The Year's Final Bow

A new year always brings on the urge to organize and makes things nice again. I know that my spice-cabinet in the kitchen and bathroom closet are areas that desperately need attention. My latest scrapbook project was to take many, many photos from Thanksgiving all the way to New Year's Day. I included pics of the cookies I baked, along with copies of the recipes. All the holiday memories I want to wrap up and save for the kids.

Then there is the resolutions. Most people want to lose weight or just committ to working out. I hope that most of them stick to it. It is hard to do the things that we know we need to, like eat healthy and make the time to exercise. Or write in our blog. Or count to ten when we are frustrated with our children instead of just yelling all the time. Enough said.

May all your dreams come true in the new year and beyond.....


G

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve. It's here. I remember this day being even more magical than the actual Christmas for me. We would go to my grandparents house for dinner and gifts. Family time was always awesome. My cool aunt D. My grandmother, who even know is so dear to me. My grandpa, who we especially miss at Christmastime because this was his holiday.
The most special and amazing part of the night for me was when we packed up in the car to head home. Cold air, snuggling in the backseat with my sister and brothers, basically because at that moment we were just too tired to fight with each other. Each of us holding a new and precious toy. It would be so quiet, the night air, low music on the radio, maybe even my parents talking softly about something. I would stare out the car window, hoping, anxious, excited to possibly catch a glimpse of Santa and his reindeer. The whole ride home I would just look and wait, that excitement building as we got closer and closer to our house. The thought that he was out there somewhere, and the possibility of seeing him just a moment was so awesome.

I never did get to see then, but I still love that ride home on Christmas Eve, now from my in-laws' home with my own kids. I hope I can get them as excited about those simple things tonight.

Merry Christmas and I hope that you catch a glimpse of Santa too!

25th is almost here!

Snow is amazing, isn't it? Fluffy, quiet, calm. The kids have had a blast outside the past few days, although I have to admit my body doesn't seem to enjoy the cold anymore. My fingers are numb instantly, my nose starts to drip. I am so glad that Hubby is so great about it all - he is the "outside guy" and the kids have a blast with him! My job is to make the hot cocoa (with soy milk of course due to Sarah's milk allergy!)I do have to say that it does feel a little more like Christmas time now!

I have simplified the holiday a bit this year. I usually make tons of different types of cookies for gifts, and this year I decided on only a few. It makes a so much easier to see what extra ingredients I need, and I can also tack on a copy of the recipes too!

Have some last minute stuff to do today, but it's all coming together. Keep it simple.

first snow fall - Dec. 09

A snowstorm moves in today- excitement is in the air! Kids are ready to go out and play (at 6:30 in the morning!) and I am so excited for some great photo opps with it all!
I have so many things I can do- bake more cookies, wrap some presents... sit online. But all I want to do is sit on the couch and watch the tree lights glisten as the snow falls.

more to come later!

christmas wish for summer

missing the summer already....

Smiling through imperfection

Watching people that surround me I see so much of this "I have to do it all and know what I am doing" mentality. Having kids is not easy, and yet, we want everyone around us to think that we actually know what the hell we are doing. Well I don't.

• I forget dry pants for my pottytraining boy.
• I forget my highly allergic daughter's Benadryl.
• I forget sippy cups and snack bars.
• I sometimes don't get them outside play time.
• I hate thinking about dinner and what to make because no one eats the same thing and it is more torture than fun anymore. I used to enjoy cooking, but not so much anymore.
• I stress about the fact that the house doesn't ever look "neat" anymore. Please just ignore the dustbunnies, they have apparently moved in permanently. Yeah, I wipe down the kitchen and bathroom so that guests don't get too grossed out, but don't enter my closet....ever. I have perfected a skill I call "piling". I can pile anything- laundry (dirty or clean), papers (useful or not), and toys (broken or completely dilapidated).

So here I am today to say I don't have it all together, my family will most likely eat leftovers tonight, and my laundry will never be done. But, it is 8:23am, the kids have been up since 5 o'clock and I haven't yelled once yet today. We have had approximately 1000 Cheerios covering the floor. We have lost an entire roll of paper towels scattered around the house because JR wanted the cardboard tube. Smiles all around and it's all good.