a travelin we will go!

Well my nursing 101 semester is almost done! We just got our grades for the teaching/learning paper and I scored a 98.5% ! ! ! And I thought I couldn't write (yay!) Was very excited about that. So really all that is left is my final exam monday and then off until january 3rd!

So what to do with the time off you ask? Why travel as much as possible! Next week the kids and I will be off to MICHIGAN to see my family for 6 days. Looking forward to meeting my new niece Lainey and seeing my parents, grandparents, sissies... and who ever else wants to hang out! We are planning a photo shoot with the seven cousins (I can't believe we have 7 kids between the 3 of us now!) So I will probably do new years cards instead of christmas fyi :)

Then after the MI trip- I work, and then we are off to THE BAHAMAS!!!! Thank you Citicard for all free flights! And we found a steal of a deal at the Atlantis... so we will be doing christmas in 85 degrees by the pool hopefully.

CAN'T WAIT!

Happy Thanksgiving

We enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving meal and time with family and friends today. It was a warm day... mid 60's I think (short sleeves!) We took some pictures outside in our newly raked yard. The Nor'easter two weekends ago totally kicked our butt... but we are getting put back together and I am thankful that the flood did not come IN my house!
The rare shot with me in it!
This picture Luke looks so big... it got me thinking about how he will look in middle school. So handsome!
The hair is flipping over the ears.... and I am in love!
But no hair still for sis... it's comin' in sister!
I told them to hold hands :) Sister says "cheese"


Was trying to get a cute one but all she wanted to do was run and play tag!
Love you everyone!

Boots to buy

Passionista... who I follow on twitter is always following the trends... and she cued me on the "boots you must buy"

Read her commentary- - aren't they great!

INTCYE by Steven Madden

Loving these, aren't you sisters? But now, are people over 30 wearing leggings with these? And can anyone suggest a top or dress?

Oyster Fest!

We took off friday afternoon to spend the day at the Urbanna Oyster Festival... it's about an hour and half from our house in a small town on the river. This is our 6th year going I believe! They have oysters directly from the Tappahannock: oyster fritters, steamed oysters, fried oysters... Not that I eat any oysters (yuck) but I love going to the festival!

Luke was all about the bouncy tent and the playground. They didn't really kick the kids out of the bouncy tent until they wanted to get out... so I just let him bounce and bounce to his hearts content!
We tried the teeter totter! I don't think most playgrounds even have these anymore b/c of injuries... but we had some fun. Love that pic above how neat
And sister is getting into a vocal stubborn phase. She wants what she wants and yells if she doesn't get it- ahhhh. I thought I had a little more time before the terrible twos were here.
I let her go into the bouncy tent for the first time when there were just a couple of kids in it. She liked it but didn't stay in too long!
And when they were tired Luke asks..."mommy.... I want to go to a hotel and relaaaaax!" My feeling exactly Luke!

Happy Halloween

We got the kids dressed up to go to the Holy Ghost Weiner Roast... which my mom in law's church puts on every year at Triple R Ranch as a Halloween alternative. Neither of them would sit still OR look at the camera but I did get a few pictures :) Sis was a butterfly, and Luke (surprise) was a pirate!
She didn't mind the costume at all! It was a satin material so not "eetchy" (she can say that when she's itchy!)



We also carved the pumpkin we bought last weekend... well half way. Luke was very hesitant to put his hands in the guts haha. I really enjoyed carving pumpkins with my sisters and mom would bake the pumpkin seeds. Yum Yum. Maybe as they get older we'll try to do the face since their attention span lasted about 5 minutes!

Kindergarten

We have started searching around locally to see where Luke might start kindergarten next year! He will be a young 5 since his birthday is in June... so he could wait until the next year also. He can do kindergarten at the dayschool he is at right now- but then he would have to switch for first grade or repeat kindergarten if he isn't ready... so now is the time to look! There are a few open houses in November that we can check out so that is exciting. We will definately do a private school- since we live kind of near the ghetto haha. And thank goodness I am getting my nursing license b/c private school runs $6-10,000 a year !!!! Wow

Praying the Lord would lead us to the RIGHT place for Luke! These are in the running

The Williams School

Norfolk Collegiate

Cape Henry Collegiate

Any other suggestions?

My Find of the Week

I would have to say I Love, Love, Love finding Sophia unique and totally girly outfittings, shoes... and now coat! It is getting colder and I did some looking around and found
CORKY & COMPANY Coats ! ! !

get ready to drool girls

Are you loving these as much as me? Machine washable; cuffed arms so they will fit next winter; the so cute swing coat style ! ! I was loving the brown with turquoise dot... but with her no hair decided to go with more pink and found the one in top picture right side on ebay NWT for less than half price. But I think Jane definately needs one for Grace, and Bethany needs one with the tassles on the hood for Adelee.

Comment girls!

Someone Please

I was searching on ebay for a cute costume for sister... and came across this sooooo cute Turtle by Tom Arma. Wish I had a little boy! Somebody please get this one.... Anne for Liam?

Crazy Fire

Got a panicked call on my voicemail from my neighbor calling to say the duplex next door to my house was on fire.... whoa

I was in a movie so didn't get the message until after the fire department had gotten there. Thankfully no one was home. But there was a lot of damage to this end of the house- they figured the cause was an electrical short. I manage the property for our friend John who is in Uganda. So I had to break the news to both tenants (it's a duplex). It was so sad- everyone was crying b/c everything was damaged. Eric was nice to put up one guy in his house that's for sale. The other girl I think we will lose because it will take a few months to rebuild the house.

Wow. What an afternoon. Fires are sad. I'm thankful it wasn't at my house...

That boy

My Luke is just so funny. We were shopping last weekend and he came up and showed me this:

I had not laughed so hard for a long time. I still laugh- aren't the braids too much ?!

Lukey you are such a character... your mama loves you so much. Just as many times you make to want to scream, you equally make me want to smile.

Never a dull moment. Never!

Fun Times

We spent friday to saturday in Richmond this weekend and had some fun family times! We visited the Richmond Children's Museum which I cannot say enough about. It puts poor Portsmouth's to shame. It made for hours of fun for both of the kids!
Helping the chicken lay his eggs...
Sister enjoyed making some art work
Luke did really well sorting the vegetables! What a great idea for a playroom





And Sweet Sis was looking so cute for church I just had to post a few pics since it's been a while :) She is really starting to talk a lot ... she turns 16 months old today! Some of her words are: mama, papa, buba (Luke), more, please, thank you, doggy, ducky ... and she will attempt to repeat many words I say too! So smart

Thank you to my Hubby for such a FUN weekend :)

Race Fan, Would you have guessed?

Dear old Daddy came into town thursday night to hang for the weekend. How fun! We have been going to a Nascar race together for like 10 years or so we figured out! We always have a great time going early... tailgating.... eating dad's famous race track burgers.... doing some shopping (note my new visor!)... and watching the race of course
That first lap of green flag when 40 cars speed by at 180mph.... no feeling like it! The engine sounds are so loud they vibrate to your core and it is SO COOL!! So no knocking nascar b/c now you know I am a fan... go 88!!
Thanks dad for coming and treating me to a special day... we will miss you when you go tomorrow :(

Working Hard

Well everyone around here is working hard. I am doing school, studying, plus part time at the hospital. And tests are going well! Scored an 88% on my first and 85% on the second. And there was lots of drama with people failing both (<77%). So very glad to be keeping good grades.

Wayne is working very hard on a rezoning project. Praying for favor on that so his work will continue!! He is the hardest and smartest worker I know and for that I AM THANKFUL!!!

Kids are doing great at dayschool. It is comforting to know that the teachers there Love the Lord... and they really do love my kids too.

Happy Wednesday

Coffee Lovers

Oh Coffee Lovers... let me introduce you to Yuban. A lady we were chatting with at a restaurant recommended this coffee as a cheaper alternative to starbucks beans at home... and she is right! It's organic; and a good dark blend. I found cans at Target marked down to $3 each. Try it!