7 days.

On Monday November 16, myself and the two kiddos will be flying. Yeeeeeeeeeees! It's true. And actually this trip was pretty much a bonus. As it turns out, dh has some kind of a class to attend for a while and didn't want us to stay alone here in Chile. So take a guess where we are going!?

Did ya guess? Did ya? Did ya?? Oh well, that was an easy one. Yes, we are going home to Tucson. Well, you know what they say... home is where the heart is.

Oh looky there.......

Helloooooo baby................. momma misses you! Yes she does. Mommy is going to get in you and drive you and love you and put the windows down, and turn on the music and we are going to go to the mall. And after that, we are just going to go and it doesn't matter where we end up. I love you Chevy babyyyyyyyy. Er. Um. Excuse me. I just really miss driving.

And did anyone check the calendar?? Because I know that I did. Why looky loo there.... it's time for Thanksgiving. Yes. It's time to be thankful for all the wonderful blessings in our lives. And I am greatly blessed. I have an amazing family. I do. Even though we all do not see eye to eye on everything, we are still family. And I love every one of them. I am overjoyed that I have the ability to be able to come back and spend another holiday with them. More importantly, my children and I are healthy. So yes, I have many many things to be thankful for.

Oh hey! In looking at the calendar, did you also notice that I'm arriving just in time for November 20? Can we say holy hotness jail bait! Wow! I can't wait to see this movie.

It's my favorite time of the year. Really. And not just because they are releasing a movie with a bunch of hot guys in it. I swear. I love Turkey day. I can't wait to get my hands on some shopping too. I've been cut off over here. Mainly because the prices here are way higher than in the states. But also, because there is no Target. So it's just not the same.

Yes. That's how I roll. I'm going to put on my red heels, red embellished sweater top, and puffy red skirt, and I'm hitting the big red dot. Or no. I may just wear jeans. But still, Target is on the agenda.

And then after that, I will be going here. Because I love this store too. Why? I just do. So that should be good enough for you. It's good enough for me. And my kids like the weird mannequin people that they have on display. Let's hope they still have them when we go back.

I won't even talk about the food. Let's just not.

So that's all I've got for now. I'm going to go pack some stuff. And drool look at the New Moon posters. Anyone with me on this? Will you be seeing it?

My babies.

I think I may have mentioned that I took the kids to Target to get their pictures taken. They actually caught quite a few cute smiles. As I have looked over the pictures, I realize that my babies are not so little anymore. My first born is fast approaching 4. And my little girl just says the most amazing things every day.

For instance, today she barked out a string of orders to my father after they came in from outside. It went a little something like this: "Tito, you have to go outside and close the door on my playhouse, I left it open. And you have to close the windows too. You need to put the lid on my sandbox, it needs to be covered up. And bring my bucket and shovel inside. I want you to wash it in the sink with soap and water, so I can play with it inside."

I might not have believed it, but when I arrived home from running errands today, my mother handed me this typed up piece of paper. She wrote down every word so that she wouldn't forget everything Alexa had said. My dad was pretty surprised. I had to laugh. She sounds a little bossy. But you know what? Her grandpa took care of it. He closed the door to her playhouse, and closed the windows, covered her sandbox, and got her bucket & shovel and washed them off for her too. On the 18th of this month, she will be 2 and 1/2. Phew. Looks like someone is already taking charge!

Here are a few pictures from the photo session.

my new look.

Whadd'ya think? I honestly believe it was time to spruce things up around here. I gave my friend Ragan a call. Well, not really. It didn't happen like that at all. But since she is so friendly, I like to think that we are friends. After all, she is responsible for the previous look of my blog before today, as well as this current new makeover. If you too, would like a new look for your blog, head on over to Blogger Boutique. You won't be disappointed!

Today we went over to Target to get the kids pictures taken. I've actually made several attempts at photographing my own children. Eddie is the one who gives me the most trouble. He won't sit still. He runs away, he turns his head, he is just uncooperative in general. I don't know why dressing him up and taking him to Target makes him behave better. But it does. He listens, and smiles pretty much on cue. The pictures came out very nicely. It's hard sometimes when they actually do smile and look adorable. It makes mommy want to spend more money on all the cute shots. Thankfully though, I had a 50% off coupon, and it all worked out. I can't wait to get them back.

Not much else to share. Daddy is coming home in 18 days. The kids and I are all very excited. Trying to finish packing up all of the stuff I accumulated in the time since I have arrived here. So far, it doesn't all fit in the suitcases! I have to ship more boxes. Note to self: Go to post office and pick up flat rate boxes.

Shopping with kids is bad. Very bad.

Today I took the kids with me to a few stores. I had in mind when I left the house to actually buy the last few Christmas presents that were on my list. Eddie and Alexa had on their minds to play and laugh and have fun.

I first went to Bed, Bath and Beyond. It was in this store that I realized that there are just way too many breakable items within reach of small hands. Small hands that are attached to small children who are too young to grasp the concept of the words shattered, shards, or "QUIT BEFORE THEY THROW US OUT OF THE STORE!" I don't think I've ever paid attention to just how many things in this store are breakable before. Until my children got there, and started knocking things down. We left without buying anything. It was for the best.

We went to JCPenney next. In this lovely store, I only found one item to buy. I was actually quite busy moderating a fight over the one seated store stroller that Eddie and Alexa both thought that they needed to sit in. Mind you, when I bring my own double stroller, or single stroller for that matter, neither one of them want to sit in it. I end up pushing around a big bulky empty stroller through the store navigating through the small aisles and clothes racks as the kids walk by my side. So I didn't bring it. And instead, they fought. The entire time I was in the store, I was the lady with the screaming children. I made them take turns. While the kid sitting in the stroller was enjoying his or her ride, the other stood on the wheel. Which made it very difficult for me to actually push. Then the standing child would smack the sitting child, because that's just the appropriate thing to do. And then either one of them would scream. Because they were jealous, or the other one was bothering them. *sigh* I paid for my one item and left.

We then tried our hand at Target. My kids love that HUGE big red buggy that two kids can climb into the back of, and stand in or sit down. My son thinks it's his big pirate ship. Or so he claims. I told him that if he climbed on top of it again, that I would have to abandon it and we would just walk. Well he did it again. And this time he was OK with it. It was Alexa who fell apart. She screamed like I had just ran over her foot. She was so mad at me for leaving the buggy there, she almost laid down on the ground. I told her that she could stay right there with the buggy if she wanted, but I was leaving. She screamed for another 5 minutes on and off, but she eventually got over it. I think it must have been nap time, because she got cranky again pretty soon after the buggy incident. I'm not sure what I went in the store to buy, as my concentration was wrecked with my little angels and their perfect behavior.

I think I am going to have to plan just one more trip. No kids. I have no idea how I get anything done with these kids. Shopping and kids just doesn't mix. Ever.

Things I miss.

Aussie cheese fries.

From where else?

Then of course, there's this place. Even as this store is super awesome and they do ship to APO addresses, it's not the same as actually being in the store.

I can't even begin to tell you how much I am going to miss this event.

I miss my lovely step-daughter Alyssa. She turns 10 on November 18.

And my step-son Devon too. He will be 15 (Gasp!) on November 2.

This picture isn't the best, but it was taken at Davis Monthan Air Force Base (as were the two previous). I even miss dusty brown and unforgivingly hot Tucson.

Most importantly, I miss my family members who are still there. The ones that I drug across the United States to be with us. I miss them most of all.