Shocking, I know!

Yes, I am still alive!!! Can't believe its been so long since my last post!  So just to catch up, Happy Halloween, Happy Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year!!!!  At least I made it before Valentines Day!  Wow, were do I start?  Really not much new going on here. I don't know why I haven't posted more often.  Sometimes, I just kinda forget about this poor little blog.


We had a great holiday season.  Danny's dad and girlfriend came to visit us from Illinois over Christmas.  It was his first visit here so we were so happy he was able to make it.  We had a great time with them, even though it decided to rain everyday they were here.  And, no lie, not even an hour after they leave, the sun comes out and it stops raining.  Go figure!


This has seriously been the warmest winter I have ever seen!! Down here its been averaging 65-75 everyday!  And it sounds like its been above average everywhere and IL has hardly seen any snow!?  CrAzY!!  Oh well, I'm sure not complaining!


I'm still working part time at the same job.  Its going fine but I've been looking around for full time stuff.  I do like spending all day at home with Aydan (and Kenzie when she's not in school).
Aydan turned 5 on January 29th!!  We didn't have a big party, just cake and stuff at home for him.  He's growing up so fast!  He's getting so tall and loosing a lot of his "baby fat" so he looks more like a big boy.  This August, he will start Kindergarten.

This is him playing outside on his birthday :)


Kenzie is doing really well too.  She's been really into reading (mostly scary stories) and writing her own stories.  She so good at it! She has such an imagination!

This was taken on Thanksgiving at my Uncle Jerry's house.  I just love this picture of her :)

This is a random picture I found but I love it!  Danny was working on a neighbors car and the neighbor is a photographer and he snapped a picture of these 2 working.  Its so cute!  You can really tell a difference between my phone pictures and his nice camera pictures, lol!


Well, I really don't have much else to report, and Aydan's bugging me to play with him, so I guess thats my cue to finish up here.  I will definately try to update more often, I just lead a boring life ;)


Take care!  Have a good week!

A few of my favorite Halloween movies.....

Halloween is right around the corner.  I love Halloween time!  The weather, the decorations, the scents, all of it.  Its also one of the best times of years for scary movies!  Below I have a list of just a few of my favorite movies for this time of year.  Yes most of them are from my childhood and they aren't very scary but I love that I can watch them with my kids and they won't have nightmares :)

 First one up is "Casper."  I loved this movie as a kid.  Its funny and kind of creepy at the same time.  I love movies that have old haunted houses too.

 Next, "Halloween" the story of Michael Myers.  This one isn't so family-friendly but I'll admit, my kids have seen it.  Michael Myers is just scary looking, and the fact that he never moves faster than a snails pace but somehow he always catches up to everyone (and he never dies) is pretty scary.

"Sleepy Hallow" is the story of the Headless Horseman and stars Johnny Depp.  I love the setting of this movie.  Its not about Halloween but for some reason it just feels like Halloween time when you watch it.

"Hocus Pocus" was definately my favorite Halloween movie as a kid.  I just loved it, and I still do :) 

There are more movies that I like to watch but they are mostly just scary movies, not necessarilly Halloween-ish.

So what's your favorite movie to watch this time of year?

OK, breaks over!

Wow!  So I didn't intentionally take a break from the blog, but since its been like 2 months since my last post, I need to get my butt in gear and get back on track!  Guess I've been in a slump lately.  Been busy, but not anything really blog-worthy.  Well, I'll get this out of the way first.  About a month ago, I lost my job. Obviously I was pretty upset about it.  I think I went into depression mode for a few days, maybe more.  I didn't even want to get out of bed or leave the house.  I felt so lost because it was the only job I've had since we moved here. What else was I supposed to do?  In this economy, its not exactly easy to just find a new job (that pays the bills), especiallly without knowing the right people.  It was scary, not having my income and not knowing how we were going to pay the bills. I've never been in that situation before.

After a few days of feeling sorry for myself, I started applying for part-time evening jobs so that I could stay home during the day with the kids and not have the daycare expense.  About a week later, I applied for a job and they called me the next day for an interview.  That really helped boost my outlook.  I was starting to feel like everything would be ok and that it wasn't the end of the world.  Anyway a few days later, I went to the interview and got the job on the spot.  My first day was a few days later.  I consider myself lucky because I was only "unemployed" for about 10 days.  Its not the best job in the world, but I don't care right now.  I work with in the apparel dept. of a sporting goods store.  Its actually kinda fun.  Everyone I work with is pretty cool.  I get to "window shop" all day, as Danny calls it, lol!  Plus, I get 20% discount!! Awesome!  Aydan LOVES staying home with me all day! If Kenzie is ever sick and has to stay home from school, I won't have to call in and miss work. The schedule works out pretty good for us. I only actually work 2-3 nights during the week, but then I do have to work Saturday and Sunday, which takes some getting used to.    I'm not looking at making this my career, but it will work for now, while I figure things out.

They say everything happens for a reason.  I got to thinking that maybe I lost my job because its not what I'm "meant" to be doing.  Maybe I'm supposed to take a different path than the one I was on.  Afterall, I knew that I didn't want to be doing what I was doing forever.  Aydan starts Kindergarten next fall, and I started thinking that would be a good time for me to start going to school also.  With both kids in school all day, and me only working evenings and weekends, that would leave me all day long during the week to go to school.  So Danny and I talked about it and he thinks its a great idea.  He's always wanted me to go to college because he knew I had potential to be whatever I wanted but I was always the one that said why bother when I already have a good job.  Now, I have a reason to start.  Anytime I've thought of different career options, Paralegal is always something that has come to mind.  The community college I've chosen is an American Bar Association Approved school for Paralegals, which is preferred when looking for a job and they have an internship program for Paralegals, which could lead to a permanent job once you get your degree.  I have to say I'm pretty excited about it.  Its definately a new start to look forward too.  I won't be able to go full time until fall of 2012 when Aydan starts school, but I may take an evening class 1 or 2 nights a week in the spring to get started.  So anyway, thats the drama thats been going on with me :)  Take care!!

Cutest 4th Grader Ever!

School started Monday for Kenzie.  Yes, she started 4th grade!!  It doesn't seem like she should be that old!!  We got to her classroom and she was sooo excited that she got a lot of her friends from last year in her class this year, so that's good for her.  Her teacher seemed very nice, and after school when Kenzie got home, she raved about her teacher!  She really loves her, so thats good too!!  So far, we are off to a great year!  We've all been waking up on time, if not early, and getting out the door in time too! Yay!!

I'm crossing my fingers that these good habits continue, but I know how it goes as the year goes on.  Oh well, I will enjoy it while it lasts! :)

Pool Time!!

Kenzie and her friend Rachel, from after-school daycare.

Yay!!! We've finally been able to go swimming!!!  Today marks the 24th day in a row (everyday in August so far) of 100 degrees or higher here in Houston!!  We are so ready for this heat to go away!! To be in the 90's would be welcoming, lol!! According to the forecast, it doesn't look like its going away anytime soon..... :(  But, at least we are still able to go swimming this late in the summer, and probably into fall.

Kenzie used to be a little nervous in the water, especially getting her head wet or going under water.  This summer she has really made a lot of progress with swimming.  She got some new goggles and now she's swimming under water like a little fish.  We are very proud of her!! Aydan just needs his floaty and he's good to go.  He loves just lounging around, floating in the pool.  He's not real into going under or anything yet, which is fine.

hello August....

Howdy ya'll!!

Well its definately feeling like August down here in ol' Texas!  Everyday this month has been 100 degrees or over and even in July, most days were near 100 or higher.  Plus, factor in our major drought we are having, we haven't had a break from the heat!  And to think we still have a couple months of this to go....ugh!  One good thing is that the renovation at our apartment's pool is complete finally and they should be opening the pool tomorrow...fingers crossed!  It has been closed all spring/summer due to the renovation of the entire complex and pool area.  I will say it looks awesome and I can't wait to take the kids swimming...soon!! They can't wait either!

Here's a picture of the new paint job on our building.  I don't have a pic of the pool area yet, but hopefully I'll get one soon...

Not a whole lot new going on with us.  Unfortunately, we've kind of been hibernating in the house because of the heat.  Sometimes on the weekends, we'll go to the movie theaters or do something thats indoors. 

I'm really getting excited for the fall months to come.  It is my favorite season, although we don't get much of the fall weather or the changing colors of the leaves down here.  Its usually pretty nice Oct-December though so I'm still excited about it.

Hopefully, this weekend I can get Kenzie's school shopping done.  We still need to get most of her supplies (which surprisingly, she doesn't need that much this year) and I want to get her a few new outfits and new shoes.  Her first day of school is August 22nd.  I still can't get over the fact that she'll be in 4th grade!!!!  And, she's 9 years old---thats halfway to 18 people!! Yikes!!  Um, I had her when I was 18 years old.  Now thats scary to think about, lol!!

No school for Aydan this year.  He will be 5 in January so he'll start kindergarten in Fall, 2012.  His daycare is pretty much like Pre-K so he learns a lot of things there, which should prepare him a little for kindergarten. 

Here's a few random pictures that were on my phone....

All of these, except for the one of the dog, were taken near Kemah.  We had gone somewhere to eat and stopped along the water on our way home. 

 My crazy little boy...

 My phone didn't get the best picture of this but you can kind of see the sailboats out in the water.  Its so pretty.  I could literally sit and stare out into the water all day!

 Both of my silly kiddos!

 Beautiful Kenzie

 This one really could have been pretty if I had a fancy camera to take it with lol! 

And, last but not least, the dog Hunter.  He's such a good boy!  We love him so much!

Well, thats all I got for now...

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great week!

Mexican food, Margaritas, & Live Music!!