Twilight...

So, I just finished the book an hour ago. I started it Friday after the kids went to bed. It was an excellent book. I cant wait to get started on the next one tomorrow (Monday). Lets hope the homework is minimal because man, it was excellent. I want to see the movie now. A friend of mine tried to get me to read the series over the summer, but I knew with the kidlets home, that would be way to hard. Harder than while I am in school full time? I am such a nerd. Anyway, my SIL was telling me they read it in her book club. That really got me interested and feeling like I was way out of the loop seeing that so many of my friends went to see the movie and read the series. So, now I fit in again. :O)


On an irritating, yet sad note...our dog ran away today. I hope he finds his way back home. :O( Me sad.

Madison..

Got a new dress for her birthday from Aunt Cindy and Uncle Greg. When she got it, she held it up to herself and spun around and around. She LOVES it. She finally gets to wear it to Church today and she is all too excited. Not so much about the little hair bow, it came out of her hair rather fast. I cant believe how fast this little girler is growing up!!!

HAHAHA. I was just showing her the picture of her and Santa (below) and she said, my Binky. She remembers that he took her Binky. LOL!

A yearly tradition...

For the past several years now we have taken the kids down town the day after Thanksgiving to the open house. Santa comes to visit. Usually they have carriage rides and such but they didn't this year. :O( It was snowing though, so it was beautiful. We managed to get a bulk of our Christmas shopping finished (about half way), so that was a plus in my book. I don't usually like to shop on BLACK FRIDAY, mostly because of the hustle and bustle of things. But this year I felt compelled to get it done before getting back to school.



Here is Princess Bethanie with Santa. He has her list and checking it twice. He knows that she has been nice. She is so excited for Christmas. She is so funny, she KNEW we went shopping for gifts today and she has been searching high and low for them!

She thought this elf of Santa's was beautiful. She was star struck seeing her come into the room. She asked me where elves come from. I said the North Pole, but she meant literally :O) Whats a mom to say???

Here is Matthew. This might be the last year for him to sit on Santa's lap. He is getting older so who knows. He was excited to tell him what he wanted though. Even some things we left off "the list".

Miss Madison didn't quite know what to think. Santa took her BINKY away from her. She never did sit on his lap, but she did give him her list. It simply said, "Dear Santa, please bring me what ever my sister is getting. Thank you." It is a competition between the girls.

She got her BINKY back and he read her list. Later she told me he was neat. I am glad she wasn't scared. She was last year though she was only just about 12 months then.

Thanksgiving & Family...

Thanksgiving has come and gone. I just have to say what a great day it was. It would almost have been perfect except that my sweet husband had to work. The other thing was that Jeff's brother and wife (Randy & Christine) were not able to come unexpectedly because Christine became sick over night. :O( I sure hate that she had to be sick on a holiday! NO FUN!!! Anyway, here is a picture of the kidlets with Jeff's oldest brother Greg, wife Cindy and our favorite nephew, Zach. I had two shots but the other one Madison was picking her nose (her favorite past time) so I spared you all.

Thanksgiving with my family was just wonderful. Needless to say, the bird isnt the only thing that was stuffed. The kids and I enjoyed two turkey dinners in 4 hours. But, it was so delicious and the company was nice! After I took the kids to Jeff's folks, and ate and visited, we went to my parents. Everyone was happy. We ate, chatted and most of us went for a walk (to burn off the food and to fight agains turkey enzymes). Ann, my SIL on my side said it best when she said that she thought this was the best Thanksgiving ever. I agree. I forgot to take a picture with my family. I am such a nerd.



Now that Turkey is settling, we can get on with CHRISTMAS!!! We put up our tree yesterday. The kids did a great job helping us decorate it. The star keeps falling off though, so it isn't up yet. Madison has been a great help. She puts a million ornaments on one branch then moves on to another to load full. She has not bothered the tree AT ALL. That pleases me. What a sweetie. Bethanie can hardly stand not having ALL the Christmas decorations out (until the fall stuff gets put away). She is soooooooooooooooooooo excited.

I hope you like my choice of Christmas music for the blog. Before we know it, it will be here! YAY! Let the countdown begin!!!

Riddle Me This...

OK, I started riddles on my blog. I thought it would be fun. Anyway, think metaphorically on this one. Oh, NO CHEATING, I cant stand for no cheating, in other words, DO NOT GOOGLE. :O) Seriously, it will be fun. I am NEVER good with riddles. Have fun!

I am Thankful for...

• My Father in Heaven. Without him, what would I truly have?
• I am thankful for being a daughter of God, and for the sacrifices our Savior made for us.
• I am thankful for my good parents...without them, I wouldn't be.
• I am thankful for my sweet husband...without him, I would have them.
• I am thankful for my children...
• For Matthew, who is eternally inquisitive, very positive and friendly
• For Bethanie, who feels things so deeply, loves passionately, and has an amazing imagination
• For Madison, who is a mixture of Matthew and Bethanie, and is so full of humor and thoughtfulness
• For being able to be a mother, daughter, wife, sister, aunt, sister in law
• For my husband's job
• For my home, for having food daily, for being healthy, for having healthy loved ones
• I am thankful for knowing the Gospel, knowing my Savior
• I am so thankful for loving, and being loved
• I am thankful to live in my dream home, to have a place where my children can come home to, and to feel peace and safety here
• I am thankful to those of you who keep up with my blog. Not everyone has access to my blog, so it is controlled, but it is in existence for my family and friends to see what is going on in the life of Ladysam (me).

There are so many things I am thankful for, but the one thing that I didn't list is....

I am so thankful for PUMPKIN PIE, baby! Its coming soooooon! :O)

Accomplishments...

So, I met my goal for the day which was to make all of my pie crusts so that I can make all of my pies tomorrow. I did it! Kari (my MIL) got (from me last year for Christmas) this really nice Pampered Chef pastry mat (thanks Cori Ann!!!) and she loaned it to me so that I could do my crusts. I have one that is Tupperware, but I don't like it NEARLY as much. I loved this mat! Note to Santa: I WANT ONE!!! Anyway, it has been a year since I last made pie crusts and they turned out quite pretty. Awe, its the little things in life...

Oh, a bonus for the day, I got to take my dad to Manhattan for a Dr. appointment. It was a nice drive, beautiful day and good company. :O) Miss Madison did so well for being in the car for three hours (thanks to watching Scooby-Doo on the DVD player). :O)

OY!

Panic attack #4. Holidays are always fun, but stressful for us. This year has proven to be very much so. My problem is time management vs. being so tired. This one has been coming on for a few days and it finally hit last night. I hate these things. It is just this overwhelming thing that overcomes me when I look too far ahead of what needs to be accomplished in a certain time frame. I cant seem to get others to understand what the deal is. They all believe that since I have a week to have this, that and the other thing accomplished, I should have enough time. But there just doesn't seem to be enough time when other things are getting in the way. I need to focus more on my time management better. But I am feeling that everything is being micromanaged already. There are so many things that are done around here, simply because I am doing them, most folks don't even consider doing (certain house hold things, business ended things). Things that have to be done and I am the only one getting them done. It isn't to say anyone else is lazy, but it is to say everyone is busy or just don't think it is important enough to do. So, here I sit. Feeling overwhelmed. It doesn't help that I found out that I have a paper on literary works due (and only about 9 days left of classes and finals). That stinks because I hate having things sprung on me like that. Oh well. I do have a lot to be thankful for, and things will work out whether at the end of the day I get it all accomplished or not. I just wont be too happy about it if it isn't done though. :O) Now, don't you wish you passed on reading this blog post???

Uh-Oh! Another girlie-girl in the house!

Miss Madison put on her make up today...er, should I say, MY make up? This is hilarious.

She had the right idea, although it is even up her nose. I think I am going to throw away that mascara. :)

I do have to say that my Bethanie is becoming quite the photog. She snapped this picture while I held Miss Tammy Faye down. (GRIN)

It's getting closer!!!

I am so excited that in just a few short days,

We will be seeing our family! We have not seen

Them much since the last holidays,

And the children are very excited.

I can see the light at the end of the tunnel with school.

I go on Monday, then it is Thanksgiving break.

After we return from break, there will be two weeks left in the

semester. WAHOO!

I have my research paper finished, and it is graded. I

Got an A on it. I don't have it back yet, but I talked

With my Instructor/Advisor about it and she told me.

This is my Psychology class.

Today I decided what classes I am taking for next semester.

I will take Comp. II, an math class (not sure which one yet)

And Human Growth and Development.

I wish I could say I was excited about it, but I can see how much of a strain this semester has been on me (and my family). But I know that this is what I need to be doing. I really am feeling compelled to get my degree. I changed my degree today from Associates of Science to Associates of Art. It simply means I don't have to take anymore science classes, and I can choose an elective instead.

So, the gist is, Thanksgiving is coming very soon, and I am so grateful for many things.
Matthew has been pretty sick, and I am hoping that everyone is healthy for the holiday. Our loved ones will be here and it will be fun (although Jeff is working on Turkey Day).

Miss Madison...

gave herself a fat lip. She tripped and fell (wearing her heavy flannel one piece footed PJ thingies) and bumped her lip on the leg of the coffee table. She poked a couple of good size holes (front tooth size) into the inside of her bottom lip. She has a nice fat and bruised lip. It isn't, however, preventing her from using Binky.

Bethanie started to bawl uncontrollably when she saw all the blood. I think she thought Madison was mortally wounded. But we distracted her and asked her to fill up a sippy cup of cold water for the baby to drink. It worked. Now they are in watching the Peanuts Thanksgiving.

We Kidnapped our kids...

And drove out into the country to show them the wind turbines that are growing just to the south of town. It is really neat to see them popping up like crops. We have a wind energy farm just to the south of our town, and we have only been able to view the windmills from the highway. So out to the back roads we went. The kids thought they were really neat-o (is that a word these days?)

These things are HUGE. Remember back at Fall Fest (in late September) we signed one of the wind turbine wings with our names on it. I am not sure where that particular wing ended up, but they are huge like airplane wings.

Oh my hEcK!!!

I came across this picture in my files and saw it and can not BELIEVE what I am seeing! This was me, 33 weeks pregnant with Madison. I was diabetic and insulin dependant with this pregnancy, and she was a whopping 9 1/2 lbs born two weeks early (thank Heavens!!!)

Anyway, I had to share this. Isn't it amazing what women go through when pregnant?

I remember this day vividly. We went to this pumpkin patch an hour away. In the back ground was a very large corn maze. My DH (Dear Husband) and the friends we went with were all, "Hey, lets go in the corn maze"! I wanted to kill myself. It was muddy and I kept slipping and I could hardly walk because that baby was so low in my pelvis. I looked like I was smiling, but I really wanted to bawl.

The pumpkin is Spookley, the Square Pumpkin, and it is sort of where he was created (it is a popular Children's book and DVD). It was fun, and looking back, I am amazed that skin can stretch that far. :)

Would SOMEONE please make me go and study? I have a Poetry quiz first thing in the morning and I don't wanna.

Ta Da!

Here it is! I finished it today as I had planned! For once something was finished ON TIME!!! YAY ME! LOL! Seriously though, what a relief to have this finished for my sweet little girls 2nd birthday. While trying to decide what cute material I should by for her, the Hello Kitty stuff is precious, or the Princess stuff, even Ballerina stuff was so cute. But Madison just isn't that style. It doesn't fit. So I looked and looked for some Curious George fabric. This is what I came up with. It suits her and she LOVES it. She loves watching the cartoon on PBS, and we have a DVD that she enjoys. This will be her theme for her Birthday. Thanks to my mom who helped me get this finished. I am so grateful for the help!

Can it get any cuter???

It is rare that Madison and Matthew do anything together. I mean, there is a 7 year age difference. This was especially fun to see because she chose to snuggle up on his bed with him to watch a movie. How sweet!!!

I know that he totally enjoyed it. He wants so much for her to have fun with him. She is still trying to learn his ways, and he doesnt understand she is still really small. But this warmed my heart!

Phi Theta Kappa...

For very special occasions, I collect Willow Tree figurines. My husband is so thoughtful, and he has learned over the years that certain things have sentimental value to me. He started me on this collection a couple of years ago. This is one he bought for me for Phi Theta Kappa. It is symbolic because of the rose. I will always remember this, when ever I see her. Isn't she beautiful?

Tonight was the night for the Phi Theta Kappa Honors Society induction. There were 22 inductees, but 17 were from our Cloud County Campus, the others were from Geary County. It was a combined ceremony. My parents came and so did Jeff's. I felt so bad because Madison was being a turkey and Al (Jeff's dad) had to stand out in the lobby with her because all she wanted to do was scream. They both missed it all (but came in for cake later).

This was taken by Jeff during the induction ceremony. You cant see me. I am in the back row in a white blouse. Everyone these days is so tall. I cant believe how short I am compared to these kids now a days. I remember I used to be average height. Not anymore! Even the girls are tall!

Here is the Cloud County group. I am on the far right. I wasn't the only old lady there. The guy 3rd from the left is the same age as me. He is in my Lit class, remember a while back about the laughing incident where I couldn't stop laughing at a comment that was made? It was him. :O)

OK, here I am with the College President, Dr. Underbakke.

It was a nice ceremony. I wish my children would have behaved though. They were a mess, especially Madison. At some point she ran off down the hall and into a classroom with a class going on. She ducked down, yelled, "Mommy". Al had to go in to get her. They all got a laugh ot of that (maybe Al didnt).

I really want them to see us be successful. I think that it is important that they see how important it is to do our best, as long as we do our best, we are successful by any standard. Anyway, I am now officially a member of Phi Theta Kappa. Now, can I keep my 4.0 GPA? The pressure is on! :O)

My husband...

Is such a sweet man. He has been so supportive of me throughout my "Tour Of Self Improvement" this year. He has found that he LOVES to surprise me with flowers as a token of his love and affection when I have made accomplishments while on my "tour". I have found that I LOVE being surprised by these flowers. The vase on this is absolutely GLORIOUS. Beautiful! Bethie-Beth took many pictures of this on her own camera, and Miss Madison smelled them. She said, "Ewww, STINKY". Bet you never guessed that one, eh? LOL! I love my Jeff. He is so thoughtful and good to me, even though the flowers he sends me stink, apparently!

Madison...

Is such little delight. This is the funnest age so far for her. Everything with daddy today was "Eww, Stinky". Poor daddy had to go take a shower because she gave him a complex...but it didn't matter. Even after he showered, she said his deodorant was stinky, his house slippers were stinky, everything. :O) She is so funny. Stinky is her new "No". That is all she ever says is "No", but now it is stinky. Her language has boomed the last couple of weeks. She has such a hilarious personality. I know that she is quite the thinker. She lost a couple of those little bouncy balls (the gumball ones) under the TV stand and she thought and thought of how to get them out while I was visiting with a friend, and she stood there and thought until finally she realized (like Curious George) that she could get a tool to help her, so she went to the silverware drawer and grabbed a huge meat fork and took it to the TV and tried to get them out. What a problem solver! She is such a thinker. She is doing well with her potty training. Some days she has no interest. She totally freaked out when she poopied in her big girl under ware and I dumped it in her potty seat. I had to show her that it was OK for that to go in there. She hated it at first, but was OK with it after that. Timing is the biggest issue. I am pretty busy, and I don't always ask her in time, but she has been known to go in on her own and do it.


In other kids news...Bethie-Beth is quite the little reader. She LOVES to read! I am so proud of her because she has really come a long way with her reading skills in just 9 weeks. She is more confident, but she is still struggling to her some of the sounds. We are wondering if it is a development issue or even a hearing issue, so we may be taking her to an ENT to find out for sure. She is a girl that is all about clothes, friends and fun. She is so much like me at this age. Tonight we skipped dance class because we were just too tired to go.

In the OTHER kids news, Mr. Matthew isn't up to very much. He is really looking forward to Christmas (who isn't!!!). So not too much going on with him. I wish I could say that he has an exciting life, but he doesn't. :)

Me and Jeff, you ask? We are so busy we don't know if we are coming or going. Tomorrow night is the Induction Ceremony for Phi Theta Kappa. I am nervous and excited. I did get my research paper finished, though I am just tweaking it now. That is a huge pressure off my back. I teach my last time on Friday. I am teaching the story of Thanksgiving with tons of visual aides. My Intro to Education instructor LOVED my Practicum notebook (I made it into a presentation format, I bound it, made a cover and even reflected on my experience at the end, which was not at all necessary). She liked it so much she wants to use it next semester for a sample for her next class (this is her first year teaching college students. Last year she retired from teaching for 25 years at the Elementary school system as a coach. Anyway, I am such a nerd and an over achiever. Jeff starts his next class tonight. I think it is a 5 week class. I will be so happy to see him graduate from this. :)

I didn't get to go to Weight Watchers tonight. I had no one to tend to the children. Oh well, maybe next week I will see a greater loss. :)

I am so lucky, blessed really...

I am so blessed to have been given such wonderful parents. I just feel that I need to express to them both just how much I love them. I am so proud of them for the work they have put in to their lives, to bring up 2 children and 4 grandchildren. I am proud to be their daughter. I can see my personality that resembles both of them. I know that Father in Heaven knows what he is doing when he places us in families. I know that He must really love me a lot because I have these two as my parents. I also know He really loves me because He gave me my husband (and his awesome family) and my beautiful children.

Anyway, I just wanted to share that because it has been on my mind (and I know they read my blog faithfully every day). Thanks, Mom and Dad, for loving me, supporting me and just being there to listen to me whine unceasingly. :O) I love you.

Happy Birthday To you!!!

Today is Kari's birthday. Kari is Jeff's mom, a.k.a. White Grandma. They went away for a couple of days to celebrate and we hope they are having a great time! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

A fun Sunday...

Jeff is working today, which is rare on a Sunday. It is also Stake Conference and since we went down to it yesterday (and ate supper with a member of the area 70), and Jeff is at work, we chose to not drive that far. Sooooooooo...

I got up this morning (after sleeping in a bit) and fed the kiddos pancakes. Then Bethie-Beth and I made these heavenly JUMBO cookies. While I was finishing up with the baking, the kidlets played with Playdoh. It is something they love to do, but I rarely get it out because it seems to always track through the house (have you ever tried to get playdoh out of carpet or furniture???). So the kids had a BLAST making dog poop (I know, my kids are warped). Then they made multicolored snowmen, turkeys and even snails. It was a lot of fun for them.

I plan to try an attempt to re-pin Madison's birthday blanket for the third time. I am having a hard time getting it just right. I am not a sewer, though I would like to be talented in this area. So, I am still working on that. Tonight I do have a little bit of homework to finish but it has been so nice to have a relaxing day at home.

For supper, I am making the kids' favorite meal, Spaletti (Spaghetti). I wish Jeff were home to enjoy this day!

This, that and the other thing...

My brain is so scattered. It is so full of just stuff. I have been so busy with school work. Today I had to send the kids packing to White Grandma's so I could get my research paper written. It is a research paper that is for my General Psychology class, and I chose to do it on Asperger's Syndrome. I found that I know NOTHING about writing a paper in APA format. Also, I know a great deal about Asperger's Syndrome, especially because I have researched it many times over the past 5 years because this is what Matthew has. The hard part was, I was wondering if maybe I should have selected a topic I didn't know anything about because it was very hard writing a paper while keeping in mind the reader knows nothing about the syndrome. I had to put it in my mind as though I didn't know anything about it, which is impossible since I live it daily.

I am also doing my third teaching assignment on Friday. This time it has to be longer with more objectives, and it will be video'd so we can see how we look while teaching. I have chosen to do this lesson on the Story of Thanksgiving. This is more of a history lesson than anything, and it will be geared toward 2-3 grade students.

These two things have taken up a great deal of space in my mind, and my head feels like it is going to burst.

I cant look too far ahead because I will overwhelm. I have started on Miss Madison's birthday blanket. Her theme will match the blanket and I am struggling to find time to work on it. Her birthday is in a month. Immediately after her blanket is finished, I have to start on the children's Christmas PJ's. I feel like I am running out of time to accomplish all that I need to do.

Because of all of the things needing to be done, I have to be careful to only look a day or two ahead because I have been having feelings of panic, and had 3 panic attacks since classes started.

It will all work out...baby steps...that's what I need to do.

The Incredible Shrinking Woman...

Tonight was the first Weight Watchers meeting of the month. I am still a loser. I am shocked that I lost anything because of the love affair I had with chocolate over Halloween. I did lose 1.2 lbs and it is coming off fairly slow, but at least it is coming off! So this puts my total weight loss thus far at 56.2 lbs! :O) This is very exciting to me. I hate to have to buy new clothes, but even my new clothes are not fitting properly. I can tolerate them for the most part, but the clothes I had when I started WW are so uncomfortable to wear that I just cant, even to lounge around in the house with! Anyway, just had to update.

Miss Madison, and I...

Went and voted today. She loved the little flagged stalls we went in to. She did very well, and she even got a neat-o sticker to show for it!

Did you go and vote????

It's NOVEMBER!!!!

It is official! We are planning our Thanks Giving dinner! YAY! Now, I have to see what kind of discipline I REALLY have to get me through the holidays. I didn't do so well staying away from the Halloween goodies. I cant stand it!

Anyway, I still cant decide where I am going to put up our Christmas tree! I didn't like how we had things arranged last year, so I will play around with it and see what I can come up with.

About school...
I only have two more days of Practicum left. This is where I have had to spend 45 hours in the classroom. I sure will miss those Kindergartners! I wont miss the four hours a week I have to struggle through with yet another thing to have to do. It sure has been fun though.