Here are our family pictures we took this summer while at Cory's parents. It was Cory's idea to do Tennessee orange... I "unfortunately" don't have a Tennessee orange shirt.

Happy Holidays

Happy Holidays! And yes those are now bright blue tinkerbell boots, I can't get her to wear anything else.

Well we got a little bit of snow, and it made Madeleine very happy. Though now it is all melted, which now makes me happy. We had to buy her some new shoes as her Dora boots were just too smelly, so I finally got rid of the bright pink dora boots... only to be replaced with bright blue tinkerbell boots. She has her own personality thats for sure.

We bought a new/used car. So we'll see how it does on the drive up to NYC for Christmas to see my parents. Its a Hyundai Santa Fe, so more space than the sentra and hopefully more reliable.

The Face Book, And The Joys Of Cars

I'm not sure how Emily convinced me to sign up for it, but she has powers that others do not have. So I did it. Signed up so old friends could find me. Guess I can't take it back now, and so my internet addiction continues.

Yesterday our car died. I had dropped Madeleine off at her speech school, went to the office to turn in rent, and boom car won't start. The maintenance guy was really nice and gave me a jump, and I was able to get the car back to the apartment, barely. The alternator broke, to the point that after I got the jump and started to drive away... the car wasn't getting enough juice while driving that I was inching to our apartment.

I then called Cory and since his school is only a few blocks from Madeleine's school, he walked over and Madeleine and him rode the bus home, while I waited for a tow truck driver for the car. Madeleine cried that the car was broken, but very excited about the bus. I guess she talked to the bus driver the whole time.

Mechanics said the earliest they could get to the car would be Thursday, course that was 3 days earlier than the other places we called. Welcome to Tennessee I guess? I'm always surprised when we call and something needs to be fixed they will take a few days before they get out here.

So our only car is in the shop. Cory and I are wondering if its time to start thinking of other options, since it seems to keep having problems. But on the other hand, at least it isn't like last Christmas Eve when the car broke down at 4 p.m. We were at least able to get it towed, but no mechanics were open to even take it till after the holiday. Maybe I should have said that AFTER Christmas Eve... since that is still a possibility.

Hmmmm.....

December... already? Well better late then never right? Here is a picture of Madeleine in her Tinkerbell costume. And yes that is her with camo pants and her pink cowboy boots. Everything is Tinkerbell right now. The K-mart near us is going out of business so I was able to find a few things on sale. Madeleine got terribly sick again with an ear infection and Cory has his first final tomarrow.

I went to my sisters in North Carolina for Thanksgiving. She did a fantastic job for dinner, and we all had a lot of fun. Thankfully Aiden got along with Madeleine, and Stacy was nice enough to let us bring our dog. I got to see my friend Emily and her 2 little ones. I only wish I could have stayed longer to do some serious hanging out. Maybe I'll have to head back out there before both their husbands finish school this next year.

I feel like we've been super busy, but I don't have much to report. We are getting ready for Christmas. We bought our first tree this year, just a small fake one... but better than nothing. We are planning on going to my parents for Christmas, where my sisters Heather and Stacy will be there with their families.

Is Trick-or-Treating Dying?

Well We've had an interesting week and a bit. Madeleine came down with a fever Last Monday. Wednesday morning the fever was gone, but there were little blood spots on her pillow from stuff that had oozed out of her ear. Needless to say I took her to the doctors office as soon as they opened. She had an ear infection and bronchitis. I feel awful that it had gotten that bad, but she wasn't complaining of any ear pain, and Madeleine has only had one other ear infection when she was not even a year old.

So she is on 3 different medications that she has to take twice a day. She is being great about the medicine, and seems to be acting better. We go back to the doctors tomorrow to make sure she's healing correctly.

With Madeleine being sick we missed some of the Halloween parties, but we figured its ok there are lots of kids in our apartment complex Halloween night should be fun. Well unfortunately there weren't any trick-or-treaters and most the people we tried didn't have candy to give, and then I looked in the parking lot and realized that most the cars where gone.

So we put us all in the car and drove down to her school and went trick-or-treating at the houses down there. We saw some trick-or-treaters, but I even had some of the home owners ask where all the trick-or-treaters are this year. I then asked another friend and they said they usually have over 20 and this year they only had 4. I'm thinking trick-or-treating might be dying. Next year I guess I'll have to make sure we go to the trunk-or-treat and any other parties there are. Or if we have enough friends by then do one ourselves.

Attatched is a picture Madeleine drew for me the other day. It says Mom at the top, has tree with grass and a beehive, and a bee flying up the side of the page. She is spending a lot of time drawing. I ask if she needs help and just says "I'm not finished."

Once I get the pictures of Madeleine in her costume on my computer I'll post them. But... I can't seem to find the camera. Last I saw it Madeleine was taking pictures of Socrates with it. This should be fun!

A Little Late

So here is a picture from Madeleine's Birthday... that was in what? July... yeah I'm so ontop of things.

Socrates got a trim, he looks like a whole new dog. And his housetraining is going much better. Maybe he just had to get used to the new environment.

Madeleine has fall break this week, so we are doing lots of park trips.

Cory has several papers, so I'm hoping I will at least see him some this week.

I've been super tired... you know that tired where you get a full night sleep still feel exhausted and so you rest some more, and you some how feel even more tired? Yeah... hopefully its just a bug or something I'm fighting.

Hope you are all doing well and enjoying the cooler weather! I know I am.