this christmas, i am super excited because eleanora is actually excited about it.  she is starting to know what she likes and shares that with me.  it's so fun!  so shopping for her christmas gifts this year was tons of fun (last year she got a car seat from santa- i know, big whoop, but she was so little she didn't know what she liked and plus, car seat is what she needed)!  we bought her all kinds of toys and books (she doesn't have very many toys, so this year we are going to add to her collection).  i can't wait for her to open them!!! 

aside from christmas, eleanora is talking up a storm these days.  she can tell us what she wants or needs, but kinda in her own way.  along with growing up, she's learning how to say 'no' in a BIG way.  she'll sometimes throw tantrums and cry.  bryant and i are pretty strict with her, so we weren't sure where this was coming from.  we are getting good uses out of time-outs (she is pretty responsive to them- thank goodness).  we even had to put her on time-out outside the pottery barn kids store- quite embarssing!  everyone tells me that this is completely normal, so we are waiting for this to pass.  other than the tantrums, she's a doll. i love her so much and my love for her grows and grows.  i do wish she was littler- i want to put her in the dryer and shrink her to little baby size.  ha ha!

two weeks ago, three of our friends had babies. and they were all born early!  crazy!!  i can't wait to meet them all!  i hope this doesn't make me want another one sooner than we want. 

as for my schooling, i have this coming week to go until christmas break!  and my school work is done for the semester- yay!!  i'm still so thankful god's grace on allowing me to pass my cset test.  i am still in awe!

i guess that's it- i'll leave you with some pictures. 

thanksgiving prime rib- no turkey for us this year! 

my lovely friend judy and my mom and of course eleanora

group picture!

the highlight of the night- my mom playing wii for the first time.  she beat bryant at tennis and K.O.ed him at boxing!

family picture!

eleanora hugging her beloved uncle ken!

picture with santa!

eleanora experiencing 'snow' at christmas in the park.

a christmas game exchange party we hosted!

 

 

today, i felt god's grace in a HUGE way.  so to back-up, i had the cset test (a 3 section test and you have to pass each section.  it's a big test that tests on your knowledge kindergarten-8th grade in all subjects, including P.E. and art.  some people say it is like studying for jeopardy because it's so much stuff to know.  anyhow, i had about 2 months to study for it, plus i had the normal homework i had to do for my classes and 10 essays per week for my cset class.  i studied as much as i could and did my best with the time i had.  if i had more time, i could have studied a ton more.  about 3 weeks before the test (right after coming back from puerto vallarta), i was really stressing out (actually i don't remember a time that i was more stressed) about the test.  i felt like i was going up a river and i really relied on god's strength for this.  i knew that i could study only so much, enough to pass 1 and maybe 2 tests if i'm lucky.  i couldn't rely on bryant to pass or anyone else, so to pass all three tests, i told god that if i pass all three tests, it was all him.  coming out of the test, i didn't know how i did.  anyhow, today i get the results in my email.  to say the least, i passed all three tests.  i don't know how i could have passed, other than to say that god showed me some major grace.  almost 12 hours later from getting my results, i'm still in awe of god's grace and i feel very blessed.  wow!  what a feeling!

so as some of you may know, my crazy husband likes to call into the radio stations and win things.  i don't think he cares so much about what he wins, but just the thrill of getting through to the lines and winning something.  for me, i've never bothered with things like that because i don't think i'd ever win, plus i have better things to do with my time (he does have a long commute, so maybe this is what people do when they long commutes to work). over the past few years, he's won: blue man group tickets, 4 giants season opener tickets, coldplay tickets, dvd kids movie package, and 'wanted' movie tickets- not a bad list.  i think there's more, but i can't think of it.  he's tried for crazier things like $20,000- i caught him turning on the radio in our bedroom at 5am, trying to win.  half asleep, i was like, "why are you listening to the radio at 5am??" 

anyhow, today he comes home from work and he turns on the radio in the living room (that thing is never on unless we have guests or something like that).  he turns it on and he clearly is listening for something.  then he proceeds to get his cell phone and the house phone.  i finally get the hint that he's trying to win something on the radio again- this time, it's $1,000 if you are caller 99 when a natasha bettingfield song comes on.  i told him that he has my cell phone to use too.  so he goes and gets it and programs the number into my phone.  okay, i'll bite and try to help, so i call once before the contest starts, so when i actually need to call, all i have to do is press the 'send' button twice and i'll get connected.  so we go on with our evening, with bryant half listening to our conversations, so that he can listen for the song.  anyhow, the song comes on and we get our phones.  bryant has a phone on each ear and i get my phone and i press 'send' twice (thinking i'm so smart that i planned ahead) and i get through!! 
this is our conversation:
me:hi,  i'm calling for the contest
dj: what contest ?  (i thought he was playing hard to get, so i keep proceeding)
me: the one with the $1,000
dj: what $1,000
me: when i hear the natasha bettingfield song
dj: we aren't playing that song for another 2 hours
(at this point, i'm like, what is going on.  i'm done arguing with the dj, so i hang up)

when i hang up, i look at the cell phone and realized that i call the wrong radio station.  so the one time i play this silly radio game with bryant, i argue (not really argue, but you know what i mean) with the dj to try and win $1000 and i call the wrong radio station = i made a complete fool of myself

moral of the story: bryant's an idiot for doing these crazy radio games, but i'm a bigger idiot for following bryant in the radio games.