Holidays

Christmas Tree 2016

A lot of people will have an opinion that is not favorable for the fact that we put up our Christmas tree, but that’s okay. We’re happy and we’re still very excited to celebrate Thanksgiving. And also, my big thing is to make sure that Tbug is involved with decorating our tree. I always want her to feel included and this is a way that I make it a point…. So 2 weeks ago, yes 2 weeks ago we put up our Christmas tree. No, I haven’t forgotten about Thanksgiving!

Anyway… We actually bought a new tree at the end of last year. We went out the day after Christmas and actually found this tree at Lowe’s. It’s so friggin cool. So it is prelit but there aren’t cords you have to plug in together to light it all up. Instead once you place this piece to that, the plug in is in the tree base itself. Very cool. Only bad thing is there is not an easy way to get light to our tree topper, but it doesn’t fit anyway… hit the ceiling so we left it off. I do believe it needs a topper but I’m not sure what to do just yet.

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Horse ‘n Around on Halloween

After we went to the Trunk or Treat at the hospital, Abug and I met up with hubby and Jared and went down to our campground where we ride horses. They were having a Halloween shindig called Horse ‘n Around on Halloween (I think that’s what it was called anyway… lol). There was also a Costume contest and a Chili Feed. Jody brought JP down with her and we dressed the girls up, but we didn’t get any pictures of them in the costume parade. We then took them back, dressed them back in regular clothing and went for the Chili Feed.

Normally I don’t like chili but they made some without beans so I tried it. I must say, it was good. Part of the reason I “don’t like chili” is I ate a lot of it as a kid. I kind of burned out on it. That and we made it so spicy that one bite and your lips were ON FIRE. This was mild and really hit the spot!

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Halloween

Picture overload! Jody, her kiddos, my kiddo, and I went to a trunk or treat done by a local hospital. Then there was Halloween. Abug had the best time and this is really the first time she’s gotten the concept of Halloween. She had a bucket, said Trick or Treat, and Thank you. We missed a few of our friends, for that I’m sorry, but now… picture overload :).

And they’re off

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It’s a Pumpkin Carving Party….

Why I call it a party I have no clue!

The end of September I happened to be at Sam’s and they had these big pumpkins for $8.88. I couldn’t help myself and had to buy them right then and there. Don’t believe me how big they are? Look at the picture of hubby carrying them below…. One of them we weighed for the pumpkin carving and it weighed in at 25lbs. When I found them at a greenhouse down the road, they would have been $50 or $60.

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A Maize Maze… also known as a Corn Maze

So far, every year we’ve made it a point to take Abug to a corn patch; this year was no different. The funny thing is we’ve gone to a different one each year… but we may have found the one we’ll continue on with… maybe. The one we went to this year was pretty darn awesome!

But let’s back up just a bit. I made it a point we NEEDED to go either this weekend or the weekend before Halloween because otherwise we had too much planned and wouldn’t make it, so we went the 15th.

We met up with Jared and Karen for lunch that day and then went to Exeter, MO, via Rogers, AR. We ate lunch in Neosho, drove to Rogers, and then headed to Exeter. Sometimes our crew doesn’t always make sense, but we decided to go to the Williams Sonoma down in Rogers before heading to the corn maze.

Abug slept all the way to Rogers. When we got out, daddy grabbed her and her diaper leaked all over her skirt and his shirt. Yuck… lol. Don’t worry, I got some on me too. Luckily this is a shopping center so he ran to JC Penney for a new/clean shirt, we cleaned up in a bathroom, and then went to Crazy 8 to get the buglet some new clothes. Whew!

From there we headed to Exeter and that’s where our story really begins :).

We got there and bought our armbands. Abug grabbed my arm and immediately drug me to the zipline. Sadly she is too little for the zipline so off we went to the slide. I’ll bet we spent most of our time at the slide, but we convinced her to leave the slide and go to the little tricycle track for those 8 and under. She still hasn’t mastered riding a tricycle so daddy walked around the track with her.

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Labor Day 2016

After such a taxing weekend, we decided to Monday we were going to relax. Just take time and do nothing. Or else, go swimming, that works too.

Abug got to play with Karen’s new puppy. She may or may not claim the puppy as hers. lol.

I was a little bit of a weenie in getting in the water. I’m a warm water person and this was 83ish˚. Brrrrr! So I sat with my feet in the water and played fetch with Sisco and Pete for over an hour.

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Once a Gorilla

As they say, Once a Gorilla, Always a Gorilla.

I hate to say it but I’ve taken more pride in being a gorilla these last couple of semesters than I did when I first started out on this journey. Sad, now it’s over. There were a few things I wanted to do that I didn’t, such as attending a football game (while a student). But I guess we all have regrets now and then.

I would say my biggest regret right now, not being more excited on Graduation day. Why you ask? Well I was waiting on results for comps and I was afraid that I didn’t pass which meant I didn’t technically graduate. I felt like a fraud and a phony. I also wondered in the back of my head if because I felt that way and was afraid I’d regret the feelings, if I wouldn’t actually pass comps. I did on both accounts… I also think I owe my family an apology because while they were extremely excited… my guilt took over and I kept saying, “I’m not real sure I graduated…”

That morning we got to the school early. I wanted to take a photo shoot, kind of like “senior” photos. It didn’t turn out exactly like I would have liked. Oh well… I still got some good photos. I wasn’t taking them, hubby was and I couldn’t convey what I wanted. Sad how sometimes you see it in your head but can’t get it in words.

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Mother’s Day

Since becoming a mother, I’ve not had a normal Mother’s Day yet. With Tbug I never got to have her Mother’s Day, although her mom did share her a couple Mother’s Day mornings. With Abug, I’ve had her the whole day, no questions asked! but still have yet to have a common Mother’s Day :).

This year proved no different. I actually got my Mother’s Day present the day before because it was a graduation/Mother’s Day present. I got a Nikon AW130 underwater camera. It’s awesome! I had the AW100, but this one goes further down and it has built in wifi. Very cool!

We bought our Mother’s presents so we made sure to pack them up in bags with tissue paper and take them around to the mother’s.

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Easter 2016 Recap

I have always wanted to be that mom that decorates the house up for every holiday, etc etc. I fall short most days. I’m not sure there is time for that when you’re in grad school! I was lucky to remember that it was Easter weekend. Friday I studied for round 2 of comps and by the end of the day I was totally fried. I face planted on a bench and laid in the sun doing absolutely nothing. Oh wait… that was on Saturday, see I couldn’t even keep my days straight. I swear, Grad school is fun. Someone told me that if you’re working on your PhD and you’re married, you’ll probably be divorced before you graduate. Sadly I think I could see that although I’m not anywhere near being divorced right now. But if a PhD program is worse than a masters (which it has to be) then wow!

Okay I’m done rambling. Easter I took a bit of a break. I got up Sunday morning and we went to Church. It was Easter. It was the day before Comps. It all sounded good!

When we left church, it was time to go to my parents house. Abug had fallen asleep on our way there so I got her in the house and laid down on the couch with her and took a short snooze until I passed her off to hubby. It’s fun to have baby snuggles/snoozes.

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