Resolutions? No, I Set Goals!

So, another year is upon us and I, like everyone else, am working on my New Years resolutions. I try to set "goals" that are reasonable and varying levels of challenge. What are your resolutions, do you make resolutions? I'll be honest, in the past, I have made resolutions that I quickly forget about once life starts getting busy again. Therefore, this year I'm calling them goals. So, here are a few of my "goals" for this year. I would love to hear about your resolutions and any suggestions.

1. Get birthday cards out this year to every family and friend each month. (I'm going today to purchase cards at 2 for $1, address and label them and set them up in a file that lists them per month. Then, all I have to do is pull them out at the beginning of the month, write a special message, stamp them and get them in the mailbox).

2. Start back at my aerobics class and keep with it. It's a free class at a local church, so I really have no excuse not to make it. The instructor also has a 10 minute devotional at the end of each class, which leads to my next goal. Also, I need to stick with it, even when I start my Pilates class in March.

3. Read my Bible everyday. I have a daily devotional for night and day, I've had them for atleast 4 years and shamelessly have not opened them, but maybe 2 times. My life should never be too busy to read the Word of God. Along with that, I need to start taking time-out each morning and night to pray and to give Thanks. Too many times, I fall asleep praying at night (not good) or I only think to pray when someone needs prayers or things aren't going the way I would like. God first, husband second, kids third, everything else will work itself out.

4. Graduate with my RN degree Dec. 11, 2009 and maintain "honors" and if I don't keep honors, that's okay. I can't believe that there is actually a date in sight. It feels unreal that I will finally graduate this year, I hope! I hear pediatrics is pretty hard because of the instructor.

5. I would like to have more patience with my kids. Sometimes I put other things, less important before them. Since I've been in school, I find that the little things they do, get on my nerves. I've little patience for the arguing, complaining, sibling rivalry, and tattle-telling. I need to learn ways of working with them, instead of losing my patience and yelling.

6. Take more time for Tim and I. We've been married for almost 12 years and we plan on staying married for years to come, but like all things it takes work and time together. We have a wonderful babysitter a block away and we don't use her nearly enough. Tim's work and my school interfere with our marriage too often and it's time to start scheduling date nights each month. Mark it on the calender and stick to it.

7. Appreciate my husband more and to tell him daily that I'm grateful for the his working hard at work and at home so that I can finish my schooling. He is so amazing and I take him for granted too often. When I'm in school, he helps with the laundry, pretty much does all of the dishes, finishes dinner (sometimes even has to make dinner), drives the kids to their activities, and makes sure that they have bathes every night. I wouldn't have made it this far in my schooling if it wasn't for his help and sacrifices.

So, these are my goals for this New Year of 2009. They probably seem simple to most, but with 3 kids and a home life tends to get in the way of the important things. I'd love to hear what some of your goals are for this year. I pray that each and everyone of you has a healthy and blessed 2009!

Happy New Year 2009!!!

Happy New Year to everyone! We hope that you have a wonderful and blessed New Year. We welcomed the New Year in from home this year. We had some friends over and the kids had lots of fun playing the Wii and pictochat with each other and friend on their DS's. Nathan got sick and went to bed early so we weren't able to make our rounds to say hello to friends and Aunt Donna. It was fun nevertheless.

Kids drinking their Shirley Temples. They got started early on their New Years drinking. I think all the cherry juice is what made Nathan sick. He's sensitive to sweets and high fat foods. Tim grilling his fajitas. I had to put this picture in to make fun of him. It was 15 degrees out and he had shorts, longsleeve shirt, winter socks, sneakers, and a winter coat and hat on. The neighbors thought it was quite hilarious. They grilled out also, but omitted the shorts idea. Can't say that I blame them.
The finished results. I made Mexican Rice rice to go with his fajitas. He is so awesome at grilling. All I had to do was make the rice, guacomole, and pickle roles for the dinner.

I hope everyone had a wonderful and safe night. Happy New Year to you all! We miss and love all of you.

Tim in the Holiday Spirit!

I had to post this. I don't care how much it embarrasses him, it's funny!!!! We were decorating the Christmas tree and listening to Christmas music. Tim all of a sudden broke out a jig. Hilarious!! If you know my husband, you know that this is funny he being so quiet and shy most of the time. It's nice to catch him being dorky every now and then.

Christmas Eve and Day

On Christmas Eve, we open gifts from our family far away. Tim's dad has his birthday on Christmas Eve so his family always has a large dinner that night instead of getting together on Christmas Day. So, after we eat our dinner here in Ohio, the kids open their gifts and then we call Grama and Grampa in New York to talk to everyone and tell them Thank You and Merry Christmas. Tim excited about his over the camp fire grill!! We are a camping loving family!!

Matthew loved his new car from Uncle Chris and Aunt Melissa that climbs walls and ceilings!! It leaves no marks on the walls!!


Nathan loves airplanes and helicopters so this was the perfect gift. Of course, it probably wasn't very intelligent to set it off in the house and crash into my newly painted walls, but that's okay. It was Christmas Eve and a little blind-eye was okay. Notice the dog in the background. It was Shelby's first Christmas with us and she didn't quite know what to think. She was funny.

Kaitlyn, ever the doodle-bug. She loves to draw, paint, color, and put stickers on everything. She LOVED this gift. We think she may be allergic to the paint though. She broke out with a horrid rash on her face. She hadn't washed her hands after water painting and since she's a thumb sucker (one of these days she'll break the habit, I just know it) she of course touched her face. We were a little scared at first because no one in our home has allergies, so we don't have a ready supply of Benadryl in the cabinet. She's fine though and will just remember to wash her hands afterwards. So, these are some of the gifts the kids opened up on Christmas Eve.

I have to tell you, that Christmas Eve is the only time we can get the kids into bed by 8pm without any hassle. They run upstairs to their beds right on time every year. Kaity is 6 this year so she's at the fun and excited age of Christmas. She got up at 4am, went downstairs and screamed because Santa had come. She ran into our room yelling santa came and there's rows and rows of presents (exageration on her part). Being the mean mom that I am, I made her go back to bed and wait until a more decent hour. I was smiling the whole time of course!!!

This was a bittersweet year for us. With Nathan being 11yrs old we knew it was just a matter of time until the secret was discovered. Wouldn't you know, that instead of finding out in school from his friends, daddy had to make a slip at the dinner table. It went something like this.......Nate can just wear the Michigan stuff that we got (OOPS, Santa got) him for the trip tomorrow. Nathan looked at us and said "I heard that!" We told him that we'd talk later. Thankfully, the other 2 didn't catch it and we know that Nate won't say anything to them.

So, that was our Christmas. I hope each one of you had a blessed christmas day full of fun and happiness.

The kids just before opening their gifts from our New York family on Christmas Eve.

Now, the day after Christmas, things are beginning to get back to normal. We only have 3 exchanges to make this year...YEAH!!! The kids are enjoying playing their video games (Kaitlyn has already beaten her My Little Pony Game) and board games (Matthew loves Apples to Apples, an awesome family game) and daddy is enjoying the Guitar Hero a little too much. In the last 36 hours, I think he's played that thing for 24 of them. No wonder he has the high score.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas!!

I wasn't going to blog until after the holidays, but Santa and Mrs. Claus visited our home tonight and took a picture with the kids in front of their fire truck. The kids were so excited that they stopped and handed out candy canes and then to top it off, took a picture with them. So, here's a picture of our 3 very excited kids with the most popular man and woman of the hour. Merry Christmas to you all and I hope you have a Blessed Year.

Sugar Cookies

Okay, so I've been looking for a really good sugar cookie recipe for years! I'd tried recipe books, getting online, and couldn't find the ones like "Grandma" used to make until..............last semester. Nurses like to eat so we have potlucks. Last Christmas, I had an instructor that brought in such good sugar cookies that we swore she had to have bought them from a local bakery. They were soft, tasty and made your taste buds go wild!! So, yesterday, the kids and made the cookies from the recipe that she gave me and OH MY GOSH they are awesome!!!! Better than any sugar cookie I've ever tasted and to top it off, I finally found a sugar cookie frosting recipe that after fiddling with it I LOVE!!! My husband came home from work and was addicted to them. So, I've decided to share the recipes with the rest of you. I apologize for not having any pictures, but I need to charge the batteries.

Sugar Cookies:

1 1/4 cup sugar
2 sticks of butter, softened
cream together
Add 2 eggs
1 cup of buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla
3 3/4 cup of flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt

Mix all of the ingredients together. Chill the dough for several hours. Bake at 350 for 8-10 mins. Then roll and shape. This recipe can easily be doubled, tripled and freezes very well!!! Makes 4-5 dozen cookies.

Frosting:

I always make a lot of frosting, but you can definitely half the recipe.

2/3 cup Crisco or softened butter
2lb confectioners sugar
About 1/4 cup milk (may need more depending on how moist you like your frosting)
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
Food coloring

I apologize!

Sorry, I realize that many of you probably are thinking that we've disappeared, however, I assure you we have not. It's the busiest time of year for us I kid you not. Between my final exams, Tim's work, the boys' cub scout parties, Kaity's girl scout party and all three of their school parties, not to mention the Christmas shopping that I have barely started, it's busy. Finally, I have a brief moment, in between loads of laundry, to begin catching everyone up. So, I think I will begin with Tim's remodeling of the house. Since last on, he has finished the hallway and started and finished the computer room, which used to be my grandparent's TV room. I think it turned out beautiful, however, a little worried what mom might think of the color. We haven't done any decorating yet since we aren't sure what point mom and dad are on getting out here. So, here are some pictures, I hope you enjoy Tim's beautiful craftmanship. I forgot to open the curtains on the pictures and it's a very gloomy day out so I apologize for how dark it is. The hallway is a tan color, the living room is greenish, and the computer/piano room is cranberry. The colors blend perfectly with the oak trimming. Please ignore the folded laundry on the chair......at least it's clean I guess. Also, the chair with the laundry is not usually there. The Christmas tree took its place this year.