12 Days of Christmas-Day 2

12 Days of Christmas-Day 2
Day 2: Black Friday/General Shopping Tips & Tricks

Hmm...Black Friday my only tip or trick is don't waste your time unless there is an awesome deal that you just can't live without. And you better be there at the crack of dawn (which most crazy people are) I have actually only gone shopping twice on Black Friday. I went once with my friend Valerie. We got up at the crack of dawn, got some Starbucks and headed out. We were crazy. I got a few good deals, but not anything SPECTACULAR that I could not live without. Honestly, the best part about it was spending time with a great friend:)

The second time I went I was 4 months pregnant with Lily. That may be the reason for the bad experience. Thats all I have to say about that tip!!!

So, my tips are:

1)Don't go when you are pregnant...you will be miserable

2)Save your money and time and go another day!!!

12 Days of Christmas-Day 1

Day 1 Christmas/Holiday Traditions

I am going to actually try to stick with this one in hopes to make my blog more interesting:)

Kane and I have always tried to spend Thanksgiving and Christmas with each family. When we moved to Las Vegas, we would spend Christmas with friends. There was a few years that we came back for the holidays and of course we would make time for both families.

Now that we live here in Texas, we spend both holidays with both families. The way Kane and I do it is, we trade off each year. For example, the first year we will spend Thanksgiving Day with his family and that Friday. We will spend that Friday evening and Saturday day with my family. Most of the time it works out that way.

For Christmas, we will spend Christmas Eve with Kane's family and then Christmas with my family. We try to spend either a few days leading up to Christmas or a few days after with each family. Most of the time it will work out this way. Then the next year we will flip flop.

Now, that we have Lily, it is more important to me that we spend quality time with her. She is still young, so we do still try to see our family, but eventually there will be a time that we have Christmas at our house with our family.

Here is Lily on her first Christmas Eve

Lily on Christmas Morning (Dec 08)

When I was a kid, I do remember my mom baking all kinds of goodies the night before. I want to start that same tradition with Lily.

Here is Lily making cookies last year at my parents house.

I don't have many Christmas/Holiday traditions. I am looking forwarded to starting many with Lily and Kane.

Now you go link up and do the 12 days of Christmas Challenge:)

Hubs and I

I saw this on Amanda's blog over at My Life in the Making . I loved getting to know her and her hubby since she is a teacher friend of mine, I thought it would be fun to do too. I hope my 3 followers enjoy getting to know Kane and I!!!

1. What are your middle names? Mine is Marie and his is Benjamin Kane...yes he has two:)

2. How long have you been together? We have been married for 9 years and 2 months. We were together for a year before we got married.

3. How long did you know each other before dating? We met on my 19th birthday, which was September 12th, we started dating that following January. So, about 5 months.

4. Who asked who out? He asked me out. He actually asked me out many times before I finally said "YES"

5. How old are each of you? We both had a birthday in September...I turned 30 and he turned 33.

6. Did you both go the same school? No on both High School and College. I went to UNLV. He is starting back at Lone Star College.

7. Are you from the same home town? No...he is from Paris, Tx and I grew up in the military. I call Killeen, Tx home.

8. Who is the smartest? I have to say him:)

9. Who majored in what? I majored in Elementary Education and he is going to major in Political Science or Criminal Justice...he is unsure right now.

10.Who is the most sensitive? That would have to be me hands down!!!

11. Where is the farthest you two have traveled together as a couple? We went to Jamaica for a belated honeymoon in 2005. Loved it:)

12. Who has the worst temper? That would be me again hands down:(

13.How many children do you want? I want just one more. He only wants one, but we will have one more!!!

14. Who does the cooking? I do majority of the cooking. Since he is laid off he has been cooking for me:)

15. Who is more social? I would say me. I enjoy hanging out with friends and family, he rather stay at home and hang out with Lily and I.

16. Who is the neat freak? That would be me again...I get that from my mom:)

17. Who is the most stubborn? Hmm...I think both of us are stubborn at times!!!

18. Who wakes up earlier? He used to get up before me, but now I am up before him!!

19. Where was your first date? Oh gosh...it was probably to a restaurant. I don't remember.

20. Who has the bigger family? I have one more sibling than him, but extended family...maybe him...not sure on this one!!

21. How do you spend the holidays? We usually only see one family on Thanksgiving. We alternate each year with families. For Christmas, if we spent Thanksgiving with Kane's family then we will spend Christmas Eve with Kane's family and Christmas with my family, vice verse. We always try to see both families for a few days leading up to Christmas or for a few days after Christmas. Other holidays, just depends what everyone is doing!!!

22. Who is more jealous? Neither of us is!!!!

23. How long did it take to get serious? Well, Kane and I had many ups and downs before we got serious. When he went off to Iraq the first time, I decide to take a break, when he came back I wanted to take things slow again. From that point it was probably about 1 month when we got serious about our relationship.

24. Who eats more? Haha...I say him, he can eat!!!

25. What do you do for a living? I am a teacher. He used to work for Baker Oil Tools in their Test Lab Facility. Now, he is stay at home dad:)

26. Who does the laundry? We share it!!!

27. Who's better with the computer? Me

28. Who drives when you are together? We both do:)

29. What is your song? "Amazed" by Lonestar. That is our first dance song. When he went to Iraq the second time, I heard this song at a George Strait concert and just balled my eyes out when I heard it!!!

Now its your turn my three followers:) Let me know if you do it so I can learn all about yall:)

Update on Us

Well, its been a crazy year so far...school year that is. It is my fourth year teaching and I finally feel like I know what I am doing. That is crazy to say, but I taught 2nd for two years and then was moved to third grade. I always thought my third year would be the easiest year. But with being moved to a new grade level and that grade level being a TAKS grade I put alot of pressure on myself to do well. I had a great year last year and I was looking forwarded to this year. So far, it has been wonderful. I am comfortable with the material and I am actually enjoying every minute of it:)

It's been even a crazier year for Kane and I. The beginning of the year was not very exciting. This summer Kane and I started making some big changes in our lives. He was very unhappy at his job. Therefore, we decide that he needed to start pursuing other careers. We put our house on the market in September in hopes that he could join the Navy. Well, the house hasn't sold yet, so the Navy thing not sure its going to happen:( That's okay...he has tons of other options out there. Well, just recently he was laid off:( Now, he stays home with Lily while I bring home the bacon...haha:) Just joking!!! He is going to take this time to find the job that he wants. He has many leads already on a few jobs, but we do not want to jump into anything until he makes sure that is what he wants to do!!! So, we shall see where this adventure takes us. In the meantime, our house is still on the market and I am picking up tutoring and selling lots of SCENTSY!!!

Here is a few pictures of us in the last couple of months:

Lily at her 1st Astro's Game (August)

My surprise Birthday Dinner (September)

Jennifer, Isabel, Me, Anabel, Amanda, and Wendy

Lily at a pumkin patch in Dallas. (October)


Us at the pumkin patch in Dallas.

Lily as Jessie for Halloween. She loved this costume:)

Well that is what we have been up to the last couple of months. Nothing to exciting, just alot of changes in the last couple of months. I am a strong believer that everything happens for a reason and one day we will know that REASON!!!

Our First Getaway!!!

Kane and I had our first getaway without Lily. I have not spent one night away from daughter when Kane and I went on our little getaway. We went to La Torretta Spa and Resort. They are in the process of redoing it, so it still needs alot of work but it was really nice to just layout and enjoy spending time with Kane!!!

Here is the resort from the outside.

Kane and I laying by the pool.

Playing some putt putt golf.

That's me making it in the hole:)

As you can see...I BEAT Kane!!! Whooh:)



Our View from our room...not a bad view, at least we could see Lake Conore!!


We had a great time away. We were able to enjoy ourselves without having to tend to Lily. I missed her like crazy but we had a great time and I think she had a BETTER time spending time with her Aunt Wendy, Grammy and Papa!!! I can't wait for us to have another getaway!!

Mini-Vacation to my Parent's House

I am finally getting around to posting mine and Lily's trip to my parent's house. Lily and I left on Monday to head that way. They live in Mansfield so its about a 3hour or so drive.

Lily on the way to my parent's house.

Lily playing a video game after we got to my mom's house.

On Tuesday we went to Hawaiian Falls. It is a local water park. It's not very big but it was big enough for Lily and Aidan to have a great time. I went down a few slides too:)

Lily eating lunch.

Lily playing in the water. She had a great time!!

My nephew Aidan eating his lunch.


Close up of Lily!!!



Mommy and Lily!!

After a day at Hawaiian Falls we took a lonnng nap and then we played outside. Lily loved my parents dog Rocky!!! One of these days I want to get Lily a little dog:)

Lily playing in Aidan's truck.

Thursday I went to Kane's sister house to drop off Lily for the weekend. I left on Friday to go back home so that Kane and I could enjoy our very first weekend getaway. It was nice to just chill out and not have to tend to a 2-year old. I missed her alot...but it was GREAT!!!

My LATE 5 Questions Friday!!!

I am a day late...but I was at school ALL day yesterday!!! After school I came home and took a 3hour nap:) O-well its okay!!!

1. Are you a neat sleeper or a messy sleeper?
Yes I am...Now that we finally have Lily out of our bed...I can spread out like I want too!!! After being married for 9 years...Kane is used to my sleeping habits...I haven't hit him yet...but I usually do end up with a leg or an arm or two over him:)

2. Fill in the blank. I wish I was more....decorative. Meaning I am not very good at it when it comes to interior design. It took me about two years to pick my kitchen colors because I could not visually see it. My living room only has a mirror and three crosses on the wall...I still haven't painted in here. Lily's room was ALL Kane's idea!!!

3. What is something that you wish you had been warned about? Hmm...that is a hard one. I can't really think of anything that I wish I was warned about. I am a big believer that everything happens for a reason. You learn from your mistakes, so I think I would not want to be warned about anything because it may be life lesson that I may need:)

4. What was the best thing you ever found at a garage sale/flea market?
My friend and I went to a flea market in Las Vegas...and they had some fake Coach shoes... I think I paid like 10bucks for them!!! They were fake of course but hey they were cute:)

5. If you could have any meal brought to you right now, what would it be? Its not a meal but I would LOVE LOVE some Starbucks right now!!! Kane is actually on his way right now going to get me some:)