Resolutions, Resolutions

Do you make them?

After reading a friend's blog, I decided I better start thinking about my resolutions for 2009.

Of course there are the ones I put on my list every year, like lose weight, go to the gym, read my Bible more, more quiet time, be a better wife/friend, etc. But, I'm thinking this year I need to have some real tangible, realistic goals for 2009. I will give birth to my fifth child in June, and I need to keep my expectations of myself very low, but there are certainly lots of things I'd love to improve about myself.

Definitely on my list: Being fit(taking care of myself), nurturing my relationship with God, keeping my desk clean, overall home organization, keeping my car clean (inside and out, but mostly inside), being more patient with my kids, I could go on and on......

What resolutions are you making? Are you good at keeping them?

Merry Christmas Highlights

Here are some highlights of our Christmas:

• The minestrone soup Josh made on Christmas Eve.
• Watching the true joy in Josh's eyes as he discovered "The Christmas Story" would run 24 hours straight on Christmas Eve.
• Enjoying lots of time with Josh as he took time off work.
• Watching my girls experience the pure joy of giving this Christmas as they gave gifts to one another.
• Knocking Josh out in our first boxing match on the wii (I can't wait for the re-match).
• Addie kicking my butt (and Josh's too) bowling.
• The delight on my children's faces as they bounced for the first time on the huge trampoline Nana and Papa gave them.
• Spending time with my in-laws on Christmas Day...it was just us and them and they seemed so excited to be with us and we were so excited to share our holiday with them.
• Driving to southern California to spend the weekend after Christmas with my family (it's still feels good to go home no matter how old I get).
• Having my sister invite me and Josh to go out for drinks (this has NEVER happened).
• Visiting with Kathy, my friend since the second grade, and catching up (I think it had been almost 2 years since we had seen each other).

I can relate, can you?

Whether you have one child or many, you can probably relate to this. I think I've heard every one of these comments from strangers....what's your favorite (or most annoying)?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaD8xat6VDw&eurl

Happy Birthday Kevin!

Harrison, Kevin, and Peggy (Kevin and his family)

My brother has said he reads my blog, we'll see if it's true. Today is his birthday, he is 37 years old. My brother tortured me as a child with his farts, spit, and wrestling holds, but I have to say that I think I am a better person today because of him. Thanks for making me endure the pain of being your little sister, I think you helped equip me for the chaos I now endure raising my own kids. Happy Birthday Kev, love you!

Gingerbread Houses Galore

The beginnings of Audrey's house.

It's finished.

Ellie's house at the beginning.

Me and Ellie

Ellie and her completed house.

After they all finished their houses, they lined them up on this road. What a cute idea!

Ellie and Audrey both made gingerbread houses at school today. The kindergarten classes put on a HUGE production in the cafeteria as they decorated their houses with their 6th grade buddies. Audrey made hers in her classroom this afternoon. I went to watch both of them assemble their masterpieces... Ellie wasn't afraid to get messy and wasn't too worried about how the house looked, she was more particular about the candy she used (it had to be candy she liked). Audrey, on the other hand, was meticulous and had to be reminded several times that it was okay if the gingerbread house wasn't perfect and structurally sound (it's meant to be eaten).

Winter break is here and all I can think of is how nice it will be to wake up Monday morning and have nowhere to go. 3 weeks of rest, ahhhh that sounds so nice!

Something worth watching...

My friend, Kristal, sent this to me today....watch it. I found it meaningful and empowering. I also cried, which could be blamed on the raging pregnancy hormones, but let me know what you think.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_4qwVLqt9Q

It's beginning to look like Christmas around here

Thanks Steph, I used your idea for ribbons on the doors.

Reading a Christmas story.

Reading The Little Gingerbread Boy.

The wreaths on the landing upstairs.

Our tree

Ellie found a craft she made last year in pre-school

Olivia trying to help me with the tree skirt

Yes, an ornament in the right spot!

Teamwork: I put the hangers on the ornaments, and the girls hang them.

It's taken us a while, but it's beginning to look like Christmas, the tree is up and decorated, the stockings are hung, and some of the presents are wrapped. The girls had a lot of fun decorating the tree, and Grace had a lot of fun undecorating the tree. She's at the age where she loves the tree and wants to take every ornament off of it, it's a little annoying, but oh well.

Baby's Ultrasound & Hail in Fresno all in the same day

Ellie on the front porch, water is pouring down behind her.

Can you see the hail???

We had an ultrasound of our sweet baby today. I'm measuring right where I should be and baby looks good and healthy. We have another scheduled in 6 weeks. Along with our exciting pics of baby, it hailed this afternoon in Fresno for about 10-15 minutes. Olivia and Ellie were scared to death of the thunder and hail, and it took lots of prompting to get them outside to enjoy God's work. I should have made a fire, but I was too lazy. I'm enjoying the change in weather even if I do feel like I need my ski jacket inside. Here's to winter: cozy fires, warm meals in the oven, comfy slippers, and fuzzy pajamas.

The Cat is Out of the Bag...

We are having another baby! Yes, you read that right, we are (I mean I am) pregnant with baby #5! My due date is June 23rd. So for all of you with big families out there I'd love to hear your advice/secrets. I don't know too many people with 5 children so I need all the encouragement I can get. We are excited! I'm trying to decide if I should find out the gender of the baby....what do you think? I only found out with baby #4 (Grace), and I kinda thought it was boring to find out, but I'd love to hear what you think.

Run, run as fast as you can....

me and Andrea after the race

My friend, Andrea and I ran a 5k yesterday at Fresno State. I improved my time a wee bit from last month, and it felt good. I felt a little bit like the little gingerbread boy as I kept telling myself to run, run as fast as I can, they can't catch me....lots of people caught me, and passed me, but I finished and didn't get eaten by a clever fox, so it's all good. I wonder what's next for me in my running adventure, possibly a 10k? I'll keep you posted!

Dnner with Friends

Some friends had our family over last night for dinner. I just have to tell you about the awesome dinner they made for us. Fillets, shrimp, lobster tails, salad, bread, au gratin potatoes, and for dessert, chocolate covered strawberries! This is probably the best meal I've had in months. Thank you for having us, we had a wonderful time and really hope we can hang out more. The food was great, but the company was even better. I should have taken some pictures, but that might have made it a little too obvious how excited I get about good food and good friends.

Christmas Cards

On of my favorite things about this time of year is receiving all the Christmas cards. I anxiously anticipate the mailman each day to see how many new cards we receive. I guess I don't have a life because this is seriously the highlight of my day during the month of December.

Well as of today, I have received 6 Christmas cards....these 6 must be from the most organized and on-time people I know.

Quite a few years back I started the tradition of putting all the cards on the backside of our front doors. I like putting them there (even if this would be considered tacky by some) because they are in a place where I can enjoy them fully. My kids really like seeing all the different cards we get too.

Have you sent your Christmas cards? Do you love getting cards like I do? How many have you received? What do you do with the cards you get?

Tagged..... you're it

So Teri tagged me http://momcolumn.blogspot.com/2008/12/tagged.html....I feel privileged, I better respond...

If you read her tag, you can see she gave me a few choices of topics, one of which is "6 things that make you happy," but I wrote a blog a while back of things that make me happy so in an effort to not be redundant I will choose 6 things I would like to replace in my house. If I tag you pick the topic of your choice...

1. The security screen doors that are on every entrance/exit of my home, I would not replace them, I would trash them! They were on our house when we bought it and I hate them.

2. The cheap fake wood blinds that have seen better days.

3. Bathtub in the master bathroom.

4. All the interior doors and hardware.

5. The 70's wet bar that's in our living room. I'd love to make it a coffee/wine bar.

6. Our backyard, it needs some serious landscaping.

Okay, I'm tagging these six people:
1. Andrea
2. Stephanie
3. Nicole
4. Liege
5. Jacinda
6. Sam