2012

A new year.

A fresh start.

Open hands.

Open hearts.

Open minds.
I'm going to adopt that as my motto for this year.

I don't know about you but 2011 was a tough year for me, emotionally.  

I am blessed to have found comfort in God when I needed it most.

And of course my husband, and family.
We rang in 2012 kind of quietly-we usually have big parties with my in-laws but this year
hubby was working
my sister in law just had her wisdom teeth out
and I got a flat tire on my car :(
So it was just me and my boys hanging at home!
Aaron was asleep by 6:30 and Angel and Ayden made it till midnight with me!
~

2012 is a new year and I am looking forward to wiping my slate clean and starting new!

My goals for 2012 are:

More patience

Better organized

Cook more homemade food

Learn to crochet

More self confidence

Continue to develop my relationship with God

Less judgmental

More carefree-less uptight
More crafting-less complaining
Being thankful for the good and the bad

2011

2011 was filled with lots of ups and downs, love, death and everything in between. 

A new year means a fresh start and who doesn't like a fresh start? 

 Before I get onto my hopes for 2012 I'd like to recap the bigger moments of 2011:

My grandmother who helped raised me fought the toughest battle of her life against cancer that eventually took her from us in February leaving me officially grandparent-less.

We bought a second good car and are very thankful!

We watched 3 of our friends declare their love for one another at their weddings.

Angel started kindergarten.

Ayden started preschool.

I started teaching Sunday school.

We survived Hurricane Irene.

I really started developing this little blog and opened my own shop on Zibbett.

We had Aaron christened.

Family vacation to the Pocono's.

We celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary. 

I brought two great forever-friends back into my life.

I've learned to lean into the lord with all of my heart, and soul.

I've developed new bloggy friendships and found support from women I have never met face to face but whose opinion and beliefs genuinely  mean something to me.

Here's to a successful, faith filled, fun, 2012!

Teething

Teething is no fun!

 No fun for baby. 

For mom. 

For dad. 

 Or for siblings. 

 This poor guys has had many rough nights trying to fall asleep lately due to teething :( 

It's so heartbreaking! 

 First we overcame the severe colic, the reflux, the power puking after every bottle and endless crying for hour upon hour. 

 After 5 months we moved onto the teething

...dum dum dum.

This kids is the one and only one I have ever used Oragel on and I feel terrible.

 I've always heard that it actually toughens the gums and makes it harder for the teeth to come through. 

 Well let me tell you after 5 months of relentless crying you are willing to try anything for his sake

-and ours! 

 Oh I pray these teeth come through soon!

Chistmas

Christmas eve is always bigger for my husbands family than Christmas itself.

 We usually host Chistmas eve dinner at our house and this year was no different. :)

I wish I had some amazing pictures to show you but as the hostess I spent about 99% of the  night in the kitchen.

There was some pretty amazing food though!

After dinner we opened gifts from extended family and both older boys got their very own drum sets!

I foresee some very loud mornings in our future :)

Once the extended family left the boys set out their cookies for Santa and reindeer food (oatmeal, marshmallows, glitter, and raisins) and we nestled them in their beds.

We stayed up a little later spending time with family and cracking jokes on one another-as is the usual with the in-laws!

Seriously-the best family EVER!

Fast forward to Christmas morning...

Angel tried to sneak downstairs first but thankfully with so many listening ears we were able to stall him with just enough time for all the adults to semi-wake and brush our teeth. 

There was also enough time for us to wake up the other two kids and get them downstairs as well!

Our family tradition is to put all of the gifts from us to our kids under the tree as we buy them so while they do see all they get from us before Christmas morning they are still ecstatic on Christmas because they know they have been waiting a very long time and they finally get to open their presents!

They also have their Santa presents out and unwrapped that morning as well!

This Christmas was special  to my husband and I because Angel was able to recognize his name on the presents as he can now spell, write, and recognize his name with no problems. 

We spent the first part of Christmas morning handing out and unwrapping presents,

 the second part cleaning up wrapping paper and taking gifts out of their boxes,

 and the last part serving up a delicious home cooked breakfast for all of our guests that spent the night!  All in all Christmas 2011 was another great Christmas for the books!

Now bring on New Years!!

  

Bitter Vs. Thankful

Remember this post?

 The one where my husband's car unexpectedly ended up in the shop? 

 I was disappointed in His timing but like always...

 things worked out. 

 Well Monday I got in my car after work one night and my check engine light came on...

{insert} 

me throwing my hands in the air while calling my husband on my drive home to tell him the news.

We were able to get it into the shop just this morning and found out what the problem is  NOT covered under the extended warranty that came with the car we bought there back in April!

Now {insert Grinch-iness}  

Talk about bad timing for so many reasons!

The week of Christmas.

We're hosting Christmas Eve at our casa.

We  just upgraded my cell phone.

We still have gifts to purchase for extended family.

Our normal food shopping, target house supply shopping, diapers, wipes, etc.

I mean I could go on and on about why now is not a good time for this to happen to us.

Instead though I  took a step back

after talking to my hubby of course!

 and realized that we do have the money to fix the car 

and I really do need to be thankful for that.  

We do have the resources to pay for this- it really could.have.been worse timing.  

So instead of letting all of those bitter feelings course through my body and take over 

I am instead letting go  

knowing that it is better and right to be thankful that we had the funds to fix the problem. 

So friend, next time you are faced with a situation where you can either be

bitter or thankful

remember to choose the latter of the two because

it can always be worse!

Lesson learned :)

This weekend in Instagrams

I finally crossed over to the iPhone side and gave up my crapberry... I mean blackberry. Here is our weekend in pics, enjoy!

Crossroads

~Seek His will in all you do, and He will show you which path to take.~

Proverbs 3:6

At some point in our lives we come to a crossroads.  

A time where we have to choose which path we are going to take.

I feel like I have been at this point quite a few times in recent years-perhaps you have too.

Are you going to take the road on the left or the road on the right?  

The scariest part is 

that we do not always know what speed bumps or curves lie ahead of us on these paths.

Are we going to have enough strength and courage to take the harder road...will it break us down more than it strengthens us?

Will we make it through the rough patches, the rainy weather, the potholes, the detours?  

So... how do we decide?  

How do we put all of our fears and hesitation aside and take that leap?

Faith & Prayer.  

There's nothing more comforting than bringing my decision to Him because I know he will always lead me in the right direction.  

That direction may not be the easiest, it may not be what I want to go through right now, but it is where He says I need to be.  

In the end because of this decision I will have become stronger because 

God will have led me on the path I have traveled.

We don't always know that there is a light at the end of the tunnel, 

but we have Faith that it is there.    

Via Pinterest

Via Pinterest

Truth is...

The truth is...

I don't have as much confidence in myself as I once used to- I miss the feeling of invincibility

                        I miss being able to go anywhere at anytime-you know just my keys, my car, and the radio but I wouldn't trade Thomas, late night Dominoes dinner dates, and sleepless nights for anything in the world!

Most days I don't feel as though I have accomplished all that I want to at this point in my life but I know one day I will.

            I complain a lot-but I'm becoming more conscience of it

                                

                                              I love driving a mini-van

I have a severe sweet tooth and would rather eat desserts than a real dinner any night

              I am not an animal person and our kids want a dog more than anything right now


                               My kids have taught me more patience than I ever knew was possible

I have a hard time asking for help


I live on coffee-usually about 6 cups a day to be exact


                                 I've realized the hard way that friendships are an incredibly important part of our lives.


My husband is my biggest supporter and I ask his advice on every decision I make.


                                                           I get overwhelmed very easily


I'm better at giving advice than taking it


                                       I'm not always grateful for the good and the bad-but I'm working on it


Sometimes I just want an hour to myself-no noise, only silence and my.own.thoughts...by the beach


I could not have married into a more loving, caring, and open family


         Some days I just want to throw my hands in the air and give up-then I remember to seek Him for help and that one day I will look back on this and laugh.


I miss hand written notes and actual phone conversations
                
                             I think everybody deserves to have a voice and every opinion counts


When everything seems to be going well I wonder what is lurking around the corner...

                   

Football

I am a firm believer that everyone should experience a professional sporting event at least once in their lifetime. 

There's nothing like it.  It's an American past time. 

The crowd.
The roar of the stadium. 

The cheering.  

The food...oh the food! 

The drinks.  

The camaraderie...between the young and the old! 

The rivalry between opposing teams.  

I've been to many many baseball games but this past weekend I was able to experience my first NFL game.  Jets V. Chiefs.

1 word: UH-MAZING!

I went with my husband and sister in law and it was just great!  It was about 40 degrees and not a cloud in the sky-we were even able to take our jackets off and rock our jersey for a while :)

What's your favorite sporting event?

And this was the breath taking view on the ride home!

Reason for the Season

As yet another Christmas season is upon us I feel like it's so easy to forget the true meaning of Christmas. 

It's much easier to get wrapped up in the gifts, food, cookies, and parties-you know the material things rather than to stop and take a look around at the reason we are celebrating Christmas.  

We celebrate Christmas for the most important reason in the world...because Jesus was BORN!!! 

Each year our church does a Christmas pageant that acts out the night Jesus was born and right after Mary has the baby all of the children run rapidly and wildly through our church shouting "Jesus is born, Jesus is born!!"  They do this was such excitement screaming almost at the top of their lungs with noisemakers and horns tooting they are so excited!  

This kind of put things back in to perspective...why can't we all be as passionate as this group of young children?  Where did we lose the true meaning of Christmas and start worrying about how many presents we are buying for our children and families? 

Now this is not to say that we don't get caught up in all of the buzz surrounding Christmas because we are guilty of this too...

Each year we sit down with our kids and make their {Christmas Lists} and then when Grandma or Aunts and Uncles call we begin to rattle items off the list that our children want to receive. 

This year in particular I have been very moved to not make the Holiday's all about gift giving and counting, etc.  In fact I've been praying for guidance...asking the Lord to let  me be okay with not buying our kids a TON of toys-to not make the Holidays all about presents.  Praying that we can use Christmas to remember and celebrate the true meaning of Christmas. 

Psalm 46:10 "Be still and know that I am God"

Marriage

~Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.~

1 Corinthians

Marriage is more than the joining of a man and woman.

Marriage is a life long bond between two best friends.  

It is an all consuming love that overwhelms you and takes your breath away when you think about it. 

 It is the core of your very being.  

Marriage is the untouchable perfection of teamwork.  

It is two lives becoming one in more ways than one.  

Marriage is finding your soul mate and never letting them go.  

It is the willingness to work through any and all problems that may come at you.  

It is having the strength to always be there for the other person even when it might be easier to just walk away.
Marriage is being your partners biggest supporter.
Marriage is one of the most selfless acts a human can be a part of.