Can't sleep

1.  Hosted holiday parties are OVER

Here is the thing...I LOVE hosting parties.  I love having people over at my house with the intention of providing them a GREAT night.  This past weekend was no different.  I enjoyed having Thanksgiving and finally hosting martini night.  I really do love having parties.  BUT right now I am also exhausted with school work and responsibilities.  So though I loved hosting -- I am excited that next weekend I am just attending.

One of the MANY trips to the store.  

 2. Martini Night
Jenna was in town and our kitchen is finally done so I decided to host martini night.  It was great.  I haven't seen Kara in months and it was wonderful to see baby Ana again.  It is always wonderful to sit down and reconnect with these women.  It doesn't happen enough but when it does - it is a ton of fun.

3. Christmas lights
Grateful that Mike tackles the Christmas lights.  When the boys were little this was something that I tried to take on (though not on the roof).  Our house looks great.  Thank you Rouzer!

4. Play-doh and other great things
Jack is starting to play INDEPENDENTLY.  I love how he just goes into his room and plays dinosaurs and uses his creativity.  Love. love. love.

5. free time
Since I had girls night at our house on Saturday, Mike & Josh took all of the kids up to the cabin.  That meant on Sunday morning I had a few hours of FREE time.  I had to pick up the mess from the night before but then I headed out to do some Christmas shopping.  I was able to get a LOT completed.  It was pretty heavenly.

5:04am

1. Thanksgiving

I think it is officially official.  We have the BEST Thanksgiving table.  That being said, we had another wonderful Thanksgiving at our house.  This year we had a few more hiccups than usual but overall the day was still really freaking fabulous.  Best parts: talking to family & playing Bingo after dinner.  

 2. Brotherly Love
Because of the Thanksgiving week we have the boys for almost an entire week.  I decided to post this picture of their electronics because they are OBSESSED.  We try to lay down pretty strict rules in the house (these devices are usually at Greg's) but when we let them play -- they are glued.

Back to the brotherly love...I am so grateful that the twins love on Jack and take care of him and that Jack is over the moon in love with his brothers.  One of my favorite things in this world is their love for each other.

3. Jack's New Bed
Has this made the blog yet?  I know that there is not much of a blog anymore but this was a pretty great change for this dude.  Jack transition into his big boy bed a few weeks ago.  The transition was not hard for the adults because Jack was crawling out of his crib a few times a night.  He has been sick the last few weeks so it has made it significantly easier to read with him in bed, sing songs and spend a few extra moments loving on him as he falls asleep.  In the morning, every day, every SINGLE day, he walks out of his room and says, "I'm awake!!" With a huge smile on his face and so so proud of himself.

Ironically as I was typing out the words, "I'm awake" he said it again.  Followed by, "I wake up!"

Yup - he loves to be awake.  (It's 5:04am right now)

4. Adult night out
Last weekend we actually had a night out with Tasha and AJ.  We went to dinner in Broad Ripple and then on a bar crawl!  Broad Ripple has changed a ton since I frequented there 17 years ago (HOLY SHIT - I am OLD). I am so grateful for our friendship with these two.

5.  School is almost OVER
I have one more project that I am finishing next week.  This is HUGE HUGE HUGE for our family because I spend so many hours at work and finishing up my Masters.  The past few days I have been thinking about how I want to spend my time and I decided I want to do a puzzle.  Yup, sit down, at our big ass table every night and do a puzzle.  Doesn't that sound heavenly?

It is FRIDAY

1. Rouzer

He is on this list every day.  He is the best.  So grateful that he cooks all of the meals, helps support me in all of my dreams, keeps my feet on the ground and is my biggest supporter.  I have no interest in doing this life without him.  So freaking grateful for such a wonderful man.

2. Impractical Jokers

While I am on the topic of Mike....this week he introduced me to this show.  I LOVE it.  I was laughing so hard the other night I was crying.  It might be a new favorite.

3. Working on my capstone project

I am officially working on my capstone project.  I have been trying to fly through this program as fast as possible without completely losing my shit (though that has happened frequently).  I can officially see the end in sight and I am PUMPED.  I have a feeling there will be a lot of computer time in the next few weeks.  Then off to Vegas to CELEBRATE.

4. 3am wake up calls
Yup.  Two days in a row.  Please pray that this is not a trend.  I was able to get him to go back to sleep this morning BUT I was awake and not able to shut back down.  **Insert crying emoji here**

5. LIVE on Facebook
This journey has successfully taken me OUT of my comfort zone.  I have learned a lot about myself and some of my strengths and weaknesses.  It has been really insightful and I think has helped me in my current role at CHVH.  I won't be selling toothpaste forever.  That is for sure.  BUT right now I am loving the extra cash and all of the little lessons along the way.

Again -- a shoutout to Mike who helps me with things like Facebook live and figuring out how to juggle all of these things!

one more post.

Yes!!! I'm back.  Clearly I did not do well on the entire MONTH of October so I am just going to pick up right here.  WAY to much to fill you in on.  So in order to make the transition smooth from NOT HAVING MY SHIT TOGETHER to being completely spot on..... I am going to do an early morning list AND a few random pictures.

1. Coffee
It's made the list before - it will make the list again.  It's sort of like my crutch to get through the day. Recently I have started drinking coffee around 2pm to boost me through the afternoon and be a fully functional wife and mom in the evenings.  I am currently sitting in the dark of the morning, drinking my coffee, and it is making my soul HAPPY.

2. The kitchen is done -- ALMOST
It's really the kitchen, floors and half bath....but either way....it's almost completed. I am excited for my garage to go back to normal and to have a toilet paper holder in the bathroom.  We have had a functioning kitchen for weeks and that goes without saying -------- SO FREAKING GRATEFUL.

3. The twins turned 8.
That's a pretty big deal in my book.  Yup, time is officially flying by and not so painstakingly hard with these two.  (Now the 2 year old.....wowzers...but that's a different story)  These two have been ultra easy and fun to be around.  I also miss them like crazy on most days because I have started to share my weekday evenings with Greg.

4. Mike cooks dinner EVERY NIGHT
My husband is pretty fabulous about a lot of things but this is one that makes me grateful every single night.  This man usually has dinner started or almost finished when I walk in the door from work.  I will admit, it has made me a mess in the kitchen when it is actually my turn to cook but for right now I am in love with this arrangement.

5. TWO classes left of school
Right now I am on track to finish school by the end of the year.  My goal is to have it completed, graded and FINISHED by Dec 13th which means I need to bust out some solid hours of work these next few weeks.  All the extra time on my computer makes me want to stay away from my computer for everything else (hence why I haven't done the blog).  I will be so PUMPED when this is completed.

Mike has been on two hunting trips in Ohio.

Love the slumber parties with this crew.  **Last night at the Abel's**

Just SOME of the costumes at work last week.  

We are in full fledge dance part mode in our new kitchen.  We LOVE the dance parties.

He actually thought this was his new bed that I was buying him at IKEA a few weeks ago.

A picture from their party.  Is this real?  WOW.

My favorite FAVORITE holiday to celebrate with my kids.  

Late night meeting of the minds.  

STILL in the toothpaste BIZ.  

I MUST SAY -- this was a super fast blog post and easy to get out and down on paper.  That being said -- I will be furiously trying to get my school work done this month and I am not sure how much I will be posting over the next few weeks.