Goodbye to Thanksgiving Break

As with all other areas of life, our Thanksgiving began with some bumps in the road, but it all leveled out. 

We had quite a nice time visiting with my mother, who flew in from California. Sadly she had to return home today and tomorrow break is over. 

Tomorrow we head back to the hustle and bustle that is our daily lives. Some days I love it, some days I hate it, but mostly I am so thankful for everyone who is a part of it. 

On another note, we are in the final stretch of FALL semester! Only a few more weeks and then we can really relax! Not to mention Christmas and then vacation. We have a lot to look forward to! 

I cant wait to see our children's faces on Christmas morning! 

This, that, and the other thing

I am alive.

As my life is so hectic, I feel the need to make this brief.

I am passing my classes (YAY) and I have had discussions with various professors about research opportunities. Hoping to start that in spring.

My husband is, as I already knew, amazing and brilliant. His professor has remarked multiple times at his brilliance in his field. He is really an amazing man, supportive husband, great step-dad, and great person.

My children are doing great. Aurora and Johnny just finished up soccer. They had awesome mid semester reviews from their teachers and are doing great at our prize box system at home. Johnny and Scarlett just started hockey up again and are enjoying that. Scarlett is starting to get the hang of our prize box system and learning how to save money. I think I will be looking into putting Scarlett into dance again as she really misses it. Aurora is thriving and loving girl scouts.

Speaking of girl scouts, Aurora's troop has an awesome leader and awesome daughter. They have been such an awesome help to our adjusting to our new home. They have really made it such a great transition.

John is doing ok. I think he misses the family during the week so next year he will be moving back into the house. We are happy to have him back. He is a great, loving father, and his kids adore him.


All in all, we have a pretty great life. We have our down moments and sometimes people decide to check out of our life, but we move onward and upward.

Remember to live

To be honest, I have been feeling as though I am grasping for time,  always trying to find yet another moment to steal because there is just not enough hours in a  day. The university is a black hole that consumes my time with seemingly no end. Lately it has led me to deep discussions of what my end goal is. I fear I am burning out of Chemistry. I have spent some time trying to decide what I wish to do with a career. 

All the while we have been in the hectic process of purchasing our new home, which has been quite the time consuming stressful process as well!  I am happy to announce that the process is complete and we are homeowners yet again! If I ever have the time, I might just decorate it. 

Our front door, decorated for Halloween. 

Then with the kids in so many activities, we really have minimal spare time. It has led to some deep pondering. In the end I have decided I will not kill myself for perfect grades. I need to enjoy the moment as well as plan for the future.  

What is that future?

I think I found it. 

I will complete my degree in Chemistry as planned. I will minor in anthropology as well. Finally when it is time for Richard to move on to his post doctoral studies, I will apply to PhD programs in anthropology.  Yes,  you read that correct. I've done some soul searching and I am enamored with anthropology.  I aim to tie my subjects together with emphasis on radio carbon dating. I love learning and talking about the past. It fascinates me. I feel a renewed sense of purpose for my education. It's refreshing. 

Most of all though, I am going to remember to live! 

Physics is designed to crush souls

I am DROWNING in a sea of school work and life. If I survive this semester then I will be amazed. One would think putting so much pressure on someone like myself will only crack me. I am in tears when I do my physics homework. I never took this course in high school and this is my first introduction to it. One might thing, but Christine, your husband is a budding physicist!?!?!?

Too true, I should be overflowing with joy at the resources before me. Yet he is kept so busy by his work and I am not an easy person to tutor. I think the pressure is getting to me and one this is certain. IF I make it through this semester, next semester I will not allow the department to load me with 16 credit hours! :(

Family

Let me start off by saying that I am feeling a little down at this very moment, but I promise to end on a positive note. I am a little stressed with classes, just overwhelmed with life, but in a good way. Second I am just in one of those sad moments where I remember the bridges burned 2 years ago...and honestly with some of my extended family I feel as though an outsider looking in.

I never felt like I really belonged with them, but to be exiled and shunned was a new level. Things were said that can never be taken back, which is unfortunate. Honestly, most of the time I am okay with it. I am so consumed with my kids and our life that I forget about those people who would occasionally dance into our lives every few months, but no longer care to... Today is just one of those days where I remember.

But enough dwelling on things I can not change!

To the happy news! Aurora and Johnny start soccer this week, got their gear and cant wait to go. Richard, their amazing step dad, will be assistant coach of Aurora's team! This man rocks, let me tell you, I am pretty darn fond of him ;) He wins the award for worlds best husband and step dad (at least in my book).

I received word that my degree application has finally been approved and processed. I officially have an Associates of Math and Science! Woot! On another front I am toying with the idea of double majoring in Chemistry and anthro..... at the very least minoring in anthro. I enjoy it and even considered it as a major at one point, but after doing a little digging about the future with that degree I decided to go another route.

Finally, we recently had family pictures taken and I am in LOVE with how they turned out. Check out this awesome photog, Michelle Voigt... She is amazing :)

I Am Back!

So life has been hectic. We made it to Texas and we love it here! Life is good but has taken some crazy turns.

We settled into our rental home, but John was still in Cali.  He finally got his job transfer and joined us in Tx a month ago. Unfortunately we live 2 hours from his new job so our old family dynamic had to be adjusted, which we knew ahead of time could happen. He got his own apartment and we go stay there sometimes, but most of the time he comes to stay with us on weekends and holidays.  We have some fun family vacations planned in the future.

Richard and I got married at the courthouse. We may or may not have a small wedding ceremony in 18 months as we had intended. I'm not sure I want to waste the money on it. We will see. Richard and I both started at our college. We love it there, but it keeps us so busy.

Aurora and Johnny started at their new school and they love it! Very thankful for the new teachers and friends that have been made. Aurora started horse back riding lessons and girl scouts. Aurora and Johnny will be starting soccer. All three kiddos will be doing an intro hockey course as well. Scarlett is good. She spends her day being grandpa's buddy. Once life settles down a bit I plan to look into preschools for her, though next year she will be eligible for the schools.

My brother in law also moved in with us, our household continues to grow lol.

Also today we saved a turtle that was in the middle of the road.  Brought it home and going to try to figure out what kind of turtle it is.

Aurora just finished her awesome 2 day birthday weekend. Lots of fun with great friends.

Also I've been working on me. 35 pounds down and proud of it. I look and feel great.  I still have further to go, but I know I'll get there.

Goodbye California...

   ...Till we meet again. 

This will be my last blog for awhile. We have a big drive ahead of us and then settling into the rental. 

I would be lying if I said I was not nervous. I am very nervous, VERY nervous. (That is not to say that I am not excited, I am very excited). I was born here, raised here, gave birth to my kids here, my family is here, my friends are here and this is a huge leap. God watch over us through this new adventure. 

Goodbye California, see you next year. 

Time to catch up!

This last month has been a RUSH! It began with an online course needed to officially complete my As degree. I am happy to say this course has been smooth sailing for me and already almost half complete. Then I had finals. I went into both of my finals feeling well studied but nervous. My photography class, though often seen as an easy a, was a little worrisome as the teacher had given us no tests so far and we had never received any work back or graded. It was difficult to go into the course not knowing where you stand. I am happy to say that I got that easy A. 

Calc 1b was a different animal. I knew exactly where I stood in the class, but it also has the notoriety of being the most difficult of the calc series. To add more pressure, this course was the deciding factor on my acceptance to TAMU. Math is not my strong suit as it does not come easy to me. After a difficult final and days of checking multiple times a day to see if the grade had been posted, I am so happy to say I earned a B. 

After finals was graduation. This day had made all the stress of the decade (yes it has been 10 years in the making..on and off..since high school) worth it. I was so happy that my mother, fiancee, children, and exhusband were all there to celebrate with me. I wouldst have made it through without their support or the support of my awesome college. Also as an important note to self: Do not give a DSLR set on manual focus to someone not accustomed to using it. 

After that it was repairs, inspections, and packing to finalize the sale of the house. While also securing a rental in our new hometown. This was more stressful than even finals! We were finally able to secure a seemingly great rental, which you can see images of below. I am excited to get there, unpack, and explore our new town (in air conditioning lol). 

And then Richard proposed *which has its own blog post*

And all of this while trying to make some more lasting memories with these kiddos before we leave to Tx and make new memories together! 

Saying goodbye to good friends

Plus more packing and planning! 

And finally finding out that I am officially accepted to TAMU as an undergrad in Chemistry!!!!!! 

The only thing yet to really come together is Johns job transfer, we have reason to believe it is happening, but he is just having to come a few months after us :(

All in all, we have been amazingly busy but amazingly blessed this month! I am thankful to family, friends, and God. 

I said YES!

The proposal wasn't entirely a surprise. I knew he had a ring, I knew what it looked like, but I did not know when and where it would happen. I found out when it would happen the day before. Mostly because he just wasn't any good at keeping his excitement in lol. 

The location was still a mystery. He isn't very good at keeping secrets and I am not great at surprises. So I asked a ton of questions. Really to no avail. I was told we would be walking on sidewalks (about like walking around in the mall), that it was within a 2 hour radius, it was not super dressy, and that we had been there before. Oh and that Ross was going to be there to take pictures of the event. 

So then once we headed south on the 15 fwy I realized we were headed to San Diego. My mind started turning... And finally I realized! Balboa Park, of course! The guys wouldn't tell me one way or the other. However I was really hoping he would propose in front of the botanical garden/conservatory there as I love it. I love it so much that I had even considered how beautiful it would be to get married there one day! 

San Diego is beautiful and it was a wonderful day. A slight breeze, not too hot, and not too many people. 

We arrived and went to the Natural History Museum, which was fun :)

Then we headed to my favorite place in the park! We walked through the conservatory. It was a beautiful moment. There was a man there playing violin for the public and so there was music in the background, not many people walking around, and Richard got down on one knee and asked me to Marry him!! Of course I said yes! 

As we were leaving there was a man doing Free caricatures so we went ahead and had one done. I love it! I am going to have it framed. 

After the proposal we went back to the Natural History Museum where we watched a 3D video on Sharks, then went to lunch to celebrate at a great local Thai Food restaurant!