Welcome to our Blog! Here you'll read mostly about my kids and my adventures in motherhood, along with what the Lord is teaching me at the moment....Thanks for sharing this journey with us!

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

New Year with my Lord

New Year's Resolutions are usually lost on me. I think I'll do them and I usually go strong till about January 2nd. But this year I've been trying to think, what's a resolution that I can acutally do that I really NEED to do. There's always the "I'll eat better", "I'll exercise more", "I'll stay caught up on the laundry"....but like I said, those are the kind that start out strong and fizzle out. So I was sitting her in my room looking at the enormous pile of laundry that needs to be folded and put away and realized what I needed to do. (The laundry has nothing to do with it, so I'm not sure why it inspired this idea!). I need to be a better EVERYTHING! So how does one do that? The only answer I came up with was to spend more time with the Father. The creator of everything. The only One that can change anything and everything in me. In order to be a better wife, a better mom, a better teacher, a better friend, a better daughter, a better everything is to more focused on what God has to say about all of this. To do what I can to have a "heart like His". So I thought about when do I actually have time to do this? I mean I've never been a morning person, so if I wanted to shoot myself in the foot, I'd pick mornings. No thank you! I am a night person, but after I've been everything to everyone, by the end of the day, it's the last thing I want to do. So let's see...when do I have time? The only thing I came up with was that around 1 o'clock everyday, Addison goes down for her nap. Now I usually take this time to do chores around the house and maybe veg out on a TIVO'd show. Is that really the best use of my time? I can first spend time with the Lord, and then do the other things that need to get done. So....

For Christmas I asked for a Beth Moore book (if you don't know who she is, google her, she is an AMAZING woman of God and author). I did a summer study at church this summer and it was all about the Life of David. I really enjoyed it. So I asked for Beth Moore's book called "DAVID, 90 days with a heart like His". My parents were wonderful enough to give it to me and I thought it would be a perfect way to start off my new year.

So when I usually would have been tackling this:


I instead spent some time with this:


And I already feel like I've been more productive today than I have been in a long time. I'm really excited to start this new year "with a heart like His"....

P.S. Now I really do have to go and fold all that laundry...UGH!

Monday, December 28, 2009

That was a LONG break....Christmas has come and gone

Wow, to blog or not to blog...I can't believe it's been two months since I've sat down to do this. Although right now I'm not sitting, I'm laying in bed listening to Justin snore next to me, resisting the urge to elbow him to make him stop...guess I didn't do well cause I just woke him up and told him I'd scratch his back if he'd turn on his side!

Anyway, not the point here, sorry. So I just looked at my last post and can't believe two months has gone by. I told myself when I started this thing, I was going to be diligent. Consistent. And well, that lasted like a month. So I'm back on the wagon. Of course I'm pretty sure there's only like four people in my life reading this, and those people probably already know all there is to know about what's going on here on Devonshire Ln., but hey, a girl's gotta blog.

So let's see, November held for us Thanksgiving. We went to Justin's Dad's house to celebrate this year. It was really cute. Dennis and Lisa, or Grammy and Grampy, went out and got all these toys for Addison to have at their house. Dress up clothes and all!



She loved playing with her baby and really loved playing in the toy house they got her.


All of Justin's family was there and it was a great time.

Next came the day after Thanksgiving. This is the day I bumped my head and began the project of redoing my whole downstairs! A complete overhaul! Angie and Gary were my partners in crime. We repainted the whole downstairs, painted the kitchen cabinets, all new artwork, brought my bedroom wardrobe downstairs to put kitchen items in, painted my table and chairs, and more. It was totally stressful for a non changer like myself. It was many many hours and days of non stop working. My mother in law Bobbie and my mom tag teamed watching Addie so we could get stuff done. Why I started this when Christmas was looming? Who knows, I belong in the loony bin. And of course I as write this, I don't even have pics to post cause they're on my other computer! UGH! (Deep breath....). But now it's all done and I LOVE it! My peach (don't ask) walls are gone and now it's something I really like. I hate that I have to reside on Devonshire Ln. much longer than originally planned, but if I have to, I'm glad it looks like it does downstairs. I'm happier, which is turn means my family is happier. :) My deadline was Christmas Eve, since all of Justin's family was coming over and I made it to my deadline. I only tried to kill Justin a few times along the way. ;) (I will post pics soon...of the downstairs, not of me trying to kill Justin).

This brings me to Christmas. It was spent with a little of this:





Disneyland with the Blairs

And then taking first prize at Kristen and Bryan's annual Tacky Christmas Sweater Party...I think the picture speaks for it's self!


Then we had Christmas Eve at our house and I made homemade clam chowder and chicken noodle soup in bread bowls. It was really yummy! I'm pretty sure everyone liked it cause it was GONE by then end of the evening. Justin and I really enjoyed watching Addison "participate" in Christmas for the first time, opening presents like a pro, asking that each box which held a toy be opened right then, on demand. She got some great stuff! We really were blessed.


The next day was spent with my side of the family. We did our annual stockings (they are WAY out of control price wise, but seriously my FAVORITE part of Christmas). Then it was on to our usual breakfast of chili egg puff (never touch the stuff), bacon and cinnamon rolls. Soon after, we tore into gifts but had to take a "nap" hiatus because the little ones could not endure Christmas straight through. After everyone was napped and showered, gift opening continued till evening. Then the McCulloch's all came over and we had our amazing turkey dinner. My favorite of the year. Sooo yummy.





We dressed the girls in matching dresses that I love and speny what felt like most of my evening in the kitchen either cooking or cleaning up. Ah, the life of a woman in my family. All in all, it was a great time with family and friends. Many a batch of almond roca was made, many a party was had, but most importantly we were able to celebrate the birth of Christ with our daughter by our side and in our arms. It was a blessed time to say the least....