day #41: "show me your teeth"

today, was zachary's first trip to the dentist. i know, i'm about 2 yrs behind, i'm sorry. i had a few reservations about his visit. he hates to have his teeth brushed, so i figured he'd pitch some kind of fit before the appointment was over. once again, zachary thomas marcoux surprised me. other than the million and one questions, there were no tears, no tantrums, no fuss. i was so proud. he didnt care to lay down that much, but he did do well with the xrays, cleanin, and dr's exam. i think all he was concerned with was gettin to the end of the visit so he could get his goody bag. zachary learned he has 20 teeth now and that he has no cavities! he said that's "cuz my mom brushes my teeth so i don't have to get a shot for cavities." lol. he's gettin so big, i'm so proud of our big boy.

day #40: the love of my life.

i think last sunday i wrote about football. well, the main person i love enjoyin football with is my hubby. i don't think i could've ever married anyone who didnt love sports like i do. or anyone who i know more about sports than they do, lol. we can just be layin on the couch, watchin a football game, and i'm in heaven because of who i'm spendin that time with. this season has definitely been better than last season with him here to share moments with. although we do not agree on what teams are the best, or what teams our son's apparel should support, i love that my husband loves football. besides, there is plenty of time to convince him that the lions will never go anywhere, and he's much better off rootin on the cowboys with me...

the pic below is of me and tom. nothin special, only that we dont have too many pics of just us too. :-)

day #39: la vina

ahhh, the sight of a vineyard, the smell and feel of fall, and the taste of wine. i always look forward to la vina's wine festival every year. they actually have 2 of them, to open the season and close it. last spring, i was unable to go, so bein that i got to go this time and share the experience with my sister, was super great. we were gonna leave the house here at 10 to get there at 1030, but i was runnin late, and thank goodness i was. the gates didnt open til noon, so needless to say, we were like the 6th and 7th person thru the gates, lol. the festival consists of wine tastin, arts and crafts booths, carnival like food, and live music. morgan and i circled the booths, tryin to control our spendin urge. my reason bein i had a couple bottles of wine to buy! i already knew which types of wine i liked, so the tastin was just a matter of drinkin. i loved bein able to sip on some wine, walk around, enjoy the live music and great conversation with my sister. moments to treasure, for sure. i miss that girl, so when she's around, we try to be civil and have a great time. jk, its always a great time with her.
the pic below is, well, it was taken at the wine festival. just a lil reminder of our splendid day together!

day #38: 3D and the wii

friday evening, we took zachary to the movies. went and saw toy story 3 with aunt m, scott, paige, dad and i, and zach. it was tons of fun, and i'm pretty sure zachary really enjoyed himself. he was so excited to get his fruit punch and cotton candy, and couldnt resist sharing popcorn with aunt m. he did way better with this movie than when we took him to watch ice age. this time, only 2 potty breaks and alot less talkin. it was so great to get to treat him to something special. kinda like his personal time in the limelight.

when we got home, we played super mario on the wii. as the pic shows, zachary love, love, loves that game. i do too when tom's not hollerin at me for not being a team player, lol. he's so competitive. best investment we've made in regards to the wii. that game is great!

day #37: water play or water trough?

for connor's birthday, we got him a water play table. a table that you fill with water, something i thought would be different and interestin for him to stand up and play with. i finally sat down and snapped it together today, lol. connor loves it, zach loves it, and even max loves it. the boys splashed and splashed and max drank. it was too cute. so i got a pic of it. hopefully the weather stays warm so all 3 of them can get much more use of it.

day #36: aunt m is here!

wednesday, my sister flew into el paso to spend some of her vacation time with us. so excitin! she came bearin presents, of course, and some of which was some converse sneakers for the boys. they are too darn cute, the pic below is of connor sportin his :-) with aunt m.

we went out to eat with us 4 marcouxs, morgan, and scott to a hole-in-the-wall mexican restaurant that they guys raved over and over about. supposedly they've gone there a time or two for lunch. which surprises me cuz when i want mexican food, my husband is not goin for it. so, we go, food is excellent, service...not so much. we ordered adult beverages only to have a waitress that didn't want to refill them. ever. baffles the heck out of me bein that the more alcoholic beverages your party orders, the quicker the bill will jump up, thus raisin your tip. i guess the waitress didnt think that way. unsure if i'll be goin back. tom likes to boycott restuarants for bad service, so i think this one may be one of them. we will see...

day #35: tryin to get back in the groove...

tuesday was a day that consisted of runnin errands, and most importantly, gettin things for our new addition, max. boy, dogs are exactly like children, super expensive!

zach went to school today, he loves it. which is a big relief, hopin he'll continue to do well once he goes to the big school next year. full day. mommy can't wait.

i prepared for my sister's visit, cleanin and tryin to catch up on the laundry from michigan. yes, its taken me that long, and i'm still not finished. i hate laundry. i wish i had a lil lady that came and folded everything, includin the socks for me. soon, i will teach zach how to do that, cuz i don't do it now, lol.

the pic below is of dad and connor. it was too cute, i couldnt resist.

day #34: and max makes 5.

this mornin, after i dropped zachary off at school, tom wanted to go to the pet shop to take a peek at the dogs. he's been wantin a german shepherd for the longest, and i was on board with the idea :) so we went. little did we know that we'd fine the newest member of the marcoux family today.

maximus "max" aurelius marcoux is a 10 wk old german shepherd that stole our hearts. all of them. connor was laughin, zach was so excited, so we went with it. he's now a member of our family and life is great. tom's cleanin up poop, and i'm enjoyin our complete family. such a happy time that mom had happy tears when we brought him home! can't wait to see what our future holds. hopefully potty trained in minimal time and a nice, healthy dog for many years to come! :-)

day #33: 1st win!

sunday in the fall and winter means football. and you bet its gonna be on from 10 am til 10 pm in the marcoux household. only downfall to my husband bein a lions fan and the rest of us rootin on the cowboys is that when they play at the same time, there can be some tension. tom tends to rule the remote, so if i really, really wanna watch the entire cowboys game, i go into the bedroom. but honestly, i dont think football is as much fun if you're not watchin it with anyone. so...i suck it up and watch the lions, only to catch updates of the cowboys durin the commercials. either way, i was super relieved that the boys managed to score a win this past week. we needed it, and more than ever, i believe wade phillips, and possibly jason garrett needed it as well. we'll see how the rest of the season goes. maybe they can have one like the '93 cowboys where even though they started the season at 0-2, they won the super bowl. how great would that be? a super bowl win at the palace in dallas?

the pic below has nothin to do with this blog post. scott has another dog, frank, who is a minature doxson. (unsure of the spellin?) frank is just about the cutest puppy i've ever seen. he's so funny to watch run and play around. and he's so lil. zach enjoyed playin with him this past weekend and we had a lil fun playin with him as well. joe stuck him in his pocket, and i couldnt resist a pic :-)

day #32: busy, busy, busy!

this past saturday, i had a pretty jam packed schedule. had to wake up early to finish getting things ready for the open house that the home based business group here in el paso hosted. tom left in the am to go to the store with scott, cuz the guys were gonna bbq a brisket and watch football all afternoon.

so i had both boys, one of which had a fever, was screamin bloody murder, and wanted to be held constantly. ah, the unconditional love of a mother. luckily i was able to drop them off with their dad for the afternoon while i was at the open house.

the open house went really well, had lots of traffic. hopefully gained a few customers out of the deal. i'm really enjoyin doin the scentsy thing and even more excited now that i have some great teamates to work with!

the brisket was fabulous, we'll definitely be makin it again in the future. thanks mom for the recipe :-) we enjoyed saturday evening watchin college football (michigan is now 4-0), eatin, drinkin, and socializin. always a good time when we get together with our el paso friends!

the pic below is of zachary and zoey, scott's dog. zoey loves to cuddle up with zach when he falls asleep. she's done it multiple times before. i think its pretty darn cute!

day #31: present!

a girl i went to school with owns a business and makes bows, blankets, and other goodies for the lil ones. she had a contest goin on on facebook, so i participated and won a free cowboys blanket! well, i picked for it to be cowboys cuz i have one, tom has his michigan one, zach has his michigan/cowboys one, and connor needed one. and what better blanket than a dallas cowboys one!

the blanket came in the mail while we were in michigan, so i'm just gettin around to postin a pic of it. thank you so much robin for it! i love, love, love it!

day #30: home at last.

today, we left dallas and headed to our home we call el paso. i was pretty stoked. it had been a couple weeks now, and i was definitely ready for my very own bed.

had breakfast at the cracker barrel, and headed west. made good time and go into el paso around 530 pm. enough time to unload the truck, eat dinner, baths for the boys, and mommy and daddy time now.

zach will be back in school tomorrow am. may seem drastic, but he's missed 2 weeks, and since we pay for this preschool, he will go every day he's in el paso, lol. plus, mom has some laundry and errands to run, and it'll be alot quicker minus one child :-)

other than an open house this saturday, i'm lookin forward to a nice, relaxin weekend. more college football, maybe a few cocktails, and next week will bring my sister to el paso! can't wait, i miss that crazy gal!

the pic is of a view from the truck of downtown dallas. sorry, its not the best, i'm not a very good photographer on the move...

day #29: some of the best grub...ever!

wednesday, we left nashville, and headed south towards dallas. when we made it to dallas, we checked into the hotel room and ventured out to find dinner. decided on papsitos, and boy, were we glad we did!

they had delicious adult beverages. tom enjoyed a few dos equis, and i had a couple margaritas. yummo. the kids ate the typical corn dog and quesadillas. i opted for a combo platter, love my mexican food, so i wanted a variety. tom had the brouchette-styled shrimp which are large shrimp stuffed with cheese and a sliver of jalapeno. then the shrimp is wrapped up in bacon and grilled. o.m.g. those things were so dang tastey! i haven't had good dine out food like that in a long time. we were so impressed with papsitos, really wish they'd have one here in el paso!

i unfortunately do not have a pic of our food or anything from our venture that day. so, i'm includin a pic i like from our trip to the mitten. its of connor checkin out his cousin, or 2nd cousin, alex. not sure how that works out. tom's cousin's lil boy :-)

day #28: on the road again...

tuesday morning, we went out to eat with gramps for breakfast. that was a nice start to our day of travelin. left michigan, headin back a different route than what we traveled up there. i was pretty excited for that. more states for me to see and hopefully more to look at than construction and rain. thats all we saw on the way up to mitten.

drove thru the rest of michigan, into ohio, down into kentucky, and ended up in nashville. no sight seein, other than what we saw out the window. i looked forward to the big cities like cincy, louisville, and nashville. love lookin at buildings downtown and over there, everything was so green and pretty.

i woulda liked to visit the opry, but we'll have to save that for another excursion. maybe one without tom, cuz he wasn't too fond of the idea.

the boys did well travelin. connor had his moments, but we've been blessed with good lil travelers, as i've said before. the pic below is of our mini-me's, in the backseat, enjoyin a mario dvd on the ride home. so stinkin cute if i do say so myself!

day #27: "take me out to the ball game..."

we left from ed and toni's on monday morning. headed down to the detroit area to visit with aunt shell, victoria and justin, gramps, jenn, lena, alex, amelia and her boyfriend justin. chatted for a bit and then tom, myself, and zachary headed to the tigers baseball game. aunt shell and victoria looked after the mini monster.

i was worried that zachary wouldn't last the whole game without gettin bored or restless. once again, he proved to me just how big he is gettin. other than wantin to eat constantly, i could tell that he was havin a great time, and really gettin into the game. he enjoyed watchin the players hit, that's his favorite thing to do. i always say that if anything, zachary will be a designated hitter one day. he doesn't really care too much for the fielding and throwin aspect of baseball.

we arrived early to the ball park, so we had time to ride the carousel and ferris wheel. all 3 of us enjoyed that. pics to come soon.
we had excellent seats. 12 rows behind the plate, close enough to where you could see exactly how big these baseball players really are. or how small they are as well, lol. close enough to get good pics of the game, includin some of "peter brady", who threw out the first pitch. pretty cool stuff. thank you tommy for takin us, it really was a blast!

day #26: the whole gang.

the sunday after ashley's wedding, ed and toni had everyone over at their house for a bbq. it was a great time. family, friends, food, football, and loads of fun. was a nice relaxin time for us to recover from the day before.
we watched the lions lose, ate delicious bbq and trimmings, and played alil washers. ed and emily's team came in 1st place. sorry, darin for bein a terrible partner, lol.
i look forward to the next gathering with the michigan family. its always a good time and i miss them with us all livin too far apart.

ps. the lions only lost by 3 pts. my husband demanded i include this fact. but a loss is a loss.

the pic below is of the whole gang. well, minus ms. gayle, mom and dad p, ashley, josh, and paige.

day# 25: a beautiful day.

today, tom's sister married her best friend, josh. i dont know how anyone could not like weddings. they are such a special time in people's lives. moments are made that will be remembered forever.
ashley and josh got married near the pond, with a gazebo in the background. it was small, lovely, and special. tom's brother ed officiated, makin it even more cool. :)
i did realize that weddings can be very tirin. with 2 lil ones, my arms ache, and it was great to get home and be off my feet. next time, we will have a babysitter.
all in all, it was a great day. our time here in the mitten is windin down, kinda bittersweet. i'm gonna miss this family when we're gone, hopin to see them all shortly in texas, lol.
the pic below is of the wedding party durin the ceremony. i think tom did a good job on the pic, love the reflection in the pond.

day #24: more like brothers...

a few posts ago, i talked about my girls. the girls i grew up with, that unfortunately i can't hang with often because of distance. well, this post is alil bit about tom's guys. his brothas from other mothas, lol.
these guys i know tom would do anything for, and they would help out tom as well. one of them is his actual brother, the other two, tom grew up with and raised all kinds of hell with back in the day.
i love all these guys too. mostly so, because they are such great friends to tom, but also because i know they accept me. not that there's much to accept, but that they've grown to know me with open arms. i know it had to have been crazy for them when i first met them, and i was already married to their best friend.
the pic below is of tom, pete, ed, and john. its been a great time in michigan hangin with these guys and i look forward to the next time, whenever that may be.

day #23: 3rd time's the charm.

shortly after tom and i got married, we bought a nice sony digital camera. i loved that camera, we had it for over 4 years and the only issues we ever had was the shutter wouldnt always open on cue. so, durin tom's last deployment, he bought a canon digital camera. mind you, we've spent a good few hundred dollars on both these cameras, they are nothin cheap, lol. well, the other nite, in the midst of good times with great friends, i accidently dropped the canon camera in the garage. on the cement. thus, causin the power and shutter button to become misplaced. dangit. i was more disappointed in the canon quality not bein that great than me actually droppin it. i dropped the sony camera many, many times with no issues.

so, here we are in the middle of our michigan trip with no camera. we have tom's sister's weddin on sat, and the tigers game on monday. not to mention i havent really taken too many family pics. so, today's adventure consisted of findin us a 3rd camera. found a sony one that tom and i both like. pretty excited about it for now. and when we get back to el paso, i'll def be sendin the canon one to be fixed, that baby is still under warranty :) after that, we'll have 3 workin cameras. thinkin bout sellin one of them at least, so if you know anyone who needs a camera and wouldnt mind havin a used one with alil defects, just let me know! lol.

the pic below is of connor. 1st pic i took with the new camera. i look at this pic and it almost baffles me at how much older he is startin to look. we're in that toddler stage where his looks are gonna change, change, change. which is so very cool. :-)

day #22: big boy.

when you travel across the country, you'll see things you've never seen before, and eat at places that they don't have where your from. this was the case the other day. i have heard of "big boy" restaurants before, believe i saw an article or 2 about the chain or one of its dishes in a food network magazine. tom wanted to eat there the other day, so we did. the pic below is of "big boy" outside the restaurant. upon enterin the place, zachary decided he wanted to strike a pose with "big boy". so this is what we got. a pic of him doin so.

oh, and if anyone cares, connor and i shared the chicken strips with mashed potatoes and a salad. tom had a bacon burger, and zach had the cheesy burger with french fries. pretty good food, but not really somewhere i'd like to go to again if i had the choice. just my opinion :)

day #21: a texan and a bunch of michiganders...

tuesday evenin, we headed over to ed and toni's. we'll be stayin here the duration of our michigan trip. that evenin included gatherin of old and new friends with many beers in between.

joinin us were friends that we have made while bein stationed at ft. bliss. our extended family, darin and emily. both of them are originally from the mitten, and since they are on leave and weren't far away, we made plans to hang out. pretty fun. its always a great time when we hang out with them. have to admit, i'm gonna be a very sad panda when uncle sam seperates us in a few months.

but that is the life of the army. you see places you've never thought you'd see and most importantly, meet people you never thought you'd meet. that is one thing i'm truly grateful the army has given us. darin and emily, i love you guys and we'll definitely see each other after the army makes us part ways :-)

day #20: his 2nd catch!

sure wish i had my son's fishin luck. he goes fishin twice and walks away with a fish both times. this time, zach snagged a trout. and it was a pretty one too. dad was there to assist, and zach managed to give the lil swimmer a lil rub just to see what a fish felt like.

we definitely need to start thinkin bout headin out to elephant butte lake in the future. havent been there yet, but need to get out there before it gets too cold. now all we need to go with the fishin pole is a boat.

day #19: bummer at the buzzer...

when the fall comes, so does the excitement. football. high school football, college football, nfl. doesnt matter. when the weather changes, the fun begins.

bein that my husband is from michigan and i'm from texas, its completely understandable that we root on different teams. i never went to a university or was raised to follow a certain one when it comes to college football, so i like to tell everyone i'm a converted michigan fan. other than michigan, i'm an aggie kinda gal. more so cuz i like the school, and at one point, wanted to go there. michigan had a great, excitin game against notre dame. a win for the good guys.

sunday is alil more dicey at our house. i'm a cowboys fan, tom chooses to root on the lions. silly him, i know, lol. last year i agreed to let our sons wear lions gear. this year, its time to show off the big star :) tom's not willin to get on board, as you will see in the pic.

this week was rough for both our teams. the lions lost on a botched call in the end zone, and the cowboys lost on a penalty. both plays woulda scored winning touchdowns for our teams. it was a total bummer.

no matter what the team we choose to root for, our family is big on football. and its always a great time when we can enjoy games together, even if our favorite team loses on the last play of the game. the pic below is of tom, his dad, gramps, and our boys. 4 generations of football lovers :-)

day #18: brotherly love

for those that don't know, tom has a brother. lol. ed is 360 days older than tom, so they are very close. they have a great relationship, and i know they love it when they can get together and hang out.

when i see ed and tom together, i sometimes think about our boys and even though they are alil more apart in age, i hope that they will always be as close as ed and tom are. i hope they will always have each other's backs and if they tend to disagree, they can do so in the most appropriate matter. i know they love each other, i see it now when they play.

the pic below is of tom and ed hangin out at the cottage. they kinda favor each other, if tom had some scruffy goin on, they'd look identical i think.

day #17: whata catch!

when uncle ed invited zach to go down to the dock to go fishin with him, i had my doubts that zach would be up for it. boy, was i wrong.

zachary loved watchin uncle ed fish. so much, he wanted to do so himself. one of the best feelings in the world is knowin your lil boy wants to learn how to fish. especially when my dad, my stepdad, and various other men in my life, includin my husband, enjoy fishin. me, not so much. it can be fun, but i no where near have the patience for it.

we hit up the local huntin/fishin store to find zach his very first fishin pole. tom selected a bright yellow one and zach was so excited! he couldnt wait to try it out!

zach had to wait a few hours before dad thought he should try to fish. so, by the time we were down on the dock, sunset had approached us. tried to get some videos of my boys fishin together, but only managed to capture a few pics. one of which is the most important one. the pic of zachary and dad with his very first fish! tom said it was a small mouth bass. measured about 7 inches in length, but boy, zachary was so proud. and so was his dad and mom!

i look forward to future fishin outtings. i'm sure my boys will love going together. i will probably not be included, but once again, another reason why i stand out as the pink in this house of blue...

day #16: drivin across the country...

i know i'm not doin this whole blog thing exactly the way it should go, but bein that i have had limited access to the internet, and don't have internet on my phone, i'm gonna play catch up these next few days. this post is for friday, sept. 10th.

left el paso at midnite and after a LONG 28 hr drive to michigan, we arrived safely at the cottage up north. well, i think it was long, per tom, we made excellent time bein we had a 2 hr time change and 2 lil ones with us. definitely lookin forward to takin our time on the way back and gettin to experience all the states we traveled thru.

the route we took went from texas to new mexico, to texas again, to oklahoma, thru missouri, to illinois, and finally the mitten. pretty decent drivin other than it rained the whole way thru missouri, and we drove thru there the later part of the nite. sure does make for a tired cara who can't drive more than 60 mile sections at a time, lol.

the boys did VERY well on our drive. connor only had about 2 major meltdowns, but it sure did help havin an extra set of adult hands to help out with drinks, snacks, toys, etc.

when we arrived in michigan at 640 am, we were tired, but excited to start our vacation with the marcoux family. i don't really have any pics from our drive up there because we were in such a rush at our pit stops, so i'm includin a pic of zach in his position that he was in for 28 hrs, lol.

day #15: and we're off...

bout to hit the road. gotta long drive ahead of us, may be a good thing that we're startin it while the boys are sleepin. i don't think we're gonna have any issues with them, we've been blessed with good travelers, no car sickness.

its been a while since our whole family was in michigan. christmas of 2007 to be exact. so alot has changed since then. zachary is now a lil boy, no more toddlin around, and of course we've added connor, who isnt quite toddlin around, lol. we've had a pcs to el paso, and tom's served another tour. and me, well, not much has changed with me, that i can think of.

its always nice to see tom's family and friends when we venture to michigan. i tend to get emotional when i think about how this is one of the downfalls of the army. seperation from family. i'm used to it now, but it kinda sucks for the boys. i know our parents love to see us, but its those grandsons that they get most excited about.

maybe one day we'll all live closer again. this would mean michigan family would have to move to texas, lol. i love michigan and would have no problem movin there if it wouldnt be so cold. snow and cara don't get along.

the pic below is of zachary the last time we visited the mitten. this was his first time in the snow. i remember he didnt know what to think of it, and it took a bit for him to get his balance down. maybe we'll have a super cold winter here in el paso with alil snow. just alil.

day #14: preparation...

my apologies, i did not post yesterday. completely forgot. i was bumming around all day while tom played golf, but when he got home, i got crazy busy around here.

today consisted of our typical day, plus preparing for our excursion to the mitten, aka michigan. i went and exchanged a couple of connor's bday gifts and came home to do laundry. so far, i have the boys 90% packed, and myself about 10%. and tom is packed 99%, only missing his hygiene items. must be nice to just have to pack for yourself, lol. after i get all our clothes and necessities, i have to gather scentsy, food, and everything else.

i'm really looking forward to gettin to the mitten and seeing everyone again. hopefully, we dont have any major issues on the drive, i'm sure the boys will be fine. i just may need some red bulls when its my turn to drive.

i don't really have a pic to post for today, so i'm postin one that makes me chuckle every time i see it.

day #13: long time friends...

this post is for yesterday. last nite we played some cards and had some adult beverages so surprise, surprise, i did not post.

this weekend, jake, amber, and dylan came into town to help celebrate connor's birthday and hang out with us. for those who don't know, i went to school with amber for many, many years. we played sports together, were cheerleaders, and most importantly, raised all kinds of hell on the weekends together, lol. tom met jake thru the army. they worked together at ft. hood, and while amber and i were living in austin, all our paths crossed. such great memories. dylan is 5 and him and zach got along right away and i know they've had a blast playing and hanging out.

jake, amber and dylan live in albuquerque, new mexico, which is about 5 hrs from el paso. close enough to where we should hang out more often, but far enough to where our busy lives don't always let us do so. right now, we're planning on heading to albuquerque next month to go to the balloon festival. from what we hear, its a great experience and a sight to see. hopefully things will work out and we can attend.

we had some good times this weekend. good converstation and lots of laughs. i really look forward to the next time we can do it again. the pic below is of all of us at applebee's, where we ate last nite for dinner. :-)

day #12: happy birthday to you!

as today winds down, i am truly grateful for all the blessings my life has given me. a happy, healthy family, great friends who may as well be family, and the joy to live each day to the fullest.

today we celebrated connor's 1st birthday. yes, may have been a month late, but extra special cuz dad was home to celebrate with us. this morning consisted of finishing touches for the party, and included tom helping me create connor's birthday cake. or should i say, me helping tom. he cut out the design, flipped and plated it, iced it, and even sampled it if you can belive that! things like that make me smile. love when he's home and able to take part in these special moments.

where has connor's 1st year gone? its so bittersweet to know my baby is turning into a lil boy, and i will miss all the baby things. he makes me smile countless times thru out the day, and i'm so blessed to be his mom. con man, i love you so much and wish that as you grow older, you continue to enjoy all the lil things in life and experience the best of times with the ones you love. i know you will make mom and dad proud.

the pic below is of connor outside today making cereal necklaces. i actually made his, but as you can tell, he was havin a blast. not to mention enjoyin a few fruit loops in between.

day #11: grillin it up.

so, i've been cravin a good burger for awhile now. not mcdonalds or burger kings, home grilled. catch is, i dont use the grill.

tonite i mixed up the seasonings and made the patties, tom grilled the burgers. and i must say...we make a fabulous tag team. as if i didnt know that already? :) these burgers were delicious. not sure if it was the secret ingredient or what, but yeah, yummy. along with steak fries, definitely hit the spot.

now i'm bakin cakes. not one of my favorite things to do in the kitchen, but it is definitely worth it for our lil boy. hope he enjoys his birthday party tomorrow and hope he's not to overwhelmed. should be a blast celebratin with our friends and alil bit of family.

my pic is of my burger. i by far am not a professional photographer, its not commercial worthy, but only if i coulda made it look as good as it tasted. nothin beats a grilled hamburger on a friday nite surrounded by the people you love. life is great.

day #10: friends forever.

sorry i did not post last nite, once again we were out and about around the time i normally post. so today, i'll do twice the work. hopefully.

the pic below is of me with some of my bestest friends. from the left, laura, jamie, stephanie, myself, and lauren. it was taken at my dearest stephanie's bachelorette party back in june. when i see this and see our happy faces, i always think of the great times we have when we're all together. wish they would come more frequently, but with time and us getting older, lol, our lives tend to go down different paths and keep us busy.

pics like this make me miss back home, or at least close to back home. but as one of my favorite quotations says, "absence makes the heart grow fonder". distance may seperate me from these gals, but i truly love them as my friends, 2nd family, and know that it'll be like that forever. we have such great times, and have created so many memories these past, 22 years. yes, some of us have known each other since preschool!

girls, you know i love you all, and i absolutely cannot wait til we can hang again. chipotle here we come, eventually! :-)

day #9: mmmm mexican foood...

i love when i know about things tom doesn't. this morning his younger brother came into el paso on his journey back to the mitten. kj just got out of the marines. and though i will always know the army is better, i really respect what he's done for our country.

tom didn't find out about kj being here til he pulled into the driveway after work this afternoon. i think if it wouldnt of been for the big detroit "d" on the back of kj's truck, tom woulda been stressing, lol. so glad kj is here to spend some time with us before we all head to the mitten. gonna be great to see the rest of my 2nd family there as well. can't wait.

after a long, long excursion to walmart, we went out to carlos and mickey's for some mexican food for lunch. this restaurant is well known here in el paso. only thing i don't like about them is their salsa is way too hot, and they don't serve cheese with their fajitas, you have to order it seperately, lol. i had the chimichanga with rice and beans and yummo. put me into a food coma, cuz when we got home, connor and i enjoyed a nice 2 hr long nap :)

look forward to spending time with family and friends this weekend. connor's birthday party on saturday, and i can't wait. its gonna be loads of fun.

day #8: "warm the heart, enliven the senses, and inspire the soul"

as i sit here typing this, i do believe today was a busy day. seems like it flew by. tom went and played golf this am, while connor and i tended to somethings around the house while zach was at school.

this evening consisted of the trifecta, feedin, bathin, and cleanin. our routine everynite. and tom wonders why i have every one of my shows programmed to the dvr, lol. between 5 and 8 pm, i am completely busy. sometimes even later. as was the case tonite, when he decided after i was ready to settle down that he wanted a blizzard from dairy queen. i obliged only because i had a buy one get on free coupon that i got for signin up with dairy queen's blizzard club. everyone should look into it! :-)

the title of my post tonite is scentsy's mission. most of you know that scentsy is my employer right now and if you get me started, i can go on and on about how great their products are and how you will love them as well. its true! i've never known anyone who has tried scentsy who's hated it. its safe, and very affordable. i think i just about have my husband into it, for he's missed out these past 9 months. if you havent tried scentsy, and you are an avid candle lover like myself, i urge you to give it a shot. call me, and we can work something out. i promise you won't be disappointed.

so, as corney as it is, and how i just went on about my business, my pic tonite is the scentsy logo. lol, i know. but scentsy really has become a part of me, and its helped me out in so many ways. i've met new friends, learned alot about myself, and made alil extra cash too :-) so excited for the fall/winter season that begins tomorrow!

day #7: big boy food.

today was a typical day in the marcoux household. husband went to work this am. mom took zach to preschool and spent the morning cleanin up. connor did whatever he wanted to, lol.

i did run over to the westside to return the "lefty" golf clubs my husband picked up yesterday. tom got home early, and we pretty much spent the day fiddling around the house. pretty boring if you ask me :)

tonite, connor had his offical "big boy" dinner. i had given him table food here and there, mostly for snacks or with his baby food. for dinner, he had a hot dog, mashed potatoes, and brocolli. yummo. he attacked the hot dog, i had pieces all over the floor, and he loved the potatoes. the brocolli...um, not so much. i had to mix it with the potatoes for him to eat it. i am pretty sure zach will be my veggie eater and connor's gonna love the meats.

the pic below is of connor and his feast. i can't believe how big he is gettin. kinda makes me alil sad, but then again i'm excited for him to start doing so many new things.

day #6: a hole in one...

since my husband has been home from iraq, he's gotten into golf again. this weekend, he said that zach could go with him. this made me smile. love it when my boys have "boy time" together. i cherish those moments, cuz when our family is seperated, i know its what zach and connor miss the most.

thought it was cute how tom picked out a shirt to match zach's in this pic. yes, i said that tom, lol. and from what the boys have told me, they had a good time playin golf together. or should i say, tom playin golf and zach gettin to ride around in the cart and eat snacks. i hope that they can continue to do this in the future. which, i'm sure they will, because i've been informed that my husband needs a new set of golf clubs. so, today we'll probably venture out to getting him some new clubs and boost his confidence in his golf game.

i look forward to the future and all the things my boys will get to do together. sometimes i'm jealous that i miss out, but thats what happens when i'm the pink in this house of blue.

day #5: boot scootin boogie...

sorry i did not post this last nite, super busy gettin ready for a nite on the town...

the husband and i went out to celebrate my bday and the bdays of all the guys that were overseas this past year. i'm really not one for the clubs, been there, done that, but i wanted to go out dancin somewhere. so, we hit up dallas nights saloon. big bar with dance floor where anyone and everyone can get their country on. right up my alley :)

places like that make me miss home. i sometimes miss dances, if you can believe it, lol. there's just something i enjoy about dancin. good stress reliever i think. and when i get lucky enough to share some dances with my husband, its just a great feelin. love that guy so much. and if its possible i love him even more for agreein to dance with me when i know he's not as big of a fan as i am.

had a blast with great friends, lots of laughs. always a good time when we adults can get together and just enjoy each other's company with maybe a few beers in between :-)

day #4: happy birthday to me...

today was my birthday. i turned 26 on the 26th this year. wow. kinda scary knowin i'm on the outter edge of my 20's. and amazin thinkin about how time has flown by these past, say, 8 years.

so much has happened. i have been blessed with so many wonderful things, i am truly grateful. had a rough time in early 2004 when my dad passed away, but God works in mysterious ways, and i think he had a plan for me when just a week later, tom came into my life. alot of people know our story, so i won't go into how we met. :) but to think about all that we've been thru and what we have now, words cannot even describe.

without tom, there would be no zachary or connor, and my life wouldn't be so complete as it is now. each year that passes, specifically on my birthday, i cherish all that i have. an absolutely wonderful husband, two smart, healthy kids, and a huge array of family and friends whom i love very much. thats the best birthday gift i could ask for.

the pic is of me hangin out outside with the boys. not one for takin pics of myself, i'd rather photograph my boys, but since today is "my" day, lol, here ya go.

i look forward to many, many more birthdays i get to spend with the ones i love. and in a matter of a decade and plus some, i will be able to spend my birthdays with the family and friends who i miss dearly. love you all!

day #3: where the green grass grows...

today was alot cooler in this furnace we call el paso. unsure of the high temp for today, but i know it wasn't in the 100's like it had been the past few weeks. when i left to take zach to school this am around 9 am, it felt as if fall was here. car thermometer read 73 degrees. i can't wait for 70's and even 60's.

sun was out, and it wasn't scorching, so this afternoon the boys and i went outside to play in the yard. zach's taking a liking to soccer, so we kicked the ball around while connor experienced our green grass. the grass that we spent a good amount of money on and the grass that my husband considers his 3rd child, ha ha. it is nice though to be able to walk around barefoot back there without stickers or rocks.

the pic here is of connor hanging out in our backyard. before i know it, he'll be running around chasing after his big brother. and before we know it, it won't be our backyard they'll be running around on. it'll be a football field :-)

day #2: back to school...

yesterday was zachary's 1st day back to school. it was gonna be at the elementary school, prek this year, but due to block leave, we chose to send him back to the prek he was at last year. i think he was happy with that.

zach was a bit hesitant when i first took him to his classroom, but after seeing all the new friends he was gonna make, he was all set to go. i don't know who was more excited when i picked him up, me or him.

each day when i look at him, i realize how blessed we have been to have such an amazing, healthy, very smart, lil boy. to think he started out at a mere 1 lb. 15 oz, wow. he has come such a long way and i look forward to each and everyday in our future together. zachary thomas marcoux, momma loves you with her whole heart. you make me so proud.

day #1: onto the next chapter...

a friend of mine encouraged me to take part in a 365 day challenge. blog about my life everyday for a year. i thought this was a great idea, being we are a military family and this would be a fun way for my family and friends who are so far away, to feel like they are right here with me and my family, experiencing each and everyday with us. so here we go...

the picture included here is of my family. my wonderful husband tom, and my two amazing boys, zachary and connor. zach is 4 and connor just turned 1. this day was one of the happiest days of all our lives. tom just returned home from 9 month deployment in iraq. this was his 3rd tour, so we've been thru a couple deployments and seperations already, none of which get easier. we have been so blessed that tom was safe and the boys handled this deployment as well as possible.

when i look at this picture, i see a happy family who loves each other very much and i see such a bright future in store for all of us. as i continue on this 365 day challenge, i look forward to the many exciting and memorable things that we will take part in together as a whole. i love these boys very much and though i may be out numbered, being the pink in this house of blue brings me so much joy.