Reflections on 2007!

I got the most fabulous present from my husband!!! This past weekend, he took the kids to Memphis and gave me TWO whole DAYS to myself! It was WONDERFUL! I slept late, drank coffee, read magazines, went to lunch twice, shopped, spent Christmas money, browsed the net, watched a super cute movie (Nanny Diaries), and just totally enjoyed myself! On Sunday morning, I got up and made coffee and climbed back in bed to spend time with the Lord. I actually had peace and quiet to reflect and pray. It was great. I made a whole list of goals for myself, my time with the kids, and my time with Greg. I will share some of those in a later post. I thought it would be fun to look back at a post I made almost a year ago. I don't like to think of these as resolutions, but goals! I am looking back to see what were successes and what are things to continue to work towards. Sooooooo here we go:

Wednesday, January 03, 2007
What I am hoping for 2007!

These are not resolutions or anything like that. I set myself up for failure when I post those. Instead, I am just going to write some things that I am praying will happen this year! Let me preface them by saying that I believe that God is sovereign and in control! I hope to be able to look back at these and see how he chose to answer!

1. I would like for the twins to breeze through multiplication! ( My family is not known for its strength in math!) *** THEY BOTH KNOW HOW TO MULTIPLY AND COMPLETED THIRD GRADE AS HONOR ROLL STUDENTS!!! ***

2. I would like to sell my house and move into a home that we can live in for a long time! ***BOY DID GOD ANSWER THIS ONE! AFTER A LONG WAIT,GOD BLESSED US WITH A BEAUTIFUL HOME IN A WONDERFUL NEIGHBORHOOD. I HOPE TO ALWAYS REMEMBER THAT HIS TIMING IS BETTER THEN MY OWN!!! ***

3. I would like for my parents to move closer. *** THEY ACTUALLY MOVED A LITTLE BIT FARTHER AWAY, BUT THIS JOURNEY IS NOT OVER AND THERE IS STILL A CHANCE OF THEM MOVING THIS WAY. THIS REMAINS ON MY PRAYER LIST FOR 2008! ***

4. I would like for Noah to potty train ( can it be easy too?) ***SUCCESS....IN JULY NOAH WAS COMPLETELY TRAINED. ***

5. I would like to have a full understanding of how a MAC computer works and not have to email Greg's cousin with tons of questions. *** WELL I CAN'T SAY THAT I AM A MAC MASTER, BUT I DO UNDERSTAND IT BETTER. LOTS MORE TO LEARN THOUGH!!! ***

6. I would like to start teaching ballet again ( part time of course). *** MAJOR ANSWER TO PRAYER...I STARTED TEACHING AGAIN IN SEPTEMBER, AND THEN GOD FLUNG OPEN SOME DOORS FOR ME AND I AM ABOUT TO START TEACHING AT A SCHOOL HERE IN MY CITY THAT I HAVE ALWAYS WANTED TO BE A PART OF. I WILL BE TEACHING 3 CLASSES A WEEK STARTING NEXT WEEK! ***

7. I would like to find a church that we can really grow in and be apart of ( and I would like to be there for a LONG time). *** CLOSER TO THIS GOAL.....WE ARE REGULARLY ATTENDING A CHURCH AND IT COULD BE THE ONE. WE ARE STILL PRAYING AND SEEKING. ***

8. I would like to be able to take really GOOD pictures. *** UNFORTUNATELY, I DID NOT DEVOTE THE TIME TO THIS AS I WOULD HAVE LIKED. THIS IS STILL A MAJOR GOAL OF MINE. I PROBABLY NEED TO TAKE A CLASS! ***

9. I would like to get my entire house organized ( I mean having everything in a place, labeled and sorted so that I never have to wonder where things are). *** ONGOING, BUT DEFINITELY SINCE THE MOVE, I AM MORE ORGANIZED. ***

10. I would like to end 2007 being able to say that I grew in my walk with the Lord and truly saw his hand work in my life throughout the year. ***YES I HAVE GROWN, BUT STILL HAVE A LONG WAY TO GO. I TRULY DID SEE HIS HAND IN OUR LIVES THIS YEAR. IT HAS BEEN A GOOD YEAR, ALTHOUGH TRYING AT TIMES!!! ***

There you have it. Some of these may seem silly, but they are all things that I desire. I probably forgot a few things so I may have to update later. I am the type of person that has to write EVERYTHING down. It feels good to plan and dream! You should try it! :)

A Merry Time....

Just thought I would share a few highlights from our Christmas Eve and morning!









Wii had a WONDERFUL holiday! ;) Oh, and just for the record...it really is as much fun as all the hype has made it out to be! I have to fight Madeline and Meredith so they will let me have a turn to dance with the Hannah Montana game!!!

Noah's Preschool Christmas Party

Noah had his preschool party last Tuesday! I got there early in order to ensure that I would get all of the obligatory pictures!

First he made a craft!



Then he ate:


And ate some more:


He only stopped eating long enough to give me this cute little tile that he made! Little Boys are so sweet!

Santa visits the neighborhood (early)!!!

This past Sunday, Santa made a stop at our little neighborhood party! The kids were delighted, however much to my dismay not one of them asked for a thing that I have gotten them! In fact, Madeline asked for a DOG! HELP!
Noah asked for Batman stuff!!! WHAT????? Everyword out of his mouth for the past month has had something to do with STAR WARS!!!


Madeline asking for a CHIHUAHUA! Uh, say what???




Meredith asked for an Instant Messenger thing that I had briefly considered getting! What about the IPOD she has been begging for, not to mention the certain gift that I have been getting anxiety attacks over?



Greg and I pasting smiles on our face, all the while wondering where our children came up with their wish lists!!! ;)

Our Family: Christmas 2007

Taken at my MIL & FIL's anniversary party last Sunday:

The things a mother does:

I have been hunting a Nintendo Wii since October! I have tried/called everywhere. I am on an email alert system that lets me know when places have them in stock. Literally, they sell out in minutes!!! This would be the "end all " gift for my girls if I could find it. I thought I had TWICE this week. First, I was on my email and the alert clicked on and said that Amazon had them in stock. I immediately clicked over, put it in my cart, entered cc info, etc. I THOUGHT I had purchased one until I clicked 'complete order' and it said "sorry we no longer have these". I burst out crying!!!! THEN....yesterday a friend told me that she may have found me one....some friend of hers mother bought FIVE of them at Walmart in Hattiesburg! How I do not know?? I just want one. Well she had one left but somebody was debating whether to buy it or not!!! HELLO...am I the only one that thinks if you have to debate about it, then you should let someone that has been searching, have it??? UGH! This morning I stood in a line at Walmart, only to be told the truck showed up with ZERO on there! So, I am basically winding down my search...if anyone knows of one...LET ME KNOW!!! **And for the record, I know there are much more impt things to think about ,and to spend my energy on!!! ;( When you are a mom, you do ridiculous things for your kids.

Christmas at my house!!

Just wanted to post a few pictures of my house decorated for Christmas.

The Keeping Room ( I need to let the kids put some ornaments on the tree):




My living room ( notice Meredith's very GREEN room in the background ? ):



Closer look at my tree ( I promise to let my kids hang all of their ornaments...that is why it is a little bare...we haven't had time). I am in LOVE with my new finds...the green sparkly branches and the confetti copper balls. I found them at Thanksgiving in AL! I didn't buy enough though....when will I ever learn??

How Long does it take....

One Mother to completely clean out and re-organize two TEN year olds bedrooms? Well let me tell you.....all Saturday morning, and all Saturday afternoon. I made them try on every stitch of winter clothing and much to my dismay, the majority of it did NOT fit. We have about 3 bags of clothes to give to Goodwill and a whole bin to consign! I also made them go through all toys and knick knacks to donate as well! We completely organized their closets....they have shelves and if I owned a label maker, I would have labeled their shelves (hmmmm, that may be a future puchase)!!! We have a shelf for jeans, a shelf for other pants, a shelf for purses, etc. We dusted and vacumned and *hopefully* made it easier for them to actually put their things away in the proper place. If you knew what a huge sack of trash I threw out, you would be disgusted. One project down.....more to come!!!! Doesn't it sound like I had a FUN Saturday? ;) *** I just about fell over tonight when I took Noah into his room to get him ready for bed....he looked around and informed me that "someone had messed up his room"!!! He is much better at putting things away, then his sisters!!! I am trying to do a better job EARLIER with him on this and learn from my past mistakes!!!

Christmas Pictures & Braces

Two random things.....Sunday, I ATTEMPTED to take a Christmas picture of the kids. I am usually on the ball with my pictures, but as I stated in a previous post, I am not doing too well. Anyway, I tried to get them out in front of our house before church, but I could not get them all to smile. Noah was fussing because he did not want to sit in the middle. How does he know what that even means? Look at that face!!!!! LOL Anyway, this will not be going out as our card, and I will try again on Sunday afternoon before we go to my MIL's anniversary party!



They start kids in braces earlier nowadays! YIPEE!!! I got mine on in the 10th grade. Meredith got her FIRST round at age 10!!!! Yes, I said first round. Apparently, these are the pre-braces braces!!!! She does look mighty cute though! I had to bribe her to smile and she wouldn't give me a good one!