I actually wrapped a few gifts! YEAH! Anyway here are the pics!

10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1...

I've been tagged to name 10 reasons why I love my children so here it goes...
10: I love my kids hugs, they make a bad day instantly better.
9: I love the fact that Justin loves to read and still likes for me to read to him.
8. I love it when Emilie sits and cuddles in my lap.
7. I really love that both of my kids are so determined to finish things that they start.
6. I love that Justin can see a child crying and want to help them or make them feel better.
5. I LOVE that both of my children use their manners quite a lot.
4. I love how quiet my kids are on the weekend so mom and dad can sleep in a little.
3. I love how Justin lets Emilie play in his room and how he helps her all the time.
2. I love how Emilie shares all the time.
1. I love it when my children still come up and for no reason will give me a hug and say I love you mommy, it melts my heart! I am so thankful for my family!

I know I should have posted this awhile ago, but I am slow. I will tag Amy & Jalynn!

Time flies.....

I realized it has been far too long since logging on and such. For some reason, I feel like this school year has left me with no time to do anything. Even now, I should be getting ready to go out of town, but I can do that later (I think). For now I will just do some updates for all.

My birthday this year was probably the best I ever had. Aaron was great, he arranged for the both of us to get a massage plus he took that Thursday and Friday off to pamper me a bit. Also, the kids and Aaron bought me a light up keyboard. Well, I know I have some great friends out there and I wanted to say thanks for all the wonderful birthday wishes. Oh and just so you all can have a little laugh, I was telling everybody I was 35 ( I actually turned 33) and no one is letting me live it down! LOL it was quite funny!

Halloween was fun, let's see there were 8 kids we were walking around and 4 adults. We managed to get them all home safely. Justin was Darth Vader, Emilie was a princess fairy, & Cameron was Harry Potter. All the kids looked great, and I will try to post pics soon of it.

Thanksgiving was good as well. We went to Cody and Heather's house in Denton and spent the night there and stuffed ourselves the next day. The kids all had fun spending time together. I sure hope that everyone had a great Thanksgiving as well! Well, we went home Thanksgiving day, because I had to watch kids, but Aaron was nice enough to go to the big sale at Wal Mart. We got an awesome new bike for Justin for Christmas (so SHHH do not tell him). But that was about it. Aaron is staying home this weekend to put the bike together, while I take the kids to their cousins birthday party. Thank you dear!

Well, I think that is about it. I know I don't stay in touch nearly enough, to all our family and friends, we do miss you all and we hope that everybody has a wonderful holiday season.

Heather & Family!

Cleaner Recipe

I use this to clean basic grime not to disinfect. This also works very well on mirrors and windows. I really like the smell, I use gardenia fragrance, but use whatever smells best to you.

Large squirt bottle
water to fill
2 Tbsp potpourri liquid fragrance
1/2 cup rubbing alcohol
2-3 squirts antibacterial dish soap

Put water, fragrance, & alcohol in bottle. Close lid and shake a little to mix it. Put in dish soap and gently rock side to side a few times to mix in soap.

Feel so busy all the time

I went through some pictures today and realized there is quite a bit that I could have posted but did not. So here are some pics and other info.

Emilie's 1st day of 4's class and North Texas Christian Acadamy, she just had to wear this cute little pineapple dress. So far she seems to do just fine and she adores her teacher. We still have the occaisional accident and she still sucks on those fingers, but it is a work in progress.

About 3 weeks ago our friend Kate had some extra time on her hands so she spent a day with us. We went bowling, did a little shopping at Fry's, went to the dollar tree, ate lunch at Pot Belly's, went to Half Price Books, went to Game Stop, then home. We all played around with the dance mats and had fun! I think everyone was tired by the end of the day, but the kids still did not want to say goodbye when Kate's friend Laura came to get her. Thanks Kate, we all had a great time.

Sorry all, I try but I just can't seem to keep up these days. I keep on saying that when I get a schedule down I will fit in stuff like this, but everytime my schedule gets moved around. I do at least up date it once and awhile. Love and Hugs!

BBQ Chicken Pizza

I know I said every Monday, but how about a recipe just every week. I think I can handle that. LOL

BBQ Chicken Pizza
1 can (10oz) chunk chicken, drained
1/2 red onion sliced
1 Tbsp oil
3/4 cup of your favorite BBQ sauce
1 (12 inch) prepared pizza crust *
pepper jack cheese

In lrg skillet, saute onion slices in oil until carmalized. Spread BBQ sauce on pizza crust. Top with chicken. Sprinkle with cheese and carmalized onions. Bake at 450 degrees for 12-15 minutes, or until heated through and cheese melted.

*For this recipe the pizza dough needs to be already cooked, not doughy. We tried this recipe the 1st time with crust before it was cooked and it ended up soggy but still tasted good.

My Recipe Monday

Okay I am going to try something new. Every Monday, I am going to try to post a yummy tried and true recipe. My family loves this recipe, I sure hope you enjoy. I think I will try to find the BBQ chicken pizza for next week. Of course if you have questions about the recipe, please let me know.

Creamy Chicken Enchiladas

Ingredients:
1 can Cream of Chicken Soup
1 container (8 oz.) sour cream
1 cup picante sauce or salsa
2 tsp. chili powder
2 cups cooked cut up chicken or 1 Lrg can chicken
1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
10 Fajita Size Flour Tortillas, warmed

Directions:
Mix soup, sour cream, picante sauce and chili powder. Mix 1 cup picante sauce mixture, chicken and cheese. Spread about 1/4 cup chicken mixture down center of each tortilla. Roll up and place seam-side down in 3-qt. shallow baking dish. Pour remaining picante sauce mixture over enchiladas. Cover and bake at 350°F. for 40 min. or until hot.

Tagged by Audrie-20 years

Tagged by Audrie:

20 years ago I was 13 and I believe that I was in the 6th grade (that was still grade school at the time) I really liked my teacher. I ended up that year being in advanced math and advanced writing. That year, I helped my 6th grade class write a book.

10 years ago I had just been married. We went to Jamaica and got married there and enjoyed our honeymoon. At that time, I was working as a caretaker cleaning buildings and apartments and Aaron worked for Gateway. We lived in Dakota Dunes, South Dakota in a 2 bedroom apartment.

5 years ago, we had been living in McKinney for 2 years. Justin was 2 1/2, I was having a day care in my home, & Aaron was working for Blockbuster. I got pregnant with Emilie later in the year.

3 years ago, Emilie was walking around and Justin was eager to learn. Aaron got a job working for Collin County and I was just a stay at home mom.

1 year ago, I said goodbye to a dear friend, who moved. Justin was in 1st grade. Emilie was in her 2nd year of pre-k. I started watching children again, but only before and after school.

This year, we adopted a pet rabbit and she got sick, but is okay now. Justin is now in 2nd grade and reads at an almost 4th grade level. Emilie is in her last year of pre-K. Aaron and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary. I am still watching kids before and after school.

Today, I am more relaxed, even tho I carted around two little girls to a couple different stores. I came home and cleaned and did laundry. I got 7 kids off the bus today, but all the kiddos left by the time 4:30 came around.

Tommorow, my family will wake up in the morning and go to wellness in the park. We seem to have fun with it every year. I also need to finish cleaning my house and the never-ending laundry. I will also have to make my menu for next week and finish my grocery list.

I tag Jalynn and anybody else who wants to reflect a little on the past 20 years and the wonderful blessings that they have been given.

Mystery Reader

Today I went to Justin's school and volunteered to be a mystery reader. Justin had no idea that I was coming. It was to read to his class, but man, they were full of questions. After every page, I had a least 3 hands shoot up every time! All the kids seemed to love the story even if it was nonfiction. Just glad that it went well, and I told Mrs. Pickens, that I would gladly do it again.

Feeling Busy Again

It has been at least a couple weeks, so I will try to catch up with everyone. Lets see, where to begin......

Emilie started school the first week of September. There was a big mix up with her class, but she ended up in the right class this time. There are 12 children in her class and she says they are all her friends, although she misses Alana and Ashley. She really likes her teacher and is already learning tons of stuff. She can write her name legibly and count to 100 with a little help.

We just got Emilie's pictures taken last Monday at Wal Mart. At the price I had to pay, we probably will not go back. They said there picture CD's went up to $139. Literally, my jaw dropped. Luckily I had a coupon and paid $102 for the CD and the package deal. Here is the one that we ordered. The pictures at least were really good! I will try to put the rest on a slide show.

Justin says he really likes his teacher this year, they seem to mesh real well. At meet the teacher night I let her know that I had plans to fill out the GT papers to have Justin tested. She remembered and gave me the new papers a week ago. She also followed up with a phone call to make sure that I got them. I turned them in today. I also signed up to be a mystery reader for Justin's class this year and I will get to read to them on Thursday. I am excited and a little nervous.

This last weekend Jalynn and I hosted a BBQ in our front yards. Aaron did all the grilling, thank you hon you were a great help! Everyone that came brought a little side dish. Total for people I think was 23 people. We even got to see Randy & Diana, thanks for coming, it was a great time! There were a ton of little kids running around from 2 yrs old to 3rd grade. It was great, we will definitly do that again.

I think that is about it. I would love to hear from any and all, you can leave a comment after every post that I write, have a great day all!

Saving Money

Everyone likes to save money, so I have investigated some websites to use. Also a story about a family that was asked to spend only $100/week on groceries, when usually there grocery bill is a lot more. I have only printed coupons one time, I just thought it was a hassel, but in the wake of trying to pay off some bills, ya just have to, to save more. Right now, including eating out and extra stuff, our grocery bill is around $50-$70/week, but that also includes cleaning items, and stuff like toiletries.

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/CollegeAndFamily/RaiseKids/CanAFamilyEatOn100AWeek.aspx

www.coupons.com
www.coolsavings.com
www.couponmom.com
pchcoupons.com

Also if you go time free coupons in a search engine, you can come up with a lot more.

New School Year

Now that I have free time, I have been getting to all the things that I did not get to during the summer. We went to meet the teacher night a week ago, it was a mad house as usual. Weird that they had us fill out the paper work there and did not send it home, so we were there longer than expected. I think now it is a family tradition to take the kids to school on the first day. Anyway, we got there the first day and we had to walk about 1/2 mile, because every other person had the same thought! LOL Well, we got a picture with Justin and his teacher Mrs. Pickens. then got an after shot after he got off the bus in the afternoon. He says so far school is fine.

Breaking Dawn

I went to bed at 1:30 am this morning, anyone have a guess??? I did not buy the book, but my neighbor bought and lent it to me. I thought the book was great, but definitly not what I expected. Just want to let anyone know out there, that this is a really good series of vampire books, it is not your ordinary vampire.

Emilie's #4

I have been sick this week, so things are getting done later than expected. Anyway, we celebrated Emilie's birthday last Saturday. We had a magical princess theme, it was so much fun. The birthday party was at home and princess Emilie wore the ariel dress that grandma bought her and we added a crown, she was so pretty and happy! There were 12 children invited and about half showed up which seemed to be just about perfect. Heather made a most beautiful castle cake with pink and purple frosting, thanks so much Heather it was perfect! I made princess bean bags for two of the games and a princess pillow for Emilie to sit on and open presents. One game I had, was fishing for hearts. I painted to paint stir sticks and tied yarn on them, added magnets. I used the library die cuts to make big hearts and put the prizes on them and added paper clips. They got to pick out 2 hears each and whatever it said on the hearts is what they got. They had a great time doing it. We also played hot pumpkin (hot potato) and had a bean bag toss.Well, the next day was her actual birthday, so we let her pick what she wanted to do. She said I want to go on a merry go round. So we went to the Frisco mall. We all went on the Merry go round and then went to Dave N Busters.

Catching Up

At first, this summer has felt like it went as slow as molassas, now it feels like it went in one big whoosh! Well, I know I have not posted in a bit, so here is a short catch up one. The last two weeks, I made a princess pillow, princess bean bags, heart fishing game, filled goody bags, and what is the one thing I have not done????? I have not had a chance to clean much. The boys (Eric & Justin) wanted me to teach them how to play chess, the doorbell keeps going off, my phone won't stop ringing, and I am really tired! I just can't seem to catch up. A slow realization occurs to me.....I have been planning Emilie's b-day party for 3 weeks and it will be over in just 2 hours! Go figure. She is really going to love this party and I am glad because my little girl is really worth it! I will post more this weekend or early next week, have a good rest of the week.

YEAH!

I just have to say that I am so proud of myself. I just got confermation that my smaller college loan is officially paid off completly! I wrote a check and for some odd reason they applied it to both loans, even tho it was noted not to do that. I had to call them and have them change that and they said that it will take a few days to show the changes, but that it will be paid off. Aaron and I are slowly on our way to getting some of these bills paid off. Slowly but surely.

Six

I really admire those moms out there with Six + kids, I do not know how they do it all the time. I had six children in my home yesterday, which usually is not a big deal, but I swear there was something in the air. Sometime during the time that Aaron and I were eating lunch, the kids found Emilie's prayer rock that she keeps by her bed. She has had it in her room since March and there has been no issues. But yesterday happened and 5 out of those 6 kids got put on a time out for throwing it in Emilie's room. They also got a stern talking to. Ya wanna know who did not get in trouble.......surprise surprise Justin was the good one. After that, all was okay and we finished our day without any more problems other than whineing of course.

10 years and Counting

Well, today marks Aaron and I's 10 year anniversary. It is really hard to believe it has been so long. They say time flies when you have fun, but it really flies when you have children. I know we are not doing anything today, because we celebrated over a month ago while the children were in New Mexico. So 1. thank you Pat and Wava for having the kids those two weeks, it was a nice break. They are already looking forward to next summer! 2. Aaron, thanks for being there, I love you. Let's see what the next 10 years will bring!

Father's Day

Since the kids were in New Mexico for the original father's day, we postpnoned it for later. We celebrated Father's Day last Sunday. We let Aaron sleep in while we went to church, when we got home, we gave him his presents. He got some manly smelling body wash, a 12 pack of soda, & a t-shirt, oh yeah we made him a card as well. We also took him out to lunch, we went to On The Border in Allen. We were having a great lunch, however we were just about done when a waitress accidently spilled ice water down my back. I was not mad, and I had no intention of being mean about it, but it did feel like my shirt was made of ice. Well, even tho I had every intention of paying for the meal, they were nice enough to comp it for us so we did not have to pay for a thing. Anyway, after that we did some window shopping then came home. We had a nice dinner then everyone went to bed.

Memory Tag

Here's a really fun tag that I saw on my friend Audrie's blog:

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn’t matter if you knew me a little or a lot,if we’ve actually met in person or not, anything you remember about me!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. If you don’t want to play on your blog, or if you don’t have a blog, I’ll leave my memory of you in my comments.Everyone reading this is tagged! So, play along!

Fishing Derby

There is a fishing derby that we took the kids to last year, and they had fun. We went again this year and also had fun. We did not get to sleep in, but it was worth it. We woke up at 6:30am and piled everything in the van and went to Lake Texoma on the border of Texas. We thought hey no problem they can catch a few fish and have fun. We sat there for over 2 hours waiting for those little boogers to bite. It was very frustrating for the kids and Aaron and I. Mind you that EVERYONE around us was catching them but not us. Someone across from us suggested that we fish deeper with a worm on the hook. So I actually tried it, laugh all you want to but we caught our first fish within 3 minutes!! We (I) caught a total of 3 small fish, I think they said they were Blue Gills.

The first fish went to Emilie who wanted nothing to do with it, but look at it. The other two fish went to Justin, who held them and released them back into the water.
Then we went to the Pavillion where the prizes were all given out. Justin had his name pulled for another tackle box, now he has two! Like he needs another one.

After all that excitement, we went to the other end of the park and decided to go swimming. The water was better then I expected and I had a good enough experience in the water that I would like to go there again soon.

Overcoming Fears

THEN:
When I was younger, I remember going to a party at a lake. Everyone was having a good time swimming and eating hot dogs. I did not know how to swim at the time, so I stayed close to the waters edge, but still I had fun. A girl there that I knew started screaming trying to get out of the water, it turned out she had a couple of leeches on her. Of course everything turned out fine, but it freaked me out enough, that I never liked to go in lakes again. Between the leeches and slimy stuff, I just could not do it.
NOW:
I am proud to say I think I overcame that fear this weekend, at least for the most part. We went swimming at lake Texoma. It took me about 10 minutes to realize that 1. there were no slimy stuff under my feet and 2. that no big bad leech was heading to get me. I know it sounds very silly, but to me it was not I assure you. I simply trusted God to be by my side and help me along the way. YEAH, I did it!

I will try to post about the rest of the weekend in the next couple of days (it was a good weekend)!

4th of July weekend

We had a nice Independence Day! The 4th was probably the not so good day for the kids, we did grill out till we ran of propane, then we finished cooking inside. Burgers and hot dogs with potato salad to go with it. We watched a movie while we ate dinner, that was about it, because it rained a bit and the ground was wet. Saturday, we went to the Frisco Mall and watched Kung Fu Panda at the theater. On our way out of the mall, Justin begged to try the climbing wall at Dicks Sporting Goods. Aaron gave in and actually did it with him. To everyone's amazement, Justin made it to the top to push the little red button. Oh yeah Aaron also made it to the top right before Justin did. Later I learned that Aaron encouraged Justin about in the middle of it, I guess he wanted to give up. I am proud of them both. Emilie was cute during the whole thing as well, she was their little cheerleader! She was saying "go Justin go" the whole time! If I would have known that they would do that, I would have brought the camera. Oh well there is always next time, cause Justin says he wants to do it again. Yesterday, we went to church and when we got home, I took Justin to half price books and we each bought a couple books each. Aaron made delicious ribs for Linner (we ate about 3:30pm). Then that was that. Did nothing else the rest of the weekend.

We are so grateful to the men and women who put their lives on the line so that we can celebrate Independence Day! Thank you all!

They are home!!

I would have written sooner, but I have been VERY busy! Okay, I guess you could say I had a mini vacation over the weekend, cause I was gone for over 48 hours. I left my house just after 11:30am on Friday. I drove to Denton to Heather and Cody's house and stayed the night there. Unfortunatly, I did not sleep that well that night and was almost comatose. Heather and I left the house at 5:45am and drove to Amarillo. We made great time, I am guessing that is because she drove all the way there. We ended up having to wait for Pat & Wava for a few hours so we went to Wal Mart and did some shopping. Finally they arrived, and I got to see my kiddos, which stuck like glue to me for awhile. I didn't mind really! We had fun, we went swimming, had dinner, chatted with Aaron's mom and dad, and went to bed. YEAH, I finally got to sleep and had at least 6 hours of sleep. We drove back the next morning and I actually drove over half the way home. Anyway, the kids and I finally got back at our house at almost 4pm. We were all tired that night and we all slept well!

So much to do!

Okay, we did get some things done, not a lot but some.

1. We fixed the compresser unit in the hall on our own. Aaron unclogged a couple drains which apparently are somehow connected to it.

2. The van had been having some hiccups while trying to start it. We took a look at the battery and realized it probably needed to be replaced so we went to Wal Mart to get a new one. BTW we did find the reciept for the battery but it was at least 1 day passed the warrenty so we did not even worry about it. We got to the counter in the auto section and the nice lady somehow made it so we recieved $2 and some odd sense to take the new battery. Well, now the van seems to be starting better.

3. I painted the kids bathroom. I picked out a nice light blue color and sponged it on. It only took me 4 hours to complete, but looks much better than before. YEAH!

4. I also managed somehow to get the house back in order and cleaned, still not 100% clean but what house is.

Things still on my to do list......Put up car stickers in J room, measure and order new hot tub cover, mend everything needing mended, finish bean bags for E, ok I won't bore you all but there is much more. Too much to do, so little time! I tried taking pictures of my masterpiece, but not sure how well the will show up.

One week down.....

One week down and one more to go. The kiddos will be back on the 21st of this month. I have been so busy watching others kids that I have not had time to miss them a ton. However, when I am just sitting down not doing anything, my mind goes to my kids and yes, I do miss them terribly! I am going to try to remember to call and see how they are doing so far.

Since the kids have been gone, Aaron and I took advantage and celebrated our 10th anniversary a month early. We went to Lone Star Park today, just to do something different. We sat upstairs in the counter seat section. It was okay except everytime we had to get up, we had to ask the other 3 gentlmen to move a bit so we could get by. We did have some fun and it was real nice to see the horses run. All in all a fun day except. we think that the van's alternator is going out. UGH if it is not one thing it's another.

sniff sniff

Ok, I do really miss my kids! I am not crying, but I sure do miss my hugs, kisses, and I love you mom! Aaron and I drove to Amarillo on Saturday 7am to drop off Justin, Emilie, & their cousin Cameron. The trip there was actually pretty good, it helped having something to occupy the children's attention who were by the way all sitting in the back of the van. Thank you sooooo much Lara for letting us borrow your portable dvd screens. They were a huge hit with the kids as well as the parents, who heard less noise. The kids will be gone for 2 weeks and thanks Heather and Cody for going to pick them up for home. The night before the kids were acting a bit goofy so I took a picture and told them to say cheese boogers, here is the pic! Also one other picture of Justin saying goodbye to Iris!

YEAH JUSTIN!!!

Way to go Justin! I think Justin had a pretty good year over all. Wednesday the 4th, Justin had his program, which was really cute. It was about a train full of toys that needed some help (called The Little Train). Anyway, that day he got 2 awards one was the Best Thinker/Problem Solver award and the other was the friendly visitor to other 1st grade teacher's classroom award. He got the last one, because his teacher said that he knows a ton of kids in each 1st grade class.

On Thursday the 5th, (last day of school) there was the whole school assembly. I figured it would only be 30-45 minutes. NOPE! It took them one hour and 45 minutes to get through it all and of course they did the one Justin got the very last. It would not have been a big deal except I had 2 kids with me ages 5 and 3! Most of the earlier awards were for the 5th graders anyway, why couldn't they have had a seperate assembly for them, who knows. Well, Justin recieved an award and a medal for perfect attendance. We were so proud of him!

For Fun

HowManyOfMe.com

There are 200 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

I thought this was really cool. Unlike Audrie, I guess there are a lot of me out there! LOL Although when I put my maiden name in there, it said no one else had that name. This was neat.

There are 512,596 people in the U.S. with the first name Heather.
Statistically the 104th most popular first name.
More than 99.9 percent of people with the first name Heather are female.

There are 118,642 people in the U.S. with the last name Obrien.
Statistically the 271st most popular last name.
Famous people with the last name Obrien:
George O'Brien
Pat O'Brien
Richard O'Brien
Tina O'Brien

Our Angel

We finally were able to take Angel to the vet today. Luckily we found a really great vet in McKinney. We had to find a special one, because if you did not know, she is considered an exotic animal. Anyway, they said that the lump on her left side was indeed an abcess. How she got no one knows. Well, the abcess already started to drain on it's own, which is actually a good thing. He said that because it is already opened they did not have to put her under or lance it (which in other words, she saved us some money). Aaron and I had to hold her down while the vet rinsed out the wound and gave her a shot of antibiotics. We get to give her medicine mixed with yogurt once a day as well as squirt neosporin in the wound 3 times a day. The only other thing he said made the kiddos sad as we were told to keep the children away from her so she does not get the wound infected. She does live to see another day, which right now is the only thing that matters. I will sleep more peaceful tonight knowing for sure is will be okay.

Justin's Field Trip

The 1st grade classes at Justin's school went to the Heard Museum on the 16th this month. I volunteered to go on this one, even tho I wasn't sure I wanted to do it. Lukily my wonderful neighbor said that she would watch Emilie, so I at least did not have to worry about her. I was put in charge of 2 other boys other than Justin. One of them listened very well (ok, you know that was not Justin), then Justin listened pretty good, but that third one was like Justin times ten! I am sure I sounded like a broken record telling him to stay with me so I told him, ok one more time and you go with the teacher. Anyway, here are a few pictures of the kids there at the museum.

Justin posed in front of the Heard Museum before we even got inside. He insisted that I take his picure. Notice the backpacks? In first grade they apparently have to carry their own lunches in their backpacks. I brought mine just in case with a few essentials. One of my essentials, was my small first aid kit. Although nothing major, I did use it 2 times that day, so good thing that I brought it, because no one else had one.

We all stopped here to take a breather and to take a picture of the whole class. A couple kids said that they saw a snake down the hill from her, but no one else saw it. Justin is of course the one that is not looking or paying attention, so I did not get a great picture.

Here are the 3 kids I was in charge of. The boy with the blonde hair was the one that did not listen very well. This picture was in front of a very old and very large tree. The boys thought it was really cool. I think all in all they had a lot of fun at least they were not stuck inside doing lots of work.

I've been tagged again

Tagged by Audrie

All about me -- Alphabetically!
A. ATTACHED OR SINGLE? happily attached
B. BEST FRIEND? Too many, but most favorite is hubby!
C. CAKE OR PIE? Pie!
D. DAY OF CHOICE? Depends on the week and what is going on
E. ESSENTIAL ITEMS? Hugs, kisses, & energy!
F. FAVORITE COLORS? purple
G. GUMMY BEARS OR WORMS? candy bars
H. HOMETOWN? Wasilla, AK
I. INDULGENCE? A good book
J. JANUARY OR JULY? July I love the warm weather
K. KIDS? 2 kids and of course my hubby
L. LIFE ISN'T COMPLETE WITHOUT? my family
M. MARRIAGE DATE? July 24th
N. NUMBER OF BROTHERS AND SISTERS?3 sisters (one passed) & 1brother died before I was born
O. ORANGES OR APPLES. both
P. PHOBIAS OR FEARS? Being totally alone or children hurt
Q. QUOTE: "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." chinese proverb
R. REASON TO SMILE: smiles, hugs, kisses, laughter
S. SUPERMAN OR WONDER WOMAN? Neither this is a Star Wars house
T. TAG 5 PEOPLE: Jalynn, Kimi, Tammy, Lara, & Heather
U. UNKNOWN FACT ABOUT ME: I really do not like to cook
V. VEGETABLES? green beans
W. WORST HABIT? picking on my hubby about things that do not matter
X. X-RAY OR ULTRASOUND? Ultrasound
Y. YOUR FAVORITE FOOD? anything I didn't cook!
Z. ZODIAC SIGN? Scorpio


And a picture...just because. This is my little sweetie playing dress-up! SOOO Cute!

Mother's Day

I know this is a little late, but this was really a busy week. I had a wonderful Mother's Day! They let me sleep in and Aaron made me french toast, bacon and coffee in bed. Which was excellent timing, because I had just woke up like ten minutes before they came in my room. They got me a new mystery game, a new watch, & a new pair of jeans. They said it was my day and that I got to pick everything that we did. Soooooo we went to play tennis at a park, which the kids loved! Then we went to half price books and game stop and looked around. We also ate lunch at chipotle (yummy). We finally got home and Aaron cooked dinner and did dishes. It was really a nice enjoyable day, I think by far the best one yet! Thanks Aaron you surprised me! I did take a few pictures of the kids playing tennis, really cute! I think the greatest thing about Mother's Day is just that these two wonderful children are mine and they are awesome children! I love you Justin and Emilie!

Aaron's Birthday

I would have posted this earlier, but I have been crazy buzy. We celebrated Aaron's birthday on Saturday. I kinda felt bad because I really did not do much this year for him. I asked him what he wanted for his special occaision and of course, he said a 12 pack of coke and a bag of chips. That is what he got really. I wanted to get him a brand new bike, but it was not within my budget. I told him I would buy it for him this summer. Anyway, I at least baked him a chocolate cake and we did sing him happy birthday. I will post again hopefully tommorow about Mother's Day. I am real tired and plan to go to bed early. Night all!

Weekend Alone

It has been awhile, but we were childless this weekend! Friday we dropped the kids of at Cody & Heather's house. On our way back to the house, we stopped in Frisco to eat at Buca De Beppo! We ate in awed silence. The food was great, we ate till we were over-stuffed. It is not often that I get to eat Manicotti, so I made sure I had my fill (yum yum)! On our way home, we stopped at Wal Mart and purchased a few things.

Saturday, we drove to Plano and went to the range then to Fry's. It was so wierd walking through the stores without whining, complaining, or grabbing. We finally got home and Aaron made us some really tasty burgers and I made the fries. We watched the Golden Compass while we ate our food. The movie was okay. We would have gone to the movie theater, but there was nothing good playing. Saturday evening, we were going to get in the hot tub but there was some icky stuff in it, so we watched tv instead.

Sunday came and we ended up cleaning up the hot tub, it took awhile. Now there was really nice things about the kids away for the weekend, but most of all, was the no whining! The sleeping in was great as well. Thank you so much Cody and Heather for watching our kiddos this weekend, we really appreciate it and hope they were not too much trouble.

My blanket

Here is the blanket I made for Emilie. It was originally supposed to be a baby blanket for her little baby, but as you can see, it is a bit bigger then her baby. Emilie uses it as a throw when she is sitting watching tv. It took me a good 4 1/2 months to finish, but I am glad I did. The blanket is nowhere perfect, but that is what I like about it and Emilie loves it as well.

I have also taken up small projects with my sewing machine that I got for Christmas. I have sewn 5 pillows and 4 bean bags with it. If there is anyone with easy patterns that would be good for a begginer sewer, please let me know. I am also interested in crocheting with the plastic bags, good crafty stuff for this summer!

Weekend & Grocery Shopping

Over the weekend:
Saturday, we went to the park next to Vega Elementary and kicked the soccer ball around then played at the park. The kids had fun, Justin even saw someone that was in his Kindergartin class last year. On Sunday, we took the kids up to the middle school and Aaron, Emilie and myself played tennis while Justin played with his over-sized remote control truck. When we lost a ball Justin would take the truck to go pick them up and bring them back. It was cute! We all had fun. I also should brag a little, while the kids and I were at church, Aaron was nice enough to clean the whole kitchen and trim the hedges. Thanks Aaron!


I did not feel like grocery shopping over the weekend, so I decided to give it another shot with Emilie today. It for the most part was not too bad. But I still would rather have done it by myself. I let her sit in the big part of the basket (she was happy about that). She talked what seemed like the whole time we were at Wal Mart! We would pass something and she would ramble on about for 2-3 aisles. I told her if she could be good, I would let her pick something for lunch. All of a sudden while we were in the craft section, she said mommy we need eggs. I said no we don't, we have enough. She argued with me for the next 15 minutes saying we really did need eggs. There I started feeling a headache coming on. My usual shopping trip takes about 1 hour, this shopping trip took 1 hour & 45 minutes! YIKES! Even so, it was a pretty good change of pace and I talked with Emilie instead of myself.

I've Been Tagged!?!

**Ok, I am going to do this a little bit different, because I don't know that many people that have blogs. Some of this will be e-mails.**

Rules are:1. Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

7 Random Facts About Me

1. I was born in Anchorage, Alaska and I lived there for 19 years. I have not been back to Alaska since 1995.
2. I don't feel like I am good at making friends, but once I do make a friend, they are a friend for life! Miss ya Audrie and Kimi!
3. I would be extremly happy to just be able to sit down and read a book, with no distractions.
4. I really really really do not like doing dishes or laundry!
5. In order to survive daily life, I make lists for anything that I have to do that day. If I get it all done, I would be thrilled, but usually I have 2 or 3 things left everyday!
6. My kids and husband are everything to me, they are the reason I get up everyday.
7. I seriously do not like shopping for myself. I especially do not like buying clothes for myself right now.

Jalynn
Hazel
Tammy
Kathy
Linda
Lara
Heather

My garden

We are trying a garden for the 3rd year in a row. Last year actually went pretty good, so we tried it again this year. I guess by trying different things, we will eventually figure out what we really want. We found out last year that we did not want to plant corn again for sure and the banana peppers did not work either. We tried a whole new approach this year. We ended up getting way too many things to fit into our 6' X 6' garden. It did end up okay though because I ended up ripping out my flower garden to make room for the strawberries and onions. I also found a big pot to put the rubarb in. We also ended up putting the jalapenos and bell peppers in flower boxes. Aaron was also nice enough to frame our main garden. I sure hope we get something out of it this year.