It's Magic!

Okay, so nothing overly exciting has happpened for a while. Sorry, I'm boring! ;-)

This past weekend, I got a call from my good friend Bill from Frost Magic Productions and told me that he was doing a show in a nearby town and invited all of us as his guest. I have known Bill for about 3 years now
(Wow! Has it really been that long?!) and would consider him a good friend. He's a great guy, with a lot of talents. He is a magician (Frost Magic Productions) and also has a martial arts school (United Martial Arts). He's very good at what he does. Like I said, I've known Bill for about 3 years now, and only recently have I been able to call him anything but "Master Frost." If you are looking for a great martial arts school, learn some self defense, or a magician for a party, he's your man!!

Anyways, enough of my shameless plugs for Bill! *Sorry Bill!! ;-)* Sam and I decided that it would be good for the kids to have a little fun, and the drive was only about 45 minutes, so it wasn't too horrible. Of course, I was told the time was 2:30 and 6 P.M., and it was actually 2 and 6:30 P.M.! So, we showed up just after 2:30, and were told that we could go in, but he was about half done with his show. So, we decided that we would go get something to eat, and hang out for a couple of hours. Not a big deal! We ended up driving to Surf City, which is on Topsail Island, about 15 miles up the road. It was nice to get out to the beach and smell the ocean *Did I just say that?! The ocean smells like dead fish! Ew!* and feel the nice breeze. We had lunch at a little place off the main road called Long Island Pizza. Great place! The food was great, reasonably priced, and the staff was extremely friendly! They brought out coloring books and crayons for Monkey and Bug, who happily colored a few pictures while waiting for our pie to show up. We all had a slice or two (or half in Bugs case) of pizza and dessert. Sam and I (I shared with Bug) got the Tiramisu, and Monkey had a Cannoli. Boy was Monkey in Heaven! Little crunchy dough wrapped around creamy sugar frosting and mini chocolate chips drizzled with chocolate?! What more could an 11 year old sugar addicted ADHD kid want or need?! After that, we drove up the coast looking at all the houses and talked about how we would buy one if we ever won the lottery. Monkey and Bug thought that was a FANTASTIC idea, I thought about all the wonderful nights sleep I would get listening to the ocean, and Sam thought about how high the Home Owners Insurance would be! *giggle* We can dream can't we?!

We finally drove back to the high school that the magic show was at and Sam finally got to meet Bill, after months of "Bill this," and "Bill that." He was amazes at how much the kiddos look like me, and how tall they are. I don't find them that tall, but as a 5'8" tall female, I'm not exactly short either. (Not to say that Bill is short... he's just... not as tall as others!!) We chatted for a little bit and then we took our seats. The schools Jazz band was playing. They were pretty good for a high school band! I did think that the one saxophonist was getting a little too much love in the solo department tho.

When the magic show started, the kids were AMAZED! He magically exchanged places with his assistant who was handcuffed in a box, cut a woman in half, and many other things, along with some comedy, which had us all laughing. Bug still asks me how "Mr. Bill" cut the woman in half! Monkey wants to know how he got the balloon dog back together and into the bag. Though they were a bit disappointed that they weren't called on stage, I told them that there were a lot of other boys and girls there that may not get another chance to see Bill perform and we would, so, there would be other times that they could get called on stage. They seemed satisfied by that. Bill invited Monkey and Bug to come out to the martial arts school and take a couple classes. Monkey thinks that's a FANTASTIC idea, and Sam thinks it would be good for Bug for when she gets older. (I think mostly so she can take care of herself a little better and he can stay out of jail for trying to kill some boy who thinks it's okay to put his hands on her... LOL) Overall, we all had a fantastic time watching Bills show, hanging out at the beach, and doing a little day dreaming.

Yesterday, we were pretty much bums. Monkey and Sam played Lego Star Wars for a big part of the day because of a pretty good Thunderstorm that came rolling through in the afternoon. Bug helped me make garlic and herb chicken with smashed potatoes and corn. We watched a show called "Wreckreation Nation" which was pretty good. They were racing lawnmowers, which the boys thought was super awesome, and wrestling alligators, which we all thought was super cool, until one of the participants got bit in the face, then I was the only one who thought it was cool. Bug and I did the laundry together. Most the time she got in the way, but, she wanted to help, so, she helped me sort the clothes into piles, put the detergent in, dropped the fabric softner ball in, and put the clothes in the washer. She did her best, and that's all I could ask for. All in all, it was a fantastic weekend!

Merry Christmas... and all that happy jazz.

So, Christmas was here and gone. We had a pretty good Christmas. Living with only one income in the house has been kind of hard! I did find a new job, and I start on the 29th! (Hooray!) We set a pretty strict budget this year, and came in just barely over! I achieved that by using online coupons whenever possible. Sams' birthday was on the 18th, we had Christmas on the 25th, our anniversary is on the 29th, and Monkey's birthday is on the 31st!  We have a pretty busy December!
The kids were really pleased with their Christmas bounty. They both got DSi's. If you don't know anything about Nintendo DSi's, oh man! I would suggest getting one! They have 2 cameras on them, so you can take pictures of yourself, or outside your DSi. The ones that the kids got came preloaded with a few games and such. Now that we have 4 Nintendo DS/DSi's in the house, we can all play our own games, or, we can use the chat feature and chat with each other. (Yes, I know this is the lazy mans way! *hehe*) They also got some new clothes and some toys. They also got a gift card each, which was promptly spent getting toys and other various things that they deemed as necessities after the holidays. My best friend got us a portrait package from Sears. We're pretty happy about that, the kids would rather have the presents tho.
Sam got himself a very nice guitar for his birthday/Christmas/anniversary present. It's black Fender and it's an acoustic/electric guitar. Maybe next year I will get him an amp! For my Christmas/anniversary present, I got a sewing machine! It's been a very long time since I've used one, and so we just simply bought an inexpensive one. Hopefully, someday, I can be as good as my mom. She used to make things for us all the time. I remember her making me a pilgrim costume for Halloween one time, complete with the white bonnet and apron! More recently, she made a clown costume (which is REALLY awesome, by the way) and a vampire cape! I'm sure she has made other things as well, but, I just don't know about them.
I have already found some really neat things that I want to try to make. Hopefully, I don't screw them up. I have my eye on a couple books that I would like to get. Both the kids would like to learn how to sew as well. This gave me quite the surprise from Monkey. He is begging to have a Sock Monkey kit for his birthday. I would say that we may just have to oblige him that request. My mom made him a Sock Monkey a very long time ago, but, Lilly, his dog, tore it up.
Other than that, things have been going pretty well here. Sam is still working on getting out of the Marine Corps. That seems like a never ending project itself! It seems like it has taken forever for things to work themselves out, but, we have been assured that we're close to the end. We're figuring that it will be at least another 6 months before he gets out. In a way, that's the hardest part, not knowing. We don't know when he's going to get out, so he can't look for a job. Nobody will even consider him unless he's 90 days from getting out. We're in the process of trying to save up a years worth of expenses right now. We refinanced the house and his car, both with a better payment. Unfortunately, we didn't win the Powerball last night either. Congrats to the lucky winner in KY. We sure could have used that $128,600,000! I'm sure alot of people could have.
Anyways, It's Sunday Funday here, and I'm behind on laundry and dishes, so it's time to get back to that! I hope that everyone had a great Christmas, and from my family to yours, Happy New Year!

Wedge cuts and Faux hawks and layers, oh my!

Well, it was an awesome week with my mom and step-dad visiting! The kids got to spend some time with them, which they really enjoyed. We got to go to their open house for their brand new school. It was just built this year, and they will be the first students there! They're very excited!

Monkey has a male teacher for the first time, he's excited about that. We met him. He's a Star Wars geek, which is something that they will most likely get along very well about. Monkey has the Star Wars trilogy and is often very upset when he can't watch it on the living room TV because his sister throws a fit!

Bug has another female teacher. She seems really nice. This will be her first year of going all day to school. North Carolina is different than Ohio. Kindergarten goes all day, and pre-school is half a day. You have to graduate pre-school before you can go to Kindergarten. I was actually very excited that she had a sign language alphabet on the white board. Bug was learning sign last year in Kindergarten. She has forgotten alot of it, but, knows more than I do!


We decided yesterday that it was time to get some haircuts for the kiddos!
Bug is growing her hair out from a wegde cut that she had last year and Monkey wanted an Mohawk but settled for a Fauxhawk! Sam was too worried that he would get a reputation as a trouble maker if we sent him to school with his hair in the fauxhawk, so during school it will just be jelled in some spiky hair fashion, but on the weekend he will be all Johnny Ramone! Well, maybe not Johnny Ramone, lets hope for someone more tame, like David Beckham!

Today is Sunday Funday! They don't know it yet, but, we're actually going to a soccer game! Monkey will be super excited, but Bug won't be. It's actually one of the women that I work with, her son is playing, who is Monkeys' age and she also has a daughter that is Bugs age! I figured that it would be good for them to have a couple of friends that share their passions (Monkey is soccer and Bug is anything fashion related!) Now it's off to finish house work, so we can enjoy a day of soccer!

More Flu!

Well, Friday we had to go back to the Dr for Monkey. He had a slight fever, had been coughing, and said that he had a headache. I took a proactive approach and turns out that I was right! his symptoms were so slight, but he had a fever and he said that he had a headache and had been sneezing since Thursday. With that, I had a four day weekend, with two sick kids! Monkey was acting just fine, and Bug wasn't acting out many of her symptoms, but daycare was going on a field trip and I didn't think that they should be traipsing all over the state with the flu!
What it did mean, was that I could get a head start on house work for the weekend! Which means that I might get a chance to enjoy my Sunday with the kiddos! Sounds great, right?
Yesterday, Sam came home from his meeting and said that he had a headache and was going to lay down for a bit. A few hours later I go to ask him if he was okay, and he was burning up with fever. You guessed it, he's got the flu as well!!
the kids got a package from Grammy yesterday. Bug got a new Hanna Montana backpack for school, and Monkey got a new summer workbook, and then she sent the mother load of goodness! She sent a box of CoCo Wheats! If you don't know what they are, then you must have been hiding under a rock for the last 60 some years... CoCo Wheats are like chocolate Cream of Wheats. Man! I forgot how great the taste! We had that this morning for breakfast, and now my 2 "flu sick" kids are bouncing all over! I think today we will go to the park, and possibly even take the dog as well. Not sure yet.

Sunday Funday!

Well, we are going to try and continue the trend that my parents started with the kiddos. It's what they called "Sunday Funday" where the whole family goes out (or stays in) together and does something fun.

Well, we decided that we were going to go to the beach! Well, we got the blankets, towels, beach toys, and the most important item, sunscreen!! Monkey has a very fair complexion, just like me, but Bug is blessed with a bit darker complexion like Sam. I slathered Monkey up with some sunscreen and he got his swim trunks, and he was ready to go! Get Bug slathered up with slightly less of the white mess for the sun goddesses skin and she's ready to go! Sam and I get everything packed into the pack, get everything into the car and off we go to the beach! Now, Sam being Native American, we never ever would have thought that he needed any sort of sunscreen. I should have known better! He now is definitely a red man! Of course, I didn't fair much better either. I have very fair complexion just like my son, and should have known better than to not wear sunscreen. I do know better.

When I was younger, I didn't really need to wear sunscreen because I was outside almost all the time with my horses and such. I would just gradually build up the tan as I needed it. Oh no! Not now! Being an adult really stinks sometimes! I miss being able to go outside and play, and just be a kid. Now, I have to stay inside for 8+ hours at work, go get the kids from daycare, come home, make dinner, do laundry, clean the house, make sure the dog has food and water, make the bed, read bedtime stories, run baths, and a million other things!

Speaking of dinner! Boy, did I make a great dinner tonight!! I made a roast, with carrots, potatoes, celery, onions, and garlic. Threw some watered down tomato paste and some milk in there, covered it with aluminum foil and cooked it on 350 for about an hour or so, and oh man it was good! Even Monkey, who doesn't like potatoes, commented how great they were! What a surprise! It wasn't my best roast, but it was close!

Now, it is time to head off to bed. This lady is pooped!