Thanks

In no particular order, the things which I am thankful for......

-coffee and all things related such as coffee makers, travel coffee mugs, Torani syrup, the well-placed-Starbucks-with-a-drive-thru, etc.

-butter, that's all, just butter. What? It's good. Really, really good.

-my Ipod- seriously did we even dream as children that one day we would be able to carry 10,000 of our favorite songs with us? I think not.

-DVR because in all honestly, watching TV in real time stinks.

-my Husband because he's amazing.

-my new fireplace that comes on with the flip of a switch which means that we actually use it.

-Photoshop because it makes crappy pictures a little less crappy

-my children because they're fantastic. Truly, they are super great as far as offspring goes.

-my daughter's cell phone because it makes her crazy happy (and it gives me a great deal of parental leverage when needed)

-all things made by Philosophy. I *heart* Philosophy.

-and all of you, my two blog readers! Thanks for always reading my crazy little ramblings

Promises, promises...

Yes, I said I was going to update the blog more often. And then I didn't. I didn't exactly mean to lie. Then again, I guess that's usually true isn't it? Most people don't start out to lie. But then there are those people who do, hmmm.

Ah, I've gotten off track once again. Simply put, I would've updated the blog more often had my computer not freaked out on me. I seem to have that effect on computers. Anyway, I had to share with my son who was none too happy about that and my time and internet access has been extremely limited or non existent depending on the status of the Backyard Football Cereal Bowl championships.

My strong, handsome husband fixed my computer yesterday. I hate to even confess to what was wrong with it. In one word, dust. Who knew? Probably most people who aren't me, to tell the truth.

Anyway, we're fast on our way to Turkey Day and I haven't even ventured to the grocery store. More updates to come, I promise.

Random Updates

OKay, I am going to do quick and random updates today so I can get back to regularly blogging. Here we go-

In August ths kids started school and we found out that we got to go to Maui. That was followed by a large amount of shopping and returning as we tried to prepare for our first alone vacation in years. We both needed swimsuits and various other items. Also, spent huge amount of time preparing to leave our kids here at our house with our friends.

September- well, I feel like I missed September entirely. We went to Maui for a week in September and it was fantastic. Watch Jon & Kate plus 8? They stayed at the same resort we did. Check it out.

We flew out of Maui at 10:40 P.M. on Thursday night (Maui time) and arrived home at our house in Hill Billy Ville at 5:30 P.M. Friday night (Texas time). Can you say long day? We were super tired for at least a week but we had no time to rest. Three weeks later we flew out to Cancun. Another trip the rock star won, what can I say?

Maui was beautiful and breathtaking. Cancun was relaxing and fun. It rained most of the time we were there but we really didn't care. We mostly just hung out and chatted with the people we met in Hawaii. We hope to all get together in New Orleans in the Spring. We got a taste of parental freedom and we like it.

Caroline started the school year with a tremendous amount of homework but that has slowed down some, thankfully. However, her teachers have no problem sending work home on a Friday afternoon. I, on the other hand, have a problem with it.....

Duncan is doing well this year and has a great teacher we are very pleased with. He still doesn't like school and we are working on that.

After returning from Mexico it was time to quickly prepare for Halloween. Caroline was a black eyed pea and Duncan was a garden knome. His wheelchair was his garden. Everyone kept calling him Santa's helper, this didn't bode well.

Duncan has announced that the only thing he wants for his birthday (in April) is tickets to the Dallas Cowboys game on Thanksgiving day. Yeah, I'll get right on that.

The Christmas lists are being made and they are long. And pricey. It seems just a year or two ago and "their most favoritist, bestest present" was $40. Looking more like $400 this year.

They are both doing Bible Drill on Sunday nights and doing well at that.

And that's pretty much the update on us. Hopefully, I can get back to my regular blogging now and add some pictures from the last couple of months too.

(Not-So-Much) Ghosts of Halloweens Past

First of all, I think I am the worst blogger in history. I don't really have an explanation other than time just seems to slip right through my hands lately. I am trying to do better. But also, I am inantely lazy therefore I have not yet uploaded the pictures from this Halloween. So, I thought it would be fun to look back at some of our past Halloween's (is that a word? that can't be grammatically correct, can it?)

This was Caroline on her second Halloween which would have been 1998. She was a flower, a darn cute one too. Somewhere I am sure I have a picture of her first Halloween just not on my computer, and remember the lazy thing? It definitely applies on Saturday mornings. Anyway, she was a Dallas Cowboy cheerleader that year. Don't worry, it was only because, bizarrely enough we were given the costume at a baby shower. So we went with it. She was only 3 months old.

Here we are in 1999. She was a pea. It was an old leftover dance costume and I was pregnant, it was easy.

Now, I am missing my picture of she and Duncan together in 2000. It was cute because he was a baby and he went dressed as a chili pepper. Funny, right? Caroline was a wacky witch- her own concept. She told me what to put on the costume and she carried the black kitty cat named Zipper the whole time.

Here we are in 2001, our first halloween in Hillbillyville. She was a mermaid. The costume was leftover from dance and I made the wig myself. She was adorable. We got gasps from the other preschool moms as we entered the room after changing. If you have never been a preschool mom, that is the reasction you are aiming for. At least, if you are Caroline it is. Duncan was a scarecrow. Maybe my favorite Halloween costume ever- he was so cute!

This is a better picture of him. This photo won a contest he was so darn cute!

I miss those days of super cuteness. Now, we've grown up. Well, I really haven't but they seem to think they have. We had to wear our costumes three different times this week which really kind of takes the fun out of it. It's all about getting the good candy and scaring their friends and each other. The people bringing their kids into our neighborhood by the truckload (literally, we are in Hillbillyville) kinda scared me. My jiggly thighs scare me more. Probably need to lay off the Halloween candy, at least til after breakfast.