Busy Bee

So it has been awhile since my last post. I have been busy! I have been continuing with the boys' school. That takes up a lot of my time... well it is actually all the prep work going into each month that is the busy part. Mark and I celebrated our birthdays back in October. Had a family party with his family to celebrate. We didn't do anyhting special becuase we had a bad week that week and weren't in the mood to celebrate (long story still not wanting to share still =( ). Then there was Halloween which was a lot of fun. We went trick-or-treating with our really close friends in their neighborhood.

We have been spending time just as a family a lot lately. For Thanksgiving we spilt it between my family in the AM, then Mark's family in the PM. I spent a lot of time that day talking with my nephews girlfriend, giving her the lowdown on family dynamics and general chitchat. She happens to be the youngest sister of 3 guys I has in high school and band with so we have mutual friends. Unfortunately Mark had to work the day after Thanksgiving and then Sat morning =( which sucked but hey he got paid! It wasn't as if we were doing anything, especially going out shopping. I had to deal with that madhouse when I worked for Target. I will never go shopping that weekend. Plus the things I want to get are never whats on sale, so to me it isn't worht it. A lot of the deals are actual not that good and the best time is about 1-2 weeks after, thats when you get really great deals! A lot of the "winter" clothing goes on clearance so you save more money that way.

I have had a few "showcases" (Pampered Chef, Hush, Tastefully Simple, etc.) that I have attended in the last few weeks to "have bodies" there for my friends who have hosted. Haven't bought anything though. One of my closest friend's younger sister just had her bridal shower last week (thrown together winthin a week too) and I helped out by doing the games. She is getting married in a few days from now and I wish her and her soon-to-be hubby and the happiness in the world. They are a great couple and have known them for awhile now.

We have finally finished our Christmas shopping. I went to the local Dollar Tree on Wednesday and stocked up on stuff for the boys. A lot of puzzles and coloring book and workbooks for school. Pencils and crayons for Hunter and crayons for Jaxon. I also found some books I think they will like. I also got some candy for their, Marks and my stockings. Spent more than I thought, but then again I haven't been since last Christmas and I have been wanting to do a June run to find stuff for summer and prep for their "new school year". Then yesterday we finished up shopping at Traget for the "big" presents. Clothes, toys, few snacks that the boys were out of. Again spent a little more than what we had thought to spend, but Target has something about it that makes you spend more than planned. We still need to get my parents gift, a VISA gift card, so they can have a nice dinner out and a movie, since they are always stressing about money and never treat themselves, then you add in that it is a big thank you from us for letting us stay with them this past 1.5 yrs. Next up is Christmas Eve with Mark's family for Christmas and Mark's dad's 77th birthday (he was born on Christmas Day!). We have a big dinner and spend time together. Christmas Day will be with my family. Big dinner and relaxing. It is nice that we don't have to run around on Christmas especially since the boys just want to play with their toys all day. We might visit our friends too but it just depends how we feel. Then the next day is my high school band reunion at our old directors house. I have yet to go but I am excited to go this year. I will go by myself, Mark will stay with the boys, andI feel he might be a little bored since he wouldn't know anyone and all we will be doing is catching up and reminiscing, but I am going to try to convince my friend A to go with me.

I had 2 of my cousins come over on Friday to hang out and we also took them out to celebrate their birthdays (one is Nov and one is in dec). The boys had so much fun playing with them. I havent laughed so hard in a long time. I will miss the older one when she graduates hs this june and goes back east for college, but I will have the other one here still and hope to watch her perform in her hs marching band more! I have also been hanging out with A alot or as much as our schedules will allow. We had a Harry Potter movie party to celebrate the new one that came out, plus have had some girls nights out. I am also hoping to get my best friends from high school together again for a holiday dinner. I want to make it at least a yearly thing. I just need to see if we can get our schedules to mash up.

The biggest news for us is that I have gone back to school!!!! I am doing an online program through Ashford University (an friend from high school works from them and attends also and told me about it) to get my BA in Psychology and then from there I am going to go to nursing school. I am doing the BA firt because it is all online and since we still only have 1 car it works out better. Once I am done with the BA both the boys should be in school and we will have a second car so then I can go to classes when they are in school. I have just finish my last assignment for my 3rd week so I am free until Jan 4 when I start back for the 4th week of my first class (which last 5wks). There has been some adjusting and juggling but we will make it work. Mark has been so supportivethrough these past few weeks which just makes me love him even more.

Other than that life is moving along.

Time to get in the shower while the boys are asleep!

Bye for now!

SItes

Here is my friend's jewelry site. It is called Building Sky Castles .www.etsy.com/shop/BuildingSkyCastles

Here is the organic mineral make-up site. It is called Orglamix. www.etsy.com/shop/orglamix

Etsy

So I am startring to explore Etsy. I have a friend from high school who makes jewelry and sells it on Etsy and she has some beautiful stuff. I found another sight on Etsy through a Twilight fan fiction sight that sells mineral organic makeup. The stuff looks amazing! And this week on Etsy is Giveaway week. One of the giveaways is a 13pc set from Orglamix (makeup). Exciting!

Got2Relax: Raffle

My friend started a new blog. She is a massage therapist. Check out her new blog my followers! Got2Relax: Raffle: "To get things rolling... I'm gonna do a raffle! YAY! The winner will recieve a 60 minute Hot Stone Therapy Massage! You can be en..."

It's been awhile.....

So it has been awhile since my last post. Sorry guys, life has either been speeding by, super busy, or there is nothing going on to talk about. Let me see.... since the last time I posted, we have had a few birthdays, new friends, a couple of date nights, girls nights out, family and friend time and sickness for 3 members of our family. The big news as of late is Mark has a new job! He will be getting more money doing the same job. It is commission job but even on his slowest month at his old one he would make more at his new job. So we are very excited for this opportunity. With this new job we are hoping to be able now to pay off some of our things that we haven't been able to because Mark was making way less than what he used to so we had no money to pay towards some of our bills. I am shooting for after Christmas that we could be finally back on our feet and in our own place again. We are definitely getting itchy feet on getting out of my parents house, not that it is bad living here, we just miss having our own space and doing our own thing.
In other big news, Mark and I just celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary on Friday! His last day at his old job was Thursday and told his new job that he could start on Monday. So we had most of Friday together (minus a minor stop of his to his new work to finish his paperwork and meet the manager who just got back that week from 3 months off from a stroke). So we ran some errands (grocery shopping), spent some time with the boys, then got ready for our date. My best friend A offered as her "gift" to us to watch the boys. Many thanks to her, she took them to McDonald's, the pet store , then to the movies! They had a blast. Mark and I went to our favorite restaurant Gourmet Italia (as authentic Italian food you can get this side of Italy, the owner and chefs are from Italy!!) in Temecula. We had a delicious dinner! We started out with a Caprese salad (originally, I wanted Burrata (Mozzarella bundle filled with ricotta and strips of more mozzarella, drizzled with salt, pepper, olive oil and balsamic vinegar) but they were out), then moved onto our entrees. Mark had the Manicotti, and I had the Pasta Italiana which is a choice of spaghetti or penne pasta with either a tomato basil cream sauce or a garlic Parmesan cream sauce. I chose the penne with the garlic Parmesan cream sauce. So good!!!! Then for desserts we shared a Chocolate Truffle Mousse. To die for!!!!! We originally asked for Chocolate-dipped Profiteroles filled with Chantilly cream but they were out (of course!). But overall a delicious, romantic, filling meal with my hubby! We then went to my husband's favorite store Best Buy to browse while we waited for A and the boys to be done with their movie. It was nice to get away from the boys for a few hours and have am adult conversation and alone time.
Next up for us is my good friends M and P's baby girl's baptism on Sun, followed by a mini get-together at our best couple's house that afternoon. Then mine and Mark's birthday's are coming up. His on October 21, where he is turning 31, then mine the next day on October 22, where I am turning 27 (eek!!, but I am starting to be ok with it because I still feel like I am in my early 20s not late 20s). We have no idea if or what we are doing for our birthdays. Maybe get some friends together and do a mini party at a restaurant on the 23rd, plus also find some time to go see Mark's dad who wants to celebrate our anniversary and birthdays with a dinner or lunch or something with him.
Then we have Halloween where the boys are going to be Optimus Prime (Hunter) and Bumblebee (Jaxon). A wants to go with us trick-or-treating but we don't know where yet cause we either go with our friends B and E and their kids or go visit Mark's sister in OC and go trick or treating there. Plus we have Trunk-or-Treat at church coming up soon which will be fun!
Hope everyone is doing well. I am off to "inspect" the boys' room to see if they picked up their toys like I asked (I even gave them an extra 15min), if they haven't I told them I would take some toys away. Then it's nap for them and food time for me. Then school and lunch. Hopefully I will make it to the gym tonight to start getting back into it cause I haven't been in 2mon and Mark is telling me he will cancel it soon if I don't go eep! So hopefully I can get in there tonight and the next 2 nights and maybe do the elliptical for 30min. Wish me luck!!!

Almost forgot....

The day after the BBQ at Mark's boss' house, we spent a wonderful day having our pictures taken (formal posed ones to be sent off to family), a nice lunch (at Chilis, one of my fav places), and went and got Dippin' Dots. Luckily I had just had my hair done a few days prior by my wonderful stylist who happens to be my sis-in-law! I didn't have a nice white shirt to wear for the pictures (I tend to choose colors because, I don't like wearing white around the boys and their dirty little fingers =D ) so Mark took me shopping for a new shirt. I found a cute top at Target and it is one of my new favorite things (plus when I wear my earring/necklace combo that I got at the Balloon and Wine Festival, which is not my usual style of simple and "streamlined", I feel very chic wearing it lol). So below are our new updated family pictures. I think we are going to do these around this time of year and still have my brother take the "action" formal pictures at the end of the year. Gives me and Mark both something we like and that our family will enjoy as well.

Updates

So I have been a little MIA on blogging. I have just been enjoying spending time with my family.
I believe I last blogged about Jaxon's birthday. Well the following weekend was Memorial Day. We didn't do too much. We hung out at the house, watched movies, played with the boys and went swimming over at one of my high school best friends house whose was only in town for a short time. I made some BBQ chicken and some other fixings for Memorial Day. The following weekend I was able to go to the Temecula Balloon and Wine Festival courtesy of my good friend A (which I am so thankful that she did that, and still continue to thank her for). I have never been and I'm not a wine drinker so I was looking forward to this new experience. I had fun, took lots of pictures, tried some wine (still not a wine drinker), and had some nice girl time. Then on June 12th was my friend M's baby shower. It was her first and she was having a girl. So excited for her. We have been friends since high school, we worked together at Target, and have stayed friends through the years. It was a wonderful "girly" shower with no boys or kids allowed! It was great to visit and have some time away from my boys for a few hours.
The next weekend was Father's Day. That Saturday we made a trip out to Fontana to visit with one of my cousins (her sisters and mom were out of town) and my uncle. The boys had a blast and I enjoyed spending time with my cousin and we have a lovely dinner of pizza and laughter. On Father's Day, we hung out for a little bit at home, went to breakfast, made a trip to Target (for Hunter's reward for doing so well going potty), then we made a trip out to San Bernardino to visit Mark's dad. The following weekend we went to a pre-4th of July BBQ at Mark's boss' house. The boys had a blast, but I was a little out of my element. I felt like it was the first day of school and I didn't know anyone. It was a nice BBQ, but I didn't have as much fun as I thought as I was going to have =(. 4th of July weekend we didn't do anything special. Just hung out at home (sensing a pattern here?). But when it was the boys' bed time I went into the bathroom to get the boys something and I heard fireworks going off and looked out mine and Mark's bedroom window and to my surprise had a nice view of the Temecula fireworks. So Mark and I held the boys so they could watch the fireworks.
Those were the most exciting adventures for the whole family. Me and the boys have had a few "play dates" with my good friend A, where she came to rescue us from the house (no car) and we went to lunch and the playground, got ice cream. A and I also went and saw Eclipse on July 3rd. It was so awesome! I loved it! I have also been going to the gym anywhere from 1-3 nights a week (one week I didn't go at all cause I didn't have my workout partner with me) with A and 2 days with Mark who use a guest pass I had, when A went out of town. Mark and I had a dinner "date at my friends M and P's house. M(she was the one with the baby shower I went to) had her baby girl 2 weeks early. So we went over brought pizza and ice cream and hung out. Helped out with the baby to give M a little break. It was a good night. A and I plan to go and help out M a few times over the summer with the baby.
Mark's job is going well. He has really caught the eyes of some of the upper management in a great way. There has been some "trouble" with other people in some of the other shops so we are hopeful that some might open up to be management position and Mark will get it. But there is no telling when or if this will happen soon. We are definitely getting "itchy" still living with my parents. They are wonderful and have been great with having us here, but Mark and I want to have our own place again. We are just taking it day by day, but it doesn't look like we will be out of here anytime soon, unless a big promotion comes his way. We wouldnt mind some prayers and positive thoughts our way. We know we are trying to stay positive. I have been trying to have Mark get back to being more involved with his church because I know it is important to him. Timing and energy hasn't worked in our favor on going to church (I am not a religious person, but I am willing to go with Mark for support and look out for the boys so he can at least enjoy the service). He had a recent meeting with his bishop who happens to be a family friend and he said it went good and we are going over for dinner on Sunday to the bishops house, which has always been enjoyable (the bishop and his wife have grandchildren who are the boys age and they have so much fun playing with them, plus we are friends with some of their kids, who I happened to have gone to school with).

That is all for now. I will try to update soon, maybe on Monday after our dinner at the bishop's.
TTYL!