Valentine's Day

Well......those peanut butter oatmeal cookies I talked about in my last post turned out to resemble rocks. I think I am in need of lessons on how to use the timer properly while baking. I don't know what happened.....one day, I knew how to cook and bake, the next I get married, have kids, and my cooking skills end up in the crapper. Oh well....at least they stuck around long enough for me to teach my husband what he needed to know about cooking before I lost all my skills. Now at least one of us can cook so we all won't starve. That is a plus. :-)

Well, it's Valentine's Day today. There is nothing like taking boxes of goodies from family members that sent things, passing them out to the kids and my husband in hopes of them not realizing I didn't get them anything more than just a card for Valentine's Day. With this economy how can anyone afford to spend all that money anyway? On the plus side....it makes me feel better when I know my gift from my husband was the fact that the white chicken chili he made for a chili cook off at work did not get totally eaten and he brought some home for me! Who needs to spend money when you can win my love with soup? My husband told me today on Facebook when I told him Happy Valentines Day on a post about soup that we had gotten a little too comfortable with our marriage.....I say.....I think not! I LOVE soup and my husband. I'm looking forward to many more years of soup and my husband. I hope he is too. Speaking of........it's supper soup time right now! Off I go! HAPPY VALENTINE' DAY everyone!

Once a month is enough.....right?

It looks as if I'm still taking my time with this whole blogging thing. Once a month is enough, right? Let's see if I can think of the new things that have happened since the last time I posted.

The kids have started gymnastics and are really enjoying it. After switching Dominick back and forth between every class offered to the boys; due to scheduling conflicts with Robotics Club and teachers that weren't working out, he is excelling so much that one of his teachers thinks that if he learns the terminology, he can move on to the more advanced beginner class. He's working with the older kids who are actually wanting to be there instead of the young beginners who still are using this as another recess and goofing off. Dominick no longer has to spend his class time doing extra push ups and sit ups and isn't getting rocks thrown at him by the other kids, but instead is

getting to do gymnastics that we signed him up for. Cora and and Hayden are also enjoying gymnastics but are taking a little longer to get used to all the stretching. Cora is loving that she gets to dress up in the pretty leotard and I think she enjoys swinging on the bars and doing the vault the most. Hayden loves the rings the most. He says he likes to hang from them but he still is working on steadying himself so that he can swing properly. We are really happy that all the kids are enjoying themselves and getting exercise.

Ryan went to a beer festival a couple weekends ago. He had a great time having a "guys" night....something he hasn't had much of at all. He was able to sell his beer tap handles that he had made from wood and antler. He is also learning quite a bit about beer from his friend Eric and is now paying more attention to what he is drinking and can pick out flavors and subtleties he never noticed before. By golly, he's growing up and becoming all fancy like.....well......it is still beer. He may be a beer snob but we need to get him to recognize all these fancy subtleties in wine. Then I can enjoy it with him because there are very few beers that I enjoy.

I am back in school again. I'm currently taking a Biology lecture class and a biology lab class. in another week, I start my accounting class and in about a month I start a Human Genetics class. It should be crazy! I got offered a job at a local grocery store in their cash office, however, I had to turn it down. I thought it over for quite a long time before I realized the amount of money that they could offer me was not worth it to try to figure out how to move everyone's schedules around to accommodate it. Since the kids are in after school activities and plan on starting baseball soon, there was really no way to get them to and from these places and still have me get to work on time. We couldn't afford to pay for childcare on the salary they could offer so we're back to square one. I'm currently trying to build my piano clientele by posting ads on craigslist and business cards around town. I'm still on the lookout for a permanent full-time job but it does have to be a 9-5 type job that pays well enough to afford after school care. Unfortunately, this area does not have an abundance of jobs so piano will do for now. It's enjoyable and the kids are great so not only does it provide a little income, it is fun as well.

Ryan and I had a date night last night and went to Wilmington to see Third Eye Blind. Oh my, we got out on a school night! We had a lot of fun and it was a wonderful break from the nonstop rush of life to spend some much needed time together. Thank goodness for radio shows and winning free tickets! Next week we are also planning a date night to see our friend make his debut playing guitar and singing down in Wilmington in the Calico Room. Two date nights in a

week....what a lucky guy he is........I mean....girl I am. LOL To top it off, the plan for the following weekend is to again go down to Wilmington, this time with the kiddos, go to a beer competition one night while the minis have a sitter and then spend the weekend down there exploring with them. It should be fun for the whole family.

Well, it is time for me to end this as I have a very important mommy mission to fulfill. We are making Peanut Butter Oatmeal cookies before we make curry for dinner. Yum Yum! Lucky kiddos!