The same old story...

Life with the Blair's has been about the same I guess. We're still battling sickness, poor Raegan has been sick for 5 or 6 weeks now and I just can't seem to keep it away. Logan will get sick off and on, but he kicks it quickly. I've called the doc, they say it sounds like a virus. So, hands are tied and I just have to keep listening to the poor kid hacking.
This week is Thanksgiving and we are happy to say that a whole bunch of family will be coming to our house for the meal! Seems like most of Tampa will be on the road to us this time!! We're excited, I'm a little busy bee trying to get the house in order, but we'll get there :) I still don't have any pictures or anything on the walls, kinda boring I guess? Oh well...I am determined to hang art by me...so I'll be patient and wait it out I guess. We have big meal plans, and the weather is supposed to be low 70's, so it will be nice enough for folks to be outside! I'll take lots of pics too.
During Raegan's rehearsal Saturday she got whacked in the face with a prop and got a nice bloody nose...freaked everyone out, but I'm happy to report no bruising and no broken nose :) She's a trooper. It was awfully pathetic though...the things she does for arts' sake! Her performance is this Saturday, dress rehearsal is on Friday (I'll be taking the photos then). I'll be so happy when it's done!
My MIL is coming in to town for the performance and Sunday we are planning to go to Key Largo for the day, that'll be cool since I've never been to the keys :) Check that off my list of things 'to do' before moving out of Florida. That leaves only 2 things...go to the Bahamas and go on a cruise! We've done everything else that I want to. I took Monday off work so I'll have a 5 day break from work, yippee!!
Guess that's about it...

Nutcracker be-gone!

Weekend has come and gone. It was a nice weekend, but like all others far too short. Saturday was Raegans long freaking ballet classes/rehearsals. Driving me nuts, I'll be pretty happy when they're done! We were planning on Disney this coming Sunday, but I just got an e-mail that she has a mandatory rehearsal on Saturday AND Sunday because this is the last weekend of rehearsals. I am so glad we're almost through this! I love that she's in these little shows, but I'm kinda missing the weekend freedoms.

So, Saturday we pretty much did ballet class and hung out around the house, Saturday night we had a few folks over to sit out by the fire pit. I was sick so I gave up by 1am, I think the last of them left around 2:45. Freaks. Sunday I cleaned house, we went to eat at McDonalds for dinner, I was still sick.

Monday called in to work. What a glorious day...sick and all. I drugged myself and was pretty well functional. Caught all the laundry up and cleaned the house up. Had plenty of time to rest and take breaks, then did the grocery shopping around 4.

Tuesday, back to work, aka hell. Each day that passes makes me realize more and more how miserable I am at work. Hopefully I'll be able to quit or at least go part time one of these days. It's so much less stressful on everyone when I'm at home. Oh well. Bills to be paid...story of my life. Here's a pic of the kids playing with the train tracks (I constructed that bad boy on Sunday! Go Mommy!).

Daylight savings, elections, sicknesses, and moving?

A few from Halloween first....

Daylight savings time sucks. I have to say I'm not loving the early darkness, but I do love the sunny mornings. Last week I tried jogging/walking and I did love it...it was in the mornings before work and it was so refreshing. Then I got sick, and now I have no energy and this week I have done nothing. I've been gaining weight back at a steady rate, hate it, but feel helpless and down about it. My clothes are tighter than I'd like. I say, "I gotta do something" and I want to, but it's so hard for me to find the energy or drive. I want it. I can make time for it, I just can't force myself. So I'll just keep clipping along and hope to get a strong 'wind' to do what I need to do to shed at least 20 lbs...I'd be done if I could lose this last 20. I will lose it. Maybe that's what I should say.

Election time! I voted. I was on the fence all the way to the ballot. I couldn't choose who worked better for me and ultimately, at the very last minute, decided on Obama. My fingers are crossed that he'll bring forth this 'change' that everyone so desires. I do like a younger man in the office right now, and I love that our nation has made history.

Kids are sick, they have colds...she's much worse than he, but we're working through it. This past weekend we decided on Sunday to head up to the Magic Kingdom for a fun day at the park. It was really nice! The weather was PERFECT, the kids were good, we brought some friends and that was fun, and I can't wait to go back.

We are still wanting to move, trying for next year but we'll see. I'm really so tired of the stress of it all and terrified to move and not have a way to pay the mortgage here and trying to make a house payment (rent or otherwise) in IL. If we can, great...if not, I don't know what to do. The best news I can think of is that my parents said they'd rent the house from us. Their lease is up in July, so that could very well work! I think the best bet for us is going to be to let them rent it for a few years until the economy flips and then either sell it to them, or sell it to someone. That would be great :)

Well, I better get to work. Yay.

Halloween has come and gone...

Seems to be the nature of the beast anymore...time flies and I find myself wishing away hours of each weekday and hoping that the hours will somehow end up in my evenings or early mornings...the only time I really have with my family.

SO halloween! It was fun :) The kids got to dress up for school and had a big party there, came home with a TON of treats. I made them little grab bags to give to their friends and rather than candy I put a small activity book, some crayons, play-doh, a ball, a slinky, and a sheet of stickers (they were monster bodies and body parts so you take the body off the sheet, put it on a piece of paper, and basically build a monster). They turned out nice...no clue what the kids or their parents' thought of them, but I liked them. In the evening we went around my moms neighborhood with a TON of other kids and they got another big bag of candy each...so we have a ton. Greeaaaaaat, just what I need. I didn't take any pictures with a real camera, just the camera phone.

Raegan's ballet is going pretty well. She isn't the most focused in the class but she does love it and they say she's doing ok, so I guess I'll believe them? She isn't quite past thinking it's a game or play time and realizing that it's something to learn, guess we'll see if she wants to keep doing it when she hits that point. Her Nutcracker performance is coming up...Saturday after Thanksgiving. She's really excited about that...and so am I. I think it'll be adorable!

They are both doing pretty well in school. Not too much on the time-out or mean Mr. Ben these days, so Logan must've figured out how to behave.

Chuck started his new shift working 11:30 am - 9pm. It's ok. He wakes up at about 7 and get the kids ready and takes them to school then he does his own thing...goes to the gym, whatever. Comes home at 9, hangs out and goes to bed. He's frustrated with the shift and his job and wants to just say screw it and move back to IL. That should solve all of our problems, right? Yeah...exactly. I would love to be able to move back there and if we both had jobs and daycare lined up for sure, some way to sell our house now, and pay for the move I'd pack my sh*t tomorrow and leave this weekend. It doesn't work that way though...or maybe it does and I'm the idiot who can't see how?

So, I guess that about sums up my life. Work at a job I hate and get underpaid for, go home and rush through the evenings to get the kids to bed at a decent time and try and squeeze in some quality time with each of them, make dinner, clean the house up after everyone goes to bed, make sure the dogs don't smell disgusting, scoop the cat litter, finish editing photos that people have paid me to do, spend time with my husband when he gets home, go to bed, get up and start all over. Every day. Yay. <

Keeping up

I'm finding that keeping up with myself on the weekends and during the weeks is a challenge, so keeping this updated is pretty tough! Last week was the same as any other. We (meaning the kids, dogs, and myself) spent a lot of time at my parents so Chuck could sleep in peace. He is asleep when I get home and it's tough to keep the kidlets quiet, so I camped out there. The problem with that is that I get nothing done at home and end up being stressed about it. Oh well, I'm probably not the first to deal with this type of work schedule.

Chuck sold his Jeep and bought a Jeep Comanche for a 5th of the price he sold it for. That's cool I guess. He seemed excited so whatever :) Friday night we went for pizza like usual and Chuck wanted to work on the Comanche so he and my dad fiddled around with that and my mom and I went to wal-mart to attempt grocery shopping. Didn't work. We bought Logan's Optimus Prime costume and a few other small things and left. The kids were just nuts.

Saturday morning I had a photo shoot on the beach at 8am with a couple...pretty much an engagement session I guess. Then saturday night was there teeny tiny wedding shoot. Both seemed to go well, no rain and they were a nice couple. I haven't gone through the photos but I will be soon. During the day Saturday Raegan had ballet twice (class and rehearsal for the Nutcracker) and I bought all the tickets for the show. It's going to be adorable! We went to Stuart to Oktoberfest and it was pretty lame, so we walked over to Duffy's for dinner. Then came the photo shoot, then we went home.

Sunday we went to Sam's club and spent way too much and still have some stuff to buy! It's amazing. Then I went to wash the comforter and forced the kids to try chinese food. They actually did pretty good with it....none of us were starving but just a little hungry. They each had a bit of egg roll, and beef and brocoli (and fried rice). They ate it all and didn't give me too many complaints. I had to feed it to them, but hey, I'll take it!

Now we're back at Monday, it's a little crazy here at work, and Halloween is Friday! How fun :) The kids are really excited about! I want to get some costume pictures of them so we'll see if that happens!

It's been a while...again

Let me see how much I can remember....we went on vacation from October 6-12 at Disney World. We had a lot of fun and it was much-needed for our whole family. The kids were really pretty good, they were ready to come home after 5 days though, so that's something to keep in mind. We arrived at Disney Monday afternoon, checked in, bought our passes, and we actually went to the park that night. We were smart enough to buy some nice ponchos before we checked in and boy did that pay off. It rained every single day we were there. On Wednesday I was the big dummy and didn't drink enough, got severely dehydrated, and we had to leave Hollywood Studios so I could lay in the room and re-hydrate. I felt really bad and it was my own fault, but it really did suck. I didn't take my camera in the park because of the rain, so the only pictures I took were on the last day and they were just around the hotel. No big deal though because we decided to buy the seasonal pass, so we'll be back for plenty of photos :)

We left Pixie with Chucks dad/stepmom. She loved it there and when we went to pick her up we brought home her new big brother, Teddy. He is a sweet boy, just has a little learning to do. They didn't get along well at first (she didn't like him), but she's coming around slowly. He's double her weight (13 ish lbs) and still needs to be neutered. We like him though...even though he likes to eat the kids toys. Molly (the cat) is a little peeved with us though.

Chuck's work shift is once again moving. For this week and next week he's back to working 12am-10am and then after that his shift goes to 11am-9pm. It's bullshiz and we are both very angry about the whole situation. It's so hard to be a 'family' with a schedule like that. As a result we're hoping to be able to move back to Chicago sooner than later. He may have to work crap hours there for a while, but at least he'll be where he wants to be. The house is what's slowing us down in that department...

This past Sunday we did some pumpkin carving with the kids and some friends of ours. It was fun and they had a good time playing. They drew the faces on their pumpkins and I cut them out. SO cute!! I love them and they are so thrilled to have been a bigger part of it this year. Plus they got to play with a bunch of kids and eat pizza for dinner...what could be better news for a 4 year old?

That's all for now, enjoy the photos!

Photography, yay!

So I've found out the cost to technically start business is less than a 100, but once you add in the website it goes over. Still not bad, and I'm hoping by the end of the year it'll be done! This month I have a family shoot, a model workshop, and a small wedding! Seems to be catching on which is cool, but could be a fluke too. Right now I'm going by word of mouth until I get up and running on the web and start formal advertising. Should be fun :)