This week's menu

Sunday:
Leftover Taco Soup, corn bread
Monday:
Dinner at Fish Daddy's for Tim's birthday
Tuesday:
Basil baked cod filets, brown rice, fresh green beans
Wednesday:
Grilled chicken caesar salad, fruit salad
Thursday:
Spicy barbecued shrimp skewers, black bean relish (Stacey cooking)
Friday:
Grilled hamburgers, grilled red ranch potatoes
Saturday:
...on the fly...

In 2009...
I will remember: That it's good to try new things
One place I will go: London
One physical habit I will break: biting my nails
One physical habit I will cultivate: consistent exercising
One mental habit I will break: letting stress get the best of me
One mental habit I will cultivate: mental organization
One relationship I will repair: my brother
One home repair I'll finally get around to: painting the playroom
One work habit I will change: using my time more wisely
One thing I'll throw out: my old clothes left over from, ummm, high school?
One thing I'll eat more often: Vegetables
One thing I'll eat less of: chocolate
One thing I'll drink more: Water
One thing I'll drink less: wine
One overdue e-mail I'll send, or overdue phone call I'll make: Clare
One person I'll treat more respectfully: my kids
One thing I'll spend less money on: clothes
One change I'll make in my finances: put more money into savings each month
One thing I'll spend less time doing: worrying
Something I'll spend more time doing: praying
One resolution I've made before but will honor this time: lose the weight from Lucas
In 2008...
I gained: Friends
I lost: lots of time due to the Internet
I stopped: stressing about the weight
I started: paying more attention to Stacey
I was hugely satisfied with: my marriage
I was frustrated by: kids and lack of time with them
I am embarrassed that: I didn't lose weight
One again, I did: take more time for myself
Once again, I did not: develop a workout routine
The biggest physical difference between me last December and this December is: I cut my hair
The biggest psychological difference between me last December and this December is: I believe in myself more
I love spending time: listening to my kids read to me
I should have spent more time: organizing
I regret buying: so many meals at restaurants
I will never regret buying: our trip to New York
I _____ way too much: over analyze
I didn't _____ enough: exercise
My _____ drove me crazy: messy kids
The most relaxing place I went was: bed
Why did I go: to bed so late when I get up so early
The best thing I did for someone else was: give them the confidence to read
The best thing I did for myself was: let go of the control... a little
The best thing someone did for me was: love me

Project 365

I am participating in Project 365, where I take a photo a day for a year, as a way of documenting my life. In theory, this is a great idea, though I am not sure how realistic. However, I will try. I have my new camera and I also have the camera on my iphone and the dig camera in my classroom, so there is really no excuse. My plan is to start posting here. We'll see.....

Goodbye 2008

Lat night, we said goodbye to 2008 with some friends. We ate good food, had a few drinks and played this great game called "Loaded Questions,"... the third year in a row we have played this game.. it's so fun! The kids ran around, ate cookies, played their own games and watched movies. All in all, we had a really good time! Thanks to the Bushmans for hosting a great New Years Eve party :)

Michelle and Jessie- our NYE dates for the last 3 years!
Catie- the hostess with the mostest

Steve, Catie's husband... thrilled at all the people invading his home less than 12 hours after his out of state company left :P

Nikki, the sweet neighbor that flew in from Michigan, drove in from Houston, dropped her sick hubby off at home and came straight to the party.... trooper!

Desserts (Ryan and his Mimi, my mom, made the Gingerbread house)

Food

More food ( I have been dying to use this cute dip tray for EVER!!!)

Yes, even more food

I got a few good ones...

Ok, so I got a new Nikon D40 for Chistmas.... I know NOTHING about photography, but I felt like a fancy camera would guilt me into taking pictures of the kids' milestones.... which I am not very good at currently. I have been taking pictures on all kinds of settings and I got 2 good ones at my mom's house yesterday... take a look!

These are raw, no editing. No, I would not enter either of these into a photo contest, but I was able to get this indoors with no flash.... Now, if only I could remember what I had it set on...

We are off to a New Year's Eve pajama party this evening... will take pics and post later ;)

The many emotions of Grace

Happy Grace

Sad Grace

Surprised Grace

Angry Grace

Tired Grace

Shy Grace

Normal Grace

Awesome!

I got this for Christmas from my stepmom. A cake, you ask? That's an interesting gift! Well, yes... and no. It's a candle! It smells like, well, a cake... and it is awesome! I have no idea where she got it, I just know she had to order it, but it sure does a good job of covering the interesting smells that kids can make ;)

Grace and the bangs

By the time I was 5, I had long, gorgeous hair past my waist. This is not the case for poor Grace. She was bald until she was 2. We were excited not to have to powder her head for pictures anymore (you know, the glare), but I was ready to resort to Rogaine or Miracle Grow or SOMETHING because I had only had boys, who do not look fondly on being put in hairbows and I was itching to dress my little princess up in all things girly. Ok, so we had to go with bangs, because what little she did have was thin and wiry and rather odd looking.

Fastforward 3 years and we are trying in vain to grow the bangs out, but this takes creativity, as it makes me NUTS when little girls have hair in their eyes. Here is Grace with freshly dried hair:

And here is our creative solution. We call it a top pony, as opposed to a back pony (a traditional ponytail), a side pony (on top, but over to the side), a double pony (piggie tails), etc.

I think she pulls it off well, but it will be nice to have it all the same length... isn't that about the time bangs come back in style? *groans* :)

Insanity part 1

I made this in 2 posts, so be sure to check out "insanity part 2.'

Christmas around our house is crazy! We have 3 sets of grandparents that we visit within a 24 hour period and our kids are spoiled by all (not to mention aunts, uncles, and great grandparents). Fot the first time, I have decided to document the sheer volume of what enters our home on December 25.

This is Lucas's set.

Notice the full train set, 3 different Leap Pad things, train cars, Lightning McQueen laptop, webkinz, ....
more....

Did I mention he's 2 and has a birthday in less than 3 weeks?

See part 2 for more craziness. I will blog about how my husband totally spoiled me tomorrow (and yes, I am showing you pics from my new Nikon D40)

Insanity part 2

Grace's whole picture.

Babydoll furniture, a puppy that knows her name, book, text messaging set, Sing It for PS2, a princess set, a fashion design set and a magnetic paper doll set.
A new Cabbage Patch doll, games, and Kit, her American Girl Doll has been around for 4 1/2 years, the pajamas, blanket, blue bag to the right and another set of clothes are all new.

Fancy Nancy from Santa. Below that, the other KIT outfit I mentioned and the carrying bag for Kit and her accessories.

These are the games that the boys got.

They now have the entore Star Wars battle set... wanna come play?

This pic shows DS games, PS2 games, Lil'kinz, a lego platform, text messaging set, ipod shuffles for both boys, new wireless controlers for PS2 (designed for smaller hands).

The boys loot ... the whole picture.