Another New Year

I really see January as the middle of the year, not the beginning. I don't really do major resolutions but I love to set goals and I guess it is as good a time as any. In 2011 I hope to do many things different. Aside from the birth of my dear sweet Buster boy, I can't say a whole lot terrific about 2010. In 2011 I hope to:

• Make Bible time a priority. I feel better when I have this time consistently and only I can do this for myself.


• Exercise regularly. It's amazing the difference this has made even in the last month or so. I love the way I feel when I am in shape. Again this is something only I can do.


• Spend more quality time with the kids. Sure I spend a great quantity of time with them, but they're getting older every day.


• Date my husband more often. We NEVER go out. This has to change. For both of us.


• Have people take more pictures with ME in them. I am always the photographer so I don't know that anyone will ever believe I ever existed.


• Read more books. Go to the library more. I love to read and don't make nearly enough time for it. I should add, for the whole family, less T.V.

I'm sure I will think of more and the more positive changes I can make the better. These are just the things I think of right off hand. I hope everyone has a wonderful and safe New Year's!!

Here's a start to the whole photos of myself thing. Not a great one, but Midge took this pic as I typed this post. Very fitting I suppose!

Feeling Cheery

Today was a good day. We have had a really fun Christmas vacation as a matter of fact. Last night my little sister spent the night and the kids of course had a blast. They were up late and then up early this morning ready to go! After I had them all showered and fed we went to the store so that the girls could spend their gift cards they got from grandparents. Buster had already chosen a Woody doll and a new outfit. Well, I suppose I chose for him, but still his card was spent.

The shopping trip was a success. All of the sales were fabulous and each kid got several things. They even had enough money left over for some candy at the register, which for my kids is a major treat! Then to top it all off, the King called and said he was on his way home early. He's working in Denver so it's a long drive, but still good news. Plus he has tomorrow off paid! Yay, that is fantastic news. Dinner is ready and in the oven, the kids will be tuckered out tonight, we get to sleep in tomorrow. It doesn't get much better than that!

Playing

We've had a really good time doing just that lately. I think over the years I have gotten better and better at buying toys that the kids will really actually "play"with. My youngest kids are better "players" too, and I'm not really sure why.

These two LOVE to just play. They can make a game out of just about anything and do so very often. They love dolls, pretend cell phones, barbies, stuffed animals, and backpacks most of all. It gives me joy to watch them!

Normal

If you can call it that I guess. We always take our decorations down before the New Year. I just like to start things out fresh. This year I've felt more pressed for time with the way the Holidays fall. There was no complete weekend in between to get it all done. Today I just decided the sooner the better. It was actually a lot less overwhelming than it seemed at first. The kids were sad to see it all come down, but I tried to remind them of the things we have to look forward to.

We don't have any major plans for New Year's Eve. Just the normal snack foods and staying up way past bed time. I am definitely looking forward to 2011!

Holiday Hangover

No matter how I try to avoid it, the day after Christmas always seems to bring with it a feeling of blah. Maybe it's the complete lack of sleep. Perhaps an end to the weeks upon weeks of plans and activities. Who knows? It is what it is I suppose. So today will consist of a lot of movie watching, Wii playing, even more eating, and maybe if I'm really lucky some napping.

The kids will enjoy the time with their new toys and each other. I seriously think siblings are the best gift we ever could have given them by the way....

Oh yeah, and of course Chiggie will be watching Grease. And when she's not watching Grease she'll be listening to the soundtrack on her new mp3 player. I suppose 9 is the new 13????

Christmas Day

After an extremely late night we got a very early start to the day. I couldn't help but smile when I heard how excited the girls were. They simply could not wait any longer. I broke the oldest rule in the book and woke the baby, but I didn't want him to miss out on the excitement. I was glad I did because he got right in on the action.

We spent the entire day home together and it was fabulous. This evening we headed over to my Mom's house for a prime rib dinner. It was delicious and the girls had fun playing. It really seems like things get more meaningful and better every year. I hope you all had a wonderful day as well!

Christmas Eve

What a busy day we had today. It went very smoothly though I must say. It started early for me when I went ahead and got our grocery shopping and a few last minute items first thing this morning. I was surprised at how busy the store was, but luckily there were plenty of checkers and I got right in and out.

The rest of the day was spent cleaning up the house and watching Christmas shows. The girls were too excited to really do much else. This evening everyone got all dressed up in their Christmas outfits for the candlelight service at church.

The three older girls sang for the service and they did a beautiful job.


Afterwards we came home and ate subs from Subway. Then the kids got to open up a present each (Christmas PJ's and we surprised them with pillow pets.

I would say Bussy is having a great 1st Christmas!



Lastly we headed outside to sprinkle some food for Santa's reindeer.

We're all very excited for tomorrow and so thankful for the gift God gave all of us!

Final Countdown

Oddly things have been a lot less rushed this year than in the past. Our circumstances certainly aren't any better, so I'm not really sure why. We've definitely spent more time drinking hot chocolate and enjoying the fire this year. Today we made our annual Gingerbread House. Well, the King put it together and the girls decorated it. It's amazing how much more independent they've become.
The older girls were good about letting it slide when the little ones ate more than ended up on the house. Midge kept saying she just wanted to make sure the candy on the house tasted good.

In the end I think it turned out great!

Festivities

This week and all of its festivities, has flown by so quickly. On Tuesday night Chiggie had a friend stay over and then Tea had a friend join us for the day on Wednesday. They decorated Christmas cookies with their friends and had a great time. Having extra kids in the house is fun for the little girls too. I love watching them interact with the older girls friends and I'm glad their all patient with them.

As for this little guy, aside from still being very sleepy, I think he's feeling much better. He's been eating well and playing hard when he is awake.

I can't believe Christmas is only 2 days away!!

Sicko

Today was Bussy's 9 month well child check and oh the irony. Much to my surprise he had a bulging ear infection. The only symptom he had shown so far was excessive sleepiness yesterday. He even slept through the night last night. Poor dude really didn't start acting sick until he heard the words "ear infection." Then came the water works and the whole "pamper me" attitude.

Of course we obliged. Who wouldn't. I'm really hoping he feels better tomorrow and I'm so glad we caught it before Christmas!

Yikes

I am seriously frustrated right now. We are sitting here waiting for the estimator from an excavating company to come and give us an estimate on our sewage line break. We knew there was a problem, but had no idea of the severity. We've had a plumber out and today he broke the news that it was way too advanced for him to do anything about. Apparently when our house settled, which happened a couple of weeks ago, it crushed the pipes. Now our backyard and deck will have to be dug up. This is really bad news. We never even fixed the air conditioner. I'm really starting to wonder what message we're missing here.

More Changes

Like the girls, Buster has spent the majority of his first year in our room. It's time to make the move. We've just got so much going on all the time that he really needs to be in his own room. Often times I use the late evening as a chance to get things done that I just can't do when the kids are awake. With him upstairs I won't have to constantly worry about waking him up. The girls were very excited about this new development and eager to help in any way they could.

Buster is growing up so fast!

Parties

I am so excited that as of this afternoon the girls are out of school for 2 whole weeks. Today we all went to their Christmas parties at school and while it was hard to be 2 places at once we had fun.

There were so many delicious things to eat at Tea's party. I think she had a great time too.

The little girls really look forward to these parties. A major advantage of having older siblings.

Buster is learning quickly and enjoyed the cheese puffs he got at Tea's party!

9 Months Later

Big Week

We have a very big week ahead of us. I am trying to psych myself up for this. It could go either way really. Here's the tentative plan:

• Monday: Clean the house. This is a must. In order for things to run smoothly all week long I really need to accomplish this one. Chiggie also has an appointment after school.

• Tuesday: Maintain the house, do some laundry, and bake cookies. We didn't get to it this weekend and this is the only other day free this week.

• Wednesday: I have a dentist appointment and it's the girls youth group Christmas party. I am taking unfrosted cupcakes for them to decorate.

• Thursday: Holiday lunch at the school. Dentist appointment out of town and all goodies and presents have to be turned in for Friday's school parties.

• Friday: School Parties. Tea is taking the chocolate fondue fountain with fresh fruit, marshmallows, and pretzel sticks. Chiggie is taking fudge and having a gift exchange.

Whew, it should be interesting. I want and need this to be a fun week. I hope I can stay focused and don't have too many little surprises along the way.

Sigh of Relief

I spent a good portion of yesterday evening and literally all day today shopping. I can let out a huge sigh of relief that the majority of our holiday shopping is over. Who'd have thought having 5 kids would made things so interesting. We've had excellent luck this year finding the things we wanted to get and that's been nice too. I think the kids will be plenty excited.

Tomorrow after church we plan to make Christmas sugar cookies and let the kids frost them. I really enjoy doing this. I'm a perfectionist at heart, but I've let that go in this area and it's amazing the difference that's made. I can't believe we're two weeks out!!!

I Hate to Be the Bearer of Bad News

I lied when I said we didn't seem to be able to "catch a break." I think we caught one, it's just not the kind of break I was thinking of. I'm pretty sure we have a broken (or several) pipe under the house. We're having it looked at tomorrow, but I am fearing the worst. We have a leak under the house, the sewage smell is bad, and ALL of the drains are clogged. Yay me.

On top of that my cell phone ended up in the toilet, a freak accident, and while it's working right now it wasn't this morning when I needed the alarm. I set the regular alarm as a backup but it was 2am and I wasn't alert enough and set it for 6:45pm. I woke up at 7:55. The girls were late to school, but they were great sports about it. The King had been trying to call and make sure we were up, but of course Buster had taken the house phone off of the hook. I guess he was playing ahead to sleep in, which was smart being he stayed up until 1am. He's a frat boy in the making what can I say.

I also have yet another infected tooth and don't have a dental appointment until next Wednesday. I haven't really been able to eat much so I am looking forward to getting it fixed. When it rains it pours and apparently it's monsoon season around here.

When All Else Fails....

Just keep walking forward. That's become my motto. This has been a strange season. A strange year really. But we just keep walking forward. Lately my kids have taken more pictures than I have. It's been interesting to say the least. I'm not really sure what was going on here, but apparently Boo wasn't happy about it. Revenge? It seems now the shoe is on the other foot and this sister is none too happy as well.

And here is living proof that my kids do wash their hands. In fact they love anything having to do with water lately. Just ask them about the mini swamp they created upstairs while I was downstairs assuming they were sleeping. They're creative, I'll give them that. Creative and brave.

We've been enjoying the usual holiday festivities. The Advent calendars are a hit again this year. They talk about them all day long. We even put a rice puff for every day in Buster's and he's caught on already. We enjoyed the parade and I even made a new banana bread recipe (thanks Tracy.) It appears as though someone has pressed fast forward on my life and I can't find the pause button. I would settle for even the play button right now. We're running to catch up that's for sure.

Christmas Parade

Tonight we went to our 7th parade of lights here in town. It was a lot colder than I thought it would be. It was pretty nice out today and we haven't had any snow all year so it doesn't even really seem like Christmas to me. The kids enjoyed it though.

Plans

I had all of these plans to post every day in the month of December and then life got in the way. Oh well, I'll start now and we'll just see how it goes.

Life has gotten much busier around here with this little guy on the move. Here he is, caught in the act of rearranging the dvd cabinet. Busted, Buter, you're busted!