Resolutions

Happy New Year!

Along with the closing of 2008 and the beginning of 2009 come a list of resolutions, ideas we have of how to do and be better in the next year. Topping most lists are items like working out, losing weight, managing debt, even volunteering more. I've never been a fan of New Year's Resolutions, mostly because I know they will be broken within days (however...most of you will be surprised to learn that I DID give up M&Ms one year and lasted well into February). In fact, Jeremy and I were talking the other day and we decided that we needed to go back to the gym "before Jan 1...so it wouldn't be a New Year's resolution". haha (we never made it in).

Strangely, this year I have a list, not in writing, but in my head. Most of it has to do with being a better mother or wife. Here are a few.

1. Use less chemicals to clean with and more natural products

2. Get and Stay organized

3. Keep up with my cleaning schedule, daily, weekly, and monthly

4. Spend less time on the Internet

5. Spend more time with the girls

6. Always have a plan for teaching Nicole new things

7. Spend more time reading the Bible (I'm not so bold as to say "read the Bible in a year" because I know I will fail, terrible, huh?)

8. Race in an in-line marathon

9. Exercise more regularly

10. Enjoy life more and worry less

While I was thinking of all the things I could be doing better, it made me think of some of the things I did well last year, or at least improved on.

1. Potty trained Nicole

2. Delivered a baby without any interventions

3. Exclusively nursed Hannah up to this point, 8 month

4. Took care of my family by cooking breakfast, lunch and dinner for them almost daily (the other days we went out...I didn't starve them:-)

5. Took cable/satellite out of our house and survived!! :-)

6. Used cloth diapers for nearly a year and saved lots of money.

7. Made it through the first 12 weeks with a newborn and 2 year old.

8. Learned to make gravy from scratch

9. Saved money using Coupons

10. Made an effort to be a better friend and have occasional "girls nights"


A few months ago, I found a list of resolutions written by Jonathan Edwards, the great Puritan preacher from the 1700s. Apparently he had a running list of resolutions. They are quite interesting. View them here.

I wanted to post a few that struck me (these are all from the link I provided above)

4. Resolved, never to do any manner of thing, whether in soul or body, less or more, but what tends to the glory of God; nor be, nor suffer it, if I can avoid it.
5. Resolved, never to lose one moment of time; but improve it the most profitable way I possibly can.
6. Resolved, to live with all my might, while I do live.

7. Resolved, never to do anything, which I should be afraid to do, if it were the last hour of my life.

10. Resolved, when I feel pain, to think of the pains of martyrdom, and of hell.

17. Resolved, that I will live so, as I shall wish I had done when I come to die.

25. Resolved, to examine carefully, and constantly, what that one thing in me is, which causes me in the least to doubt of the love of God; and to direct all my forces against it.

37. Resolved, to inquire every night, as I am going to bed, wherein I have been negligent,- what sin I have committed,-and wherein I have denied myself;-also at the end of every week, month and year

41. Resolved, to ask myself, at the end of every day, week, month and year, wherein I could possibly, in any respect, have done better.

52. I frequently hear persons in old age, say how they would live, if they were to live their lives over again: Resolved, that I will live just so as I can think I shall wish I had done, supposing I live to old age.

56. Resolved, never to give over, nor in the least to slacken, my fight with my corruptions, however unsuccessful I may be.

58. Resolved, not only to refrain from an air of dislike, fretfulness, and anger in conversation, but to exhibit an air of love, cheerfulness and benignity.

69. Resolved, always to do that, which I shall wish I had done when I see others do it

Any Resolutions for you?

Christmas

Christmas is over, but I'm still behind. Here are some pictures from our Christmas celebrations

Hannah loving on the blanket Grammy made for her

I love this picture of the two of them

Opening gifts

The "big" gift. My neighbor was getting rid of the kitchen set. She gave it to us! We bought her family a couple of gift cards because this kitchen looks brand new. I don' t think her boys played with it much at all. It came stocked with pots/pans, food, and serving dishes. The microwave makes noise, there is a light above the stove (which also makes noise) and a phone that rings and beeps. It's really neat, and she loves it:-)

Hannah loving her new little chair at Yaya and Papa's house

Nicole sitting in her big girl "soft" chair

This is a really cool elephant that they can sit on. Nicole really likes it, but she doesn't like sharing with Hannah (can you tell) Hannah thinks it's great.


Nicole and Papa looking at her new train.


We went to the pool last Sunday. I can't NOT post pool pics in the middle of December (sorry Kirsten:-)


Hannah had a blast in the water.

I finally got some goods pictures with the girls (I won't tell you how many we had to take to get this one).


Nicole looked at me yesterday and said (while pointing to me). "Mommy-me friend. Doggie-me friend". It was sweet...she told me I was her friend and compare our friendship to that of her doggie (which is a BIG deal. That doggie has become real to her I believe, she gets sad when he falls on the floor and laughs when he licks her. If she's crying, she wants her doggie to hug and and kiss her boo boos)

Well, that's all for today. I have news that my sister-in-law is probably in labor. Maybe she'll have the first baby of 09 (although I think they want her to come before the clock strikes twelve) Good luck Tiffy.

Is it really worth it?

I have many posts that need to be written, however I am pressed for time (Nicole has "made" me donuts and I must eat them soon). I had to share, yet another "Girl Talk" post that brought tears to my eyes...just what I needed to hear and be reminded of about Motherhood. Take a minute and read it too.
Year in Review

I'll do a fun update later, hopefully

Savings to date

I have been tracking my savings at CVS and Publix for just a short time, but it has been a useful tool to encourage me to continue clipping coupons and being diligent in the use of our money. Thankfully, Jeremy wants me to stay home, so I feel like I need to be careful with our finances to add financially to our family, not by making more money to bring home, but to be wise with the money we already have. I have seen a slight loosening in our accounts over the past couple of months and I credit much of it to smarter shopping. I want to share my savings with you (I was not extremely consistent with my tracking at first. I'm pretty sure I've missed a few receipts here and there).

CVS (since 10/9/08)
Value of Merchandise $669.61
Coupon Total $276.82
ECB used $353.14
Total oop $49.06
ECB earned$375.81

Publix (since 11/2/08)
Value of Merchandise $1,056.12
Total after coupons/sales $638.63
Total savings $417.64
% Saved 40%
*Just to encourage you that those $.40 coupons add up, I have used $168 in coupons in just 2 months! and my stores do NOT double coupons!!!

So....what are you still reading this for, get to your coupons clipping, I've found that it is well worth the time:-)

Money Saving Monday

I have so many things to share, however my time is very short so I will have upload photos of Christmas later. For right now, I had to share my store experiences this week.

CVS
Here's what I got
1 Tide 28-32 loads
1Quattro Tour razor for women
2 bottles of Nature's Bounty zinc (BOGO)
2 Dawn Ultra (BOGO)
3 Johnson's suddies soap for Nicole
3 bags of hershey's Christmas chocolate
2 Colgate Total
2 Natur's Bounty Vitamin D (BOGO)
4 mint listerines (raincheck)

Merchandise total $67.03
Coupons $46.45
ECB used $18.98
ECB earned $15
Total OOP $1.60

Yeah..I know...pretty cool, huh? I took my mom and she did a couple of transactions. She spent all of her ecb, but she got some laundry detergent, napkins and other items that didn't have ecb. So, she did pretty well.

Publix
Today was a big trip for me. We were out of so many staple items that haven't been onsale recently. Isn't it funny that I've been so spoiled that I am dissapointed now that I have hit my budget for this week instead of being $40 under? I spent about $100 after using close to $50 in coupons and sales.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!

We didn't send out Christmas cards this year (so sorry) but enjoyed receiving them:-) So, here is our virtual Christmas Card picture

MERRY CHRISTMAS !

This was taken last night at our church's Christmas Eve service. The girls were getting sleepy and not up for taking photography demands such as "smile". hahaha. Originally, this was our Christmas picture, taken yesterday morning, but I thought in 10 years Nicole would have words with me over it:-)

I want to post the lyrics of an old Christmas Carol that I'm sure you've sung before, at least a portion of it. Read the whole thing, you may never have sung the last couple of verses, which is unfortunate, it's just as good as the first.

Hark The Herald Angels Sing
written by: Charles Wesley

Hark! the herald angels sing, “Glory to the newborn King:Peace on earth, and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled!”Joyful, all ye nations, rise, Join the triumph of the skies;With th’angelic host proclaim, “Christ is born in Bethlehem!”

Refrain:Hark! the herald angels sing,“Glory to the newborn King.

Christ, by highest heav’n adored; Christ, the Everlasting Lord!Late in time behold Him come, Offspring of the Virgin’s womb:Veiled in flesh the Godhead see; Hail th’Incarnate Deity,Pleased as man with men to dwell, Jesus, our Emmanuel.

Hail, the heav’nborn Prince of Peace! Hail, the Sun of Righteousness!Light and life to all He brings, Ris’n with healing in His wings.Mild he lays His glory by, Born that man no more may die,Born to raise the sons of earth, Born to give them second birth.

Come, Desire of nations, come, Fix in us Thy humble home;Rise, the woman’s conqu’ring Seed, Bruise in us the serpent’s head.Adam’s likeness now efface, Stamp Thine image in its place:Second Adam from above, Reinstate us in Thy love.

Early Christmas

We have already celebrated Christmas 1 1/2 times. Jeremy's mom and dad are getting ready to go to TN to be with Tiff because she is due to have a baby ANY day (come quickly baby Susannah!). So, we celebrated Christmas with them and Granny (Greg's mom) on Sunday afternoon. I'll post another day what the girls got because I don't want to ruin the surprise for Seth and Susannah (Tiffy's kids) because they got something similar.

Then, we went to my parents house and this is where our 1/2 comes into play. Justin is going to GA with Erica and her family, so we had breakfast for dinner, read (well, listened to) the Christmas story and shared gifts mostly to and from Justin and Erica.

Here are some pictures for my snowed in family and friends. It feels like May here, so we were outside on Saturday playing in the water and kiddie pools. It's this time of the year that I love living in Florida:-)

By the way...Hannah is *almost* crawling. But, here is the BIG news....She can sit on her own now. Yesterday I actually saw her go from laying on her belly, to sitting:-) I didn't actually see Nicole do the maneuvers to sit for quite some time...I would just walk in her room and find her sitting in the crib. So, it was a treat to watch Hannah do it:-) She is starting to get up on all fours, so I'm sure crawling is coming. She's sort of lazy because she'll start to crawl after a toy, then see something else that's within arm's reach and settle for it.

And, we have a lizard living in our green room. I have a silk ficus tree, and I'm pretty sure that's where he's calling home. I hear the leaves rattling every once in a while, and I caught a glimpse of him today. Good thing I don't totally spas out about lizards...now, if it were frog...I wouldn't sleep until it was out of the house:-)

Oh, one last...well, two last statements. My friend Kathy and my cousin(in-law I guess), Jyme Beth, both had babies yesterday. They both had healthy boys, so Praise the Lord for that. Now Tiffy...it's your turn......

I Love My Family

To: Michele, Nicole, and Hannah

Love: Jeremy (Daddy)

Coupons, Coupons, Coupons

Sunday afternoon in TN, Tiffy stopped by the store to pick up a few things, including a paper. She asked if I wanted one and I said no. I forgot that my mom wasn't home and wouldn't be doing her normal "Wal-Mart" trip that morning, and I had forgotten that my in-laws no longer get the Sunday paper. Plus...I didn't have $1.75 on me to buy the paper. I was mad at myself all day long that I didn't get a paper because my friend Teri reminded me that they would probably have been coupons than we have in ours (for some reason, our papers don't receive all of the coupons available). That night when I looked through Tiff's paper (and saw all of the GREAT coupons), I whined and complained that I didn't buy one. So much so, that Jeremy just about left to go buy me a paper (hehe). Well, my friend Teri picked a local paper up for me back home, so I just had to hope that I would get a few of the good papers.

Well, my mom called me when she got off the plane from her trip to Ohio yesterday and told me she had to pack a second suit case because of all the coupons she brought home (she was kidding by the way, she definitely could have carried them on ; ) You wouldn't believe it, but she brought back a zillion coupons for me. I seriously spent an hour last night just cutting them (didn't even sort em then!) You know all of those coupons I was whining about NOT getting in TN? Well...now I have 4, 5 and even 6 sets of most of them. Here is what my dining room table looked like today when I was filing them away (remember, most of these have multiple copies underneath)

So...a GIGANTIC THANK YOU goes out to my Mama Pat and my Aunt Julie and whoever else so graciously handed over their coupons for my use:-) I'm so thrilled because some of these will come in very handy this week at CVS...BIG BIG weekend (Sun/Mon) sale. Check it out here.

Our trip video

I have compiled several segments of our trip into one video. There are a few things I forgot to mention in the previous post. Most importantly....Nicole got to chew her first piece of gum. I wish I had the whole thing on video, it was pretty funny. At first she simply sucked on the end of the the stick of gum. Eventually, a small piece was in her mouth, which she swallowed. The video picks up just after we got her to put the rest of the piece in her mouth...watch to see what happens...

We're back....

We got back last night from a WONDERFUL trip to Tennesse to visit Aunt Tiffy, Uncle Chris and Seth (baby Susannah wasn't ready to be born yet, so we missed her...Tiff is due Dec. 26:-)

Nicole was very excited about riding on an airplane. She was a great little traveler. Both Nicole and Hannah did great traveling. The ride home was a bit difficult because of missed nap times, but it certainly could have been much worse. We are really proud of them.

Nicole's little cousin, Seth, is about 7 months younger than her. They are finally getting old enough to play together a bit. In all honesty though, their "playing together" consisted mostly of watching videos together. Both have a love for Curious George:-)

Hannah got to see snow for the first time. It was cold and rainy for a few days, but one night the rain turned into snow:-) Here are some fun pictures. I would guess it snowed a couple of inches by morning time.

We got to meet a lot of Tiff and Chris' friends from church. They have a nice church family with great fellowship and community. We had dinner one night with their pastor and his family (7 kids between the ages of 9 and 19). It was neat to watch this large family of mostly teens and pre-teens interact with each other and their parents. Jane, the mother, has homeschooled all of her children (and because she is English, they all enjoy a cup of tea after dinner).

We went to a parade on Saturday morning. Let me tell you...if you live in this town, you are either IN the parade or WATCHING it. It's a very small town, but I couldn't believe how long the parade was:-) Their high school football team had just won state in their class, so this was the highlight of the parade.

Waiting for the parade

I love this look of Nicole, it makes me smile:-)

Most of the time though, we just spent enjoying the company of family. We had lots of time to talk, cook...and of course, I found a Publix and CVS to shop at:-) Acutally, I'm trying to give Tif some tips on shopping at both stores so we went to a nearby town and got her started. It was fun:-)

I have several videos to show. It takes a while to upload videos, so I think I'm going to compile them all into one video with segments in between. It'll be up later for you viewing pleasure:-)

I'm happy to be home, but also very thankful we were able to visit them for a few days. It was good for our family to get away (Nicole savored every moment with her daddy) and it was fun to spend time with Tiff, Chris and Seth. We have never really been able to visit with them like this before. I would have to say, it was one of my favorite trips we've taken as a family.

Oh...last picture. Yesterday morning, Hannah was quietly playing on the floor while we were all getting ready. When I picked her up, I finally noticed she was playing with a ballpoint pen. Pretty funny...

Thank you Tiff & Chris for opening up your home for us. We enjoyed spending time with you all.

Pink Hats

Our neighbor gave us two silly pink hats that we often play with. They are a lot of fun. The other day, we got them out and I spoke with a silly southern accent and Nicole and I sang "I'm a little tea pot" (the song that must only be sung with the pink hats on). Of course, Hannah needed a hat as well. Our names were (cue southern accent) "Happy Hannah" "Pretty Nicki" and "Merry Mommy".

I thought this was pretty artistic. To bad the lighting wasn't better.

Unfortunately for Jeremy, when he came home the other night, Nicole asked him to sing "I'm a little tea pot" He did not know the rule about the pink hats. Nicole quickly began searching and even got him to wear it (if only for a moment). Now, I would have spared Jeremy the embarrassment of this photo except....look at Nicole's face. I don't think I've ever captured a split moment of joy and excitement the way I did in the picture. She is SO excited that her daddy is wearing her pink hat. I LOVE IT!!!

Hannah "found" herself in the mirror. Again...I think it's a cool "artistic" shot.

Papa Sam...this picture is for you. I remember how neat you thought it was when Nicole ate from a mesh feeder, so I wanted you to see Hannah eating her bananas the same way.

Hannah has a new trick. She can stand up and play if I prop her a bit. This is a big accomplishment...especially since a month ago when I took her to the doctor and she wouldn't bare any weight on her legs because she was "to lazy" too. Way to go Hannah. Oh, by the way, Nicole looks happy in this picture, however in reality she is Not excited that Hannah is beginning to play with some of "her" toys, proven by some not so nice things she's done in the past few days. Any ideas and more importantly, prayers, about this would be appreciated. Anyway...if you look closely, Nicole is actually covering the keyboard section of the toy because it is "mine"

Finally, here is a video with three segments.

a) a wonderful moment of Nicole entertaining Hannah and making her laugh hysterically.

b)Hannah & Nicole playing

c) a triple Jeremy hit the other night.

I've been busy posting today, so keep reading. I believe there are two other posts that are new.

Fun with Grandma Mimi

Grandma Mimi is still here. We've been hanging out a lot, going shopping, cookies, and just playing. We had fun taking pictures earlier this week.

I know grandma wouldn't like this picture...but I love the interaction taking place here. It's adorable!

Oh, my new favorite of Hannah and I

Christmas Cookies

Monday we went to my mom's to make Christmas cut out cookies. Mom made the dough the day before and all we had to do was roll, cut out, bake, cool and ice. Nicole LOVES to help. She is such a Big helper girl in the kitchen. So, of course she loved this (of course, until she got bored)
Rolling the dough


Cutting the Cookies


More flour for the work surface

Pause for a picture


Decorate the cookies.