Christmas Is In The Air...........

I can't believe that Christmas is only a few weeks away. I haven't even thought about shopping yet! Okay, I have thought about it, then I drink a glass of wine and go to sleep. LOL. We took the kids to a beautiful historical mansion downtown last Saturday to take their pictures for the Grandmas for Christmas. It was such a beautiful day and the sky was so blue. The pictures turned out great! We had a lot of fun with them and now I have to go through all of the pictures, upload them into a book and get them ordered. At least THAT Christmas shopping will be easy. I need to enlarge one of the photos to a 16x20 for us. The last time I enlarged a photo of the three of them to that size, they were in 1st, 3rd, and 5th grade! It has been a while! We took the photos, and I have to say, I am pretty impressed with us!

Friday I spent all day baking the Hershey Kiss Peanut Butter Cookies for the kids. The recipe makes 36, and by Sunday afternoon they were all gone! I guess they liked them! I have been in the mood to bake lately, but then again, it is Christmas, and that is what you are supposed to do! I do wish it would snow though. Here we live in a place where there is supposed to be all this snow, and there isn't any around at all! We drove around Friday night looking at Christmas lights in the neighborhood, stopped in at Caribou to grab a Ho Ho Mocha, and topped the night off with Jim Carrey in The Grinch, which is our favorite holiday movie! It was a great night, and we had a lot of fun hanging out with the kids. We still haven't put out the Christmas gifts from the Grandmas that we brought back with us when we came back from Thanksgiving. I think that would be a little too tempting for them. Not that I don't trust them, but I know it is hard for them, and they would be COMPLETELY bouncing off the walls more so than they are now!

Gracie is ready for Christmas as well. I found the cutest little collar for her, that I need to go pick up so she will be dressed for Christmas. I also found her a sweater with reindeer antlers on it, but I don't think Bouke wants me to get that for her! I think she would look adorable, but he just rolled his eyes at me. That is fine though, she has her Christmas sweater with the snowman so she is still fashionable! I will get around to doing her nails red, but I don't have any green this year. A few years ago when we were still in Chicago, the groomer we took her to painted her nails red and green for us for the holidays. Hey, a girl has to look her best!

Well, that is about all that is going on with the Hale family this week. We are hanging out and hanging on, and looking forward to 2011 and the new promises and adventures it brings!

Happy Holidays!!

Holy Cow, I can't believe that Thanksgiving is NEXT WEEK!

I can't believe that Thanksgiving is next week, of course that means that my birthday is too. I am getting to old, so I am opting again for my 15th Annual 21st Birthday celebration! But anyway, we will be heading back down to Texas for some Turkey and stuffing next week. We have decided to forgo the radiation and the molestation and will be driving down. We are going to pull the kids out of school a day early so we won't be so tired, and to miss the snow that is supposed to hit Colorado Tuesday and Wednesday. The kids are excited about seeing their grandmas and we are too, not necessarily the 13 hour drive though. Gracie of course will be going with us, and she is excited too. She has to get her beauty shop appointment over first before she goes. Can't take a stinky girl to see her grandmas!

We have been spending our time hanging out with the kids. Caribou Coffee is still one of their favorite places to go, and we really enjoy taking them for coffee, and talking to them. The girls have their first dance at their new school tonight. They have spirit week all week at school, and the dance tonight is 70's Neon. They are excited about it, and we are sure they will have a lot of fun. It is only for a few hours, but I am sure they will be talking about it all night. I guess Bouke and I will get a few hours with Cameron to hang out alone. We will have to find a movie on Netflix we haven't seen in awhile and pop some popcorn. That will be a lot of fun! We have a birthday party to go to tomorrow for two sweet little boys and that should be a lot of fun. We are going to the land of huge bounce houses, so I have to make sure not to give the kids a lot to eat before we go!!

All in all, it should be a fun few days; minus the 26 hours in the car!!

Back From Texas

Well, we spent a week down in Texas with all of the Grandmas. We had a good time visiting and catching up with everyone. As you can see, Memaw had a blast! Nana needed me to fix her a pot of jambalaya, so the first day we were down there, I headed out to the store to get the ingredients to make a pot. While we were at the store, Bouke and I picked up a bottle of our favorite Texas wine to have with dinner. Apparently Memaw liked it a lot too, because she got a little silly on it! The girls had a lot of fun teasing her about it too. We even posted some of the pictures on FaceBook, which made her VERY happy! Mom's new house is really nice and she is very happy there. Oma is getting ready to move into her new home as well. She is very excited about it, and we were able to help her get somethings ready for the move as well. Bouke got his mexican food fix at one of his favorite restaurants when we were down there too. We left in time though to make it back to Colorado for the kids to Trick or Treat. Alyssa decided to be a vampire cheerleader, Mikayla was a zombie, and Cameron was a skeleton. We did their make up and put their costumes together, and they looked great! They had a lot of fun trick or treating and ended up with a lot of candy. Bouke took videos of the kids and emailed it to the Grandmas. School started up again today and it was back to reality for them. Cameron didn't feel well though, so we had to pick him up from school this morning. He is doing better this afternoon though, so he will be back at it soon too. I can't believe that October is already over and that it is November with Thanksgiving right around the corner! Holy cow, where does the time go!

Almost Halloween!!

Well, it is almost Halloween! That is one of our favorite holidays, and we can hardly wait! The kids are still deciding on their halloween costumes, but I think they have it narrowed down. Cameron is going back and forth between Scream and Bumblebee from Transformers. Mikayla has decided on being a Gangster Girl and Alyssa has chosen to be a Pirate Princess. Their costumes are really cute, we just need to add the make up (for the girls) and we are ready to go! We are leaving tomorrow for Texas to see the grandmas. We are all excited about seeing them, and I know they are anxious to see us. We will be back in Colorado for Halloween, which is a good thing, because the kids have a lot planned for that night! One of our neighbors is making a haunted house for the kids, so of course we have to go over there. While we are in Texas, Bouke and I have promised the girls that we would take them to see Paranormal Activity 2. Bouke and I saw the first one in the theatre, but the girls didn't see it until it was out on DVD, not really the same. We saw the trailer with the girls when we went to the midnight showing of Eclipse, so we have been waiting ever since June. I guess we will have to leave Cameron with Nana, because there is no way he can sit through that movie!

The girls have finished their first quarter today, and their grades are really good. We are very proud of all of the progress they have all made, and how well they are doing. Cameron has been enjoying the first part of his fall break without his sisters bothering him. He has been playing hard with his friends in the neighborhood, but has yet to sleep in! He is still usually up at 6:00 in the morning!

I am really considering going back to school in the first of the year for my nutritional degree. I have learned so much about nutrition lately and I would love to teach people how to take better care of themselves through their diet and hopefully can get them off of all medications. We need to concentrate more on well care in this country and not so much on sick care. Okay, so that was my little political speech for the day! LOL Well, it is Friday night, so we are going out to dinner. I have been dying for Pei Wei all day! I will post some pictures from Texas at our next update and of course, the pictures from Halloween!!

Fall Break

Wow! I can't believe that the kid's first quarter of school is almost over! Cameron has his fall break from school beginning this Monday, and he will be off for two weeks. He has been doing such a good job at school, and we couldn't be happier! He has the most AMAZING teacher this year, and I just can't say enough good things about her. He has adjusted so well to his new school, and their very high expectations. He really does enjoy school and has a ton of new friends. The girls have one more week of school and then they are out for a week. They began school a week later than Cameron, so they have a slightly different schedule. Both girls are doing very well in school and we are so excited about their teachers and what they are learning. We FINALLY have them in a school where critical thinking is being taught. They are being asked to do a lot of great things; for example in Social Studies, Mikayla got to design her own island. She had an NBA themed island, and she did a FANTASTIC job on it. She had to have different physical features, name them, and then explain how the features impacted her island's weather, climate and population. She really did a great job on it, and we were very proud of her. She is also taking art this year, and is doing VERY well in it as well. She is changing so much, and really growing up. She is such an intelligent young lady and she is really shining this year in ways that we have never seen before!! Alyssa is also doing well in school. Being in 8th grade is definitely harder than she expected, but she is handeling it very well, especially with the very demanding academic school she is in. She has been put into the advanced reading book club that she has in her language arts class and has even had to read The Odyssey and pick out certain aspects of the story and be able to not only explain them, but be able to relate them to current situations in society. They are simply doing great, and we are both so very proud of them!

Bouke is going strong with his new addition to his business of stock trading and promoting. He is so good at picking successful stock picks and is really hitting the campaign hard with Twitter and Face Book accounts. I am so proud of all of the work he is doing, and that he is really enjoying adding a new aspect of business to his existing company. Now for the part of this update, that I am proud of. I am writing an advice article for the Dever area Examiner website. I am the relationship/marriage expert for the area. I write a new column almost daily, and really enjoy doing it. It has been great fun to really research and examine relationships and write about them to help people through difficult times. or simply show them ways to amp up their marriage and relationships. We are heading down to Texas while all three kids are on break to visit the family. It will be great to see them and spend some time with them. I am even not minding the drive down which is something that I usually can't stand! LOL That is about all that is happening here in the lovely state of Colorado with the Hale family; stay tuned for more updates and pictures!!

It Is Almost Time For A Trip To See The Family!

We headed to Mount Evans yesterday since we FINALLY had a little bit of snow on the mountains. And guess what, they CLOSED the freaking mountain!!! Ok, so they didn't close the mountain, but they did close the ranger station at the base of the mountain, which meant we couldn't even make it to Summit Lake. We did stop at Echo Lake at the base of the mountain, and it was beautiful. Well, this is Cameron's last week of school for the month of October beginning tomorrow. He has a two week fall break and will be home with us for a solid week without his sisters to annoy the mess out of him. The girls have two weeks of school left before their fall break, since they are finishing up their first quarter of middle school. We decided to head back to Texas for the week that all three of them will be off of school, but haven't confirmed with the Grandmas yet. We kind of want to surprise them. I think my mom could use the good surprise with all that she has been going through with my Aunt's breast cancer diagnosis. Hopefully, we can see the whole family while we are down there. We thought we would leave that Saturday morning early and drive straight through. We have to be back here in time for Halloween, so that would give us almost a full week down in Texas. It will be great to see everyone again, and I hope we have a good drama-free visit. Margaret is coming over for dinner next Sunday since she will be little man free, so I am planning on making her a big dinner to thank her for all that she has done for us. I am really looking forward to it. She hasn't been over for a few weeks, and I really like visiting with her. She is so sweet, and I love visiting with her. She and I should head out one night for a girl's night out, but this will do until then. Well, fall is definitely in the air here, I just hope it isn't hot and sticky when we go back to Texas. The kids are excited about the trip back, and so is Gracie, she has really missed her Grandmas! I will have updates and pictures from our trip as soon as we get back!

YEA!!! IT'S OCTOBER!!!

Fall is in the air, and it is our favorite season! We have been up to the mountains a lot lately admiring all of the beautiful color of the Aspen trees with their bright yellow leaves. Those against the mountains and the blue skies have ben SO gorgeous! We went to our favorite camp site a few weeks ago, but due to all of the dry conditions lately and all of the wildfires we have had this year, we weren't able to grill our steaks. So instad, we drove around and admired the scenery. We ended up brining our steaks and s'mores home and grilling them on our patio. We lit a fire outside in our fire pit and toasted marshmallows, made s'mores and just hung out with the kids and Gracie. We stayed up until midnight just laughing and telling ghost stories and stories about the past when the kids were younger. It was so much fun! Bouke and I really liked hanging out with the kids. The dive in the mountains was beautiful, and we all really enjoyed looking at the scenery. Next weekend is "Pugs in the Park" downtown, and we have been invited to bring Gracie to play with the other pugs and puggles in the area. They are even having a costume contest; so that means that I need to dig out Gracie's hot dog costume from one of the boxes. We HAVE to get her to the spa that they wil have set up and hopefully get her nails painted. We are really enjoying our life in Colorado, and we can't wait until the rest of the family come up to see us!!

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Our First Weekend in Colorado

Well, most of the boxes are unpacked; well at least the ones in the house anyway. The kids are registered and back in school, and so far, we all love it! The schools seem great, the people around here are super nice, and the weather is beautiful. We had an old friend and her two boys over Saturday to swim, and it was great to see them. Her boys are 2 and 3, so they are at that super cute age, and we all had fun playing with them. Sunday, we decided to take a drive up to Mt. Evans. It was in the mid 80's when we left, and when we got to the summit, it was in the low 50's and we even saw some snow flurries. I completely fell in love with Summit Lake. There was a ranger there and he told us all about the lake and the mountain. The permafrost was amazing, and the water in the lake was so clear and so cold. We even saw mountain goats when we reached the summit. Of course we still weren't used to the altitude, and going up to aver 14,000 feet didn't help. We got headaches and dizzy, and of course had trouble breathing. I found out later on Wikipedia that the FAA requires pilots to use supplemental oxygen when flying at that altitude! Well, NO WONDER we couldn't breath and got altitude sickness! However, it was completely worth it; it was so amazingly beautiful. I can't wait until the first snowfall so we can see all of the snow on the mountains again. All in all, not a bad first weekend in Colorado!

We are FINALLY here!!

I know it has been awhile since I have made an entry, but we have been crazy busy. We FINALLY had the movers out last Wednesday. They left with our stuff very late Wednesday night, so they didn't make it to Colorado until Monday morning. We hung out in Texas until Sunday morning, and then we left early and began our move to Colorado! We had a few things in the bed of the truck that we wanted to take with us, so we covered it with a tarp for the trip in case we ran into rain; however, even though we tied it down with rope and bungee cords, the tarp kept blowing up and whacking the back of the truck. So we had to use duct tape to secure the tarp. Holy cow!! Did we look like a bunch of rednecks that packed up and moved to Bever-ly! But, thankfully, the tape held, and we made it to where our hotel was at a reasonable hour. Speaking of the hotel, we forgot to check if they accepted dogs, since of course we had Gracie with us. Yeah, well they didn't; so we got stuck sneaking her in in her carrier like some illegal form of contra ban. Thank goodness she is such a good dog, or we would've been totally busted. The hotel was nice though, and after the 800 plus miles we drove, the bed was nice and comfortable. The next morning we ate breakfast and waited for the movers to call us to give us their ETA. It wasn't too long before we heard from them, so we finished up breakfast, ran back up to our room, got our stuff together, and smuggled Gracie back out to the car. Monday was a blur as we directed the movers to where to put boxes and items of furniture. The altitude is something we all have to get used to, and so we were pretty worn out by the time the movers left. We cleared a pathway to our beds, unpacked the essentials so we could sleep, and headed out to eat dinner. Tuesday was spent getting the kids registered for school, Wednesday was spent unpacking the kitchen (always my hardest room) and buying school supplies. Thursday was the kids first day of school. Cameron was nervous; but had met his teacher the day before and really seems to like her. The girls were really nervous about middle school, but they got the schedules they wanted, and had someone show them around. They all three seemed to have a really good first day, and we were very happy about it. We met friends for swimming today, and then went out to dinner. The kids are completely worn out with our first week in Colorado, but they all seem to really like it. I am so glad we are finally here, and beginning this new chapter in our lives. Here is to making new memories; and many more fun times!!

Holy Cow, we are FINALLY moving!

Ok, so we have talked about it, planned, looked, signed, and packed, and here it is.....the day is FINALLY here!! We had the movers out yesterday in 104* heat loading the stuff up. It was SO hot, but they got things done quickly with the 3 guys that they brought. They will be at our new address tomorrow afternoon, so we are leaving later today after one more Mexican food fix. We will have to stay in a hotel tonight and drive the rest of the way tomorrow. Have to get all squared away for the most part over the weekend since we have to get the kids ready for school starting Monday. We can't even see Cameron's school supply list, so I have no idea what he even needs until we get there. Which makes me crazy by the way. Bouke keeps telling me to relax, which I can't even do during a massage!! Seriously, I have to be the only person I know who has to remind herself to relax while I am getting a massage. Sick I know. But I like to plan things out, especially when we are doing a huge move like this, and starting a new school/school year at the same time. I have to get all of their paperwork together and we have to go talk to Cameron's teachers, prepare Mikayla for beginning middle school, and prepare Alyssa for her last year of middle school. I am nervous for them, and nervous that they are getting older and I know that I have to start letting go some. I know they aren't babies anymore, but things are so different now from when we were in school, and kids can be evil; I just worry. You know how it is?? Mama Bear. Anyway, we have a 13 hour drive a head of us with 3 kids and the puppy, but it isn't anything we haven't tackled before. I am ready to go, the kids are ready to go, Bouke was ready to go before we even moved back here. However, this time is a little different; my mother is moving and my mother-in-law is moving too. My mother has been in the same house for a LONG time. I grew up in the house she is leaving, so it is surreal this time. I know when we come back for Thanksgiving, I won't be coming 'home'. We will be at "Mom's house". My mother-in-law has been in her current house since Bouke was a sophomore in high school, so it is the same for him too. So it is just weird this time. Last time we moved out of state, we could still come 'home' this time it is like we can't. So there are several emotions with this move; some I have felt before, and some I haven't. But I am anxious to get there and start our new lives. Let's just hope this is the last move until Cameron graduates from High School!! Stay tuned for Hale family updates!!

O.M.G.

Holy cow, it is Monday, and the movers will be here on Wednesday!! I can't believe we are finally at this point. I am cautiously excited about our move. I can remember six years ago when we moved to Chicago and on the day we left, I was ready for the move. But I remember the days before when the nerves kicked in; were we doing the right thing? Were we going to be ok? How was I going to find my way around Chicago? Were the kids going to meet new/good friends quickly? The list went on and on. When we moved back to Texas, I cried the night we left, not sure we were doing the right thing completely going back. Now, it 48 hours before the movers are packing us up; and I am trying to keep my nerves at bay. There has been so much stress the past few months, that part of me is SO ready to get on with this. But of course, I am worried about silly things like finding my way around town, and more important things, like school for the kids and how they will adjust. They are older now, so I hope that they get in with the right group of kids. I am sure they will, they are such good kids, but I am a mom and I worry. I am happy about having someone we already know though in the area, that will help a lot. I guess my biggest concern is will I like it as much as I did in Chicago? I LOVE Chicago, and I am more an East Coast person; while Bouke is the West Coast type. It was my idea to move to Colorado, so I guess I will have to own it. I will approach this the same way as I did when we first moved to Chicago though, I can either choose to be miserable, or I can choose to be happy, and I make the choice to be happy. The kids are excited, Bouke is excited, and I am too. So ready or not Colorado here we come!!

A Little Family Time

We decided to take the kids out for a little time together. I guess we have gone to get yogurt one time too many, because Miss Alyssa decided she did not want yogurt. So we had to take a little detour to Starbucks for her, so she could get her Strawberries and Cream Frappuccino. Mikayla had her espresso and cookies and cream yogurt, Cameron had his chocolate yogurt, I had espresso and dulche de leche yogurt. Bouke decided he was tired of the yogurt as well, so when we took the detour to Starbucks, he got his Vanilla Bean Frappuccino. It seems that yogurt places have popped up all over the place again like the did in the late 80's as the 'new' thing. It is a lot healthier than ice cream, and it is lighter, so it is nice to have the alternative. But I guess with anything, if you have it too often, you do get tired of it. There is a place in Chicago called Oberweis, that we used to go to all the time when we moved there. There was one close to our house in Lake Zurich, so we used to go over there all the time. However, it was real ice cream, no HFCS included, real ice cream, cream, whipped cream, totally awesome. I am so looking forward to being in Denver, and being with the kids like we were again. We had a total blast when we were there over Spring Break, and I am looking so forward to being there with all of us together. But until then, we will have our yogurt time !!

Had To Share....

I had to post the picture of Cameron eating his Orange Dream yogurt at Yogurtville yesterday during our "Mom-Son Day". He was such a little gentleman while we were there, he even remembered to take his Cubs baseball cap off when we walked into the store and sat at the table. He opened the door for me, and handed me the cup to put the yogurt in first. I am so proud of my little gentleman!! Daddy sure did a good job teaching him how to be respectful!! I love my boy!!!!!

I get a day with my boy!!

Well, today is a day that I don't get very often; I get a day all to myself with my son. Bouke had to go out of town for the day for his company, my mother and grandmother are doing somethings together, and the girls are going to the mall and to a movie with their other grandmother. This leaves me and Cameron to hang out together!! I have a few things to do but then I think I will take my little guy to go get some yogurt for lunch and then maybe head to the Library. He is so much fun to hang out with, and doesn't get much one on one time with us and we would like to have. Tomorrow, the girls will be here, and he will be the one with the grandma, so I guess I will get to hang out with the girls tomorrow as well. Our lives have been so crazy the past few months, it will be nice to be in Colorado where the 5 of us can be a real family again. This period of transition for us has been difficult to say the least, but it is only a temporary thing, and it is something that we definitely get through. They say what doesn't kill us, only makes us stronger, and I think we are all Silestone tough now! But, for today, I am happy to be with my Pooh Bear eating frozen yogurt and hearing about his latest Lego artwork piece. Cameron has become fascinated with Lego artist Nathan Sawaya. He has been looking at this pieces on Google images and on You Tube. He has made some very good replicas of Mario and Sonic, a Nintendo, busses, and trains himself. We are very proud of him, and he is very good at it! Anyway, I better wrap this up and make sure the girls are ready to go, so Cameron and I can head out. Mommy time!!!!

I am very pleased today!!

Well, in the midst of trying to secure our final landing place in Colorado, helping my mother pack up 30 plus years and move to a new house, getting the kids registered and ready for school, and help my husband with his business (oh and keep a marriage and family afloat), I had to call the school district our kids will be in when we get to Colorado. My darling husband and I are getting a bit nervous. Trying to find the right house from 800 miles away isn't easy, and doing it while playing "Beat the Clock" with a start of school deadline is even harder. School starts for them in the next few weeks, so I needed to call the district office and talk to someone who could help to answer some last minute questions we had. We've done this before, so it wasn't a huge deal, but since we have done this before, it is a huge deal. Several years ago when we moved from Texas to Illinois, I called the school district and the elementary school our daughters would be attending. I talked to them, and everything sounded Kosher. However, once we got in there, we had a few issues with some things. Then we bought a new house and had to move to another district, which was to put into one word...DISASTROUS! That was actually one of the main reasons we moved back to Texas. Now, I called again things seemed cool, and about 7 months into school when all hell broke loose. However, now that we have decided to move to the beautiful state of Colorado, I have made another call to what has been described by several sources as "The Best District In The State", to ask some additional questions before we register the kids. I talked to the Administration building, and the lady I talked to in the curriculum department was VERY nice. She gave me phone numbers, put my mind at ease about a lot of issues, and was very accommodating. It was so nice to talk to her, and not feel like I was being rushed off the phone, or made to feel ignorant, or that I was putting her out to answer some questions for us. Now, I just hope that it all holds, and that we are as happy with these schools for a long time to come, because we really don't want to move again, until Cameron is out of High School. Then we have to move to wherever they go to college! Ha ha ha! However, for now, Mama Bear is satiated, but still has her fingers crossed for a good school year, and several to come.

On our way....... (soon I hope!)

Bouke and I decided awhile ago to leave Texas and move. I literally sat down and did a Google search for the Top 10 places to live in the US. Now, I would move back to Chicago in a heartbeat, but their economy is so messed up right now, we aren't so sure it is the best idea for us. When I did the search, one of the places that came up was Colorado. Now, Bouke went to college in Colorado, and he loves the west, so we thought it might be a good place to look at. We took the kids there for Spring Break, and they loved it. We stayed in Golden, but went through a lot of the Denver area. We hung out downtown, saw the Capitol. went shopping, drove up through Boulder and to Estes Park. The kids loved the mountains and the snow, and decided not too long after we got back to Texas that they wouldn't mind moving to the Denver area. Now, hopefully, we are getting closer to leaving Texas and moving to the Mile High city. Bouke and I miss doing things with the kids that we did when we lived in Chicago, and Denver seems to offer a lot of the same things and more. We are excited about going, so keep your fingers crossed that we are out of here soon, and back to our little family in the next few weeks. God willing, it will be soon!!