2012!! Happy New Year

Wow!
2012!!
The girls still think it's amazing that Tim  & I were born in the 1900's!!  It is funny when you try to think about it from their point of view!
The girls had a fun week off of school between Christmas & New Years!  They love going with Marshall to "Miss Christy's" and helping her with the little ones and then playing with the kids their age who are also off of school.  They came home with lots of fun projects they did there and they came home tired!  This is the first break from school that these girls (Marshall, too) have learned how to sleep in!  Normally they would be up at 6am, if not before...just because their little bodies are used to it.  BUT--they all slept in past 7am...a few days even until 7:30 or 7:45!!!  That is huge!  Reality will hit them tomorrow, though, when I have to wake them up at 6:05am to get ready and head to their before school program.  They'll adapt--they always do!!

Waiting for her playdate to arrive!!  

Marshall--The BIG boy of the house!

Roses!  Tim surprised me with 6 beautiful roses!  What a sweetie!

Malia--hanging out!  That's what vaca from school is all about afterall!  ♥

New Year's Eve!!  I invited our family over to the Richter house on New Year's Eve--by bribing them with dinner!!  (phone conversation..."So, Sarah, if you don't have plans on New Year's Eve would you mind if we brought dinner....and....then stayed and ate with you??!!!")  It was a super fun night!  Marshall loves going over there and seeing all their "BOY" toys!!  The girls enjoyed wrestling & rough-housing with the older 2 and I enjoyed a little cuddle time with their sweet new little Isaac!  What a cutie!  It felt like old times being over there...just that now we have to talk a littler louder due to the kids' noise (not because we're getting old and our hearing is going...) and we can't stay as long since bedtime is major important to both families!!

Being crazy--the norm at our house!

New year's Eve hillarity!

Benji-boy & Marshall

Benji-Boy!!  He is so stinkin' cute!

Playing the "quiet game" -- (I don't think Marshall got that memo!)

New Year's Day we enjoyed heading to church and then the rest of the day at home!  Football, board games, a little Wipeout on the Wii (It's Wipeout2 and it is super fun & hillarious!), and thanks to the snow that fell on NY Eve...even a little sledding in the front yard! The best part of the day though--if you ask Malia & Morgan--was when we sat at the table and I put makeup on them!  I can put makeup on someone else way better than myself!  They both looked so grown up and "glam" when we were finished!  Tim couldn't believe how incredibly grown up Malia looked...made him a little sad (me, too)!  Overall it was just a nice day and really enjoyed being home with my family.

Marshall said "NO WAY...no MAKEUP" for me!!

New Year's Eve snow!!  It was so beautiful!

Today, we took down the tree.  I loved our tree this year because I put "twinkling" lights on it and I could've left it up for another month.  But-alas-it needed to come down and aah...it's a good feeling to have it down and have that bit of space back in the living room!  It was fun to watch the RoseBowl parade at the same time and "oooh & awww" at all the amazing floats.  Morgan loves to help me do these special projects and she became enthralled with the Parade, too---she just couldn't believe they were made out of flowers/seeds/nuts...you name it!  It was cute!

Resolutions...I don't really do them.  But I did start the year by totally cleaning out a couple closets and that felt so liberating!!!  Taking some trash out and just clearing out some clutter that had accumulated---I LOVE THAT FEELING!!!  (I need a bigger trash can--just for the month of January!!)  I think I can admit that I am a little overboard on wanting to be organized to a "T".  I have fallen on the Pinterest wagon.  Wow, what a fun and crazy site that is...how addicting it can be.  I love searching through there an seeing all the neat decor, the organizing ideas, recipes, clothing ideas, craft ideas...oh the list could go on and on and on.  Then one day as I was sitting and perusing through Pinterest....I found "Foodgawker"...oh my word!  So, anyways...this could be a fun year of major organizing and updating "on a dime" and then some amazing new recipes!!  At least I hope so!!

Oooh, must add that we are now .... "potty chair FREE"!!!  Marshall has learned the art of not falling into the BIG toilet!!  ;o)  (yay!!)  No more scraping out a nasty poo...or having him spill pee on the floor because he wants to dump it "HIMSELF" into the big potty!  Oh....he makes me smile, he melts my heart and I just left him to pieces!

So, thankful for my sweet kids and for Tim.  I hope I can be the wife & mom to them that God wants me to be and that at the end of 2012 I can look back with an overflowing heart of thankfulness and love for them and for my God!

Happy 2012