Winding Down for the Holidays

Thanksgiving is right around the corner. Our schedules are slowing down. Some. Our varsity team has ended the football season. Now it’s all about basketball and cheer competition. Work has been slowing down in some areas, but it also ramps up with many year-end tasks. We’ve had a lot of change in a short period too so everyone is ready for a break.

📸: School Website

The holidays will probably look a bit different for us this year. It’s both exciting and bittersweet. We don’t have a lot of plans, and we’ve scaled back on who we’ll visit if any visits take place at all this year. I’m hoping we don’t have to do much. And I’m actually looking forward to just being home for the most part.

This week, I found out the average cost of daycare in our area, and now I know why people don’t have more kids. I mean, I had an idea, but it wasn’t a reality I had to deal with, you know? Anyway, I get that childcare is a major undertaking and that's why it can cost a lot. I just don’t know how families can afford it these days. Especially when you know the average salaries for your area. I’m looking at ⅓ of my paycheck going to daycare costs alone. And that's IF we can get off any of the five waitlists that we are on. Yes, that is every daycare in our area.

Today, I have to wrap a few things up at work, and then we have some last-minute things to take care of when I get home this afternoon. I plan to do quite a bit of cleaning over the weekend too. Then it’s just prepping for my next doctor’s appointment on Monday, and finishing out the week before Thanksgiving Break. I'm glad things are going to be slower over the next few days. Until the next post...🦃

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day, Daddy! 

Thank you for always supporting me. 

Even when I had some of the worst plans. 

Thank you for being a wonderful grandpa to Emery & Ivan. 

Thank you for being a badass and one hell of a dad.

I'm honored to be called your daughter. 

💙  

I know I'm early on this whole "Father's Day" post, but I plan to spend the weekend with my family. Have a great weekend everyone! 

A Short Recap Of The Holidays

Well hello, 2014. That definitely came up a lot faster than I expected. Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and New Years! Here's a SHORT (it only looks long because of the pictures) recap of what we were up to: 
I had the whole week of Christmas off (paid), thanks to a really wonderful boss! I don't know how I got so lucky to find this company but I am truly grateful for it. My first day of vacation was all planned out, when we got the news that one of my aunt's sisters died very unexpectedly (she was in her 40's) from the flu. And that kicked off a very hectic holiday for us. We had family from Georgia coming down again, and family from California coming in at the same time. 

my uncle at the last minute decided to hold up his "gat" and blocked my face :( also this was only half of us
On Christmas night, our puppy Gotham died after getting into some cow patties out at my husband's grandmother's house. As far as we can tell, she probably got into some poisonous mushrooms. She vomited a few times during the day, but then went back to her normal self. I assumed she was just hacking up whatever didn't agree with her because she seemed fine as we headed home. She was bouncy, and playful so nothing seemed out of the norm. We put her in her crate for the night and when we woke up she was gone. :( We were all very heartbroken, and at a loss. This makes two dogs in less than three months so my husband and I have decided to hold off on any more dogs for awhile. Unless something comes up, we won't be seeking to add another fur-baby to our family anytime soon. 

We officially said goodbye to our old house. We gathered what we could bring with us (read: what would fit in a tiny room) and shut everything off at our old house. We left behind the majority of our things that will be boxed up as soon as we find our own place, but for now we'll keep them there. My family has talked about knocking the house down as soon as we're all moved out. It's sad, bittersweet, but the house is not livable so there are hardly any other alternatives. There are so many memories in this house, on this land, and it makes me so sad to see it go.   

We rang in the New Year with Beau's family. The afternoon was spent at my parents house with them, so we were able to spend time with both of our families. But, being the responsible adults that we are, we wanted to make sure that we stayed wherever it was that we'd be drinking at. I don't mean getting drunk either because I had two glass of wine and my husband had 3 beers. I don't like driving anywhere regardless of whether it's one drink or six. So we stayed there with everyone. Our age is showing though because out of all of us only 4 adults stayed up to midnight. And we went to bed shortly after the countdown was over. :) 

I know this says Christmas but it was taken on New Years Eve. I did not take this either; credit goes to Taylor.
So that was our holiday. Our California family have returned to California and the last of our Georgia family will be leaving over the weekend. My vacation time was a lot busier than I had hoped but I enjoyed getting to see everyone. Now it's back to work, and back to school. I have a meeting with a student board next week, and if everything goes as planned my spring semester will start on the 13th. We're also currently looking at some houses and I'm hoping to be in our own place by the end of this month. Fingers crossed! Again, I hope you all had a wonderful time with your families over the holiday's! 

Our Easter Sunday

The perks of being the only child under ten in our family really paid off on Easter Sunday for Emery. My family didn't have anything planned really besides a dinner so we went off to my husband's grandmother's house for lunch and an Easter egg hunt.

First we picked up the clothes, and a basket that my parents bought her. Then we made our way over to Gigi's (great-grandma's) house. The day started out a bit windy, but once it hit noon it was a perfect day. We had a lovely lunch, watched a movie, and then let Emery have an Easter egg hunt. Once we left there, we made our way over to my parents house for dinner. We were all sleepy by this point, so we decided to skip out on a second egg hunt and just allow her to have a basket filled with candy eggs, and chocolate. We had dinner and then watched a bit of TV. I'm pretty sure we were all in a food coma by this point. We finally pried ourselves off the couch long enough to say goodbye, eat some chocolate, and get our butts in the car.

By the time we made it home we were all pooped. We all showered, and snuggled up for a movie. Once Emery fell asleep I divided the candy all up, and hid the majority of it. As much from myself as from her. Seriously, what kid needs that much candy? Heck, what ADULT needs that much candy? None I tell you. I'm pretty sure I'll be taking some to work and pawning it off on the guys. They can at least enjoy it all without it going straight to their thighs. Any way, I hope you all had a lovely Easter weekend! I'm still re-cooperating. Have a lovely Tuesday, everyone!  :)

Happy Thanksgiving

Currently, I still haven’t decided who we’re having dinner with. Don’t judge. But, it’s a beautiful day! Regardless of where we go we’ll be surrounded by family and friends that we love and that love us. For that, I am so grateful. I fully plan on stalking everyone with my camera today so expect pictures soon. Have a wonderful day everyone! And now for a bit of humor:

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Costume Drama Already

Halloween is two weeks away!! So in preparation for this we really started to get into the spirit. Last weekend we kicked it off by watching Halloween themed movies and deciding what we wanted to do/go on that day. My husband practiced carving a pumpkin with Emery last Friday. She LOVED it! Then on Saturday we went and let her pick out her costume! Unfortunately, the best part about this whole experience was kind of rained on by my parents.

See, my parents are really religious. We celebrated Halloween when I was younger but once my mother “found the lord”, that holiday was “banned”. Then when I was a teenager I started looking into other religions before having to commit and be confirmed into the Catholic Church. This included Paganism (which will be a story for another time). This sent my mom on a war path. I could go into details but you guys would all probably end up scared of my mother. Anyway, for my parents Halloween pretty much equals evil. They don’t mind costumes but in all honesty my mother would be more okay with someone dressing slutty than being a witch or devil for Halloween.

So guess what costume Emery picked out? She picked out the Devilina costume. My husband and I didn't mind. In fact we didn't think anything about it at first. We picked out several costumes that they had in her size, and then we set them out for her to choose one she liked. She put that costume and a bumble bee one in our cart. So, I told her she could only pick one. She picked the red one. When I asked if she was sure, she clung to that bag like it was candy. And when we tried to have her take a different one, she refused. Devilina it was.

It wasn't till we were driving home that my husband asked “Do you think your parents will say anything about her outfit?” “Nah.” I said. But of course, I was very very wrong. The minute she showed off her outfit, all proud and excited, my parents ripped me a new one. Well, once Emery was out of hearing range of course. They were so put off by this costume that they said they were buying her a different one. I was scolded for allowing her to pick something that represented “evil”. And then I was lectured on how I should “know better”. This lasted for about 30 minutes. I said my peace, declined their offer for another costume (not that they’ll listen), and left.

You know, I really can’t believe my parents sometimes. It’s Halloween for Pete's sake! She’s going to go around the town asking for candy! One costume is not going to change my daughter into a devil worshiper. Hell, she doesn't even KNOW what the costume is. She just liked the colors. But, now there's tension between us. I won't cave to my parents because I'M Emery's mother. Not the other way round. I don't want them buying her a replacement costume, because her dad and I have agreed that we're OKAY with the costume she already picked out. We don't need to ask them for their approval. So now, MY parents just need to get on board. Either that, or just leave it alone. My husband and I have agreed to make this FUN for Emery, and if my parents don't want to be a part of that, then that's fine. I'm not forcing them to participate. But I'm not going to just stand by and let them dictate what I can and can't do/buy for my daughter.

Hi, I'm Back! Maybe? We'll See.

Hi.

:) 

 So, I’ve been pretty bad about neglecting this little blog of mine. Sorry. I’ve been trying to get myself into a new routine, and I’ve recently had a lot on my mind. I feel like I needed to just step back and shut things off for a few days in order to get myself together. I’ve used the time well though. Sleep has been a major part of my life lately. I think all of the late nights and early mornings finally caught up with me. Bout time! All of these issues have contributed to a “forced writers-block”. Which just means that I didn’t want to post anything because I would probably change my mind about what I wrote 5 seconds later. Or I just didn’t know how to put my thoughts into words. Yea, either way, it’s been that kind of time in my life. Please, bare with me while I get my stuff together. Thankfully, apart from the tiny stomach bug I seem to be getting, I’m feeling better. So let’s catch up, shall we?

This past weekend we didn’t do much. On Friday, we rushed off to go see Kim's graduation in the Metroplex. In case anyone doesn't already know, I hate the city. Absolutely hate it. My husband says that it's not that much different than Temecula and Murrieta, but he's wrong. The Dallas/ Fort Worth Area is ugly. It's too crowded, and the crime rate is ridiculous (compare this to this and this). And it has this "infamous circle" loop that I almost get us killed at every time I have to drive through it. But obviously I overcome my fear for special occasions and this one I wouldn't have missed. Kim graduated from TCC with HONORS! Booyuh! I have smart friends.  :) LOL! Thankfully, my husband drove so we made it in one piece. I'd love to show you guys pictures, BUT my camera sucks at long range. And the "event security" wouldn't let us get close enough to get pictures. So, I've got nothing for ya. :( Sorry Kim. But CONGRATULATIONS!

Then, on Saturday I sorted through Emery’s clothes and donated them. Then I went and got a hair cut. Originally I was suppose to just get a trim. I wanted to keep the length, but have my other layers brought up a bit. Unfortunately, the girl didn’t quite understand what I meant. So after the trim, she brought up ALL of my layers including the bottom one. The scary part was that my hair was curly so when I saw that it rested on my shoulders, I almost freaked out. But once I got home and straightened it, it wasn’t as short as I had feared. It’s not as long as before, but I can at least put it into a pony tail. This is a big change for me. I loved my long hair. I've never had plans to take off 3+ inches off my hair, ever. But that's what happened. So this new do is taking me a bit longer to get used to. Let’s just say I’ve been popping those “hair, skin, and nail” vitamins like they’re candies. Still, I’m just happy she didn’t go any farther up, otherwise I would have cried.

 On Sunday, we were able to spend some of the day with my husband’s side of the family. We had steaks, corn on the cob, salad, and lots of sweat tea for lunch. My mouth waters just thinking about it. It was delicious! That afternoon we came back home to do some more napping. I’ve mentioned before that my side really doesn’t do holiday’s, but to our surprise an aunt and uncle stopped by to visit and wish my grandmother a Happy Mother’s Day. It was really nice getting to sit around the table and talk with them. I literally live for those days. Afterwards Emery started to get crabby, so we headed back next door to lay around and do nothing. I know that sounds pretty lame, but sometimes you need days filled with NOTHING.

Exercising was put on the back burner (again) this past week. I’ve also gone a whole a week and a half without running. All of this compliments of having issues with my back (again). But I’m hoping to get back on the fitness bandwagon either tonight or tomorrow. It’s really put a funk in my routine so I know that this is something I really need to keep up with, for my sanity as well as for my health. I’ve been in pain and to be quite honest I just got burned out on pushing so hard. I’m really striving to find my work out groove so I can get back to kicking it’s butt. Here’s hoping it doesn’t take too long though.

Okay, well I hope everyone else had a wonderful Mother’s Day Weekend! Until mañana! 

p.s. Congratulations to my fellow blogging

mommy, Erica over at Mi Todo! She just graduated 

LAW SCHOOL! 

Errr...umm..Merry Christmas?

So, on my four day weekend I spent it all just trying to make sure we had gotten all the presents for Christmas. On Christmas Eve, some friends came over and at some point I became inebriated. Beyond inebriated. Then for the first half of Christmas Day I spent it with my head in the toilet or trying to suck it up for Emery. Then, I took a nap and was all better. My chest still hurts though. That afternoon we went to my husband’s grandmother’s house to celebrate with his side of the family.

Lots of food, good conversation, and we headed back home to just take it easy. And take it easy we did. So easy that I still have about 3 loads of laundry to do. My house was a disaster zone. Emery’s room looked like a toy bomb exploded in it, and our room needed some serious attention. So yesterday afternoon, I had my mother watch Emery while I cleaned up as much as I could. I still have dishes to wash, and the bathroom to clean. But my house smells wonderful, and you can see the floor now!!! You have no idea how awesome that is! Ha!

I do have pictures from Christmas, but nothing really great. Like I said I wasn’t up to doing much and apparently no one else knows how to work a camera but me. Still, as soon as I get them uploaded to my computer I’ll spam the crap out of this blog with pictures! I promise. This week was/is a short one for me at work. My bosses are the best! So we get another four day weekend! Woo woo!! Except this one will probably not involve liquor. Maybe some painting, more cleaning, and finally a haircut! Maybe go see a movie with some friends too. Who knows?

That’s about all I got for ya. Things have been keeping us pretty busy, my diet took a brief hiatus (but I’m getting back on track), and New Years is right around the corner. My, how time flies. Hope you all had a Merry Christmas!