quick update

i will post some picture next time...i promise.

i start chem 100 next week. i will be a college student...again ;) i am torn between getting a two year degree in surgical nursing and getting my mba. it would be about the same time either way since i already have an associates in business...so i am kinda leaning toward mba...today at least...

the past few days have been amazing and beautiful. megan and i have been going on adventures. we will go to the park or take a walk and always manage to find a creek, pond, stagnant body of water...at which point megan will take off shoes and sox and pull her pants up to her butt and wade in. inevitably getting almost entirely soaked... yesterday i am pretty sure she pooped outside of the bathroom at the park. she claimed she couldn't find the door and assured me that everyone would just think it was dog poop. oh megs....

michael continues to work hard at school. he brought his report card home yesterday. school isn't that important anyway :)

i have been trying to stay on task with the running and incooporate lifting classes with my training. i was at a class yesterday where i overheard a woman (who lifts at least twice what i do in the class) talking about working out as you age. she said when she turned 60 she hired a personal trainer thinking "lets see what the body can do"..she is now 66. ha! she has a body better than most 20 year olds...and certainly better than mine! she is considering signing up for a marathon this year. geesh!

justin is good. this weekend is the mens confrence at church where there will be arm wressling, riding bulls, and one very jealous wife at home...i am thinking of consoling myself with watching gi jane :)

emmet is starting to develop a very "nana" (from peter pan...the nurse dog) like personality. he will go outside with me and megan and look at us. if either of us move or make a peep he is staring at us wating for something bad to happen that he can deal with. it's pretty funny. the house training is going well. we have started letting him sleep outside of his little room. last night he woke me up to go out and slept on the floor on my side of the bed the rest of the time. as long as you make sure he gets a chance to poop before you leave in the morning he's usually good in the house. so progress is good.

Mostly pictures...

so...my grandma gave me tickets to disney on ice. i took amanda, aislyn, kaycie, and megs... good times were had by all.

we had 18 CRAZY kids running around at michael's birthday party. it was a 'break dancing party' complete with strobe light, a fog machine, and glow sticks... it was pretty awesome...

this is the first of two steps in dying my hair. i feel like i need to walk around with a sign on my neck that says "yes, i know it looks bad...i'm not finished yet!!!"

and emmet is getting bigger...

and the sun is out today (not that i'm one of those whiners that has been constantly complaining about the grey weather...i kinda like it...but i also like the fact that the kids have been running around in the front yard (shooting water guns!) for most of the morning...)

my amazing son

big dog...big poop (and shopping)

emmet currently has grown up dog size paws and grown up dog size poo. he has gained 5 pounds every week since we have gotten him. he is going to be so FREAKING HUGE!!! (i love it!)



in other news...last week was "justin works and than has something to do in the evening" five out of six nights in a row. this left a deranged hilary by sunday...and so needless to say i had a few hall passes laying around and used one, in a moment of epic stupidity, to go shopping...which is to say "i used a free afternoon in self inflicted torture" :) i always forget that i hate shopping for clothes. i ventured out into the "grown up" part of filines basement...for the first time in my life. and than i felt kinda rediculous that this was the first time i have been clothes shopping not in the juniors section.. and than i decided to try on swimsuites. i always enter this endeavor with optomisum...and end with dispair. i have swimmers arms (muscular is how my mom puts it...), rediculous boobs, and a waist that has been so streched by babies that even my ob commented "oh wow...you have a LOT of strech marks!" thanks dr. devoe ;) (i think that was payback for when i first met him and told him that he had delivered me..i make you feel old...you make me feel streched out :) anyway...top that all off with my "may not butt" and nuddest beaches sound better and better... needless to say i found nothing... (other than a pair of skinny jeans for 7 bucks..in the junior's section :)

Life goes on

so christmas came and was wonderful and is now over.

michael has started at the new school. his teacher seems very sweet and he says he likes this class better. the reasons are the following:

-he has his own desk with a cubby
-he has an extra recess
-he has WAY less homework
-his teacher is better (read: prettier...although if you ask him he will say it's because she isn't fat!!)

i have put him and megan in tae kuan doe. the first class was monday. after about five minutes of streching, megan raises her hand and asks when do they start with the kicking and punching? this is a girl who will be able to take care of herself!!!

i am now the proud owner of an english mastiff. this particular type of dog is known for being loyal, layed back, and easy to train. so far emmet (yes...i named him after a character from the twilight books) has been amazing. he is totally sweet and hardly ever barks. everyone loves him. and his paws leave bigger prints than dogs twice his size...and he is only three months. his father weighed 220 pounds :) the potty training has it's ups and downs. although he's at the point now where if he has an accident it's usually my fault because i didn't take him out when i should have. the tricky part comes when he poops in the house because you have to catch him quick or he will EAT IT!!! uggg! maybe he is just ashamed of himself and is doing his part in cleaning up...anyway...gross :)

i spend the week turning the "we have so many rooms what do we do with all this space...espically the ugly burnt red room off the laundry room" room into the "library" i kept it nutral put am putting bright colors in it. i got the kids each a bean bag which they love. i brought all their books down from upstairs. megan was reading in it the first day it was finished and said "this is a great room. i love it"...so that's been the big prodject around here...

not much else to report. justin works. i clean. michael and megan grow like weeds. they are so fun. last night was "keys family party" which is really just us eating dinner and watching a movie or playing a game together, but the kids LOVE these nights. we watched "hook" and michael thought all the slap stick funny parts were hilarious... anyway...this is all for now... i will upload some pics later from the other computer...

CHRISTMAS BREAK!!!!

so the past few weeks have been insane for us. justin has been working. michael has been struggling in school. every day he would come home with a note saying "michael was disruptive" "michael wasn't paying attention" "michael was distracting others" and when he broke down one night while we were doing homework (which typically involves 3 pages of math, reviwing spelling words, praticing sight words, and reading for 15-20 minutes) michael broke down into tears saying "i am bad at spelling!!! all the other kids always get smily faces on their tests and i always have a lot of words wrong i have to rewrite" and michael is an easy going boy, for something like this to bother him so much bothered me a lot. and we have been working with him a lot the past few months. anyway, after lots of talking and praying, we have decided to move him to the local school (which is a dublin city school with is an AMAZING school district, and since we moved, we are literally three houses from the school). our thought behind this was that a public school would not quite so intense and the format is a little more modern (aka...where michael is now, they sit facing the front of the class, and seem to sit for a lot of the day and at dublin, there is an extra recess, and hardly any homework at night ect...) this was a really hard decision to come to because we really like the school michael is at now, but it just wasn't the right place for him. we are going to leave megan there to finish the year with mrs. patch, than probably move her over next fall as well.



with all of justin's work, and crazy christmas stuff to do, i have resorted to getting him addicted to coffee and we have been getting up an extra 20 minutes before the kids to have a mini coffee date in the morning...which has been really cool.



megan continues to be a big mouth. she asked her ballet instructor the other day "are you married yet?" turns out the ballet instructor was just getting out of an ugly break up with her fiance of six months and had just moved back in with her mother. nice meagn...nice! :)



and i want a dog. and justin has the next 8 days off of work. so we are enjoying that. merry christmas!!!

Dear Santa

so...for anyone interested...here's my christmas list ;) (hey! you will not get what you want if you don't ask!!!)

-a running water belt (this is a belt you use for long runs and has several small bottles you strap on a belt)

-ceramic coffee mug (this is white and basically looks just like a cup you'd get from a coffee shop, only it's reusable and ceramic with a plastic lid)

-new moon 2010 calender :)

-shirt from urban outfitters that says "save the wild things" (justin can help you with this)

-cute gloves from urban outfitters (justin knows which ones)

-clinique lipgloss. this come on a keychain of three different shades. i'm not sure how else to describe it...

-aromatherapy "sleep" scent from bath and body works of bubble bath or lotion

-a metal sign that says "you can do it!" at half price books (justin knows which one)

-regular and mini spatulas, william sonoma has some really cute mini ones in a set of yellow, orange, and green... (i seem to only have one left ;)

-an oven mitt (i seem to have lost mine)

-a cool looking liquid measuring cup (mine seems to have cracked from excessive use :)

books:
wake - lisa mcmann
fade - lisa mcmann
beauty: a retelling of the story of beauty and the beast - robin mckinley

gift card places:
half price books
carabou coffee
coco and lily
charlotte rouse