CHRISTMAS IS COMING

I am so excited because the Christmas season is "almost" officially here! I am determined to drag the season out as long as possible and really enjoy it this year! Last year I was so busy with the wedding, my move and job hunt that the Christmas season was pretty much overlooked, and when it came and went I was so sad I missed all of the festivities leading up.

Cody and I went tree shopping yesterday and came home with an amazing HUGE tree with colored lights, and put it together right away. We also got out our old little 6 foot tree from last year and started decorating. We played Christmas music, made Peppermint Mocha coffee, and got into the spirit! Because I am extremely into the holidays this year my Halloween/Fall/Thanksgiving decor has been up since October 1 so it actually came down yesterday when the tree went up. It felt a little bit wrong since it's not Turkey Day yet, so I did leave a wreath on the door!

We are probably VERY over-"treed" for a 988 sq ft apartment but who cares!

I am going to try and finish my shopping this week too which would be awesome! I don't know what has come over me, I am NOT a pre planner and thrive in the LAST moment so this is a nice change to not be running all over the place 2 weeks before Christmas.

Question for readers. Does anybody have any cute and inexpensive decorating ideas for Christmas? I need some new stuff but don't want to spend much at all. Maybe just a cute arrangement for the coffee table, new centerpiece for kitchen table?? Let me know!

I hope everyone has a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving too! This will be my first year to be away from my family for T-Day! We are spending the holiday with Cody's mom which will be great, however, she did just have surgery and cannot get around well at all so I will have my work cut out for me in the food prep department! I hope I do okay :)

Happy Holiday Season!!

So I prayed for a job....oops

As much as I love my boys I nanny for, I am always on the look out for a new job. Well, I took a little job hunting hiatus for a couple months but am now back at it.

I am so frustrated at the city of Austin, it's so stinking tough to find a job here. I seem to find things in other cities, but this doesn't really help!

Anyway, I am also working for a software company very part time, and just got a call to possibly teach Speech in the evenings and some weekends, as well as do some real estate work for the family I work for! AHHH, four part time jobs might be adding up to more than I want. Is this a bad attitude? I am sure I should be thankful, but is 1 full time job to much to ask for! HA! God has a sense of humor. Either way, I am just thankful to have a job right now, or four!

On the nanny note. I forget I am not a mom sometimes. My days right now are so filled with baby and toddler stuff that I feel like I will be a pro (maybe) when my time comes. My little guys are 2 years and 11 weeks and SO much fun! As much as I feel like I need to phase out of this job I ABSOLUTELY cannot imagine anyone else keeping these boys!

Here are couple pictures of baby Beau. One on Halloween, and the second when he was only 3 days old! I wonder how many pictures I will post when I actually have my own children!

Thank you all who left a little comment so motivate me to keep blogging. So sweet! I hope everyone has a wonderful Tuesday :)


"Hi my name is Beau!"

I was going to get rid of my blog but I changed my mind!

Hello everyone!

I was sure I was going to finally put an end to my blog but I changed my mind! I decided I would still like to share my life and experiences with my wonderful friends and family :)

I would write more but I just drove for 4 hours in the rain back from Abilene and am EXHAUSTED for some reason!

If you do happen to read this leave a little comment, this will let me know if anyone still checks my poor pathetic little blog and trust me I understand if you don't.

Check back soon and I will try to have something good posted!

Love you all!

Parents Visiting Tomorrow!

I am VERY excited because my parents are coming to visit tomorrow through Friday afternoon! I have really been missing family lately, so this will be great!

I've been busy cleaning up my house for their arrival until the electricity went out! Mid vacuum the lights flickered and the entire apartment went black. It was really kind of creepy because when I opened the front door to look down the hallway all the overhead lights were flickering on and off, and all you could hear was the rain and the wind rushing around the building. There was a sort of horror movie feel, and I couldn't let my imagination run wild as I stumbled through the house to light the candles.

All this to say, I decided to blog because I can't really think of anything else to do in the dark. Cody is out playing cards across town so I hope he doesn't get stuck in the rain on his way home!

I heard on the radio this morning that we are about to break the world record of consecutive days with temperature over 100 degrees. I'm excited about his record (is that sad) so I hope the rain doesn't lower the temps to much. I mean think about it, the past record was set in 1923 so this is a pretty significant record to hold! The last record was 69 straight days, and Austin is at 65.

Man you know you are getting old when you start discussing the weather-oh well.

Not much else going on. Baby Beau came home from the hospital today. He is a tiny little bundle of squishy cuteness and I am IN LOVE with him. I didn't get to see his big brother meet him, so I am looking forward to watching their interaction in the morning.

I hope everybody had a WONDERFUL Wednesday!

Hello blog world!

I have decided to return from my two month abandonment of "Life's Twists and Turns!" I have no idea why I stopped blogging, but am back, and have vowed my myself to remain consistent.

I'm sure I'll have to rebuild my readership, but I guess that's what I deserve. So if you happen to be reading this you are a loyal friend/follower.

I guess I need to provide a quick (ish) update of mine and Cody's life. Here it goes:

Me- I am currently in a soul searching/career hunt/purpose finding period of life. As many of you know I previously worked for a TAKs tutorial software company as their trainer and LOVED IT! I spend about 6 months with them working contract, however, my worked slowed waaaay down when school came to close last Spring. I then realized I needed to be looking for a Summer job, with the hopes of picking back up with them in the Fall when school started again (the school part is important because I was conducting my trainings at schools. No school in session= no work for me).

I decided to take the summer to get my teaching certificate and also take a temporary job as a nanny for a wonderful family here is Austin.

Well, the first day of school was today, and I still have not been able to nail down a teaching position. I' thinking this might be a problem judging by the fact that if school is starting, they would probably want me to already be there! UH OH! I didn't realize how competitive this field was, and had total confidence that I would be in the classroom today.

I know God must has a plan for me when if comes to my career path. I feel that I put in as much effort as humanly possible to land a teaching position, and it just didn't work out.

So as of right now I am still working as a full time nanny. The plan was for me to leave in August when a new baby was due in the family (he actually came today and is PRECIOUS) and I had a teaching job, but it hasn't worked out that way.

Luckily the family informed me that they would like to to stay as long as possible, however, understand that when I find another job I will need to take it. This takes the stress off slightly, though does make the job hunt tough when I am working full time! Right now my days are spent with little Luke, and I love every second of it! We spend our time at the Children's' Museum, the park, the pool, Sign Language Class, and his favorite JW Tumbles (a little children's gym where he also does art class)! He is a great little lunch buddy and love Starbucks!

The other day we went to Target and into Starbucks for breakfast, he sat for 45 minutes with his juice cup, chocolate donut and Nordstrom magazine. It was pure bliss, and the cutest thing I have ever seen! I couldn't ask for a better little boy to take care of. He is just as 22 months old, and I have seen such a enormous change in him since I met him in April.

With the job hunt, and some big disappointments I have really struggled with finding my purpose in all of this, and where I really fit into the big scheme of things. While I would really love to find a great job, and can't wait to get started, I realized that I have such a HUGE purpose in my arms every day. I get to help shape the life of another little person, and see such huge purpose in that.

Below are a few pictures of the little man. We have not been to meet the new baby, but will be there first thing in the morning! His mom has a scheduled C-Section, and didn't want to be all groggy when she saw Luke. Hopefully I can post some pictures of him too!




Heading to the museum. He LOVES this hat right now, and refused to take it off!



Being a cheese ball before swimming lessons!

Now for the Cody update! He is still working for Dell here in Round Rock, though a few months ago we were sure it was time for something new. After a great deal of prayer we have decided that for some reason this is where God wants us right now, so we are going to have a positive attitude and see what in store for the future! Hopefully things will pick up at Dell, and Cody can start having a more positive work experience.

Cody's brother Cade actually moved away last weekend to begin ACU which was very exciting! Cody was sad to see him go because they spend a lot of time together, but we cannot think of a better place for him to be! On moving day I was utterly jealous and wanted to hide a suitcase, be dropped off in from of my old house in Abilene and have everything instantaneously be like it was in the "good ole days," spend a couple days in the past and then return back to my normal life!

On the way home from work the other day I get a photo from Cade PUMPED about the new "finished product" being his dorm room. I had to laugh when I got the photo because it took me back to the 3 day moving extravaganza when I moved into the dorm. We planned, color coordinated, and executed a true master piece when we moved into Gardner dorm. From the looks of these photos I only hope to have boys.

I'll never forget the sight of Brittney's mom at the sewing machines, my mom getting the beds pushed together, and both our dads elaborately running cable cords up and over the door frames so we wouldn't notice they were there! Please note the "queen sized bed look" we were going for, opposed the the usual dorm rooms with two twin beds.


Please also note the humor in this being their finished product! Oh to be a freshman boy! I hope they clean up for visitation!


Other than that I don't think there are too many new updates in Cody's life other than his new passion for creating new bar-b-que sauces, and making sure he plays basketball atleast 3 times a week. Life is good :)

EE Photography Photos!

Cody and I recently took some super fun late "engagement photos." A few people have asked to check them out so here is the link below! When you arrive to the website click on the word PROOFING, and the password is: GIROD

http://www.ee-photography.com/index2.php?v=v1


Enjoy :)

Pray for Jon & Kate

I know it seems slightly unnecessary to write post asking people to pray for a family that none of us know other than what we see on TV, but if you ever watch the TLC show Jon & Kate plus 8, or happened to catch their season premiere last night you will understand the urgency to pray.

Jon & Kate are a couple who have 8 children, 5 year old sextuplets, and 9 year old twins. They have a reality TV show that is really popular, however, even those who don't watch the show are sure to have seen the tabloids with the family plastered all over the front.

All this to say, it's a fact that people who put themselves in the public eye are asking for public scrutiny but it is always heartbreaking when a couple feels they are at the end of their rope, and consider splitting up, and the sadness is multiplied times 1,000 when their are children involved! Jon and Kate are Christians who have always said on their show that their family comes first, and even renewed their wedding vows with their children as witnesses. They must truly be struggling if they are considering divorce and running the risk of dividing their family forever.

Please pray for their 8 children. Even if we do not know them, their children deserve to have two parents who love one another. The kids never had a say in the issue of their fame, so I pray that God can work in Jon & Kate, and heal their family!

Can you imagine if Us Weekly was the deciding factor as to whether or not you had an affair? Though they made the decisions to be in the spotlight this exploitation is so sad and cannot be helpful is trying to save a marriage.

Photo of Jon & Kate

Sweet kids oblivious to everything.