i wish i knew how to make my blog better. i've seen several blogs lately that have section headers, so there could be an "all about me" section, and a blog for personal, and a blog for "scrapbooking".
i'm going to need to figure this out. i have several blogs, but all in different places. would be nice to have them all from the same page. maybe?
that isn't why i came to type tonight. starting a new year, a new age (my age), a new semester at school....always helps me to contemplate my goals for the upcoming year, and reflect on the ones from the year before that i didn't accomplish.
so do i need to put those goals "out there" so i'll be held accountable? or will i just look like i fell flat on my face when i don't live up to the expectations i set for myself?
i have several, but i'll just mention a few...
POTD - picture of the day, take at least one picture everyday to capture LIFE
i really need to keep up with my blog. and i really want to document my life and all that happens with my family and my scrapbooking. i've tried keeping up with a picture a day before, and i didn't do so well. so, here we go, i'm trying again. a picture everyday, and blogging with the pictures on sunday afternoons! so check back on monday, and if i haven't done my blog post, start pestering me!
EXERCISING -
yes to lose weight, but also because i am happier when i do. doesn't mean i am always happy to do it, but that whole chemical balance thing...yup, it works. so something each day. yes, each day. doesn't have to be a full workout, but something scheduled in my planner each day!
PLANNED DINNERS -
i hate getting to 5 and coming up with something for dinner. sometimes i shrug it off to todd, cause he is so much better at putting ingredients together and "whipping something up" than i am. perhaps we'll do more crockpot recipes, or i'll get the meat started the night before, but something has got to change for this family who is too busy in the afternoon to figure it out after we get home from school.
and lastly
ORGANIZE -
a place for everything and everything in its place. i've been doing okay the last part of this year, going through closets and drawers and throwing things away. but i am far from being done. we won't mention the areas that need it the most, but basically, it is the same areas it has been before. in addition, i will make it a nightly ritual to get out the kids clothes for the next day, pack their bags and mine, start dinner (see above), and go through the file system i created to stay on top of bills, birthdays, and the like.
so? what do you think? do-able?
well, it is technically the last day of the year, so HAPPY NEW YEAR. i'll be back on sunday with pictures, cause that is one of my goals and i'll at least keep up with it the first week, right?
Friday, December 31, 2010
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
34th
yup, it s here. my mid-30’s.
don’t know if I’m ready for it.
kids made me breakfast, x made the eggs and c made the toast.
spent the afternoon roller skating with the whole fam (except for todd, who had to work.)
mcdonalds for lunch- this one for the kiddos.
a few attempts to get an [accurate] picture of myself on this day.
“on the border” for dinner – this one for me. way too much food! then home again for ice cream cake
so a whole day and I’m still not so sure.
don’t want to look like I’m a 34 year old mom and teacher…even though I am.
well here are some pictures from the day…
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Sunday, December 26, 2010
they say....
"i'm wearing 5 shirts, 5 pants and 2 pairs of socks on each foot!" - xander
"mom, does xander look fat in that stuff?" - cassidy
"not as fat as the sultan." - xander
after getting dressed in her 5 pairs of pants....
"now i'm fat like the sultan too!" - cassidy
(to explain, xander has been cast as the sultan from Aladdin in cassidy's dance studio's spring recital and we have to make him a costume to make him fat...)
"mom, does xander look fat in that stuff?" - cassidy
"not as fat as the sultan." - xander
after getting dressed in her 5 pairs of pants....
"now i'm fat like the sultan too!" - cassidy
(to explain, xander has been cast as the sultan from Aladdin in cassidy's dance studio's spring recital and we have to make him a costume to make him fat...)
Saturday, December 25, 2010
merry christmas
the 25 days of christmas...
last year i put together a scrapbook highlighting 25 things that happened from thanksgiving til after christmas.
i wanted to try again this year. i haven't blogged since thanksgiving, and then i didn't even blog about that day. but i did try to start putting the actual book together.
so here on christmas day i thought i'd put my list together. (in no particular order)
1. christmas caroling (wish i had a picture of this one) - we went caroling with the gormally girls! it was great. we sang "deck the halls", "joy to the world", "rudolph" and "we wish you a merry christmas". we sang at rachel's, the pett's, the crozier's/johnson's, the best's, and the platt's. but of course, before we started our rounds we went out to eat at mcdonald's!
2. making and decorating sugar cookies - wish i had taken a picture of the kids walking through the neighborhood with plates of cookies. but got pictures of making them!
3. rachel's surgery (she'll thank me i have a picture of this one)
4. mom & dad here (still no picture of them together!)
5. christmas eve @ george & pam's - as always, spoiled!
6. christmas day at home, rachel's and george & pam's - lots of pictures
7. the food of christmas - so much food! cookies, pumpkin bread, pies, pretzel candies, and then the food of christmas eve and christmas day. my brothers and sister-in-law outdo themselves each year
8. wrapping presents - not enough pictures of this one. but we had it done before christmas! really!
9. xander painting cassidy's present
10. decorating the christmas tree - we started putting up the tree Thanksgiving night and decorating just a few days later. i was so busy with my master's course that i missed todd and the kids doing most of it, but i joined in at the very end and took pictures of todd putting up the star.
11. elf on the shelf - this is the first year the elf has visited our house. i've heard of the elf and the book, but it was kind of pricey to buy, so i have never invested. this year i looked it up on the internet. turns out the elf looks just like the two that my parents had in our house when i was growing up. i told the kids about it at dinner one night. xander's comment was "did you touch it?" "yes, everytime we set it out them out for decoration." "oh no! you made him lose his magic!" evidentally you can not touch the elves, or they won't work. each day the elf sits in your house and watches you. then at night he leaves, reports back to santa at the north pole. while we sat at dinner that night i called my mom, "mom, do you remember the two elves that we used to put on our organ for decoration....did you know that they were magic elves? all that time they were reporting back to santa! do you think you could bring an elf to us when you come visit?" each day we'd wake up and try to find where the elf was, because he'd have moved to a different place in the house.
12. cassidy's performance @ lake lanier islands - so cute. she did great. she loves dancing. and even commented the other day when listening to the nutcracker music "i love this ballet music".
13. christmas cards - finally finished them this year and got them sent out on the 23-24th! yeah me!
14. attempt at gingerbread houses - we started a box set of gingerbread house that we have had for at least a year, if not longer. the candy was skimpy and the frosting wasn't setting fast enough. so we put it aside for the night. we never got back to it. then, at school i do a gingerbread house decorating party at the end of gingerbread week. it is our "holiday" party. i had extra houses, so i brought them home with extra candy and frosting. but the kids never wanted to do them, so they stayed undecorated the whole time
15. countdown blocks & advents - love these! and so do the kids
16. music -every day, all day
17. sitting on santa's lap - i don't have a picture of us visiting santa at the mall, or when we ran into santa and mrs. claus at kroger when they were buying candy canes. but i did get a picture of cassidy sitting on santa xander's lap telling him what she wants for christmas.
18. hanukkah - each year i get out the menorah and try to do each of the 8 nights. we even did hanukkah with the missionaries here. the kids loved it. we were really close to doing all 8 nights this year. but we haven't done the last night yet because xander wanted latkes when we did the final night, and we haven't had a night that we could put them together. so the menorah is still out, and it is in the middle of the nativity scene. xander asked on christmas eve..."mom, do you think that santa will be confused when he comes down the chimney and see the menorah?"
some of his other comments have been "Mom, do you think we are the only ones who celebrate Christmas and Hanukkah?" at school he was doing an activity with the teacher during class party (so I was there) and the teacher said something to another child about being half-elf by the way he was coloring his activity. Xander's comment was, pointing to me "She's half Jewish." and then pointing to mom (who was already here visiting) "And she's all Jewish!"and the best... "WHAT! Jesus was a Jew? Did he celebrate Hanukkah?"
19. reindeer food & cookies for santa - must take care of them. left reindeer on the lawn christmas eve night. when we saw santa at the mall he specifically told us he loved homemade chocolate chip cookies, and if we didn't have milk his next favorite drink is coca-cola. so that is what he got.
20. family photo - we didn't get it done until the monday before, but did it and sent it out with my christmas cards
21. snow on christmas day - for the first time in over 100 years, snow on christmas day and it stuck! looks like we got 2 inches, and 1:00 church has already been canceled for tomorrow.
22. hand-made ornaments, calendars & shopping plan of attack - projects i made for tombow, but used for myself and presents
23. wish lists & list of presents received -working on this one! but when we went to visit santa at the mall there was no one in line behind us, so he took the time to read the kid's wish lists that we had brought to drop in his mail box. when he was done he told the kids he'd hold onto their letters. on christmas morning, next to the plate that had his cookies and carrots were the kid's letters, signed "Love Santa"! amazing!
24. marshmallow fight -it hasn't happened yet, but it we'll host our annual take down the tree marshmallow fight, to make it not so sad.
25. my birthday - this hasn't happened yet either, but 3 more days of being 33
oops, one more.
26. pj's - love opening new pj's on christmas eve.
time to get to work on it!
merry christmas 2010!
last year i put together a scrapbook highlighting 25 things that happened from thanksgiving til after christmas.
i wanted to try again this year. i haven't blogged since thanksgiving, and then i didn't even blog about that day. but i did try to start putting the actual book together.
so here on christmas day i thought i'd put my list together. (in no particular order)
1. christmas caroling (wish i had a picture of this one) - we went caroling with the gormally girls! it was great. we sang "deck the halls", "joy to the world", "rudolph" and "we wish you a merry christmas". we sang at rachel's, the pett's, the crozier's/johnson's, the best's, and the platt's. but of course, before we started our rounds we went out to eat at mcdonald's!
2. making and decorating sugar cookies - wish i had taken a picture of the kids walking through the neighborhood with plates of cookies. but got pictures of making them!
3. rachel's surgery (she'll thank me i have a picture of this one)
4. mom & dad here (still no picture of them together!)
5. christmas eve @ george & pam's - as always, spoiled!
6. christmas day at home, rachel's and george & pam's - lots of pictures
7. the food of christmas - so much food! cookies, pumpkin bread, pies, pretzel candies, and then the food of christmas eve and christmas day. my brothers and sister-in-law outdo themselves each year
8. wrapping presents - not enough pictures of this one. but we had it done before christmas! really!
9. xander painting cassidy's present
10. decorating the christmas tree - we started putting up the tree Thanksgiving night and decorating just a few days later. i was so busy with my master's course that i missed todd and the kids doing most of it, but i joined in at the very end and took pictures of todd putting up the star.
11. elf on the shelf - this is the first year the elf has visited our house. i've heard of the elf and the book, but it was kind of pricey to buy, so i have never invested. this year i looked it up on the internet. turns out the elf looks just like the two that my parents had in our house when i was growing up. i told the kids about it at dinner one night. xander's comment was "did you touch it?" "yes, everytime we set it out them out for decoration." "oh no! you made him lose his magic!" evidentally you can not touch the elves, or they won't work. each day the elf sits in your house and watches you. then at night he leaves, reports back to santa at the north pole. while we sat at dinner that night i called my mom, "mom, do you remember the two elves that we used to put on our organ for decoration....did you know that they were magic elves? all that time they were reporting back to santa! do you think you could bring an elf to us when you come visit?" each day we'd wake up and try to find where the elf was, because he'd have moved to a different place in the house.
12. cassidy's performance @ lake lanier islands - so cute. she did great. she loves dancing. and even commented the other day when listening to the nutcracker music "i love this ballet music".
13. christmas cards - finally finished them this year and got them sent out on the 23-24th! yeah me!
14. attempt at gingerbread houses - we started a box set of gingerbread house that we have had for at least a year, if not longer. the candy was skimpy and the frosting wasn't setting fast enough. so we put it aside for the night. we never got back to it. then, at school i do a gingerbread house decorating party at the end of gingerbread week. it is our "holiday" party. i had extra houses, so i brought them home with extra candy and frosting. but the kids never wanted to do them, so they stayed undecorated the whole time
15. countdown blocks & advents - love these! and so do the kids
16. music -every day, all day
17. sitting on santa's lap - i don't have a picture of us visiting santa at the mall, or when we ran into santa and mrs. claus at kroger when they were buying candy canes. but i did get a picture of cassidy sitting on santa xander's lap telling him what she wants for christmas.
18. hanukkah - each year i get out the menorah and try to do each of the 8 nights. we even did hanukkah with the missionaries here. the kids loved it. we were really close to doing all 8 nights this year. but we haven't done the last night yet because xander wanted latkes when we did the final night, and we haven't had a night that we could put them together. so the menorah is still out, and it is in the middle of the nativity scene. xander asked on christmas eve..."mom, do you think that santa will be confused when he comes down the chimney and see the menorah?"
some of his other comments have been "Mom, do you think we are the only ones who celebrate Christmas and Hanukkah?" at school he was doing an activity with the teacher during class party (so I was there) and the teacher said something to another child about being half-elf by the way he was coloring his activity. Xander's comment was, pointing to me "She's half Jewish." and then pointing to mom (who was already here visiting) "And she's all Jewish!"and the best... "WHAT! Jesus was a Jew? Did he celebrate Hanukkah?"
19. reindeer food & cookies for santa - must take care of them. left reindeer on the lawn christmas eve night. when we saw santa at the mall he specifically told us he loved homemade chocolate chip cookies, and if we didn't have milk his next favorite drink is coca-cola. so that is what he got.
20. family photo - we didn't get it done until the monday before, but did it and sent it out with my christmas cards
21. snow on christmas day - for the first time in over 100 years, snow on christmas day and it stuck! looks like we got 2 inches, and 1:00 church has already been canceled for tomorrow.
22. hand-made ornaments, calendars & shopping plan of attack - projects i made for tombow, but used for myself and presents
23. wish lists & list of presents received -working on this one! but when we went to visit santa at the mall there was no one in line behind us, so he took the time to read the kid's wish lists that we had brought to drop in his mail box. when he was done he told the kids he'd hold onto their letters. on christmas morning, next to the plate that had his cookies and carrots were the kid's letters, signed "Love Santa"! amazing!
24. marshmallow fight -it hasn't happened yet, but it we'll host our annual take down the tree marshmallow fight, to make it not so sad.
25. my birthday - this hasn't happened yet either, but 3 more days of being 33
oops, one more.
26. pj's - love opening new pj's on christmas eve.
time to get to work on it!
merry christmas 2010!
Thursday, November 25, 2010
he says...
x has been sick the last 3 days, cough, runny nose, congested, fever...
"mom, i wish Jesus was still alive on the earth."
"why?"
"so he could heal me and make me stop coughing."
"if i am sick tomorrow that will be 4 days...i've never been sick for 4 days before. what if i miss church on sunday? what if i am still sick on monday? will i miss school?"
he has been checking his temperature frequently, sometimes within minutes of each other.
"i'm too sick to do anything but watch tv and play wii."
(poor sick child!)
"mom, i wish Jesus was still alive on the earth."
"why?"
"so he could heal me and make me stop coughing."
"if i am sick tomorrow that will be 4 days...i've never been sick for 4 days before. what if i miss church on sunday? what if i am still sick on monday? will i miss school?"
he has been checking his temperature frequently, sometimes within minutes of each other.
"i'm too sick to do anything but watch tv and play wii."
(poor sick child!)
Saturday, November 13, 2010
check!
i was productive today! finally!
i finished one of my master's classes on october 25th. i kept telling myself when it was over i would put all my energy into working out and REALLY cleaning my house.
well, wouldn't you know the weekend before i was feeling a little sick and sure enough, tuesday when the class was over i was wiped out! found out that i had bronchitis (still coughing even now.) and to make matters worse my sciatic nerve was pinched and every time i coughed i had a stabbing pain in my butt, that would shoot down my leg. it was blinding! todd asked which was worse, the sciatic nerve or childbirth. my answer, the sciatic nerve....because nothing good comes from it.
so i've been a little wiped out and haven't had the energy or the time to get anything major done. well last night i made a list of things to get done, hoping that i would wake up with some motivation to work on crossing those things off. AND I DID!
so, just for fun, here is my list and here is what i accomplished:put away scrapbook supplies from past projectsunload the dishwashergo through “to do” basket
load the dishwasher & run it
clean the counters
clean the stove
steam mop the floorstraighten living roomsort through downstairs hall buckets
dust
vacuum
all toys upstairs
vacuum hall stairs
fold laundrydo laundry (ended up being 5 loads!)
wipe down washer and dryer
put scarves, hats, etc. in downstairs hall closet
downstairs bathroomupstairs kids bathroom
lesson plans
shop til you drop projectlay out church clothes
work on lesson
kids to:
wipe down counters
straighten their rooms
help pick up living room
dust living room
vacuum living room
this is not a typical day. even the kids were quasi-cooperative. and yes, there are things that are not done, but I have tomorrow and monday….and then maybe tuesday I’ll make a new list and start on that one.
feels good! (except I have to push the laundry off my bed so I can go to sleep. i’m tired!)
yeah clean house!
christmas here we come....bring on the end of the year...i''ll be ready, and so will my house! for some reason it just feels appropriate to have a clean and uncluttered home when the end of the year rolls around. don't want to carry too much baggage into the next year!
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