brain dumping + nothing too exciting going on = this blog post

 1. this is how my house looked for a few days early december. big house + not enough decorations = christmas decorating block.

 2. kids + funny faces while decorating the christmas tree = a post on my blog!

3. pretty ornaments + lights = beautiful tree.

4. last christmas + texas = kinda regretting the decision to move.

5. indiana + family = happy kaylee and mike.

6. mean girl + telling the class that kaylee's a spoiled, selfish little girl = something mean girl's mom is probably telling her at home.

7. mean girl +  mean girls mom = us talking to the principal to get kaylee moved out of her current class = no more drama! (she will be moved after winter break)

8. birthday + kaylee = double digits. which has been hard for this mama to take.

9. birthday + ham = even harder for this mama to take. (his is in january)

10. both kids + annoying their mom about opening an early christmas gift =  jimmy kimmel horrible gift prank on the kids.  will post video.

catching up with pictures

 went to san antonio for a few days over thanksgiving and it was awesome!

 we stayed at the elian resort and spa. this is the back of it and its such a cool place. if i could, i would move here. (san antonio is beautiful with its hills and all the trees!) its a mix of resort and apartment complexes. it also had a restaurant, bar and business's.  see the black and white awning? perfect spot for me to open a home decor/photography business.

 we got to meet ricky williams. he played for the longhorns and the dolphins and he was in town.

made mike's day! (he got the jersey he's wearing signed.)

 while in san antonio, the dad's and kids went to six flags and sea world. while us mom's shopped and just chilled at the resort. again, it was awesome!  we ate thanksgiving dinner at a little place called mimi's cafe. their turkey was very moist and the food was delish but ham and i both think homemade is better.

 making taco's in my new shoes. 

 decorating the christmas tree with funny faces. oh boy- kids are funny!

 went and painted christmas presents for my parents.  reindeers are grandkids.

 my neighbor's house. he does this all by himself every year. 

 friday lunch date 's at her school.

best friend coming over to decorate gingerbread houses.

parent testing

last thursday when the weather was warm 

(whole outfit via target)

1.  see those awesome boots she's wearing, i got 'em for under $6 bucks.  they were on clearance with another 5% off for using my target debit card.

2. we had one of those nights where we got tested as parents and me wondering where did i go wrong?

3. i tell her daily to be kind and to be the kind of friend you want to have. (just because someone else is mean doesn't mean you have to be)

4. long story short, kaylee texted something mean to the frenemy while pretending to be another friend.

5. not sure how that can be done but she is now grounded from going to or having friends come over for awhile and no more texting till the end of year.

6. while the text wasn't nice, it wasn't horrible but what got us was that she fought us the whole time and wouldn't give us her passcode to see what was going on. a lot of wasted anger and time could of been avoided.

7. i tell her daily to be kind and to be the kind of friend you want to have. (just because someone else is mean doesn't mean you have to be)

8. on to other things. had a good weekend. went to lonny's house to see lsu (his team) get beat. aggies ended up losing too. he fixed rabbit with rice. i didn't try it. last week, i heard he made squirrel gumbo. i didn't try that either.

9. sunday we had lunch with urbano so us wives and daughters could get to know each other before our few days together next week in san antonio.

10. tuesday mike beat me by 12 seconds at bootcamp. if there's no running involved, i can usually beat him. (we did some rowing since its been so cold outside)

it's so cold in texas today- high of 55 (has nothing to do with my post)

 1. ummm, not liking this photo booth pic that she did. pull up that sleeve girl!

2. this is more like it and this is what she gets for taking pics like these- ha!

3. we got new furniture from our favorite furniture store.  the owner even knows us by name and gives us awesome discounts! (new tv stand and 2 end tables for the family room and a coffee table for mike's area)

4. we want to get the cool stuff before the move. yes, a garage sale is in the works for spring.

5. we headed up to visit ham on saturday. on the way there we had to make a pit stop at the worlds cleanest bathroom, biggest gift shop gas station- buc'ees! (its tradition)

6. seriously, they are the cleanest i've ever seen and i'm super picky about them and their gift shop is die for!

7. once we got to ham's we took him out for a late lunch at bj's brewhouse. then dropped the boys off at bar so they could watch the aggies win while kaylee and i got ham some groceries. we even got him a plant.

8. i feel bad that his apartments so bare- no pictures or anything on his walls! (his next apartment will be better!)

9. sunday mike left for houma, louisana for training though i'm thinking it was excuse to hang out with the guys because he didn't go to bootcamp last night. (tired and probably hung over)

10. we made it official and told my parents we are moving back to indiana. to say they were happy is an understatement! 

what she wore wednesday because she's cute

taken last friday 

(top: tjmaxx, tank: target, shorts: justice, shoes: target)

1. after school on monday, this sweet thing said she was homesick while in school. she just wanted to be home with me.

2. then she went on and said that she loves her life and she doesn't want to be anybody else. how awesome is that? 

3. back in my days, i wished i was someone else or had someone else's life. even to this day i don't feel loved unconditionally or wanted- by my parents.

4. this week has been one of those take a nap everyday kind of week. just been going to bed late and waking up early.

5. we started bootcamp again on monday. they have us do a workout called baseline on the first day for time. then we do it again on the second to last day so we can see if we improved. 

6. last nights workout was another good one. i rocked it on the box jumps and squats but running those short distances kicked my butt.

7. we're debating on heading back to indiana over thanksgiving break since kaylee has the whole week off to go and look at houses. hopefully the ones we like are still for sale.

8. also debating on kaylee's halloween costume. as of right now, she's going as a witch. i wanted something more creative like last years candy robber.

9. been secretly snacking on talenti gelato. southern butter pecan, fudge brownie and peanut butter cup have been my favorites.

10. i'm also secretly debating on purchasing this purse. or this one or this size.

indiana is calling their people back

school picture day: 2 weeks ago

1. she's wearing the same outfit today but with a cute belt instead of the shirt.

2. we finally got the a-okay that mike can apply for the off shore position. he has an interview on monday. (he will be working for the same company but just a different position)

3. not sure how i feel about him being gone for 14 days them home, cramping my style, for 14 days but i'm trying to be positive about it.

4. and kaylee is sure excited about going to the same school as one of her cousins. (they're 6 months apart)

5. i still haven't told my family or friends yet. don't want to jinx it till we know for sure. 

6. talked to my neighbor this morning. they're also thinking about moving back to indiana too. they have kids and grandkids they want to see more often. (they just got back from a wedding and being with the grandkids did it for them)

7. we're all dreading those indiana winters though! (except for kaylee)

8. i got the new iPhone 6 and its awesome. i like the thinness of it and the bigger size is better for my aging eyes.

9. i really need to be cleaning- my mil is coming to town on monday but i think i'll wait till saturday or sunday.

10. but i am wanting to start cleaning the craft room.

heart pounding, waiting patiently...

that's ollie sleeping

1. so a lot has been on my mind lately and yet nothing has been going on.

2. i spent the last 3 days of last week babysitting window guys. they're coming back tomorrow to finish and clean up. (we got 15 back windows replaced. if we had the money, we would replace the other 53-56 windows this house has!)

3. so i had to miss lunch with kaylee on friday but she understood.

4. sunday ham went back to school bummed which made me bummed too. (kaylee was bummed that her brother was leaving and that she had school on monday)

5. and i still felt bummed on monday knowing that ham wasn't happy and i couldn't fix it.

6. so its been mentioned that he transfers to purdue. (he got an acceptance letter already and he found a place to live. all signs thats what he should do)

7. and we're waiting to hear if mike will be going off shore as his next job assignment. if he does, that means we will moving too.

8.  and since no one reads my blog, i can say it will be back to indiana.

9.  while this decision was a hard one for me (there's so much more to do here and the weather!), in the end family matter most.  i want kaylee to grow up with her cousins especially since she has 6 girl cousins all close to her age. i want her to know her grandparents and aunts and uncles.

10. so i'm here with my heart pounding, fingers and toes crossed, waiting patiently for mike to give me the news.

wish my kids would stop growing up

1. i took this at the beginning of the school year. we decided to hit target after school and grab a snack at fivebucks aka starbucks.

2. while we were waiting for her vanilla bean frappucino with soy milk, chocolate drizzle and whip, i looked over at her and saw her as a teenager or heck, even as a grown woman.

3. and it made it me sad. i hope she will let me continue to go shopping with her when she's older. 

4. not much else going on. kaylee's still playing tennis, mike and i are still getting our butts kicked by bootcamp. 

5. i'm cleaning out my closet but hate the layout and deciding what to do with it.

6. last saturday, kaylee went to a slumber/birthday party so mike and i went to see the aggies play.

7. the new stadium that johnny built (thats what i call it) is awesome! just as nice as the minute maid baseball park and this is a college stadium!

8. mike and i got new aggie gear. the weather was perfect for some long sleeves.

9. i might have gotten 2 dipping dot ice cream in mini aggie helmets.

10. we didn't get home till 2AM because all the hotels were booked. we kept trying to call the hilton every hour for any cancelations and ham only has a studio apartment.

so last friday

from tennis camp: coach ro

1.  before school, mike texted me saying we should get kaylee out of school early and go and visit ham up in college station. (kaylee read the text before me) 

2. we couldn't go because she has tennis from 4:30-5:30 and this is only her 2nd lesson.

3. she was not happy when i dropped her off at school that morning but seemed fine when i went to eat lunch with her.

4. mike picked her up after school and she went straight to her room.  she was pouting that she had tennis and that she didn't want to go and that she doesn't like tennis.

5. mike took her to her lessons so he could watch her but next thing i know, he's back home and says she's laying down in the back of the car crying and she wouldn't get out.

6. so i had to be mean mom and told yell that her tiny butt was going to tennis even if that meant that i had to carry her! i stayed to watch just in case she decided to be a butt and not play. 

7. after practice, she was happy again and said it wasn't bad. an hour and half long tantrum all for nothing.

8. guess she ended up having a bad afternoon. her friends got her in trouble for talking and another friend said that they were invited to another friends house and she wasn't able to go because of tennis.

9. since she said she was sorry for throwing her fit, we did let her go to friday night live with her friend meredith that evening. (a church that has events for kids so they have something safe and fun to do)

10. coach ro calls her my because on the first day of camp he asked her what her name was and she said my name is kaylee. (i think its cute)

since i've been gone [in photos]

 1. payed ham to sweep and steam mop the kitchen.

 2. made kaylee clean up her room. this is just from her closet.

3. mike surprised me with dinner and a this show. it was awesome! 

 4. this is what kaylee texted me when asked for mike's car keys. (thought ham was taking her for ice cream. i thought wrong.)

5. my sister and her girls came to visit for a few days.

6. i got bit by a few fire ants. think i'm slightly allergic. both of my wrists got all swollen and they were in lots of pain!

 7.  took the girls to the pottery's wheel to paint some ceramic pieces.

9. signed her up for tennis camp. it was only for 4 days.

10. ran The Color Run again this year.  it was HOT and SWEATY at 8AM!

getting ready for vacation thats really not a vacation for mom's

1. so our "girl's day" continues though wednesday we really didn't do much. we did get some of kaylee's clothes around for vacation and then went to justice for a few more pairs of shorts.

2. i know she could wear her shorts more than once while on vacation but i hate putting back on clothes that are dirty and by dirty i mean worn in public. the public is a dirty place. anyway, she ended up getting 2 pairs of shorts, a sweatshirt and a shirt.

3.  we came home and got our tan on for about 40 minutes. i had to take an allergy induced nap.

4. yesterday we went and got our nails done then headed to target for a massive amount of junk food for our road trip to orlando.

5. we ate vita's pizza for lunch (and dinner) and packed her suitcase so she is all ready to go.

6.  today is clean the house day and run to the grocery store for some fruits and stuff to make breakfast and a few lunches while on vacation.

7. though i saw this dress on lisa leonard and now i want to go and get it.

8. i don't want to take any of my cropped jeans on vacation. its too hot for jeans.

9. oh, some sad news, mr. miyagi, our beta fish died. he was fine in the morning. dead by night.

10. and in typical us fashion, one of our a/c units died too but we're going to ignore it while on vacation. 

planes or trains

1. we live about 30 minutes away from an airport so we get a lot of these flying by.

2. back in indiana we had train tracks that did a 180 around our area so no matter which direction we were headed (except east), we would usually get caught by one or three.  i like planes much better.

3. so this week has been good so far except for the fact that mike missed our anniversary and while paying bills, i found that he went to hooters on thursday. (his last day of work for the week)

4. him going to hooters and forgetting our anniversary doesn't bother BUT going only a few days before AND forgetting and not telling me he went to hooters, well that bothers me.

5. then he used some excuse that maybe he has something planned while on vacation because don't we usually celebrate our anniversary on vacation? (we celebrated it last year while visiting indiana) yeah, he's a good bullshitter.

6. tuesday, i woke up and bon jovi's song,  shot through the heart and your to blame, you give love a bad name was on the brain. seriously, that was my first thought.

7. kaylee and i had a girls day. (since its just us, we have girls day a lot)

8. we went to michaels and the apple store. (i returned my iPad mini for one that has cellular connection and not just wi-fi connection) then headed to olive garden for lunch.

9. after lunch, we went to barnes and noble so she could use her gift cards from her birthday and christmas.

10. then we came home and got our tan on.

today was a loooonnnnngggggg day

1. so before ham's trip to the ER, i took kaylee lunch on friday.  the slice of pizza was bigger than her head.

2. then later she went to spend the night at her friend's house.

3. they dropped kaylee off saturday afternoon and we had piper stay to swim for awhile.

 4. we went to the cutest snow cone in a cup place thats right down the street for a snack.

5. and went to camponi's for dinner. (both girls didn't eat their spaghetti with butter.)

6. i texted a friend "guess which room i'm cleaning at the moment?"

7. monday i was down with all allergy symptoms- even my ears were itchy, like inside.  it was day 2 of no allergy meds because i wanted to see if my weight loss/health supplement would work.

8. monday night, i decided it might be best if i get this weight loss/health supplement in my system first then wean off the allergy meds.

9. is it weird that i'm already packing for disney?

10. i FINALLY got my "camera bag" and wanted to make sure i can fit everything needed to take into the park [suggested by the experts on pinterest]  with the camera. its a tight squeeze but i think i got it.

wow- its almost march

1. her outfit last friday for her school's fun run. she completed all 36 laps and then some.

2. i still take outfit photos of her every school day but just too lazy to post them for what she wore wednesdays. [wsww]

3. went to my favorite local furniture store called the perfect piece and got a new end table and buffet. the end table has a crank that still works to make it taller or shorter.  photos coming soon.

4. ham came home friday and stayed till saturday. he needed more food so i had mike grill about 4 pounds of chicken, shrimp, salmon and sausages while i made potatoes and blackened tilipia, all done in an hour!

5. he said he could wait on the broccoli and asparaguts [what we call them] so i could finally stop cooking. he's generous like that.

6. saturday kaylee stayed over night at a friends house, mike and i got invited to play pool and drink over at the johnson's house. [a guy who use to work for mike in indiana and was willing to move so mike got him a job here who still works for him]

7. i think i have paint colors picked for the master bedroom and bathroom. going with a navy blue-ish for the bedroom and a purplish color for the bathroom.

8. just need to finish the rest of the painting projects i have going on but at least i have colors.

9. we lost power last night. not for very long but again, it reminded me that i really need to get an emergency kit put together.

10. we are in a hurricane zone.  our neighbors/friends said they went about 2 weeks without electricity when hurricane ike striked. [the strong winds knocked everything down]

shopping and being an elementary school rebel.

1. can't believe its friday already. i also can't believe this photo was taken one day last week.  this week its been in the low 70's,  a little chilly but sunny.

2. now if only it will stay this way for a few more months instead of getting hot.

3. my home cooking got vetoed on wednesday and we went to bdubs for dinner. thats when i told mike his birthday present because he mentioned, again, how he would like to get his mom a plane ticket for spring break.

4. but i've cooked almost all week. we had steak tips with egg noodles topped with peppered mushroom gravy last night. so good!

5. i've been good about not spending much money this week. just on groceries.

6. till i decided to go to the mall yesterday to buy some much needed unders/bras but instead i got mike 4 pairs of pants and 3 shirts for work. they were 60% off at dillards.

7. and unders/bra shopping confuses me. i don't want to pay victoria secret prices yet not sure what to get or from where? [i'm thinking aerie, they have good prices]

8. today was fun run day at school. kaylee ran all her laps-36 of them, plus more!

9. then i went to eat lunch with her and sat with her and her classmates even though i'm not suppose too.  i'm such rebel. [they have separate tables for parents/students]

10. one of the lunch ladies busted me on it but let me stay anyway. [the other lunch ladies didn't care]

my 5 uncool and 5 cool for the week

fiddle leaf fig

uncool:

1. ham turning 21 then leaving for school.

2. itchy eyes due to the weather change.

3. eating too much at lunch.

4. having a smelly and dirty house. [my own fault. as kaylee would say : "thats no fun!"]

5. august: osage county not playing in any of the 5 movie theaters we have in our area. [i have to go 30 minutes away]

cool:

1. eating lunch with kaylee every friday is back in routine.

2. the weather is in the low 70's. just how i like it. [even when its raining]

3. i don't have to clean my house unless i feel like it. [we have no friends to invite over so no one will see it]

4. my fiddle leaf fig that i got from ikea. i need to find a new pot for it since ikea didn't have one big enough.

5. planning to see august osage county on sunday...

big nostrils, ham's decision making skills and mike's the neighborhood hero

1. i found this on photo booth. she's not going to be happy when i show this to her future boyfriend.

2. i told you she has big nostrils. she's very proud of them.

3. did i mention that we went up to the woodlands on friday? yup, ham wanted to return his laptop, again, to get the one he first had. i knew it when he said the mac air didn't have the retina display.

4. it wasn't too busy with black friday being almost over and we got to eat pf changs for dinner.

5. i finally decided to make a hair appointment and got to spend 2.5 hours at the salon.

6. i got partial color and partial highlights w/a haircut. it looks gorgeous! and makes me want to do my hair. [till tomorrow morning and it doesn't turn out as nice]

7. of course, while getting my hair done, mike texts me about 6 times and calls about 3 times. something he never does on a normal basis. just when i want to relax while getting my hair done.

8. he called the electric company and got them to come out and actually fix our problem that we've had since september. [it ended up being the transformer]

9. i think its been a problem ever since we moved in and from what our neighbors were saying, long before but never knew who to call. [it just finally got bad enough for us to call- again]

10. when i turned off the water in the shower sunday, the shock was more powerful than ever and its taking my dryer longer to dry clothes.  one neighbor said they've replaced 2 washer and dryers and a fridge while another neighbor replaced a dryer and their a/c unit caught on fire all due to this problem i'm sure.

wsww and her first concert

 week 11

week 10

1. i'm not sure where i've been. i've been here just not on the blog.

2. week 10 on what she wore wednesday, it rained for a few days if you can't tell.

3. week 11, on tuesday, it was dress in 50's for their 50th day in school.

4. ham finally sold his desktop computer. the one he built himself.

5. so saturday we went to the apple store and got him a laptop for his early birthday present. [he payed for half though the money was probably from his allowance we give him to buy food]

6. kaylee was super upset-like tears in her eyes because he got his birthday present [january] before she got hers. [december]

7. and she called him the golden child of the family. [kids sure are funny!]

8. but i think we got back in her good gracious when we took her to  the children's festival in the woodlands. 

9.  zendaya was going to be there and tickets were only $12.00. can't beat a $12 concert. 

10. we got her a zendaya t-shirt and a photo just in case she got a chance to meet her. [found out they handed out meet and greet wristbands at noon. we didn't get there till around 1pm.]  

cake batter in yo' face

 helping me make lasagna

cake batter in yo' face!

1. one day last week, i made a double batch of cinnamon apple cake and mike said it would be funny if i smeared some all over kaylee's face.

2. kaylee said "yeah, that would be pretty funny."  so i did. and it was. 

3. ham said he didn't want any cake which surprised me and the reason why i was making two.

4. its his favorite cake and he will eat about 3/4 in one day. 

5. he ended up eating about half of it and took the other half back with him. do i know him or what?

6. i got to spend most of my morning on the cell phone yesterday. our home phone wasn't working- again.

7. so they sent a tech out and its working again. [they blame our alarm system company while our alarm system company blames them]

8. and i also got to call home warranty. while hot tubing, mike noticed a light electrical shock near the light so now we have 2 guys coming. one to check the pool and one to check the house. its a weird situation.

9. which i'm hoping is a cheap situation.

10. for some reason last week, i thought nanny was flying in on wednesday. good thing i asked because she's flying in today! [nanny is mike's mom]

getting another room painted- HOLLA!

1. sunday i started painting kaylee's room. it went from the green to lilly lavendar. it looks really pretty and fresh and clean.

2. i finished that last wall today and started on the trim. i'll finish the trim and doors tomorrow.

3. then its on to a new ceiling fan and some curtains.

4. ham came home saturday. he complains that college station is boring. wish he had gotten some roommates that way he's got someone to talk too when he's at his apartment. i'm sure it gets lonely all by himself.

5. this getting old thing kinda stinks. for awhile now i've been having trouble with focusing on what to make for meals. nothing sounds good to me lately but i still eat!

6. i've come up with a chore/allowance plan for kaylee. i hope it works.

7. i want her to do things without having to be told 100 hundreds a day, everyday. and i want her to learn how to manage money and save.

8. so we're going to give her $8.00 a week but $3.00 of it goes into savings so she gets $5.00 to spend.

9. i'm hoping that it teaches her to save her money for something she really wants.

10. and i hope mike and i stick to it and enforce it.