Merry Christmas!!

I hope everyone had a wonderful and merry Christmas! Ours could only have been better if we were home with family, and I hope we will get to before we actually move back home. The last actual Christmas we were all home for was in 2007! Our family had a late Christmas for us in February of 2010, but, though it was appreciated, it wasn't the same. You know. Pretty depressing really.

Now, onto this year! We have been so thankful to have Papa Shu home with us this year for the entire season!  He got to help set up the tree, do the shopping, play Santa, and be here Christmas morning when the boys opened their gifts. We get one more week of uninterrupted Daddy time! It has been a great holiday season for us, and I am looking forward to the next week.

So, who wants to see the boys coming down Christmas morning? Here you go!

They got to open their presents from Mom and Dad and the rest of the family after this. I didn't take video of it, but I got quite a few pictures. I am only going to post some of them. It would be the longest post in history, probably, if I posted them all. I hope you enjoy as much as we did!

Santa Claus is coming to town!

'Twas the night before Christmas, as read by Mamaw♥

 The reindeer need to eat too!

Youngest to oldest... Alex goes first!

 He loves the Colts and "bootball" in general! He also had gotten into the leftover cookies. :)

Next comes William!

 Are you starting to see a theme here?

Time for Trey!

 He is very sporty!

 Funny story... the way the Nike shirt was wrapped, he swore it was a jersey. He was a little disappointed, though he liked the shirt, that it wasn't a jersey. Then, he gets to his candy-looking wrapped present and was so surprised that it was his new Reggie Wayne jersey. Silly kid.

I didn't have any pictures taken of myself. No shower + No make-up = No picture. Sorry. However, I loved all of my presents, as did Robert. I am pretty sure we all got what we asked for and couldn't be happier and thankful for all of it. I hope your Christmases were just as great!

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Just For Fun...

I do not have a whole lot going on today. I know. Shocking! The boys are home and on Christmas break. Papa Shu has to work at least part of the day. I am just relaxing a little bit before the chaos of having all five of us home together all day long for the next two and a half weeks or so hits me. Don't get me wrong here. I love my family and am so thankful to finally be able to spend some time together without Dad having to go to work. We haven't had to much of a chance to do this since we moved out here in June, so we are all looking forward to it. However, I never really leave the house, and we all start feeling a little cooped up after a few days. Also, I tend to lose patience a lot faster when I don't get my "me" time.

I don't have school work to do until my books get here Monday. That is when the UPS tracker says they'll be here anyway. I have self-diagnosed myself with an obsessive personality. When I get into something, a book, hobby, etc., I tend to not want to do anything else until I complete the "project". My new obsession is my school work. (I have had worse obsessions, believe me) When I am waiting for my books, I almost feel lost, I guess. Like I should be doing something but don't know what to do. But, these are just my general ramblings.

So, just for fun, I thought I would share some pictures we have taken recently. We get bored sometimes. Ok. I get bored sometimes and just start snapping pictures. I hope you find them as fun as we do.

 We were waiting for William's holiday program to begin, and I surprised him with the flash.

Um, we're gangsta, so we had to turn our "guns" to the side. Haha!

This is our "Sheldon" face from a recent episode of The Big Bang Theory... don't judge.

 Alex cheesin'.. You can see that he is finally getting most of his teeth in.

 These are the presents Trey bought us at the Penguin Patch Holiday Shop at school.

I just thought this was a handsome smile. <3

 Trey has now taken on his father's role as far as no longer liking pictures to be taken. Ugh.

 The boys enjoying Aunt Fred's cakepops! We all LOVED these! (Ignore Alex's dirty face.. we had just finished spaghetti for dinner)

 This was me trying to get Papa Shu to take a picture with me. He referred to it as "cheesy" and wanted nothing to do with it. *Please refer to Trey's earlier picture.

Our stockings and Santa-hat-decorated surround sound speakers. :)

It is fun to just be silly sometimes, and I think everyone should. I used to care what people would say about how I looked, what I was doing, the angle of the shot, etc.... I have come to realize that I am too old to care now. We are goofy, and love it. If you don't, then make fun of us to your friends and feel better about yourselves. I really could not care less. I am just glad to be making everyone smile in some way.

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A Winter Celebration, William Edition...

More kids, and more songs! Our second grader's holiday performance was last night. It was rainy and cold outside, but I guess that is what the winter weather is like out here in the desert..? I am not a fan of the cold rain, but I do like the 50/60-something degree days. Oh, sorry. I got off track a little bit. Enjoy this video of our middle child, what you can see of him, singing about Christmas and snow and all things Winter.

I got the video started a little late in the song. Wil is the one being somewhat hidden behind the girl in the front and the microphone.

Before going on to the next video, I would like to go ahead and apologize for the shakiness. We were sitting further back, therefore I had to zoom in a bit more. Every movement  is shown.

This is a cute song about Kwanzaa.

The class sang one additional song, but I was unable to record it, unfortunately. Alex was ready to get out of the concert and have a little more freedom. Dad wasn't able to attend this performance, thanks to training day 14, so Big Bro Trey was helping as much as possible. I am very thankful he was there, but I am definitely bringing the stroller next time. Lesson learned. William, and all his classmates, did a tremendous job! I hope you all enjoyed it as much as we did!

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A Winter Celebration, Trey Edition...

It's that time of year again... school holiday programs! Tonight was our oldest son's fifth grade program. They celebrated, via song, Christmas, Hanukah, and Kwanzaa. Trey's class sang a song called "Oy Hanukah" in Yiddish.

He is the fourth from the left in the back row.

This next video is of the entire 5th grade coming together to sing Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree.

Again, he is fourth from the left in the back row.

I had taken a few pictures, but none really turned out well enough for me to post. I wish I had taken video of the other classes. The class just before Trey's sang an Austrian Christmas song called Still, Still, Still I don't know if they messed up the words (it was very hard to hear/understand them) or if something had happened, but, at one point, I am certain no one was singing. The entire class just started laughing, which, in turn, caused the audience to giggle. Classic school performance, as far as I am concerned.

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Long Overdue...

Wow. I have been seriously neglecting all my "fans" lately. For that, I apologize. 

Any free time I get, my nose is in my Biology book trying to get through it. I have about eight chapters left in it, and my Psychology, Music Appreciation, and English Composition courses to complete in about seven weeks or so. Therefore, I am cramming as much as I can to get them done as quickly (and efficiently, of course) as I can. Once this semester is done, I will finally be able to move onto my Medical Assistant courses!

Moving on.... (In my head, I sounded just like Dick Van Dyke in Night at the Museum... I would appreciate if you read the same way, just to amuse me)

Here are some pictures from the day before Thanksgiving. Dad had to work that day. Trey came up with the idea to make "Jingle Cans".

 Trey was using an old vegetable can.

 William was using a Monster can. (Notice their pumpkins in the background. In order, left to right, Alex, Trey, and Wil)

 Both were very creative :) They put pop tabs in them to make the "jingle" noise.

Trey was using metallic paint. We all thought it was pretty neat when he rinsed his brush.

I am going to have to come back to the "after" pictures in a later post. 

On to Thanksgiving. Again, I was slacking that day. Well, I was actually pretty busy (and preoccupied with food, football, and parades) to get pictures of everything. I had every intention of taking a picture of the whole spread, but by the time the turkey was done, we were all ready to scarf it down. Everything, surprisingly enough, turned out delicious, with the exception of the deviled eggs. But, I tried. 

Mmmmm.... Pumpkin Pie. This was the only picture I took, but it looks as scrumptious as it tasted.

We'll just fast-forward to the day after...

 Our tree always goes up the Friday after Thanksgiving. It looks crooked in this photo, but I am pretty sure it was just me.........?

December 1st... time for the Advent calendars. They were more excited about the chocolate than the picture, as you can tell from William's face.


So, until next time, my friends, I bid you adieu. Happy Holidays!

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A Whole Lotta Nothin'...

I would just like to start off by saying NASCAR is so boring to watch, and I am glad I rarely have to watch it. Also, I think the NFL season should be as long as the NASCAR season. Just my opinion.

That being said, what do you suppose we have been up to today? You betcha. Football and racing. This is the normal Sunday for us here at the House of Shu, and I love it. We all get to be lazy and stay in pajamas and just veg on the couch. I do no cleaning aside from laundry, but it is a lazy chore anyway, as far as I am concerned. Plus, after going for my first "run" yesterday, I am enjoying not having to move around a whole lot. This mama is getting old and needs to get back in shape. I can't stand that I am so sore from one little 25-minute exercise. But, the fact that my 'fat pants' are now form-fitting is enough motivation for me to run everyday! Except Sundays, of course.

Oh, I finally called the speech therapist about Alex's lack of talking. Guess what happened. I got to leave a voice mail and was told not to call back unless they haven't returned my call within a week. After the week, I can call back, and most likely be asked to leave another message. Isn't that how it normally goes?

Sorry there isn't much to this post. I don't really have much to talk about. We haven't really done anything to speak of. When Robert actually gets to be home with us, he generally doesn't feel like going anywhere. I can't say I blame him, considering he hardly ever gets to be home. I am sure we will eventually fall into life here, but it isn't coming easily, that's for sure.

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Long Week...

Man, have I been slacking! I have my reasons, all of which may very well come across as excuses, but they seem legitimate enough to me.

To start, Robert has been working crazy hours. His company is out at gunnery right now (in the 'field' shooting the tanks), but since he was gone to WLC for about a month, he didn't get to qualify or take any of the classes beforehand. Therefore, he does not get to shoot. He has done two 24-hour shifts at the barracks, an all day/all night shift in the field changing out targets, and doing random things on the other days. So, when he is home, I don't get on the computer too often.

Also, we have all been a little sickly. Trey woke me up Monday morning saying his nose was stopped up, and his throat hurt. I gave him some medicine and sent him to school, as he was not running a fever and appeared to have a simple cold. Well, within the next few days Robert and I both contracted whatever it was. Robert has been pretty whiny about having to work, but I don't blame him at all. I haven't done a whole lot of anything since I started feeling bad. I have done what I have to (i.e. cooking, cleaning, taking care of the boys, etc.), but meals have been simple and "cleaning" has consisted of picking up the big stuff and loading/unloading the dishwasher. 

Because I have been pretty immobile and enjoying the comfort and warmth of our sofa, I have been somewhat productive on schooling. I am now on to Biology, and I am not soaking it up nearly as well as I did Computer Applications. After all, I have married into a tech-geek family and have picked up on more than a few things there. Plus, I had some experience with Word and Excel back when I worked (not since 2008). Obviously, it was good to brush up on those a little before getting back into the workforce, which I am hoping will be soon!

Well, that is what we have been up to, for the most part. Trey is feeling almost 100% again, and Wil and Alex still haven't gotten sick and hopefully won't! Robert and I are getting by, as we always do, and just looking forward to block leave in December.

Here is a short video just to make you smile.

I don't know if you have ever heard the song Blue Sunday, but it is one of his favorites.

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General Studies, Course One

This is just a quick note to brag on myself a little bit. I just finished my first course, Computer Applications. I had 3 exams and 3 projects. I took my first three exams on October 27th (I was a little excited) and got 100s on all three. The next few "exams" were projects for Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. These were a little nerve-wracking as I had never used PowerPoint and only used the others a handful of times more than three years ago. But I took my Practice Exercises seriously and took my time with them until I felt comfortable enough with them to do it on my own. And, I ended up getting 100s on all three of those as well! So, as of now, I have a Lesson Average of 100! Yay, me!! 

I can't (or shouldn't, rather) take any more exams until I get my new textbooks for my Biology course, which I can't say I am excited about. It takes about 6 days to get them here. They should be here by the end of the day Tuesday, Nov 8th. Then, I will dive into those courses just as I did my previous, hopefully keeping my Lesson Average as close to the same as possible. So, I am going to do my best to not think about schooling for the next few days and enjoy my "time off" a little more than I have the last 24 hours. I use the word "obsess" a lot, but when I set my mind to something, I have a hard time thinking about other things until that "project" is completed. I choose to think of that as a good thing, as I am invested in the "project", regardless of what it may be. I will keep you all up-to-date on how things are going throughout this next year. I only hope that after this year I can continue to better myself as I am doing now. Thank you all for listening and your support through everything!

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Our Happy Halloween!

So sorry it has taken me so long to get this posted. I was busy with school work yesterday. School work/projects are kind of my new obsession. But, considering the other "obsessions" I have had, I think this is a good one to have! Robert thinks I am going to get burnt out on it. I think I am completely stoked about getting started on a career that I will keep going, full steam ahead! Only time will tell, though. (Plus, I don't like him being right. You all should know this by now. haha)

I am going to start off by showing you something scary but completely unrelated to Halloween. This little guy was in our garage. We had seen a smaller one a couple months ago above our front porch. I am thinking this is the same one. I would rather think we have ONE that is growing than an entire family of different sizes.

"Our" camel spider. He is about 2 inches long. Be sure to click on this pic and see it bigger!

So onto Halloween. Alex wasn't too keen on the dressing up part of the day. He did, however, love the candy portion. Here are a couple pics of the boys all dressed up. Trey made his own costume. I did his make-up, and Robert did the "blood" on his face as well as the "blood" on William's axe. This was only the 2nd time ever that Robert has gotten to take the boys Trick-or-Treating (first time for Wil). He took the big boys while Alex and I passed out candy. We only had 10 kids.

 

The Phantom, the Zombie, and the baby! :)

Trey stayed in character for all the pictures, as you can tell.

 

  

The orange shirt was as far as I was going to go. :)

After walking all over post with Dad, they got washed up and posed for some pics with their stash. William is saying, "This is MY candy!" (He wanted me to tell everyone that.)

All in all, it was a great day. We were so happy and fortunate to have Dad home with us this year, and we are even happier he will get to be here for Thanksgiving and Christmas. 

I will try to keep up on the blog as well as the school work, but bear with me. I don't want to neglect either, let alone these guys here at the house with me. They are all kinda special to me. :)

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Spirit Week: Day 4

I am on it today!! I actually got up WITH my alarm, which is highly abnormal. I think it is going to be a great day! 

Today is Crazy Sock Day for William, but he doesn't have any crazy socks.

 So, he is wearing mine! :)

Crazy Hat Day was Trey's Day 4, but, again, he doesn't have any crazy hats!

  So, he is wearing his favorite hat! :)

Maybe we will try to be a little more prepared for the next Spirit Week. But, either way, the boys have had fun getting to do/wear different things to school this week. Tomorrow is Spirit Day for both, so they will just be wearing their school colors.

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Spirit Week: Day 3

Late again... I am on a roll! Ha!

Today was Pajama Day for both boys! This is going to be the easiest blog ever!

William sometimes wears this to bed, so he says these are pajamas. I argued, but I clearly lost the battle. Trey wore his favorite jammies.

And I know I said this was going to be the "easiest blog ever", but it took me about 20 minutes or so to get the pictures uploaded. Figures.

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