Catching Up...

Not a whole lot has been going on. We've just been busy and bogged down with work and school. I haven't had a chance to blog. This post will have no pictures. I think this may be the first week I can remember in a really long time when I took absolutely NO pictures.

What's Been Happening?
My last two A&P tests I scored a 90 and 92. VERY HAPPY about that.

My Chemistry test I scored an 83. I'm happy.

Tuesday night Mom kept the girls and Emil and I had a date night. We went to eat Pho and came home, rented a movie and tried to watch it. We couldn't make it work and ended up falling asleep on the couch. We said we were gonna stay up late. Didn't happen. I think we're getting old. We had to wait for CC and Lena to come home from Mom's to show us how to make the DVD player work. Then we watched Bad Teacher together. It was good.

We finally got a cold front come in Thursday. It is so nice. The temps have been in the upper 60's. SUCH a nice relief from this unbelievable summer.

Papa Bear and the girls made stew tonight. It is amazing! So, so good! Michael picked CC up and took her to Starbucks. They had a good time. He told her that her eyes sparkled, she had pretty earrings and asked if that was her natural hair color.

I am about to fall asleep. I am so tired. I want coffee but don't want to stay up. I have loads of laundry to do this weekend and Pam is coming in the morning.

And that's all I know! I am just going to enjoy the cooler weather!

Nightmare On Grayson - New Traditions

Last night we started a new tradition.... We took Lena to Nightmare on Grayson. CC and I have been going to Grayson for seven years straight. We love, love, love it! Every year they change it up and add new stuff. This was the second year they had about half of the haunted house in 3-D.

We usually just go to Grayson, then once we make our way through it we grab a smoked turkey leg. We were too hungry to wait this time so we went to McDonald's to eat and kill some time.

Our stomachs had butterflies we were getting ourselves so scared up about going. Usually it never fails that Freddy chases CC and Michael Myers chases me....with his stupid knife! I may have took off running a few times leaving CC and her friends far, far behind me. Maybe.

We found parking, which is almost a miracle! and then made our way to the haunted house. We were in group 7 and they were still on group 2 so we walked around the Pearl Brewery to waste some more time.

And we girls decided to take some photos while we were there. I really, really like that shirt I'm wearing above but after seeing this picture and how extremely top-heavy it makes me I swear I will NEVER wear that shirt again! NEVER!!

We were so excited to see Brothers of the Flame performing. This was the first time in three years they were there. They are beyond amazing!!

CC's favorite performer is Rayne. She simply goes crazy over him. We managed to get a few pics with him. Here is he with Lena.

And CC and her Rayne....she was a very happy girl after this!

We had a blast. Lena did really well in the haunted house. I had warned her before we went that I was NOT turning back and she would HAVE to make it through. And she did....until we came to the killer clowns. She yelled and ran backwards then was blocking her way in the doorway and not letting me help her through that room. I had to literally pick her up and carry her through to the next room. It was so funny. I couldn't help but laugh. And when the clown saw how terrified she was he really went after her. In the end she said she loved it and it was awesome! I think CC and I now have a new Grayson partner. We are so happy to have her in on the tradition!

Friday during the day the girls and I went to Garden Ridge. That place is amazing!!! LOVE it! There are so many neat things there and they are so very, very cheap. It's over 3 acres of a Kirklands / Home Goods mixture literally at about half the price! There were vases there for $3.00!!! There was also a section of scrubs. I know where I'll be going when I graduate from nursing school!

One day last week I took a shower and then put my hair in braids because it's getting long and hard to sleep on. I woke up with an afro!

I did manage to tame it down enough for school. And let me tell you, it stayed curly, even after I showered!

Today none of us were feeling too good. Maybe we stayed up to late and were too excited about Grayson last night. The girls and I headed to Mom, brought her a Pumpkin Pie Shake from Sonic and watched a Criminal Minds and Bridesmaids with her. That movie is hilarious!!

Tomorrow starts another full week....and the last week of October...how can October almost be over? Didn't it just start???

Wonderful Weekend

This has been one of the most relaxing, wonderful weekends we have had in a really long time. Saturday morning I woke up a bit late but still in time (30 mins) for us girls to wash our faces, brush our teeth and get dressed to go to the assembly. It was such a wonderful assembly. We got to hear so many experiences and learn so many things.

My favorite was a Brother Wilson who once worked for CBS Sports. His job kept him away from home and away from the ministry, so he decided to quit. When he was asked if it was a hard decision for him, he said initially yes, it was BUT he was given the most precious gift out of it...meeting his wife in the ministry. It was so sweet! And there was an elderly brother who has been in the ministry for 70 years! He was baptized in 1940!! Everyone was clapping for him!

Today was a lazy day. I woke up and made up potato, egg and cheese tacos. Then Papa Bear, CC and I decided to go for a drive through the country and relax at the park. On a country road we passed a cow criss-crossing the street. There were four police cars behind her trying to round her up!

We found a Sonic and had to stop by for drinks. Luigi LOVES getting his water with no ice! And CC just loves her Luigi!

Luigi enjoyed being out in the fresh air and running around. I think CC wore him out!

I LOVE this picture of him. We got him mid-lick and it looks like he has really, really big lips at first glance!

Every once in a while he would snap over and over at flies.

He wanted to love up on Papa Bear too!

It was getting hot and we had been at the park for a couple of hours. I got lots of homework done! We headed home and I made dinner. Afterwards we went to Mom, hung out a bit and brought Lena home.

I wish we could have more weekends like this! Hopefully with the weather getting cooler it will happen!

We Were On TV!!!

I am addicted to San Antonio Living...I love that show and I love the host, Shelly Miles. She is so upbeat and funny, so real and down to earth and the girl loves to eat!! She mentioned that starting this week the show was going to have a live audience. I went and signed the girls, my mom and myself up!


We were told to arrive at the studio at 9:40. It was so fun to have a reason to get dressed up and put on make up again....it's been soooo long since I've needed to do that! We chatted with a nice lady that works there, I think her name was Julie. She led us to the studio and our seats.

The set was actually much smaller than I thought it would be. I was surprised. I recognized the lady in the background right away, she is always invited on the show for seasonal craft segments. And there was an amazing chef there cooking who was doing a segment for his restaurant, Romo's. His food smelled soooo delicious!




Shelly wasn't in today, Leslie Bohl Jones was. I've always thought she is so elegant and pretty and she is even more beautiful in person!! And her eyeshadow is always immaculate and gorgeous! I had to ask her if she has someone do it for her...nope, she does it herself! This picture is fuzzy. I didn't bring my camera because I wasn't sure if it was allowed. Now that I know it is, I will bring it next time.

This is me with Cleto Rodriguez. He joined the show full time some months ago. My goodness he is a character!! He had us laughing til it hurt!! Cleto told us he will be having his own show on Comedy Central starting November 3.

It was so fun to see how things work "behind the scenes." The girls had a blast!

Here is Mom with Cleto. She said she was so nervous initially and almost didn't go. She had so much fun that she can't wait to go back! I am already planning our next visit to be in the audience. It was so nice to meet Leslie Bohl Jones, but I was slightly bummed I didn't get to meet Shelly Miles.

It was so odd/funny to come home and see ourselves on tv. I know next time I go not to look up at the monitor. I look really weird when I do that. And I learned that I need to smile showing teeth. When I just grin it looks.... just not good. I looked pretty mad alot. I wasn't mad, just not sure where to look or how to smile.

Anyway, we came home and immediately turned on the DVR to watch the show. We laughed and laughed and I decided I could not watch myself on TV again. Then I started cleaning the house up and down. I did several load of laundry, cleaned the kitchen, swept, mopped and even managed to get in some time to watch trash tv AND watch the news. It felt so relaxing!! I am always on the go and hardly ever at home so for me, being able to be at home with nothing to do but clean was such a treat!!

Papa Bear and I went to the mall this afternoon and then picked up Pho for dinner. Delicious! Then I pulled up a chair and watched a great old movie on Netflix, The Mating Season. Hilarious!! Right now I am sipping my Red Velvet hot tea and plan on eating a strawberry filled chocolate cupcake CC made. This has been an almost perfect day!

It's Been A Week...

Since my hair color went from THIS...



And this...



To this...







And Emil still hasn't noticed.
Now this means one of two things... Either he's so used to me changing my hair color he doesn't even pay attention anymore ....OR....he just doesn't pay attention to me.

I think I'm hoping for the first one...

And.... Liz is having a wonderful giveaway over at her beautiful blog...check it out here or click on the icon on my side bar!

Pink Saturday - Blooms

We have had rain the past couple of days and my roses have really enjoyed it! I hadn't planned on linking up to Pink Saturday, but after seeing my blooms, I thought this might be the last time I can link my roses up this year!

My Peace Rose is my most favorite rose in my garden. When Papa Bear and CC went to pick out my roses, CC chose the Peace and I'm so glad she did!

I woke up yesterday morning to go take some pictures of my babies and didn't realize it was drizzling a bit. A little rain didn't stop me. I went straight out with my camera and I think the pictures came out beautiful!

My red cutter rose even gave me some blooms.....

I have some knockout blooms and I'm waiting on my white Kennedy roses to bloom.

Yesterday the girls took Charlie out side for fresh air and snapped some pics....

My most handsome, beautiful little boy......

~~~CC~~~

CC and her "brother"

And my Lena...CC said it was a fight trying to get this picture of her. I guess I've taken too many pictures, Lena runs the opposite way when she sees my camera coming out!

This has been a perfect, lazy rainy day. We are still in pj's. We stayed up late last night watching Lifetime's Russian Dolls. I LOVE this show. I'm hoping they renew for a second season. It's just so funny to watch the Russians there having the same drama as the Russian's here. LOVE THIS SHOW!! If you're interested you can watch the whole first season here.

And....don't forget to check out Beverly's beautiful blog for more pinkness!!

Book Fair & Shopping

Tuesday was the Book Fair for Lena's homeschool TXVA. I was supposed to be going to Chemistry class, but Lena was so excited and so looking forward to going I couldn't tell her no. I'm starting to see that things just aren't going to happen as we would like to plan them. Plans change. Chemistry was out--> Barnes and Noble was in. And we had a blast!

She received this cute little bracelet that says "TXVA ROCKS"

And what is a trip to Barnes and Noble without pumpkin spice frappaccinos?

She found a wonderful book, "The Book Thief" and a cute bookmark.

CC found a cute bookmark that suits her perfectly!

Wednesday I found out I bombed my Anatomy Lab Practical over the heart and veins. Thank goodness she is giving us lots of other quizzes to make up for the horrible grades!

Thursday the girls and I wanted to go to Austin, they have THE BEST cupcakes! On the way we encountered some really bad weather.....

THIS is what I was seeing out of the front window...there was hardly any visibility! It was so scary!!

We pulled over at a gas station and the girls saw I had green stuff all over my beige pants AND they had ripped.... perfect! So, we went across the street to the shopping center and found a JCPenny! They were having an 80% off sale. SCORE!! We walked out of there (in my new pants) with four pairs of pants, one pair of shorts, one shirt and a hoodie for $63!! I couldn't believe it!!

Last night Lena was playing around on her computer, don't know how she does it, but she made this for me as a background for my phone. It was so fun and neat to watch her put it all together.

I would be so lost and not even know where to start. She makes it look so simple!

We have been working on our flower bed turned weed bed. It's taken many hours of sweat and hard work but it's finally coming along and all we need to do now is plant the flowers! Thank goodness we are finally having decent temperatures. The next few days are in the upper 80's, lower 90's! So we plan to finish everything up soon. I hope last week was the last of the triple digit degrees we will see this year!

Oh, and a lovely blogger friend gave me some good pointers on redo-ing my fall mantle. Her advice was GREAT! I can't wait to post new pics!!