March 2011

March was full of activity!  Here we go!


Anysa won 4th place at her first UIL competition!

The kids both played UpWard basketball and this was the awards celebration.

Brax in the "out" house!

A row of thicket and yucky trees separated our property from my in-laws.  It got cleared and changed the look so much.  The clump of green trees right in the middle holds a little gem for the kids.  It is situated in such a way that kids have a nature clubhouse!  It's open in the middle, has some "seating", and an additional room!  Bonus for mom:  I can actually see my kids when they are playing in the woods.

I don't know what he was thinking, but yep, that is Luke asleep in Brax's crib.

Brax had fallen asleep after waking up too early one morning.  The crazy thing is that he stayed asleep while 6 other kids were being loud right outside the office door.

A game of Curious George at the Zoo, anyone?

During part of Spring Break, we hosted our dear friends!  The kids had a blast!  And I got some mommy time with my friend, Golda!

Weird sleeping again!

Forgive me, but I love pictures of sleeping kids and had to save our memories.  Anysa and Annebelle.

Sweet Jonah.

Isaac and Levi.

The weather cooperated and we took everyone fishing at my in-laws pond.  Gigi and Brax caught one!

Annebelle squealed with delight over her catch!

Anysa's catch!

I love this pic of the boys!  They have known each other since birth.

On the dock.

These two are quite a pair.  He is definately Papa's little buddy!

Yea for Isaac!

Teamwork!

Go Levi!

Luke did it!

Trying for a group shot before the gang went home.  You can see how well that went!  :)

The start of a new baseball season...machine pitch!



Stacey

February 2011

He loves his boots and his not afraid to wear them...with anything!  :)

We got MORE snow in February!  Another fun day at home!

I love how Brax is flinching as Luke throws the snowball to the window.

Luke and Anysa working on a electric creation.  We love that electric set.

Luke and Brax working on, uh, something.

Anysa attended her first ever Father-Daughter dance.  She was simply beautiful!

Getting her first corsage from Daddy.

The lovely couple!

The official party shot.

Brax herding his puppies!  Oh my, those were some crazy days!

We kept one of the puppies and I often wonder what a pair he and Brax would have made had we not lost him around 5 months of age. 

Stacey

Traffic Jam

Just a quick reminder that I am totally catching up from 2011.

It's just not in my nature to pretend all that didn't happen.

This is my digital scrapbook for now.

So if you are new to my blog, please know that I am spending the month of January catching up.  You will see monthly update posts plus all the special events in our lives from 2011.

I am hoping that by February I will be on track and can spend time sharing our lives, and my thoughts, in the moment!

Ah, this feels good!

Stacey

Anysa~9

That's my girl.

My 9 yo girl.  And while I know this was really 51 weeks ago in our lives, I am pretending this was now.

Indulge me.  I am having a hard enough time letting her grow up!

She got to celebrate with her class at school.

Then we took 2 of her friends home with us for a fun little party night.  I took them to eat pizza.

And then I told the girls that we should go to W to get some snacks for the night.  They acted silly and had some fun.

THEN!

Then, I completely surprised her by telling her that she was going to get to have her ears pierced!  It is not hard to tell that she had.no.idea!  I had always told her that she would have to wait until 10 to get them pierced, but I thought she totally deserved it a little early.  Don't you just love G's face in the background?!  She was scared and excited for Anysa!

Getttting ready!

Double whammy!

She was so proud of them!

Fun pic!

Those silly girls crammed themselves into my tub.

After presents, they crashed for a movie.  I went to bed after this.  I loved having a small group of girls I completely trust so I didn't have to stay up all night!

Getting creative the next morning.

Dinner, presents, and cake the next night!

Luke got her a watch he picked out himself.  :)

Another cute outfit!

And 9 candles to sparkle on her cake!

Things I want to remember about you right now~

You are absolutely the best big sister those boys could have.

You tolerate a lot from Luke!

You have become so responsible with Brax.

You still love being creative.

You have fun singing, dancing, and acting in your room.

You love Francesca, Taylor, and love singing along with the christian radio in the car.

You are letting your hair get long.

You are Micki's favorite human and you take such good care of her.

You fell in love with horses this year.

You are determined to get one.

You love watching Cake Boss, chef competitions, and Little House on the Prairie.

How much more confident you have become in your public speaking, your intelligence, and your independence.

How special you think it is when Mommy sleeps in your bed with you.

How sweet you are to our 92-year old neighbor and that you like to visit her on your own.

What a strong swimmer you have become.

How you trust me enough to talk about what's bothering you.

How you still believe in things.

I love you precious girl!

Mommy

Letting Go and Grabbing On

2011.

It was a good year if I look back on it from the perspective that I truly have nothing to complain about or terrible hardships to remember.

Don't get me wrong.

I complained.  I thought some things were hard at times.

But when I am mindful of those who lost a job, a husband, and even a child, I have to call my 2011 a good year.

2012.

I have no idea.

I have...

Hopes.  Dreams.  Expectations.

I dare say that I even have Plans.

And not a one of those things is wrong to have.  But I am pretty sure that if I clutch too tightly to anything (which I always have a tendency to do!), then I won't have room to receive the things that God is going to give me.

His Hopes, Dreams, Expectations, and yes, even His Plans for me.

He has that good stuff, and that stretching stuff, ready for me all the time.

He wants me to have my heart's desires.

I just need to make sure I am allowing Him to create those desires.

Deep!  Deeper than I wanted to go tonight!  I'm going to swim back to the shallow end now, but I think I will invite you to join me in the deep end another day!

The shallow version is that I am going to try my best this year to let go of me and and grab onto Him.

How do all those deeeeep thoughts relate to goals, aspirations, resolutions, whatever you choose to call them?

Maybe that if I keep it simple on my end then there will be more room for God to make it grand on His end.

So not too much unlike my 2011 Resolutions, I present to you the 2012 version.  Or really just the 2011.2 version!


• Read 1 book a month.

• Organize 1 room a month.
• Kid date 1 time a month. 

• Complete 1 project a month.

• Healthy is as Healthy does.  (ok, so that may not sound like a goal, but it is a reminder that everything i do counts towards my health...what i eat, how i exercise, when i sleep.  all those things together will add up and equal my ultimate goal.)

• Stay in God's presence.  (again, this could be read as me being vague.  this allows me to not get hung up on whether or not i got my "study" completed and focus on Him.  the end result could be completing a study or two, memorizing some verses with my kids, being a more fervent prayer warrior, or just plain ol' reading the bible!)

• Learn to love my blog again....post consistently.

• Stay connected.

• Dream and plan...in pencil of course!  (there are a few house and vacation ideas i have.)

Tonight, the kids and I started discussing some ideas for them for this new 2012.  We are going to work on those ideas and I will share them later. 

Happy Blessed New Year!

Stacey

Old, Older, and Not Quite Ready Yet!

These were my goal ideas for 2011.

I was actually pretty proud of these.  Simple.  Realistic.  Doable.

Here is what they looked like in my final draft plus my update:

2011 Resolutions

• Read 1 book a month.  Redo please.
• Organize 1 room a month.  Not so much, although I have had some recent bursts of energy in this area.  I have just felt so uninspired since moving into the house.  Gotta get my groove going here.
• Kid date 1 time a month.  Not as stated, but I think both of us have done better with 1:1 time with each kiddo. 
• Complete 1 project a month.  Nope.
• Exercise 3-4 times a week.  YES, YES, YES!
• Bible study 3-4 times a week.  I'm having some issues in this department.
• Blog post 3-4 times a week.  Just smile, nod, and move on.  But the Resurgence of 2012 is on!
• Memorize 1 verse a week.  Take a guess.
• Try 1 new recipe a week.  Not as stated, but I have tried lots of new recipes this past year.
• Organize computer.  Off and on.
• Organize blog.  Just recently.
• Work on vacation plans; skiing, California, Lubbock/San Angelo, Florida, Disney.  Skiing-thinking about March maybe; we'll see.  California-booked this week!!  Details later!  Lubbock/San Angelo-probably summer.  Florida/Disney-YES!  Can't wait to share that trip from this past August!  A longer Florida beach stay is a must though!

As compared to these high aspirations back in 2008!!

Let's revisit just for fun now shall we?!!

Health
* Exercise 3 times a week.  Yes.

* Do back stretches 2 times a week.  Yes; incorporated into general exercise.

* Stretch 5 times a week.  Yes; same.

* 25 sit-ups & 25 push-ups 5 times a week.  Not so much, but that's about to change!  :)

* Increase organic and/or natural food purchases to 80% of total food purchases.  Ongoing; in progress.
* Increase food purchases from local growers, farmer's markets.  Not so much.  Need to work on that.

* Minimize sugar intake.  Ongoing; in progress.  I have my ups and downs, but I have seen changes when I do.

* Minimize caffeine intake.  Met, I would say!  I do decaf coffee mostly and other caffeine beverages infrequently.

* Take supplements daily.  Nope.  I can't seem to get into a routine with this.  Need to change that.

* Go to bed by 11 PM 4 nights a week.  Maybe, maybe not!  I know I should because it is an health essential.

* Eliminate 80% of plastic food storage containers.  I have done well with this, but could always do better.

* Eliminate 80% of "Made in China" purchases.  Up and down, but still important to me.

Faith
* Read Bible or work on a study 4 times a week.  I'm just going to hang my head in shame now.

* Have prayer and quiet time every day.  Oh, I pray every day.  Quiet time is another story.

Home
* Implement and maintain a general household cleaning routine; daily, weekly, monthly.  I did really good with this several times, but not so much right now.  Gotta work on that!

Family
* Implement a responsibility system for kids.  Up and down over years, but on upswing right now and planning for some new ideas this year.

* Implement a "value of the month" for kids.  I loved when we did this!  Might be time to try again.

* Implement a "verse of the week" for kids.  Totally need to get this one back in rotation!

* Implement daily quiet time for kids.  This was originally when the older kids were home several times a week.  Might try it again, but need to think of some ideas how to implement.

* Create a family schedule.  Hmmmm?!

* Spend at least 15 minutes alone with each child daily.  I do this at night with big kids.

* Play with both kids together daily doing purposeful (and fun!) activities.  This was originally when I had both big kids at home several days a week.  I need to make sure I am being purposeful with Brax now.

* Have a special activity with each child individually once a month.  This one is up and down.  Need to work on this.

* Read the bible with kids daily.  Oh, please don't ask!

* Work on academic activities with kids for 1 hour on Wednesdays and Fridays.  Then with big kids.  Just need to incorporate with Brax during our fun time.

* Continue monthly coop schedule; 2 Saturdays out, 1 Saturday keep kids.  Oh, oh, how I miss my coop...and my friends!

Organization
* Organize and transfer all video tapes to DVD/CD's.  Can we say 2011/2012?!  Finally started this week!  WooHoo!

* Organize all pictures.  Need to work on this on computer and hands-on.

* Transfer all pictures to CD's.  Now I want a picture transfer machine!

* Clean out and organize computer files.  Always in progress, but time for a redo anyway!

* Clean out/organize and back up all computer files once a month.  Nope.

* Clean out and organize email accounts.  Probably.

* Maintain clean and organized email accounts weekly.  Maybe.

* Purge and organize office/paperwork.  Always a work in progress!

* Maintain office organizational system monthly.  Ummm...

Internet
* Begin writing paid posts on blog.  A pipe dream and I don't consider it my thing anymore.

* Label and organize blog posts.  I did that at one time, but really would like to simplify list.  Not sure an easy way to do that.

* Update and reorganize blog categories.  Yes, and even had a recent purge.

* Update blog site or change to new one completely.  I did that and loved it for so long, but recently revamped on my own.  Work in progress.

* Clean out and update "favorites" list.  Did it.

* Learn how to "sweep" online contests quickly.  Nay, who has time!  Gave it up!

* Check emails 3 times a day.  This was back before I was smart phone savvy!  ;)

* Check and read Google Reader in evenings after kids are in bed.(weekdays)  I mostly read blogs from my phone, but NEED to get back to doing it on my computer so I can comment again.  Unless, anyone knows how I comment from my phone!

* Work on own blog posts/management 1 hour a day and after kids are in bed.(weekdays)  Total fail this last year.  I could barely find my blog much less post to it!

Hobbies
* Begin and finish Luke's 1st year scrapbook.  What?!

* Begin 2nd year scrapbook for Anysa and Luke.  Stop staring at me!

* Begin using current picture scrapbooks.  Sigh.

Financial
* Re-examine budget with husband.  Sure.

* Develop a plan to maintain budget guidelines for family.  Probably.

* Develop debt-reduction plan for 2008.  So many changes since then.

* Be 80-100% debt-free by December 31, 2008.  We're in a good place.

Work
* Update all work reports.  Not applicable at this point.

Head.Spinning.

I am pretty sure I still like my 2011 goals best, but I'm going to tweak just a bit and come back with the redo!  (The 2008 version is great as a back up though!)

Stacey

ps. I broke my caffeine resolution tonight accidently, so yes I am really posting at 1 AM!  Yikes!  I see a nap in my future!