"Falsetto"

Last night, Randy and I were watching the recording of American Idol after putting the girls to bed.  When we listened to Tim Urban's performance, I commented on his falsetto.  Randy laughed at me, probably wondering what a falsetto was & if I even knew what I was talking about.  I immediately bet him that at least one of the judges would mention Tim's falsetto.  If they did, Randy had to go to Coldstone Creamery & buy me some ice cream.  Confident that there was no way they would even say the word "falsetto", Randy took me on.  First judge, Simon.  No mention.  Second judge, Kara.  No mention.  Third judge, Randy J.  FALSETTO!!  Randy immediately hopped in the car (5 minutes until 10pm closing time) and got me the most chocolately concoction he could find.  Of course, we shared & he got credit for what turned out to be a great at-home date night!

10 Confessions

My sister recently tagged me to list 10 confessions.  We all know I share way too much & then there are just some things that I don't share with the general public, so this one has been tough!  You've probably heard all of this already, but here goes...

1.  Since we've been married, Randy and I have always tracked our finances to the penny, but didn't necessarily stick to a written budget.  However, in the past few months, I have become obsessed with budgeting.  On Monday we will pay off our car & aside from our house, I can shout, "We're debt free!!!!"  Dave Ramsey's advice & baby steps have been freeing!

2.  I don't post many pictures of myself because of my weight.  That and I've always been prone to a double chin, which I hate seeing in pictures.

3.  I have suffered from depression off-and-on since the summer of 2000.  It has gotten worse since I had Jenna & I worry that having another child will make it even worse.  I just want to be a nice mom & be able to love what I do.

4.  The closets, cupboards & hidden spaces in my house are nearly always organized and clean.  However, I really struggle with mopping, dusting & cleaning my bathrooms.  My bathrooms pretty much only get cleaned before I have guests over.  (So thanks for visiting!!)

5.  I love eating out.  I don't love the calories or the cost, but I love getting out of the house & not having to cook.  Probably the only thing that would beat eating out is having a personal chef.  Ooh!

6.  I'm nearly always insecure in friendships.  Sure, there are a few of you out there that I haven't seen in years & feel close to, but of the ladies in my neighborhood, I feel close to only one...and she's moving.  :(  Based on past friendship experiences, I always think that people put a front on that they like me, but probably don't really.  (Please don't think that this means I don't like my local ladies.  I do!  Somewhere in the back of my mind, I just think that you don't like me.)  I may be crazy, but that's my truth.

7.  The busyness of being a mom is just beginning to hit me.  I stay at home & only have 2 kids, but don't know where my times goes.  There's so much to do!  Tax season may have a bit to do with being busy, though...

8.  I love tax season!  For me, it means that I get to use my degree, make money & grow my business.  Business has been really good this year & I'm excited!  I love getting new clients & love that my existing clients trust me & return year after year.  Thank you!!

9.  I am forgiving.  I don't hold grudges & don't really understand how other people can.

10.  I hate getting in trouble.  Even something as little as having someone tell my child not to do something or telling me that I'm in the wrong seat is really upsetting to me.

He said, she said

Setting:  10pm in the master bedroom

He said:  "Reminds me of my room in high school!"

She said:  "My room never looked like that until I had kids!"

Incognito

After having put the girls to bed one night, I came back upstairs to use the computer.  I noticed nothing until I heard noises coming from the couch.  This is what I saw:

Figuring Jenna would eventually settle down and fall asleep there, I left her until I was done.

I think she must have thought I wouldn't notice her.

Yep, what a cutie.

Sidewalk chalk

We've enjoyed some sunny, "warm" days lately.  Notice nearly all of the snow is gone?

A few weeks ago, part of Sydney's homework was to practice writing 5 letters, so we headed outside to do it with chalk.

I'm pretty sure they both had fun.

Beauty Parlor

More of my girls doing my hair.  Ahhh...love it!

Photography by Sydney

Photography by Jenna

Driving

*There are two blue vehicles above.  One comes every week and idles on the street from 6:40 until 7am before it begins it's job for the day.  On this particular day, it needed special assistance & was idling outside for an additional 30 minutes.  The other blue vehicle starts every day & in the winter usually idles for 20 minutes (often while I'm still in bed) before going anywhere.  Both are loud & drive me absolutely crazy.

*I rarely drive with my hands at "10 and 2".  It's usually more like "4" or "8".  Ten and two feels so strange & dorky to me, probably because I've never really driven like that.

*My family once drove for nearly 24 hours straight from our home in NM to visit cousins in MS.  We stopped only for gas, potty & once in Shreveport, LA to eat breakfast & visit old friends of my dad.  No TV in the car, just good company (smelly little brothers & a cranky older sister on the return trip), coolers full of food, and a cargo rack on top of the minivan.  For some reason, someone wasn't happy when she sat on a Junior Mint in white jeans & the rest of us laughed at her.  Good times!

January Cousin Dinner

I hosted our monthly "cousin dinner" for cousins on my dad's side of the family that live in the area (give or take a few hours).  We were missing a handful of local cousins for various reasons, but in the end we still had 27 of us there.

We had 4 kinds of soup, salads, rolls & chocolate fondue for dessert.  It was all delicious & I think everyone went away satisfied.  And I came away exhausted!  (Is there a such thing as a hangover when you don't drink?  If so, I had one!)

I hope I have everyone's names & spellings right.  Forgive me if I don't.

My sister, Kelsey & her husband, Cedric

Mystery man...errr, my brother-in-law, Chad

Cousins Brian & Jonathan, Randy

Devin (Jon's son), Randy & Jonathan

Background:  Cedric, Kelsey, Brian & Chad

Haylee (Jon's), Brianna (Tiff's), Sydney

Cousin Nathan, cousin-in-law Brett, Adalyn (Jon's) & Melanie (Jon's wife)

Melanie & Adalyn, Aubrey (Jon's), cousin Jake & his wife Shannon, back of Daisy's head (Nate's)

Penny (Nate's), my sister Tiffany, Tristan (Kelsey's)

Tiff, Penny, TJ & Keri

Penny & TJ are only 11 days apart in age.  They were quite intrigued by one another.

Not pictured:  

Devin (Tiff's)

Jenna

Jarin (Jon's)

Hilary (Nate's wife) & Daisy's cute face

Broc (Brian's)