Merry Christmas!

Well we woke up at 7:30 am this morning. I had made Monkey bread last night and put it in the fridge, so when the girls woke up all they had to do was put it in the oven. So we made coffee and started to open presents. The girls were excited about what we got them. We bought the Wii and the game Rock Band II with the money that my mom and dad sent. They were very surprised. Sarah said she would never expected it. And that was my goal. I wanted them to be surprised.

We went to my sister in law's house and had Christmas up there and had a great meal. (Pretty much any meal I don't have to cook is great, LOL) then opened presents, hung out for a while and then came home. The girls immediately started to play Rock Band so it seems to have been a good present to get. I am soooo glad, I was really worried about Faith being disappointed that she didn't get her Uggs.

I bought Craig a nice comfy rob and a shirt, he was complaining that the only shirts he had were Pepsi t-shirts.

OOOH, didn't realize how much bed head he had. HEEHEE

Counceling

Last night Craig and I went to our first session with our pastor concerning the state of our marriage. Things have not been well with us for quite some time. It seems to me that we would get to such a bad place that I could no longer stand it and when I would finally say something we would try to be better and we would for a little while. Lately however, I have found that I am tired of this tiresome cycle that we go through. Vince has been doing a 6 week series about the Sermon on the Mount and I have to say that they have really touched a cord deep within me.

Anyway, Vince asked us what we imagined marriage being about when we got married. I kept my mouth shut (on purpose I might add) because I really wanted Craig to begin. I don't have a problem talking but it just seems like I always take the lead. He started off good but then got into some of the things that I apparently do that disappoint him, and Vince stopped him.

In the end, Vince said that we were both broken. This I knew, but he wants us to look for the broken places so that we can work on those. I have to say that I didn't expect Vince to talk as much as he did, and I have no idea as to what will happen in these sessions, but I hope that we will come out of it in a better place then we are now.

A busy weekend

We had a busy weekend but lots of fun was had!! Sat. morning I had to get Faith to pictures for her soccer team then to her game. They tied, it was a good game; Faith assisted on a goal but it didn't count (still not sure of all the soccer rules). Anyway, like I said they tied, at least they didn't loose, and the team they played had some good players on it. Thankfully, Faith's earrings have gone back in after the game. This last time was real easy. Then we came home and I made a birthday card for a friend of ours.

His name is Rob and he is Craig's BFF (LOL). We were going over there later for dinner. It was his birthday so we brought his favorites! Cheesecake and Breyer's Vanilla Fudge Swirl. We got to his house about 5 pm, had some fun and got home around 10:30. Then we had to get up on Sunday to get to practice at church by 8 am. Went to church and then came home, studied for a couple of hours and then went to the neighborhood block party! Here are some pics....

This isn't the best quality photo, but come on she was jumping on a pogo stick!

Connor, Amy's son was a volunteer magician! He's not afraid of being in front of people! He was really cute. Later on they had a talent show. Sarah was the first one to sign up. She sang a Hannah Montana song, if I head my head on straight I would have remembered that I can do video too! I could had a little piece to show you. I was really proud of her, she got up there and belted it out and sound good! And I don't just say that because she is my daughter. LOL!

I finally met, Rocco and Michael. They are the gentleman that bought our friends house down the street from us. They moved it a year ago in August and I have never met them. Isn't that horrible!! Anyways, they were very nice and I have to say that I am dying to see what they have done with the house. They have a cute little dog...her name is Pepper. Rocco wants more dogs, but Michael thinks that one is enough! But isn't she a cutie??

Gabby came with us to the block party, we brought her home from church. She said she needed to be home by 5 pm. I called Katinka and told her I would bring her home between 5 & 6 pm. Well shortly before 6 pm I gathered up Amy and Gab. The girls wanted to come with us, but I didn't have enough room in the car. Little did I know that Gab wanted to be home by 5 pm because I was the guest of honor at a Surprise Party! I felt bad then for not bringing the girls, I know they wanted to see my face! It was so beautifully decorated with my favorite colors and they all wore these beaded necklaces also in my favorite colors (blue & green). And they would take their necklace off and when they put it around my head, they said something nice to me. My one disappointment with it was that Craig was not there and did not participate in my celebration planning. Otherwise it was a very busy weekend and I didn't get hardly any studying done. So that is what I am going to do now. I will try and post the card I made for Rob a little later.

It is September, school has started

School has started for the girls and tomorrow I have my first class. Microbiology! Hopefully it will be more like Biology then Anatomy & Physiology! I did much better in Bio then A&P. One step closer to my goal. Sarah was excited about school starting, Faith not so much. But I think both of them are ready for a change. There is only so much not doing anything a person can stand.

I don't know what happened to this post, I never posted it, so I will continue on! School HAS started for me I like the teacher, not so much my Lab Assistant Maria! When I was taking biology, she took over for my lab assistant to found a different job. Wasn't crazy about her then, and not crazy about her now!!

The girls are getting into the groove of school. Faith of course hates homework and so does Sarah at times. I guess we all did!!! Doing homework with them sometimes is painful! I was helping Faith with her homework last night as well as trying to study myself but it just seemed like every 3 min. she would ask me a question. So around 8 pm when she asked me another question I just closed my books and helped her. I don't really like studding past 9 pm if I can help it. It just doesn't seem like anything sticks, 9 PM is the witching hour for me. Plus, I get to watch my shows, LOL!! A girls has to have some down time!!!!!!!

Faith is learning how to play the trumpet, she wanted to clarinet, but there were none left at school for her to borrow, so she is doing the trumpet with a friend. Here's a video of her the day she brought it home!

Alright peeps, finally got the video uploaded to Blogger! Leave me a comment, let me know that someone is out there!! LOL

Vacaton and other stuff

Tomorrow my mom and dad come in from Texas!!! I am so excited; Saturday we will leave and go to Beach Lake, PA to Dellwood Acres. I have been there a few times before, but Craig makes the trip a couple of times a year. It is a very family orientated place, it has a pool, tennis courts, horseshoe pit, a little miniature bowling alley, ping pong table, paddle boats and a bigger lake that Craig puts his little boat into, to fish. I anticipate alot of relaxing and laughing!!

School starts for all of us soon! Sarah will begin 6th grade and Faith is going to 5th. I can't believe it! They are growing up soooo fast. Where did my little toddler girls go? Now I get to deal with the attitude of adolescence. JOY!!! Maybe I will ship them off to grandma and grandpa!! LOL.

Here's Sarah on the hammock with Lucy and Dale around her! This was at the beginning of the summer can you believe that summer is already coming to an end???

I don't know what the heck Faith was doing, but I do know that we were coming back from the pool. I love the look on Sarah's face in the background!

Italian Festival

I know it has been so long since I have blogged!!! Sorry, I have just been getting into making cards, it is my new creative outlet. I figured however that all I was doing is posting cards that I had made on here and some of you may not be that interested so I started another blog strictly for my creations. If you are interested in looking at them you can find them HERE. Anyway on to the Italian Festival.

Last month Craig and I both did the clown thing at the Monmouth County Fair (there aren't any pictures of us, just wanted you guys to get an idea). Anyway we told the girls that we would take them to the fair on Sunday after we did the show with Vince. Well that go rained out, so we told them we would go to the Italian Festival. So Craig and I made sure to save $50 from each of our checks. Now if you know me, that is hard!! When I have money, I can think of all kinds of things I want to spend it on. Anyway, we went last night. And do you have any idea how fast we blew through $100??? We bought a kabob & Lemonade for Faith, a cheesteak for me (wasn't that good) and $20 worth of tickets so they could go on the rides and had like $40 bucks left! I was blown away.

Anyway when we go there they were doing 50/50's which they did every hour. I told Craig to play because he is one lucky S. 0. B. If you know what I mean. He said he didn't feel lucky and didn't want to play well when I was on line for my not so good cheesesteak, I guess he got the lucky feeling because he bought $5 worth of tickets. We were over by the rides when Craig looks at his watch because they were drawing the ticket at 8:00 and tells me he is going to go over to hear the number. They call out the number and I say to myself, I bet you he won. He comes back to where we are all smiles and tells me that sure enough he did win. He won $350!!! CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT!!! I told you he was lucky. I said to him, "We are going to split that right?!" And he said, "No I bought the tickets." To which I responded "yes out of the money we pooled." So we had a great time at the fair, not having to worry about running out of money which was nice for once. And after we came home I had $150!!

SSHHHHH, don't tell the girls

A couple of weeks ago, we inherited a hamster from our neighbor who was moving back to California. We had watched Hammy for a couple of weeks when they would go on vacation and knowing how much the girls loved Hammy they wanted to know if we wanted him. Of course the girls begged us and after agreeing that they would clean the cage once a week and take turns doing it we said okay.

All was going well, although they sure didn't play with him as much as they did when we were just hamster-sitting but we knew that would happen. Anyway today we had a couple of the girls friends come over and play and of course the hamster was taken out and played with, it peed on Faith's bed, and crapped on Sarah's hand! LOL!! Lucy also loves the hamster. She takes every chance she can to say hello up close and personal.

Well tonight Craig is going to bed so I am on my way back to our bedroom to change in to my jammies and I see something on the floor. YEP, you guessed it, HAMMY. I am assuming the girls didn't close the cage all the way and he got out and Lucy finally go to say "hello to her little friend!" Now she didn't hurt it, there were no puncture wounds or blood, I think she just scared it to death. I was definitely in her mouth, but again no wounds. So I called Craig and made him get rid of it before the girls saw it. I feel sooooo bad! We have decided to tell the girls that Hammy has gotten out and we need to keep a look out for him, and when they never find him they will think he got away. Needless to say we will be having no more hamsters.

I just hope Kaitlyn doesn't call and ask about him!!!