So....

I'm going crazy without a camera! I feel like I can't post anything because I don't have pictures to post. It shouldn't be that way, but I love posting pictures, and it's easy to do a short post if I have some pictures to go along with it. Oh well, I'll have to see if Jacob thinks we can get one before Christmas...I need to be able to take pictures at Christmas time for sure!

Oh, and I know you all are in shock that I've actually written twice in one month, but try to keep from falling out of your chair! :)

I was thinking this week would be easy, considering that it's Thanksgiving week, but I've chosen to make it my "get ahead week," so that I can have an easier time for the last two weeks of school. We'll see if that actually happens because, although I get a whole week off from history classes, I have a full week of required English Comp. stuff to do, which includes writing out an outline for my argument research essay. I've never written an outline before and from previous experiences from writing essays, I do better when I just sit down and write instead of trying to write an outline on something that I haven't written yet! I wrote out at least a start to my outline last night, but it probably needs a lot more work, but the goal is to have it hopefully finished by Thanksgiving! :)

Enough about school though, that can get boring! I will say though, that having the requirements of homework and classes have made me feel like I'm being more profitable with my time, and even when I'm not doing homework I feel more geared to doing things that need to be done rather than just wasting my time. Of course, I'm still looking forward to the end of the semester and being able to do whatever I want without worry about homework, but I'm sure I will fill up the time quickly with all the things I want to do! :)

I probably won't have time to get back on and post before Thanksgiving, so I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving and gets to spend plenty of time with family!

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Well, I'm Still Here, But....

I am officially failing the upkeep of my blog. There's been times where I could have written, but I chose to do something else with my time instead...don't hate me! :) We are all doing well around here, although, Jacob and Bethany did have a sick period about a week ago. Abigail and I somehow managed to stay well though, which was a relief since I wasn't sure I could handle taking care of multiple sick people, being sick myself and keeping up with schoolwork! The end of the semester is in sight though! Woohoo! :) I'm looking forward to the break and being done with English Comp. especially. Don't get me wrong, I'm actually enjoying it a lot, but it requires a huge amount of work every week so I definitely won't miss it! I hope I can get an "A" in the class though...it would be nice to have A's in every class for this semester!

This is probably going to have to be all for now. People should be arriving soon for a bonfire and I need to get the rest of my school books put out of sight for awhile! :)

First Week Of School....

Well, my first week of classes are over and I have one more week before my online classes start. I think those classes will really add on the work load, but I think I'll manage fine. I'm going to be doing a lot of writing this semester and I have a feeling I'm a little rusty, but hopefully whatever writing skills I had (if I had any!) come back quickly. I've had a lot of good ideas come into my head as I've been writing up my outline for my first paper (more of a question and answer essay) so hopefully they keep coming and I can do a good job. Jacob was laughing and me last night because I was on the floor in the middle of the living room in weird positions writing away! I tried explaining that sitting in one position gets old so I move around a lot.....and sometimes writing on the floor with my legs under me and my butt in the air is what works comfort wise! I mean really you gotta do what works for you and what's comfortable! He just continued to laugh at me and said it must have something to do with having been home-schooled and having the ability to move around compared to sitting in a classroom at a desk all day. No worries though, I do remain seated in class! It's just during study time that I get comfortable, so I guess I will be a constant source of amusement to him during our study times! :) Hmmm, I wonder if it'll be harder to do my computer work since I'll be limited to what I can do since I'll be having to sit at the computer the whole time....that will kind of stink, actually.
Ok, enough embarrassing myself, but hopefully you all had a good laugh....or at least those of you who know me! The rest of you are, I'm sure, just wondering what kind of weird home-schooled kid I am....well, maybe I should consider myself an adult now since I'm over the age of 21 and the mother of two children. :)

Anyway, school is going great and it's been fun to start getting back into the whole school and studying mind frame.
Abigail and Bethany now want to "go to college like Daddy and Mommy!" They've also been really good with me having to go to class a few times a week, so that's been nice for me not to have to worry about them.

School!

These are my school books for this semester...don't they look fun? :) I'm really excited about them and the classes, of course! :)

So, to catch everyone up on the latest events......

I am now a full-time student at the college near here! It all started when Jacob signed up for classes and suggested that I should see if I could get any grant money and take a baking class or something fun. So, he filled out the FAFSA and I got the full amount that they offer with the Pell Grant! So, needless to say I was very excited and signed up for the baking class.....and for anyone that doesn't know, I can bake I just thought it would be fun to learn some new things that hopefully the class will offer. :) Then as time went by and I got to thinking, it seemed a shame to have all that money that I wouldn't use go to waste, so I went back in and talked to an adviser again and got signed up for an English Composition and Microcomputer Software Application class online since both of those classes are a requirement for any degree. I also signed up for a Water Recreation class because it was the 1 credit hour class that I needed to be a 3/4 time student....a plus with that one is that I can bring the girls anytime during the week that I want....so, we'll be getting to swim most of the winter! I don't think the girls will mind. :)
I thought I would leave it at that, but no, I then decided to sign up for the U.S History class that is also a requirement. :) Also, since I scored high enough on the reading and writing test I was able to sign up for their honors class, which the adviser said I would learn a lot and have fun with....so we'll see! That class made me a full-time student, so here I am....I'm going back to school and I'm super excited about it! I think getting the books has been my favorite part so far....and I've already started my history books just for fun...of course, it won't hurt any either. :)

So, that has been the latest with me and the continuing of my education. Oh, I have decided to refresh whatever math knowledge I had because, after seeing the score on my math test, I realized that I'm not that dumb in math and I'd like to be able to take it again and prove that to myself. :) So, Algebra....here I come!

I will definitely be busy this fall, but I'll try to continue my blogging and update you all on my progress. :)

Summer Happenings

Well, I'm sitting here all ready to go out for my run so I don't know how much I'll get done, but I figured I'd at least get started and then finish up later. I'm needing to get back into serious running if I want to do a 1/2 marathon in November with my Mom and sister, but with the recent heat wave I wasn't getting any running in....having two kids and trying to get up really early doesn't work that well. I think the weather is suppose to be cooler from now on so it should be a lot easier to get out there and start putting on the miles! As for the girls, they continue to keep me busy! Bethany is now potty trained, so hurray for no more diapers! :) It was actually surprising how quickly she picked it up...she pretty much had it all figured out the first morning and had less trouble than Abigail. Of course, I thought I was going to go crazy that first morning since we were in the bathroom, literally, every 5-10 seconds! But it's much better now and it is a relief to be done with diapers...those things are expensive! We do have trouble (since we only have one bathroom)because both the girls will decide they need to go at the same time and will be fighting over who can get to the toilet the fastest or who can peel out of their clothes first.....one of the problems with only having one bathroom.We've been spending a lot of time in the pool this summer, especially since most of the time it's been hot enough to where if we go outside it has to be to get in the pool. The girls haven't minded at all and it's been nice for me to get to lay out in the sun some....first time I've gotten much of a tan since before both of the girls were born... so, woohoo! :) Sadly, I didn't get many pictures, partly because the camera was broken, but also cause I kept forgetting.....pretty bad, I know.I love how they like to hold hands and put their arms around each other when I tell them I want a picture....it's sweet. I took some picture on my phone, one day, of them hugging each other because it was hilarious what they were doing! They would both walk in a different direction and then turn around and walk back towards each other and when they met they would hug each other while Abigail would say "I've missed you, sister!" It was making me laugh, especially when they continued to do it multiple times without seeming to mind that it had been a whole 10 seconds since the last time they had hugged and exclaimed over missing each other! Kids are definitely entertaining and you never know what their little heads are going to come up with. :)

Well, I don't really have time at the moment to go into all the details of the other things that have been going on this summer, but Jacob is back to work doing construction with his Dad after a few months of being a Correction Officer at a prison near here. That was definitely an experience, but not something any of us were happy with and it just wasn't providing enough for the hours he spent working, so it was a big relief to have him go back to work with his Dad...and thankfully construction work has been plentiful even during the heat wave so that has been a huge relief. I'm very happy to have Jacob back on a more normal routine, since while he was working at the prisons, he was working an evening/night shift and then sleeping most of the day until he had to leave again, so it was limited time of actually getting to spend time with him. The girls were effected by it too and their attitudes have changed dramatically since he's gotten into a more normal routine and has been able to spend more time with them....it's interesting changing a routine messes everyone up! So, we are all a lot happier now and we'll just pray that there continues to be construction work. :)

Jacob and I are both enrolled as full time students at the college near here, but details on that will have to wait until the next time I post, which might be awhile since my sister Hillary is coming to spend a couple days with us! :)

So, until next time!

What Can I Say....

I feel horrible about being such a boring, non-updating blogger, but at lot has been going on and things probably aren't going to slow down much around here for awhile! I don't have time to go into details now, but I will try to blog again in the next day or so and do some major updating along with pictures. Bethany, unfortunately, pretty much broke our camera, so picture taking has been hard to do for the past month...which has made me very sad. :( I'm sure I will recover over time....or whenever we get a new one, which I'm not sure when that will be. Bethany has proven she likes to take things apart and has broken quite a few things lately...I hope she grows out of this phase soon!
Well, this will have to be all for now...it's bedtime for the girls and probably some math time for me! :)

The Second Endeavor at Hospital Hill

Yes, we were all crazy enough to do it again this year, but it was still a fun little get away! :) I have to attempt I didn't do as well as last year and last year definitely wasn't the greatest for me, so I wasn't completely happy about that, but it was still a fun and learning experience. Last year I didn't focus on hill training at all and this year I focused on it so much that I didn't get the benefits of training without the hills. So, I was stronger on the hills, but with the combination of heat I slowed down and something was up with the pace group I was making sure I stayed ahead of, because although I was ahead of them my time was slower than them....kind of weird, but oh well. I finished and I felt much better than last year!I think the only thing that was really bothering me at the end of the race was a blister that had started to develop around 3.5 miles and both of my toenails on my big toes...one of which was already black from training on a lot of hills and my shoes needing to be a little bigger(ugh, now I know). Of course, I don't know if it's just this race (lol, or just me in general), but every time I feel like I'm about to die at the end! I was thinking though, it's kind of like when you have a baby (naturally) and you feel like you're going to die, but as soon as you have the baby you kind of forget how bad it was and before too long you're ready to do it again! Of course, the pain is no where near the same, but maybe some of you get the idea! Lol, so all that being said just to say that even though it's a tough race, you still kind of want to do it again....obviously since we did it again this year! :) We are thinking of trying a flat race this fall since no one else really got better times either and we kind of want to try something that isn't nearly as hilly! I definitely want to, I've only been running a little over a year now and not consistently (unless I was training) and I've only done two races, both of them being Hospital Hill, so I would love to see how I do on a flat course!We actually don't look too bad for having having been running 2+ hours in hot humid weather :) Although, I don't think it was quite as hot this year, it was definitely more sunny and still way too hot! I didn't get any pictures on my camera (forgetful me) so I had to steal these pictures from Hillary. :)All cleaned up and in our new "I conquered the hill" t-shirts! I wonder how many people that look at this picture would realize that the "young looking" girl on the right is our mom. :) Hopefully it runs in the genes, cause I would love to look like that when I'm her age! Of course, the lady at the desk during check out, couldn't believe that I was as old as I am or that I had two kids....hmmm, I'm not so sure that's a compliment.
We had a fun time...although for me I missed Jacob being there; he tried to get off of work, but that didn't work out so he had to stay and work and my awesome sisters Kayla and Adalie were stuck with the two "monsters"! lol :) They said they didn't mind, but looking after these two.......isn't easy! I'm thinking next time we do a race I'll see about leaving them with someone here at home so it's easier on everyone. They did do soo well during all the driving and it was a lot of driving in two days for kids, but they were so good the whole way...of course, Bethany had to remind me at random times on the drive home that she didn't get to see me run! I don't think she's going to let me forget either, cause it's been almost a week since the race and she will still randomly say "I didn't see you run, mom",in a very injured voice...it's funny. :) Oh, and Abigail now wants me to teach her how to run fast so she can race with me...it's cute when your kids think you can run so fast and they want to be like you. :) Hmmm, I wish I could run fast! :D