Happy Birthdays and Let It SNOW!?

Sunday Day 161- Saturday Day 174

So as far as the work week is concerned there is no news and nothing too exciting so I will just jump into my awesome birthday weekend!  I received a lovely package in the mail from my parents with an awesome gift....Cabbage Patch Doll with my birthday how cool!   The girls also received some fun Xmas gifts and activities to do.  They also got a really neat book, where Mimi and Papa narrate  The Night Before Xmas.  So cool and the girls adored it, ( over and over and over etc...)  We had a fabulous time, Josh, Linda, Branden and I at the Blue Fish Oyster Bar in Avondale.  Very upscale nice part of Jacksonville...if the schools weren't still horrible and part of Duval I would move there....but come summer we will be moving to Orange Park area so we are in Clay County.   Anyway, the food was wonderful and the company even better!  The bar tender was amazing and friendly remembering our names all night, and the oyster bar chef ( whatever you call him!) was awesome slowly easing me into eating raw shell fish...umm eww.  But I DID IT!  I can't say it was delicious...just salty which I love so, a win win.  After the birthday weekend we prepared more for Christmas and visitors.  This weekend ( yesterday and today) we have our Indiana family traveling through to Disney!  But first, the kiddies and myself along with Alexandra and her son Dominik went to the base for a Tropical Freeze day!  They blew in snow on a hillside in front of the Nas Jax Yacht Club and Marina and the girls sled all afternoon and enjoyed cookies and the bounce houses.  What a blast...and I WAS SWEATING!  Such an oxymoron!  I love spending time with each of my Florida friends, all are so different and so much fun in their own ways!  I am truly blessed to have made such great friends, and to have suckered them into crossfit! HAH!
         After the snow festivities we had family come in from Indiana and have dinner with us.  What a great time, just sitting around chatting about everything and anything.  Janelle did not want to put Jasper down and he loved ever second of that.  Sonya and I reminisced about the previous year ( pregnant and out on black friday finding out the sex of baby J).  Bruce sank into the couch and relaxed after the long drive and the girls ran in circles with Avery and Bryce.  It was a good time.  Next weekend Nana and Grampa come for Xmas and we face what I feel to be a touch decision.  Have Xmas on Friday so Josh can be a part of the morning opening gifts....OR have Xmas after naps on Sunday so Josh is home to see the kids open gifts?  Hmmm....going to have to think on it more.  Until then....its time to get wrapping?!

That is ALLLLL until after Xmas!

Visitors!!!! Out with the turkey and in with the tree!

Saturday Day 146-Saturday 160

Wow ok where to begin?  First off we had lots of visitors as the first week was Thanksgiving week.  Nana packed her bags up sadly...but let me tell you we had the BEST time prepping food, playing with the kids...and getting ready to celebrate not only her wonderful time here, but also the Thanksgiving meal itself.  Uncle John came up for the long weekend and we had the greatest time torturing him with three children.  The girls did a fantastic job of running him ragged!  Although it was sad for them all to leave, their departure made way for one of my best friends arrivals!   Aunty Feather ( aka Heather) came to town!  What a lovely visit it was and just a nice piece of home to have for an evening.  Although the visit was short it made a great impact on all of us.  The girls were more than thrilled and I had a fabulous time girly shopping with Heather all over town!  I was so excited for her to meet my Linda and they hit it off too! It was nice to see my two worlds come together so smoothly.  After Heather left, Josh and I started our new life....alone!  Our new babysitter started Monday and she is fantastic.  The kids adore her, and Jasper is on his best behavior...for the most part ;) As good as any tired 6 month old with chompers coming in can be I guess!  Anyway the two weeks again flew by, and I actually forgot I even had a blog last weekend LOL.  So here I am again.  I will be uploading more pics....as usual!  SO OUT WITH THE TURKEY AND IN WITH THE TREE!  The tree is up and beautiful and the kids are in full Xmas mode.  We have letters to Santa, packages getting ready to go out with gifts the girls made, and lots of fun filled adventures coming up.  The base has a snow making machine and they make a mountain for sledding and a field of snow for children to play in once a year.....WE WILL BE GOING!  The girls do not know, it will be a nice surprise for them.  But ask them and they are a-ok with having palm trees instead of snow! While I may miss the first snow fall I will not miss the nasty mud that is made and the dreariness that comes with it.  The first snowfall is magic, the rest I can live without.  So December 17th we will have our first snow fall here and we will love it!  All for now....I have a cranky baby who has been up since oh I don't know...330.

I love this

The girls helped decorate our two lovely neighbors tree!

Josh admiring his work!

Two weeks fly by.....

Sat 132-Friday 145

Ok wow....so sorry but life is crazy hectic...3 kids a job and house to keep.  I have no time for anything.  I will give you the run down of the events as of late.  Josh loves his job with the police department, the girls are enjoying their time with Nana as she leaves soon, and I am happy with my current position at the CDC.  Last weekend we had a fantastic time at the carnival just Josh the kids and I.  We decided Nana needed a much deserved day ALONE!  The next day we had a lovely playdate with Dominic and his mommy Alexandra.  Another new friend for me and the kids how awesome!  We had an awesome time playing trains and softball outside!  I am amazed at how darn good Bay Pip and Dom are at hitting.  I mean seriously, they are awesome.  Dom made a comment, " hey whats this called I am doing?"  We told him baseball.  " Hey mom look at this baseball I am doing I like it!" And he was GOOD!!!!  So Bay has a new crush and I have a new friend who speaks faster than me!  Love it.  The weeks are sort of running into each other and the holidays are upon us.  The girls and I will be starting our art projects soon so hopefully all the letters and packages we send up north will be opened with care and caution.  You may be doused in glitter!   I will close this with pictures from the previous weeks ... I finally got my beautiful new phone...Samsung Galaxy S II and the pics are AWESOME quality...I am a happy girl... However they do take forever to mail to myself! They are huge files.

Lots of Changes!

Saturday Day 126-Sunday 127

With Josh beginning his new career with the Police force on Sunday 4 am this weekend was mainly spent cleaning, organizing, getting uniforms ready, and meals prepped for the week.  The girls played outside and inside with all Bay's new birthday gear, and I prepared for my new job this week.  While I am sad to leave my class at Childtime, I know that I need to keep trying to move up and forward.  Money is what everyone needs at this point in their life.  Kids are expensive and so are all my favorite things to do! LOL.   Josh's first day was great!  And how awesome to have him home by 215!  Yes, it is strange when he goes to bed at 7....but still. :)  


Monday 128- Friday 131
Monday was my last day at Childtime.  Nobody wanted to say goodbye so we didnt....I will remain on as a sub there since I have a lot of federal time off.  Childtime only closes for certain holidays, definitely not all of them, e.g. Veterans, Memorial Columbus etc. Monday night we went trick or treating in a beautiful neighborhood with a student of mine and her mommy.  Her father has been deployed and won't be home for a year...she has become quite fond of Baleigh and Payton so it was fun to get out and explore all the candy possibilities!

I think you may be able to notice the quality of the pictures is not as good as it used to be.  Let me explain.  I am so mad!  Josh and I both had the MyTouch 3g which had an amazing camera in it.  Well after 2 years both phones bid us "adieu" and we needed to call Tmobile since we had warranties on them.  My speaker broke and his touch screen stopped working.  Well they no longer make themytouch 3g so they had to send us an "equivalent".  They told us it would be the "Comet".  I looked it up...the phone is normally 500+ buckaroos.  So I figured it can't be that bad.  HAH!  Its terrible.   It has a measly 2 MP camera I think and it is so slow I get frustrated trying to make a phone call!  I heard Sprint offers a great government rate so we may be switching here soon and getting a better phone ( better be FREE!)  So thats that.

The week went so slowly it was unbelievable.  My time in the classroom at Childtime flew because it was so planned out.  It is much different when you are going through government trainings, and learning all new classrooms.  I can not bring nor will I bring a camera or phone into the facility so there will be NO pictures of the facility.  Sorry I know it was fun to see the work I have done with children, but it can not happen here.
Friday came way to late and this weekend is already leaving way too soon!  I am now the proud new owner of two bras and two pair of jeans thanks to the amazing hubby I have. I despise buying clothing because I am always trying to lose more weight or tone more body parts.  He insisted that I need a pair of jeans that fit so shopping he went.  Things feel like they are winding down around here....Nana is leaving us the day after Thanksgiving...and then we will be completely on our own.  Such a scary thought!  More next weekend :)  Hopefully with some new news of some kind...who knows.