Elf on the Shelf..

Isabella and Sophia's elves have returned...Mark (the big one) and Elf (the little one named by Sophia) are back to their old tricks...day 1 they got into our mini marshmallows, day 2 they had a tea party with barbie and Ken, day 3 they rolled themselves up in toilet paper and rolled down the stairs, and today they rolled themselves in Christmas lights.  The girls are loving the Elf "adventures"...

Dave picked the girls up so I could meet my friend Diana and Christa for dinner at 4:30 by my school.  When he picked up the girls, Sophia's hair was done very cute.  I think her teacher did it because she feels sorry that Sophia's hair is all over the place...I love Dave, but when he gets the girls ready for school and drops them off (today, yesterday, the day before), their hair is interesting...so is their clothing...Dave lets the girls pick out their own outfits (even if I leave outfits out)...the teachers joke they can tell when mommy dresses them and when daddy dresses them.....I am not complaining...Dave is AWESOME!!!

Funny story...I have a very funny, sweet kid in my class...Every class he asks if we can play heads up seven up...Time and time again I tell him no, "this is a college level class...besides, the second I let you play heads up seven up, my boss will walk it"...Anyway, this particular student was absent for the first time...the kids asked if the last couple of minutes of class they could play heads up seven up and take a picture to show the absent student...I let them because they were awesome and sat through over an hour of monetary policy and international trade....too funny!!!

I am SOOOOO glad tomorrow is Friday!!! TGIF!!!

Dentist and owls...

Yesterday was a great day.  My trainer kicked my behind at the gym.  After I stopped at Target to pick up a few things.  They had all of their kid towels on sale for 10.00...I have wanted to get the girls one because they are super sweet at bath time and we pretend to be animals based on the color of the towel.  I found these pink owl ones that they love. 

Dave got home late because he had to drive to the terminal...I love this man...so much...Here is how I know I love him even more.   A while ago on his own he found the girls a pediatric dentist.  He sorts out all of their appointments.  In fact, I have never been and don't really know where in Katy it is.  He came home last night and said, "oh, I forgot to tell you, I am taking the girls to a dentist appointment tomorrow morning".  So, this morning, I woke up, got ready and went to work.  He woke the girls up, got them ready, took them to McDonald's (old McDonald is what Isabella calls is) and then took them to their appointment.  Dave said he let them play at McDonald's and when he told them they had to leave Sophia responded "ahhhh", and Isabella said "Yes, I love the dentist"...

I just really appreciate that my husband sorts out this kind of stuff.  Usually the mom has to take care of these things, but this is one less thing on my plate..and for that I really appreciate it...

Back to reality...

Yep, back to reality...back to work, back to school...the good news is we only have 4 weeks until Christmas break...we can do this!!! Sunday we had a lot going on.  We cleaned, worked, did laundry, grocery shopped, Dave bought an elliptical, I put up the Christmas tree.  We are still decorating.  It is a work in progress.  Today the girls were great.  Isabella had homework and did a great job!!! I love my life, my girls, my God, my husband, my family...I could go on and on:)

Twilight

There is only one person that I (and Dave, Christa, and Brad) would go see Twilight for..that is Tara...Lance planned a surprise birthday get together...Danny and Ashlee kindly agreed to watch the girls so we could go.  The plan was for all the adults to meet at Kroger, follow Lance to their house and surprise her...she was soo happy...We went to watch Twilight at the Alamo Draft House.  It was so fun...you could eat and drink and watch the movie.  We then went to Baker St for a few minutes.  What a fun time!!! Ashlee and the girls made the cutest crafts!!!

Thanksgiving in Breaux Bridge

We made it to Breaux Bridge Tuesday evening.  My mom and dad, Dave and the girls, and I went to eat at a cool pizzeria in downtown Breaux Bridge...was a great decision. Tuesday is kids night- they eat free and get to make their own pizza.  A family had their kids playing cajun music on violins and guitars, while they were singing.  It was great. 

Wednesday was a pretty relaxed day.  Christa, Brad, Paige, and Will came into town.  We boiled shrimp and mom fried fish. We celebrated Morgan's 18th bday....I can't believe he is 18!  He has turned out to be such a nice young man.

Today Dave and I woke up early because we were in charge of the turkey (at our request).  We spent a great day relaxing and enjoying each other.  Before the turkey was ready I whipped up an appetizer plate that I was proud of! Cheetos, boiled shrimp, oysters, cheese and crackers:)  We watched the Texans beat the Lions and then sadly UT lost to TCU.  Later we headed to Walmart where it was crazy.  We only stayed a few minutes. 

Renaissance Festival

Dave loves the Renaissance Fest...I go every year because he loves it so much.  We planned on going on Sunday.  When I woke up Sunday, I really didn't want to go....but we knew it was only going on for another week.  So, we headed out to Plantersville (about an hour away from Houston).  The girls dressed in princess costumes and had a great time.  We got a caricature of them and bought them swords. 

Date night..

Saturday seemed to go on forever and ever...we dropped the girls off with Christa and Brad at their evening holiday photo shoot so we could meet up with friends for a group date night.  The plan was to meet our friends Melissa, Brandon, Nicole, Barry, Daniel, and Lyndsey at a BYOB restaurant called Two Saints.  I really like the restaurant. I ordered shrimp and grits.  Dave said his food was ok.  After we headed over to take a tour of the new house our friends just purchased.  It is beautiful!

UT Mechanical Engineering Reunion

Saturday morning we woke up, had holiday pictures taken (they turned out nice!), and then headed off to a reunion at Texadelphia with Dave's UT Mechanical Engineering friends.  Dave has not seen many of them in over ten years.  It was great.  A lot of people had young kids the girls played with.

picts

Fondue

On the way home from work last Friday, Christa last minute decided to take her kids to the Melting Pot...I invited us to go along...the kids had a blast...At the end of the meal Christa anad Brad bought a take at home fondue party to benefit St. Judes Children's hospital.

Give Thanks

 Life is good...I picked the kids up, picked my friends up...we went to Thanksgiving at their school...this morning a student gave me a Thanksgiving candy packet..his mom made me banana bread...it was awesome!!!

Hump Day..

I know...my title is so unoriginal...I am just too tired to think of anything better.  Last night both girls were reading...Sophia was making up a story...Isabella loves reading her sight books.  Dave dropped the girls off this morning so I could get to school early.  One of my students was signing her contract to play softball at my Alma Mata UL.  I am super excited she chose the Rajun Cajuns.  She will have a great experience! 

After school I stayed late because I am the sponsor of the World Quest Club.  I don't have to do anything but stay for meetings.  The kids are a group of smart kids who like to study.  They compete in a competition of current events. If they win, 4 of them (and the sponsor) get to go to Washington D.C.

I picked the girls up excited about the chicken terraki in the crock pot.  When we got home it was dry...so I changed it to pasta...I added wheat pasta, onion, garlic, red wine, pasta sauce, can of rotel, spices, and la Madeline low fat tomato basil soup...it tasted GOOD!!!

Life is good...Tomorrow we have Thanksgiving dinner at the girls school...I made my mom's super easy appetizer...green onions, creme cheese, cold cuts...easy and tasty!

Week off...

Well not really...I still have to teach, but this week is my week off from graduate school.  I take a new class every 5 weeks, and then we have one week off between.  This last one was pretty rigorous.  It was assessment.  We had to study reliability, validity, etc.  Next week we start a cultural studies counseling class.  Today was pretty good.  I am ahead on lots of things so I am not so rushed.  I worked out with my trainer and then picked the girls up.  We didn't get home until almost 6:30.  Dave beat us and had started dinner...plus the cleaning lady came...score....I am so grateful that God has blessed us with the ability to have someone help us clean.  She spends about 7 hours cleaning our house. 

The girls, Dave, and I have been waiting for the animation movie Brave to come on DVD....it finally made it and we bought it so Dave could watch it for the first time and we could add it to our rotation.  Life is good....great in fact:) 

Thursday we have  Thanksgiving in the evening at the girls school.  Saturday morning we have Holiday picts, then UT Engineering lunch and then dinner with friends...then we have school Monday and Tuesday...we will head to Breaux Bridge on Wednesday for Thanksgiving.

What we do for beauty:)

Christa found a girl that will come to her house and do her hair for cheap.  She made an appointment for both of us. It was fun....I am tired...long day:)