Happiness....

Wordless Wednesday:

It's a new year!

2011.  What will it hold?  I have lots of thoughts swirling around in my head, not really sure I would call them resolutions, more like goals.  I love having goals, but I tend to be an impatient person when it comes to progress.  Especially when I have big goals.  Which I have for this year.  I'm sure my goals are pretty much like everyone else's haha, but they are things that are going to take a new, conscience effort on my part to achieve.  

Number one on my list is being more consistent with my personal Bible study.  Last year was spotty at best in this area, more like nonexistent if I'm really being honest.  Which I'm ashamed to admit.  I have learned though that I don't do well without a book or some sort of outline of what to study.  I need some direction.  I'm not one of those people that can open the Bible and pick out something to study.  I don't know, maybe it's because I'm lazy and need to work on those skills.  Also related, I want to be more intentional with my kids too.  It's all to easy for me to slide along and rely on the church for my kids spiritual welfare.  Another thing I'm ashamed to admit.  Not sure why, but it seems like these things are the easiest to put on the back burner in our busy lives.  I am headed to the book store here soon (as soon as I can dig up my coupons!!!) and I'm going to find a book on a certain subject that I know needs some serious work in my life.  

Next on the list: debt.  Such an ugly word.  We are your typical American couple, and we do have credit cards, praise the Lord.  (Dave Ramsey is cringing right now.)  And we do have credit card debt.  But I wouldn't say that it is because of frivolous spending.  2009 wasn't the best year as far as income, so we used our credit cards for all the fun stuff, like clothes and other necessary evils.  Thankfully, God always provided for our basic needs and we never got behind on our bills.  2010 was way better, and since we learned some valuable lessons in 2009, we pretty much avoided adding to our debt.  So, 2011 is officially "Pay Off the Credit Cards" year.  Can you hear the excitement in my voice? Seriously, I am excited that hopefully these will be paid off, eve though it is going to take some serious effort.  I have a budget written out, and I have DH on board.  I really wouldn't consider my self a big spender, but who doesn't enjoy a little retail therapy every now and then??  I just pray that we would get a steady income this year!  (One, just one (!) of the many perks of owning your own business)  

I would say those two are the biggest things on my list. I do have other, more uninteresting ones, like keep my house cleaner, work out more, and stuff like that.  But mostly, I'm going to focus on the big ones.  I am looking forward to what God has in store for us this year, and I am excited about seeing how much our lives have changed at the start of 2012.

The holidays are officially upon us

and I am feeling the rush.  We went to Arkansas to hubby's parents house for Thanksgiving.  It's a looooong and very unpleasant drive to their house, but we did have a great time.  They live 4 miles off of the paved road up in the mountains.  Beautiful, but way out in the boonies.  The dirt road is so bad that unless you are a local, you drive as slow as you possibly can.  Seriously, you start feeling sorry for your car about a half mile in.  And clench your jaw so your teeth don't rattle out.  Hubby's parents are the last one's on their trail road that have running water and electricity.  Like I said though we had a great time.  Thursday night we didn't go to bed, but about 11 we loaded up and drove to Branson and went Black Friday shopping.  It was a blast.  It was about 16* I think and our first stop was the outlet mall.  I had baby boy all wrapped up in his moby wrap and a blanket, and he stayed toasty warm, and helped keep me warm too.  We were going to go to Target, but when we pulled in at 3:55 there was a line wrapped all the way around the building.  Talk about insane.  The cheap Wii Fit wasn't worth it.  So we parked right in front of the building to watch the idiots people when they opened the doors.  It was crazy.  I know some people get a rush out of that kind of thing, but I was tickled to sit in my warm car and watch the maniacs freezing, then push through the doors like a pack of wild animals.  We timed the line and after 10 minutes the people were still running to get through the doors.  Crazy I tell you.  Saving a few bucks is not worth it to me.  We did get some good laughs out of it though.

I am pretty sure I am 100% done with my Christmas shopping.  Yay!  And I actually have some wrapped and under the tree.  Big sister and big brothers main gifts are pretty large, so I need to wait to wrap them until they are either asleep or gone.  I am almost done with my decorating too.  Still have to get my nativity set up, maybe I'll do that today, after my nap of course.  I will take some pics of everything and try to get them posted.  I am still planning to take some pictures of Cara's desk and put them up too.  I just have been so busy.  Tuesday I am having  Scentsy party here at my house, so that is helping keep me motivated to get all the little projects done that I have been putting on the back burner for way too long.  The 18th we are having Christmas/Thanksgiving with my family.  Then on the 24th we are having Christmas with hubby's family.  I think on the 25th we will have just our little family thing, then that afternoon hubby's whole family is coming over to hang out before they head back to the sticks.  Whew, just thinking about all that makes me feel tired.  I won't lie, I will be glad when it's all over.  That sounds horrible, but it's true.

Well hubby is wanting me to play a game of pool with him, so better run.  (We scored a pool table the other day at a garage sale for $25.  It's an old one, but it's got a slate top and it is actually in pretty decent condition.  We've been having a blast with it!)

Bye Bye Baby Fat (hopefully)

I found this really cool blog.  Called InspiredRD.  Cool.  Anyways, she has a workout circuit that I am going to try.  It looks super easy, and it works your whole body.  And you only need some weights and a jump rope.  No reason why I shouldn't do it, I really, REALLY want to lose the remaining 15 or so pounds I have left from my last pregnancy.  I also REALLY, REALLY want to tone up.  I really don't care much about losing weight, but I really don't like having flab.  Ick.  So, who's with me?  :)

http://inspiredrd.com/2010/11/total-body-circuit.html

Check it out.

Sickies

Yep, we've got the sickies.  Yucky, yucky, yucky.  Of course baby boy had to come down with it.  Poor baby looked so miserable.  I guess it was the flu, but praise the Lord it was relatively short lived for him.  It still seemed like forever though when I was sitting up in bed all night with him last night.....  I on the other hand, still feel rotten.  So thankful for my hubby who stayed home from the first weekend of muzzle loader season.  He was planning to take big brother, but he came stumbling into the bedroom last night wheezing and acting like he could barely breathe.  I don't take chances with him (big brother, that is), since he has asthma and has had pneumonia before.  I really thought there for awhile we were going to have to pull out the nebulizer.  :P  I sure hope I get over this mess....like really soon!

How I encourage a creative and artistic spirit in my children...

Turn the TV off.  Seriously, I have noticed that when we cut down on the amount of time they spend in front of the TV, they are much, MUCH more imaginative and creative with their play.  My children seem to be blessed with great imaginations, and they are very elaborate when it comes to their play.  As an example, the other day they built a nest, and had every pillow in the house piled in the middle of the living room, along with the bean bags, and lots of blankets.  I caught big sister trying to sneak real eggs into the nest, LOL!  We compromised and used balls instead.  I could give you many more examples....and sometimes I don't always catch them before their brilliant ideas (ie: the eggs) turn into a big mess.  But at the end of the day, when all is quiet, I look around and am so thankful for their imaginations and creativity!



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Just in case you thought my life was perfect...

Wow.  Night #2 that I have cleaned up a major BM mess.  Ugh.  And, no, baby boy was not responsible for either this time.  You'd think by the time they were 6 and 4 they would have figured out that we don't poop outside (in a major traffic area), and to make it to the pot on time.  Sigh.

It's almost bedtime.  Not our normal bedtime, the "Mom is REALLY Frustrated, You Are Going to Bed Right Now!" bedtime.  But big sister has at least 3 messes to pick up, including her "house" she decided to make outside, and big brother is running around nekkid after his unplanned shower (see above).  And baby boy just puked in my lap.  And did I mention hubby is working late?  Yep, it's been a fun filled evening.

It's Been a Good Day.

Reasons this day has been awesome:

1.  The weather.  Fall has come to my neck of the woods.  Cooler days and definitely cool nights.  Ahhh, so nice.

2.  I got most of the laundry done.  Just got to finish hanging up the rest of the clothes.

3.  Got a check in the mail for $91 from the big kids consignment sale.  (I am planning to go spend it tomorrow on some fabric to make the kids Christmas presents.  I will do a picture play-by-play on that.  :) )

4.  I took the kids to the park to ride their bikes and feed the ducks.  There are some huge, and I mean HUGE turtles in the creek, and they have amazingly long necks.

5.  Had a good supper, it's all cleaned up and now I'm sitting here blogging, while watching Iron Man 2 with my hubby.  Big sister and big brother are ready for bed and watching their own movie while baby boy is asleep in the couch beside me. :)

Yes, it has definitely been a good day!

Been thinking about this for awhile now...

Actually, I've been debating whether or not to do this, but there are a lot of things that come to my mind that I think that I should be writing down somewhere....

I've never been much of a journal writer.....

We shall see how this works.  :)

Welcome to my life.