Trick or Treat

There was JustinBatman, ShawnyBatman, RoseBatGirl and BrandonZorro. That about covered it for black attire, masks, and capes. I do think I had the cutest mask but the kids came pretty darn close when they had them on and they were much cuter IN them than I was. We spent the night at our church fall festival. Which I love, but honestly nothing beats trick or treating and next time we're going to do more of that, and less of the fall fest. And this time they didn't have the petting zoo that Shawny was sooooo looking forward to. He was so broken hearted when we found out they didn't have it this year. That's one trip to a zoo with a petting area we'll be making soon. Fortunently I made an earlier run by the grocery store to fill the kid's bags with "good" candy (Reese's, Butterfingers, Twix, Milky Way's, Peppermint Batty's)... for Mommy and Daddy to eat later of course. Pictures later, for now I'm crawling into bed.

Blue Fuzzies

I am sooo into the colors teal, chocolate, and white. My boys room is decorated in it, my wardrobe consists of it, now my socks are that color. Fuzzy warm and the softest ever teal, chocolate, and white socks that release aloe vera into my footsies. I love it! Along with my new henleys that I resisted buying the same colors of - instead I went with deeper shades of blue and green.

Refreshed

From an email to a friend:

I had a REALLY great meeting with K. I actually went to her saying I feel like I'm wasting your time, I feel like I should be fixed already and I'm more broken than ever. Thank God she had some really encouraging words to say. Brando and I just read in the Five Love Languages book that encourage means to "inspire to courage". I never realized that was the definition, I LOVE that! Any way I had a really good conversation with her and she called out some things that I was aware of but wasn't putting my finger on. Mainly fear. She pointed out once again that if I'm looking at things, which I am, from a fear perspective that that does NOT come from God. That was really encouraging to hear. We talked about a few other things indepth as well. I ended up feeling very refreshed.

Stilted

I want to post positive stuff here. I really do. But it just wouldn't be me. At least not right now. So move right along if that's not your cup of tea right now

Fun Weekend

It's about time for one of these posts! Friday was all day fishing with the boy's cousins at a natural spring fed pond. Shawners caught three fish right away and Justinbustin caught four soon after. We stayed for four hours and enjoyed the surroundings while the boys climbed and fished and fell in the water. Don't worry, it was shallow! Just cold.



Saturday Brando had a showing with some friends of ours so the boys and I spent the day at the local Fire Department's 45th Annual Anniversary celebration, sponsored by my neighbor's company. She was there handing out free footballs and frisbees. We had free bbq, desserts, strawberry lemonade, and iced tea with her, played on the antique fire truck out front, enjoyed the warm sunshine, watched the firefighter's use the jaws of life on an old Volvo, watched them spray the newest and more efficient than water foam from the fire engine hose, fished for magnetic fish and came home with fire chief hats and lots of candy.



Sunday we woke up bright and early and went to Border's to attend a book signing by Jan Brett. My favorite children's book author ever! If anyone thought the kids were excited you should've seen me. She did a fifteen minute presentation before the book signing of the history of her latest book, Hedgie the Hedgehog, and talked about her childhood a bit, where she got her ideas for this latest book, and did an quick art lesson which Justinb promptly followed along with. We bought five books for her to sign - we just couldn't pass up that once in a lifetime chance - and she signed them along with Justinb's artwork. She put a cute little sketch related to each book on each one. She was soooo nice. She asked Shawners what his favorite animal was. His answer was bats. She signed Shis favorite book, On Noah's Ark, and we told her how excited he was that she had drawn a leopard gecko on one of the pages like his. She asked what the gecko's name is which is currently Jurgen, but usually Gecko. She then told him about how there are two extinct animals in that book, a marsupal and a dodo. She told him the marsupal went extinct in 1937 which wasn't that long ago so some think there still may be some around. She noticed Justinb's drawing when Brando was handing it to her to ask her to sign it for him and said, "Who drew this?" He got a big smile on his face and said he did. She asked how old he is and he said seven and she says, "Wow, when you grow up you're going to be a famous artist." His face beamed and he stood next to her for our picture instead of against the backdrop.



We got out of there just in time to make it to the end of church. We were able to be part of circling the entire church property along with the rest of the church goers and praying for the church. First we faced inward and prayed for the church, then we faced outward and prayed for the world and individuals we know by name who we want to know Christ, then inward again to pray the Lord's prayer.



This afternoon we went to a photo shoot at a local garden here that Brando's company put on. They had pumpkins set up and a photographer to take pictures of families. Brando had a few of his clients there that we chatted with. They had the cutest little baby girl dressed as a goldfish. The boys didn't dress up but we did get a family picture together and a few of them in the pumpkins and on the tractor. We were there long enough to sunburn a little and then drove out to see a condo that Brando's boss has that we were thinking about renting. It doesn't quite work for us, but dang it would be a good price just for us.

Most Embarrasing Moment #2

(see Most Embarrasing Moment #1) Or What's the Chance of this Happening?

Smokin' previous van in the morning while dropping J off at school. It has to be in front of the playground where all the second grader little girls are completely fascinated. The cars on fire! The cars on fire! Everyone come see! Turns out it was just steam. Any way finally moved the offensive hunk of metal into a corner away from the playground and came back to rescue my little Shawny who had his hood over his head and was curled into a ball on the playground steps wondering where I was. Fortunently he had a whole horde of girls surrounding him to take care of him, and Justinbustin next to him hugging him and patting his back. The crowd of kids was probably why he was hiding in the first place. They wouldn't stop talking about the car smoking so I finally said that would've been really cool to see it blow up of course if we were away from it. Awed faces and nodded heads and spoken yeahs followed. Great, just great. Heeee.

In contrast tonight we picked up our new cars!!! Heeee. For those who weren't clear NOW I am officially a minivan Mom. Allison thanks sooooooo much for the talk. I am SO excited about it now : ) . And the kids are even more so. Sweeeet is their new word. Minivans are more fuel efficient, safer, more convenient to get in and out of, have sliding doors that don't whack the car next to you and use your insurance, and have so many fun new toys in them. Rear view mirror to see the kids, back seat that folds into a table, easy entry to the rear bench seat, LOTS of conveniently placed cupholders, sunglass holder, coin holder in the roof!, garage door opener. The list goes on. Don't you want one now Courtney? : ) When you have kids you can have a mom mobile too. I'm totally going to get a fun necklace to hang from the rearview mirror and a sticker to go on the back window. The other car is a Nissan Altima, a step down from our VW Passat but still super nice, just will take getting used to the Nissan style. Now I'm noticing Nissans everywhere.

New Cars To Us

Eeeeek!!! Sooo nervous. We pick them up on Friday. I can't believe we're actually getting RID of our cars (and a hefty car payment!) I have this weird emotional attachment to cars. Brando doesn't. He grew up with his Dad owning three dealerships. They had a new car every month. Literally. My parents had two until I was sixteen then I bought two of my own. We've had a few good choices and a few dissappointments since we've been married. It's been the trusty van for the last five years for me though.

Added to say: Ummm apparently I didn't clarify. THESE are the new cars. And I HATE the fact that's it a minivan COURTNEY. Thanks for the complex, sweetie, I still love ya. Actually I already had the complex. That would be the cause of my going in between deliriously happy and extremely stressed out about our decision, oh that and spending that amount of money outright even though it was my parents perks money so it wasn't cash persay any way and definently not out of our pocket. BUT it fits our needs, it fits our price range, and it is super nice. I actually can't believe we got two cars as nice as these for the price that we did. Actually Brando has said he has no problem driving the mv so I can get over my complex :D . Wait. That wouldn't really be getting over it, would it?

PS I feel like I am making absolutely NO sense today so if that's the case I apologize and I'm leaving it at that. heh

The windstar. We'll just call it an MV and leave it at that.


The Nissan Altima

New Cars to us

Eeeeek!!! Sooo nervous. We pick them up on Friday. I can't believe we're actually getting RID of our cars (and a hefty car payment!) I have this weird emotional attachment to cars. Brando doesn't. He grew up with his Dad owning three dealerships. They had a new car every month. Literally. My parents had two until I was sixteen then I bought two of my own. We've had a few good choices and a few dissappointments since we've been married. It's been the trusty van for the last five years for me though.

The windstar. We'll just call it an MV and leave it at that.


The new sedan - it's a Nissan Altima

Fall Weather

It's pumpkin carving, picture taking, sweater wearing time. Brando and the boys carved a trick or treat pumpkin yesterday and a bat/lizard/dragon pumpkin today and lit candles in them. I love the soft glow of the orange.

Yesterday I went scrapbooking for the second time!! My scrapbook is SO pretty, I'll have to post pictures of it soon. My 'muse' showed me her beginning scrapbooks to boost my confidence on how good mine are. It worked, hehe. Of course I have her to model after!!

My neighbor has broken up with her fiancee which is a really good thing. Her sister is in College Station all weekend so I've been hanging out over there keeping her and smiley K company as much as I can. Watched too many movies, it's been nice to have sit back and relax time at the same time.

We went to dinner last night with friends and went over to their house afterwards to eat pazookies that we made, two warm chocolate chip cookies with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream in the middle and hot fudge sauce poured over. Yum!

PS Sorry about the green and orange. No time to switch it out now, I'll have to do it later!

Make a Change

I've been hearing this song recently and I always think of choosing to come out here. The lyrics apply to so much more than making a change. Since my birthday and this new computer every time I click on "Last 12 months" in iphoto it starts with the first month of the last twelve months. So that would've started July of last year when we were in Cali. I've gone through many fun memories each time I click on it and now I am down to our last month in Cali. The goodbyes. The quickly snapped last chance scenery pictures. The boxes. The tears, though I can't seem them in the pictures. God has us here for a reason, but the beauty is so compelling back there. The happy memories. Like a childhood, the bad fades away when I look back at the pictures.



Grew up in a small town
And when the rain would fall down
I'd just stare out my window
Dreaming of what could be
And if I'd end up happy
I would pray

Trying hard to reach out
But when I tried to speak out
Felt like no one could hear me
Wanted to belong here
But something felt so wrong here
So I'd pray
I could break away

I'll spread my wings and I'll learn how to fly.
I'll do what it takes till I touch the sky.
Make a wish, take a chance,
Make a change, and break away.
Out of the darkness and into the sun.
But I won't forget all the ones that I love.
I'll take a risk, take a chance,
Make a change, and break away

Wanna feel the warm breeze
Sleep under a palm tree
Feel the rush of the ocean
Get onboard a fast train
Travel on a jetplane
Far away
And break away

I'll spread my wings and I'll learn how to fly.
I'll do what it takes till I touch the sky.
Make a wish, take a chance,
Make a change, and break away.
Out of the darkness and into the sun.
But I won't forget all the ones that I love.
I'll take a risk, take a chance,
Make a change, and break away

Buildings with a hundred floors
Swinging with revolving doors
Maybe I don’t know where they’ll take me
Gotta keep movin on movin on
Fly away
Break away

I'll spread my wings and I'll learn how to fly.
Though it's not easy to tell you goodbye
Take a risk, take a chance,
Make a change, and break away.
Out of the darkness and into the sun.
But I won't forget the place I come from
I gotta take a risk, take a chance,
Make a change, and break away
Breakaway
Break away



Santa Cruz Harbor


Greyhound Rock


Monterey Bay


Westside Santa Cruz


Santa Cruz County Fair

Satisfaction

in a family day.









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Exercise, Foreman Grill, and Costco

How's that for a title?

Today I exercised. After sitting around the house depressed and headachey all day I finally caved to the boys wanting to go to the pool. Silly me goes up with NO makeup, NO coordination of outfit (okay, a little), and running shoes expecting NO one to be there, but of course there is. So I spend the whole time slightly embarrased but so proud of my little Shawny swimming back and forth while the other four and a half year old there says, "That guy's littler than me but he has no floaties and he's swimming."

I wanted to work out afterwards but the boys were wet and the gym has a powerful AC so I decided I'd just run home. You would crack up if you saw me running with the kids. I run a ways then turn around and run back until I get back to them. Then I walk with them for a bit and run again. It works. They're happy. I pace myself. And I get my heart rate up. I LOOOVE the cold shower when I get home. Mostly because it doesn't feel cold, just SOOO refreshing.

Tonight I'm making Costco individually wrapped chicken so it's soooo easy to defrost in whatever portion I want on my foreman grill with a little wine (right, the CHICKEN's getting the wine) and brown sugar, along with sauteed garlic broccoli rabe. Oh yum!

Lives are like Events

People only want to be part of them if they are exciting or mean something and they have to be marketed : ) .

Thank God It's Friday

I've been taking Fridays for my down days. I get so tired of running around all week that by the time Friday rolls around I'm in for it. Brando has been working Saturdays so if I take a break Friday I'm up for Saturday. Only it doesn't work so well when he does end up taking Saturday off. Maybe if I prepare on Thursdays for Friday I won't feel like I need to kick back so much.

Did I mention I have a car again? Yay!!

List of the cars we've had for rentals in the last two months:

Dodge Stratus
Dodge Ram 4door Truck
Dodge Neon
Chevy Trailblazer
and our current blue bubble that the kids LOVE... Chevy Aveo

Who else has had an opportunity to try out such brand spankin' new cars in the span of less than two months? Ah see, there IS a blessing in disguise : ) . Hopefully pretty soon it will be goodbye GMC Vandura and VW Passat (and countless rental cars) and hello Chrysler Town & Country or Ford Windstar and perhaps a Dodge Stratus (that WAS a nice car) or another VW Passat.

Busy Fun Day

Went and got pedicures (BRIGHT purple with a flower) with my girlie, Kelly, which was my birthday present from her : ), had lunch and a much needed looooong talk with a good friend, Bec (hi girl!! Had sooo much fun we need to do that again SOON), went out to Kelly's house for some relaxing in the country and hiked back to a pretty tree she has in her back ten, then rushed back to town to meet up with Cat, the lady I meet up with every other week, for coffee at Starbucks. It was a fun day and a much needed relaxing day.

In Half

I'm torn between writing down all the things we're going through for our kids to see when they're older. Hopefully they won't have the same set of problems or maybe they'll just end it sooner.

So if money makes the world go 'round...

can it also make it stop? 'Cause it sure seems like it's stopped tonight. At least where communication is concerned. Does the word impasse mean anything? I think one way. He thinks another. Isn't this where compromise comes in? Oh right. I'm supposed to give a little aren't I?

Pumpkins are Everwhere

Just caught Shawners carving my wall with the pumpkin carving kit my mother-in-law sent them. Prior to that he made a salad out of the plants outside for his animals and removed tape from his tiger. He was about to carve the rocking part of his tiger before I finally stopped the carving madness and put away the kit.

SOLD

Brando has sold his first listing today (not to be confused with his first home)!! He went to drop off the contract this morning and it should be closed later this month. He sold his first listing before the move in date - before the home was even finished being built!! Wahooo!!! WAY TO GO BABY!!!

Cub Scout Campout

Brando and J went on a campout at McKinney Roughs this last weekend with their cub scout pack while Shawners and I had a date weekend at home. B & J got to look through a huge telescope, see an alligator, take lots of hikes, play lots of games, learn how to REALLY use a compass, J learned how to use binoculars, both of them drew pictures of the solar system complete with planet symbols, the condensation cycle, and the telescope. It was like they went to six months of school in a day!

Shawners and I golfed by blacklight at Lunar Mini Golf and came home and snuggled on the couch to watch The Never Ending Story before falling asleep in Mommy's bed. The next day he and I went with a friend to scrapbook (my first scrapbook pages EVER!! I LOVE them) and he colored a Ninja Turtles coloring book and watched Shrek while Jen and I scrapbooked. She made a BEAUTIFUL black and white picture of Brando and I in a black frame that is just gorgeous and now has it's own special place in our house. On top of that she gave me a beautiful scrapbook album with a place in the front where I'm going to put a black and white picture of Shawner's hands and feet in the sand. It matches the pages I just made beautifully. LOVE it!

It was a great weekend, B & J got quality time, S & I got quality time - though not as much as I would've liked because I'm PMSing, but still some, church today where my sister was able to watch the boys while Brando and I did our first curriculum meeting. Ran a few errands and in a moment we're off to small group.

Snake Cuteness

Last Thursday B and J's cub scout pack meeting had a snake guy come up from San Antonio to show the boys snakes. He had a bullsnake constrictor out for the kids to touch. S was SO excited and after he pets it says "It feels like corn." It really did.

First Curriculum Meeting Today

It went well. A little nerve wracking but lots of ideas came up and we're excited to go to the next step! Doh I have to get familiar with a calendar again.