End of the Year Thoughts

I really had all these profound thoughts in my head that I wanted to share for my end of the year post.
To bad I can't remember any of them...your loss really. ;)

Some things I want to remember about this year:
We had record snow fall in February. We referred to it lovingly as The Great Blizzard of Oz. I haven't seen that much snow perhaps ever. Of course we spent most of the snow days inside since both kids got the flu. I did really enjoy all the snuggling despite their yuckies.

Getting to lead worship and be part of our Celebrate Recovery ministry.

I took on P365 this year and succeeded...mostly. I didn't capture a picture every single day, but I did capture our lives in the day to day. I am just a few weeks {5 behind in immortalizing in digi scrap fashion.}

April 28th, 2013 my baby girl asked Jesus into her heart. This was a day we prayed for and we couldn't be more thrilled for her to reach this milestone. This means more to me and her dad than walking and talking milestones.

 Not only did we have record snow totals, but this was the year for close tornado calls for our town. Way too close.

Leighton's first "school" experience at VBS. Oh my, this was just a dress rehearsal for next year when I drop her off daily for Kindergarten. 

Then of course my parent's moving closer; which has been so nice. The moving part we would all like to forget though.

Our road trip to Iowa.

Our mini "vacay" to Table Rock Lake. Where Lo learned to water ski.

Leighton learning to ride her bike sans training wheels!!

Getting a job as a gymnastic coach for the Y! {Dream job}

Resigning from my RD consulting job.

My sis and I completing our first 5k! Here's to more this spring! {right MEG!!!}

Watching my baby sister graduate COLLEGE!

And some things I would love to forget like making the excruciating decision to put my beloved dog Toby down.
Pt1
Pt2

And then bringing Thatcher Beau Jangles into our home. Man has having a puppy been a crazy ride. But life with out Thatchy would be boring, and my stuff wouldn't have bite marks on it--but we wouldn't trade him for the world.

The end of the year always brings people back to reflection.
Reflection on things they want to change and improve on.
I find the idea of resolutions daunting. It always seems like an impossible mountain to climb. I need goals that are small and tangible.
This past year had some rough patches for me. I have been battling hormonal, crazy, depressive mood swings for far to long. I thought I was always stronger than the moods and could control them on my own. This year I lost that battle when I went in to my doc for a routine check-up on something or other and broke down into uncontrollable tears. My doc has known for 3 years I needed help, but never pushed me, just gently nudged and prodded. This time he intervened. I got meds. Let me say it again because it is liberating. I.got.meds. What was I so afraid of...oh yeah, judgement, realization that I was a failure at controlling my life and emotions, but man once they kicked in I realized for the first time in I don't know how long my mind was clear. And all my fears didn't matter.

I tell you all that not as a commercial for meds, but because with a clear mind I was able to make real change in my life. I was able to freely offer grace to others when they hurt me vs. lashing out. I was able to speak softer to my kids vs. shouting commands. I was able to see and appreciate my life more. I could see that I desired my life and attitude to reflect that of  Christ and it comes easier {not always} when you don't feel like a raging hurricane inside.

That is what I want to expound upon this year WITH my family. Together I want us all to work towards improving our relationships with one another and with Christ. I want to keep offering grace and forgiveness even when it is hard and when I feel like I don't get the same sentiment in return. My reward is not here on Earth, but in Heaven.

And I want my family to learn to work together as a team to keep this house running. {Isn't that kind of me to make a resolution for my family. ;) }. I am learning to accept the personalities of each person in this family and willing to meet them where they are so we can all be happy. Mostly so mommy is happy because let's face it...if momma isn't happy, nobody's happy.

And of course it's always good to strive for...

Izzy Pt 3. {His last week and Good-bye}

 {Day 20} Izzy made colored milk. Sass has been waiting for this "trick" all month! Way to go Izzy on coming through!

{Day 21} Remembering the TRUE meaning of Christmas. The birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus!

{Day 22} Well, mommy was tired and didn't like any of the ideas I had. So daddy to the rescue. Since we had a big snowfall the night before Izzy decided to create his own snow bath.

{Day 23} I love having Izzy around, but towards the end it gets tough. I fell asleep and forgot as did daddy. Oops. Thankful we were able to pull off a hail mary and toss Izzy in the tree before Lo noticed! whew! Crisis averted.

{Day 24} The end. Izzy made Happy Birthday cookies for Jesus!! We sang Happy Birthday and had a bite of cookie before breakfast and being a good RD mommy I made them save the rest for later.

Towards the end of the evening Izzy appeared with his good-bye note and Final Progress reports. This part is always sad. Breaking up is hard to do. :(

From Our Family to Yours.

Merry Christmas From our Family to Yours!

Christmas Traditions and Fun

Before you sit back and begin reading; you may want to grab a cup of hot cocoa and settle in. This is going to be a long one. So much fun has been had and little time to record the memories. So why not just do a one-stop Christmas fun post.

{Dec 3}
Chad and I got tickets to the Newsong Christmas Tour that came to our church. And since his mom loves a good concert we got her and Tom tickets for her birthday. It was a great show. My favorite was Love and the Outcome.
1st. This girl can sing, she can sing and play piano AND the drum all at the same time. I mean really?! Wow. WOW!!! It was a fun way to kick off the Christmas season.

{Dec 12} Santa Comes to Town.

Santa lit the town hall tree.

All the kids waiting ever so patiently to see Santa.

Christmas lists for Santa. MW keeps asking for a choo choo. Hope he isn't too disappointed come Christmas morning. :/ We have tons of choo-choos.  You aren't getting anymore.

Lo just wants a bike.

Santa time. MW loathes all dressed up figures. Chick-fil-A cow, McGruff, Santa, the Easter Bunny...
He had already informed me he would not sit on Santa's lap unless I sat on Santa's lap. Not sure I will get a classic picture of MW and Santa...ever.

This one isn't too bad. The photo is lying. I just stepped away and caught MW in a "happy" looking face.

More town fun. Making ornament crafts. This is so dumb, but I was so amazed MW could thread a pipe cleaner with beads...if I end up homeschooling I may be in trouble comprehending what they should know. HA!

{Dec 14}Crown Uptown Play and Lunch.

We did this back in June or July and loved it. This time my MIL and Tom could come too!

Waiting and waiting and waiting for the show...we may have gotten there a tad too early.

Isn't he handsome? He reminds me of Barney on How I met your Mother. Always taking a good pic.

Getting a little grumpy waiting...

Show Time! It was Santa's ToyLand. It was super cute.

{A Day in December}
Watching lots of Christmas movies thanks to Netflix. Isn't this how you watch movies in your house?!

We made cinnamon ornaments for a fun day activity. Turned out super cute.

{Dec 17th and 20th}
Touring Christmas lights.
We saw this house last year. It so over done and a amazing.

I am getting better at my manual settings.

Daddy had a birthday so we celebrated with a taco bar with his mom on Friday. One of the gifts he got was this Skil jigsaw. It is really MY gift. I asked for it for Christmas because I am ambitious like that and I am the handy one around here. Tom just so happen to have one he never really used and was giving away! He said "I figured one day one of my kids would ask for one, never thought it would be a daughter in law!" HAHA! 

More lights. This is my MIL manger scene!

Um, W. Wichita has the best lights. {and creative!} A car with sled dogs. Hilarious.

Chad was driving too fast. :( But this is a must see in Wichita. The whole street is lit up and over the top.

"Mom! Take a picture of me like this!" Weird kid.

'nuf said.

This was A-MAZING. I am not sure if there is a contest for light displays but these next two should win hands down.

The Bethlehem/Manger scene. Picture is doing it zero justice.

I admit the dolls are creepy, but seriously the whole effect is cool.

Then there is this. The Christmas Story movie scenes. They had all the best parts on display.
Tongue frozen to the pole.

"You'll poke your eye out" and Santa kicking him down the slide.

The leg lamp.

The pink bunny footie pjs!. So cool.

{Dec 21}Baking Day.
Makin' sugar cookies. This was all the help MW offered. 1 cookie. That's it. He was done and ready to watch movies. Boys!

Lo on the other hand worked and worked with Aunt Meg. She loves this day.

You may notice my eye. I was not punched. Thatcher is a little rambunctious and pawed my face...hard. it hurt, I cried and now I look horrible-ish.

So the first day of winter really was the first day of winter. All during our baking day the ice sleeted down. We had our Christmas Eve service to get to later that night. Finally as my family was freaking on me about not leaving we loaded up and headed back towards home and church. But before I left I wanted some Christmas "Eve" pictures in our dress up clothes in case we didn't make it to church. Sadly daddy wasn't there, but life goes on. :)

This one is my fav, just because it is who we are. Silly, sassy and in our own world.

It wasn't too bad and we made it to church where daddy already was. We decided to just stay at church.
When church let out we realized it started snowing at some point and there was at least an inch already. The kids were besides themselves with glee!! Thank goodness for daddy and thawing out 2 cars!! We love you!!

Having a quick snow fight before we went to bed!

{Dec 22} Ah Thatcher.
This is his first snow! He loves it, just like Toby did. He keeps running outside every 5 minutes to play.

Of course priority 1 today was to get out into the snow and PLAY!!!! To bad it is a dry snow and can't make good snowmen! :( Maybe next time.

Now we are just chillin' and enjoying a nice day where we have no where else to be.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!