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!!