How gorgeous are they?

How lucky and blessed am I to have these beautiful, smart. and amazing kiddos? I am feeling a bit sappy today, and very blessed. Looking at these two sometimes I am just amazed at how life works. They are both such sweet, and individual people. They are so different, but they have a similar kindness in them. Having been home with them all summer, and now they are back in school, I miss them! With monkey starting high school, and midget growing up so fast I wish I could push pause....

News....

So we have big, exciting news. Midget got called to be an extra on the tv show Revolution!! We went Friday and she got fitted for her costume. She will be a townskid at the Halloween festival. Monkey was upset he couldn't go, he wanted to be paid:) She's giving him 10 dollars, so he's happy. Monkey has freshman camp on Thursday:( So sad he's going in high school already.... I think he's excited to go though. The school is huge! I don't know how he isn't going to get lost in there. We get to find his classes after the camp. Hopefully that helps. Busy week here!!!

Drive-in Movies..

When watching the old movies from the 50's, people looked so happy at the Drive-in's. So when I saw we had one here in Austin I though, "How fun!" Well, there are the way you picture things going in your head, very Donna Reed is how I pictured it. I did not take into account the 99 degrees it was outside, how late it was, and how you couldn't keep your car running with the AC. It was so hot!! It was fun though, and I would go back in the fall or winter when it isn't so darn hot. Neat idea, maybe a better date night, unless you have a truck maybe where everyone can sit and be comfy. I think the heat ruined it for midget, and my liite man was more interested in the movie after than the one we saw:( We'll try again when it's cooler:)

It's been a while...

So it's been a while since we've posted on here. We've had chaos, renting the house, moving to a beautiful city, and getting settled again. I would say we are settled now, and loving it here. We are only 3 hours away from "home", so we can still see our family when we want to. That is nice. The kids absolutely love Austin. It's so pretty with the hills, and all the parks. Midget has made her usual friends, and has settled into her new dance school. We had a bit of a disaster at the first one, it was Dance Moms in real life! The ladies were not friendly at all, the girls were very catty. So we moved to a new studio and hoped for the best. It is great, thank heavens! The owner was so sweet when we stopped in, and she goes out of her way to watch out for cattiness. Midget even gathered all her nerve and tried out for the schools competition team, and made it! She's got a long way to go, but this gave her the boost she needed to give it her all again. So proud of her!! Now to sell some kidney's to afford it:( My little man, turned 14 a couple weeks ago. That was rough! He is starting high school in a few weeks, can someone please stop that? I am in no way ready for it, and neither is he. I don't think it's sunk in how important high school is for his future. Hopefully this new program AVID he got in will help him out. Toughlove is what it is going to be i think. He's got some nice friends, one is so annoying, but is really a good kid. The kind who comes in and makes himself at home. It's good to have those friends:) Hubby is settling into his job, it's boring for him i'm sure. Political drama abounds again i'm afraid. I guess that's what grown-up jobs have. He's loving his jeep though, and driving off-road. I prefer the desert so it offers some cushion if something happens. These rocks scare me! I'll try and get back in the habit of posting. I tried to be handy yesterday and made my own dish tablets and detergent. A friend posted the recipe and I thought I'd give it a try. I love the laundry soap so much! It makes a ton, it's alot thinned than the ALL I usually use. The smell though is so nice, it's soft and not so perfumy. Love it! The tablets are being tried out now, so I hope they are great too. Since a bad of them is nearly 8 dollars, I couldn't pass up the chance to try. Here's the recipe for the soap: http://www.onegoodthingbyjillee.com/2012/02/no-grate-homemade-laundry-soap.html Here's the tablets: http://www.onegoodthingbyjillee.com/2013/04/make-your-own-dishwasher-detergent-tabs.html Here's some pics from the past few months, the kids have grown so much! So I have to share this. The Spiderman hoodie he has on... We are in Hot Topic, a scary store if you have little ones. They do have some cute t shirts and Dr Who gifts. He looks at it and says he likes it. I though, strange, but Ok. Are you sure??? Oh yes, it's awesome.. So I go back to get it, it's sold out. I order it online, and he gets it for Christmas. He then claims he was joking.. I think he had a friend make fun of it or something. Anyway, he makes fun of me for getting it, gives me so much grief. It's now a big joke in the family, if someone likes something, really? Are you sure it isn't a Spiderman hooodie? And he know gets something Spiderman something for every holiday, and he will for the rest of his life! He loves his Spidey underwear for his bday, I made sure it's so soft he couldn't resist it:)

Growing up...

So in less than a month my little boy is going to be 13 :( This is killing me... Not to mention he is full on acting like a 12 yr old about to be 13. He's still one of the sweetest boys i've ever met, you just have to catch him at the right time now :) He's sleeping in, and playing games all summer. I would be bored, but he seems to be loving it. He's taken on a new job though. Rather than paying the yard guy 40 bucks a week to mow, we've now bought a lawn mower and are paying him 25 dollars a week. He doesn't complain one bit, and he's doing a fabulous job! I'm just so proud of him. Dad is watching, making sure we lose no toes. And i have to say kudos to my husband, for being supportive and biting his tongue on the few "spots" that got missed. :) \ Sunday was father's day. We got dad a few gifts, and enjoyed doing the yard with him. I think he actually did enjoy it as we were all out there together. Midget even sweeped up the grass, now that's teamwork. And by the end of the day monkey was back in his comfy spot, in his favorite robe. But he added a new partner, they were playing Minecraft together :)

Oh Pinterest...

How I love thee.... but how you are a blackhole of time!! I can sit down to look up one thing, and then find something else and then an hour later.... I think my hubby thinks it's a bit odd. I can go on there looking for the recipe for dinner, and then i'm calling him over to show him a watch he might like :) Well, see honey the lady who pinned the enchiladas also had a pin for these shoes, and that one had a pin for birthday ideas and then that one had a neat picture of a beach scene, and well they happen to have a whole board of watches... geez it's simple ;) I've been finding all kinds of neat stuff though. One is these handmade wands. Midget is loving harry potter since we read it recently. She had a wand from her bday my mom got her, but it's not something fun she made. So i think we will be doing this. http://browse.deviantart.com/artisan/?q=tutorial#/d389bn0 We've found all kinds of fun things to do. Plus i found some really cute things for monkey's bday to make him feel special :)

Loving my little man...

So with monkey being 12, going on 25 he is wanting to hang with his friends more, and play games. I get that. So the moments when he sits and chats are so much more special. I do have to admit we've been crazy busy, and every time i take the time and sit and talk, he wants to talk. So it's neglect on my part too. But sometimes he amazes me, and i just want to hug him and squeeze him and put him in a jar to keep him like this forever. That sounds creepy, i don't mean it in a creepy way :) I love, love, love poetry and reading. I've always been a book nerd, and poems were really the first things i remember reading and thinking wow, that is so beautiful. So i remember in 3rd grade memorizing Emily Dickenson's poem this is my letter to the world. He had read it in school, so he wanted to talk about it. So then he says they were reading Edgar Allen Poe. I think, dark but I love him too. So I just had seen a play of the tell-tale heart. It was the neatest thing, but so creepy. They had it dark with red lights, and the heart beat throughout the whole theater. He wants to see it :) Can you tell we were looking for papers today and came across baby pictures? I'm just a wee-bit sappy.... Not to mention field day for him. None of the kids wanted to go??!! There was a line to pick them up early? What's up with that? Granted it was hot, and didn't look all that fun, but it's field day....