Thankful 2017
Thankful for the older ages of my boys (they can cook, get themselves to and from school, do laundry) which results in me being able to focus on other things when I need to.
Thankful that we are approaching Christmas, where we celebrate the miraculous birth of the one who saves us from our own wicked selves.
Thankful for a job that I can do from home, on my own timetable.
Thankful for a quiet, safe neighborhood.
Thankful for Family Dollar and Dominos being so close that my boys can get there and back. Perfect for those times when I just need one thing from the store or I am gone for dinner and they can go eat.
Thankful that my niece is living her now and my boys get to experience life with family close by.
Thankful for Alexa...a device that plays music when you ask her to. She has an extensive playlist and it is wonderful for Joseph, who still struggles with his speech at times. By her not being able to understand him, it helps him to self-correct/hear his errors.
Thankful that this place is not my home. I have absolute assurance of an eternal home.
Thankful for the winter, which means puzzles, earlier bedtimes, hot chocolate and snow ice cream.
Thankful for JR's work ethic and his amazing clients who never fail to pay their bills.
Thankful for the elementary principal who issues reading challenges. Joseph and I decided to shoot for the 10,000 pages and it means lots of together time with him.
Thankful for recent trip I took with my mom, sister and brother. (Having older kids means hopefully more trips in the future)
Thankful for good health and the ability to do what I do at Crossfit.
Thankful for a God that is in control, despite how much our world and culture seem to be spinning out of control.
So much to be thankful for....hope you stop and consider all you are blessed with, big and small.
Thursday, November 23, 2017
Saturday, November 18, 2017
A relatively quiet weekend going on. Ben has been doing some DC fundraising this weekend...bagging groceries. He put in 4 hours this morning and with 4 kids participating, they each walked away with $70 each. Amazing how supportive people are and how every dollar adds up.
Ben is now on the hunt for khaki shorts! (Picking my mouth up off the floor) He said he is ready to quit wearing his athletic shorts every day. I was tempted to ask him what her name was, but refrained :-). He also told me he wants sweat pants. Again...what??? Even when it is zero outside, he wears shorts every day!
We recently had teacher conferences. I again heard from teachers in all three grades about how my boys are chatter boxes! One of the middle school math teachers was telling me how on the last test he gave he allowed students to bring in a cheat sheet. One piece of paper, front and back with any notes, etc on it. There were 105 kids who took the test and only 22 of them brought in cheat sheets. That just floors me. I am assuming none of them wanted to put in the work to do up the cheat sheet.
I have given notification at Joseph's hip hop place. He does not want to continue. He loves it. I can't quite figure it out. However, thinking it over, this is the third, long term extra-curricular he has started and quit within 6 months. He has enjoyed all of them, but I think he struggles with something every week. He is great with like a 6 week football commitment and then the season is over, but he really struggles with long term, week after week stuff. He has totally gotten back into playing by himself, with legos, cars, etc. It is so fun to sit and listen to all of his conversations by himself.
After a 3 week Crossfit hiatus, I am back at it. Great to have a break but really good to get back. They have a Sunday 5pm class open to the public and Benjamin has expressed interest in joining me. Would be fun to see what he thinks about it.
I have never shopped at Neiman Marcus but am very impressed with their fraud department. I happened to recently pull up my credit card account online. I found a $595 Neiman Marcus charge but it was also credited back the same day. Curious, I made a phone call. An online purchase was made. NM told me that they have an extensive fraud department. So, somewhere between when the order was placed and before it was shipped, they determined that the card account holder did not place the order. Very impressed. I called the credit card company and they cancelled the card and I have already received new ones. Still have no idea how someone got a hold of my card number. Who knows. My information was recently hacked in the Equifax breech. Not sure if they are connected or not. Have security freezes and fraud alerts on my credit accounts.
We are still at 4 deer, at some point in the processing. JR came across a great jalapeno summer sausage recipe. It was a huge hit, even with the boys!
The skies will be quiet (no snow) for next couple of days. Would be nice to get a little bit though. The place we go to for thanksgiving every year, is ready to pull out the snow mobiles and pull kids behind it on sleds. Would be a lot of fun if there is plenty of snow!
That is the latest and greatest around our house!
Ben is now on the hunt for khaki shorts! (Picking my mouth up off the floor) He said he is ready to quit wearing his athletic shorts every day. I was tempted to ask him what her name was, but refrained :-). He also told me he wants sweat pants. Again...what??? Even when it is zero outside, he wears shorts every day!
We recently had teacher conferences. I again heard from teachers in all three grades about how my boys are chatter boxes! One of the middle school math teachers was telling me how on the last test he gave he allowed students to bring in a cheat sheet. One piece of paper, front and back with any notes, etc on it. There were 105 kids who took the test and only 22 of them brought in cheat sheets. That just floors me. I am assuming none of them wanted to put in the work to do up the cheat sheet.
I have given notification at Joseph's hip hop place. He does not want to continue. He loves it. I can't quite figure it out. However, thinking it over, this is the third, long term extra-curricular he has started and quit within 6 months. He has enjoyed all of them, but I think he struggles with something every week. He is great with like a 6 week football commitment and then the season is over, but he really struggles with long term, week after week stuff. He has totally gotten back into playing by himself, with legos, cars, etc. It is so fun to sit and listen to all of his conversations by himself.
After a 3 week Crossfit hiatus, I am back at it. Great to have a break but really good to get back. They have a Sunday 5pm class open to the public and Benjamin has expressed interest in joining me. Would be fun to see what he thinks about it.
I have never shopped at Neiman Marcus but am very impressed with their fraud department. I happened to recently pull up my credit card account online. I found a $595 Neiman Marcus charge but it was also credited back the same day. Curious, I made a phone call. An online purchase was made. NM told me that they have an extensive fraud department. So, somewhere between when the order was placed and before it was shipped, they determined that the card account holder did not place the order. Very impressed. I called the credit card company and they cancelled the card and I have already received new ones. Still have no idea how someone got a hold of my card number. Who knows. My information was recently hacked in the Equifax breech. Not sure if they are connected or not. Have security freezes and fraud alerts on my credit accounts.
We are still at 4 deer, at some point in the processing. JR came across a great jalapeno summer sausage recipe. It was a huge hit, even with the boys!
The skies will be quiet (no snow) for next couple of days. Would be nice to get a little bit though. The place we go to for thanksgiving every year, is ready to pull out the snow mobiles and pull kids behind it on sleds. Would be a lot of fun if there is plenty of snow!
That is the latest and greatest around our house!
Monday, November 13, 2017
We are not even half way through November and have already had a foot of snow and hit below zero degrees! Awfully early, but the good news, it is warming back up and should be fairly nice and clear the next 14 days.
Bree is loving the snow. She just amazes me. She will get out there and run in it for 2-3 miles. When I stop the car to try to get her in, she looks at me like I am nuts!
I continue my home assembly job. I thought we would be done early December and was planning on my huge to-do lists. I found out we will probably be going into January. Can't complain about the money, but I have been taking home so much, I don't have much time for other stuff that I enjoy. I have great plans of clearing out and taking lots of trips to Goodwill!
The police have been giving warning tickets to those in our building. We have a sidewalk that runs across our short driveways and for some reason, after 11 years, they have decided they don't want us parking across them. I get that it is a law, but the sidewalk runs in front of 4 townhouse buildings and it ends at our building. It is not even a continuous sidewalk! So now, not only do we have to shovel our sidewalks, but we have to shovel across the street so we can park there too. Just irritating. The parking was not well thought out!
I got away recently for a four day weekend in Vegas. Wow, what a place. Some parts of it just amazed me and other parts of it made me really sad. Saw 2 shows...Mat Franco and Elvis Impersonator. Both phenomenal. Also visited Hoover Dam. What a place!
Basketball is in full swing! Benjamin is 2-2 I believe and Jacob does intramural type basketball with other 5th graders. At Ben's last game, he made a beautiful 3 point basket. I know before he took the shot that it was going in. He was so focused, planted his feet and swish! One happy momma. It was neat to hear the others cheering because they knew it was his first basket of the season. I just wish I had my video running. I just told him he will have to make another one!
Thanksgiving plans are set. My niece, Kristine, and I are running in Huffing for Stuffing. A 5/10k race Thanksgiving morning. We opted for the 5k (3.1 miles). I really hope the weather holds and it is not real wet or cold.
Benjamin has not gotten a deer yet and looks like he will pass on the rest of the season. Jacob got a second deer.
Bree is loving the snow. She just amazes me. She will get out there and run in it for 2-3 miles. When I stop the car to try to get her in, she looks at me like I am nuts!
I continue my home assembly job. I thought we would be done early December and was planning on my huge to-do lists. I found out we will probably be going into January. Can't complain about the money, but I have been taking home so much, I don't have much time for other stuff that I enjoy. I have great plans of clearing out and taking lots of trips to Goodwill!
The police have been giving warning tickets to those in our building. We have a sidewalk that runs across our short driveways and for some reason, after 11 years, they have decided they don't want us parking across them. I get that it is a law, but the sidewalk runs in front of 4 townhouse buildings and it ends at our building. It is not even a continuous sidewalk! So now, not only do we have to shovel our sidewalks, but we have to shovel across the street so we can park there too. Just irritating. The parking was not well thought out!
I got away recently for a four day weekend in Vegas. Wow, what a place. Some parts of it just amazed me and other parts of it made me really sad. Saw 2 shows...Mat Franco and Elvis Impersonator. Both phenomenal. Also visited Hoover Dam. What a place!
Basketball is in full swing! Benjamin is 2-2 I believe and Jacob does intramural type basketball with other 5th graders. At Ben's last game, he made a beautiful 3 point basket. I know before he took the shot that it was going in. He was so focused, planted his feet and swish! One happy momma. It was neat to hear the others cheering because they knew it was his first basket of the season. I just wish I had my video running. I just told him he will have to make another one!
Thanksgiving plans are set. My niece, Kristine, and I are running in Huffing for Stuffing. A 5/10k race Thanksgiving morning. We opted for the 5k (3.1 miles). I really hope the weather holds and it is not real wet or cold.
Benjamin has not gotten a deer yet and looks like he will pass on the rest of the season. Jacob got a second deer.
Wednesday, November 8, 2017
It is hunting season!!! (Pictures of the animals harvested...so if you don't like pictures of dead animals, then read no further)
Jacob got his first buck. It was the second day out! Meat for the freezer.
Every early morning hunt is followed up by breakfast. This kids eyes were definitely bigger than his stomach!
JR got his first deer of the season.
Benjamin is hoping to get out there soon and see what he can find.
Jacob got his first buck. It was the second day out! Meat for the freezer.
Every early morning hunt is followed up by breakfast. This kids eyes were definitely bigger than his stomach!
JR got his first deer of the season.
Benjamin is hoping to get out there soon and see what he can find.
Thursday, November 2, 2017
All things random~
Benjamin has started basketball practice. He requested and got, the early morning team that practices at 6:30 every weekday morning. I really like our basketball routine. Our mornings flow really well and I have a great excuse to run Bree, since I am up anyway. His games start this Thursday! So excited to watch him play. He has grown so much since last season and I think the awkwardness of early teen years is passing and he is really excelling as an athlete.
Jacob starts basketball this next week. Since it is 5th grade, they don't play official games. It is more like a few weeks of practices and drills. He is really excited!
The first quarter ends tomorrow. Hard to believe. I pay the boys for their grades. I want them to learn money management skills and without money, it is hard to learn that. We don't do allowances or pay for chores (which we have tried and it did not go well). We see school as their job and thus pay. It looks like this quarter I will get off pretty light. Not that the boys are doing bad, but not a lot of As, which bring in the most money. I think Jacob was a little shocked how much more intense middle school is than elementary school.
I was walking Bree the other day at a fenced in dog park and thought this was amazing.
What a great use of old used tennis balls.
The other day we headed out to a local hay maze. I managed to complete the maze, with the 4 required stamps in 43 minutes! When it all looks the same, how easy it is to get lost and repeat your steps over and over and over. This was the only picture I got...of Benjamin and his friends on the 'train'.
For the first time since I left Texas...in 1996...I have family that will now be living close! My niece that graduated from college in May is moving out here this week. She found a job and is house sitting for the winter. I am so pumped to have her here!!!!!
The other night the boys and I were trying to find a hay maze. I was on an unfamiliar road and it was dark. I had a headlight out, which I knew. I had bought a headlight, just not yet put it in. I was in an intense conversation with the boys. Before I knew it, I saw lights behind me. I got pulled over going 20 miles over the speed limit. Oops! I was very honest with the officer and told him I did not have a reason to speed and that I knew I had a burned out head light but had the bulb just not replaced it yet. He walked away and quickly came back and said he was giving me a verbal warning and no ticket! I was so excited. I am not sure his reasons for not ticketing me going 20 mph over speed limit, but I took the opportunity to talk with the boys about how I was honest, did not make excuses and owned my mistake and apologized. Hopefully lesson was learned by them and me!
Benjamin has started basketball practice. He requested and got, the early morning team that practices at 6:30 every weekday morning. I really like our basketball routine. Our mornings flow really well and I have a great excuse to run Bree, since I am up anyway. His games start this Thursday! So excited to watch him play. He has grown so much since last season and I think the awkwardness of early teen years is passing and he is really excelling as an athlete.
Jacob starts basketball this next week. Since it is 5th grade, they don't play official games. It is more like a few weeks of practices and drills. He is really excited!
The first quarter ends tomorrow. Hard to believe. I pay the boys for their grades. I want them to learn money management skills and without money, it is hard to learn that. We don't do allowances or pay for chores (which we have tried and it did not go well). We see school as their job and thus pay. It looks like this quarter I will get off pretty light. Not that the boys are doing bad, but not a lot of As, which bring in the most money. I think Jacob was a little shocked how much more intense middle school is than elementary school.
I was walking Bree the other day at a fenced in dog park and thought this was amazing.
The other day we headed out to a local hay maze. I managed to complete the maze, with the 4 required stamps in 43 minutes! When it all looks the same, how easy it is to get lost and repeat your steps over and over and over. This was the only picture I got...of Benjamin and his friends on the 'train'.
For the first time since I left Texas...in 1996...I have family that will now be living close! My niece that graduated from college in May is moving out here this week. She found a job and is house sitting for the winter. I am so pumped to have her here!!!!!
The other night the boys and I were trying to find a hay maze. I was on an unfamiliar road and it was dark. I had a headlight out, which I knew. I had bought a headlight, just not yet put it in. I was in an intense conversation with the boys. Before I knew it, I saw lights behind me. I got pulled over going 20 miles over the speed limit. Oops! I was very honest with the officer and told him I did not have a reason to speed and that I knew I had a burned out head light but had the bulb just not replaced it yet. He walked away and quickly came back and said he was giving me a verbal warning and no ticket! I was so excited. I am not sure his reasons for not ticketing me going 20 mph over speed limit, but I took the opportunity to talk with the boys about how I was honest, did not make excuses and owned my mistake and apologized. Hopefully lesson was learned by them and me!
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