Happy November!

I just can't believe it's already November 1st. As Paula Deen says, "Great time of day!"

Halloween was a huge success. We met at Tara's for dinner, as we do every year. We had pasta salad and a whole mess of sides. I made the cutest pumpkin cake

but there were a ton of sweets already so I ended up bringing it home. We had no problem cutting it up today! The entire crew headed out as soon as it got dark, Lisa and I went to her house to give out candy. Joel had decorated his front yard with tombstones and other scary things. It was a big hit because we had a lot of traffic! Lisa and I stayed by the firepit trying to stay warm but it was tough - my hands were still pretty frozen. There was a wide array of costumes, some pretty creative. Of course my kids were the cutest! Liv was a dragon fairy.

Kind of hard to see her wings in this pic. Alex was a black ninja...

He was totally hamming it up once he put his costume on. Mary was a Bratz leopard/cat thing. I don't think it actually had a name but she looked awfully cute, even if she wouldn't smile for the picture.

They were so excited and it was very contagious. Alex and Mary ended up going to the Fall Festival at church with my brother of all people. He said they don't have good trick or treating in their neighborhood so they were looking for an alternative. I heard the festival was really nice - carnival games, pony rides, hay rides, hot chocolate, jumpy things. Fun, fun, fun. It was the first Halloween where we weren't all together. But everyone had a great time and I guess that's all that matters.

Tomorrow will be another long day. It's our turn to provide breakfast for Sunday School, then we have a picnic afterwards and I have to take a covered dish. After that, I have a Women's Leadership Team meeting. Later in the afternoon, Liv has small groups.

A few weeks ago, Alex had his belt testing ceremony in Tae Kwon Do. It was a big deal for us since it was our first time going through this. He worked hard and he passed the test and received his yellow belt. I took a ton of pictures because it just all looked so cool!

He had to do the white belt Form (or as Master Choi says "porm"), He had to break a board, he had answer questions from the judges. Some of the questions included the Korean names for some of the moves as well as counting to 10 in Korean.

He had to take several tries to break the board but it was very exciting when he finally did! A few days later, Master Choi had the belt ceremony - another interesting experience. It just happened to fall on our wedding anniversary so we ended up having a fabulously romantic dinner after the ceremony, with the kids, at the Waffle House!!! Hey, what's a busy mom to do but just take whatever comes along, right? We'll have our date night next year, in April, when my dad gets back!

So I joined this NaBloPoMo thing. Blogging everyday for a month. Considering I don't have an audience, who's going to care? LOL. But I'm going to do it anyway. And I will hopefully post a bunch of pictures so my dad can keep up with the kids' activities. Hope I can keep it up!

It was a happy November 1st after all.

Two in a row!

Well lookie who's blogging two days in a row!

Today was a busy day. I had to teach the 4-5 year olds - we had 18 kiddos! It was a roomful and a bit chaotic but we made it through. Before that, the little kids choir sang - what a trip. Of course Mary told us up front that she wasn't going to sing. I tried bribing her, buying her a new dress, promising her anything - nothing worked. She totally could have taken me for a ride but luckily she didn't. So, I had the brilliant idea to go up on stage with her. I sat behind her and I had my very own puppet show going! Jay said it was hilarious - she just stood there and I moved her arms up and down and all around. I was very sad because even Gracie Marsh sang and did the motions - her very first time! And Mary didn't. Don't know what to do with that.

We had our Sunday School picnic after church. It was a beautiful day to be outside and everyone enjoyed it. I made a huge pan of mac and cheese and a wonderful cookie pie dessert. Did I already mention that in a previous post? Probably did. I left the picnic early and went to the Joyful Noise rehearsal. I was not really feeling the love but I did it anyway. Who am I kidding? I can't sing!

While I was at the rehearsal, Jay tried to start our car and it was dead. Completely dead. He bought a new battery and all was well. I worry though - will this one have a short life too?

We went home, I cleaned a little, then it was time to go back to church to pick up Livi from small groups. I was able to talk to Joyce and Christy and just hang out a bit. Long day but all in all a good one!

So Jay, why do you hate exclamation points? I love them!!!!!!! They make me happy!!!!! They are so full of emotion and feeling!!!! Ahhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!

Bad Blogger

I am the worst blogger ever. I used to be so good! So much is going on, we are so busy, there is so much to tell! And yet, I still don't blog. Well that is going to change RIGHT HERE!!! RIGHT NOW!!!

Today was a beautiful day - cool, crisp, sunny. We tried to catch up on the mounds of laundry but it was a losing battle. It's always a losing battle. But we got some done. Tomorrow, we have a cookout after church and then the cookie bee. We probably won't make it to the cookie bee though because we plan on having a good time at the picnic. And I won't let anyone make me feel guilty about it! I made a huge pan of mac and cheese to take to the picnic (Barefoot recipe, of course), and I made a cookie pie dessert (Giada recipe). I also had to bake a billion cookies for the bee but I got them all done. We were supposed to bake "fun" cookies with the kids but we only managed to make one batch of them. Maybe tomorrow we will do more. Carlos came over for dinner. As usual, it was a pleasure to share a meal with him. We had chili (for the second day in a row!) and it was very good. Perfect time to have chili. We are going to freeze the rest for individual portions. Yum. Even Liv ate the chili. Alex ate spaghetti-Os. That was a first. I can't believe he ate them. He had the tomatoe sauce and everything! Go Bubby! Add that one to his repertoire.

I am beat. Being in the kitchen all day and putting out "Mary fires" has left me exhausted. I must get my beauty sleep now - especially since I have to teach tomorrow (ugh!).

Until tomorrow.....pictures to come!

I love Bobby Flay's Throwdown. He is so funny - and I just love his personality. Did I tell you that I know Bobby Flay personally? Well, I met him once. Okay, I was at the Dallas airport with him. Alright, alright...I was at the airport and he walked by. So no personal connection but I still claim it! There's nothing wrong with that!

Life is just chugging along. School, work, church, home. Tomorrow night is the last night of the trifecta party planning that I got myself into this week. Lisa's baby shower was Sunday. It all turned out great. I'm a little sorry for all the grumbling I did about there being so many showers and this one really didn't matter. It did matter. It was for my friend. And I think it turned out very special. Natalie and Tara cohosted with me and we each contributed to the food and drink. We had chicken salad, ham/cheese tortes, mini brownies, cheese dip, veggie tray, cheese/olive/sausage tray, cream cheese/pepper jelly spread....and a cake. Natalie made a diaper cake w/ firetruck decorations all over it. It was adorable. I had my reservations about the cake but I shouldn't have worried - Natalie is very creative and crafty. With all the planning going on, I totallly forgot to buy a gift. Imagine! So Tara and I went out Saturday night and tried desperately to find something - anything with firetrucks and firemen on it. It was really hard. We stressed ourselves out. We finally made a purchase and then we went home to start cooking. I was happy with the turnout, I was happy with everything. The "gang" ended up staying until about 7pm. We were just chatting and laughing - just having a good time. Jay had to leave to go and pick up Liv from her small groups. It was a good night.

Tuesday (last night) was Bonko. It was my first time hosting and I wanted it to be special. I chose a Food Network theme and I was able to find a line of FN stuff at Kohls (the day I saw it, they were having a one day sale!! It was fabulous!). I got cookbooks all over town - wherever I could fine cheap ones - but they had to be FN chefs. I cooked the Barefoot Contessa's Cheddar Corn Chowder and it was wonderful!!!! I found a Sangria recipe so we had that too. It was definitely happy juice. I was pleased. I still have two card tables in my family room.

Tomorrow night is Unity. I am not hosting it but I am signed up to bring refreshments. Wendy and I decided on a few things to bring and I will pick her up at 6pm. I'm not really cooking anything but I still have to prepare platters. After that - no more parties! For a while anyway.

Work is going well. I have been able to stay about a week ahead with my lesson plans (which is pretty good I think!) and I have been giving tests like crazy. Good except that now I have lots to grade. The kids are all good kids and they are a lot of fun to teach. I am still struggling with my preschoolers because the room I use doesn't have any chairs so the kiddos are very wiggly. That always causes problems. I am hoping that a solution reveals itself soon and that it will all work out well.

I found out today that my dad is planning on travelling to Bolivia on the 21st or so. That is quickly approaching. I can't believe that he will be gone for six months! I think that's the longest time he will have been away. I'm not sure I like it. It will be hard to not see him but I know he is looking forward to seeing his family.

Bad Blogger

I am such a bad blogger. I started off with such a bang but now I can barely find the time to check my favorite blogs, much less write in my own. That doesn't mean we haven't been busy cause we have! We've just been living. School is still kicking my butt. I still struggle to complete my lesson plans from week to week. I have been wanting to rearrange my classroom for weeks but have not been able to find the time. I am constantly grading papers and photocopying stuff and planning stuff, and figuring out the gradequick program at school. And then there's all the crap, I mean stuff that I do for the church. We've had a Women's Retreat that I had to help plan, there's Unity, which I hosted last month, there's the cooking club, there's SOAR - we had our picture party, - there's teaching on Sundays - which I have to do twice a month, and there's helping on Wednesday nights (which I prefer not to do), there was the Women of Faith conference which was amazing and fabulous but took up two nights and one whole day, and now there is the Christmas Brunch to plan, and I find myself in charge of the Opt to Shop. I am getting ready to host a baby shower for my neighbor this Sunday - it's a fireman theme because the Baby Daddy is a fireman, of course. Two days later I am hosting Bonko here for the first time. And two days after that I am providing refreshments for our next Unity meeting. Shit - I mean darn it! And all three kids have been sick, at separate times, of course. Now Jay is recovering from an "illness". He thought he was going to die (he would have been the first man to die of a sore throat) but thankfully, he has turned the corner. It was touch and go there for awhile. He was in bed for days and slept the entire time!

Add into this mix the new world of orthodontists for us and we are hopping! Olivia has had two consults to see what kind of treatment plan would be best for her. It's confusing and there is a lot to learn. And let's not talk about how much it's going to cost.

So, the blog has been neglected while we played this silly game called life. Soon, things will calm down and we will be able to breathe.....I hope!

Life Is Good

I went out to dinner tonight with Tara and Natalie. It is always good to recharge with my girls - especially when it's just us. We laughed, we planned a shower, we laughed some more. I hated having to go home!

Last night was church. Tuesday night was Bunko. It was at Lisa's house and it was wonderful. Of course I only won a stupid consolation prize but the rest of the night was great. Amy went for the first time. She was a last minute sub and I think she had a good time. I am hosting Bunko in November and I have already purchased most of my prizes. I am SO excited about it.

The kids are great. They have each had a turn with strep - all on different weeks, of course. Mary was the last one. The little baby had a fever of 104 for two days. Once we got the drugs in her she was good but I hated that she had to feel bad. I stayed home with her on Monday and Jay was able to work from home and stay with her on Tuesday. I have been working hard on making a sub lesson plan so that I won't have to think twice about calling in sick next time. It's hard for me to think that far in advance, much less have all of the materials ready. One in advance? It may as well be a year! Some teachers don't have a problem with it, in fact some teachers have their entire school year planned out before the year even starts. Not me. Considering I have been a teacher for about 5 minutes, it's hard to do! But I know it will get easier with time and I am looking forward to when it doesn't take me so long to get one class together. It will come.

Okay, enough blogging. Must go play Word Challenge...

This and That

It's been a long time.

Who has time to blog anyway? There aren't enought hours in the day to do the things I have to do. Then at night I must surf for porn. I have to. It's an addiction and I must do it. Okay - not really! I realize that I occasionally get guest readers on here and they may read that and think I'm a big perv. For the record - I do not surf for porn! I own most of my porn. No, no, just kidding again!

So, I've been having a lot of trouble keeping my house clean. Well, it's never been clean to begin with so it's not hard keeping it in a state that it was never in. There's nothing like expecting a bunch of church ladies to come over to kick my behind into high gear and make me clean. That and finally buying a new vacuum cleaner. I love my little vacuum cleaner. It is so cute and small and light and it works! I'm still going to buy a mac daddy vacuum but this one will do for now. So last week, I cleaned most of the downstairs windows. Nasty. I hung curtains. Okay - Jay hung the curtains. But I picked them out! So last week, on Thursday, about 15 ladies from my Unity group came all the way out to Loganville to visit. It was fabulous. Sharon was our guest speaker and she did a great job!!! I didn't know she was such a good speaker. We really enjoyed having her. So, the food was good, the fellowship even better. It was all good.

Yesterday was the Women's Retreat. It was held at Lorna Cook's home and we had a great turnout. We watched a dvd series of Joni Erakson Tada. It was okay. I have to admit, I didn't love it. But it was okay. We had break out sessions and we actually had to work. We had our lunch catered by Jason's Deli. I was in charge of games. Why am I always in charge of games? I came up with four games and I think the ladies had a good time playing. The first was people bingo. The second was a game where they each had a line from a song and they had to find the other ladies that had their same song, put the lyrics in order, and then sing the song. It was a favorite. Another game was Animal Scramble. Each lady received a card w/ an animal name on it. They had to find all the other like animals in the room to make up their pack but they couldn't talk - they could only make the animal sound. I loved that one! They had so much fun being silly. The last one was Bible Trivia. I had lots of great prizes from Expressions by CK. Katherine gave me a great discount since it was for church. I think the Retreat turned out great and I hope everyone was pleased.

I came home and Mary was at Megan's bday party. I went to relieve Jay since he had to figure out how to bring Alex home from my dad's. Long story. I ended up staying a while because the girls were having a great time.

Today Mary is sick. All three have had the sore throat thing but in different weeks. She had a 102 degree fever this morning. She and I stayed home from church. She took some Motrin and seems fine but I can't ignore the fever from this morning. This means she will miss Ally's bday party this afternoon. I hate that! She was looking forward to it - and so was I!