doing good so far

Sunday was a success, minus watching The Family Stone. Since that was the least important I guess it's okay that I didn't get to it! I made it to school today, passed my paper, passed my test. Got baby boy to the dr's because he was running a temp of 104.2 - talk about freaking panic mode! - turns out it's a bad ear infection. Talked to our ENT, we go in to see him on Wednesday so that we can schedule surgery to put tubes in.... joy. Hubby got the lights put up on the house, it looks fabulous! I just love this time of year! I have a long day of clinical tomorrow, sure hope I can make it through the day. I did day 1 of week 2 on the couch to 5k program, my poor shins are sooo sore! And my knees, and my hip.... oh I'm so sadly out of shape!

Question: Do any of you still exchange gifts with your siblings? If yes, do you buy a gift for each sibling or do some type of gift exchange where you draw a name, or just buy a gift and then do a chinese exchange?

To Do:

Sunday:

Write nursing paper (due at 9am tomorrow - sorry for the procrastination!)

Complete clinical paperwork (due at 9am tomorrow - again, procrastination!)

study for test (tomorrow at 1pm)

laundry

& I'd really like to watch The Family Stone tonight.... prob won't get to check that one off the list

Monday:

Remember to wake up for school!

Take baby boy to doctor (if still running a fever)

Prepare for clinical

run (week of 2 of couch to 5K)

Tuesday:

be at clinical 6:15am

Wednesday:

study study study

run

Thursday:

morning class

Friday:

study study study

run

I'm sure I'll add tons of things to each individual day, as for now, I'm focusing on getting through Tuesday!

Have a great week!

Beginning of Christmas

hmmm..... I think I can destroy this thing!

Logan and dad decorating the tree

who can resist this fireplace?

this house was BUILT for Christmas!

Reminder of Thankfulness

We had a very nice Thanksgiving. Went out the night before, probably drank more than we should have, but we had lots of fun. Even got to hang out with one of my sister's which is something that rarely happens! Came home to a sick little niece (my 3 nieces were spending the night at my house) so I slept on the couch with the kiddo. After about 3 hrs of sleep we were up and going again. Poor girl still felt awful. Horrible headaches, throwing up, fever. My family met at my mom's house for dinner and everyone agreed that Maddie should probably be taken to the ER. Thank goodness she was taken in, she was diagnosed with Viral Meningitis! Poor thing! Luckily she was able to go home for treatment, however if she can't hold fluids down then she'll probably get admitted. So of course I'm worried about the other 2 nieces and my 2 boys. So, nice little reminder for my family to be thankful for our health! We are very lucky to have all of us so close and to have the support of each other.

I hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday and that your families are able to enjoy their health!

Thankful for:

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

I am thankful for my husband having a job. Even though this place gives me nightmares, people die here, people are injured here, people are constantly laid off from here, and it keeps the hubs away from home far too often; this place has provided our family with a steady income.

It has allowed me to take a year off of everything to spend with our kids. Now it allows me to finish up nursing school.

And on a positive, this is the view my husband gets to see every morning!

This job has provided with us with (at least for now) financial security. It keeps a roof over our heads and food on our tables. We want for nothing, we are truly blessed.

Thankful for:

My family

Look at all of these loving faces, how could you not be thankful for them? We are so fortunate to have family close to us, and even more fortunate that the family that are far away still want to see us! Much love to you all!

Thankful for:

My kids.

I have the cutest boys possible. Every day they give me a reason to smile, and laugh, and hug. I am so thankful to be blessed with 2 healthy and happy boys. Not a day goes by that I don't count my blessings!

Thankful for:

My husband.

He is absolutely amazing, my other half, sometimes even my better half. He and I have been able to create this fabulous life for ourselves and our children, I couldn't ask for anyone better! I'd go on and on about him but then the post would just be a mushy love story! ;)

bubble boy

Any poker players out there? When you're in a tournament and you're 6th place but they only pay the top 5, yep, you're the bubble boy.

Well.... I'm the bubble boy.

This was my first time joining a football pot. Last Man Standing.... I've held strong, there were only 2 of us left... damn you Cincinnati, how dare you lose! And New Orleans, how dare you win! At least if they would have lost too we could have split the pot, but no.... I get nothing... f'ing bubble boy. Bye bye $260.... ~sniffle~

kids

no two kids are the same. I'm learning this in a frustrating way. My first son was such a good child. I think we told him "no" a few times and he had figured out what it meant. Most of the time he even listened! Riley on the other hand, wow.... you tell him "no" and he looks at you and does it again. He even gets this ornery little smile as he repeats his action. He can get a little smack on his hand or his butt, doesn't matter, he smiles and does it again. Oh Lord the next few years will be testing my patience. My husband and I joke that we got the child that his grandma always wished on his mother. Apparently his mom was a W-I-L-D child and when she became pregnant grandma always said that she hoped her child would be a payback for all that she put her through. Unfortunately (or fortunately , depends on who you are - mom or grandma) my husband was supposedly the perfect child! We have come to the conclusion that the rebel child must skip every other generation!

Regardless, I LOVE both of my boys equally and I count my blessings on a daily basis! Just some days I have to work on my patience a little bit more than the last! ;)

Hope everyone had a fabulous weekend!

Tonight was my personal Thanksgiving dinner. We enjoyed a fabulous meal (made by me - with some assistance from my mom!) and some great dessert from friends. My closest of friends were with us so that made the night perfect. I get to spend Thanksgiving with my family and I got tonight with my friends. Those are what I'm thankful for, it's a wonderful season!

There was some Sangria to be drank..... and I won't even mention how many glasses that I had, but I will say that they were F.A.B.U.L.O.U.S.

I spent my day slaving away, cooking, cleaning, moving furniture, & even some painting. My dining room is finally cleansed of all the crap that was gathered there, and I've added some special touches to the walls. Look at the bottom half of the walls. I added a glaze and put some stripes, can you see? What do you think? -oh, it's only on the wall to the left, I was using that as my tester wall....

And I finally got a few pictures hung in the kitchen, and it's clean enough that I'm glad to show some pictures! (sorry that there is a smudge, I didn't realize it until about 1/2-way through the night)


Here are my two goofy boys.... they are so dang cute, but doesn't Riley look a little evil with the way his eyes are squinted! lol

And of course, I've stated this many times before that I'm horrible at remembering to take "before" pictures. So this is what you get of my Thanksgiving dinner! A mutilated turkey, green been casserole, mashed potatoes, & stuffing!

Bobby, Riley & Alex

Riley & Gavin, too cute!

Mr Gavin

and again....

grrr.....

so date night pretty much sucked! I didn't get to see New Moon, f'ing sold out! That's what happens when you try to see a movie like that in a small town, I should have known better and headed to the city! DAMN!

On a brighter note, I did find the cookies recipe that I was looking for. Jenny you were right, it's MrsSouthernBride! I just hadn't looked deep enough!

Tomorrow I'm making a full blown Thanksgiving meal. I know it's early but I always want to have Thanksgiving at my house. It's tradition to have it at my mom's and to be honest her kitchen is the best fit for cooking this type of meal! So instead I'm making my meal tomorrow and we're hosting our friends! It's our first real get together in the new house so I'm pretty stoked! Hopefully there will be some pictures to come!

and it's DONE!!!!

It took me all day but I finally got the upstairs hallway painted! Woo hoo!!!!! Well, I guess it's not 100% painted, the walls in the stairway go from the 1st floor all the way up, so maybe 20 feet high? I have no clue how I'm gonna get it painted all the way. So I guess I'll rephrase this: the reachable parts of my hallway are DONE!!!!!

Tonight is date night for the hubs and myself. We're going to see New Moon!!! Yippee! I so love this love story!

TGIF

are you out there?

A month or so ago someone posted a fabulous recipe for some cookies that include the red velvet cake mix. I cannot find your post and I want oh so badly to make these delicious sounding cookies! So please, if you are out there please please PLEASE share that wonderful recipe with us again! please!!!!

Dog Days

they love their sweaters....

seriously they do. Nevermind the "get the damn camera out of my face" look that Bella is sporting!

And lazy Cosmo....

all 3 girls sunbathing

gotta be safe! (& yes they love their t-shirts too!)

battle for the toy!

~sigh~ this is the life!

Wordless Wednesday

What's In Your.....?

What's in your.... dvd player!

Since we have a 5 disc player (and my husband was awesome enough to take pics of each disc) I figured I'd share them all with you!

One of my favorites... Harry Potter & the Prisoner of Azkaban

The Hulk

Rounders (I guess we have to let the husband watch something! lol)

How the Grinch Stole Christmas

Shrek

it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Well sorta... at least that's what I heard! On my drive into school today I was pelted with sleet. From what I heard was that here at home it was snowing like crazy, you know the beautiful kind of snowflakes that you just absolutely love! Well by the time I got out of school everything was just cold and wet, bummer. But it was enough to persuade me to dig out the Grinch and we all sat down tonight and watched it. I can't wait to put up our decorations! Day after Thanksgiving and it will be happening!!!! :-)

Hope everyone had a good Monday, I did (even though I was in school ALL day).... hope to have a good day tomorrow too!

lazy Sunday!

I am almost embarrassed to say how my day went today. I got up with the baby around 7:30, we had breakfast, played, I worked on some homework. Baby went back to sleep around 10, I slept until 1. Made lunch for all of us, played, worked on homework, baby took another nap at 3:30. I slept again until 5:30. Woke baby up, Big brother came home from his dads, we ate dinner, gave baby a bath, worked on Logan's homework, did dishes, finished my homework. Here's the worst part, I'm still in my jammies, have never brushed my hair (hey at least I pulled it back!), and haven't even brushed my teeth! Ewwww gross!!!!

Oh well, everyone needs a lazy day and this was definitely mine. At least I got my school stuff done so it wasn't a complete waste of a day! I've got a full day of school tomorrow 9 - 4, yuck. Then clinical on Tuesday, study all day Wednesday, and pray to God I pass my test on Thursday!!!!

Hope everyone had a fabulous weekend, talk to ya tomorrow!

my grown-up Christmas list

Don't ya just love that song? It's one of my favorites! So for real, here is my list:

Oh how my heart/hair would LOVE to have one of these fabulous CHI hair straighteners! I found these babies on overstock.com and they seem to be pretty well priced! Does anyone have experience with these irons? Can you give me a review?

Hello Brooke.... I think I LOVE you!!!! I apologize that your creators have made you priced so ridiculously high, however my thoughts are still with you!

source

Hello Hero!!!!!!

source

An Award!

I Do At the Zoo has given me this amazing award! Thank you so much!

Alright, so I get to think about 10 fascinating things about myself and tell those things to you! I Do had a great idea and decided to have her husband think of these 10 things, so I'm following in her footsteps!

Here's what my hubs had to say about me:

Kristen:

1. very excellent cook, only made 1 meal in 5yrs that I didn't like

2. very creative, great at turning a house into a home

3. jaw pops when chewing

4. can't whistle

5. can't roll her tongue

6. loves to paint

7. can sit and watch Friends and Sex & The City re-runs all day!

8. thinks it's fun to put t-shirts and sweaters on her dog

9. has an overwhelming need to save all the animals

10. picks her team to win, or horse to win a race, by the color of the jerseys or the color of the horse!

Now here are the 10 people that I'm passing this on to, I love your blogs!

1. Lucky In Love

2. Love & Marriage (and now expecting a baby carriage!!!!!!)

3. The Juice is Worth the Squeeze

4.Pink in a Sea of Blue

5. This Girl Loves Pink

6. Seriously Kristen

7. An Experiment in Poverty

8. Adventures of a Horse Crazed Mind

9. a.little.bit.delirious

10. The South Dakota Cowgirl

Baby Fever?

(source)

Me? Um, no. My husband and I were talking about having another baby yesterday. It was exciting to think about but exhausting at the same time. Really, a 3rd child? We had told a friend that we would like to have one more baby and his response was, "why would you do that?". Well.... when I'm old and senile than if I have three kids the chances are better that one of them will still like me enough to keep me out of an old persons home! lol Kidding... (kinda!) Seriously though, I love being a mom. I enjoyed being pregnant, heck I even like labor. I was induced with both pregnancies so I had at least 12 hrs of being doted on, now who wouldn't like that? The actual delivery, yeah not so much, but then getting to see that precious baby that you helped to create. That's just amazing and nothing can top it! I hope that by this time next year we will be seriously considering trying for another baby, but until then I'll happily dote on my pregnant friends!

Here is a funny I saw today:

If you are pregnant, ever knew a pregnant woman, or ever want to be pregnant...these questions and answers should be very useful. (Thanks to Raymond for the laugh)

Q: Should I have a baby after 35?
A: No, 35 children is enough.

Q : I'm two months pregnant now. When will my baby move?
A: With any luck, right after he finishes university.

Q : What is the most reliable method to determine a baby's sex?
A: Childbirth.

Q: My wife is five months pregnant and so moody that sometimes she's borderline irrational.
A: So what's your question?

Q : My childbirth instructor says it's not pain I'll feel during labour, but pressure. Is she right?
A: Yes, in the same way that a cyclone might be called an air current.

Q: When is the best time to get an epidural?
A: Right after you find out you're pregnant..

Q : Is there any reason I have to be in the delivery room while my wife is in labour?
A: Not unless the word 'child support payment' means anything to you.

Q: Is there anything I should avoid while recovering from childbirth?
A: Yes, pregnancy.

Q : Do I have to have a baby shower?
A: Not if you change the baby's nappy very quickly

Q : Our baby was born last week. When will my wife begin to feel and act normal again?
A: When the kids are in university.

the verdict

baby boy has pneumonia..... he's miserable, I'm miserable. I've had about 9 hrs of sleep since Sunday, can we say EXHAUSTED! Class tomorrow morning and evening = not fun!

What's In Your.....?

We all know those commercials, you know, the "What's In Your Wallet?" For awhile I've been thinking about starting up a new weekly post, so I think this is what I've come up with!

What's In Your...... _________?

I fully intend on being completely honest, no cleaning before taking pictures.... in return I ask that you don't judge!!!

So for this first week....

What's in your bathtub?

Interesting I know, most people would think... um nothing! Unless you have a separate shower from your tub, and then you just might understand what I'm talking about! So here it is....

Seriously who does this? Who has an amazing jacuzzi tub to use and then just lets it fill up with clothes??? Well, I guess this girl does. It's temporary though so don't get too worked up! And the ugly wall paper is temporary too.... if you look closely, behind the Scooby Doo gift bag is some fun little bath soaps and some flowers.... yep, one day I'll actually enjoy that bathtub!

So, what's in your bathtub?

Monday Frustrations

I think my clinical instructor hates me. I definitely managed to get on her shit list but I have no clue how I got there! Normally I'm a fairly likable person but for some reason my good charms aren't helping me out here! I didn't get much sleep last night. Spent almost 12 hrs working on homework, can you believe it, 12 HRS! So at 2:30 this morning I decided to finally hit the sack! Man that alarm clock started going off way too soon!

I think the stress of life is finally starting to kick in. I'm ready for Christmas break. I want to be lazy. I want to bake cookies. I want to watch movies. I want I want I want! he he, ok I'm better now!

I've got a sick little guy today so I'm getting ready to head off to his dr's appointment. I'm betting double ear infection and that he'll get started back up on breathing treatments....but we'll see! Hope you all are having a better Monday than I am!!!!!

The House

First off I need to state that my husband is not thrilled with me for posting these pictures tonight. The house is a disaster and the rooms aren't finished.... but no one here is gonna judge me, right?

Please understand that while I am trying to beautify my home I am also taking care of 2 children, keeping a husband happy, chasing 4 animals, and studying to be a nurse.... so there, I feel better about myself already!

The kitchen, or at least part of it... (before)

(after - it's a yellow, sorta hard to tell in the pic)

T.V. wall (before) (& you can see the yellow of the kitchen better)

yeah I know, different angle but you get the idea! (after)

Dining Room (before)

Dining Room (after). Please imagine a nice light, chair rail, and maybe crown molding?

Living Room (before)

Living Room (after)

Well, whatcha think?