Halloween celebration at Mother's Day Out...

She was so proud of that costume.

Check out her bracelet!

You'd think it was real pearls.

Bad blogger

I have been such a bad blogger lately. Things just get hectic with kids and the changing of the seasons and such.

I have eight shows between now and Christmas and it is likely to kill me, but at least I'll have some cash in my fanny pack. LOL. Speaking of fanny packs, have I told you how much I hate using one, though I'd hate losing a bunch of cash even more?

Miles gets to wear her costume to Mother's Day Out Tuesday, where she will trick or treat around the building and enjoy a pizza lunch. How sweet is that???? She is going to be Aerial and Lola will be either Snow White or a ladybug, depending on the weather. The ladybug costume is really warm, so it has to stay cold for that one. Miles wore the ladybug for her second Halloween. Miles has been a flower, a ladybug, a bumble bee (I sense a pattern those first three years LOL) and now Aerial. Lola was (sadly) nothing last year. She slept through it all. I was so worn out from my surgery that I just didn't have time to think about a 5 month old's costume. I am sad about that but I'll make it up to her with two costumes this year! One good thing about having two girls...they can share clothes/costumes.

My, how they grow up so quickly...

I normally hate commercials...

Saturday night, while bored, I decided to do something that I had meant to do for a while. I took a few minutes to go to a talent agency website in Nashville and submit an application for each of my children. I uploaded pictures and waited to see if they were accepted.

On Sunday night, I received an email saying that both had been accepted and that I would be contacted in the event of a possible job. Tonight, as I got ready for bed, I checked the caller ID. I don't know why; I was home almost all day! Anyway, there was the name of the agency staring back at me.

I hurriedly checked my messages. There was one from them! Expecting them to simply be checking in, welcoming me or such, I listened anxiously. Imagine my disappointment when I heard the lady say that they wanted Lola to come in at 4:30 for a St. Thomas Hospital commercial. How I missed the call is beyond me, I was at home! Grrrrrrr! It was short notice BUT I had only registered them the day or two before.

From now on, I will be watching that phone like a hawk. LOL.

Six years

So tomorrow is my sixth anniversary. Sometimes it seems so strange that so much time has passed. I have a hard time remembering how detached I really am from college life and irresponsible living.I guess it sort of reminds me of Green Day's lyric, "I hope you had the time of your life." I did. And I am sooo thankful for that. I learned so much in that time frame. Yeah, I learned some super hard notions. I also just learned a lot about people. Looking back, I can't help but praise the LORD that I didn't fall victim to a serial killer or something. Then again, I had the greatest group of friends to watch out for me.

• I learned that no matter how much you think you love somebody, they might be gay. ;) BUT that you can love them just the same because they are worth soooo much more to you than what you wanted them to be in college.
• I learned that no matter what you learn in psychology, people will amaze you with their abilities to be psycho while hiding it (not talking about the same person here!)....and how to screen their calls.
• I learned that Krystal chili pups minus the weiner are NOT something you should eat if you have had a little too much poison...cause they burn coming back up.
• I learned that people have no clue who is really pro-choice vs. pro-life, much less people knowing themselves where they'd stand if in those shoes. (Friends go through a lot with each other and know each others' secrets.)
• I learned to never say never.
• I learned that you can't let a psycho b-word to come between you and friends over your husband. (I stupidly let myself feel weird around mutual friends who make it a point now to ask why the heck I acted like they wouldn't want me around anymore just because I found an awesome boyfriend/future husband.)
• I learned that you should always check and make sure that the friend's car that you are driving doesn't have expired tags.
• I learned that money isn't everything, the hard way. My parents' had some bad business deals/investments that left me a little less spoiled and it was hard. But I made it...
• I learned to never trust a DIVA to protect me from an impending tornado. LOL CASEY!
• I learned that the guys that make the biggest deal of themselves are really the guys who are up to their eyeballs in debt paying for everyone's drinks.
• I learned that Natch taste as good as anything after the first few.
• I learned not to report your car stolen until you are SURE it was stolen.
• I learned that friends do not replace family.

One time for the Lo-Leo, Just ride it, girl.

Lola loves to dance. LOVES to. If you can classify head bobbing and dropping it like it's hot as dancing...

Just give her some tunes and she's a supa-dupa-fly girl. Who remembers the original Missy Elliot CD from college?? And the ol' Ford Probe?? I DO!! LOL.

God sometimes I miss those days.

Ok, so....

I started on a thyroid medication on Thursday. Ashamed as I am to admit, I had gained 25 pounds in a very short time span (just a few months!!). I recently found out that I had a low thyroid. Ok, I just want you to know that in the first two days of the thyroid pill, I lost 7 pounds and gained a ton of energy. Woo Hoo!!!!

Dexter

My new favorite show is Dexter on Showtime. It is soooo good.

Exhaustion, part deux

As of last night, I felt like I was doing a lot better. Much less exhaustion and more energy. Then came today. I was wrong. I straight up thought I might fall right out in the floor of Lowes today because I found it so hard to keep my head up. What's up with that??

So on Saturday, I met up with Kirby and Joyce. Their kids are super cute, and it was nice to hold them, though little Don cried for me. :(

None the less, the weekend flew by much too quickly and now I am already anxious for another one. Poor Phil has been sick with some degree of a cold and headaches.

Exhaustion has set in...am I a celebrity or something??

For the love of God, I can't seem to get enough rest or sleep now that we're back from vacation. Seriously. I just want to sleep for like 15 hours straight like I could in college. My kids are sleeping like logs every time I put them in bed, too. Suh-WEET!

This weekend I'll be getting together with a couple of old friends to meet their babies. I am looking forward to that. Otherwise, I am looking forward to the slowness that a weekend is SUPPOSED to provide. I say supposed to provide because weekends often fly by around here. i think part of my exhaustion comes from the fact that for three straight weekends before our trip, I had shows. This means getting up super early and lugging a bunch of tables, mannequins, display, etc., around, standing all day selling stuff, packing it all back up and then unloading it at home. At the end of the day, you honestly feel like you have not rested in days.

OK, well, it is off to bed for me! Sweet dreams, little blog readers.

Forgot to mention...

OK, so there were a few negatives to our trip that I forgot about...LOL

I left me Aveda universal styling creme at home, thus the minimal pics of me. I had cheesy hair the whole trip. I avoided posing for the pics. LOL.

I also had bad allergies for the first day adn the last day. Other than that, it was the bomb. Can't wait to go back...

WDW report!

Oh. My. god. It has finally come and gone. Walt Disney World! With a four year old and a 16 month old. Our trip started out crazy, with the drive from Murfreesboro to the airport taking us just under two hours. We arrived at our gate for our 9:55 Am flight at 9:22 AM. Here is Miles on her first flight ever, and Lola and Phillip on Lola's first flight ever...

It was amazing. Our resort reminded us A LOT of Opryland Hotel. It was very comfy and convenient. The first night, we headed to Magic Kingdom where we had dinner and rode Dumbo. Dumbo was on "the list". Miles had been waiting to ride Dumbo for months, so we made sure to do that a million times. We also looked around a lot. We caught the end of the parade from Frontier Land. Then we headed over to the castle. WOW. We didn't even begin to realize the wow factor of our spot. We were right in front of the castle. Literally. Thousands of people stood behind US! I actually took the pic below. It isn't a postcard!

On Friday, we started the day at Cinderella's Castle for a royal breakfast. It was lovely. (Surprisingly, the food was all really good throughout our whole trip.) Miles and Lola met all of the main princesses and got autographs and photos. We headed back to Dumbo that day, letting them ride in their dresses, I do believe. That night we went to Downtown Disney for browsing and dinner. Here is the kicker! At the dinner table...Lola started crying out, no indication why...until about 30 seconds later with no warning gags or anything, she projectile vomits like five times right at the table. The next stop was to buy her something to wear. LOL! We got her a precious tshirt. We did some walking and stopped for frozen lemonade by the water. Then off to bed it was!

Saturday, we headed to Epcot. We did lunch at Le Celliere, the Canadian steakhouse. Great experience! Above is the picture of Miles and her birthday dessert. We went to the pool that afternoon. I was so proud when Miles went down the water slide all alone. I caught her at the bottom. The intent was for me to hold her all the way down, but when we got to the top of the stairs, we learned that they do not allow that. Boo. Anyway, she came through like a champ. Loved the pool! Lola was hilarious. Phillip got in with his phone in his pocket, so I have to see about getting a new one from Cingular. LOL. I think we ended that night at Magic Kingdom, riding Small World, Dumbo and Peter Pan's Flight...

On Sunday, we headed to Chef Mickey's character breakfast. After that, we took the girls to Animal Kingdom. This was really cool. It is a hidden plus to WDW. I didn't realize that there was a DinoLand area that was great for kids. We rode a dinosaur themed version of Dumbo and took an African safari tour. A bit later, we went back for naps and then went to Epcot for dinner at Coral Reef. This was full of drama. We lost a stuffed kitty cat that we had just gotten the day before and it set the tone. Throughout our meal, the little boy next to us was jumping on the booth and kicking the back of the booth. When they left, Miles decided to run over to his spot and jump. On the third bounce, I was up out my seat, telling her to get down immediately. At the same time, a random server found it appropriate to lean over a rail and reprimand Miles directly for jumping on her seat. Oh. No. She. Di'n't! Sadly for her, oh yeah she did. I was already in the process of telling Miles that jumping around was unacceptable and she (the server) caused a scene, drawing the attention of all tables around us, included the upper level. Quote: Excuse me? I am in the process of disciplining me child myself and it is absolutely none of your business. (She then interrupted me, saying it was a safety issue.) me: I suggest you mind your own business. The server then came and sat down at the booth with me, actually sitting right next to me, leaning right into my personal space to try to explain why she did that. I said something to the effect of the previous statement and told her to leave me alone. (Phillip had taken Miles out of the restaurant already.) It was terrible. We left and watched the fireworks at Epcot. Monday was back to Epcot for part of the day with lunch in Italy. We went back to the room in the afternoon and had a babysitter come stay with the kids from 6 PM to 11 PM. Phillip and I went back to Epcot to finish the World Showcase alone. Later, we sat at the River Roost until almost 11PM. That is the piano bar in our hotel. We just needed to chill. We also went to the general store in our hotel and browsed.

Tuesday AM was Magic Kingdom one last time. We rode the carousel twice since Lola loved it so much. We got the last minute shopping in, a few souvenirs we';d put off picking out. Later we went back to the airport, completely oblivious to the air traffic control snafoo that had wrecked havoc on flights. Luckily, ours was not messed up. We had lunch and flew home! Home sweet home! The girls are currently sleeping like babies!

MOPS

Tomorrow is the first day of MOPS. That is Mothers of Preschoolers, for you uninformed people. LOL. It is really fun. Two Fridays a month, it last from 9:00 to 11:30. You check your kids into childcare and go to a meeting with other MOPS. They have a breakfast buffet, a speaker, a discussion time, a fun crafty project, etc. It is such a nice break. And all of the childcare workers have background checks. This is a huge plus.

One week

Exactly one week from this moment, I will be walking around Disney World with my babies and husband. I can not wait. VACATION. Time to get away...

Is it totally dorky to use one of my checked bags as a box full of snacky foods for the room? Remember, I am taking a four year old and a 16 month old. I will need lots of fruit snacks, nutrigrain bars, etc. And sense we are staying at a WDW resort and booked through WDW, we get our luggage picked up for us without any effort on our part. I am packing snacks. Lots of snacks.

last night

Last night reminded me soooo much of college and sitting outside of the fraternity houses during parties. These cool September nights always get me every year! Awwww. The memories. Good and bad. I wouldn't trade them for anything.

WDW

Only 12 days til Disney!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I could just die! I can't even fathom what it will be like to experience WDW as the parent watching her own child live a magical experience.

Speaking of magical experiences...Wednesday night at church, Miles was so stoked. They had a magician for the AWANAs kickoff.

Next week...

My line will be in Leslie's Shoppe!! This is so monumetal. Thank you, Lord. ("God Bless you, God!" this is an inside joke...to BB8 fans like Casey)

so here I am....

still up at 2AM when I have to LEAVE at 7 in the morning for a show. Typical me!

My big girl isn't a baby anymore...

PSS

September already? REALLY? Where did the summer go? I am not complaining, as I hate the heat so much I can't even put it into words. Well...I could...but you get my point. I love fall and spring. Those are my favorites times of year. I also love the holidays but my favorite seasons are the mild ones. Anyway, it will be Christmas before I know it. It will also be a year since we moved. That is just nonsense. I still have boxes that need to be unpacked. [Sigh.] That's what happens when you move with two babies. You don't have time to unpack.

I am just really looking forward to fall nights on the patio, wagon trips to Food Lion and long sleeves/layers. (Layering clothes and long sleeves that are too long are my two favorite looks. I don't know why I like the sleeves too long.)

PS

So this week I have to call Lori at Reeves Sain to see when she wants me to come in for our meeting about my jewelry line! YAY! Wish me luck...