New Years Thoughts

I know that January is now almost over, but I have been thinking about what kind of goals I would like to have for the coming year.  And they say if you don't write down your goals, then they are just wishes.  Which is true; I'm trying to remember what resolutions I had last year, and the only one I can remember is to write in my blog every week (and I only remember that because I blogged about it.  ;)  Which on a side note, I was not perfect in my goal last year, obviously; but I did get much better at it than I had been in the past.  I'll count that as a successful failure in that respect then.)  So you can ignore this post if you want, it's mostly for my own benefit.  Although it'll be nice to know I'll have some accountability for my resolutions at the end of the year, since I'll not only remember them, but everyone has read them too. 

Obviously the most pressing roles I have now are those of a wife and a mother.  Being 7 months pregnant, and starting to struggle a little more with getting off the floor and hauling this big belly around, I've been thinking more and more about how things will change around here with a new baby in the mix.  3 kids is a big change I understand: They will now out number us, in the parent/child ratio.  And Banana Girl is 6 months younger than Princess M was when she was born.  I don't remember having any jealousy issues or resentment of the baby with Princess M, but I'm a little worried about how Banana Girl is going to take the change.  She's still very clingy and even gets jealous of the attention we give Princess M.  So I guess one of my new years resolutions is to spend some one on one time with each of our children each week, to help them know how much I love each one of them individually. 

Resolution 1: Mommy/daughter date night each Wednesday with one of my girls, and one on one time with the other 2 sometime during the week.

We started doing our Family Home Evenings more regularly last year (Frankly we were terrible at it until we told Princess M that allowances would only be handed out after FHE each week.  Now we have a little girl who is great about reminding us to have FHE.)  Anyway, I'd like to perfect that and not miss a single week this year.  So far we're right on track.  I also want to add a little more planning/family counsel to the beginning of FHE and more time at the end for a significant activity each week that the kids could look forward to (rather just a board game and then go to bed.)

Resolution 2: Family Home Evening every Monday night; starting early enough for a significant, fun, activity and including family planning/counsel at the beginning. 

As a wife, I know that Alex is wanting to be healthier with his new years resolutions.  I have 2 nights a week to cook dinners (Alex has 2, Princess M has 1, then we have date night & leftover night) and although I know I can't commit to always cooking healthy (why are the best tasting foods also so not good for us?)  I do want to try to improve the health of our meals as well. 

Resolution 3: Cook one meal each week that would be considered Very Healthy.  (Using my Healthy cookbooks for help if needed.)

Resolution 4: Do my hair and make up everyday.

This is two fold.  One, I've found myself falling into the homely house wife look, now that I don't go to work anymore (sometimes staying in my jammies all day), and I know Alex appreciates it when I make an effort in the morning.  I want him to enjoy seeing me when he comes home.  And two, I just feel more put together and ready for the day when I take the time to spruce up in the morning. 

On a personal note, I have a few things I'm working on.  Alex bought me a guitar for Christmas (isn't he great?) so I'd like to learn how to play this year; at least a start.  I want to get to the temple more; and I've started making some progress on my scrapbooking again (now that I've figured out how to do the digital scraping.)

Resolution 5: Learn to play 10 songs by the end of the year really well (including at least 2 lullabies).

Resolution 6: Visit the Temple every month.

Resolution 7: Finish scrapbooking 2007, 2008, and 2009 and get them printed into books.

Well, that's probably enough resolutions for one post.  As for my blog, I still want to keep writing once a week like I resolved on last year, however, I want to start including more journal posts centered on my thoughts, rather than just a summary of each weeks events.  Not that I want to skip the events; this is the only journal I have now, and will be the basis for future scrapbooks, I just want more of my thoughts and feelings and convictions included for future generations to get to know me better; like a journal. 

I guess that makes Resolution 8.

Road Trip (Part 3): Christmas & New Years in Utah

For the last week of my trip I met up with my dear husband and darling kids in Utah at my brother's house.  Don and Tami very generously let us stay over a week, from before Christmas until New Years.  It was so great to spend the time with them and their family for so long. 


Recognize these, Lynda?  Alex's mother gave the kids these cute fuzzy ear muffs.  Banana Girl loves hers so much, she still wears them around the house as a fashion statement, whenever she finds them.

We all got black & red Minnie/Mickey jammies for Christmas eve this year.  Here's me and my girls hanging out on the couch Christmas morning.  Is it just me, or does Minnie look pregnant too?

 Alex sporting his new jammies and reading.

Princess M and her cousin A, who is just a little older, were thick as thieves the whole week.  In fact we hardly saw her from sunup until sundown, while we were there.

Banana Girl with her gift from her sister.  It's just a little Winnie the Pooh figurine from the dollar store, but Princess M bought it with her own money, and Banana Girl loved it best.  (Now if I could just find a way to keep a pair of pants on that girl...)

We got to spend a couple nights at Great Grandma Kidman's house and with Jared & Maryle's family.  We also took an evening to go see the lights on Temple Square and share some hot chocolate & appetizers at Denny's.  Denny's gave us a private room to contain all the kids.  It was really a lot of fun. 

After ringing in the New Year with games, movies, and family; we took off the next day for home again.  It was sad to say goodbye, and we're so grateful to everyone that hosted both me and my family over this whole trip.  It really has been quite the adventure; and just so good so see so much of the family. 

We're finally now getting back into a rhythm here in Sierra Vista again.  I've been called as the Ward Choir Director, and am busy trying to figure out all that I need to be doing.  Alex is out of town this week with work again.  So it's just me and the girls for a little while.  They really are good girls most of the time though.  I appreciate how much they are willing to help me out.  I've really been blessed.  I need to remember that when I start losing my temper; which happens more often when Alex is gone.

Road Trip (Part 2): Colorado

We took a couple day break in Colorado with my brothers' families.  We spent a lot of time just hanging out together and enjoying each others' company. 

Here's two of my beautiful nieces, who were thick as thieves.  We had just enjoyed a tasty spaghetti dinner and they were reading books together on the recliner. 

I can't believe how big this girl is getting...and I don't mean Rachael.  Aren't they both gorgeous!

Apparently there was a new Verizon store grand opening, where they were giving away ALL of their phones for free.  The whole Colorado crowd had new Droid (or similar) phones.  So this was a common view while we were there.

It was great to see everyone again.  All too soon, we had to be on the road again.  This time our final leg to Utah! 

Road Trip!

I was gone the last half of the month of December, which may explain a little my remiss in posting for a while.  Alex's mother generously offered to load us the use of her car for a while, seeing that she just bought herself a brand new Lexus and wouldn't be able to drive them both back to Mexico.  Catch was that I'd need to fly to Maryland and pick it up to drive back to Arizona.  Being a little sporty car, there is no room for car seats in the back, so I would need to go alone, while Alex stayed home with the kids.  My gorgeous sister, below, so obligingly agreed to meet me in Baltimore and help me drive the car back. 

We planned the trip for just before Christmas to coordinate with her husband's time off school and the trips we would both be taking anyway to Utah with our families for Christmas.  So we met in Baltimore, spent just a little time with some of Alex's family out there. We got to see my twin nephews who were born a couple months ago.  They are absolutely adorable!  I can't imagine the work that must go into caring for twin newborns.  God bless their parents; I'm sure it will be so worth it all in the end.  

Next we drove up to upstate New York, where my parents are serving their mission in the Palmyra Temple.  It was wonderful to see them again.  We got to attend a temple session with them the first night we were there, which was wonderful!  

We followed that up by meeting up with my little brother, Mike, at his place of work, for some awesome buffalo wings and a little karaoke.  I haven't seen Mike since the last family reunion, so it was really a treat (and hopefully we'll be forgiven for taking our missionary parents to a sports bar.)  And who knew he could sing so well!!  You should hear his Johnny Cash!  It's amazing!  I got to sing a duet with Mikey too.  "Summer Lovin'" from Grease.  We rocked the house!

We spent the weekend with them, played some canasta, visited the local Amish goods store, toured the Christmas lights, and enjoyed another evening with Mike and his girlfriend, Amber.  Maryle and I also sequestered ourselves for a few hours to make Mom our Christmas present.  Since she couldn't take her wall of pictures of her grandkids with her on her mission for lack of space, we created a family tree for her on corkboard for her to pin wallet sized pictures to.  It was really fun working with Maryle, and how our ideas melded into the final product, which I think turned out awesome! 

From there we drove to Maryle's home in Indiana, where we met up with her family and caravaned together to Colorado.  Watching Maryle be reunited with her family made me really start to miss my own sweet little girls and loving husband.  We got to talk everyday on the phone, and that helped a little.  I couldn't wait to see them all in Utah though. 

Gingerbread Houses

A couple weeks ago we made a gingerbread house for the first time in our family.  The girls had a lot of fun doing it, and I think more candy went into their mouths than on the house.  Here's the finished results:

Princess M also go invited to a Christmas Tea Party this year, where they made their own little gingerbread (or graham cracker) houses. 

 

Now we just need to help Banana Girl understand why she can't just go eat them whenever she wants. 

Princess M goes Barber on me

Last week, after being thoroughly scolded for using her scissors on her toys, and having her scissors confiscated, Princess M found mine and decided to fix her "bangs in her face" problem for both herself and her little sister. 

She actually cut a fairly straight line, since she cut them off all the way up to the hairline, so I haven't tried to "fix" it at all.  Besides, what can you really do, besides just keep their hair pulled back for the next couple months. 

So I guess, Banana Girl now has had her first haircut.  She definitely didn't need it yet, and she lost some of her beautiful curls in the back, but I tried to find a lock or two on the floor that I could save for her scrapbook.  She's had a hard enough time growing the hair that she does have.  Now she looks more like a boy than ever.    I'm going to have to dress her in pink everyday.

When sisters find the camera