Happy Halloween

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!!

Before we get to Halloween details - let me just brag on my baby a tad. 

Yesterday we went to the Taekwondo class with Issy and she earned a record three stars to add to her patches.  The kids are given a patch system to earn stars to add to their patches.  For every 3 Way to Go's (earned by good behavior in class or positive notes from teachers, parents, etc.) you get a Blue star; for every tournament you participate in you earn a Red star; for Every good report card you bring in you get a Gold star; and for every bible verse you memorize and recite to your class you earn a Silver star).  Once you have 25/50 stars you upgrade from a blue V patch to a Silver/ or Gold V patch - which is very prestigious among Taekwondo schools!

 We had a copy of her report card which was all 3's  (1st grade equivalent of straight A's) - that earned her a gold star for her patch; then she had three way to go's - which earned her a blue star ; and I am extremely proud to share with you that she earned her very first silver star yesterday!!  She recited: The lord your God is with you.  He is mighty to save you.  Zephaniah 3:17. 

She has been reciting that little verse in her prayers each night for the last several weeks; so confidently and boldly!  I love it!!!

It is one of my most proud mommy moments.  To know that my kids have such bold faith and that they trust in God and study his word, at such a young age....I flippin love it!!!

I will be sewing those onto her uniform tonight so she can have them on for the tournament her and Makaila will be participating in this weekend in Katy!

Which reminds me - I am very VERY thankful that we are surrounded by people who love us so much.  We will be out of town this weekend, and the girls are not coming with.  I had ligned up Teresea to watch the girls, and my neighbor Nina volunteered to watch them and take Makaila to her Regional Band Try-outs, and then there was a change in plans and the girls wanted to go to the tournament, and Teresea agreed to take them, and then Ceci volunteered to go watch them (and take them now to the tournament and a family birthday party) - to they wont miss out on any of the fun)and I am just so grateful and happy to know that we have so many great people to turn to when we need them, and to know that my kids are well behaved enough to have people willing to keep them!!!  TRULY BLESSED and VERY grateful for everyone coming together to help us with the girls when we need it!!

Now for HALLOWEEN!!!
The weather outside is horrible! It has stormed non stop since last night and the prospects of successful trick-or-treating is fleeting!  But no rain can stop us from the Character Parade at school.  Isabella decided last minute (so last minute that I was cutting up gloves this morning) to be ChiChi - the biker girl from Teen Beach Movie!!!!

She made the most adorable biker girl - see for yourself:

We had a few good laughs this morning before school - can you tell!  They couldn't even stop laughing long enough to get a good picture together!

Well keep your fingers crossed that we have a semi  un-rainy Halloween night and that the little biker girl gets a little trick or treating done!

And eat some of the good candy once the kids are in bed - its one of the free passes to being a parent!  FYI - calories on parent stolen Halloween candy doesn't count - WOOOHOOO!!

Monday - Girls Night Out

Monday after work I came home to change and Vicky picked me up in her new Mini-van (which she was very excited about) to head over to the Humble Marketplace Preview Event.  This is our second year in a row to make this a girls night event.  It was fun!

The entry looked super cute!

We hit up all the little vendor - had some appetizers and Misty showed up about 20 minutes later.  We all bought some really cute boutique clothes and Vicky got a cute little owl purse and some pants.  We had a good time just looking at all the great holiday stuff and trying on things and looking at all the pretty jewelry. 

I also bought an iron pumpkin on the way out...I have grand plans that for baby to sit on my kitchen table wrapped in beaded fall greenery and a nice crisp white candle n the center!

After our shopping we headed over to Lupe Tortilla's for dinner.  The three of us have been friends since Middle school and unfortunately if you are grown with kids you know one of the things that becomes less and less of a priority in your hectic day to day lives is your friendships and spending time with your girlfriends!  We don't get to see each other as often as we like, but it was nice to catch up last night and plug into the friendship mode for just a few hours to reminisce and catch up on the kiddos and the day to days of each other.

I love my friends and last night was a true reminder of how blessed we are...even when we aren't looking!  Think about it - We are financially blessed to be able to afford a night out with each other - shopping and enjoying a good meal; we are family blessed to have spouses willing to take over the kids all alone for one night to let us be friendly; we are blessed to have great long time friends to spend time with; we are blessed to be in good health and enjoy the company of people we love and care for!!!

I love my family and I love my girlfriends and I am really glad we got to spend time together last night and shop together and laugh together and just sit and catch up!

Have a great day today and call a girlfriend - just to tell her you were thinking of her or to reminisce a great childhood event or to talk to her if you need her.......I promise it will make your whole day better!!

Have a great week! 

Weekend Rewind

I was off this Friday - so I had been in discussion with my neighbor Nina to have a Garage Sale - It was time.  I spent Thursday evening pulling stuff out, borrowing tables and pricing.  I woke up at the crack of dawn Friday morning and went and put signs out all over the neighborhood!  My tables and stuff was all out and ready to sell by 6 am!!!

Nina, Amy (another neighbor) and I stayed out chit chatting and selling until about 1pm.  Friday was pretty successful!  I made about $250 in sales!!

We wrapped up the garage sale and moved everything back into the garage and then headed out for lunch before picking up the kiddos from school!  We ate at Sharky's on the water...it was delicious!  I had the special which was a pan seared tilapia with a spinach and tomato cream sauce and grilled veggies and Sharky's rice...It was AMAZING!!

Not sure why we don't go there more often..I'll definitely be going back!

We let Abby play in the water squirters for awhile and Nina and Brandy got in on some of that action.....until Brandy sat in gum!! LOL

It was fun spending time with my crazy neighbors.  We had some good laughs and even managed a little shopping!

I had to head home though cause it was scrapbooking night!  Margaret, Teresea and Amy came over and Cynthia stopped by to pick up her layouts as well.  I ended up staying up having a few drinks with Amy, Brandy and Ashley!  Isabella went home with Teresea and I went to bed to do the garage sale thing again in the morning!

I had the garage sale again from about 6- 11, and then we boxed up the few things we had left, Danny took me to pick up all the signs and drop off the remaining items at Goodwill!

It was a great turn out over all - I made like $450!!!!!  I was pretty excited. 

After that Makaila, Danny and I headed over to the galleria area for lunch and some light shopping.  We ate a Bennigan's of all places (It was good too).  Then we walked it off at the Galleria for awhile.  I bought a couple things for Issy and a jacket for Makaila.  Then we headed to Ceci's for some pumpkin carving!  We made a pretty expensive pit stop at Costco.  We were supposed to run in for a desert, and over $100 later...we headed to Ceci's (still no pumpkins)! LOL

We stopped at Sellers and bought a couple pumpkins.  Makaila carved a music note pumpkin which turned out super cute!

I fell asleep on the couch - the early rising from the garage sales finally caught up to me and I couldn't keep my eyes open! LOL We left at about 10 and Makaila decided to stay.  I was SUPER TIRED.  Straight to bed for me - although it rained really bad and I was woken up with the thunder and rain at 5 am!!

I fell back asleep and when I woke up at 10 - we had no power.  I showered and then Danny and I headed to church.

Church notes:
Part 8 of Series - Unshakable - Integrity Crisis
* You shall not steal or lie or covet others things
* Integrity means undivided or whole - meaning what you are on the inside and believe in your hear is how you act and live your life. 
* Integrity is the most important quality of leadership
* Every choice you make is an opportunity to loose or maintain integrity
* There is no trust without truth

How to restore your integrity:
1. Make God's values my Values
    * The value of honesty  - you have to decide whats important to you.  Put God first in EVERYTHING
        you do
    * The value of truth  - Speak the truth
    * The value of contentment - do not envy others.  Envy drains you of your passion for life. Envy is resenting God's goodness in someone else's life
2. Integrate my values into my actions
    * Live out what I believe.  Seek God's plan for you.  Align your life values with your daily actions.  Having integrity is when my private life and my public image come together as one. 

After church we headed over to the Rice village and had lunch at Torchy's tacos!!!  It was amazing!  I love their queso! Then we went to Ceci's to pick up Makaila and over to Jamie's to get Issy who was over there carving a pumpkin of her own!  She made a cute spider pumpkin. 

From there we headed home and decided to miss the exit and head over to Willowbrook Mall to get Makaila a pair of shoes.  I told Danny to park on the opposite side of the mall then we should have (cause even though I think I know stuff I am almost always wrong)! So we had to walk through teh entire mall to get where we were going!

We walked through the mall and while Danny and Makaila went to Journey's Issy and I walked into the Disney store.  She took this cute pic with Sully:

They still weren't done so we walked into the Children's Place where Issy picked out a new pair of shoes of her own and a hat.  Then we decided we need retakes with Sully since we had new duds: What do you think:

Super CUTE.........RIGHT?!?!?

We headed home after that and watched tv for awhile.  Danny and I went to Walmart to get a couple things and then showers, prayers and bed time!  Mondays always come faster than we want them too!

Although This Monday I will be attending the Humble Civic Center Marketplace Preview Show with my girlfriend Vicky!  I am pretty excited about that!!  I'll let you know how it turns out tomorrow!

Have a great day! And enjoy a  dessert...it makes all your worries melt away! LOL At least that's what I tell myself! 

Sick Day

I had to stay home with Issy today because she was sick.  She threw up a few times last night and was feeling warm when we woke up this morning.  She is still feeling under the weather - she is bundles down on the couch watching movies with me! 

So far we have watched Brave, Beauty and the Beast and there are several others in the line-up.  No more fever or throwing up for the past few hours - so lets hope  it was just a fluke. 

I am working from home on some files for work - so I can't enjoy the movies as much as Issy - but I sure am singing along!!

On a different note - Makaila and I received some outstanding new last night at our Taekwondo class!!!

We are both in the running for State Champs.  Makaila is in 5th place for her age and division for Texas and I am ranked 4th in my age group!!!  Isn't that awesome!!

Here is the official screen shots to prove it!



Scary Sparring!

Makaila attended a band event last night (they played at the 8th grade football game) - so she did not come with me to taekwondo class!

Boy am I glad she didn't- it was scary!  As soon as I got to class they told me our sparring gear had arrived....I was kinda hoping it would take awhile...I don't know why this makes me so nervous...but it does!

By the time I got all my gear together and on....I was sweating!  I felt like Ralphie's little brother in A Christmas Story - Imobile and a tad panicked!  And as luck would have it the only other person on the mat without a partner was Mr. Mays!!!!  That man is giant!!! He is 6'6" and Lord only knows how much he weights!  The Hendersons were making fun of me asking me to do my cresent kicks over his head...yeah right!!

After a few rounds with him -(luckily he didn't really hit me...he gave me mercy.. despite the Henderson's telling him not to).  I was paired up with someone my size.  It was a black belt my size and I think I did pretty good and held my own.  I scored on her twice so I was pretty happy!

Now please pray for me because Makaila and I will be in class together today and I really REALLY am not looking forward to sparring my own kid!  But as I have been told time and time again - It's gunna happen!!!

Have a great day knowing that this little ninja momma is shaking in her foot gear! LOL

Monday Madness

I came home from work yesterday to a package in the mail!  It was the most adorable outfit ever!!!  I ordered it for Isabella a few weeks pack and it finally arrived!!  My baby is gunna look so stinkin cute in this get-up!

She was pretty excited about it too!  That's always a plus - who wants to deal with disgruntled children over what you are gunna force them to wear like it or not! LOL

We had our rank ceremony at the Henderson Academy at 6pm, but parking is always a nightmare on nights like this so we headed out at 5:30!  We all were granted our next color belts as decided strippers!  That was an awesome thing!  The ceremony was good...the kids and I were all happy and Danny got some great pics!

Makaila and I are now officially adult CAMO belts - which means starting tomorrow we will be sparring!  (I'm scared for us to spare each other....but I'm fairly certain it will happen!!)  Wish us luck!

Little Isabella is a decided yellow belt!  She is doing so good, although she is not at all liking that we are higher belt ranks than her....I have no doubt she will catch up to us soon enough!

We all (the majority of the school) went out for dinner to celebrate at Cici's pizza....which wasn't half bad!  We had a good fun dinner and were home for showers and stuff by 8pm!  Overall a pretty successful night!

We are very proud of our little ninjas for the hard work and time they put into this sport and extremely grateful for the influence it has on their manners, and respect for others!  A year ago - I would not have imagined us doing this, or sharing in it as a family the way we do - but I am so so very grateful that we do!  Spending time with the girls doing something that we all enjoy is a true blessing!

You know those signs that read - Do what you love and love what you do - I feel like I'm living it!  Especially seeing these cute faces lite up in excitement when they are practicing and learning new moves.....kinda makes a mom feel accomplished for a bit!

Have a great week and eat a cupcake - It really does make things better! LOL

Weekend Rewind

The weather in town was absolutely gorgeous this weekend!  It actually felt like it was really Fall! 

Friday, after work I went and picked up the girls from school, we came home and relaxed for a bit.  We watched tv and hung out with the neighbor kids for awhile.  Nina came over with SJ and Gracie and the kids ran a muck for awhile! 

We had pizza for dinner then went to bed.  Nothing too exciting but it was definitely nice to unwind without something tugging at our heels!

Saturday morning I woke up early and ironed our uniforms for taekwondo.  The girls woke up at about 8:30 and we all got ready.  We headed to Southern Maids Donuts for breakfast, ate and then lined up for our next belt testing.  It went really well.  Isabella messed her form up, but her teachers were excellent about it all and asked the group she was in to redo their form.  I wasn't paying attention to see if anyone else had trouble too...but I was very grateful they gave her an opportunity to try again, because she rocked it the second time!

We all tested and were feeling pretty good.  The girls insisted we take a picture with the Henderson's! 

We stayed to cheer on some of our taewondo friends in their testing after ours was complete.  Everyone rocked it!

We hurried home because we had plans with the neighbors, so we got changed and then headed to Zoo Boo with Nina and the kids.  We actually stopped to eat lunch at Berryhill first, and Oh my goodness....it was delicious!!

Nina treated us to an amazingly delicious lunch and we ate like we were starved!  It was a good thing we were headed to the zoo to walk because I ate so much I had to undo my belt! LOL

We got to the zoo and had a great time.  We saw the birds, the flamingos, headed over the to Children's portion, jammed to some "what does the fox say", and kept on going!  We saw the lions and monkeys at which point we decided after two hours that WAY too many people had the same idea and it was packed to the point our stroller was immobile in the crowds!  I was starting to feel claustrophobic! Overall it was a good trip - we had fun and the kids didn't have any melt downs...so pretty successful!

 

After our trip to the zoo we headed home!  I sat on the couch for a few minutes at which time I realized that if I didn't move immediately I would fall asleep! Instead we headed back out to buy a present for Ryne.  He is one of Isabella's friends from Taekwondo that was going to have a party on Sunday, so we went to Marshall's first to return a jacket I bought last week, and then to Target for a gift.  We have a really hard time shopping for boys since we don't have any in our house - so we all decided on a Nerf gun, and some extra ammo, and a Lego Ninjango T-shirt that glows in the dark. We got a gift receipt in case its not his deal! LOL

We headed home and Makaila packed her bag to go spend the night at Krystal's!  They haven't seen much of each other, so they were ready to catch up!  Isabella and I went home and waited for Danny to get off work.  He came home and we headed out for dinner!  I was still so full from Berryhill's that I wasn't all that hungry!  Instead, we went to Academy where we finally picked out the bike Isabella was due to buy with the last of her Birthday money!  She tried a few different bikes in the aisle and settled on a nice purple bike and a matching helmet! She was pretty excited about having a new big bike!!We headed over to Hooters for dinner only to find there was a UFC fight going on and the place was packed..so we headed to Chuy's instead!  I had a tortilla soup, and Isabella enjoyed a burrito, while Dan had the hatch enchiladas.  It was yummy, but I couldn't even finish my soup!  It was late and we were all tired, so home and to bed for the three of us!

Sunday morning I woke up early and ironed a basket of clothes that has been patiently waiting for about a month to be ironed! LOL  Issy and I showered and got ready for church.  We headed out early and enjoyed a great service!

Church Notes:

Part 7 - of Series : Unshakable 10 truths to a Rock Solid Life

Overcoming the Lure of Lust  - You shall not commit Adultery Exodus 20:14

1. Commit to God's Standard instead of the culture's standard

    * temptation is not a sin - but falling to that temptation is. 

    * How can a young man keep his way pure: - by living according to God's word

2. Look past the Lure and see the consequences of the hook

    * adultery is the ultimate form of selfishness

    * don't get complacent - Satan is ALWAYS fishing

3. Realize the lure of lust will never satisfy your hunger

   * do not fall to false illusions and seek fal's gods.  They are not the real thing and they will never fulfill you!

   * lust is a cheap imitation of love

   * our God given hunger is for intimacy and commitment

4. Guard your mind against the progression of lust

    - attention    - attraction   - addition

    * don't give someone else the attention and respect that is due to your partner.  You made a commitment to honor and respect them, so don't partake in relationships with the opposite sex that takes away from what you have committed to them.

    * attraction to others is normal, but be strong enough to look away.  Don't build emotional relationships with someone else that is due to your spouse.  aka - Having a work husband or a "best friend" in someone other than your real husband is a form of adultery!

    * get serious about guarding your eyes from temptation, shield your heart from emotional affairs, and your mind from conforming, and falling ot the pleasures of the flesh.

5. Starve lust and feed love

    * The grass is only greener where you water it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

6. Build in accountability and avoid complacency

    * We need people around us to keep us accountable and encourage our commitment, not to tempt us and dis sway us!

     * NEVER let someone of the opposite sex discuss their marriage issues with you

     * the foundation of a relationship is commitment

After church Isabella and I headed home to break out that new bike! We popped some popcorn and enjoyed the beautiful weather.  She was so happy to ride it....and the other kids came out and played for a good while. 

That is one awesome unicorn helemet - if I do say so myself!!  And Issy looks like a rock star wearing it!  We wrapped up playtime to head out to Humble Family Skate and celebrate Ryne's birthday!  We had a blast!  Isabella was a beast on that roller rink! 

We had so much fun...Isabella even joined in on the Hockey Pokey and the Chicken Dance!  She fell about 27,652 times, but she didn't cry and she didn't give up!  I was very very proud of our little skating queen!

We picked up Makaila from Krystal's on our way home and Isabella was excited to show her sister the new wheels! LOL

While Makaila watched the Texans game, we cleaned up a little, made dinner, (I tried a new Pioneer Woman Lemon Chicken piccatta recipe that was a fail!), had some ice cream and did some Spanish vocabulary again at the table together.

Showers and bed time to follow!!  It was a great weekend with beautiful weather and some fun times had!  Monday afternoon will be our Taekwondo rank ceremony in which we will find out if we graduated to our next belt rank, and a celebration dinner at Cici's Pizza to follow!!!  This will make the Monday blue's just a tad bit bearable!  Have a great week!!!! Love you more than cheese!

Segunda

Yesterday I came home and the kids and Danny were at Isabella's taekwondo class - so I started on dinner. I had enchiladas and rice made and on the table by the time they got home, so we ate dinner fairly early.  Makaila served us all some ice cream and while we ate our ice cream, the girls and I studied with Makaila her new Spanish vocabulary.  We took turns guessing the words and saying them in Spanish.   We even took turns being the teacher.

Isabella was doing pretty good until we got to the numbers.  Now mind you - she knows her numbers in Spanish, but Makaila was asking us to say - First, Second, Third, Eight and so forth.  She started to tell us the numbers in Spanish and we had to tell her what she was saying in English - what happened next almost made me pee in my pants. 

We were on a roll getting them all right, and Issy and I were even starting to get a tad competitive....until Makaila says - "Segunda"- which is Spanish for Second.  But Isabella in an effort to answer before me immediately responds - "THIFT STORE!!"  The fact that she knew that immediately and related it to our shopping habits cracked me up!!!

My sisters and I (and most Mexican's - do call the thrift store the SEGUNDA).  It's to us the equivalent of a Second hand store - so we shorten it up to "Segunda". 

We laughed about this quit a bit!!!  While Issy was right in her Spanish to English translation - the real and correct answer was Second!!!

I swear - I am one lucky lucky and truly blessed momma!  We are all healthy - we have food on our table (and it was delicious), clothes on our backs and manage to have the most entertaining of study sessions.....does it really get any better??
Did I mention - we even have ice cream in our house right now(My favorite Chocolate chip)....talk about LUCKY!!

United Way Bingo

In the month of October the company I work for always does a huge rally of events to raise money for the United Way! 

Today was BINGO!!  For $10 we were provided a pizza lunch with sodas, cookies, and Papa John's!  After everyone ate, we played 30 rounds of BINGO!!!!  I was in BINGO HEAVEN!  Now mind you - I am used to good ole Mexican style BINGO...yes LOTERIA...BUENAS!!!!!

I like to win every single way imaginable....straight up and down, diagonally, across, four corners, triangle, posito...the works....but the United Way games were just plain old Bingo.  For each of the first 20 games we were playing for 30 raffle tickets (to use later in a raffle auction), then after 20 games someone donated an extra $1000 dollars...so the prize went up to 130 raffle tickets per game...and as a bonus on game 31 to go out with a bang - the prize was 500 dollars in raffle tickets!!!!

Sadly - I didn't win a single game - but I had a blast!!!!  I have already pre purchase my ticket for next weeks BINGO luncheon, and I donated some money to be able to wear jeans to work tomorrow!!  I just so happened to have a rodeo meeting tomorrow evening so that worked out perfectly...no having to pack extra clothes!!!

On a separate note - The girls and I all have our third stripes and have gotten permission to test for our next set of belts this coming Saturday!!!  Makaila and I will be testing for our CAMO belts (which means the sparring will begin - our equipment is already on order - SCARY), and little Miss Issy will be testing for her Junior Yellow belt!!

I'm so proud of us for sticking with this sport - not only are we all learning valuable life skills, getting great exercise but we are spending time together as a family!!!  Can't complain - Healthy, happy, and loved  - does it get much better?!?!?

Weekend Rewind

Saturday morning was very low key.  Our morning started kinda early; we were at Henderson's ATA by 8:30 (parking gets crazy and we didn't want to have to park in medians or down the road).  We were there in the tournament until about 11 am.  Isabella took 3rds in Forms and 3rd in one-steps for the Junior Division.  Makaila and I competed in the adult division.  She took 2nd on-steps and 3rd in forms.  I won 2nd in forms and 3rd in one-steps!

 

We were happy with our metals and our state champ points!!  We headed home tired and ready to relax.  The rest of our day was spent lounging around doing much too much of nothing!!!  We watched tv, I finished up some personalized gifts and wrapped another 8 presents, cleaned up a little, ate some pizza, ate some ice cream, and then watched more tv.  We were in bed by 10pm!!

Sunday morning, we woke up a little early and headed to the Early morning service at church.

Church Notes:

A Matter of Life and Death Part 6: Unshakable Series - 10 Truths for a Rock-Solid Life

                                                "You Should not Murder"
1. Choose to honor the sacredness and value of EVERY human life.
            * God created each of us and we each have worth and value.
            * Sin creates guilt (a consequence of sin); Jesus forgiveness is real, accept it. 
2. Choose forgiveness over hatred and bitterness
            * WORDS KILL
            * hatred and bitterness are all murderous
            * Forgive - Christ commands it; and it releases bitterness that eats at us
            * Forgive and leave justice to God
3, Choose to care for the poor and the powerless
            * Compassion is a reaction to seeing hurt

People matter to God.

After our sermon I made a declaration of my commitment to choose life.  It was a declaration written by our pastor that both Makaila and I accepted.  It was this:

I choose Life

I believe with all my heart that 2,000 years ago the sacrifice of one life, Jesus Christ, changed my one life for an eternity.
I believe Christ gave his life for every life; therefore it is impossible to measure the value of one life.
So I declare that as long as there is one life that has never experienced  the love of Christ; as long as there is ...
    * one child without clean water
    * one mother afflicted with aids
    * one family with no shelter
    * one man who is homeless and hungry
    * one teenager who feels hopeless
    * one person who has never heard the gospel
I will do whatever it takes, with whatever I have with my one and only life to help one more person experience Christ's love. 
I refuse to live in a selfish bubble in my own little world by closing my eyes to the hurting and hopeless all around me.
I refuse to come to the end of my life and realize I missed my one and only chance with my one and only life to give my all to the One who gave His life for me.

Now this may sound silly to you - and it may not - but to me is felt real.  It was a reminder that God created me with a purpose.  I'm not exactly sure what that purpose is just yet - but I know it is real.  I don't know if I am going to touch a life and lead a person to Christ through this blog, or through a mission trip to a foreign country or through my children....but I know I will do it!!!  Makes living worth it!!  I am excited to meet my Lord in Heaven one day and I am even more excited knowing that I will do these things and he will be so proud of me!!!

After church, I drove Makaila over to the East side and Danny and her went to the Texans game!!!  She was super excited.  I won a raffle at work earlier in the week and I had two suite tickets to the game!!  She was gitty with excitement!

Isabella and I headed to the Galleria for some mommy and me time!!  She had a Disney store Gift Card that was burning a whole in her pocket!! She made me so proud.  She bought a set of puppets that were in the clearance section for $2.99, a sparkly Rapunzel T-shirt that was marked down to $6, and a Belle doll that was marked down 50% off to $8!!!  The only once things she bought at full price was a Doc McStuffins figurine set - but it was adorable - and she loved it!  She got alot of things for her money - I was so proud of my little bargain shopper!!

 We did some major clearance shopping and waited for Dan and Makaila to call us after the game so we could go eat.  We met them and Tony and Sammy at the Amazon Grill for a late lunch!  It was delicious!!!!

After that Sammy and I went to Express and I bought me an awesome jacket I had been eyeballing (Thank heavens for sisters with coupons), and then picked up dessert at Celebrity Cupcakes!!!  We met the guys and kids at their apartment and spent a good amount of time bargain shopping online for our Vegas trip.  Tickets are purchased and we will be Vegas bound at the end of the month!!!! wohooohooo!!!  EXCITED doesn't even begin to cover it.

Danny took the girls over to his parents to spend the night with Alec since there is no school on Columbus Day, and I headed home, showered and watched an episode of Parenthood!  I just LOVE that show!  If you haven't watched it...I highly highly recommend it!!  GREAT SHOW!!!

After that it was bed time!!  I have been having some really crazy dreams - but I will not even get into that...I think One point of weirdness (Christmas wrapping in October) is enough for one week!!

Have a great Monday and in case you forgot or haven't been told lately....You are smart, important and loved more than the chocolate cupcake at Celebrity....and trust me when I tell you- THAT'S ALOT!!!!

9/80 Friday

I was off today and you'll never guess how I spend my day!!!  I dropped the girls off at school this morning and then headed over to the complete opposite side of town to Clearance shop at a Target (one of the workers had given me the inside scoop on some mark-downs).  I spent about 2 hours in the store making lists, loading items and unloading items from my cart, calling my sisters for input and then circling over and over to make sure I wasn't forgetting anyone or anything. 

After I was sure I had everything I needed (mainly due to the fact that my cart was filled to the rim and things were starting to fall out), I paid and left!

I came home, went up to the attic and got down two boxes that contained Christmas wrapping items and got to.....YES....CHRISTMAS WRAPPING!!

I started to clean out my from craft room and organize items I had purchased throughout the year and this morning and I started wrapping my Christmas gifts!!!

Now before you start thinking - This chick is crazy - that's it, I'm not reading her blog anymore (cause she is a tad too Loony); let me explain!!!

I have three sisters, 7 nephews and nieces, and 1 great nephew (is that what you call em?), Danny has 7 brothers and sisters, 21 nephews and nieces, 8 great nephews and nieces, plus we have cousins in our Limon family that are like siblings  and friends that we treat like siblings (you know the drill - they are invited to everything, and included in everything and so they are on all the lists - including Christmas lists).  Add to that our 4 parents (who Thankfully are all alive and strong and still on the lists), teachers, and neighbors kids, and my Christmas list (excluding my two children and husband) is currently 59 people long!!

To account for this massive list and not go bankrupt, I clearance shop year round and buy things at 70-90 percent off any chance I get!!!!

You should know - I try to never buy anything that isn't at the very least 50% off, and I just love love love to get deals at 70-90%off!! My Target deals this week were all 70% off!!!

After all my shopping this morning and unloading purchases from the year I was able to wrap and complete 32 of my Christmas gifts!!!!!!!!that's more than half!!!   WOHOOO!!!!!

I felt highly accomplished today!!!  Now we are headed to Friday Family class at Henderson's ATA, and we are gunna stay a little later for a seminar on judging. 

We are competing in an in-school tournament tomorrow morning...wish us luck!!!!