Wordless Wednesday: One Year Blog Anniversary!

Too Many Pictures Tuesday!

At the Greek Festival trying to stay warm and entertaining me. Yes I feed my children so don't be concerned that they both easily fit into one jacket. They are so gansta Yo! lol

~ My Big Kids~

Lauren taking her contacts out for the first time ~11/23/08~
She isn't too excited about touching her eye. I warned her!
After a few tries, she got ONE out!
Her project board for science.

The Boy and I playing Jenga (sort of)

My Masterpiece! :-D Very small picture of the Boy & the Girl @ The Greek Festival. It was probably 68 degrees outside which means we are freezing! LOL

I cut the hair yet again and got subtle highlights

Out with the Gals like a month ago!

Ms. Chop and I

Steamboat before Ski Season....look how small I am.

During season.... Our ski trip is coming up January 23rd.

Trip destination is Aspen/Snowmass! YAY!

PS-Tomorrow is my Bloggerversary!!!!

Greek Festival and My Take on Twilight

~~~~~OPA!~~~~~

I have been saying for many years now that I am going to attend as many things that Houston has to offer...and in the past 6 years, I've attended one thing (AT LAST)..the Greek Festival! I normally attempt to go to these festivals but something always comes up, someone always backs out or I go on the wrong weekend!
We went to this year's festival and had a great time. The vibe there was FUN! By fun, I mean walking around and seeing 2/3 of the attendees walking, mingling and drinking their bottles of wine. Yes...BOTTLES. I loved it. You'd see couples lined up along the grass with their bottle. You'd see parents pushing baby strollers with none other than the BOTTLE of wine in the sippy cup holder...a bunch of fun loving wine lovers everywhere you turned. There was a good crowd, great music and of course awesome food. The weather turned out great for us. Everything was reasonable priced and we ended up riding the shuttle in, which was free and a great service. I had a good time and the kids enjoyed the music, dancers and food too.

TWILIGHT in Ten Statements:

1. Book was Better
2. Edward Grew on You (still more beautiful in my mind)
3. Bella was great...much like her book character..over dramatic but good
4. Special Effects could have been better (I know...it was a budget issue)
5. Jasper reminded me of Edward Sissorhands...it was great
6. Loved the Cullens (great cast)
7. Walked out the 1st time with about 30 minutes left....
8. Watched again on Saturday with an open mind and as if I hadn't read the book, and I enjoyed it a little bit more
9. The Boy & The Girl enjoyed this film (aimed more at their age group I suppose)
10. I am looking forward to next film (in hopes that budget will be better)
    Overall rating 3.5 out of 5 stars!

Thursday Thirteen: The Boy & The Girl

I was in desperate need of a new camera and I finally bought one. YAY! So now I can post pictures of my little man and lady! This is just a brief TT of what these two precious kids have been up too.

13. The pictures below are from when we went to go see Madagascar 2! It was opening day and man it was packed. We showed up for the 1:00 movie but ended up getting tickets for the 3:40 showing...2 showings later. The kids really enjoyed this movie. See how well they 'waited' in line. They still play so good together and just love each other so much.
They were pretending that Lauren had 4 arms and they were waving at people and just being silly. They crack me up.
12. They spent the weekend with their Uncle Kostas and "Auntie" Holly last weekend while I was in Denver. They so enjoy spending time with their family (and cousin Angel). Uncle Kostas now has 4 dogs (thanks to Holly's addition of 3) so the kids were in Doggy Heaven.

11. Lauren has been working on her first Science Fair Project with two other students in her class..they were going to build a volcano but decided to do a project on Making A Boiled Egg Float. She spent 2 days at Lauren E.'s house and I got to meet Lauren's Mom and oddly enough, her Mom's name is Laura too. Don't run into that every day. They had a lot of fun putting it together and spending time together outside of the classroom. I am very proud of their efforts. Lauren turned their project in today. I will post pictures at a later date.

10. Darren just finished testing TAKS and he feels pretty good about his efforts. I am sure he did fine. Unlike his mother he is a test taker...I always second guessed my answers and changed the correct answer to something else. Always felt like that first answer was TOO easy so it must have been wrong. Thank goodness he is confident with what he knows.

9. Lauren wrote a story for her Writing class and her story was chosen (2 were picked out of the whole school) to be hung in the library for display. She was able to meet a real author and have her picture taken with her. She was very excited about this and I am very proud of her. I have asked for a copy of the story so I can publish it for all to see at a later date.

8. While Lauren was working on her Science Project Darren and I had some one on one time. It was so nice to just hang out with him and talk. Now that he is in 7th grade I feel the need to be inside that little mind of his a little bit and I am very lucky that seems to enjoy sharing stories about his friends, teachers and other influences around him. We grabbed dinner and sat at the table and talked, after we ate we decided to play Jenga. He was such a stinker...shadow pulling after me. I won one game and he won two. Then we just started to play with the blocks and build stuff. I'll have to post those pictures tomorrow. Good quality Mother/Son time! I LOVE IT!

7. Over the weekend I am going to take Lauren to get contacts. She is a very responsible child and I think she will enjoy wearing them. She, like most kids, isn't a big fan of wearing glasses but she does and she has taken excellent care of them. I am so excited to see her again without glasses. The main problem is she has such a tiny nose and her glasses always slip down her face and she spends most of her day adjusting them.

6. Darren and Lauren have also started making their wish lists. I have been on them to do this because we have a lot of OUT OF TOWN family that likes to shop early and get their packages in the mail. I will get those lists out to you all over the weekend. *sighs* :-)

5. The kids and I have bought the last two seasons of Friends and we are now on Season 10. I love sitting down on the weekends watching this show with them. I think they like the show almost more than I do. Soon we will have to find another TV series to soak up.

4. We are looking forward to the holidays and we will be spending Thanksgiving with Grandma Rachelle and the gang. The boy and the girl always look forward to seeing all their cousins and eating grandma's cooking. Plus, I get to look forward to spending the holiday with Holly, who has moved here from Denver to be with my (ex) Brother In Law. They are so cute together. With her being here, it will feel like a part of me is home. It has probably been 15 years since we've spend Thanksgiving together.

3. We are going to the GREEK FESTIVAL Saturday with Sara and others. I am looking forward to this. Their grandfather is Greek so he will be proud that they will be taking in some Greek Culture and Food.

2. They are now Bus Riders again and have done a great job at getting up at 5:20 AM!!! Or whenever I quit hitting the snooze button to wake them up. They are great kids and just so easy for me. I am so THANKFUL to have such beautiful babies.

1. We are looking to go home to Colorado for Christmas BUT right now it looks like tickets to fly home are going to be around $420/per person.

Why is it that I just flew to Denver last week and tickets were only $188?!?!

That price in not exactly in my Single Mommy Budget! If not, we will spend the Holiday at home together and that could be fun for the 3 of us. More bonding and making memories of our little family.

Wordless Wednesday! Drive By Beautiful Colorado!

TWILIGHT TUESDAY: When You Can Live Forever What Do You Live For?

~TEAM EDWARD~

The Countdown Has Been ON and the time is ALMOST here!

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I am so ready to go see this movie. Yes, I have already bought my ticket. Thanks to my Life Coach sending me the link to purchase them online. She is still in shock that I did it that first day. Some might say I am known to procrastinate a little bit.

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So, I still haven't read all 4 books...I know I know. I can hear your gasps and sighs but I haven't set aside the time to do so. The important thing is that I finished Twilight in about 3 days, New Moon in about a week and I am almost finished with Eclipse. Then I will start on Breaking Dawn-very soon people~calm down!

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I am happy that I am going with a group of gals this Friday, I could use the friend support if you know what I mean....

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I have been reading some reviews online and I never realized how big this whole deal has gotten. I discovered that they have several websites for those who have been Bitten by this series. The one website that had me LOL was

~Moms For Twilight~

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Special thanks to Steph for raving about these books and nagging Nellie to read them....in turn having to hear Them BOTH yap about it and finally rubbing off on me. I have in turn spread the fever of this book to many. My little sister sends me text messages every time she gets to something interesting. I have gifted it to others for birthdays and simply badgered others to JUST DO IT!

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Come on Friday the 21st!

~CHEERS~

Heart Broken & Confused

I don't want to get into too much detail, but being this is my personal online journal, I had to write something down today that has been weighing down on my heart.

I was out of town over the weekend, a short but much needed get away. I came home Sunday afternoon only to discover that one of my dear friends had packed up all her belongings and moved away. Not a trace was left of her...not a forwarding address, not a working phone number, not even a good email address. I have been worried about this friend for some time now and have always felt as if I should do more to make things better for her. I guess even though we may have the best intentions to help a loved one (a friend or family member) we may not fully understand what it is they need help with.

I guess the part of this whole thing that breaks my heart the most is I NEVER thought SHE would leave without at the very least saying goodbye.

I have played in my head over and over, WAS IT SOMETHING I SAID OR DID? but I truly cannot come up with anything. I almost feel like I wish it was something I said or did because then it might make some sense to me.

I picked up the kids from their Uncle's house and headed to the store...the kids and I shopped for birthday gifts for her two children-because they both had recent birthdays and hadn't yet had a party to celebrate. I found the last 2 seasons of FRIENDS and bought them with excitement because this was something my friend and I would do in the evenings together and we were about to finish the series. Only to discover that she is GONE.

Now I am worried....worried for what she is going through. Worried about the state of mind she must be in, to leave without a call/a text or a short note to say Goodbye....to say, she had to leave. To say she'd call me to let me know when she arrives safely.

I WORRY.

I wish I could stop feeling responsible for this whole situation. I feel in my heart that I did what I could do to help a friend in need. She had a lot on her plate. Single mother, finding her career path, a dead beat husband/father of her children, financial struggles, self esteem issues. No matter what her struggles are/were, she was such a beautiful person inside and out to me and those who got to know her and I will miss her always. I can only hope and pray that she is okay and that she will find her way back home...wherever that may be.

Please pray for my friend...her name I will not mention, but please pray for her and her kids.

Thank you!

Thirstday Thirteen: Events

1. Started reading ECLIPSE

2. Got my Hair CUT & Highlights (YES AGAIN)

3. Looking for a NEW apartment

4. Cancelled my MySpace~due to an EX Friend {STALKER}

5. Bought a New Camera~Just don't know how to upload pictures yet!

6. New Blog Layout~I don't know how to sign on-I can't find the SIGN ON tab! Argh!
I had to leave myself a comment so I could sign into the blogger account to do a new post! LOL

7. A DAY @ the SPA with my Non-Stalker friend Nellie

8. Tonight I am meeting with my dear friend Chris for a drink or two
a. We are celebrating his promotion to V/P-Exploration
b. My Return to THE company
c. He has bought me some Logo Shirts to wear back on my first day-Nellie you'll owe me LUNCH-O

9. Girls Nite Out Friday w/Daisy and Company

10. Taking the kids shopping for FALL/WINTER clothes

11. Date with Russ

12. Taking Kostas to the airport so he can pick up my friend from Denver....she is moving here to live Happily Ever After!

13. Flying to Denver with Chris next Friday to see the house in Steamboat!

Wordless Wednesday: Me On Monday! Ahhh!

Get Out & Vote!

LET US PRAY!!

Dear God,

This election is in your hands. I beg and plead with you today that you will put the best leader in control of our nation. The leader who is a Christian and who lives his life based on faith and who has YOU in the center of his life. I pray that the man who considers our nation to be "Far from a Christian Nation" loses today. I pray that the man who isn't afraid to say "God Bless America" will prevail. The majority of our country believes that today will be a new day in history. That a new face promising change is the definite winner. I believe that today is going to be a shocking day in history. But not shocking because today will be the day of election for America's first black president. But shocking because today the nation will be rocked when your will is done and John McCain is announced as President. If anyone performs miracles it is you Lord. No one believes this conservative is going to pull this off. But I know that in your hands, it can be done. I pray that as people are out voting today, they don't vote for someone just because of color. That they vote for the man who has the experience and the heart to bring this nation back to its roots. That all of the traditions our forefathers fought so hard to put in place, continue on. That our Constitution is RESPECTED not criticized. John McCain knows America's foundation and respects her greatness. 10 years from now I want my son to be able to bow in prayer in the huddle with his fellow football teammates during a game and be proud of it! I want my son to know what it means to work for what he wants and to learn the struggles of what it takes to be a man. I don't want him to grow up expecting handouts, thinking the more he does nothing, the more he will get. I pray that today at the voting polls the morals and values that were instilled in us by our parents prevail and swarm our hearts leaving us with only one way to vote. I pray that people will not see this as an election of Republicans versus Democrats, but instead a competition between two men. I pray people have studied their pasts and have paid close attention to what they stand for, for the sake of our future. And make a decision based on that. You are my Father in heaven and you are the reason we are all here and the reason our country exists. I haven't forgotten to thank you for all you have given me and our world. I pray no one else has either.

In your name I pray,
Amen

Thanks for the prayer Nellie!