The Last 2 Weeks

Sorry I've been MIA but things around here have been crazy with Tyson starting school~he's gone 4 nights a week so that leaves me to do homework, supper, baths, etc. kinda like a single parent. By the time I get computer time I really would rather go to bed so I do~!

The last time Heather went to Activity Days the learned some things about babysitting~she was really excited about everything she learned. They even showed the girls how to make homemade playdoh~she promised Caroline she would make her some. I was very impressed she did it all by herself!


Here's the kids playing out on the trampoline~I can't wait for warmer weather so I can send them outside more often!




Here's a picture of Heather & I at her Cheer competition last weekend~They got 2nd place and then 1st this weekend.
We have several more to go for this season! At the competition this weekend they had various vendors she got this wooden megaphone that had glitter on it and then there was an booth that sells glitter eye shadow and the lady did Heather's eye's up for FREE! haha



The last great thing is I had 3 $2.50 off coupons of Electrosol Gel Pacs and CVS had them on sale for $2.99 of course they were out of them so I had to go to walmart so they would price match~My coupons expired today so I HAD to use them. I got 3 boxes for $1.59~I think this is my new favorite product! They would have been free had CVS had them b/c I had extra care bucks but I guess that $1.59 isn't too shabby either!

We celebrated the SuperBowl with our friends the Adams & we had a great time hanging out with them!

Have a great week!

~My Word for 2009~

I talked about goal setting in this post

New Years Goals

and I mentioned picking a word for the year~I don't ever think I got around to picking a word last year~

This year my word is going to be ENJOY!!!

Sometimes I tend to get caught up in the stress of life & I forgot to really ENJOY things that are happening around me! Maybe I'll get around to ordering a necklace or a ring to wear daily so I will be reminded DAILY of my word!

One thing I've been ENJOYING lately is reading the scriptures with my family~each night we pile up in our bed and we read one chapter together as a family~some nights it means the kids get into bed later but it's worth it to know that they are learning the principles of the gospel and that we are able to have those teachable moments with them!

So go ahead and pick your word, then be sure to post about it!

I'm a Genius!

and you'll be so excited to call me your friend! I figured out how to get the pictures off my internal memory of my camera! WOOHOO!!! Can YOU feel the excitement?

I've kinda been out of the blogging mood anyways so that kinda helped my excuse for not blogging!

Several of you asked what Tyson was going to go to school for~He's going to get his HVAC certificate. It's a year long program and he should be finished in December. It will be a rough 2 sememesters but we'll live and I'm sure it's not the worse thing we've been through or will go through~He's applied for several jobs but he hasn't heard back from any of them. Something will work out though~

So last weekend Caroline lost her first tooth~it's official I have no more babies! It was kind of funny though because she has a wart on her foot so we were trying to doctor that up so while Tyson was doing that I was wiggling her tooth. I told Tyson it was pretty lose and so we got some dental floss and tied around it and it came out. She had the most surprised look on her face THEN when she realized she was bleeding she started screaming crying! Of course now she's got another one that is lose and it won't get ready fast enough~as we were sitting in Church yesterday she said "will you punch me so my tooth will come out?" It was all I could do to keep from busting a gut! haha




The other exciting thing that happened this week~I got to try a new product for free.



Walgreens had these on sale last week for 3.49 but my walgreens was out of them so I got a raincheck. I went to check the other day to see if they had anymore & i was in luck! So I got them~I had a coupon for 2.25, then there's a rebate this month for 1.50 through walgreens! so THEY paid me to try these gel pacs and guess what~I LOVE them. They work good in my dishwasher and don't leave a mess that I get when I use powder soap! I love it when I come across good deals like this!

Also, this lady at our church orders chicken from the local chicken plant~so I ordered 2 boxes from her this time I got 30 lbs of chicken for $36~WOO HOO!!! I love good deals!

I'm posting some more pictures from my camera over at the photo blog!

Have a Great MLK day!

Show Us What You've Got...

as I've mentioned before it doesn't take much to get me excited..So imagine my excitement when I received an email from Nicole at LittleMissMatched telling me she had found my blog & my earlier post about their company. She also mentioned in her email about this FABULOUS (in your best HS Musical voice~haha) contest they are running over there!

Here's the details (and if you win you'll have me to thank!)

Project Sock Contest

and they are offering some FABULOUS prizes! I so hope one of us wins!!!!!

Let me know if you are entering~(My girls are going to design some Mismatched Socks!)

Happy Missmatching!!!!

~What a Blessing~

Tyson has been trying to get registered for school this week~of course you can't just go and be done with it, there's always something you didn't bring or you didn't know you would need. Tonight we went to register for his classes~We were expecting to have to pay 1/2 of the tuition, but we talked to the most AWESOME lady, who was the director of the Financial Aid & she was so helpful! Since Tyson's plant is closing, they (the college) is paying for 6 credit hours for the employees who want to take classes. She gave Tyson a $250 "scholarship" which paid for 1/2 of his tuition! Of course since they do financial aid based on last years taxes we didn't qualify for anything BUT since the plant is closing, they are willing to re-work his finanical aid paperwork to see if we'll qualify~if so we'll be covered for the rest of his balance, otherwise we'll just have to pay the remaining 1/2 and then books. I could have just climbed over that lady and hugged her neck, I don't think she really knew how much we appreciated all of her help!

I know that this is because I have been working on being a better tithe-payer & I am so grateful that I have the Lord watching out for us!

If I can figure out how to get the pictures off my internal memory of my camera, I'll have some pictures to post soon! haha

Yes, I'm Still Alive

and it's kinda funny b/c I still check my blog everyday to see if someone has left a new comment~yes, I know I'm a total dork! haha

Since I had to go back to work last week, of course it's kicking me in the booty! And to be quite truthful, I really haven't felt like blogging~I think maybe I might be a little depressed b/c I hate the unknown~but I've been getting out to walk (and log some miles on NIKE+) so I feel better~and really quite frankly, we've been busy!

I'll be back tomorrow night with a variety of news!

Have a great day!

My First

A while back a friend that I work with asked me to do a Bible verse in her baby's room~I've kinda put it off because I wasn't real confident in my skills (haha~do I even have any?) I told her we would do it over Christmas break, so I set out to do it today! It wasn't hard at all~We were both so excited with how it turned out! I can't wait to do some more around the house!

Are you Goal Setting this Year?

I have a few goals that I would like to accomplish during 2009, but I will save those for another post.

I found myself really successful at my Picture of the Day attempts several times this year~I am going to try to do this for 365 days this year but I am making a separate blog for those pictures so if I decide to make them into a book it will be all in one place.


Here's the link

Autumn's Picture of the Day

I can't promise there will be lots of journaling, but there will be lots of pictures.

Another project I've started is a running blog mainly as a journal. It's private at this time & I don't know if it will ever become public, but if I decide to make it public, you'll be the first to know!

Also, are you choosing a word for 2009? You can find out more about it here Ali Edwards. I'll give you time to think about that one before I share what mine will be.

Hope you are off to a great start!

~Oh What a Night~

For some crazy reason we were really excited about New Years Eve this year~even Tyson who really would probably rather stay at home. We were supposed to get together with some friends from Church & then go out to some other friends for fireworks~but our friends from Church ended up being out of town so we went to the friends we were doing fireworks with~we had a great time & really enjoyed spending time with them~This are my friends Michelle & Pam from school~They are really great & I am blessed to be able to call them my friends!




Here's a picture of all the kids that were there last night with us! They all enjoy playing together so we never hear a peep out of any of them~



The kids enjoy doing fireworks






here's us at midnight~



Thanks Michelle & Kevin for a great time!

Happy New Year!!!

~Update~

I will have to say that I think Hobby Lobby is my favorite store, which isn't really a good thing b/c it means a new project everytime I walk through the door~Oh well, I disgress~I took my mat back today and the great lady in the framing dept cut it down for me to fit my frame! Here's the final product hanging on my living room wall~



I'm so excited about this b/c for the last family pic it set me back $160 this only $20 How's that for a bargain!

It doesn't take much..

If you've been reading my blog for any period of time you know it doesn't really take much to make me happy~really it doesn't. At the beginning of the week, Walgreens had a free 8x10 offer, so I ordered one of our new family pictures, while I was cruising around on their site I thought hum, I'll order a bigger one for my living room since the one I have hanging is 2 years old. So I ordered a 12x17 (or something like that) I would have preferred a 16x20 but it suggested that it wouldn't be a good print~Well I got it today in the mail & I am so happy with the way it turned out




I already had the frame (Thanks, Rachella) and I picked up a mat but of course it wasn't the right size so I'll have to take it back tomorrow and get them to cut me one the right size. It will be perfect for my living room!

Thanks Alison!

Ok so you can see...

What I spent a better part of the day doing! I made the header at the top! I'm so excited! I've been wanting one for a long time & I finally did it~Thanks to thecutestblogontheblock.com

TY!!!

I'll be back with something super cute!

~Merry Christmas~

Merry Christmas From the McDaniel's!

This is our Christmas night self portrait! We had a great Christmas~I'll be honest Tyson & I were a little bummed that we couldn't get the kids more than we did, but me (being the voice of reason & the one who helps the kids clean their rooms)~HaHa when you quit laughing I'll finish! told Tyson that they would be excited about what they were getting since it pretty much was stuff they had asked/begged for~


So they WERE excited this morning~Santa brought them all a new bike, which they desperatly needed since they've all outgrown their old ones.

Then my mom bought all the kids a Nintendo DS~they were so excited! then my sisters and my mom bought them all a Wii game & a DS game~

Then they all got hoodies~I didn't make Jed's but his is purple and says panthers across the front. I put PACK on Heather & Caorline's b/c next year Heather will be going to the Middle School and they can only wear sweatshirts if they say the school name or have something to do the team~we are the panthers so we are part of the panther pack!

Then they all got somethign they wanted~Jed got his deer mounted, Caroline got a baby that poops and pees & Heather got a makeover thing you do on the computer.

I try to do this when buying their gifts~something they want, something they need, something to wear, & something to read. Santa brought them all a book in their stocking & I guess the something they need & wear is the hoodie!

Thanks mom for all the goodies you sent and the GPS!


On the job front, we received a letter a couple of weeks ago letting us know that Tyson's plant would begin laying off Feb 15 and continue until Feb 27~they could possibly retain 5-10 employees but we don't really know who that will be so we are assuming that the end of Feb we will be out of a job~

We really don't have a plan right now, other than apply for various jobs, so who knows where we'll land.

It's time to start thinking about 2009! ACK!!! What will your goals be? Will you blog about them? (I found that if I put it out there, then I'm more responisble)

OK so I'm FINALLY excited about Christmas

I'm sure one of my friends will be seeking my mental health evaluation SOON~I had this great idea for the girls for Christmas~I ordered 2 plain grey hoodie sweatshirts and I was going to PAY someone to applique them for me~but of course you know the crazy person inside my head took over and decided we (her & I) could do it ourselves~I think I've told everyone about the project

so here are the final results~I REALLY wanted to do their name across the front but both of their names are too long~maybe when they get older! haha This is Caroline's hoodie




it's a far cry from perfect but I'm sooooo happy with the way it turned out. I'm making Heather one that looks exactly the same so she can wear it at middle school next year. I am thinking about having my friend Rachella embrodier their names on the hood part~I think that would be cute.

So what if I'm crazy, I think I'm a ROCKSTAR tonight!

~My Family~

when we were in Austin, my sister took some family pictures of all of us! I'm really impressed that we all took good pictures I have some more but I haven't uploaded them yet from my email!

UGH! I can't get them to post right~I'll post them later!

~On My List~

I have heard rave reviews about this movie but couldn't find anywhere locally to rent it and I didn't really want to buy it until I knew for sure I liked it so it FINALLY dawned on me to rent it from ITunes DUH!!!! So I just spent the last couple of hours watching a movie on my IPOD! haha It was worth it though!




So I think I am going to buy it. It's definitely inspirational even if you aren't a runner or don't care to be.

Kinda Cool

I came across this neat video tonight as I was cruising around the Christ Centered Christmas link on my sidebar

Joy to Everyone

So Cute...

My friend at school was telling me about these socks and tights she found one day while she was out shopping~

I wasn't too sure but I finally remembered to check out the website and I thought they were cute too!

LittleMissMatched

Don't you think your little girl would look so cute wearing these?

I can't wait to put my order in tomorrow (payday)!

The rumor is if you sign up/register they'll send you a free pack of socks.

Still Alive but Barely KICKING...

What a busy couple of weeks! I can't even remember what was going on last week but this week I've been busy getting ready for the Church Christmas party I was in charge of~Tyson's mom offered to cook the enchiladas for me~all 300 of them. She's been at our house for a week! She's letting the kids help her make Christmas candy tomorrow so we can make treat plates for all of their teachers! She was a huge help this week! I bet she's looking forward to going home soon so she can rest! haha

ok so I have a challenage for my loyal readers (if there are any left)~I was asked this question earlier this week & COULD.NOT.THINK.OF.ANYTHING.

What's something about yourself that not many other people know or an embarrassing moment that you've had?

So do you know something about ME that I could have put? Let me know what it is! I am taking it as a sign that I need to live a little~haha Always looking for an excuse!

I have a million and ONE projects that I want to do over Christmas break (which happens to be in only 4 1/2 more school days) PLUS I need to Christmas shop~yep, that's what I said~So far the kids only have the one thing that my mom bought them! and it's not even wrapped and put under the tree yet! I'm pathetic I know~have I mentioned how much I *HEART* online shopping seriously~how did I survive before?

so that's it in a nutshell~I'm 52 weeks behind on everything around me and it's not looking up anytime soon!

How about ya'll?

Another Project...

I've been wanting to learn how to applique for a long time~finally today I sat down with all the supplies and went to work! I'm very happy with the way my practice shirt turned out and it really wasn't hard! and yes, I used my cricut on this one too! :)

Next time I need to put the letters a little lower, but other than that I was very pleased with the way it turned out!

I know, I know..

no one likes someone who brags but I'm so excited about this project~I've put it off for months literally because I thought it would be too hard & I would screw it up. Today we are just laying around with not much to do so I brought out the Cricut and started on the project!

Here are the final results~these are in my main bathroom which is really the kids bathroom but the one that the guests use also so I didn't want too grown up or too kiddie

the first one is above the toilet & the second is above the towel bar!

~Book Review~

Our book club is reading this book this month. I read it in a weekend and thought it was pretty good. I really found that I could relate to the father/daughter relationship b/c I kind of have the same relationship with my mother. She always told me I was going to college even though she didn't graduate from college. She's always taught me that you had to work for things~Really it's a great & fairly easy read! I have the book if anyone wants to borrow it! :)

Busy Week

We've been busy this week spending time with my family. My mom came down last Friday to see the kids & then my step-dad & sisters & brother came down on Tuesday, then yesterday we drove over to Austin to my cousin's house for Turkey day.


me & my brother Max


my sisters & I with Max



the cute Turkey cupcakes our neighbors brought over!


My cousin-in-law Devin carving his 25 lb bird! Thanks guys for having us! We had a great time~

I forgot to blog about my early Christmas miracle the other day


FILLED MY CAR UP!!!!YAY~!!!

This weekend~or week whatever it maybe...

I am so ready for Thanksgiving break~It cannot come quick enough!

This past week we had Literacy Night at school, then Heather has a cheer competition tomorrow morning. We've been busy, busy!!!

This morning Tyson & I ran a 5K at our local high school. It was a lot of fun & my time improved by 10 minutes~47:28 & I got 3rd in my division!




This is my friend's little boy! He ran the whole thing! Tyson got 1st place in his division!

Tomorrow we are off to Tyler to Cheer!

Here are a few pictures of the kids:

What have we been up too?/*SPT*

Sometimes I wonder how we get from weekend to weekend, because the week seems to fly by~we really didn't do anything exciting this week other than work! (I know~contain your excitement!)

Tyson & I did go on a date last night but all we really did was go out to eat b/c we are so boring & couldn't think of anything else we were dying to do so we picked up the kids and came home and went to bed! haha

I did manage to get up this morning and go running~I was really dreading it b/c it's cold and windy today, not to mention that I didn't walk or run all week~it ended up not being so bad and we had a good time. We got in 3.7 miles today. I made my friend (and coach) Robin take a self-portrait with me after we were through.


And YES, I really do look THAT glamourous when I go running!

I came home and started cleaning out the fridge~it was NASTY, but it's all sparkly clean now for you MOM!!!



I've got the washer & dryer all pretty & sparkly too AND the OVEN. Now I can't really mention the floors at this point but it's a work in progress right! haha

I'm off to a grade level party at one of my co-workers houses!

~Super Saturday~

I told you it was a Super busy weekend!

Saturday morning I went running with 2 girls from church~I kind of dreaded getting up early on a Saturday but it ended up not being so bad!

After our run, I ran home to take a shower then I headed over to the Church for our Super Saturday Craft activity day. Below are a few of the crafts we made. I'm slowly unloading my car so I'll pull the rest out tomorrow.








We really had a great time & most of the crafts were fast and super easy~

Sunday we got to go to Church an hour later! It was nice!!! Then it was back to the grindstone this morning!

Really...

I do have ALOT to blog about but I've been super busy this weekend! Hopefully tomorrow evening I can update!

~I'm Impressed~(& SPT)

yesterday I came home from school & tyson was home~I didn't expect him to be b/c he said he was going hunting~he was ALL excited about going running~I had to go run an errand then I told him I would be home. So I came home & changed well then the kids bring a box out of the bedroom~it was a present for me~for my birthday!

I had no clue what it was~so I opened it and it was new running clothes! I was so impressed that Tyson went & picked them out himself!

so then I had to go change AGAIN! I love them! He said "if you're going to be training you need some good clothes!"

So i'm impressed! haha

and I did 3 miles last night (walking/running combo)

And this pic can serve as my SPT for this week! And it can also serve as my "Me at
35" Picture! haha

For your viewing pleasure...

i know i know haha right?

here's some pics from the newspaper from our 5K walk~the good ones start around picture 21

CASA pics

Weekly Update...

This has been a crazy week at school since it's Red Ribbon Week~Each day the kids could wear something special~of course I didn't take pictures of that~Last night we went Trick or Treating & they had a lot of fun.

Here's a picture as we got ready to go out TOT~



This morning we got up early and I went to walk my 5K with 2 of my friends~we had a good time~Rachella & I walked until the very end & my friend from school Ms. R~walked & ran~she beat us of course! It was a great experience though & I feel very accomplished! haha

here we are BEFORE the race


here we are at the starting line~we were a little intimated by all the professionals!


here I am running to the finish line~there were some HS girls that we had passed up towards the end and they started running & I was determined they weren't going to pass me up~haha



here we are after it was over!

I finished just under a hour~57:21~

it was a lot of fun~and now we know what to expect next time!