December already!

So my birthday has come and gone and I have to say it was the BEST birthday ever!!! Who cares that I'm 40!! It's time to have fun!!! Mom did tons of great stuff for me and decorated the house, surprised me at the hair dresser with balloons, goodies and paid for my hair appt, and made it special. Then I headed to NYC with 3 great girls!! We had a fabulous time!!!!

Arriving in style!!

After standing in the standby line for David Letterman...they come out to tell us (we are next in line) that they only have 1 seat left!! My two gracious friends (one hadn't arrived yet) let me be the one to go in!! It was so great and only added to my fabulous NYC trip!! There I am above the letter V!! Thanks to my Mom for the still picture!! I even saw Rupert after the show,he was helping sell the merchandise.  You know the guy David Letterman teases sometimes that has some type of little convience store or something. It was a great show!

Then of course the Kelly and Michael show was awesome!! I was one of 5 that tried to be the travel trivia dancer but I didn't get picked...oh well. It was still a blast and Michael and Kelly were so nice. They talked to everyone during all the commercial breaks. Kelly talked to Lisa and me about 40. She saw our 40 tiaras. Michael also wished us a happy birthday. Then they also taped some pre-recorded parts for the New Year's Eve show...so I should be on TV again!! yay...!! LOL... you can see me in this pic that my friend sent me. I'm on the right with my 40 tiara on!!!!  ha ha ha....

My friend Lisa's sister also was able to get into the 2nd prerecording show as a standby. My other friend gave up standing in the cold and headed back to the hotel. She was so happy, because she loves the show. So I'm happy she was able to get into part of the show!!  She had a great seat in the middle and I'm sure she'll be seen on the New Years Eve show. Kelly and Michael were very down to earth and seemed to really enjoy themselves. 

We tried to do as much as we could while we were there in a short amount of time!

The tree was unbelievable!! It was huge and gorgeous!! I would of loved to have ice skated in front of the tree but it was super cold this evening and we wanted to walk around to see other stuff. The window Christmas decorations for Sax 5th and Macy's were beautiful!

These are just a few of the great things we did in NYC! We did tons of walking, up 5th avenue, saw the Statue of Liberty, Empire State building, walked around inside Grand Central station, walked through Chinatown and ate in Little Italy, saw Grenich village and Soho, Brooklyn bridge...ah...what else?? It was a lot considering we only had 2 1/2 days!! It was so much fun!!! We ate some good food and some great sweets. We tried some mini cupcakes at a local bakery and then ate more sweets at the Cake Boss Cafe, yum!  I can't even describe was a fabulous trip it was!!!! I'll never forget my 40th that's for sure.!! We could Central Park from our hotel room!! It was awesome!

So, yes Mark our Elf as arrived back for the season. He is making his rounds around the house. Here are a few of his more mischievous antics.

So now that all the birthday excitement is over, I have to get focused on Christmas! I can't believe it is next week!!! I have most of my shopping done, but still need to finish up and also get to wrapping!! I am loving the weather we are having here!! It's been in the 70's and 80's with highs this weekend to be 85!! Wow..I have to say I am not complaining at all about the warm weather!! I'll look at the snow on TV, oh and it did snow one day we were in NY so that was good for me!! I think we might just have to go to the pool this weekend in our bathing suits and Santa hats!! love it!!

The boys are doing good in school still. Soccer is over now. Bry's team made it to the championship game, that was kinda a shocker...but they won all their playoff games. They didn't win the championship game but it was still fun. Dev's team made it pretty far but didn't win either. Both boys had fun, but I think we will check into a more competitive team for next season. 

Oh yeah, so Bry was 1 of 3 finalists for the science fair project!! He was very excited!! He didn't win in the next round, but came home with a finalist ribbon that he was very proud of!! Ha...very interesting project, and by the way I would NOT let your dog lick you in the mouth based on what we saw with our project....just saying!!

So what else??? That's all I have for now....

Looking forward to spending New Years with family and friends!!  

Toodles for now..

oh my oh my oh my!!!

I GOT MY TICKETS IN THE MAIL YESTERDAY!!! I am so happy!! I sent off a request (or should I say sent off many,many) for tickets to the show while we are in NYC. I got the tickets!! I can't believe it!! I am in such shock!! I went running all around the house like a crazy woman....my hubby and son thought I had been bitten by something...LOL...


It's bittersweet though....for some reason I only got 2 tickets. I requested 4 because there are 4 of us going on the trip...booo.......I'm hoping one of the other girls gets a letter this week!!!!! But...at least two of us will be there, most likely me and the other birthday girl!! I"m hoping to get the attention of the camera, so look for me!! Dec 10th!!!!!!!  Yippee!!!!!! I just can't believe it!!!!!!!

so happy....I thought the trip was fabulous in itself!! Now, it got even better than I ever thought, so very cool!! Can you tell I'm excited!! LOL.....

Where o where?

Where have I been?? I know...it's seem the last few weeks have just slipped by!! I don't know how the time is going so fast.

I did take the boys to the indoor trampoline park I mentioned. They had an absolute blast! They got to jump around, play some trampoline dodge ball, and make some basketball dunk attempts while jumping on the trampoline. They had a really good time. It was a nice place with many workers around to help keep things safe. I'm sure we will visit it again in the future!

So we are still having our soccer games. I think each boy only has 1 more game each until the playoffs! They both played really well the last weekends! Dev's team is still in 2nd place. They played the 1st place team this past weekend. They did lose, however they played the team very well. In fact I think they out played the other team, but his team made a few silly mistakes that allowed the other team to score. We'll see how the playoff goes in a few weeks!!

I'm really excited and anxious for my NYC birthday trip!! Only 2 weeks left!! I've already gotten all my outfits together and a few goodies for me and the other birthday girl!! I know it will be cold, I'm just hoping it's a mild cold..ha ha...if there is such a thing in NY in December!! I can't wait to see the huge tree in Rockerfeller center while ice skating and drinking hot chocolate with my best buds celebrating our birthdays!! I haven't been gone from the boys in awhile, so I know they will miss me. I will have to find some fun things to bring back to them!

So it's Thanksgiving week. Another unusual year for us now that we have moved away from the majority of family. I'm so used to having all the family over for a big feast. Well, we will still have a big feast (sorta) and enjoy the day. The weather will be lovely too, so I'm looking forward to that part. I am also ready to get my Christmas stuff out!! Last year I couldn't decorate much since our house was on the market and I didn't want my masterpiece to seem like clutter to someone else...ha ha...so this year I get to go all out! yay!! I love decorating for Christmas!! The subdivision is also having a turkey trot fun run and 5 K this Saturday. I think I've convince Bry to do the kids run. He isn't as excited about the running races as Dev is. Dev and Granny will be doing the 5K while me and Bry help volunteer with the festivities. I'm glad the neighborhood is having some fun community events!

Still working on my Christmas shopping. NO, I won't be out on Black Friday. I really don't get into that shopping day. I need a few more gifts for Bry. I pretty much have Dev done.  I keep asking them what the want and they tell me a few items, but that's it. Last year, they both had a huge list. It makes me wonder....are they wondering about Santa?? I think I'll have a better idea once our Elf on the Shelf Mark returns the day after Thanksgiving. I'll see how the boys react.....

Still working on the house organization. It seems never ending.....the lack of storage area in this house is killer. I feel like I just keep moving boxes from room to room...ugh....but it's slowing coming along I guess.

I'm hoping to maybe get a picture together some time this week so that I can work on a Christmas card. I didn't send them out last year, but I"d like to this year. Although, I better get going huh??

The boys are still doing good in school. We are working on our 1st science project!! For Bry!! His advanced class requires them to do a Science project..eekk...not too happy personally...but we are working on it. We are experimenting whether a dog's mouth is cleaner than a humans. So we swabbed three people's mouths and three dogs to see what kind and how much bacteria grows. It should be interesting. I just hope we get some kind of results in our Petri dishes..... we'll see how it goes and I'll let you know.

Well I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!! Toodles.

Soccer, TKD and more

We had a great Saturday of Soccer this weekend. Bry decided he would not worry so much about how his team plays and just play like he wants to. Wow...what a difference. He made three goals and played great. I have to say his team is improving though. He just doesn't realized that some of the other boys have never played until this year. I'm happy he was back to himself and having fun and playing soccer!

Dev did great also! He also had 3 goals! His team is in 2nd place for the season so far.

Today they are out of school and are going to a soccer camp for the day. I think they will have fun. Something they love to do and hopefully they might learn a few extra tips also!

A few weeks ago they both tested in TKD. They both did awesome and both broke boards! It was fun to watch because we don't get to watch their classes through the week. They go to TKD as aftercare and they take class before we are able to get there to pick them up so we don't get to see them in class very much. They practice a lot at home but it was nice to see all they had learned.

I was able to take the day off Friday and have a little fun shopping with Mom. I found a super cute store and some really cute stuff for my NYC trip!! The cutest part was when I modeled the outfit for Mike and the boys. Keep in mind, I don't think the boys know anything about me taking a trip to New York. So I come out in my outfit and Bry was like..."Mommy!! You look like New York!!!" wow...that was so funny!! I was so happy!! yeah...just the look I was looking for!! ha ha ha.... I'm getting super excited about the trip!!

The weather is still really warm here! wow..in the 80's today!! Don't get me wrong, I like it, but maybe the 70's would be a little better now that's it's November!

There is a new indoor trampoline park that opened here. I'm hoping maybe to take the boys this weekend for a little jumping fun. As long as they are good this week at school. Dev had a few " talking in class" checks for last week, so I told him he has to do better this week or we won't go. I"m guessing he is making a few new friends in his new class and is starting to get chatty.

Happy Veterans Day!

Playing catch up

So..let's see where to start.
We had what seemed like a very busy week leading up to our Disney weekend trip for Bry's birthday. I ended up taking the whole day off on Friday and we headed out about 9am. Wow, I just have to say over and over how happy I am that it only takes us 2 hr 45 min to get there...whoo hoo! It is wonderful. We got there around noon, ate some lunch and then the boys headed to the pool. The water was actually a little cool,  but they had a blast anyway. It was fun to be back at our home resort, this time Bry wasn't afraid to go down the slide at the pool. The adults enjoyed a nice beverage and then the boys and Daddy played a little ping pong.
   Around 4 pm it was time to head back and get dressed for the Mickey Not So Scary party!! We walked to the park and entered around 530pm or so. The park was beautifully decorated. We got a bite to eat and did some walking around before the party actually started at 7pm. I have to say it was such a great time!! We all really enjoyed it. There were costumes everywhere and lots and lots of candy! Wow....we left there with tons of it! We even got to ride a few rides too and it really wasn't crowded at all. Yes, there were alot of people but not compared to Disney crowded!! The fireworks were spectacular!!! Wow.!!! We headed back about 1130pm. What a great night! I would definitely recommend it to anyone!! Disney did a great job!
   The next day we were up and back at Magic Kingdom. The weather was perfect! So were the crowds, again a light crowd. Now as the afternoon approached it did start to get more crowded, but still not like peak times! We rode everything we pretty much wanted and walked and had a great time. The boys were ready to head back to the resort around 4pm. I do have to say the new Disney armbands worked out great. You wear the wristband and it lets you in your room, has your park tickets on it, you can pre-select fast passes for the parks, and you can make charges to your room on it. It worked great for us. Oh and you can have the pictures that Disney takes added to your armband too. It was really convenient too. They also will be reusable for when we return so that's great too!  We rested a little at the resort then headed out and grabbed some dinner.
   Sunday morning we all kinda slept in late, I guess the tiredness was catching up to us. We also celebrated Bry's birthday with presents and a special donut with candles breakfast. I think we got to Epcot around 11am. We had to get all our stuff packed up and into the car before we headed to the park so it took a little longer than I wanted, but oh well. We really enjoyed Epcot, very light crowds. Now the most popular two rides had long wait times, but lucky for us I had already gotten fast passes for those rides added to our arm bands...sweet! The day went by too fast! We didn't have a chance to do everything we had wanted. He haven't been to Epcot in several years with the boys so they enjoyed it. We will definitely add it to our list for our next visit so we can enjoy the rest of the park that we missed on this visit.
    Back to the grind Monday morning with everyone tired and not wanting to get up! It was a busy week, the boys had TKD testing for their next belt Monday evening. We missed the original testing on the Friday we went out of town. Then Daddy took the boys to soccer practice Tuesday night while Mom and I went to the SYTYCD live tour. The show was great! It was fun to see the people we saw on TV and to watch them do the favorite routines. Our seats were pretty high up but it was still a great show! I love watching them dance!! Here are a few attempts at some pics from far away..ha ha..

    Of course last night was trick or treating. We really didn't need to go since we have so much candy already from Disney but it was all about the fun of it. The boys had a great time and two of their friends from the neighborhood walked with us. The weather was pretty warm and humid though, I think it was around 80! This time Dev wore his skeleton costume. There were tons of kids in our neighborhood...wow!  Luckily we were home around 730pm. You can tell it's alot of younger kids in our neighborhood because everyone was headed home around the same time as us, especially since it was school night.

I put on my witch stuff to wear to work. It was funny, because the boys did not like my mole at all!! ha ha

I was able to cook up a special spooky Halloween breakfast for them. They loved the monster donut, ghost toast, work sausage and the bugs and kisses cup of treats. It was fun to surprise them.

    So...tonight the boys get to go to a Halloween party at their TKD school. Probably more candy...oh my....I'm going to have to convince them to pick a certain number of things and we are going to have to find a place to give the rest to. I mean really...I'll have to take a picture...It is soooooo much!! But I know the boys will have a good time with their friends at the party with games, bounce house and costume contest. So we get a short parents night out. Although, we'll probably just order some take out and relax and catch up on our Biggest Loser....ha ha...the married with kids life!! I guess we are getting older!! eekkk!!
   Speaking of older.....wow...only about 38 more days till my birthday trip with the girls to NYC...I am so excited and can't wait. I need to get shopping though for some winter clothes! I really don't have any winter clothes. I got rid of many of them when we moved and of course here is so warm I hardly will need any. So of course, where else but Florida will you find winter hats and scarves right next to the bathing suits!!

  We don't have a big weekend of plans this weekend. Just soccer and probably some much needed house cleaning and organizing. Happy weekend to everyone! Toodles...
BTW...if you watch the Good Wife...oh my!!!

Best!

BEST HALLOWEEN PARTY EVER!!

More pics and details to come later!  Bry had a magical time for his 8th birthday!!!

yay yay yay

So it's my favorite day of the week again...FRIDAY!!! I'm happy for the weekend to get here.

So let's see..I'm ready to show you one of our house projects. We finally finished and I have the before and after.

So...here is the inspiration picture from Pinterest that I used for the idea :

So here we go. This isn't the true before picture but it's close enough. We started with just the wire rack across the back wall. So we took that down and started with cabinets. We decided to put two cabinets with a hanging rod in between.

Ta-Da!!! Yay...the finished project! It took us two weekends and some work, but it's done and I love it!!!
I think it turned out great!! I can reach all my supplies in the cabinets and I have a cute little shelf to display a few decor items. I know that people aren't going to hang out in my laundry room, but I love it! Much more storage space and easy to access.

So we applied for Bry to get into the advanced academic class at school. He got accepted!! He was so excited!! We HAD to celebrate!! So I picked up a few balloons, an adorable eyeball cupcake and Daddy picked him up a few happy items too!

You gotta love my spontaneous photo poser!!!

Dev started in his new classroom this week also. Wow, what a difference!! The teacher is much more organized and I love it! The teacher even called me to introduce himself and review with me how he runs his classroom!! We are wanting Dev to apply to the advanced program also. He just needs to write an essay and then we can turn in the application. There is a waiting list for the 4th grade though. I'm also honestly a little apprehensive since we just moved him to another class already. He seems to be adjusting well though. I asked him if he would mind moving classes again if he got in the program and he told me no. So, we'll see if he can get his essay written this weekend. I know he has the grades to get accepted, I just hope he has the true desire to want to be in the class and do the work. Bry is already coming home with a lot more work. Bry loves it though. It was funny too because he told me that hardly anyone has to move their name down to a lower level for behavior in the new class....go figure!! haha....yep....we know Bry.....not like his other class that had several kids on the worst behavior score every day! 

Also the boys both got their report cards for the first quarter.....ALL A'S FOR BOTH BOYS!!! Yay, we are so proud of both of them. I am especially proud of Dev with consideration of his past teacher. Luckily I was keeping up with his true grades or he prob would of had C's or lower on the report card and those were not his true grades!! I am so glad I kept up with all the papers and tests that came home so I could compare the grades. I think I mentioned we met with the Principal about the teacher. We weren't the only parents that had been in. I also found out that the teacher was let go the day after our meeting. I feel bad for her to lose her job but she wasn't doing her job as a teacher and I know other kids were suffering as well.

Dev was like wow, she left right after I changed classes. I think he was meaning he could of stayed in there, but I don't think he really realized the reason we moved him was because of her and we also didn't know she would be leaving. He seems to really like his new teacher though and I'm glad. 

Soccer weekend ahead again. Dev's team is doing really well and so is Dev. Bry's team isn't quite so good. He has several kids on the team that don't seem like they even want to play at all. Bry got really frustrated at last weeks game because he was almost the only player on his team actually trying to play and he got exhausted. I don't blame him. I hope this week will be a little better but unfortunately it might end up about the same due to the other kids. Next season we will probably check on a higher level competitive team for him to try and see how it goes. 

Not too much else on the weekend plans. I still have lots of house stuff to continue to organize but I feel like taking a break from it. I also want to relax on Sunday so I can watch Peyton's return to Indy!! It will def be the big game to watch!

Toodles.

My oh MY!!

Here is my throwback Thursday pic!! Wow....Where has the time gone?? They were so tiny!! I love the look on their faces!! Sniff...sniff....

We met with the principal yesterday. In a nutshell, we weren't the first parents to meet with the Principal about this particular teacher!! Go figure!! Anyway, all is good and Dev will move to a new class on Monday. He knows who the teacher is, seems to like him and also knows several other kids in the class so I'm hoping it will make for a smooth transition. On another note we are applying to the gifted program at the school for both boys. The principal told us there are openings for the 2nd grade and a waiting list of 2 for 4th grade. So we turned in Bry's application today and we will turn in Dev's on Monday. I'm excited about it and I hope they are accepted. I want them to be challenged. They are both very smart so I want them to be able to be challenged and keep excelling in school!

Thought I'd share a few fun pics from Dev's birthday.  Can you tell we are totally silly!! LOL...

Dev showing off some of his birthday Legos that he built. He loves building them!

So I will need to retake this picture. This was supposed to show my great GIANT pumpkin Mom got for me. This picture does not show the size of this thing!! I will have to retake to show you the scale of it. When Dev first saw it he called it as his own for trick or treating...ha ha...because it was so big!!

My other FAVE!! new Halloween decor item!! Saw this wonderful thing at Target but didn't get it. Well of course after talking about it constantly Mom went and got it for me..hee hee...I love this thing!! It's fabulous!! Right now I have my napkins in it, but truly you could put anything you want in it!

Well according to the news we are leaving the rainy season! I sure hope so. I am tired of all the rain, I want to be able to get back outside and enjoy the beautiful Florida sunshine!!

So has anyone watched Scandal? It seems to be the great new show...I did decide to record it but haven't watched it yet. Then I saw a commercial that this is the 3rd season. I thought it was the 2nd. So now maybe I should go online and watch the 1st season first?? Hmm.. I don't know. But then there's  the little problem of time! I just don't have the time like I used to. I am lucky to catch up on my few other shows that I'm recording right now. But...maybe one day I can have a TV marathon and just veg and watch TV all day long...ha ha yeah right!! Doubt it, but hey I can wish right?!

Well that's all I have for now. Toodles...Happy almost weekend!!

Not as planned

    I should know by now that a weekend usually doesn't go as planned.  Saturday started off with soccer games for the boys. They both did awesome!! I was very proud of them for being the first game of the season. This Momma has to brag.... Bry scored 4 goals and Dev scored 2!!  The weather was great too!!

I love the face on Bry while he is kicking! True determination!! Love it!!

You can click on the picture if you want to see it bigger, by the way.

I decided almost on a last minute whim that I wanted to get some cabinets for the laundry room and put up some shelves....well that turned into a weekend long project!! But the good thing is that the cabinets are up..look great and we even got the shelves up too. The shelves need to be painted. Although Mom came over yesterday while I was at work and started painting them.yay Mom.  So once I get it all finished I will post before and after pics. I'm thrilled...it's going to be great and give of much more storage space!! So needless to say we didn't have our day trip to IKEA but that's ok, I'm much happier that we got one project almost done. 

Oh yeah, incase you are interested here is the recipe for the Zucchini pancakes! yum!

I made some crazy silly face waffles for the boys this weekend. They loved it! It's been awhile since I've made them some crazy treats so it was time!!

I also felt the urge to make some Halloween inspired treats. I took some to work and left plenty at home for the boys. I'm keep my will power though and I'm not eating any of them!!  I'm saving up for the Halloween candy!! :-)

So on a not so happy note, we are meeting with the principal today about Dev's teacher. It's kinda a long story but it's been constant issues since the start of school. Our main two complaints.....she keeps entering his grades incorrectly into the computer grade system(4 times to be exact) that I caught thank goodness. She is also very ...uh...how to describe her....spacey! When we had a teacher conference with her at our request she was all over the place in her discussion. There were times I was confused and she talked about many different things that didn't really apply to Dev at all. Anyway...we  are kinda at the end of our tolerance. So my hope is to bring the issues to the attention of the principal and also to have him changed to another class. I hate to make a big deal and even move him to another class but I feel he isn't getting the education he deserves and we have talked to the teacher and made her aware of the issues. So I'm hoping all goes well.....eeek.....say a prayer for us!!

Bry is doing great. He is getting basically 100's on every assignment. I would like to check into a gifted or advanced class for him. I think he is a little bored with the ease of the school work. So that will be our next focus after we get Dev situated.

Just a random shared thought:  a new note to myself is to never ride my bike again without my sunglasses or some type of glasses!! It was almost dusk last night when I headed out for a bike ride. I purposely didn't wear my sunglasses because it was already the beginning of getting dark. Well....about a mile into my ride it was BUG CITY!! Yuk!! Tons of little knat type bugs were constantly flying into my face...disgusting!! I had to try to ride with my head very tilted down to try to use my helmet as a shield!! I felt like Jim Carey on the motorcyle with all the bugs in his face from that movie...oh darn..I forget the name of it. Anyway...so I turned around and peddled as fast as I could to get away from the bugs, it seemed worse the further I went so coming home was a little better.  So now I need some clear glasses to wear...that was gross!! Just random...ha ha..

Well you know what day it is.....HHHUUUMMMPPP   DAY!! 

Oh...another thing I have to share! The other night out of the blue Bry told us he was going to write a story. He took 2 nights to finish it and wrote a 5 page story!! A keeper for sure!! It is so cute to see how he spelled things phonetically since he didn't know how to spell them. He also told me he didn't put any periods because he wasn't sure where to put them. Here is a sample of the first page....smile...

I told him I will have to get him a notebook that he can start writing stories in. So cute...

Toodles.

End of the week

Yay! It's Friday! I'm so happy. It seems like it's a been a long week for some reason!
I am happy that I found this great guy this week! I went to Lowe's for a few things and I wandered through what was left of the Halloween decor. Yes, they are already putting up Christmas and getting rid of Halloween. I found this great guy on sale! His eyes light up, but I'm not sure how yet. The batteries were dead and I haven't gotten to the store for more. It's the watch type batteries that he needs. I hope he doesn't have red eyes though...kinda creepy!

I pulled out the Halloween glasses for the boys and made them some skull juice. I have a skull head ice cube tray and put some water and flavored Mio to make some colored skull heads. I didn't have any food coloring so I used the Mio, it worked just as well. The boys liked it very much!

I did pick up some other fun treat stuff to keep the Halloween theme going but I won't pull out my next treat until this weekend. You'll have to check back to see what it is!!

Well it's the first soccer games of the season tomorrow. I hope they don't get rained out. Dev's team has had one practice and Bry's team didn't get to practice this week due to the rain. The games should be interesting to say the least! The boys are excited though and can't wait. Unfortunately their games are at the same exact time. They do play at the same location though so I should be able switch between games during half time.

I'm hoping to get a new camera for Christmas or even my birthday!! I used to love the idea of carrying a small pocket size camera. But now that the boys are into sports and other things I really want a fancy smancy camera that will take some awesome pictures! My camera doesn't do well at all for fast motion or sports pics so I really want to get one so I can get all the action shots! 

  

  Happy for me that I got up again this morning and worked out. That makes 4 days up at 430am this week! Whew.....I must say it is paying off though so I want to keep it up. So, tonight is my cheat night for food. I'll be trying to decide all day what I want!! I'm thinking maybe Mexican or Japanese...or BOTH!! LOL...just kidding. If I go Mexican I need to have margaritas with it so I'm leaning that way, I miss my margaritas!! yum!! I think the boys would prefer Japanese. Bry is my sushi eater too! Of course only the cooked stuff, he loves the California roll!! I have to say the boys are great eaters. We have made some new dishes this week in our quest to be healthier. Earlier in the week we had shrimp scampi over spaghetti squash. The boys chowed it down and only at the end did I tell them what it was. After their first helping I just asked them if they wanted more noodles...LOL.... They didn't know much of a difference, they liked it! Then Mike made some Zucchini pancakes..wow!! Those were really yummy. They are not pancakes you eat with syrup, more like a fritter. The ingredients are things like egg, Parmesan cheese, zucchini and maybe one other item. The boys loved those too!! Last night we ordered a pizza for the boys because it was a school fundraiser for their school. Dev wanted his with onion, bell pepper and mushroom. I love that they will eat more than just pepperoni. Bry went with pepp and sausage last night. He usually likes black olives on his also. He has been a little under the weather this week though. He has a cough and runny nose. I think he is headed to the upside of it though, at least I hope so. He has been a little cranky, but he's been eating pretty good still so I know it's not too bad...he really likes to eat!!

Sunday Mom and I are taking a road trip. We are going to an IKEA store near Miami. I have never been but I've heard alot of people talk about it. I have never lived near one so finally we are close enough to make it a day trip. I think it's about 1 hr and 45 min from us. So Mom and I are headed to check it out and make it a day of shopping, or browsing and sight seeing. It should be fun! 

If you aren't on FB then I must share that I've now added another animal sighting or animal warning sign to my collection of interesting things since we've been here. The other night right down the street from our subdivision the boys and I saw two cows just grazing right along the sidewalk! Wow, they got out from somewhere. It never occurred to me to report it ....LOL... but when we came back home and passed the area, the cops had the road blocked off and I guess they were searching for them. Too funny! I guess next time I'll call to report the runaway cows! So now I've seen....a dead wild boar, a living and dead bobcat, a large snake, an alligator in the water ditch while riding my bike, deer, armadillo, various birds, what else?? , panther crossing signs, bear warning signs ( they have had bears in people's backyard about 25 min south of us!) , oh yeah an aggressive alligator warning in our neighborhood, and it seems like there has been more but can't think of it right now. It's become hysterical to me!! I moved to the zoo!! ha ha...at least it's interesting!

Well I hope everyone has a great weekend and stay safe if Karen is heading your way!!!! Toodles. By the way I rarely proofread my posts so please excuse any errors. I do use spell check now but that's about it!! LOL.

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     Well I was just reminded why I blog. I was looking for a picture from a party I had in the past to share with a girl that wanted to know how I decorated for a certain party. In looking back through my old posts I was so happy....it was so nice seeing old pics and things we did over the years. Even though at times it may seem like random ramblings, it is definitely just a little peek into our everyday world. I want to find a way to get it printed for a long term keepsake. I think a friend of mine made her blog into a book so I'm checking into it. Wow....looking through old posts and pictures really encourages me to keep doing this journal of our life. A journal is exactly what it's like and I get to include pictures!
    So Dev did get to have soccer practice yesterday finally!! He was so excited! Bry even got to practice a little bit with him. Bry is supposed to have practice today but rain is predicted...boo! I sure hope it holds off so he can have his practice. I think next year we will check into getting the boys into a competitive team. They seem to be pretty good at soccer and sometimes I think the rec league isn't enough of a challenge for them.
     I just realized that I didn't take any pics of Mike on his birthday.Wow...how did that happen? I am usually always taking pictures. He got lucky this time but I'll have to make up for it on other occasions and next year!
     Dev is still enjoying drawing in his free time. Here is a sample of one of his drawings. He is into drawing Ninjas at the moment. Very detailed!
   

Mom and I did a little Halloween shopping yesterday and came across this!! What a great wig, I couldn't help but take a picture wearing it!!

Of course October isn't complete without some fun glasses!!

I love this girl skeleton I found at Michael's! She is even holding a Mardi Gras mask in honor of our short residence in Louisiana...ha ha!

Just a little decorations I got put up. This one includes the picture of when I had a witch party. It's hard to see the picture here, but it was about 16 of us girls all dressed up as witches for a great party! I love to put it out every year! I miss those girls! I hope I can meet another group of great girls around here so I can start having my parties again!! I really miss the parties!! I love to entertain!!

Also got this cute tablecloth at Michaels. It was only $1.99!! you can't beat that!

And, gotta love the Dracula window clings!!

I did get a few yard decorations put out also. I am still in search of something else for the yard...I will know what it is when I find the right thing!

Wanted to post this cute picture of Dev on his birthday morning... He was so sweet telling me that he loved my homemade sign! 

   The boys did just fine riding the bus this week. They didn't have any trouble! I knew they would be OK, but Momma always does worry just a little bit!
   
   What else...well this is my 3rd week of getting up at 4:30am so I can workout before I go to work. I am not a morning person but it is the only time I can make sure I workout. I think I am finally getting used to it. I still don't like it, but I'm getting used to it. I have about 2 months before my girls trip to NYC for my 40th birthday!! Me and three other girlfriends are spending four days in New York to celebrate mine and my girlfriends birthdays. Her birthday is only 1 week before mine and her sister and my friend Denise are joining us! It's going to be a blast!! I sent off for Michael & Kelly tickets but I don't know if we will get them. That would be cool!! So anyway, I'm trying to lose some pounds before the trip. I always do better with a motivational tool.

     Survivor is on again!! I like the show, and don't mind watching it but I am a little annoyed that they keep bringing back some of the same people over and over and over again!! Seriously, in my opinion I don't get it! I know there have got to be thousands of people out there that want to be on Survivor and they keep bringing back the same people! Wierd!!

I am going to be browsing Pinterest for some serious storage solutions! Our house has little to no storage space! Funny thing is I got rid of tons of stuff for this last move and I still have tons of stuff that I need to find a place for!! Alot of it is memorabilia and things that are sentimental. I'm going to have to find great storage solutions for tight spaces!!

    I found Bry a Halloween costume! yay...but the size I had to buy him is amazing! I bought the size I thought would fit Dev and be a little big on Bry. Nope!! It fits Bry perfectly and wouldn't fit Dev. I think I might have to move to the adult costume sizes for Dev, mainly on his height! wow.... so Bry is going to be Spiderman. It's a perfect costume because it's fairly light weight and has a cloth face mask instead of one of those plastic ones. I think it will be perfect for our Disney trip also. Now I still have to find something for Dev! Still searching....

    HAPPY HUMP DAY!! Lol....are you tired of that saying yet? ha ha...the boys love the camel commercial!!  Toodles for now!