a glimpse into my Christmas, in pictures (and LOTS of them!)

Christmas Eve, just before church

took a lot to get Riley to smile...

but with a little bit of bribery (aka candy cane), we were successful!

our annual "sibling & grandchildren" photo, only this year we're missing a sister & 3 grandkids

plus the spouse

we are back to not smiling...

my crew with my MIL

after church we drove down to the Plaza to look at lights... here is Crown Center (btw this tree is like the 4th largest in the USA)

Kansas City Plaza

my camera sucked at this motion shot, but there were horse drawn carriages all over down there

at the Kansas City Union Station

very cool!

my favorite!

Christmas morning

stockings are always my favorite part

uh oh, COAL!  ;-)

Logan asked for a pet snake, I guess Santa got confused!

a dragon!!!!

KC Chiefs!  (btw we're in the playoffs!)

YES! Hot Wheels!

a guitar!  Music lessons may be in someone's future

someone broke into the candy

even the kitty was enjoying herself

a little too much!

Christmas at Grandma & Grandpas

annual tradition is we all get new flannel pants, girls all match, boys match, and then kids match

we're Jayhawk fans around here

Logan was pretty happy with all of his new goodies!

Riley's big gift, he likes to do burnouts on it... unfortunately the tires leave black marks on my carpet! :(

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!

what makes me happy...

that the local radio station is still playing Christmas music

that lifetime is still playing Christmas movies

Thank you to these networks for not making Christmas come to an immediate end at midnight Christmas night!

I keep trying to write posts but lately they all sound so damn depressing I just delete it...

so lets just try this again!

the good:

~we're all alive

~my in-laws will be here on Friday 

~we had about 3 great days here in KS, all 50 degrees, you can't get much better than that in for December!

~we are 100% done with our holiday shopping, I'm just waiting for someone to come and finish the wrapping!

~I will get my oldest son from 1-6pm on Christmas Day, not as good as I'd like but better than nothing.

~my flowers from graduation are still alive and beautiful

~hubby is still working

the ugly:

~hubby is still working nights

~I've missed a few nights of sleep due to mini#1 having the stomach flu, and mini#2 having an awful ear infection

~my Christmas cards are not in the mail yet

~my kitten still refuses to stop stealing food off the table (anyone have advice on how to stop this?)

~it's back to being freezing cold here!

there how was that?

not totally depressing right?

so we've got 3 days until Christmas, hope your shopping is all done and that you are able to relax with your loved ones!

and hopefully with all of the hustle and bustle of everything you've managed to keep the true meaning of Christmas close to you!

Merry Christmas my bloggie friends! :-)

one for the job Gods

hello..

my name is kristen..

i know sometimes i swear at you, especially recently..

but today lets start fresh you and me..

i have 3 applications out that i would possibly donate an organ if it would help me get one..

you can ignore the other 5,456,789 applications if you would just focus on these 3..

please..

pretty please..

no more swearing..

thanks..

ba hum bug

i am officially scrooge...
well maybe not that bad but i swear there is no holiday spirit inside of me. 
i'm looking and looking but it has avoided me this year.
normally when it comes to christmas spirit, i am the epitome of it.
seriously, i listen to christmas music the day after halloween, i watch abc, hallmark, lifetime, anything that may possibly have a christmas movie on it. 
i.love.christmas.
but this year... i'm doing all of the same things but i couldn't even begin to be excited about the holidays.
i think it all started right before thanksgiving.
the hubs learned he'd be going back to work, however he'd be working nights.
so... thanksgiving day came, we went to my parents as usual, ate, and then after eating he had to leave to come home and sleep.  
i brought the kids home just in time to say goodbye to him, and he was off.
for the next 3 nights.
our first nights away from each other.
our shopping time together is on the weekends.
well we only have logan every other weekend, so our time is limited as a family.
after working nights the hubs went and worked a few saturdays... so of course there went our family time.
my favorite family tradition is that within a few days of thanksgiving we all go to a hallmark store and buy a new ornament. 
we still haven't done that yet  :(
now this week and next week hubs is working nights again. 
he leaves at 6pm and gets home around 5am.
sleeps until 3 normally, showers, eats dinner with us, and back on the road again.
it's tough on me, tough on the kids.
poor logan is so funny, he got upset the other night and said "it's not fair that sage has to work all night while the rest of the world is asleep!".
aren't kids adorable?!
so to add to my gloominess i got a phone call from logan's principal today, apparently logan either tried to take another boys bracelet (he claims he was just looking, we'll never know the truth i'm sure) - anyway the other boy punched logan in the face.
great.
the other boy is a problem child, logan adores him but he is a bad influence.
held back a year already due to behavioral issues.
talks about burning the school down, etc.
a real great influence.
so we got to deal with that tonight.
onto happier times, or so i thought.
tomorrow is logan's class "Polar Express" party, they worked towards the party for 2 months, have to earn points for behavior etc in order to have the party.
once they get the clear for the party, they get to wear pj's to school, bring a blanket, pillow & stuffed animal.
cool right?
they have done a party once back in october and i remember logan being so excited for it.
so tonight i was trying to plan out our morning, logan won't be wearing his pj's to school tomorrow.
and he won't be taking his blanket (it's a thomas the train big fleece blanket my mom made for him years ago)
apparently the last time they had a party he got made fun of for his pj's (superman) and his blanket.
my heart just ached for him tonight, he looked so sad.
he's growing up so quickly and i really hate how mean kids are.
i remember growing up being tough but i sure don't remember it being this early.
i vividly remember kids being mean in 5th grade but nothing before that.
how about you? how was it being a kid for you? and what the heck can i do for my child to help him through these times? and how on earth am i gonna get my christmas spirit when i feel so sad?  i know i know, be thankful for what we have. 2 healthy kids, my husband is working, i have graduated.... pretty selfish of me to ask for more i know... :(

we have a winner!!!! (two actually) - FINALLY!

we finally have a winner!

i apologize for how long it took me to finally do this.... deadlines and me don't go well, i sorta work on my own schedule! :-)

 i said that hubs was gonna help me draw names, but since he works all night, sleeps all day... well you get the idea.

so in his place - Logan!!!! (my 6yr old!)

getting ready for the drawing... 

congrats to Adrienne over @ All Adrienne

and to Liz @ Love & Marriage

thanks to all who played!!! lots of fun!

ladies, shoot me an email at
barrelnutt@yahoo.com 
with your address so i can get your subscription started!!!

bras & panties

btw I despise the word panties!

So ever notice that it's always slightly uncomfortable while browsing for underwear? 

or is that just me?

So there I am today wandering through Wal-mart in need of nude colored bra & underwear.

(for my pinning tonight I have to wear white scrubs, well white underwear sticks out sorely! Who would have thought?)

As I'm looking around I notice random men.... browsing around looking at underwear.

Men always look so uncomfortable! lol  They just casually look, then look away.

One guy was in looking at the little kid underwear, I'm sure he's cussing his wife for making him go shopping for their daughter! lol

Then another guy was looking at bras, maybe buying a gift for his wife? 

And then there was a lady who turned a corner and knocked an entire rack of bras down...

seriously, the bar fell down and down went all the bras.

Would you believe she just tried to play it off and kept on walking!?

That was the fun for my afternoon.... people watching can be so comical!

Tonight is my pinning and guess what!  The hubs got the ok to take off 2 hours from work so he'll be there long enough to watch me cross the stage and then will jet off to work.  

That's good enough for me! :-)

Happy Wednesday!

s-t-r-e-s-s

yup, that's about all I am right now.... stressed.  

you'd think things would be easier right now, now that i'm done with school.

but no....

i worry about finding a job.

worry about my kids.

worry about my husband working nights.

worry about my dog - she won't quit itching her ears.

worried about my kitten - i may just kill her if she doesn't quit scratching things!

worried about my horse - he's a gentleman... the other horses are picking on him.

worried about my fingers & toes - if it doesn't warm up i may not survive the winter.

worried that friends will think we aren't available for them enough.

tonight the hubs goes back to working nights, i think i'm gonna enjoy myself a hot bath & glass of wine.

the crazy studying is about to begin, i'm scheduling my boards today.

the test date will remain a secret for only myself to know (possibly the hubs too)

this way i hopefully won't feel as much pressure come test today.... it's tough trying to pass a test when the entire world knows you're taking it.

& p.s. i haven't forgotten about the magazine subscription contest that i had! i'll try and post the winners by tomorrow!!!!

oh, and hi dad!  my dad is my newest reader.... :-)

graduation = happy, right?

This Wednesday is my pinning (aka: graduation)

I'm officially done with school!!!!  

I should be so excited.... 

I am following in the footsteps of many fantastic ladies in my family,

#1: my momma

my grandma, a few aunts, my besties mom..... I have great women to look up to

But, being done has left me feeling sad!

My last day of clinicals was Tuesday.

Instead of dancing out of the hospital I was left feeling terrified!  Holy crap!  No more clinicals? 

Now what am I gonna do with myself?

I have no job lined up, no offers, nothing.... 

so now that I'm officially a nurse, I get to sit at home  :(  not how I envisioned this going.

And to make me even more sad.....

hubs got a call last night to go back to work for a couple of weeks... good news right?

yeah, and no

he's gonna be working nights...

which means he's gonna miss my pinning  :(

*tears*

he offered to check to see if he can go in late but I think that looks bad on his part so he's gonna go ahead and work.  When work is this slim you don't ask for time off!

So I'll put my big girl panties on for the night but I'm still gonna be sad.... I feel like he's been my partner through all of this, we've worked really hard towards this goal and now he won't be there to watch me finish  *more tears*

hope the tree stays up!

strange little lump under the skirt....

look in the middle right of this pic, there's a brown fur ball

uh oh....

and she pounced!

Shay does not play nicely with annoying kitties! Lol

secret says "woo that was fun!"