Where to Begin...

Oh, where do I begin....

Life has been out of control, so I have decided instead of sitting down and using my well paid for journalism skills to write Witty & thoughtful blogs, I will make lists. That is about all the time I have these days. So much has happened since the last time I blogged so here we go...

• I started back to school!
• Little Miss turned 1 year old!!! I will try to post pictures!
• We welcomed a boy into our family!! Oh, wait...we welcomed a BROWN headed BOY into our family! What do we do with him??
• Abbie made her first plane ride! Detail to come! We all know how fabulous she is at car rides!
• We spent a week soaking up time at my parents house! It flew by!
• We booked a trip to Mexico in April with The Caldwell's and soon-to-be Parcell's! (I know most people don't think it is safe to go! but it is needed)!
• I am on spring break...kind of...it's not quite the same when there is a toddler around & laundry to be done, house to be cleaned, work to be done, meals to be fixed & studying for a test the Monday after spring break!
• I'm trying to find balance...I'm struggling...
• Eric got in a accident... in my car....on his birthday...our insurance says it's 100% the girls fault, and of course her insurance says it's more her fault but some his (WHAT?) so they will only pay for half of the damages...they are fighting back & fourth...my car is being fixed & will be ready Monday!
• Little Miss is unstoppable...she walks and climbs and is a eating machine (most days). She loves the park!
• Many play dates with friends! Many more to come!

Upcoming events...hopefully to be blogged about...part of me finding balance :)

• Mexico in April
• New Mexico in May
• Wonderful Little Sister graduates in college in May
• "Adventures in Babysitting" stories...I'm sure I will have plenty come May when my mom & sister and my mother-in-law have agreed to watch Little Miss over a 2 week period while I take a class all day everyday!
• Little Sister gets married in September!!!
• Sweet friends Stephen & Brittany get married in October!
• A girls weekend get away to a local lake in a few weekends for crafting & shopping & who knows what else!

I know...you've missed me...

What can I say...I have been extremely bad about blogging (hence the fall background I still have up). And I make no promises to get any better. I will try to blog some but I don't like making promises I can't keep, so again, I make no promises.

Many factors have contributed to my lack of blogging. The biggest of all being the fact that I have gone back to school! So, my "free" time, if you can call it that, is once again dominated by reading & homework. The second reason is that, you see, I have a soon to be walking, already getting into everything little almost 1 year old monster on my hands that require attention at all times when awake. Who has been sick since Christmas Eve. An upper respiratory infection followed by some strange mind boggling bacterial infection considered "Pneumonia" by ER doctor but not by the Pediatrician or the Radiologist who looked at her x-rays & still has gone undiagnosed, and now a nasty ear infection and cold. Needless to say I am ready for the 2 feet of snow and the -6 degree weather to roll on out of here and for 80 degree weather to return. While my monster is sleeping I am studying & reading & studying some more. Working on some projects for her birthday party, trying to clean or do laundry...so if you like to see pictures of our lives I suggest you keep checking facebook because the only ones I seem to be taking these days are on my iPhone & are more easily loaded to facebook then here!!! But I will leave you some that my sweet friend Lilli @ Lilli O Photography did for valentines day!! She is awesome!!

New Year's Resolutions...

I would like to start by stating that I hate New Years Resolutions!! I never keep them & it always makes me feel bad. I always cringe when New Years Eve rolls around & I know people are going to be asking me that question (aka my husband)!! So, this year I decided I am not making any resolutions. None. There are enough things in this world to make you feel bad about yourself, I don't need the failure of a New Years resolution on top of that! This year instead, I am setting goals for myself. Some long term, some short term. Eric & I are setting some financial goals for ourselves too. How much money we would like to have in different areas by different times of the year. Some goals have to do with self improvement and some have to do with organization. Some goals have to do with enjoying life more & some goals deal with school. I am writing them all down this year! I have found my memory is failing me lately (not good to learn right before you go back to school)! But, I might share a few of them here & there.

I would love to share a picture of Abbie's 1st New Years Eve with you but I didn't take any. I didn't feel very good at all. She went to bed around 10 & I went to bed at 11. So here are a few from Christmas!

Opening her 1st presents on Christmas Eve!

She loves the little frogs that go in this bus!

Christmas morning! Loves Santas present!

Playing Baby Jesus at Nana & Poppy's house

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Baking!

Every year at Christmas time Eric asks me to bake some "goodies" for his customers that he can take to them as he sees them the two weeks leading up to Christmas. So, scary as it may sound, it is two weeks before Christmas so the baking marathon has begun around here. This year I made four different things. Peanut Butter Balls, Peanut Butter cookies, fudge & chocolate covered pretzels. I put them in cute little containers & send them off every morning with him. I do some quality control along the way to make sure that I am putting out the best possible product of course. I make fudge every year and never seem to have problems with it...until this year. You see, two major factors changed in holiday baking this year...

1. I am working in a much, much smaller space with a cook top & oven I know pretty much nothing about how it cooks...to hot, to cold, does it need to cook longer or shorter etc.

and #2. A little person that require much attention at. all. times.

So, I successfully ruined two batches of fudge today. So I see much more fudge making in my near future!

Santa!! Santa!!

So, we have been busy & haven't really gotten into the Christmas spirit around here. But last night we decided it was time to get Abbie dressed in her Christmas dress & take her to see Santa. So, we headed to Bass Pro Shop because I loathe the mall this time of year and I strangely like Bass Pro. And we got our ticket to see Santa. See Bass Pro has a really smart system. They give you a "voucher" when you get there that has a time to come back to see Santa. It is usually like 30-45 minutes away so they tell you to go shop around and come back at your time and they will line you up! Very clever if you ask me! People are willing to wait 45 minutes to an hour if they don't have to wait in line the whole time. And BP gets more business because, lets face it, while you are walking around waiting for your time you are bound to buy something!

So, at 7:30 we lined up to see the big man himself. I was worried we would sit little miss down on his lap & that would be it. The screaming would start, the tears would poor. Everyone in line around us had been talking about how sweet she was & how cute she looked & I kept thinking just wait....just you wait! But to my surprise, she sat with Santa. Looked at him then at us, then a him & then gave a little grin! She liked him!!

Catching up...

Oh my stars! So much has been going on in our lives that I have not had a chance to sit down & write anything!! I will have to do a post of just pictures to catch you all up on how Little Miss has changed so much. She is turning 9 months on Thursday! I can't believe it. She is crawling everywhere & pulling up on everything. She is letting her true colors show. Tonight at Wal-Mart she threw a total fit in the buggy when I took away a disco ball key chain her daddy had given her. I keep telling him not to give her things he (and by he I mean me) is going to have to take away from her later. She is stubborn & strong headed. But she has started laughing and it sounds like a little girl. Not a baby. It is hilarious! She mimics your noises & chats a lot!

But we have been busy around here. We sold our house!! It took about a month & half. The negotiating process was a piece of cake!! And we are scheduled to close Wednesday, December 1st. We were originally going to close on the Friday the 3rd but the buyers asked to push the date forward. Two days may not seem like a lot to most but to me, I feel like I am losing a total week! We are in Texas for Thanksgiving & we won't be back until Sunday...so that leaves me Monday to pack because we move to our apartment Tuesday & have to be totally out of the house by Wednesday! I have packed some things, but walking into my house you would not be able to tell we were moving in 4 days!!

Last weekend we had Abbie's baby dedication at church. It was wonderful. We had all of our family come in. My parents, grandparents, aunt & uncle. Eric's parents, brother & family, sister & family, Ryan & Hope and Stephen & Brittany! It was a full house but we were so thankful that they all love Abbie enough to share in that special day with us. It was fun to have one last big event at our house before we move out. It was kind of a farewell celebration!!

If you have been reading my "Thankful" posts you would realize that I am quite a few days behind. But, we have had Internet issues and have been down to one computer (we are back up to two now though!), I have been trying to pack & clean out, getting my house ready & cooking for 20 people and coming to Dallas for Thanksgiving week!!! IT'S BEEN BUSY!!! But I have a few more Thankful posts so stayed tuned! But right now laundry calls!!!

Busy, Busy...

We have been busy busy around here...I have much to post about but I am too exhausted to do it now! I will probably do it tomorrow when Eric gets home so I can use his new shiny computer that I am obsessed with!!

The count down to moving day is on! We close December 1st!