Random things that Nikki has been enjoying

This is going to be a bit random, but I thought it would be fun to tell you all about a few things that I've been enjoying lately.

1. Music:

The band Metric. I love them. I had been listening to them off and on but after we (Todd and I) saw them open for Muse I really started listening to them even more. My favorite song by them right now is called Gimmie Sympathy. You can check it out here: Metric Gimmie Sympathy Music Video

A friend got me into the group called XX. They label themselves as being pop/experimental. At first I wasn't sure what I thought but the more I listened the more I liked them. What I like about them is that they are a little funky. Here is one of their songs that I really like called Crystalised Crystalised Music Video and another one called Basic Space Basic Space Music Video

2. Reading.

Since we got rid of the cable I've been doing a lot of it. Not always the same type of stuff but the last book I finished was called Dracula in Love by Karen Essex. It takes the classic story of Dracula and turns it around so it's in the female perspective. I picked up this book at random when I was at the library last time and I'm glad I did. It was a very enjoyable read. The best part of it was all the historical refrences. The author really took the time to make sure she stayed true to the essence of the classic story and I thought that showed in her work. Oh and this book isn't as innocent as Twilight as far as the romance stuff goes so if you plan on letting your kid read it be warned there is some sultry scenes in there.  You can see more about the book here: Dracula in Love

I've also just finished the House of Night series by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast (well all  7 of the books that are out currently anyways). This is a vampire series but it's set in a high school realm. I wasn't really sure what to think of the series when I started it but as I read more I found that I liked the good and evil/light and dark thing that they were doing and how it touches on lots of subjects that affect kids now. The only thing I wasn't crazy about in the beginning was the 'teen speak' that was going on. After awhile though I didn't mind it and got use to it I think. You can learn more about the House of Night series here: House of Night Series

Besides my reading about Vampires I've also been doing lots of reading about becoming Vegetarian, Raw food eating, mindful eating, and just general educating my self on how the food industry works. It's really interesting reading and I have to offset it with my other reading since some of the books can get to be very heavy in information. Here are some of the books that I've been reading: Being Vegetarian, The Everything Guide to Being Vegetarian, Super Natural Cooking, Raw Food, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, Eating Animals, Omnivore's Dilemma, Savor, and 101 Reasons Why I'm a Vegetarian. As you can see lots of reading and lots of information.

3.TV/DVD:

When I have watched tv I have wanted to watch documentaries. Checked out a few from the library. In a few days I managed to watch Bowling for Columbine (documentary about gun control and it's impact on teens and society), Sicko (talks about socialized health care and the state of healthcare in the USA) and Food, Inc. (a closer look at the cost of convience foods and the damage it's doing). All very thought provoking stuff. The first two documentaries are by Michael Moore which I head heard as being very controversial. Despite his political views I thought he made some valid points on some things and at least made me want to find out more about other things.

To continue the Vampire theme from above I was pretty happy when my dvd for Eclipse showed up in the mail. I did get to watch the movie but have yet to explore the bonus features. I love watching all the behind the scenes stuff after I've seen the movie so I get a better look into the filming process. I'm not a fan of that before the film though since that tends to be all I can think about prior to viewing it. Anyways if you are a Twilight fan and haven't gotten your copy the best deal I've seen as far as price and features has been at Target. You can check it out here: The Twilight Saga: Eclipse Movie

4. Celebrating:

I love seeing my friends/family doing great things and so I celebrate with them. Here are a few things that I've been celebrating:

Today I got word that my former neighbors (and still great friends) that Hilary had been published. He's been talking about this book for awhile and it was awesome to see that he's now published and his book is being sold on Amazon. Very excited for my friend and to read the book myself. It's a Western which doesn't fit with the Vampire reading I do (hahaha) but I am excited to read it. Check it out here: A Wayward Tale

Todd had his work Christmas Party last weekend and we won a cash prize that allowed us to buy a dryer. Woohoo! It's been too darn cold out to hand laundry up to dry or out so it's nice to have a dryer that works again. When it warms up though I'll be back to line drying. I don't mind the extra work and it did reduce our electric bill so it is worth it.

I was suppose to run the Reindeer Ramble 5K with my sister Siobhan and her teacher crew but was too sick to go. Even though I wasn't able to go Siobhan ran and did great. Her team finished around 35 mins and I'm so proud of her for doing it since I know she wasn't overally excited about since running isn't her thing. Way to go Sis! We have talked about running together in the future since I missed out on this race with her. Looking forward to doing that with her and celebrating that afterwards.

Opportunity (and seeing Santa)

Last Saturday we had the wonderful opportunity to go to the local Ronald McDonald House in Lexington. Todd and I have been feeling like we need a place to volunteer so we got in touch with an old friend of Todd's to see if they could use at the RM house. Oh course they said they could and we were invited to attend the open house they were having for Christmas.

We didn't know Santa or that Ronald McDonald was going to be there but the kids were suprised. I didn't take my camera but the pictures above are from Kelly Hamilton the director of Volunteers there at the house. Sam loved seeing Santa and told him for Christmas he wanted an orange dog and a some trees. lol. Sophia was not impressed and wanted nothing to do with Santa. I have bruise marks on my arm from how hard she was holding on to me.

All in all we had a wonderful time despite the freezing snowing temps outside and we are thrilled to join the RM house after the new year as volunteers.

Our newest family member

Everyone this is Rufus. We adopted Rufus from the Lexington Humane Society. He is 3 yrs old and is super sweet. He loves the kids and doesn't seem to mind a lot of noise and chaos. He's a small breed dog that is a mix of a Terrier and something else. We think the something else may be a beagle. Because of his size he doesn't scare the kids which is good since the kids showed some anxiety with some of the other dogs we looked at that were a lot bigger than Rufus.

Besides being the smallest dog he was also the only one that showed in interest in the kids and gave lots of love right off. He's a perfect fit for us (though I don't really think he'll be going on morning runs with me).  He's already got a bed and his carrot toy and has been exploring the house like crazy. We have had a handful of accidents but are sure in a couple of days he'll have it figured it and that wont be an issue. It's a learning curve for all of us. Oh and yes Rufus was his orginal name and we decided to keep it. Seems only right to let him keep it since that's the name he's had his whole life.

It's that time....

We have our 2010 ornaments. Todd and I took the kids to pick out one ornament each this year at Target. After much debating and lots of "no" from Sophia we all finally found the one that we loved. They are all now happily up on the tree with the ornaments that we got last year.

Here is the break down of who picked what:

Todd got the pirate nutcracker man
Nikki picked the doll in the sweater
Sophia picked out the penguin
Sam got the lion

Fall Pictures

Marissa Noe Photography is where these beautiful came from. As most of my readers know we are big fans of Marissa and her photos so much so that we try and get family photo's done twice a year.

Please take a moment to go to the link and leave a comment on her website about how great you think these photos are. If we get enough people to comment we get a free print in a larger size. I would love to have it to add to my wall so please go and comment on her website.

My oops....

Even though I'm not a fan of Halloween I am ok with the kids dressing up for school events and stuff. Last week the school sent home a notice saying that the kids were to dress up like book characters for the following week. We were to send the book with the kids and they were going to have a little book parade and class party. I thought the note said Friday. It didn't. It said Thursday. I of course didn't realize this until Friday afternoon after Sam got home from school.

Sam got home and I asked him how the party was to which he responded 'mommy the party was yesterday but I had fun being a fireman today'. Well stink...I failed. I'm glad he had fun being a fireman (Todd went to the store after work on Thursday to find the jacket for us) but I was bummed that my little guy missed out on dressing up with his classmates the day before.

Oh well...guess we all make mistakes from time to time. Oh and Todd said Sophia was dressed as an 80's pop star since she was decked out with all her accessories. :)

Puppy

It's no secret that I want a dog. I've wanted one for a long time. Thing is though when you are trying to plan a cross country move the last thing you need to add to the mix is a dog.

Well today while Sophia and I were out running errands we stopped by Hobby Lobby where Sophia immediately fell in love with this little puppy. She started kissing and hugging him and cried when I told her we weren't going to get him. Of course she pulled out all the stops and we wound up buying this little guy.

He is in fact adorable and the best part is we don't have to feed, walk, or house train him. Sophia is happy and hasn't let him go but for just a few seconds for me to snap this picture.

Thoughts on Halloween.

I feel like the Grinch of Halloween. I just really really really don't like this holiday. It's kind of a complicated thing really.

As a kid my mom went all out for this and would get dressed up and spend time trying to figure out our costumes. However, the day always ended with my parent's fighting (I'm talking about my biological mom and step dad) and the police around. He would be drunk. We would be tired, cold, and frustrated. Not my idea of good time.

As I got older I saw that more and more women's costumes are now labeled as sexy. What's wrong with just being a normal firefighter? Why does it have to be sexy? Sorry not interested. That's just not me.

Also the idea of marching my kids around in the dark and cold just isn't something they or I want to do. I told you I'm the Grinch of the holiday.

I'm not saying that dressing up shouldn't happen. In fact Sam is dressed up for school today. They asked that the kids dress like a character from one of their books. I'm totally fine with that. The idea of pretending and wholesome fun is ok with me. It's the darker side of the holiday that I don't like.

Will I take my kids trick or treating? Nope. Did we attend a fall festival this year? Nope, but that's because we just didn't hear about them in time to plan to attend. Are we going to do some Halloween type things? Sure.

Tonight I'll carve the pumpkin with the kids. Put on Charlie Brown and Scooby doo. Light some candles and enjoy some non scary and totally comfy fun with my kiddos at home. I'm not handing out candy as my street doesn't get any trick-or-treaters anyways (last year I bought candy had my light on and everything and didn't get a single kid so this year I didn't even buy candy).

Will my mind change about the holiday as my kids get older and they understand more about what is going on? Maybe. For now though I'll just continue to be the Grinch of Halloween.

Beautiful Chaos

Plant mom bought me after I finished the Komen Race

Sam in his new bed

Sophia loves her new bed. Look at all that space.

new bed

Sam cheering me on at the 5K

Heading out the door for my first 5k

Todd trying to teach Sophia how to play

Muse concert

At the Muse Concert

So it seems I have a touch of ADD lately. I have so many projects and things going on that I have been getting overwhelmed and just plain deciding to let some things go to the way side...like this blog. Anyways I'm going to try and get back to blogging regularly for all 2 of you that read this. lol. Actually I don't even know if anyone reads this or if I'm just doing it for myself.

Whatever the case may be. Here is what we have been up too.

*Nikki and Todd went to a Muse concert and the kids spent the night with Todd's parents

*Kids got bunk beds and we took away the baby gates for good

*We found out my bro in law and his wife are expecting a little boy on March 15th

*Todd loves to jam with the kiddos and has even tried on several occasions to start to teach them how to play guitar

*I ran my first 5k. I ran the Susan G. Komen 5K and completed it. 38 mins 20 seconds and I didn't pass out

*I spent the day uploading all my cds to Itunes and then figured out how to export it to my external hard drive (no joke it took me all day I had tons of music that was not even on my IPod yet)

*One of the cars decided to have issues so it's in the shop which worked out ok for us anyways since we decided at some point we did want to be a one car family. It just happened sooner rather than later. lol

*We have been working as a family to purge the house of stuff that we don't need or want in preparation for our move to Portland next year.

*Todd has been working as usual at Saul Good and also spending his time off researching about Portland and spending time with the kiddos.

*I'm still working part time

*The kids and I had a 24hour stomach bug. Yeah that was fun.

*We have re-arranged every room in the house I think

*Todd has made no less than 30 trips to Goodwill to get rid of stuff for me

*Kids and I played in the leaves in the back yard today

*We have been to the Farmer's market every Saturday for the last month

*We have made a weekly trip out to 1/2 price books to sell our books, records, cds we still need to go back out for another round of books, cds, board games, and possibly the gamecube and it's games.

*Learning we can live with less and be happy. More stuff does not equal happiness.

*We volunteered to host Thanksgiving or Turkey Day 2010 at our place this year. It's one of the tings I wanted to do before I was 30 and we figured this would be a good time to do it since it'll be harder to do after we move.

*I read the book The Shack (it was eh for me but if anyone really wants to talk about it let me know and I'll do a post about that)

*Sam's class went to the pumpkin patch and he had a great time

*Sophia and I have been watching Scooby Doo together on days when we haven't felt very good. She loves it and I love that she wants me to watch it with her. It's a nice change of pace from Dora and Spongebob all the time.

*We canceled the cable. Don't miss it at all. In fact we've been enjoying our stuff on dvds when we want to watch something. We haven't really watched much though. The kids play more with their toys and I've gotten to listen to more music. Not only are we saving money but everyone seems happier without the tv on all the time.

*The kids are really big into pretend play lately which is a lot of fun. Today they had a road rally in the back yard while I raked leaves.

Ok so that might be everything. I can't say for sure, but that does at least catch everyone up.

I love my life....

Some a few of my favorite pictures from yesterday. We spent the morning at two different farmers markets, went to lunch at Jalpenos, and had ice cream at Brusters. Todd had to work afterwards but I got to spend some cuddle time with the kids watching scooby doo. I'd say that life is pretty good. :)

Super Kids

The kids picked out their clothes separately this morning at the same time and both emerged wearing their Superman shirts. It was just too cute. Oh course we couldn't get a single good photo of them together so these will have to do.

Fun

I've been deal hunting again. :) Anyways one of my finds was a Harry Potter puzzle at Goodwill for $0.50. Not a bad deal I thought since I love the HP series and stuff anyways. Well last night after our amazing long day I sat on our living room floor for 3 hours and put this thing together. I couldn't believe that this 300 piece puzzle was made for 8 yr olds and up. It was hard! After all my hard work of getting together I took it apart and put away for another time.

Playing Dress up

Tonight I cleaned out my closet. The kids were more than willing to help mommy do that and even spent a little time playing with my shoes. Sophia was actually walking around in some of my really tall heels too which was really impressive. Sam decided that my winter boots were more fun and had a great time running around in those. :)

Playing catch up

What have we been up to?

Sam started school on Thursday.

We moved Sophia's room upstairs and moved the spare room downstairs next to Sam's room. He kept getting Sophia up in the middle of the night to play and this was the only solution that could work so it's been an interesting couple of days with the new adjustment.

Todd is working like normal.

I've been doing the P90X workout program, joined a book club, and signed up to run my first 5K in October.

I'm sure there is more but it's honestly to hard to try and sum up everything we've done in the last month...check out some of the other blog entries from tonight to see a glimpse at a few things.

Sam goes to school

Sam's first day back at pre-school was on Thursday. He was thrilled to go back to school and couldn't wait to go. In fact every night since he saw his teachers on Monday he has asked about going to school every 2 hours. He's even gotten up in the middle of the night several times claiming that we have to get ready for school. lol. The boy loves his teachers and learning.

Red Robin

Took the kiddos to Red Robin to enjoy their freebie meals they earned from the summer reading program at the public library over the summer. As you can see they loved their meals.