Hopeless romantic...

I have officially been caught up in the Twilight saga! With my nose burried in school books, I have not had any time to do any personal reading since June when I finished all the Harry Potter books. What little television I watch is with the help of my DVR, so I fast-forward through everything that is a commercial; I couldn't tell you what new movies or products are out there on the market right now. Well, I have read the raves of Twilight from my friends' blogs and figured that I had 2 weeks to take some "me" time (even though the my house could use some of that time), so when I ordered my textbooks, I bought the first 2 books in the series. At this point, I had no clue what they were about, but if every one was raving, they had to be at least interesting. As I waited for my delivery from Amazon, I was told the series was a vampire love story. SAY NO MORE! I was sold. (I've loved vampires ever since The Lost Boys....) My other weakness, The Phantom of the Opera, was on tv while I was packing, before the books arrived, which just put me in my fantasy world even farther... Can you believe that I had the books in my possession for 2 whole days before I started reading them? I opened Twilight about 3am last Monday morning while I was trying to stay awake at work. By page 76 I was hooked. The book was finished by 7pm that night. (It would have been earlier but I needed to sleep.) I was done with Eclipse by Wednesday morning. Then I was jonesing... I didn't have the other 2 books and we were leaving for Pennsylvania. Guess what? My sister had the other two books in her room! I finished the third book before we left PA, and made a dent in the last. I would guess I am solidly in the middle of the last book now. It is all I can do not to be reading it right now! My sister took me to the movies Friday night to see Twilight. Yes, the other blogs warned about the dissapointment there too.... They took like 100 pages of the book and smashed it into the movie. Let's not forget all the details they left out, especially about how gorgeous vampires are supposed to be. I guess they must have had a low budget for casting or something! If Porsche DeRossi was a few years younger, she would have been perfect to cast as Rosalie.... Anyways, I was doing well with brushing off everyone's rave reviews until Leanne jumped on the band wagon. I blame her. I will soon be sad when I finish book 4, that means I will be back to reading yucky books... pharmacology and chemistry....

Santa

I don't know why Collin was pretending to be shy with Santa!




























Noah knows what he wants and who to ask for it...


























Maya figures if she bats her eyes and smiles real pretty-like that Santa will cave in and give her whatever she wants....

Dysfunctional Family Photo

This could have been a great family photo, if only Scooter could behave himself. Like that will ever happen! But it is still fun to have these pictures on disk because you can play with them for FREE and share the joy with everyone! I should just be happy, he could have put his finger up his nose instead....

Family pics

1. 
   

Look at my perfect kids! Ok, so it's not my house, or my tree, but they are my perfect kids...perfect for a minute or two!

Isn't this a cool family picture? It looks great no matter which way you turn it. (Go ahead, turn the computer...) It was hard to keep smiling because all the flashes above us were making my eyes water. I could barely keep my eyes open.

And here's me and my honey. It's hard to believe it's only been 11 years. I can't imagine my life wthout him, and I'm greatful that we now have an eternal family!

Time is going so quickly! I am so greatful that there are only 2 weeks left in this quarter at school. I'm burnt out big time. I probably have 10 test to take in a matter of 8 days. I am so over all of it! I'm ready for Christmas break more than my kids are. And as soon as Christmas is over, I will be more than ready for spring. I hate the cold. I am such a big sissy. The kids finally got to see Santa this weekend at Scooter's Christmas party so I'll get some pictures of them on soon. We got family pictures taken too. (Love the $9.95 special at Portrait Innovations.) I need to make a "to-do" list for all the things I need to get done before Christmas, but I am so overwhelmed already that I think I would explode if I really knew how much I need to get done.

So, if you are my friend, walk on tip-toes around me so I don't explode, please!

Playing at Westside Park

Here are all three of the kids hanging out at the park.

Noah is the master poser--NOT!

Maya fell out of the tree as soon as I snapped this!

Collin is the ham of the family. He likes looking good and being the center of attention!

Happy Halloween

Ok, I'm finally going to get some pictures on here! We had a busy Halloween "season". We went to 2 parties and a bonfire. I think we have enough candy to sell some back to the manufacturer... The kids aren't complaining though. They think they could use some more. Scooer took the boys to get their costumes, so I wasn't really thrilled about what they picked. I guss that's what I get for not going myself... Maya is into "cheetah" stuff so she was thrilled to be a cheetah kitty. She didn't think twice about not being a princess this year.

Collin was so funny carving his pumpkin. Watch his tongue. The kids laughed like crazy when they saw this. (There is no sound.)

Scooter was having too much fun gutting the pumkins!

Here's the kids' pumpkins. Of course I am the one who had to do Maya's and finish Collin's.

I'm obviously not too good at adding pictures and such to my text. Oh well!

Just complaining...and rambling.

I am not very good at this, mostly because I have no time. I never have a day off, literally. Going to school Monday through Thursday and working Friday through Sunday takes up all of my time. I don't have personal time let alone family time. This last week, I was able to spend one evening with my family. I barely make it til dinner time on Monday without falling asleep, Tuesday nights are for Cub Scouts, and I went to work Thursday night (I love going for 24 hours straight!) It is 1am on Sunday morning right now and I know the next family time we'll have will be on Wednesday. How sad is that? It'll be all I can do to stay awake through church then I'll go to bed as soon as I get home. I'll try to get an hour of sleep tomorrow morning when I get off work before going to school all day. I'll be a zombie during dinner and then I'll go right to bed. What a life. I know it isn't forever, just until June of 2010... We'll carve our pumpkins on Wednesday night for F.H.E. and save the seeds. They'll turn out too salty and there will be pumpkin all over the place, but I'll finally have time with them. <>

On a more positive note, I have really been trying to work on not being bummed out, or scared with our failing economy. Instead of thinking about all the negatives in my life, I go around thinking about all of the things I am grateful for. And I don't ask for anything else. Take the gas prices for instance. I am thankful that gas has gone down to $2.26. Do I wish it were $1.26? Sure I do. But I think to myself that I am thankful that it is $2.26, not $3.26 or $4.26. I am simply grateful for what I do have and don't worry about what I don't have. It's hard to explain, but it has made me a lot more peaceful with things. Do I wish I had more time with my family? Yes, but I am grateful that I have a job, a loving and helpful husband, and I am grateful that I am in nursing school working on a career that will take care of my family when construction jobs are slowing down. It seems like you can find more things to be grateful for when you think about it then to mope over one thing.

October

Well, here I am, back in school for my second quarter. The last quarter went by pretty quickly, so I am hoping this one flies by also. I ended with straight A's. Not too shabby if I do say so myself. It looks like this quarter won't be quite as easy, but I'm shooting for mostly A's, and nothing lower than a B.
Tomorrow is mine and Scooter's 11th wedding anniversary. It's hard to believe it been that long, but at the same time it seems a whole lot longer. Most days I would choose to marry him all over. I think he feels the same.... We have a babysitter and open ended plans to celebrate. Here's to the next 11 years!
It's already cooling down here. I bought Maya her winter coat. I need to get the boys to the store and get theirs. Even if last year's coats were in better shape, they're growing kids and their arms keep growing.... Can't be freezing off their little wrists! Maya found a black jacket with leopard print. She's into the Cheetah Girl look. And the coat came with a "cheetah" purse, so of course she is in LOVE.