Is it really considered a resolution if you bribe yourself to stay committed to your goals? It seems like year after year, I make a New Years resolution and by March, it is a thing of the past, and if I am really lucky, I can make it to the summer then.... well you probably know how it goes. I think that most people rarely keep their resolutions to the end of the year. Why is that? Do we always strive for the impossible or unattainable goal? Or is it because deep down inside oneself you really don't want to put much effort to make your goal a reality. I am one of those weird people that always makes a list of 5 or 6 things that I want to improve on every year and I'll do good for a while then I'll taper off on one goal and focus on another and before I know it, a few months go by and I am in the same boat that I started with. This year, I chose 5 goals (ambitious, I know) but if, ok a big IF, I conquer my personal Goliath, aka my goals by the end of the year, I have promised myself a day at the spa. This year I feel more committed to my goals, and really truly want to change a few things about myself to become better. I don't know if it is because the realization hit me that I will be turning 30 later this year and should be more responsible than what I am at times, or if something inside of me gave me an ah ha moment where this can be possible if I just take baby steps. So this year, I have made myself a contract, yes it is even signed and dated - but I stopped just short of getting it notarized, so that I can keep it as a reminder of my goals. I know it may not be easy but I tried to make realistic and achievable goals. Well see how the year pans out, but I have a good feeling about this next year.
I also helped my kids make a few goals themselves. Mainly it is really basic things that they already do but, there is one goal each that is their own personal Goliath that Rob and I have to be there to cheer them on and encourage them to keep with it and help them to accomplish it. Their reward is a $5.00 shopping spree to the dollar store and an ice cream cone at Baskin Robbins. I feel like it is important to teach my kids the importance of setting goals and sticking to them along with working hard for something. The sky is the limit if they have a dream or goal and they strive for it.
So as I sit here, at almost midnight on New Years Eve, with my goblet filled with my strawberry sparkling cider stuff, I toast to you a bright new future, with new beginnings and a new year filled with dreams, commitments, and promises kept. May 2013 be a year for the books!
Monday, December 31, 2012
Sunday, December 30, 2012
Christmas
Its that time of year again, I guess that the end of the world didn't happen like some predicted, but that is completely alright with me because then I could have a Christmas that was super FANtabulous! :) Christmas Eve day,as a family, we frosted the sugar cookies the the kids and I made the night before. Surprisingly, Rob really got into it this year and made quite a few yummy looking creations and many pieces of art. Normally he is a Ba-Hum-Bug and will decorate one or two as fast as he can and then watch the rest of the family create masterpieces. Camden was a kick and was all about the quantity and and the quality of his icing skills. Some of his cookies and frosting an inch thick and others had one tiny spot of frosting where you could lick it all off and still have room on your tongue for more. Maysie is a girl and it shows because year after year, she is careful and articulate with her frosting abilities. Rob had to work Christmas eve night - bummer! so I took the kids to the in-laws for games and craziness! There was junk food galore (Surprisingly, a whole lot with sugar - kinda rare in his family) that I was sure all of us would wake up with major bellyache's. I think the kids consumed more cookies and chips that night than what they had the whole year put together. Yeah, they were on a sugar high. :) I played some shang-hi and totally got my butt kicked in the end (Seriously was Shang-hi'ed 4 times! Worst hands ever!) :) The kids ran around and played who knows what since there was a mass of kids everywhere. We stayed down there until their sugar high wore off (about midnight) then we rushed home before Santa skipped our house. ;) On the drive home, every time Maysie saw a flashing light in the sky from an airplane, she was convinced that it was Rudolph's nose. :) Ha Ha. Camden on the other hand was too tired to care and was out like a light before we even made the 2 minute drive back home. Funny how kids can fall asleep so fast in the car. Of course Maysie is our night owl, and when she got home she was running all over the house getting everything ready for Santa to come. She made sure there was milk and cookies and she even got carrots and oats out for the reindeer. I just sat there watching her scurry around like a busy little bee. :) Of course, she didn't put up much of a fight when I told her that if it was Santa's sleigh that she saw fling around in the sky then she better hurry and go to sleep because Santa doesn't have time to wait here in Utah because there are lots of other cities and homes he has to visit so if we are not ready, then he has to skip our house until next year. The next thing I knew was she was sawing logs in her bed! About 20 minutes later, Rob got home from work. Hurrah! It was earlier than normal, even though he had a full day. He barricaded himself in the TV room while he wrapped some presents - procrastinator - while I got everything else mostly ready. The next thing I knew, 3:00 AM came and I was finally ready for bed. I had 2 ridiculously late nights in a row and I could feel it. Luckily for us, the kids were out cold until 10:00 AM. (Seriously, I was beginning to wonder if they were really my kids since those who know me, know that Christmas morning is the only morning that I can not sleep in). I slept in longer than my normal Christmas morning time of 4:30 AM, but that probably had a lot to do with my bed time this year. I was still up by 8:30 AM. I woke up and tried to go back to sleep and then couldn't then I remembered that I forgot to e-mail Rob's cute sister who is on her mission, and was having her P-Day on Christmas. (We always e-mail her on Monday night and I know most of the family does too since P-Day is on Tuesdays) Anyways, I think the majority forgot to email her like normal since we were so busy getting things ready on Christmas Eve. So I hurried and wrote her a quick email so she would have at least something in her in box. When I was just about done with her email, then that is when Maysie woke up..... Then about 5 minutes later Camden woke up. So mean Me, made everyone sit in my bedroom and wait until I was done before they could go downstairs to see what treasures awaited us.
Ta Da. Here is our tree on Christmas morning, all ready for us.
Santa was generous this year, and both kids received "Ipads" (aka. Leap Pad 2's.) Maysie has been asking for an Ipad since June and Camden, could care less what Santa brought as long as he had something waiting for him under the evergreen tree. Santa was just super smart, and knew that if one of them had a "Ipad" then they would fight over it, so he brought them both one. Maysie was over the moon when she realized that indeed an "Ipad" was inside the case - and it was purple just for her! Ha Ha. The other big hit for Maysie was a new Cinderella toothbrush. Yep, she is easy to please. Who needs all the other things with her name on it.... Ha Ha :) Camden, was in heaven with the massive amount of cars he got. He was content to just sit there and play with The King (from the 1st cars movie) that he found in his stocking, instead of opening more gifts, until, he would get another car, and another car..... etc. Then he always had his car posse follow him as he would open yet another present. He likes his "Ipad" too, but he still has to play around with it and gain his coordination and he gets frustrated easily, but every day he is getting more and more interested in it.
This year, Maysie has figured out what Christmas morning is all about and she was on the ball. She has learned to read all the names in our family so she would climb under the tree and grab a present and deliver it to the intended person. It was great! I could just sit back and be lazy (well record and photograph the magic) and Rob could man the fireplace. I am guessing that next year, I will have to put fictitious names on the packages so she won't know who's presents is who's next year until Christmas morning. She became quite the snoop although she was really good and never opened the presents and she did an excellent job keeping our gifts a surprise much to my avail (She was with Rob to help pick out a present or 2 for me and vice versa).
Maysie has to be one of the fastest present openers in the world. Remember how it used to take FOR-Ev-ER for them to open a present when they were babies - it seem like just yesterday that was her. But now.... Camden on the other hand, can be fast when he wants to be, but he tends to get distracted way too easily. :)
Here it the kids opening up their gifts from Uncle Joe, who had our family's name for Christmas this year. Maysie got a horse game that is similar to Candy Land and Camden hit the Jackpot with a semi truck full of little match box cars!
Ha Ha. I love how he always rests the door/ side of the truck on his head. This kid makes me laugh.
He is starting to line up his crew now. This was how he was for about 5 minutes after he opened up his first present and got car #3 (the first 2 were in his stocking)
Rob was surprised because I made him a digital scrapbook about our trip to California that we took earlier this year. That was one of the highlights for him this year. He also got some ammo can for his bullets but the crazy guy gave me the idea so I go buy them a few days later, then wrap them up, then the next week, he orders them though the mail. I guess it wouldn't have been a typical Rob Christmas Present headache that I get pretty much every holiday season if he didn't. I would have taken the ones back that I had bought them, but it has a 30% restocking fee so it isn't worth it. (He is the worst person to shop for every year - He does this almost every year - the bad thing is that his birthday is in December too so you have to come up with a few present ideas and never fail, whatever you are thinking is a great idea for him, he gets it between Thanksgiving and Christmas! Seriously, duh! :) )
He still looks half asleep in this picture, but he is opening up one of his many presents.
Camden finally got over his obsession with his cars for 5 minutes to open a present from Grandma.... He isn't messing around with this one at all.... :)
Maysie modeling, well kinda modeling, her dress that she got. Its super cute stuff!
I have to admit, I was extremely blessed and spoiled this year. Rob surprised me and paid attention to the hints that I left him this year, which I can't say has always happened in the past. He got me the things that I most wanted, the new Our Best Bites cookbook, (I have an obsession with cookbooks especially ones with pictures) and a laptop table. Now I can be lazy in bed and still on the computer! Love it! :) I have to say that the best Christmas present of all actually came later on in the day when Rob's boss called to tell him that he could just stay home for the day unless they had an emergency, which was fantabulous since he was scheduled to work again this year on Christmas.
Look, our room actually looks more like a Christmas morning with this picture. I love pictures of Rob and the kids together. It always melts my heart seeing how amazing of a father he is.
Rob got Camden a remote control Mater on an impulsive Christmas Eve shopping excursion. I am not sure if it was more for Rob to play with or for Camden since he loves all Cars characters, but I know that Rob was just like a kid ready to sit on Santa's lap when he was waiting for Camden to open it up. Camden still can't drive it really good, but he is a pro on running it into the furniture and the walls! :) He can't make it turn he can just make it go forward and backwards. Ha Ha.
Look, Mom, I'm doing it!
Since Rob got Camden a impulsive present, he decided to get Maysie one too just so there wouldn't be any hurt feelings. :)
Ta Da! It's a new scooter since she is outgrowing the she had and the fact that Camden pretty much confiscated it since that is what he used most this summer when Maysie rode her bike. :) She is excited because these scooters are easier to steer and you can go faster on it, and since it has pink on it, Camden won't take it away. :) After the bottom of the tree was empty, the kids just sat around playing with their new toys. Maysie, was all about her "Ipad" and Camden did alot of this.......
The funny thing is that he would change locations from one corner of the room to the next with his cars all lined up in a row. I think he is a little OCD about his cars - what do you think? :)
For Christmas breakfast, I try to make something that we don't eat very often.... Rob's family grew up eating cold cereal for their breakfast - which in there household it was a BIG deal - but I don't feel like that is anything special since we do have it periodically at our house. In the past I have tried cinnamon rolls/orange rolls and then the last few years I have made Egg Puffies (puffed pancakes or German pancakes) but we have those occasionally throughout the year too. I want something that when we think of Christmas morning, we think of this. Well, I finally found the thing. Overnight French Toast Casserole! I got the recipe off of www.ourbestbites.com and I figured why not try it.
This recipe is a mixture of bread pudding, french toast and puffed pancakes! Heaven! It was completely delish especially when I added the homemade berry syrup! The kids were too excited to even try to eat, and Rob, well, he likes him his cold cereal tradition (Seriously, why would your rather eat puffed rice and un-frosted shredded wheat when you can have this - IDK), but I loved it and I am pretty sure that Maysie will love it too.... So I will keep trying again next year with this recipe and maybe, I can win over some more votes. Needless to say, since I am the cook in the family, this is what's for breakfast on Christmas morning in our house and if you don't like it then you can fight Rob for the un-sugary cereal! ;)
After we ate then we got dressed and went to Rob's mom's for Christmas dinner. It was yum! I have to say, the turkey was the bomb. The rest of the dinner wasn't too shabby either. When dinner was over, then we sat around like lazy and tired people until we decided to put in the movie Brave and watch it. By this point I was exhausted, and I fell asleep about 20 minutes into it, but the rest of the gang watched it to the end. We had a lazy, pleasant, and completely enjoyable day!
Preschool Christmas Program
On the 20th of December, Maysie had her school Christmas program. There are 3 different classes that go to her Preschool and for the program they were all combined. There was a lot of people crammed into a the big (but small) preschool room where Maysie class is normally held. (The other classes are held in the smaller room upstairs). There was a ton of parents and other various family members which we expected, just not to that capacity, so we were surprised when we showed up 10 minutes early and it was standing room only. Since there were so many spectators, the majority of the kids got stage freight, Maysie included. Nobody but the teachers really sang the first 4 songs. It was kinda funny.
This is a picture of Maysie and her preschool class (the front row) right before the program started.
The whole program lasted only like 30 minutes and for the first 15 minutes or so, Maysie just sat there barely moving her mouth even though she knew the songs. It was kinda comical, because the look on her face was like.... Why do we have to sing this in front of Everybody? Ha Ha.
This is about the point in the program where Maysie started to participate. If you look close, each kid has a jingle bell in their hand as they are getting ready to sing the infamous Jingle Bells. Maysie's class is saying their part in the program..... "Santa wears a big red hat shaped like a triangle." Ha Ha. Love it! Little kids are the cutest!
The best part of the program is when the kids sang Rudolf the Red Nose Reindeer. Every kid had these gigantic red ball on their noses that just cracked me up to look at them. :) I tried to zoom in and get a close up of Maysie with the reindeer nose but our camera is no bueno and I couldn't zoom in good enough. Too bad. It was so adorable. Little kids are so awesome to be able to rock a nose like that. I'm pretty sure, an adult wearing it would look just plain ridiculous! :)
Look how cute they are! As Buddy the Elf would say..... It's GINORMOUS! Ha Ha.
After the program, we took Maysie out for a celebratory dinner to the Chuck - but I am guessing since we had to be at the school instead of home where I could fix lunch, Rob's empty stomach beckoned him to drive us to our "Kitchen away from home" where we can have food fast! :) It was an enjoyable day where we could watch our little girl grow up right before our eyes as she gets big enough to be able to participate in school things and we can see that she really does have a life outside of our home now. :)
Happy Happy UN-Birthday Maysie dear!
The week right before Christmas was like most households, busy and hectic. Maysie had her "Un-Birthday" the last real day of school. Of course at this age, it is a BIG deal to have a birthday, so her school goes all out, and is even awesome enough to let the summer birthday kids, like Maysie, celebrate their birthday on their 6 month birthday. We made a little book all about Maysie and read it to her classmates. I was even able to learn a few things about her.... but that is because it is normally a different answer every week. :) As we were compiling pictures for her book, I totally forgot how little she was. When I look at Maysie, I don't think she has changed much in looks, but when I looked at her baby pictures, I wouldn't be able to recognize her if I wasn't her doting mom. One thing that hasn't changed is that she is still as cute as a button.
Anyways... to make this book for her, I asked her a series of questions.... Here is what she answered (In the book, we added pictures of her that went along with the question)
What is your favorite thing about birthdays? the balloons, de-lish-us birthday cake :), and wearing a birthday crown.
What is your favorite thing to do with Dad? ride in the semi with him like I did when I was a baby
What is your favorite thing to do with Mommy? helping her cook, especially when we make yummy treats.
What is your favorite thing do do with Camden? play toys. Sometimes we play with my toys and sometimes we play with his cars. We like to play outside too.
What is your favorite color? pink and purple
What is your favorite food? fruits and vegetables. I love apples and cucumbers the most!
What is your favorite animal? Dogs, cats and chipmunks
What is your favorite cartoon? Strawberry Shortcake, or maybe My Little Pony's or The Berenstain Bears. I like them all.
What do you want to be when you grow up? like mommy. She takes good care of me and Camden. She also gives me band aids, teaches me stuff, plays with my hair, colors and plays on the computer.
What is your favorite holiday? 4th of July, because of the pretty fireworks; Halloween, because I get to dress up in silly costumes and getting candy Trick-or-Treating; and Christmas because I love to see Santa Claus and his reindeer and the Christmas lights. And when it is cold I get to drink hot chocolate with marshmallows in it.
Anyways, at the end, we added a picture of her at school, and practicing piano, and from dance too. It turned out really cute, at least I think so. :) Rob came a for some reason, he only videoed me reading the book the the class, and he didn't take any pictures and I am technology stupid and can't figure out how to even up load our camera to our computer let alone get it onto the blog.... so you'll just have to take my word for it.
Once the story was over, we gave the kids cupcakes that we got from the grocery store. I don't know why the bakery has to use so much food coloring in their frosting, but by the time everyone was done eating them our tongues were died green, red or purple depending on what cupcake your grabbed.
Since I was in control of the camera again, well for a moment at least, I snapped a quick picture of my cute kiddo's munchin' on their grub. Evidently, they were distracted by either another classmate or the teacher since they definitely weren't looking at me, and Rob was standing behind them. :) After treats, then Maysie's sweet teacher presented her with a My Little Pony book. It made her day and it was fun being able to see Maysie in the classroom setting and interacting with the other kids.
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Emails From Santa
So last night I got on the Internet to write our weekly email to Orlean on her missions since her P-day is on Tuesdays, and I noticed that I had an email addressed from Santa at the North Pole. I was a little leery about opening it since there are so many random viruses that you get from weird emails, but curiosity got the better of me and I opened it. Luckily, there was a little note that clued me in as to where it came from that made me feel better about it. Maysie's pre-school teacher found this link to create a personal message from Santa to the kids and she did it for all of her students. I was thinking it was just a little "personalized card" or something so I opened up the attachment and to my surprise, there was this movie with the Santa that lasted 2 minutes or so. Maysie was right next to me when I opened it up since she helped write Orleans email, so when she saw that it was for her, she was ecstatic. I hurried and stopped the video and got the camcorder out so I could get her reaction. Her eyes were GI-NORM-OUS! This video is pretty personal, to the fact that it has the name of the child, their personality traits, pictures of the kids, and even exactly what was on their list for St Nick this year. Needless to say that Maysie was over the moon by the time that the movie was over since she was told she was indeed on the nice list and that she would get the thing that she was wishing for... Which for those of you who haven't heard what item has topped her wish list since June might I add, is an I-pad! Yeah we're in trouble when our 4 year old has the expensive taste, and faith and determination that the said present will promptly be delivered tree side just in time for Christmas morning. Lucky for us she is just young enough we don't have to do the real thing, but something similar and kid friendly and we can get away with the illusion that it is an Ipad. I guess it is a good thing that she gives us plenty of warning and she is not a child that changes her mind a million times before hand. After the movie was over all I heard for 30 minutes was the words, "He's really real, and he knows who I am and where I live and I am a good girl... He is real, and he knows me mom!" Ha Ha. So cute I tell ya. :) Anyways, I ended up getting an email sent for Camden too. His response was not quite as enthusiastic, which he's 2 so I didn't expect him to fully understand, but he still proudly exclaimed that Santa had a picture of him and that Santa was bringing him a present. :) So between the 2 emails, our poor computer has lost it's charge more than once because of the consecutive viewings of Santa's premiere at our house. I'm pretty sure that every night until Christmas, my kiddo's will go to bed with visions of sugar plums and Santa's generous heart. Just in case you were wondering... at our home, we fully believe in the magic of Christmas!
Saturday, December 1, 2012
The Chop Shop
This is what happened when I took my shower yesterday morning.
(The rocking horse is now sporting a nice uneven mullet, see all the yarn decorating the floor)
and this
(You have to look close, but it shows alot of it)
Yep, you guessed it. Camden got the scizzors out of the drawer and decided to become a barber for the day. The poor horse, well, its unrepairable but unless you look really close, you don't notice it since it still has some yarn hair left but Maysie hair was another story. I have a sneaky suspicion that Maysie helped instigate it but the only info I could get out of either of them was that Camden was definitely part of it. When I took Maysie's hair out of the pony tail, there would really not be any way to miss the fact that her darling little brother was trying to give her a new style. There was clumps of hair missing all over her head. Luckily, it wasn't like a butch or wack job, but it was still noticeable enough to need a hair cut to even it out. Rob, was on a "quick" errand to the bank up town (He made a few slight detours along the way) and when I called and told him what happened and to figure out what was taking him so long, we decided that I would drop Camden off with him at the grocery store (like I said it was a slight detour) and I would take her on a mommy daughter day to the salon to get it fixed.
Ta Da! Her new do doesn't look too bad. Luckily, since her hair was in a pony tail when it was cut, we didn't have to cut it too short. There is still a few spots where it isn't even, but they are pretty disguised and you don't really notice it unless you look really close.
Since we were having a mommy daughter day, I ended up getting my hair cut and permed, something that I have been wanting to do for a while but wasn't going to attempt to do with both of my kids. I have been making my hair curly 2 or 3 days a week because I was board of my blah hair. But now, it won't really take that long to do unless I have to straiten in. My hair is about 3 inches shorter now. It is so refreshing to have a new cut and style.
Ok this isn't the best picture since I let Maysie take it, and it is showing my hair being really frizzy, but I don't think it looks that bad and Rob actually really liked it and wasn't upset about my impulsive make over which to me is pretty much a miracle. Ok, looking at this picture I have come to the conclusion that it is actually a pretty horrible picture of my hair, but I promise it doesn't look that bad in person.
Guess Who's Going On A Mission?
Rob's cute younger sister, Orlean just left in the middle of November on her mission to the Philippines Quezon City North Mission where she is learning the Tagalog language. Yeah, we couldn't really pronounce it either. :) Right after she submitted her papers, she met a man who was pretty much everything she was looking for in a spouse, so it made her decision really difficult and she didn't fully decide if she should go on her mission or just get married until like a week and a half before she was scheduled to go into the MTC.
The week she left, we had alot of family things going on to help her get ready on time. (She procrastinated almost all of her shopping until she knew if she was going to go or not.) But she go it all done and soon departed on her new adventure. She was set apart the night before and almost all of Rob's mom's family was there with the exception of Rob, Carl, and Chris who all had to work. It was a special experience and we learned not to turn the floor over to Rob's dad to talk or you will be sitting there FOREVER joining him through a trip down memory lane... (What can you expect from and 90 something year old man?) :)
The morning that she entered the MTC, the whole family (but my brother in law Chris) met for lunch at of course Chuck-A-Rama. Seriously, this family has an obsession with this restaurant. She wanted everyone to take her to the MTC but each missionary is limited to only 1 vehicle, so we settle for a family dinner instead. After dinner, we took a few bon voyage pictures, and luckily we had a few generous food enthusiast walking by who we roped into taking a group shot for us.
(Orlean is the second from the end of the left)
After our family photo shoot, all of Rob's brothers and sisters, and parents piled into one vehicle to drop her off at the MTC where the rest of us crashed Carl and Mollie's house until the rest of the family returned with there red eyes and tear streaked faces. Yes we all cried, even most of the men. :)
I am so happy for the example that Orlean is setting for the family. Yes, most of Rob's family has converted into our church, however, I believe that her example will encourage all of us to re-evaluate our own testimonies of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The example that she is setting for my children and for my nieces and nephews hasn't gone unnoticed. I know that Rob will treat missionaries differently now. He started taking the discussions again right after his brother Joe was baptized in May - but he just recently scared off the sister missionaries yet again I am guessing because they haven't called or stopped by for a while to schedule another appointment. This time was different because he would pray openly about joining the church almost every day and he never tried preaching to the missionaries, well almost never. :) There is progress made but it just isn't quite the right time I guess.
Yes, we will miss Orlean for the 18 months that she is gone, but I know our family will benefit from her service, and that she is following the path that our Heavenly Father has in store for her. She will return as a spiritual giant, and will be able to help the family even more to answer questions and share the gospel to our loved ones.
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