New Years Resolutions or Goals

Last year I didn't know what to do for the last day of 2011 but this year I have figured out what I am doing for the last day of 2012 and to ring in the New Year 2013!  Last year I decided not to set resolutions but to set goals.  You can read all about those here!  So this year, I am going to tell you how many of those goals I actually met and the new ones I am planning on setting!  I kept my goals very simple last year so it would be easier for me to accomplish them and not feel like I was failing.  Let's just say, I am pretty proud of myself!  Could I have done better?  Sure!  And I am going to try to do better with the New Year!

These were my goals for 2012, last year: 

Get more organized is my main one ~ or at least that is what I keep telling myself. (CHECK - I did this one to an extent!  My kitchen is organized, so are my bathrooms, I have decreased clutter which helps things stay organized!)
Keep the house cleaner! (CHECK - I have a list of things I do each day to keep the house up.  It works for us!)
Decorate the living room (or buy a new house - haha)! (CHECK - We BOUGHT a new house!)
Re-decorate the boys room! (Started this one and I need to finish it!)
Get new furniture! (Not yet!)
BUY LESS STUFF and that includes CLOTHES for the littles! (I did a little of this!)
Stay in touch with family who lives out of town more often! (Eh?  Not so much!)

I'm ready to set my goals for 2013 and again I am setting them small so I can accomplish them, which is important to me!  

1.  Stay Organized 

2.  Keep up with my house cleaning system

3.  Decorate the living room and other areas, SLOWLY! 

4.  New Living Room Furniture

5.  Buy Less of EVERYTHING, but especially clothes! 

6.  Pay off Debt!

7.  SAVE!

8.  One DATE Night a month with my husband and without the kids!

9.  Eat Better! 

10. Spend more one on one time with my boys!

I had 7 goals last year!  I am going for 10 this year.  I hope that's not too many, but I am going to try it.  I can't wait to look back again on the last day of 2013 and see just how far I have actually come!  What are your goals this year? 

EleWHO, EleWHAT, ELEFUN!

Who remembers this game?  My three year old is LOVING it!  He got it last Christmas, yes last Christmas, but just this year he has really gotten into "playing" games.  He loves to "play" Uno Moo and Candy Land Castle.  He likes to "play" puzzles and lego's.   So when he saw this game stuffed in the closet he wanted to PLAY!  I took it out like any good mom, assembled all the nets, put batteries in the elephant, put the butterflies inside, and we got started! 

I am pretty sure I had as much fun as he did, chasing those crazy little butterflies!  Excuse the quality, I took these with my phone and a moving toddler is pretty hard to take a picture of, especially when they are catching butterflies! 

He just keep playing and playing!  So if you don't have this game, I highly suggest you buy it!  Colin loves it and has been entertained for a good 20 minutes.  

Sleepover in the living room!

It never fails my boys always want to have a sleepover in the living room!  It's precious and fun all at the same time.  Last night they couldn't wait for me to pull out the couch bed so they could have a sleepover.  Colin was so excited about using his sleeping bag, he uses it daily, by the way!  While they were waiting for me they went and laid in my bed (another every night occurrence) to watch tv, of course they fell asleep in there but I couldn't resist putting them on the couch bed for their sleepover.  

By the end of the night, Colin was back in my bed with Larry and I was on the couch bed with Cade!

What is wrong with me! What am I thinking?

The problem is I am obviously NOT thinking!  I am sitting here playing out NEXT Christmas in my mind.  Yes, I am!  What in the world is wrong with me? I haven't even put all the junk away that we got this Christmas so why would I even think of NEXT Christmas?  Oh yes, that is right, because I keep seeing all these fabulous pictures from everyone else about their Christmas.  I keep seeing how everyone else did so much better with only getting a few things and not over running their home with shit!  Yes, I just said it, SHIT!  Even though we have moved into a bigger home, I don't want shit everywhere.  I can't stand it!  I want the house clutter free and clean, which right now is NOT happening! My whole dining room table is covered in shit - Christmas gifts that people gave us, Christmas decor that I haven't boxed up yet, JUST COVERED!  My goal was to have this stuff out of here.  My goal was to buy less for the boys - yes I did that but I still bought WAY too much and I mean WAY too much!  If I would have only bought what they wanted, what they asked for, I would have been so much better off and so would my house!  Now I am looking for storage solutions for Lego's and Imaginext and Toy Cars and Playmobil and Action Figures and the list goes on and on! 

Next Christmas when I start talking about favorite toys and how my boys are going love all the wonderful things they didn't ask for but that I bought anyway...please remind me of this post!  Please send me packing right back here to tell me they don't NEED it or WANT it!  Remind me that they will be getting presents from aunts & uncles and grandparents and they will have more than enough, because next year I don't want to feel this way about all the shit in my house! 

Just for Della!

Colin wanted to take some pictures tonight and send them to Della.  She got him these Socker Boppers for Christmas and he loves them!  I am so excited that he is so excited about his cousin, I mean seriously, those are the best times ever with your cousins and my boys have two great cousins to spend that time with.  Yes, I know he has all his older cousins but they are older, think 21-15 and well playing with little boys and toys just aren't their thing and I get it!  

And the OH YEA pose!  

And just like that, it's all over!

I love Christmas! I love the whole magic of the season and the miracle of Jesus' birth.  I love spending time with family and friends.  I love all the fun things we do and the huge build up, but it quickly ends and sometimes I feel a little sad about that!   

Both boys loved Christmas this year and I mean LOVED it!  It was so much fun seeing Christmas through their eyes.  

 They both got exactly what they asked for and they might have gotten a few extra things!

 Colin wanted this so badly!  He has on been on this thing ALL the time!

 Cade and I going through his stocking.  Stockings are my favorite thing, EVER! 

 My mom took most of the pictures on the ipad and if you know my mom and her picture taking skills...Well! 

 Love these boys!  They had so much fun this year!  So much fun!

 Grammy spent the night with us and both boys loved this.  I hope she will do this every single year from now on, because they haven't stopped talking about her spending the night! 

 My present from Cade, a bath and body works candle.  He was so proud of it!

 What in the world could be in that box!  (It's a Disney Trip - I need to figure out how to load the video)!

 Cade's favorite gift, he hasn't stopped playing this thing!

 Colin loved everything this year! 

 And of course the aftermath... My house is destroyed

 But it is totally okay...

 At least that is what I keep telling myself!

I already have my list of "To Do's" for tomorrow!  I want most things cleaned up and finished before we leave for Disney because as soon as we come back I have to go back to work.  I hope everyone enjoyed Christmas as much as we did!

Christmas Eve

It's one of my favorite days!  Seriously, the excitement, the energy, the happiness, the fun, the love, the FAMILY!  It just makes the whole day.  I think I wrote last year how it was one of my favorite days as a child as well.   I want to make sure my boys have the same thing growing up.  Traditions, those are important to me! So, here are my boys on Christmas Eve (excuse Colin's shirt, he was drooling everywhere for some crazy reason)! 

I love getting a picture with the boys and of the boys in front of the tree each year.  This is our first year in our new house so the picture is a bit different in the background.  Growing and changing - it's always happening! 

Christmas Eve always means the boys get to open two presents of our choice.  Each year they open the same thing, but for some reason Cade always forgets.  

Colin and Cade were both SUPER excited about their ornaments this year.  I always try to get them one that goes with their personality.  This year was no different!  I am hoping that when they grow up and move out of my house with their own family that they will be able to take these ornaments with them and remember each year when they got them.  

Cade's ornament this year was a ketchup bottle.  The boy LOVES ketchup so I couldn't resist and he loved the ornament.  Look at that face! 

Colin opened his ornament and found out it was a firetruck!  His favorite thing this year! 

They weren't overly excited about the pajamas, and I haven't loaded all my pictures yet.  But here they are with Grammy!  

And in the car with Grammy going to look at lights in St.Marys.  

Both boys fell asleep before we got home so we just transferred them into our bed.  We set out the cookies and milk for them and sprinkled the reindeer food around.  Then we waited for Santa to arrive and work his magic!  Merry Christmas!

~Bake Day~

Bake Day is one of my favorite days of the year!  Especially since each year we always add at least one new recipe to our list.  This year we added Nutella Cookies, Poke Cake, and Candy Cane Pizza.  I must say I am more and more impressed with our skills each year, but I think my favorite part is just being together and having fun. 

Nutella Cookies, Kiss Cookies, & Sugar Cookies 

 

Cake Balls - a must make! 

Our first "Poke" Cake

 

Then for dinner, I made this candy cane pizza!  It was pretty easy to make and pretty cute!  

 

The boys also did their annual gift exchange!  This is always so fun because the boys love exchanging with each other.  Colin got moon dough and I think Avie could see the scared look on my face.  I remember years ago when moon dough first came out and Avie told me it was a disaster!   Well, this mood dough is NOT a disaster and I love it!  It feels so smooth and light, I love it! 

 

 

Ashton opened his presents next! 

 

 

And finally it was Cade's turn!  

   

He was so excited about these Lego's! 

  

And my complete, SURPRISE, gift!  I love, love, love it!  Thank you so much, Avie! 

 

 It was finally time for these boys to make some Reindeer Food!  They LOVED making this stuff and they can't wait to sprinkle it on our yard for the reindeer.  

 

Can you see the excitement in their faces?  I mean seriously, they loved this! 

Three scoops of oats, one scoop of chocolate chips, three shakes of green, three shakes of red, and 1 tablespoon of sprinkles!  It's our own secret recipe for Reindeer Food!

 

 

 

 

We really had such a fun time yesterday!  I enjoyed the time we got to spend together and the fun things we got to do with the boys.  I know these are things the boys will remember and will hopefully pass down to their own children later in life.  Traditions!