The Point of Thanksgiving

This last Sunday we were on our way to church. Vincent and I were talking about the fact that we were going to have to dip into our savings to fix my car and put new tires on it as well. We had other plans for that money but by no means would it take it all away. Just a little dip in it but we were complaining about having to use it nonetheless for things that we didn't want to use it for.
Then, in church, our pastor handed out index cards to everyone. He asked everyone to write something that has happened in the last year that we are extremely grateful for on it. I racked my brain: Vincent's promotion, Caleb's healthy birth, the tons of food and clothing that we are blessed to be able to buy, or the vacations that we have gone on....there is a lot to be thankful for. After we wrote what we were thankful for, a speaker went to the stage to give a story. At that moment, we just happened to glance down at our neighbor's card by accident. His gratitude for an entire year's worth of things that have happened? His answer: 4 pairs of Wranglers. I started crying and could not stop for awhile. Vincent and I complained about having to spend extra money that we had available for something that we had to have done and were lucky enough to be able to afford. On top of that we have been really blessed this entire year but we obviously aren't grateful enough. This guy had, for the entire year, to be grateful that he got 4 pairs of Wranglers. Wow. It really puts your life in perspective. Think about that for Thanksgiving. Yeah, it's kind of deep.

Other than that, getting ready for Thanksgiving. I am making the entire meal myself this year and I'm actually quite excited about it. Oh, and did I mention....I'M GRADUATING??!!! Yep, it's official. I am actually going to get my MBA on December 18, 2011. Wow. Took me long enough. I can't believe it's almost over. I will actually have time to myself. I won't even know what to do with myself.


Hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving!

Cruisin'

I know that till I graduate this semester you will see little to no blogs from me. It's just how it's going to be. Sorry.

So school is going good. I am on track to graduate on December 18. I will be sending out e-invites instead of card ones, just in case my grades don't go through. I am making a high A right now in Accounting but you never know what can happen. So probably a couple weeks before the graduation, I will send out the e-invite :) I am sooooo ready to graduate.

A couple of weeks ago, Vincent and I went on a cruse to celebrate our 4 years of marriage. It was a blast! It was just super nice to be without kids for a week- we didn't know what to do with ourselves! :) We went to Progreso and Cozumel, Mexico. We actually were at sea the same time as Hurricane Rina. It made our land days switched so that we could avoid the storm. It also made me incredibly sea sick. I was up in the middle of the night for a few hours puking and unable to sleep. It was pretty awful. But other than that, we had a great time. It was amazing how nice it felt to just do nothing.

We got back from our cruise just in time for Halloween. Since we were getting back that day, I hadn't really planned on taking the kids trick-or-treating but at the last minute my brother David and sis-in-law, Becky asked if we wanted to go to a trunk-or-treating at a church near them with my nephew Gideon. So I went through the attic and grabbed Tristan's old costumes. Tristan was a monkey again (the costume lasted all of 30 seconds last year) and Caleb was a snowman. It was adorable. I will post pictures.

We also had family portraits done. The first time was in downtown Dallas in the Arts District. To say Tristan was terrible is an understatement. Tristan was possessed by a demon. So we took a lot of pictures with just the kids, just us, or us and Caleb as Tristan just started refusing to stand still. Our photographer- the very best!- Heather allowed us to do it again- which was awesome and definitely needed! So we waited until after our cruise and this time we did it at the Mandalay Canal in Las Colinas. Those pictures were all family portraits and those turned out amazing too! Seriously both sets of portraits turned out great and we got a great assortment of family and "action" photos! Great job, Heather! Seriously, if you live in the DFW area and need pictures done, I would recommend Heather. She is a great price and she takes tons and tons of pictures and actually gives you back a majority (takes out the crappy ones- eyes closed, weird face, etc). I remember when Vincent and I got our engagement pictures done and the lady took like 500 pictures of us and all we got back was 12 pictures. It was ridiculous. But not Heather. She's great! E-mail me and I can give you her contact information, if you want it. I will post the pictures from the portraits at the end of this blog as well.

Also we found a super cheap contractor and have decided to stain the concrete on our floors instead of wood flooring. It's cheaper and looks just as classy. I researched it because I had to convince Vincent it wasn't trashy. Here is a link to a woman and her husband that did it themselves but it had some great before and after photos. It really does look great. I'll have you believing, if you're judging me too  :)
http://athriftymom.com/2011/01/update-on-diy-concrete-stained-flooring/

Nothing much else is going on except the chaos that is our life. I feel like I'm constantly going and these kids aren't even involved in any activities yet! Geez.....I can't wait to graduate and life will slow down at least a little bit!

Pictures:

 Cruise  

Halloween

Family Portraits