Quick Report

I've totally been lacking with my blog lately, and I apologize. There has been lots going on here and I'm trying very hard to be a new person this year, not only with the house and kids, but also with my business. I went to Leadership Conference in Denver and got all psyched up for the coming year. They've given us a new career plan and raises and now our focus is supposed to be on building our teams instead of just selling. I was nervous about this because I thought I'd be pushy or creepy, but really, who doesn't like to be offered a job because they're outgoing? Who couldn't use a little extra money. So...I'm hiring. If you'd like to make a few hundred extra dollars and a couple nights out a month, let me know. This is probably the first thing I've done in my life, (other than being a mom), that I've liked for longer than a couple months. I'm having a great time and really determined to make this work for us. Plus, I'm TOTALLY going to Disney World with PC! I'll do whatever it takes now ;)

GraceAnne had a blast in Denver. She got to see geese, snow and a fox. This was all in downtown! The place is truly amazing and she said she is going to live there someday. I think even Allan would like to live there...we'll see where his job takes us. She's super happy to be back in school, though, I think she was going stir-crazy. Yesterday she told me about a small tiff she got into with a friend at school. I asked her, "why do you have to argue with everyone?" She looked at me and said serious-as-a-heart-attack, "because they're WRONG!" Wow...her face is all daddy, but her mouth is ALL MOM!

Violet is getting SO BIG! She's been saying 'hi' for a while now and calling GraceAnne 'guh' but while we were in Denver she told daddy she wanted 'breakfass' and the next morning she told me she wanted a 'dye-per' and her 'bucket' The following morning we were waving to mommy and Violet in the mirror and she waved and said, 'hi Vi-yet, hi Mom!' This is totally foreign to me. GraceAnne said her first word, "fishie" when she was 11 months old. 8.5 is a bit early to me. She's starting to stand on her own for a few seconds before she falls and Allan said he saw her stand up from sitting the other day. It's so amazing to watch them learn. What a little treasure!

Allan is back in school now and it's been a little bit of a stress with his car gone. They totalled it out and we're waiting on the check so he can go buy a vehicle. It's too cold to ride the scooter right now, so in the garage it sits and he's been taking my car. This gets me out walking more, but it's so cold I don't want to. I had to wrap Violet in a fuzzy fleece blanket on top of her hat and coat yesterday to walk GraceAnne to school. It was not much above freezing. That's not bad where I come from, but to these little Texan girls, it was pretty darned nippy! We're so glad this is his last semester, though, and if I had to walk every day for the rest of his 4 months I would. **Please Lord, don't test me on that, because you know I WILL complain every step!**

I would post pictures, but Allan's camera broke. We have my big professional Nikon, but for excuses of lack of portability and difficulty uploading, (there's no slot on his laptop for my memory card), it might be a while before I have some pictures to put up. Hopefully no one gets too bored just reading type. Love and miss you all!