2009

Now that 2009 is here it is time to make some goals for the new year. I am not going to do resolutions because they always get broken. One of the message boards I frequent had a post the other day asking you to list where you want to be on December 31, 2009. I like this idea because you can be more vague that resolutions.

By December 31, 2009 I want to:

- be thinner
- be healthier
- be caught up on my crafting projects
- have spent more quality time with my kids
- explored the area more
- taken more pictures
- have less clutter

I am slowly working on getting more organized too. I worked on cleaning out our filing system yesterday. I also purchased the Motivated Moms planner. I tried something similar a few years ago (the Sidetracked Home Executive System) and I hope that will help me keep up on the cleaning and stuff. I really work much better when I have a list to go by.

I hope that your 2008 ended on a good note and your 2009 is happy, healthy, and prosperous.

Christmas 2008

Here are a few pics from our Christmas. We really enjoyed spending it with family and seeing how excited the boys were. While I love the holidays, I will be glad to get back into a routine.

Mini vacation

We decided to take a mini vacation this weekend while we did our Christmas shopping.

We got a really nice hotel and spent the weekend relaxing and shopping. We got about 90% of the shopping done which I am so happy about. I still have to get hubby's stuff and finish up the boys, but that is about it. Now the task of wrapping it all. Luckily hubby likes to wrap and is good at it so I will be putting him to work soon.

The boys had a blast swimming in the pool. Their swim lessons are really paying off. They both were swimming all over the place and jumping in the water. The only bad part was the hotel lost power Saturday night for a few hours. It was annoying, but at least the boys were already asleep so it didn't bother them. Then last night I was in the middle of watching Army Wives and our electric went out at home. Luckily it was only for a few minutes, but it was still annoying.

This week is jam packed with cleaning and finish up projects. Hubby schedule got all messed up which I am not happy about. Hopefully we will be able to get everything done, but I'm not sure. There are days that I really dislike his job.

Sorry I haven't updated lately, but between going to the state fair and trying to get everything in order for Cody to go to school I haven't had much spare time.

We had a blast at the fair even though it was HOT! The boys loved all the animals. The only part that sucked was Cooper couldn't ride hardly anything. I have no idea what was up with the quacks that ran the show, but it wasn't very kid friendly. What really got me was when one of the guys running a kiddie game had a shirt on that said "I'm not mr. right, but I'll f*** you until he shows up" It is just wrong! I know that most kids playing the game couldn't read, but the parents and older kids could. It was disgusting.

The cutest thing was the banana races. They had little capuchin monkey riding dogs. It was really cute. The boys thought it was hilarious. We also saw the Pirate high flying act. It was cool, but kind of scary. Those guys had no fear.

I finally finished the top to my christmas present quilt. I went to get the backing ready and realized I don't have enough. Hopefully I will be able to get to the store this weekend.

Other than that I am dreading Wednesday. My baby starts Kindergarten. It just can't be happening already. It is sad, but he is really excited and ready to go.

Blogger isn't playing nice so I will post pictures later!

Our mini vacation

We took a mini vacation to Knoeble's amusement park this week. We had so much fun. It is a great park for kids and adults alike. They have two (soon to be 3) coasters and a bunch of smaller rides. The best part is you don't have to pay to park or enter the park. You just pay for the rides you want which is great when you are pregnant and can't ride anything!

Here are a few pictures from our day.

Cooper was the only one of the kids that would ride the flume. He had a blast!

The next Mario Andretti racing the cub cars.

The three stooges. The biggest is my nephew that went along with us.

Cooper showing pop pop how happy he was with the day!

Cody just being his goofy self.

We had a great time, but now it's time to get back to the real world. I have a ton of housework to do and yard work. Plus Cody starts Kindergarten soon so we need to get all his supplies. It is going to be a busy few weeks around here. I'm hoping to squeeze in some crafting and baking.

It's been a crazy week

Life has certainly gotten out of hand around here. So many things going on and needing to be done. It doesn't leave much time for the fun stuff like surfing the web and updating my blog.

Luckily things have slowed down slightly and I have a chance to catch up.

It has been a rough week family wise around here. My uncle had a liver transplant just over two weeks ago and then last week he had a major stroke. The stupid neuro doctors wanted to just write him off and let him die. Luckily his transplant doctor stood up for him and he is making very slow progress. It has been tough to know someone so vibrant is now confined to a bed or chair because he has no use of his right side.

Then Jeremy's aunt has been dealing with a benign brain tumor for almost a year now. She had surgery on it back in November (I think) and then started having complications in January. It finally got so bad that she didn't know anything or how to do simple tasks. They have been fighting with her doctors to do something and they said to just wait it out. Finally on Sunday they decided that something needed to be done and they put a shunt in her head to drain the massive amount of fluid. She is finally starting to come back and not as confused and can remember how to sit and walk again. It has been very draining on Jeremy's mom and we've been worried about her because she's been running herself ragged.

We've had a few other minor health issues with relatives, but I'm happy to say that it was nothing serious and they are all on the road to recovery. Hopefully we can stay a healthy family for awhile.

Through all of this, plus Easter, I did manage to find time to finish my nautical table runner. I don't like how the binding turned out because for some reason when I turned it to the back it wasn't consistent. Oh well.


It isn't a very good picture, but it was the best I could do yesterday.

I also made this alphabet board for Cody. We are working on knowing what the letters look like and I figured this would be a good way to work on it.




Cody has a screening for Kindergarten today and then we have a bunch of errands to run before our busy weekend. I swear someday things will calm down. I wouldn't mind as much if we could at least get outside and enjoy spring. That's hard to do when there is still at least a foot of snow on the ground and they are predicting more this weekend. I AM SO SICK OF WINTER!

Birthday weekend

Cooper's birthday weekend was great. He had so much fun being spoiled by all the grandparents.

Here he is opening his stash. Sorry about the dark picture. We got a new camera and I haven't figured out all the settings yet.

Even that party animal Merlin got tuckered out with all the fun!

Overall the weekend went pretty well. It is always nice to have family around. And I don't have to do dishes for three whole days!

Hopefully I will be able to get some crafting done this week. I am still recovering from my cold, but getting better every day.

We are all sick again. Cody had it two days ago, Jeremy has had it for about 5 days, and Cooper and I got it today.

Hopefully we are better for Cooper's party!

A productive weekend

I actually had a pretty productive quilting weekend. I got one set of potholders done (pictures to come when I get batteries for the camera), another set ready to sandwich, a table runner ready stitch the binding down, and another pattern in the works.

My hubby surprised me with flowers last night for our anniversary. Too bad I couldn't see them since the stupid electric went out. We went out this morning and got him the Super Smash Brothers game for the Wii. I'm sure we will be playing it when he gets home. I also got him the new Alan Jackson CD. It sucks he had to work today, but at least his leave starts tonight.

I added a Works in Progress list over on the side. It isn't everything, but its the ones I actually have out of boxes. It is sad how many things I start and never actually finish. I still have a really long list of cross stitch projects that I want to get done. Maybe before I am 90 it might happen, then again probably not because there is always a new project I want to do.

My baby turns 2 on Saturday so I'm not sure how much I will be updating this week. It is going to be hectic between Cody's school stuff, birthday party planning, and just family stuff.

I hope everyone has a great week and gets more rest than I will!

Car Seats...

These are the things that have been keeping me from working on new projects.



They are car seats for my FIL's Gremlin. Someone else will actually put the seats together, but I had to sew the detail stitching on. It hasn't been too bad, but definitely time consuming. I have one more to go which hopefully will get done tonight.

This is what happens when your 4 year old get ahold of your camera. He took about 80 pictures, most of which were of the TV. It is interesting to see what things they capture though. I could watch almost a whole episode of Reba through the pictures he took!



I'm hoping to have some new things to share soon. The weather is going to be cruddy again so I'll be stuck at home. If the kids actually cooperate and take a nap I plan on making a good size dent in my to do list.

Thankfully the weather is going to cooperate this weekend and we will be heading out on our aborted trip from last weekend.

It will be nice to just spend some time with family and relax. And conveniently there is a quilt shop in town that I plan on checking out.

I hope you all enjoy your weekend!