braces

*For the past few years we have been cable free at our home. It's just an expense we decided wasn't absolutely necessary. It has never been a big deal until the Christmas season rolls around. I miss my Hallmark movies. :( Sadly I won't get to see any this year since the only time I watch is when we are at my in-laws (and we won't be spending Christmas there this year). Luckily my MIL always saves them for me so they will eventually get watched, even if it's in June! Ha!

*On Wednesday Chris took the kids to a movie and then I met them for dinner. We tried a new pizza place that was ...eh...so, so. But the company was worth it. ;)

*I recently took both kids for an orthodontist appointment. Surprisingly Cameron is still in a holding pattern and isn't ready. But Kendall? She's good to go and we have her X-ray appointment this week. She is OVER THE MOON excited. :)

*We let the kids eat dinner in the living room while we watched the election coverage on Tuesday. Kendall wasn't too enthused. Cameron was more into it...mainly because of all the fancy graphs and huge charts we were being shown. :)

*Cam and I recently checked out the latest Harry Potter book. It isn't quite as relaxing to read. It's written in play form, so I have to change it as I read it to make it flow. It's still fun to be back in Potter world, though. :)

*I really can't emphasize how much of a mood boost Christmas music is during my workday. I sit down to type a report and as soon as those earbuds go in, I'm set!!I was also super excited that our local radio station (103.5) started their non-stop Christmas music this week!

weekend

We had a nice, low key weekend. On Friday night I joked with Chris that I felt rather pathetic considering I was really excited for our Saturday morning plans, which consisted of breakfast at Panera Bread and then grocery shopping. Normal things...but fun with my family. :)

That night we dropped the kids off at my parents and went out to dinner with some friends. We got home and changed all the clocks to prepare for what we knew would be Cam's 4:30 wake up. Ha!

With the extra hour yesterday morning, I had time to make breakfast, with leftovers for the kids' school snacks this week.

Oatmeal-to-go Pumpkin chocolate Chip Muffins

My version: I cut back on the sugar in the actual recipe, but drizzled a little powdered sugar/milk mixture on top. The kids loved them!

 

After church we headed out to the desert. First stop, Barnes and Noble. Cameron is obsessed with Peanuts cartoon books and spent our entire time reading one he found. 

 When we got home, I had to snap a picture of Kendall's activity IN NOVEMBER. Love this weather. What is that pose??? :)

halloween

*Hiker and Spiderweb girl at Cam's Taekwando Halloween party.

*Taking the piggies trick-or-treating!

*Waiting in the doc's office for Chris to be seen regarding the allergy stuff. The appointment was sadly a little fruitless, but on the positive side of things... today was his first full day without hives. Hooray!

 *This morning was a "verge of tears" start for me at work. Very overwhelmed. Instant mood boost? I gave myself permission to start listening to Christmas music on my Pandora. It's early. Don't judge. :)

our weekend

We've had a fun and not so fun weekend. I'll start with the fun:

Yesterday Cam and my dad went for a hike at Wildwood State park. I opted out as we have a big one planned in a couple of weeks and I just wanted to be at home this weekend.

While they were gone, Kendall had a, "Lego/Donut/Pajama" party with the quad girls. When we got back from dropping Cam off, the girls came over and they "partied" with their Legos for the next six hours. :)

That afternoon, Kendall had a birthday party for a friend at school.

 John's Incredible Pizza buffet...always a hit!

Now to the not so fun part. Last Tuesday Chris noticed he had a slight case of hives. Two Urgent Care visits and lots of steroids later, he is STILL struggling with this and we have NO clue what he is allergic to. He ended up at the ER this morning because it was so bad and while they are convinced it is allergy related, that doesn't help us. We have changed our laundry detergent and body soap, but we are SOO baffled right now, not to mention discouraged. How on earth do you narrow down a sudden allergy onset when NOTHING has changed in your diet or environment?? :(

The kids and I played the game of Life this morning as we waited for daddy to come home from the ER:

hyatt

Yesterday morning I left for another conference. While it was helpful and I learned a lot, I missed my family. But I must confess that spending the night at the Hyatt Regency Newport Beach wasn't exactly terrible! Here are some pics I texted to Chris while I was there. I realized after I went back through these that they were mostly of food. ;)

I had a per-diam for each meal, which allowed me to splurge and get room service (a first ever!) I felt quite spoiled. :) Dinner was accompanied by some King of Queens reruns. Cable is always a treat at a hotel.

 Again, not the worst place in the world to stay!

As you know, every single night I have a Skinny Cow for dessert. This was a nice substitute.

 This morning I didn't have to be at my session until 9:15. Starbucks and my favorite magazine (Allrecipes.com) was a nice start to the morning.

 A few weeks ago Chris had a craving for Claim Jumper cheesecake. I decided to surprise him with a piece on my way home.

I didn't text this to Chris since he saw it in person, but I just had to post this. Kendall wrote me a note the night before...

 the next morning...

Sidenote: We've been reading devotions lately about giving things to God. I had shared that sometimes I get nervous about meetings at work. She must have thought my conference would be anxiety inducing. :)

what a week

Today was a very low key day, which was much needed. This last week was one of the hardest I've had in a long time. Work is hard. I'm bringing home a lot. The kids don't notice, but I have felt much less "present" (such a trendy word, but it fits best). I'm not sleeping great. I had two really stressful IEP's in one day.

Chris has been wonderful, but I have felt badly because the amount of tears I've shed this week probably set a record.

So that was my week...but it ended better than it started and the weekend started out on a perfect note... with a great night's sleep. So here are a few things we've been up to:

*Our library held a baking contest today. Kendall decided to make Gingerbread Men Cake Pops. We started the process Thursday night by forming our pops.

This afternoon was the big contest. While she didn't win a prize, we were so proud of our little baker!

*I'm really enjoying, This is Us. 

*Chris designed some really cool shirts for his Crossfit gym.

*On Thursday Kendall wasn't feeling the best. I ended up going to pick her up early and surprised Cam by getting him as well. I got them a Redbox movie on the way home. It was sooo nice to have an afternoon off.

birthday

*The past couple of weeks have a been a little hard (hmm..maybe a lot hard) as far as the working mom thing. I've needed to bring work home more and have had cases that are difficult and stressful. Yesterday I got back from a two day training in L.A. It was a fascinating training (we were trained in an assessment to diagnose Autism), but I found myself a lot more homesick than I normally would be.

This is my teammate, Barbara. She is a Speech Pathologist and together we assess all the incoming pre-school kids. We were excited here because our hotel had free refreshments/drinks in the evening. I rarely if ever drink. The calories  + money are never worth it to me. If I'm gonna spend $8, give me a piece of cake. :) 

*I wasn't able to go to Cam's belt testing since I was gone, so Chris sent me a video. How awesome is my little guy doing his breaking technique?

Watch Cam!

*Today was Chris' birthday. We made him a special breakfast and then he went golfing. While he was gone, Kendall made him a special cake. I had already made his favorite (German Chocolate), but she insisted on making her own.

*Tonight Chris chose The Cheesecake Factory for his birthday dinner.

The kids love it because there is a great outdoor area where they can run around.