AND...pictures from November...so far!

So, you obviously know by now that November started off with "our" election night victory. This is a picture of many members of our office at our election night "victory" party. This picture wasn't taken until almost 99% of the votes were in so we were sure we were in the clear. I think this is the relaxed we had been in quite some time.


After several years of tailgating for almost all the A&M games, we were somewhat derailed this season with the addition of soccer to our already busy lives! But we were able to have a tailgate party for the last game against OU. The tailgate party was really fun...can't say the same about the game! Our great friends Chris and Melissa were able to come and bring Gracie...their three month old baby (although I think she was only two months at the time!) Gracie is such a blessing after everything they went through to have her and the Comte kids sure love being around her. Auntie (my brother's wife) and her kids came up as well. Austin just loves playing with them and missed having them here so much. My niece sure loves him and loves to be around him. I took some really cute pictures...just didn't think my SIL would want me putting their pictures all over the internet!






About a week before the tailgate, Chris and Melissa came over for dinner and my kiddos couldn't get enough of Gracie! Kayla is finally warming up to her and was trying to get her to play, I think! Austin just likes to hold her and touch her head...not sure what that's about!



This past weekend weekend was Junior League Charity Ball, which gave Joe and I away for the night. We (OK, I!) had a really good time. We were there with several of our friends and really enjoyed a night of "grown up" time.




I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving and enjoys time with friends and family. I know I keep saying it, but I will try to be better about putting pictures up. Maybe I need to figure out how to work that nifty slide show thingy!

PICTURES, PICTURES, PICTURES...from October!!!!

OK, so here they finally are! I'm putting a lot here so that I can get them all in. The first pictures are from Austin's last two soccer games.

You can't see it, but I'm wearing the infamous "soccer mom" shirt that I swore I'd never wear! Oh the things we'll do for our children...
This was Austin's last soccer game when they got their trophies. I had to convince him that it wasn't a toy and we couldn't play with it. With much chagrin, he finally agreed to put it on the shelf!
The fam after one of the last soccer games...
These two pictures are of Austin and his friend Keaton. Keaton's family goes to church with us and we've become really good friends with them. The boys are a little over a month apart and they "fight" as boys do...and then get upset when we try to separate them!
NOW...More Pumpkin patch pictures!! We went to the pumpkin patch AGAIN with my sister-in-law and her kids. Austin spelled out his name in little pumpkins (mostly on his own!) and Kayla was content just climbing on them!



And...finally...HALLOWEEN!!! Austin dressed as an "Army" (ie: a soldier...sorry, Poppa!) I bought his costume at a local army surplus store and then sewed the patches on myself. (See earlier blog about learning to sew!) He's put it on several more times to play dress up in and also to go outside and shoot his M16 (no...its not real!) in the front yard...how redneck can we get?! Kayla on the other hand was a fairy princess. I was worried because, leading up to Halloween, she did not like to wear the crown and the wings, but she ended up doing great and looking so angelic...boy, she had everyone fooled!




We went to one of my co-workers' house for a Halloween Party...notice that Joe is the only one not dressed up. We kept telling everyone he was "Joe the Plumber!"

And...I just had to add one picture of our newest neighborhood watch mechanism!

I'm going to post November pictures in another post!

A Sigh of Relief

So, my two weeks of jury trials are now officially over and I have a short break before a BIG trial the week after Thanksgiving. This week's trial was a juvenile (a 10 year old) charged with indecency with a child. Not the resolution I would have wanted (plea to a lesser charge), but at least he's going to get the help I think he needs. Last weeks was definitely not good...NOT GUILTY!! At least we fought the good fight (for all you prosecutors out there!)

So, last night was a little emotional for me for some reason. Not sure if it was the fact that I've had very little sleep lately or what, but as we were watching the CMAs last night, I started crying during Trace Adkins' song "Your Gonna Miss This". I'm sure it had something to do with the fact that Kayla had just let me rock her to sleep for the first time in a long time and the fact that Austin was snuggled up on the chair, but I just love that song. For those of you who haven't heard it, I encourage you to check it out. The chorus goes something like this

"You're gonna miss this. You're gonna want this back. You're gonna wish these days hadn't gone by so fast. These are some good times. Take a good look around. You may not know it now, but you're gonna miss this." Oh how true...I already miss it!

Our church is hosting Family Promise this week and we went and spent time with the families last night. Family Promise is a program that helps homeless families get back on their feet, while providing them a place to stay, food and opportunities to find jobs. There are 9 churches in our area participating and this is our week. We went up to the church and ate with the three families last night and played with the kids. Its so eye-opening and sobering to me to see kids the age of mine (and younger!) with no home to call their own. Austin and I were talking about it on the way home and it was so hard for him to understand. We are so blessed to live where we do and have the things we have. I have to constantly remind myself to thank God everyday for that.

I know I keep saying I'm going to put new pictures up. I promise...I will. I have taken some VERY cute ones...they're just still on my camera. Maybe when things slow down...yeah right!

Election Night is FINALLY here!!!

So, I've been pretty absent for the past couple of weeks...sorry! I have several pictures I am going to put up for everyone, but haven't had a chance to do it with everything being so busy. I will really try to get them up this weekend.

So...today was finally election day! While everyone is of course watching the national race to find out who our new leader is going to be, I was focused on the one race that would determine whether I would have a job in the morning. I am THRILLED to report that my boss (BEAL Turner!) won by 8% and I will have a job for at least the next four years! It was a closer race than we wished it would have been, but its definitely a win and that's the most important thing.

Its so funny to find out which attorney "friends" in town turn their back on us in a time like this. Not that we ever really thought they were our friends, but they really show their true colors when stuff like this happens. Well, all I can say is that we know who are friends are now! It, of course, won't affect how we treat their clients, but I can assure you that all communications between me and them will be in writing!

I will post more this week and try to get some pictures up soon! Austin stayed with me at the election party tonight and was very excited that BEAL won...ME TOO!!!

Finally...some pictures!

Joe has been out of town this week or I might have been able to write more. However, as soon as I'm able to get the kids in bed and the house in a somewhat liveable fashion, I crash! So, here we are...waiting for Daddy to get home so I can turn childcare duty over to him and I can go into hibernation! I just don't know how single moms do it!

I had a parent teacher conference with Austin's teacher yesterday. He is apparently ready to start college, so we will start filling out applications this weekend! :) Seriously, he's apparently doing really well and I got to see a lot of the "work" he has done this year that they haven't sent home. Nothing really major to report...does this mean that he's a good kid or that he's unremarkable?! Anything's better than being the parent of "that kid", I guess!

Poor little Kayla is cutting a tooth. I'm not really sure which one, but she is drooling more than a basset hound (yes, we're familiar with them...my dear brother and sister-in-law have one!) She's also in a LOT of pain-more than I remember her being in with any of her other teeth. In fact, she really didn't show any symptoms with many of her teeth. All of a sudden, there were teeth there! I've been pumping her full of motrin and tylenol...hopefully tonight will be better than last night!

Austin had another soccer game this past weekend. There are some pictures below. He's just so stinkin cute out on that field, but I'm not biased or anything! We also took the kids to the pumpkin patch at our church. They did a very good job picking out their pumpkins, but I'm pretty sure Kayla was going to try to come home with all of them.

Here's Austin going after the ball! He sure looks like he's hustlin!

This is at the second game (I think!) Her shirt says "my brother rocks"! Hopefully she'll still think that in a few years!

You can't see the ball she's kicking in this picture. I'm afraid we're going to have many years of soccer games ahead of us!

I'm pretty sure this is the first pumpkin Kayla found and equally sure that this is one of the pumpkins we came home with! She is SO independent and "I do it" are her favorite words right now!

Austin was determined to help carry pumpkins to the car. I'm thinking this one might have been a little big!

I sure wish I could get them bot to look AT the camera at the same time. Oh well...at least they're both smiling!

Voting and Election Burnout

I have a feeling that waiting for this election to be over is going to be much like waiting for Christmas morning to arrive. Everyday seems to drag more and more. I, like much of America, want the Presidential election to be over. However, the election of much more importance to me is that of Brazos County District Attorney. It is somewhat daunting to realize that in two weeks, I may have to be looking for a job. If you know of any DA's offices around Texas that are hiring, please let me know! It is amazing to me the number of people that will vote for someone (especially someone in the position of DA) based solely on their party affiliation. I am as conservative Republican as the next person, but that doesn't mean I'm NEVER going to vote for a Democrat. In fact, I voted for 3 yesterday! I have NEVER had a victim ask me my party affiliation before we go to trial on a case, but apparently that seems to be a big deal to many of these idiots around here. Whatever happened to looking at someone's qualifications (and, frankly, the qualifications of that person's assistants) before making a choice.

I took Austin with me to vote yesterday. He was very excited, although I had to explain to him several times that he couldn't tell people to vote for "Beal" Turner when we went into the courthouse. In fact, I told him not to say a word or we would get in trouble. This was such a change as I have no shame and have been encouraging him to tell people that if "Beal" Turner doesn't in, mommy will lose her job. Like I said, I have no shame! We pulled the little chair right up to the polling booth and I let Austin "mark the boxes" of the people we were voting for. After double (and triple and quadruple) checking to make sure we had IN FACT voted for "Beal" Turner, I let him push the "Cast your ballot" button. He was grinning ear to ear when we walked out of the election room...proudly wearing his "I voted" sticker. When we came up to my office to say hi to everyone, someone asked him who he voted for. He looked at me for permission to tell...I think that's the first time he's EVER listened to me when I've told him not to say anything!

I just got a phone call from the daycare that Kayla bit someone today. I laugh when they call me to tell me that...not because she bit someone, but what do they really think I can do about it when I'm at work and she's there? It has actually been some time since she last bit...apparently she wanted the baby doll more than the other kid! Its so weird to be the parent of the "biter of the class" (as Austin calls her) when I was the parent of the "bitee" with Austin. We talk all the time about how we shouldn't bite and that its not very nice, but it seems that when the moment comes, the only way she can "get what she wants" is to lay her little teeth on the next victim. That does not bode well for us for the future. My question is how, with 3 teachers and 18 kids, they couldn't have gotten to her before it actually happened. Oh well...such is the life of a working mom whose kids are in "gasp" daycare!!

Do they make a bed bigger than a king size?

So this morning at approximately 5 o'clock, I can hear Kayla over the monitor as she is climbing out of bed. (Again...why did I buy her that step stool?!) I then hear the door open-when did she get so tall? I'm guessing that halfway out into the living room, she realized that she couldn't see because she started crying. Joe went to get her and brought her into bed with us. Not at all a good precedent to be starting, especially since it hasn't been that long since Austin stopped getting in bed with us. I'm thinking she finally went back to sleep after flopping around...I know I did! How is it that such a little person can take up SOOO much room in a huge bed?!

Well, about 6:30, I can again hear noises over the monitor. I realize its now Austin getting something out of Kayla's room. Apparently he decided that if she was going to be in bed with Mommy and Daddy, she needed a baby in the bed, too. So, Austin makes his way in and ALSO climbs up in bed...complete with doll for Kayla, blanket and stuffed animal for him. Its a good thing Austin has bunkbeds-Joe and I may be needing somewhere to sleep soon!

You may ask why I was still in bed at 6:30...well, somehow, in my head, IT WAS SATURDAY!!! When I remembered it was Friday, I was NOT in a good mood and thus began the rush to get everyone ready to leave the house. No...I was not on time to work today!

A&M plays Texas Tech this weekend, although I think the term "plays" is probably not the proper term to use. For the first time in a LONG time (ever??), I am NOT that excited to go to football games. I know its a "rebuilding year" (what does that mean anyway? Haven't we been "rebuilding" for a while now?!), but it sure makes it hard to stomach the amount of money we have spent on season tickets. The more exciting game will be tomorrow at 9-yes, its soccer time again! Gee (Joe's mom) is coming, as well as Uncle Steven, Aunt Faye and Annie. We're very excited to see them and hang out. Hopefully we'll be able to take the kids to the pumpkin patch and get some fall pictures!