Happy Father's Day

Dear handsome Husband,

I wanted to do something special for you this fathers day, but I'm not very good at thinking of special things. I decided I would just write you this letter. I used to write you letters all the time. It doesn't seem like it was that long ago, but here we are. Both in our late twenties, with two amazing boys.
If someone could have told me 8 years ago that we would be where we are now, with our beautiful boys and our jobs and our home, I would have told them "Well, yeah! Of course!"
I knew from the moment I met you that we were supposed to be forever. I always knew that we would have this family. I knew we could do anything we wanted if we were together. I knew you were not only the husband I had always wanted, but the husband that God had always wanted for me.
This past year has been life-altering. In good ways and in bad. I believe though, with all of my heart, that we are coming out stronger because of it. I know that you and I can handle anything, because we really have handled so much already.
I am looking forward to taking on the rest of this life with you . I know there will be other hard times and I know there will be much much better times. God is good to us.
I want you to know that I am here to support you in every decision that you make as a father, a husband and in your career. We're a team and like I said before, together we can do anything.
I want you to know that I have a lot of respect for you. You are a hard worker and a caring human being. You put everything you have into your job and our boys. You play with them, you talk to them, you make time for them. They will always remember that. I am so grateful every day that my boys have such a amamzing father and that I have such an amazing husband and best friend.
You are the rock in this family. You are our support and our shelter. You are our everything and we love you more than anything.

Happy Fathers Day Ace 
Love, Andrea.

Well Hello There!

I apparently needed a little break from blogging after all of that NaBloPoMo business, eh?

To catch you up, it's been a busy busy month so far. Almost all of the Christmas shopping is done and then some. Some of the presents though, have unfortunately not made it all the way to Christmas. Namely, one beautiful NIKON camera given to me by my awesomely awesome husband man.



I haven't been able to stop taking pictures since last week when I opened it (completely against Ace's wishes, might I add.... but NIKON!!! SHINY!! WANT NOW MINEMINEMINE!!) and my children are now beyond sick of it all. The moment ZK sees me pull out the camera he either darts from the room or turns on that nasal-y whine that makes me want to claw my ears out.

Ah, well. Tuff noogies. I've wanted a nice camera for years and I'm not about to let a little grumpiness stop me from taking photos to my heart's content.




That's his signature move.






The rest of the Christmas gifts will definitely make it to their spot under the tree I promise. This one, though, is not leaving my sight. Neither are any of these toddlers, until I can get them to pose for "Just one more shot!"




Gah! Fine. Never mind.

Black Friday Adventures

Okay, so Black Friday. Now that it's over 48 hours later I really just don't feel like explaining all of it so I'll just give you some cute little bullet points instead.

* Toys R Us was stupid ridiculous. I'm sorry but I can't think of any other way to describe it. I arrived at 11pm to find a line that stretched almost 360 degrees around the building. I was about 2/3 of the way back but no more than 15 minutes after I arrived the line more than doubled. I am not kidding. There were police officers patrolling the area and it was loud and it was a frigid 47 degrees Fahrenheit. When I was finally inside the building it was as crowded as downtown Deep Ellum on a Saturday night. Probably even more dangerous with all of the bleary eyed soccer moms up at that hour fighting to get their hands on the last Zhu Zhu pet.

* My next stop was Kohl's and that went ever so much better in every way. I was one of the first people in line, I was able to get a shopping bag and I got every single thing I'd set out to get there while spending only about 25 minutes in line to check out. In comparison to Toys R Us, it was lovely.

* My third stop was actually a gas station. I'd been awake for about 23 hours by this time and I definitely needed a coffee refill, a bathroom break and some food.
I was able to get all three and it helped to wake me up a bit.

*I went to Target at 5:15 AM, purposely arriving late to avoid the whole mob-rush thing. It went just as well as Kohls and again I found everything I'd been looking for there. Target will always be my favorite store. I love my Target.

* Next I hit Walmart. OOoooh Walmart, I love you and hate you all at once. I was disappointed with the "deals" they were offering on their toys and most of the toys that I wanted to get there couldn't be found. The aisles were a huge mess and most of the doorbusters were just out on wooden pallets in messy piles after being rummaged through by the frenzied mob that had arrived before me. I don't think I'll be stopping by there next year on my Black Friday Route.

* My 6th and final stop was Once Upon A Child. I worked there for about 2 years back when I was fresh out of highschool and they always have great deals on Black Friday. By the time I got there I was beginning to feel dizzy with exhaustion and I knew I just needed to get in and get out. It didn't work out that way. I found my few things there and had to wait in line for about 35 minutes before I could check out.

By the time I left there, I was beginning to see double and I was feeling pretty shaky. I hadn't slept in 27 hours and I had had enough. I drove home, unloaded my loot and hid it safely. Then I crawled my delirious self into bed and slept for about 3 hours before Ace came in to tell me he'd picked up lunch.
I spent the rest of the day in a half-awake shopped-out stupor. It was not cute. All in all, I feel like it was definitely worth it. I saved a lot of money and really did have some fun chatting with the people I was stuck in line with and making my way through the crowds to find the right toys.
Next year I will definitely remember to get a good long nap in before I start shopping. That would have made a world of difference. Also, next year I'm going to try to bring a shopping buddy.

Anyone interested? C'mon, it'll be fun! Bring your good running shoes!

Under-Eye Bags Are HOT.

There's a really long, dramatic, exciting post just sitting up there in my brain waiting to be written. It's a post about my Black Friday shopping experience and how I WILL NEVER EVER NO NEVER AGAIN NO EFFING THANK YOU MA'AM attempt a midnight opening at Toys R Us on Black Friday.

That post, however, will have to be written tomorrow. I am completely spent. I ended up being awake for 27 hours straight and got a short 3 hour nap before reality called me back to my mom and wife duties. On the bright side, after adding up all of my savings today I saved almost TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS. In total I spent $360.00 which means I saved almost as much as I spent! WIN!
But, it is now 9:02 PM and I refuse to waste one more second of my time not sleeping. Now please excuse me as I attempt to drag my poor aching body alllll the way across the house and into my soft, comfy bed. I sure hope I can make it.

I Love Today

I love Thanksgiving. Love Love Love. I love feeling like I could show up to dinner in my Pj's and it would be completely appropriate. I love having a reason to just sit around the table with family to eat and talk about all of the good things in life. Most of all, I love having a day that gives me a reason to look at all of the positives in my life and to think about how grateful I am for all of it.

There was a ton of great food to be eaten, courtesy of my mother in-law and sister in-law (I'm not what you'd call a "good cook"....but I'm getting a lot better at it!) and best of all we had Kitty's famous Pumpkin Roll for dessert! My but that woman can cook.

I made sure the boys were dressed in their Dallas Cowboys stuff and Ace and I wore our jerseys today because the Cowboys always play on Thanksgiving. Before dinner, we all walked down the street to a little grove of trees off the side of the road to take some family photos.







Then we all walked back to stuff our faces.




Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Ours was lovely. I really hope yours was too.



P.S. I'm about to stand out in front of a Toys R Us for a midnight opening for Black Friday. Am realizing I may be much more hardcore about this than I first thought....

I Plead 4 Day Weekend

My workday is over. I have much lazing about with my babies and playing on FaceBook to get done before Ace gets home. I took this picture today as we were all running around the back yard getting muddy and stinky. We had a crazy fun day spent mostly outside and now it is time to enjoy the break to the fullest extent. Just a warning, tomorrow will probably be yet another photo post as I have to get my beauty sleep in tomorrow night before the big shopping day on Friday.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving, Internet! Remember, Calories don't count if it's a holiday. SHUT UP THEY DON'T.