TGIF

1.
Add Spoiled but Not Rotten on FB.
It is fabulous!
Maybe even my favorite site right now...
Deals. Deals. Deals.
On clothes, shoes, toys, diapers, etc....
and just in time for Christmas!

2.
Lance put in a request to move to days.  (6-2 rather than 2-10)
He knew it was a stretch since they were sent an e-mail a few months back that transfers were on a freeze.
And since 2 other people on his shift had been denied the move...
But it was worth a shot.
Wednesday night, he got a call from his sargent.
Request: APPROVED!!
It will not go into effect into November, but I can not tell you how excited I am!!
This was an incredibly sweet move from my husband, because if he were to get completely honest with me-- this was for me, not him.
He loves the people he works with, he loves the officers that he works under, and he is really respected with his crew.
I know Lance hates change, and I am sure he feels like he will have to start all over to get the respect he has on nights, but like I told him-- he got to where he is by himself.  No one got Lance the position, no one knew anything about him when he started.  He is training other officers and considered a go-to-guy because he graduated top of his class, he works hard, and he is dependable.
He will do the same on days.

**But the awesome part:

• We can have dinner together again!  You have no idea what a loss that is.  We have breakfast together now.  But I can not wait to eat dinner.  As a family!
• He will be home by 3:00 everyday-- and rarely anything happens before that!  He can go with me to weddings, parties or anything else that we are invited to that starts after noon.  (which is everything) 
• Holidays.  I feel like he will get more out of them.  It will feel like more time together.
• Cookouts.  We love to have people over to grill, but Lance's schedule doesn't allow us to do that anymore.  Now we can.
• Together, we will be able to get Maddox on a "normal kid" sleep schedule.  Right now Lance doesn't get home until after 11:00, I am on call most nights until 11:00-- our clock is a little shifted in comparison to the rest of the world's.  But with a baby coming-- a normal clock is perfect timing!
• Lance can keep the babies when I go back to work.  Mom keeps Maddox 2 nights a week for me now-- but if we have to  move back into our home in Haslet, there's no way she will be able to do that.  (not to mention, an almost 3 year old plus a newborn is too much to ask her to do while working a full time job)  I probably will continue to work my Saturday mornings... and mom and I will just have to figure that out once it comes.  I know my Nana has offered to help too-- so between everyone, I think we can get it taken care of!

3.
We are going to my parents tonight to eat, watch the Ranger game and my SIL is going to do my hair!
[Oh the perks of your hair dresser being a family member.]
We are making cheese enchiladas, beef enchiladas, tacos and rice and beans....
This preggo chick's mouth is watering just thinking about it.
ummmmm.... MEXICAN FOOD!
I am so stressed about the Ranger game.
I hope they win.
I love Josh Hamilton.
I love that they celebrated with Gingerale on his behalf.
It made me cry.
Watch Josh Hamilton's I am Second story.
I love I am second.
http://www.iamsecond.com/#/seconds/Josh_Hamilton/

4.
I believe in miracles.
I hope that doesn't become a statement that haunts me in some way.
But its heavy on my heart and I thought I should share.
I believe in miracles; prayer begging, God willing, science not-following, jaw dropping miracles.
I love to hear stories of them... it keeps my faith alive, it gives me chills, and it makes my heart smile.
I seriously have heard 5 or 6 separate ones over this last week, and I just wanted to say it out loud.
You know, in case sometime in my future I am down and out and Lance is about to pull the plug...
Call my Aunt Missy, and have her pray over me-- (she's a crazy-miracle believer too) and then everyone believe too... or leave. 

Here's one of the stories I saw:
http://www.cbn.com/media/player/index.aspx?s=%2Fvod%2FSAF13v5_WS

5.
Our fall party the other night was a blast, but leaving the front and back door open for better air flow was a big mistake.
There are 632 flies in my house and I do not have a fly swatter.
I would hang one of those disgusting sticky fly things at this point, because I am about to pull my hair out.
I need a malaria net to protect me and my boy.
These things are gross.

Oh, and the cupcakes:
Maddox is willing to break his neck to get to them!
He's a sneaky one...

That boy!

Autumn harvest

Tuesday afternoon, while heading to Walmart for groceries, I had a splendid idea... "Lets invite over our family for dinner and to decorate pumpkins tomorrow night!"
Lance didn't think many of them would be able to make it, with it being in the middle of the week (and a school night for my oldest niece and nephew) but since Wednesday nights are really the only night that Lance and I can do anything, we thought it was worth a try.
We knew my mom and sister could make it, so even if that's all that came, it would still be a good time.
But to our surprise, most everyone was able to make it!
Jenn, G, Landry and Dane came

Weeder, Randi, Ellie and Gunner.

Our BFF's Wendy and Pepper came too, with their kiddos Cooper and Madi.

My sister had class, but she somehow wiggled herself out of there early and her, Karleigh, Jesse, and Jennifer showed up too, pumpkins in hand!

And even Papaw came.  (David is out of state on work, so he missed the festivities)

This next picture makes me laugh, because I said to my brother, "me and mom both sported our leggings tonight, get our picture!"
(we could be naked from the waist down and you'd be none the wiser-- I think he missed the point!)

For dinner:
I made chicken and steak kbobs, wild rice, fresh carrots and potatoes in mushroom gravy, mom made her yummy potato salad and homemade mac'n'cheese... (thankfully mom came down and cut up the raw meat for me! I made a good attempt, but couldn't stop gagging long enough to get anything done!) AND she actually made the rice for me too, now that I think about it!  Lance grilled burgers and smoked sausage too, so  there was quite a variety!

Mom made a pineapple upside down cake, Allison and Wendy brought cookies, and Randi brought mini cupcakes.

I made these caramel apples, but we forgot about them until most everyone had left.  :(

After dinner, we went pumpkin crazy!

 Here are a few of the finished pumpkins... (L-R: Randi, Jennifer and Karleigh)

Allison's was a super-cute skull and crossbones, but apparently she gave up on it since I found it 1/2 finished on the back table this morning.
Wendy's and Jenn's were probably the cutest, but somehow I missed the photo-opp on both of them. :(
Mine was suppose to be a scary castle... it just looked like a scary mess!

The younger kids played, more than they messed with the pumpkins, but they had so much fun together.

Maddox crawled into my lap tired and whimpering last night after everyone left... He was saying, "I miss my Elwie, I miss my Dane and I miss my Weeder!"

The boys stayed by the grill or the tv..... which is why this is the only picture I have of Lance!

All in all, our fall night, was a complete success!!
I hope everyone had as much fun as we did...
If anything, it proved to me that we need to get the cousins around each other more-- they had such a great time together!!
...And with our new, exciting news-- we should be able to more often! ;)

A couple random thoughts:

1. I think this fiesta was the only thing that would light a match under our hineys enough to get that back room finally finished and put together, the yard mowed and porches cleared, and the final boxes that we have had no place to put, stored away in the shed... So the party ended up as a 2-fer, but our house is finally in order and I am sooooo thankful!
2. I would love to thank Randi and Karleigh for washing all the dishes last night and putting my kitchen/ house back in order.  I can not tell you how much I appreciated that!
3. I still feel sick that Maddox broke Ellie's brand new $18 headband.  Sorry Randi.
4. I think it is funny that I am surrounded by creative girls... my mom, Randi, Jenn and myself all enjoy being creative, and personally-- I think we are all good at it too-- we should put our minds together and get rich somehow!!
5. My toe (that Gunner dropped a 72 pound rock on) and my head (that Dane threw a football at 72mph) both feel great today! :)
6. I was annoyed because I only had enough room on my big camera for a few pics since my card was full... but I didn't want to delete any either because I haven't backed them up to my external hard drive yet.  And my little camera died, mid-party.  :( I took some on other people's cameras, but of course that doesn't help me here! -- but I guess the 634 I posted were plenty!

there's the bump

Friday night, as I put on my nightgown and got ready for bed, I realized there was a little something new on my body.
A bump.
A real pregnant-looking bump!
I *hoped* this was end-of-the-day bloating.... (since I had a wedding for one of my best-est-est friends from high school Saturday evening.)
I already had an outfit picked out to wear, and a bump would not be welcomed in it....

But morning came--
and it was still there!

Dr. Deem told me that my uterus was pointed towards my back and at some point my baby would be to big to keep going backwards and I would wake up with a bump...

[She wasn't lying.]

So after work I ran around Ridgmar looking for something to disguise my new body.

**Easier said than done.**

I'm not big enough for maternity clothes yet, but this lump-of-love still just looks like I have no self-control at the dinner table!  So, finding a cut that didn't touch my midsection was incredibly difficult.
At times, I thought about throwing myself on the floor and crying.... but I refrained!
I am not a fan of shopping alone so I had to text my mom pics...
Her and I do not always have the same taste, but she was major help!


Me:

Mom:  no to black top, yes to plaid.
Me:

Mom: no
Me:

Mom: yes!
Me: Of course, this one is over $100. :(

Together we decided on this one:
[A $60 dress, on sale for $40. Deal.]  

Because this:

Concealed this

Well enough!