Falling in Love with... FALL!!

Ahhhh... my favorite time of year is almost here- FALL! I love to watch the trees change color, to gather pumpkins with my boys, decorating for Fall and Halloween, caramel apples- yum!, etc... I have been looking for wedding ideas and have found some beautiful fall bouquets. I also planted quite a few of my favorite fall flower- MUMS! I chose to plant them in pots on my front porch this year to give it a more welcoming look.

I think the boys are going to be a Lion (Gage) and a Lion Tamer (Gavin) this year for Halloween! It will be cute to have them as a pair!

Enjoy my Fall pics!

~Noelle

Hey, summer! Where did ya go?

Yes, this is Chris Daughtry!!

Me and Josh Paul, guitarist!

My BFF Valerie and I at the concert!

Here is me and 5 out of 6 of my bridal party having dinner in July!

Wow, am I a slacker or what? I have not posted in over a month! I/we have been so busy with Back to School- yes Gavin is in 1st grade this year and... I went back finally after 2 years to finish my Algebra this Fall!! I will FINALLY have my degree this January that has been 6 years in the making:) Gavin lost his first tooth on the first full day of school last week- sorry no pic on the computer yet!

Brian got a new, wonderful job after hunting for almost 2 years!! He will be starting an apprenticeship with our local electrical workers union in January, till

Gage learned to love popsicles this summer!

then he is working for one of their companies. So good $$ and benefits finally -yipee!

Poor sweet Gage spent almost 3 days in the hospital this past week to receive IV antibiotics for an infection called MRSA- talk about some scary stuff but he is home now and doing better! He is gonna be 17 months already! Still super chubby and happy:)

Gage in his bear floatie in grandma's pool!

My brother Marc graduated from Basic Training a couple weeks ago- very proud of him!

And soon, it will be 1 year till our wedding!! Exciting, but scary at the same time! Lots to do but still not enough $$ to do it!

I went to see my hunk, Chris Daughtry in concert on August 7th and it was so AWESOME!! He is even hotter in person! I was so excited to get my pic taken with his bass guitarist, Josh Paul! He was such a sweetie:)

I am looking forward to Fall coming- the leaves, mums and pumpkins; cooler days and nights, Halloween, etc. This is my favorite time of year! Happy Fall Ya'll:)


Here are some of Gavin's special pics we got taken for his 7th birthday- what a stud!



Here is the cake and cupcakes I made for Gavin's 7th birthday Carnival!! (I think I did get some cake talent from my mom!)


Here is also Gavin and his #1 bday gift- Lego Indiana Jones game for his Nintendo DS! He was sooooo happy:)

Parasol Swap GOODIES!

Hey, Shannon-- wondering what all of these wrapped pretties are??

Well, I finally finished up my package for my lovely Swap pal Shannon of Paint Mine Pink! This poor gal has been waiting forever for me to send her stuff. So Shannon here is a sneak peek of all the "wrapped" goodies coming all the way to Australia to you! My package from Shannon should be arriving any day now... I am soooo excited!!

Hugs~

Noelle

He's Famous...

Create Fake Magazine Covers with your own picture at MagMyPic.com




Look Gavin's on the cover of a magazine!!! Just kidding! I actually put him there! This is something cute that you can do for your myspace pages, or even your blogs. You just upload a pic, then choose the magazine cover that you'd want to use.

He should be a model though, he's so darn handsome!


~Noelle :-)

HOT! HOT! HOT!

Maybe I can get him to serenade me! (LOL)
I'd probably have a heart attack!

IS IT HOT IN HERE OR IS IT JUST HIM!!!

On August 9th, my friend Valerie and I are traveling to Indy to go see my "man" Chris Daughtry at the Indiana State Fair!! I am so looking forward to seeing this hunk; I have been drooling over him since the season of American Idol that he should have WON! UGH:( But, at least he is making great music on his own terms now.

I have been so stressed and overwhelmed lately with the boys, life, finances... etc. I can't wait for out little get-a-way! Even thought its only ONE day that we will be gone for the concert- it will be ONE day of no baths, bedtime, whining, cleaning, cooking, etc... I CANNOT WAIT!

Say YES to the DRESS...

Here's the dress I thought I'd love but...

my I fell in LOVE with another!

Today was the first time I went and tried on Bridal Gowns; it ended up being a GREAT experience. I think I may have found "THE ONE". It was the second dress I tried on out of I think, 7. It just snugged me in the right places and it actually was NOT one that I thought would look good on me, nor would I like. My "bridal consultant", Tracy told me that when you find "THE ONE" you will know, you'll have butterflies in your stomach. I wasn't feeling the butterflies when I first tried it on but after putting in on the 2nd time and adding a unique "touch" to it; I was giddy with excitement!! We also found a tiara and a veil to coordinate with the special "touch". And well, "I think I'm in love with the dress!".

Of course, I need to think about it and take my momma with me to show it to her. I actually and surprisingly think she will love it as much as I do. It's "my style" and its all the things I wanted in a dress. Now, I just need to get this flabby arms of mine in shape!! (LOL)

So now, I just need to start saving the $$ for the dress! But I think I finally have the motivation to exercise and save my money for something that I really want!!

The above picture is the dress I "thought" I would love on myself; but it turned out to not be what I liked at all. Isn't it funny how you surprise yourself sometimes? I still think its pretty, its just not meant to be mine:)

Why do I feel this way?

Lately, I have been finding myself very "jealous" of the things/lifestyles that others around my "age" have. I wonder why we are having such a tough time financially? Why can't Brian find a good job/career? I honestly feel like our home (in which we have lived 7 years) is just BAD LUCK! I know we all create our own situations in life but wonder why, if we are trying to make a better life for ourselves; can't we "catch a break"? I just feel so depressed with not having any money to do little things like go the Dollar Store or take the boys for ice cream! This has been the worst summer so far, for so many reasons- and I wanted it to be the BEST summer! UGH! I have been job-hunting too, which makes me even more sad. I want to still work my wonderful part-time job 6 months of the year and be home with lil sweet Gage and be involved with Gavin's school. But it just isn't going to work for us financially. I get so sad thinking about having to go back to work full-time; I haven't done it in years and Gage is our last child, so I want to enjoy him growing up like I did with Gavin.

All of the financial burdens are on Brian, which in turn is making him grumpy and moody. He is tired of handling it all. I have bills that need to be paid but don't have the money right now and I feel bad asking him for any money for anything! We are getting married in November of '09 and I really wanted to start looking for a wedding dress soon, but its just not happening anytime soon. So that makes me feel more depressed, so I eat junk which helps me feel a little better temporarily but then I complain about feeling/being fat! I don't want to look this way for my wedding day, but I am so down in the dumps that I have no motivation to start exercising, or eating better.

Well, sorry to vent- maybe someone can offer me some insight on how to deal with this better? I used to believe so much in this little saying "This too shall pass" but "this" is taking waaaaaaaaayyy too long to pass for us!

~Noelle