Searching for a Gift Giver

Layne received a gift in the mail when we got back from New Orleans. It's the National Best Seller "Born To Run- A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen" by Christopher McDougall. We have no clue who it is from. The book seems really interesting, I want to read it myself... and we want to know who to say thank you to!

Tuesday Tidbits...

Another fun day with Reece filled with more laughter...

8:30am
Mitzi: Reece, do you know who is coming to our house tonight?
Reece: Aunt Mitzi, I don't want to talk right now.
(Who do you think she gets that from??)

10am
Reece: Can I have skittles today?
Mitzi: Sure Reece. If we go somewhere and then have skittles, we can get some.
1pm: We pulled into the gas station.
Reece: Should I unbuckle Aunt Mitzi?
Mitzi: No Reece, I just need to pump gas. Keep your seat belt on.
Reece: But you said we could get skittles today...
(She doesn't forget A THING!)

11am, We were watching the Leap Frog Letter Factory Movie
Reece: When Elly grows up, Addie and I are going to give her the Letter Factory so she can learn her ABC's and sounds like a big girl too.
Mitzi: Reece! That's such a sweet thing to say. I bet that would make Jessica very happy.
Reece: Let's call and tell her then. It's good to make people smile.
(And so we called Ben and Jess. Reece was thrilled.)

Reece and I were looking at blogs today. We were looking and pictures of Elly, Braden, and Vivian.
Reece: Is Vivian a little baby?
Mitzi: Yeah Reece, she's 3 months old now.
Reece: She sure does have a lot of hair for a little baby.
(How observant is that! Thought it would make you laugh Monica!)

I'm enjoying our arts and crafts, watching movies, wrapping Christmas gifts, and running errands together. Tonight, Mrs. Carmen and Mr. Wayne are getting in town. They are staying with Layne and I for the week, we'll have Reece and Addie tomorrow. We're going to go see The Princess and The Frog, and make Christmas cookies with NaNa. Can't wait!

Hope everyone is having a wonderful Holiday week!

Monday Funday!

Since I'm back in Dallas and off of work, I get to spend some quality time with my favorite 5 year old, Reece. She may be one of the only people who I look forward to getting out of bed at 7:30am for. We started our day off with arts and crafts, and then we watched Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. We were getting hungry at that point. Reece asked for lasagna or ravioli, which is way out of my range, and the pantry is bare. So off to Chick-fila we went.

We passed by the pet store, and Reece asked if we could stop to get Kelly Dog a Christmas present. Kelly is Mrs. Carmen and Mr. Wayne's dog, that Reece absolutely adores. How could I deny that? So we picked Kelly up a pack of toy bones, and checked out the dogs, cats, rats, mice, lizards, snakes, birds, and fish. I didn't like it one bit, but my niece loves animals. She loves them all, and she wanted to take home one of each. Sorry if I contributed Chrissy and Chad...

Since Reece ate all her chicken nuggets, she was able to convince Aunt Mitzi to take her to get some vanilla ice cream. WRAPPED. AROUND. HER. FINGER. And she knows it. How am I supposed to tell the girl no? I tried not to be a complete push over. I refused to buy Reece a book at our pit stop at Barnes and Nobles, but we did get a Christmas gift for Addison there. After taking this picture Reece said, "Could you hold my purse please? I've got some shopping to do." I almost busted out laughing in her face. It's a good thing Brina called me this morning and warned me about Reece's shopping problem. I can't wait to see what it blossoms into as she grows older.

We came home, wrapped Christmas presents, made a card for Paw Paw because "he is a special person and that's what you do when special people get sick." We watched the Backyardigans, munched on some popcorn, and before we knew it Chad was picking Reece up to go home. Below are tid-bits from our conversations today. I can't help but laugh.

R: Why aren't you working like everyone else today?
M: I don't have a job Reece. Instead of getting a job, Aunt Mitzi is going back to school, like you.
R: But you go to school to learn things.
M: That's right. There are new things I want to learn about.
R: My mom doesn't have to go back to school. She already knows everything.

(Talking about our elf on the shelf...)
R: You have an elf like Nate too, except your elf looks really old.
M: Yep. He's been my elf since I was a little girl.
R: No wonder.

Hall of Champion

During my last week in Indiana, I made my way to Indianapolis to check out the NCAA Hall of Champions. Located right next door to Lucas Oil Stadium (home of Payton Manning and the 14-0 Indianapolis Colts) in the heart of downtown Indy the NCAA museum rocked my world. I absolutely loved it. I don't know where my picture of the building itself is, but Layne would have loved it. High ceilings, tall windows, architectural nuances, dramatic lighting... the space provides auditorium and conference room space, board rooms, a gym, sports simulators... it did an amazing job portraying what the true life of a student athlete entails.

One display at the museum is a banner for every team that won a NCAA championship in 2009. Check out the banner on the right (Texas A&M) and on the left (LSU). I would love to sit here and talk trash about how great LSU is, but Texas A&M rocked out this year. They had four banners hanging for 2009. LSU's former track and field coach who has now moved on to Texas A&M is making us regret letting him go. The A&M banner hanging in the picture is for Men's Golf.

Another display I loved is shown below. Every piece of equipment used in the 23 NCAA sports was shown. It was amazing to get a better idea of the 23 NCAA sports- some of which I knew nothing about. There was a room filled with 7 big screens and chairs, with nothing on but NCAA sports, and interactive games where you threw the football, kicked PATs and field goals, and soccer balls.

My absolute favorite exhibit was based on time management. You were given an athletes weekly schedule, and had to plan study time, meals, practice, weight room. I was ridiculously impossible, and was a great reminder of how amazing the representatives of our universities truly are. I'm SO glad I was able to check out this museum, and I highly recommend it to any sports fan in the neighborhood.

Where Have I Been?

It's been three weeks since I've posted, and I'm feeling a little guilty for neglecting the blog. The time has flown by. I stopped and thought, where have I been? But then I realized I've been all over.

Thanksgiving break was an awesome escape from Bloomington. The girls needed to get out of the house, and I needed to get back to Layne. I flew into Dallas, and then the two of us drove into New Orleans for a long weekend with the family. I didn't take pictures, but I definitely should have. Aunt Leslie celebrated her 50th Birthday in style with a night of Broadway musicals. Layne and I partnered up with Amy, Heather, Bill, and my mom's friend Ms. Nancy to perform a few songs from Annie. Layne was Daddy Warbucks. I was an orphan. The weekend flew by too fast. We had friends and family over on Sunday in Dallas for New Orleans style Roast Beef Po-Boys we brought back with us, but I was definitely under the weather and ended up sleeping through most of the day.

The following weekend, Layne's boss flew me back into Dallas, just for the night for Building Solution's company Holiday Party. It was about 16 hours total travel time for 27 hours with Layne, but it was well worth it. We drove around Dallas Saturday night after the party, drinking hot chocolate, listening to Christmas music and looking at Christmas lights... and I was in my own little heaven. The next day I went to DSW and purchased two pairs of insulated, winter boots just in time. I made it back to Bloomington just in time for the first snowfall of the season. I now think 40 degrees is a warm day. Man has my perspective changed.

Life in the Zeta house is keeping me busy. There is never a dull moment. The job isn't easy, and it definitely isn't something I'm made for... but more about that sometime soon.

I've been spending my free time studying for the GMAT. I've been saying for awhile now that I want to go back to school, and with my husbands support, I've started to take action. More about that later too.

On Wednesday, I'm driving into Indianapolis to go to the NCAA College Hall of Fame. Around 4:30, I'll be picking Abby up at the airport! Wohoo! On Thursday, we're planning on heading back to Indianapolis to check out Zeta Tau Alpha's International Office and have lunch with H-Matt, who is now the newly wed H-Matt Kirk. Neither of us have been to IO, and I'm looking forward to checking it out and sharing the experience with Abby. And on Friday, we hit the road. We'll be making the 13 hour drive back to Dallas and plan on meeting up with the newest member of my Dallas family- Ellyson Newell. That's right, Ben and Jessica gave birth to a beautiful baby girl last week.

The next two days will be spent doing laundry, packing, and preparing to transition with the new House Director. The week is going to fly by, and I can't wait to get home to Dallas.

And a quick sidenote: Happy 30th Birthday Week to my wonderful husband Layne! I may not have been around for much of the first 30 years, but I sure am looking forward to watching you grow old over the next 30! Sorry I won't be there on Wednesday, but I promise we'll make up for it this weekend!