13 Days Off!

Today in my inbox was a comment made on here from my dear friend, Becky, who, sarcastically I'm sure, commented that I haven't blogged in 13 days. This would be my friend Becky who last blogged on her blog on December 11 and before that September 5. So...to Becky and all of you out there...I shall post another post today...as boring as it may be.

I feel extremely busy and a little overwhelmed lately. I'm trying hard to get things organized and together in this house. Last week my sister helped me clean a big part of the basement. I can't even believe how much trash/donations we had. That part of the basement looks great...now to the other part. We have limited storage because we have a 1/2 basement and then crawlspace. Yeah, I won't be going in there anytime soon (barf! Shiver!). Colin has so many things from school since he has taught 6 different subjects and doesn't have a room this year, so all of his stuff is being stored in our small basement. I did put some of the stuff in the front of the crawlspace, just to get it out of the way. We also have things like the mattresses for Henry's bed (if we ever move him from his crib) down there too...just so much stuff!

Anyway, then tonight I cleaned out my closet and drawers. I have 6 HUGE bags of things to donate tomorrow. I listed them all for tax purposes and I there were over 100 things I'm getting rid of...wow. There's more anxiety there related to all that, but not worth going into on here.

Let's see...the kids love each other or hate each other lately, so that's fun. Henry worships Abigail and she treats him like dirt a lot. Every day is a trip, that's for sure!

I'm kind of in a foul mood right now, but trying to be positive. In light of recent tragedy in our community I am trying to be better about loving and appreciating what I have, especially my wonderful family. I have absolutely no reason to be in a foul mood...so I'm going to bed to wake up happy, appreciative and ready to love on my family.

Snow Day!

It was beautiful today. Very cold, but beautiful. When Henry was napping and the sun was out Colin and I took Abigail outside. She was so excited to play hard in the snow. She started by making snow angels because she remembers doing them last year with me.

Then she and dad had a little snowball fight and she couldn't quit laughing!

Then she went on the sled...the faster the better!

We took the swings down from the swing set, but left up the slide and it was covered in snow. She had a blast going down it and even made Colin put more snow on it when she had pushed it all off by going down so much. Then...she went down the slide on the sled! My little four year-old! She probably did it 15 times and had the time of her life. I took a ton of pics and she is smiling in every single one. What fun! I was showing Henry the pictures and his response was "Me too!" Guess we'll be in the snow again tomorrow!

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In other news, I scrapped! It's been a really long time! I'm a guest on Dani's team this month, so that's got me going again! Here's a layout using the kids' Christmas card photos. :)

New Year's Resolutions?

Hmm...I don't know what I really think about New Year's Resolutions. I mean, does anyone really stick to them? It's all good in theory and stuff, but does it really happen? Ever? Without calling them "New Year's Resolutions" I have made some promises to myself of things I'd like to change/enhance/pefect in '08. In no particular order, here they are.

1. Read, read, read. I've had to use dictionary.com twice this week because I wasn't sure on a spelling of a word. Made me feel a little dumb really. I always feel much smarter when I read a lot...not sure if that makes sense to you, but it does to me. Plus, I LOVE to read!

2. Less computer time. This will be the most difficult for me, but also something I need to do for my house, husband and family. No, I'm not talking drastic changes here, but I feel some days that it's my top priority and we all know that it shouldn't be.

3. More time with God. Ideally, a specific time each day spent with him for a little time. Anyone have any suggestions for good devotionals or other books to get me going?

4. A cleaner house. A much cleaner house. Possibly a cleaning schedule that I stick to.

5. Less money spent. Specifically at Target. Oh, that one hurts to put on "paper." I may delete that one eventually! :)

I may add to that list as time goes on, but that's where my focus is right now. It's January 1st and I've already worked on a few of those. Today my mom came over and helped me clean the hell out of Abigail's room. 4 1/2 hours later Abigail has the most clean, beautiful room in Holland. I think there were 4+ bags of stuff to donate (and by bags I mean garbage bags) and the same amount of trash filled bags as well. Thank goodness for unlimited trash pick-up this week! We also used the steam cleaner on her carpets which was awesome. It really is beautiful in there. Thanks SO much, mom!

We also took pretty much all the Christmas decorations down tonight. I like to leave my mantel with my Demdaco Nativity up for a little bit longer, but otherwise everything's put away...I do really love that!

I just finished probably one of the best books that I've ever read, at least in a very long time. I read "Nineteen Minutes" by Jodi Picoult and it was amazing. I think everyone should read it and I am SO not quick to suggest books to people. It's simply amazing...I cried and almost got sick at a few parts - not because it's gross, but because it's so sad that my stomach hurt! I linked the title about to the book at Amazon so you could read the synopsis. I got it at the library otherwise I'd loan it to anyone wanting to read it! GO get it!

Another thing to blog about (and related to cleaning my house more) is that I got a Dyson DC-17 Animal for Christmas. It's amazing. Simply amazing. I think like four people that I work with have Dysons, so from their opinions and then reviews and such I decided to ask for one for Christmas. This one is the mack-daddy of Dysons and all vacuums and it's just amazing. My mom is in awe, my sister is jealous (haha, Bec!) and I'm in love. Did I mention this thing is amazing? I really should show you pictures of what it picks up sometime.

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The rest of our week starts to pick up. Tomorrow we are free during the day and may bring the kids to the Aquatic Center or sledding. Colin has to work at night. Thursday Abigail goes back to school and Colin gets to work in her class. She is so freakin' excited about that! Thursday night I think we are going to get dinner here because they sent me a $10 coupon for my Half Birthday! We haven't gone out to eat as a family in a long time, so it should be fun. Friday we don't have plans during the day, but that's okay because I don't like doing much when I have to work at night. Then Saturday Colin and I are working (him during the day, me at night). Then Sunday School teaching on Sunday, lunch at my parents' house (celebrating my dad's birthday) and dinner at Mulders. Then, Monday it's all over...my days of no running around are done! :)

Have a great rest of the week everyone. Happy 2008!

Oh my!

We've been so busy around here so I haven't had a chance to update the blog. Sorry! Our Christmas was completely wonderful! All four of us were spoiled beyond belief! The kids got a million new things and are having a blast with them all! Among the favorites are: Fisher Price SmartCycle, Jasmine outfit, Buzz lightyear laser gun, new trains, new clothes for the dolls, Elmo garage and a huge stuffed pony. They are having a blast every day playing with new toys and we are still struggling to find places for everything! Here are some pictures of our holidays.

We've been enjoying time with family while Colin's been off of work. Brett, Luna and Tavid are all in town for a couple of more days so it's been fun hanging out with them. We also got to hang out with Joel and Kelly for a couple of days which was fun too.

My laptop died this weekend...the laptop itself is perfect, but the screen is shot. I may use it hooked up to our monitor as a desktop and get rid of our desktop, but I really needed to get a new laptop. I did a lot of looking and today ended up at Circuit City buying a new laptop! I'm typing on it now and it runs beautifully so far. It has Vista on it, so that will take a little getting used to, but so far I think it's going to be easy to get used to.

Let's see...what else? Colin has this whole week off yet, so we'll be getting some family time in. Tomorrow we're headed to the mall for some returns and sales. Then at night we'll go to a New Year's party. The rest of the week is up in the air, but will probably included the Aquatic Center at some point. It's fun having him home!

Happy New Year everyone!

What fun!

We had such a fun night with the kids. It was so fun to watch them go crazy this morning when they saw their piles of presents that Santa had left...wrapped in Princess paper for Abigail and Mickey Mouse for Henry. We let them each open one this morning since they were dying waiting! They did a great job waiting until 5:00 when Grandpa and Grandma came over. They were so hilarious while they opened gifts...saying thank-you tons, getting so excited over each one and then tearing into the next. We got them a lot of little things, so they had a lot to open and loved it. After gifts we let them play while the adults had Lou Malnati's pizza that our friend Mike had sent us. He does that every year, so it's become a tradition to have that on Christmas Eve...yummy! Now the kids have been bathed, are wearing their new jammies and are watching the Grinch for like the hudredth time this holiday season! Fun night! Here are a few pictures for you.

On another note...we've had three friends have baby boys in the past week or so!

Our friends, the VZs welcomed baby Brody on Dec. 13...their first boy - yeah!

Our friends, the VDs welcomed baby Jacob on Dec. 23...their third child!

Our friends, the Ls, welcomed baby Jack today, Dec. 24...their third son - yay!

Congrats to you all!

Sending warm Christmas greetings and love to you and your families!