Happy New Year

You can't think "New Year" without thinking "resolutions." The definition of "resolution" should be: Ideas I will find silly and impossible in less than a month, or perhaps a week.
However every year I find myself "goal setting." This year is no different. Some things on my list are universal wishes like 1. lose weight 2. Get organized but this year I have added a few that I hope to keep:

3. Read every book of my Bible by the end of the year
4. Blog something everyday even if it's only a picture
5. Go back through my photography class binder and really learn the information
6. Try something new at least once a month
7. Take time to do the things I enjoy
8. Really live and be present in each moment

I will need to write these down and put them some place where I can see them so I can update you as often as needed. Clearly number 4 will be obvious. I also wanted to say that if you like what you read please leave a comment. I apparently need the validation that you all are actually reading this and it's more than therapy for me. A comment is like getting an unexpected letter in the mailbox. I should add that to the list. Yes #9 send random cards and letters for no apparent reason!!

We have been so busy lately replacing items in our life, adding items to our life and really just trying to survive on 3 hours of sleep. I have a new appreciation for Ron and those who work retail in general. If you can work retail and still be in the Christmas mood you must be a saint. By the third week of Christmas my internal advent calendar was counting down until this madness was over!! I do hope that next year I get the opportunity to savor the season and each wonderful thing about it. Our family will have one less person working retail I am sure. Hopefully it's me because we will be in big trouble if it's not!!

In case you are wondering items we've replaced:1. The Van...the transmission blew and frankly it wasn't worth the money to fix it so I got a new car. Being crazy as I am I cried my eyes out cleaning it out and watching it get towed down the street. Then I took a drive in my new Toyota Camry SE. I began to appreciate the little things like a horn that could actually let someone know that I was present and not to T-bone my car, or the fact that when it's bitter cold I don't have to wait for the car to decide if it wanted to unlock or not. The mere fact that it has a moon roof is enough for me to feel like I have reclaimed a bit of the youth I lost driving the Teal Mini-van all of these years. Ah yes, tears were shed, but I got over it. All I have to do now is recognize the darn thing so I don't have to keep unlocking the doors and looking for the lights to flash!

Items we've added:
1. A Dog. I know. However, we gave the kids a crazy list of requirements for a dog to darken our door step and they researched for over a year until they found it. A dog that does not shed, is hypoallergenic, needs little to no exercise, can handle enormous amounts of affection, is small and does not smell. We also said no pooping but you have to give a little sometimes. I have to say that although I don't LOVE the dog yet I am in deep like. He's very cool, quiet and all in all a good dog. I was out voted in the name arena and his name starts with "R" ugh. Rusty to be exact.

Items we've replaced:
2. The cord to the vacuum, a pair of sneakers, a toy truck, several pencils, crayons and markers and roll after roll of paper towel. See "Items we've added #1.


Items we've added:
2. A Wii. So fun. Ron is quite the rock star. Rebecca is our professional tennis player with a serve you cannot return. Just like real life Reagan can out bowl any one and as for me I can knock you out in boxing in about a minute. Don't pretend that is a surprise. I have pent up issues. Ron has less bruises. LOL kidding. sort of.

Lastly because of resolution #5...I had to scroll up too. I have some pictures to share with you. The girls were outside playing so Ryan was my model. Rusty made the cut too. Happy New Year everyone. I would love to hear some of your goals!

Kate's Baby Shower

Reagan and I took a girls trip up to Michigan for my sister's baby shower. We had a great time with Grammy the first day. When we arrived my mom had dinner waiting. We visited with her and my dad, Jon and Rachael. The next morning Grammy had made appointments for manicures and pedicures. After that we went to lunch and then to the mall. Reagan and I got our ears pierced and then bought new shoes. That evening we were out to Kate and Mike's house. We had dinner and had a chance to catch up and be entertained by Luke. He is such a cutie!! The next day was the shower. The restaurant(Fandangles on Pierson Rd in Flint,MI) was decorated beautifully.
The food was amazing and if you can ever go there to eat you totally should!!! All of Kate's friends and family came to celebrate with her and they are just the greatest group of people. After we ate Kate got to open her presents and received some of the most adorable clothes ever. I made Kate a baby calendar for the Baby's room. I know things get busy with two little ones so I was hoping it would help her keep track of those miles stones until she can put them in a baby book. It has room for pictures of the baby each month. I put a slide show in for those of you who asked me to see it. After the shower we went back to Kate's and because her boss at the restaurant completely blessed us by not charging us for the shower( I am still in shock over that) I bought dinner out for everyone. After we ate Christa(our cousin)Kate, Mike and I decorated Luke's big boy room. It turned out so cute. I have never seen such a little kid so in to John Deere tractors. It was so much fun!! Sunday came too quickly and it was time for us to come home again. When I arrived, Ron and the kids had the house all cleaned up beautifully and he had cleaned the carpets. It was so lovely to come home too. I sure am excited to see my new niece!

Halloween

This year was a great Halloween, or "Ask strangers for candy on an obscure Night" night. We always trick or treat on the Thursday before Halloween. I have no idea why. I guess its a PA thing. Anyway as much as I tried to get costumes done early it just didn't work out, so a few days before I was running around trying to make costumes. Thankfully it all worked out. As is tradition now my friend Chrissy and her two children came over after school. The kids played while we made dinner and then we proceeded to get them all ready to trick or treat. Just about the time that is all finished the guys show up and we meet the neighbors on the street and the kids begin their night. The weather was perfect in fact I could have gone longer but the kids pooped out! Anyway I know you all just want to see the pictures so I will get to it. I didn't ask my friend if her kids pictures could be posted so I blocked them out.

Reagan was a girl football player for the Eagles of course, Rebecca was a ninja, Ryan was Mushu from the movie Mulan. The other children dressed as a shadow, snow fairy and shrek.



It was a really fun night. Everyone did really well and they got lots of candy!!

Rocket

This amazingly gross creature was one of our family pets. This is Rocket the hermit crab. He came out of his shell one day and I thought it was to move into a bigger shell. I have never seen a hermit crab outside the shell and after 4 years figured out how to use the macro part of my big lens. It was so simple I feel like an idiot and I alone know how I made it work. I intend to keep that way!! I digress. ANYWAY, after Rocket sat outside his shell the whole day and didn't move I realized that he had come out to die. I took comfort in the fact that I could tell my two drama filled daughters that he didn't die alone, but there was no way on this Earth I was scooping him out. It was a perfect job for Ron. Rocket tipped over, I told the girls he died and there was much weeping. While Reagan cried she wrote this:

ROCKET:
*Hermit Crab
*I got him on July 20th, 2008
*He died on October 9th, 2009

I hope to see rocket in heaven along with a bunch of my other pets. Rocket was a great hermit crab and I am sad that he is gone. He was a boy who loved to play with speedy.(Rebecca's hermit crab)I am glad Miss Janna gave him to me. I will see him in heaven and he will be as healthy as can be. I am so glad God put Rocket and Speedy into my hands. I can't wait to see you in Heaven, Rocket...Love Reagan

Isn't that sweet? So to help the girls focus on something else my friend Chrissy invited us over for dinner so the kids could play and we could get out of the house of death and despair. We were gone for 2 1/2 hours. Upon our arrival we went to pay last respects before bed and THE CRAB WAS UPRIGHT AGAIN!!!! I immediately started having flash backs to my childhood when my bachelor Uncle let my sister and watch Pet Cemetery as very young children. We also got to eat about a trough full of ice cream...Reagan was somewhat frustrated that she had wasted all of that emotion and those kind words on a pet that was not dead. Not the reaction i expected. I suppose if I ever die and happen to be raised from the dead I won't take it too hard when they are annoyed!!
So the girls go to bed with a happy heart, I go to bed and close my door fully expecting to hear a crab claw scraping at my door. I wish I was joking. Anyway, we get up the next morning and the crab is dead again...for sure this time as he is starting to smell. I don't know if Speedy propped him up the night before or what happened but he is definitely dead now. Well he was dead or murdered because the slight smell was enough for me to put him in a plastic bag for burial. Either way, we morn the loss of Rocket who was indeed the very best hermit crab a kid could have.
Oh and I had great fun telling Reagan to take him down to show my dad on one of his visits. I told her Papa John would LOVE to see Rocket. I sat at the stairs like a child and laughed to tears as I heard my Dad say...OK REAGAN, SERIOUSLY TAKE THAT UPSTAIRS I DON'T NEED TO BE BY YOUR CRAB!!!! ROFLOL it still makes me laugh. Yeah...Rocket he was a blast...lol...

Preview

I know it has been almost a month simply because I am looking at the date, but it really feels like just a few days since the last time I posted. Here are a few items you can look forward too:

1. Our trip to Michigan
2. Kate's baby shower and the gift I made. (I know some of you have been wanting to see pictures)
3. Swine Flu and the joy of caring for someone who likes to be cared for
4. Trick or Treat night...yes it's still on the Thursday before Halloween

so needless to say I will be playing catch up over the next few days!! I have it on my list to pull my camera back out so that should help me too. Hope you all are well and this bad blogger will redeem herself soon!!

Here are two pictures of Ryan waiting for Reagan to show us her moves in swim class:

This is Ry about to show me how strong he is.
Here is my cool breeze watching the kids swim!

A Camping We Will Go

So yesterday was the big day. Time to get Reagan ready to go on her first camp out with the American Heritage Girls. Easy enough. Ryan and I go shopping for all the things on her giant list. One hundred dollars later we are through. After we get home I start putting things together and realize that she does not have enough clean pants so I throw a load of laundry in. Time flies by and it's time to get the kids from the school bus. Keep in mind Ryan just got off the potty a few minutes ago so imagine my surprise when I am ready to walk out the door and he is soaked in pee. Great. I call my neighbor and he goes and gets the kids. We race around the house trying to finish the packing and getting Reagan another shower since I don't know when she'll get to have one. I call my friend Angie and since neither of us knows where we are going we decide to follow each other. We pick a meeting spot and it's ready set go. I knew Reagan needed to eat dinner and since I didn't know what time they were doing what I take everyone through Wendy's. We go to pull away from the drive thru and i look in the bay...3 straws...4 drinks. I was just about to complain about this when I hear...SPLASH...Rebecca dumped what was supposed to be a small size soda but was more like a medium, all over the floor. Instead of quickly picking it up she stands there. Since I am buckled with stuff on my lap I start yelling...hurry up pick it up!!!! Too late. Entire cup all over the floor. So she grabs a towel and starts to clean it up. Now she's crying. I tell her I am sorry for yelling but she informs me that's not why she is crying...she has no drink now. I say don't worry about it you can share with Ry because he doesn't need a 2 liter for a drink. Now we are running late. I pull out of the parking lot and over goes my soda and my fries go flying. At this point I am like...seriously?? I get a call, it's Angie she has forgotten her own jacket and since she was staying with the girls she has to go back. We just bought ourselves 20 minutes. I stop at another light and hear...OH GREAT!...it's Becs again...spilled fries. UNREAL. We finally get to the meeting place and i get out to pour some of Ryan's drink into Becca's cup and Reagan says the words I am starting to dread...OH GREAT! I look over and she has spilled her fries. Then she has the nerve to say...Bad things always happen to me....REALLY??? My car just got baptised in root beer and fries and bad things happen to her? I think not. Well God spared her a lecture because one minute later Angie pulls up. So we are on our way. The ride there was uneventful except for the last 20 minutes where Ryan starts to cry because he has to pee. He's yelling...it hurts...which i have finally figured out means...I am holding it and I can't do this much longer. I tell him, and did I mention he had no nap, just pee you have a pull up on...it's OK. He doesn't get it so continues to cry the rest of the way. We finally arrive at camp it's dark and pouring rain. Like Movie rain where you are soaked within minutes. Our tent is not ready so we put all of our things in on tent. Ryan is still crying because he has to pee and now he's getting wet, Rebecca admits she lied and did not go to the bathroom before she left and now has to go and Reagan has disappeared into the dark before I could give her some last minute instructions. I send Bec to the bathroom with some of the older girls, hold Ry, put him down, pick him up, put him down beg him to tell me why he is still crying and then it happens. Sweet relief he can't hold it a second longer and he finally pees. See, I told you your pants wouldn't get all wet. Thinking not much else can go wrong I kiss Reagan good bye help her get her poncho on, remind her not to get lost and we head back to the car. Becca informs me that the bathrooms/outhouse smelled so bad there was no way she was going in there. As we get back to the car, it's still pouring and I am soaked, I tell bec to go to the front of the car, pull your pants down and squat down and pee. I reminded her to hold her pants out of the way. I get Ry settled and her comes Becca around the corner soaked from waist to ankles with pee. She didn't know I meant she had to pull her pants all the way down. Now I just start laughing. It's so ridicules at this point all I can do is laugh. Thankfully I had one more blanket in the trunk so I told her to strip down and to wrap herself in the blanket. I get a few things switched around and I look in the back seat and she is sitting there half naked on top of the blanket. I said...don't you think you might get cold? She replies yes I am freezing. After a long exhale I tell her to WRAP herself in the blanket like a towel around her waist. We are finally headed home. The only thing left to do was have my car break down or get lost but thankfully none of that happened. What a night. This morning I took Reagan new shoes because hers were soaked and some new socks because by the time they got their tent set up the floor was wet. So glad she had a mat to sleep on. Tonight will be cold and the windows in her tent do not close. Hopefully all the other things I gave her to keep her warm will work. She is however having the best time ever. She was learning to build a fire when I left.

Camping

Reagan is going camping tomorrow night with her scouting program. Thankfully my Dad has camped in a tent before and gave me some advice of how to keep her warm. It has been quite chilly here at night so I am hoping it works. She will earn about 6 badges this weekend which is awesome for her, not so great for me. That means I have to sew them all on the vest. Ugh. However, I think I am going to find that boy scout store because they are smart and have this super sticky stuff just for badges. No sewing!! I am sure that will look about a million times better as I am a terrible sewer. I hope to hear some good stories from Reagan when she returns. I cannot go because I and Ron have to work at one time or another. I am trying to be super sad about that, but my version of camping has a camper in it with a bed and heat for heaven sakes. I seriously need to pull my camera out. It has been ages since I have posted anything with any pictures. I have been a little stressed lately and I think it's coming out in my posts!! I promise some more light hearted stuff soon.

On a totally unrelated note, Rebecca has been scared to death to eat in the cafeteria at school. It's been a couple of weeks that she hasn't been eating her lunches. She had herself so worked up that she couldn't eat anything. Well we partnered with her teacher and I went and had lunch with the other day. She was right it is loud in there. However, we were able to look at the situation piece by piece and come up with some tangible solutions to make it less scary. Today she came home, had a great lunch, wasn't scared at all. Thank goodness for teachers that work with parents! I know I couldn't have done it alone and I am blessed to have such a great teacher for Rebecca. She has gone out of her way to help Bec work this out. I have a debt of gratitude to Mrs. Flynn!! Hopefully I am not celebrating too soon. I am just so thankful that she ate today. I have been so stressed out trying to figure out how to help her. God has given amazing wisdom to us and to her teacher and a fantastic amount of grace and courage to Rebecca.

One more unrelated note. I am potty training Ryan. pray for me....