Happy New Year

2011 flew by, and now we have entered 2012. I love entering a new year... maybe it's because my birthday is around the the new year that it makes me contemplate my life. I love reflecting on the past year, and looking forward to the upcoming one.

Here are some things that happened/entered our lives to make it sweet in 2011:

1) Simplifying our lives/commitments this year. We took the year off from any extracurriculars, and it was oh so good. Ready to join back into society again, but with more discretion this time.

2) This maple syrup. Yes, it has made my life so much sweeter.

3) And with that - so has drinking coffee. Why did I wait until I was 30 to start drinking this stuff? It's magical!

4) Getting out of debt. Thankful for God's provision this year.

5) Going to down to two days a week with work. Loving it.

6) Watching the girl grow and flourish as she entered big girl sunday school and preschool. We got a thank you note from her teacher for a christmas gift that we gave, and the note gushed about how special she is, and how she adds lovely blessings to her teacher's life. I cry every single time I read it... especially when I read it out loud to the girl (and her dad).

7) This chicken recipe. It really is perfect, and now we make it often.

8) Relationships. We are so blessed.

9) The Dave Ramsey class we took at church. You may roll your eyes, but this class did more than educate us about money. It's hard to explain, but God used it to teach me so much (and it had little to do with Dave).

10) Kisses From Katie. Wow. Read it. Oh, and Bittersweet.

11) Answered prayers... and prayers that required a lot of faith and courage. And some prayers that aren't fully answered yet. Grace grace grace in the wait.

12) Parmesan cheese. I think my family would all shout yes to this. :)

And now in 2012, here are some things to add to the beauty that is my life:

1) Family memory verses. The girl told me a verse that she remembered from her christmas play at church and it inspired us to make it a priority this year. Every Sunday we will have a new one. This week is Jeremiah 29:13 (it's my life verse) and she's memorized it already (and my boy is trying too)! Any suggestions on simple ones a four year old can remember? Excited about all of us hiding His word in our hearts.

2) My side of the family committing to doing a 5k together. Is this cool or what?

3) Being more intentional in my life - limiting distractions (television, computer) to embrace actually living. :) God is showing me more and more what this means.

4) Allowing more flexbility in our budget for more fun.... and more giving.

5) Relaxing and having fun with the kids. They are at such fun ages now. We did the pool today, and it was so fun looking forward to our family nights having more "fun" added to it.

Any one make any new year's resolutions?

Back To School

For some reason my blogs are not showing up. And it's now allowing me to publish some of them. Hopefully this one works.

1. Today was our girl's first day of school. She was so excited. I was excited. The only one who shed tears was the little brother who didn't get to go. We made up for it by going outside, and playing at the library.

2. We chose Montessori. I know a lot of people think it's a little weird, but everything so far has made so much sense - a family picnic, orientation in which we left her for an hour to learn the process, allowing each child to learn at her own pace, emphasis on work and responsibility. Plus is helps knowing that my girl loves loves loves the teacher.

3. Speaking of my girl - she has made her bed (without us asking) the past two mornings. What is going on? I'm loving it though... and it's impressive how nice of a job she does.

4. My boy is certainly a boy. I spent an hour the other day throwing the bouncy ball to him, while he swung is bat to hit it. Amazingly enough he had decent aim... today he requested that he wear his "soccer ball" shirt.

5. The hubby is supposed to make a business trip this fall to China - it's gonna be a long trip, and my evenings are filling up. Praying for peace, wisdom, and a patient spirit with the kiddos, and that he has a safe trip.

6. Can I just say that I love going to out of home work for two days vs. three and four?

7. It's cold here. Happy for fall, sad to be freezing when I wake up.

8. We Found this fire station on craigslist. Saving it for a Christmas gift for the little guy. I now have Christmas on the brain, and it's only the beginning of September. Any other ideas for little boys? Have to admit that I have a million and one ideas for the girl...

9. The hubs and I have been doing the 30 Day Shred and trying to attend our local (free) zumba class when I can. Seriously. The 30 day shred is hard work. I might be the weakest person I know - still doing the cheater push ups.

10. I've found that I'm very restless now that I'm home a little more - maybe even a little lonely, even though we see friends quite a bit. The sermon we heard on Sunday talked about "being still", and I think God meets us in that restlessness - if we don't try to fill that feeling with other things. Looking forward to a more regular quiet time now that life is a little slower for us.

1. We have knobs and pulls our cabinets now. This is a big deal. Not only does it look great, but it means we're getting to the finish line... Next up: trim on the cabinets. Forgive the poor photo - the little guy was tugging on me while I was taking it.

2. Have discovered that I actually do like coffee... but only black with maple syrup in it. It's pretty great that way.

3. Now we have to buy a gallon of maple syrup to make it last. This is the brand that we use - local and oh, so good.

4. I've been eyeing this pendant light. I've never bought anything from Pottery Barn, so this feels really indulgent. Looking doesn't hurt anything... right?

5. I'm always amazed how I can justify some purchases (like the light fixture), but we've been without a microwave for over nearly a year now, and we're not planning on getting another anytime soon. Weird (though we didn't use it much anyway).



6. It is definitely boating season here in the great up north. The little guy has been quite obsessed with all of the boats that we have seen lately.

7. And he definitely loves the beach, but really, who doesn't?

8. Fun, but tiring weekend of farmer markets, a wedding and a bridal shower. I had fun putting my friend's gift together (had to sneak my fave Mrs. Meyer's scent into it).

9. We've been talking a lot about our "story" (Donald Miller "A Million Miles in a Thousand Years"). I have so many thoughts and emotions on this book - what our story is about as a family, and it rekindled my motivations and renewed peace in a lot of areas in my life. This is a whole other post, and I do promise to share.

10. I've written two posts in a week. Yay for me.

List of Life

It's been a little while, but felt a little inspired to blog again. Hope everyone is doing well, and enjoying the first portion of June!

Our life as a list:

1. Summer is coming! Garden is in - we have tomato plants, peas, beans, kale, peppers, broccoli, spinach. Hoping it's a good year, and hoping it consistently stays warm.

2. Some of my favorite books I've read lately: "Power of Play", and "Bittersweet".

3. We're taking a break from all extracurriculars this summer. Sometimes we all need a break and rest.

4. We're getting a play structure for the kids today. Yay!

5. Work has been crazy for both of us. Seriously crazy for me. I have 28 cases, with three more on the way, and two more referrals.

6. That said, God has answered a prayer regarding work. I've been working a ton - enjoying the job, but not really wanting to be away from the kids three or four days a week. My boss approached me about going down to two days, so that we could move someone else into our program. I was like, um yes, I do! So starting July 1, I will be transitioning down to two days a week. Excited to have more family time, and still keep my job.

5. We've designated Sunday as a media free day for the family. No movies, television, internet. Just a day of rest.

6. We've had a sick week in our house. The girly was sick last weekend, now I'm not feeling the greatest and the little man came home with a fever yesterday. :(

7. The little guy had his two year birthday a couple of weeks ago. Crazy how fast time goes. The big guy had his much much much older birthday too. He built a computer to celebrate. :)

8. Looking forward to lots of beach time, berry picking, CSA shares, and farmers markets. Hooray!!!

Okay, so it's been nearly a year since I wrote my last post. Hmmm... that probably won't change. I'll just keep this blog open for when I feel inspired and have the time to sit. Here's my life in list format:

1. The sun is shining AND it's Friday. Praise God. Please make this snow go away.

2. Eden is sporting her ballerina outfit this morning. She's been showing me what she learned from class... I've never taken dance before, but I did not know there was a balloon move.

3. A friend gave me farm fresh eggs the other day. Mmmm...

4. Blessed that my clients continually open their door week to week allowing me to join in on the mess of daily living. Certainly wouldn't get this kind of relationship if they came to my office. It's an honor to have my job.

5. Rhys is counting and starting to sing the "abc" song. This stage is so much fun.

6. One month since we've become debt free! We took the month off from money management and bought an armoire and flat screen TV. Our old, old, old TV has served us well over the past eight years, and to the others before it was given to us.

7. I miss our early years in which we didn't have cable TV. Trying to convince the hubby to go back in time. He ain't buying it. :)

8. God is doing an amazing work in my life. He's leading me through a hurdle that I've been staring at for a little while, and it's so humbling and wonderful to see where we're going together.

9. Eden keeps asking to take piano lessons. I am incredibly excited about this... though she should probably wait another year? Anyone know when an appropriate time to learn happens to be?

10. Thinking about school for the fall... considering montessori, public preschool, and even homeschooling.... yikes. Liking montessori the most right now.

11. Trying to gear up for a 5k in spring with a friend and some family. Hoping it's warmer than last year.

12. So proud of how hard my wonderful husband works to provide... and still has time to play with the kids and do chores around the house. So blessed to have him.

13. Getting ever so much closer to being done with our house... we still have to do lighting, trim, another painting job, backsplash, but... we're closer. :)

14. Looking forward to spring break! We're all taking time as a family to do some fun close to home activities... maybe water park? Children's Museum? Discovery Center? So excited.

15. It's spring people! Hooray!!

Islands

Today has been such a beautiful reminder of how important friendship is to me. God has allowed so many lovely people to surround me. I am so thankful that God answered my prayer to provide kindred spirits in this tiny town we live in. Lord knows I needed it.

There are moments when life gets hectic, or difficult, and it's my tendency to become insular. I am a fairly social person - after all, I chose a career that is people driven, and my mom always reminds me how I was never able to play by myself as a child. I justify this isolation by saying I'm exhausted, an introvert, or just plain too busy to get together with someone. And you know what? That's how I know that Satan is creeping in, because it's during those times that I become depressed, lonely (go figure), and negative.

God must be showing me something, because I've had the same feelings twice: we have some friends that we haven't seen since March (tsk tsk tsk), and I've been meaning to call her. When I would actually think about calling, I would feel silly waiting all of this time to call her and chicken out, or my workload would be heavy that week, leaving me with one day off (which is normally errand day).

Well, this week I worked four days, but happened to run into my friend very briefly, as I running late to something else. She was on my mind the rest of the week, and finally on Friday afternoon, I just sucked it up and called her. It was a forty five minute conversation and a "let's get our kids to do this" and "let's get our kids to do that". And instantly, it was like we had talked to each other every day during this time. Why do I wait so long?

And just today, my wonderful hubby was busy working on his car, so I was in charge of kiddo care. It was fun for the most part - farmer's market, park play, spraying each other with the hose. Honestly, I was torn between calling a friend or napping. And even more honesty, I regretted it a little because a nap did sound good. Thankfully though, friend was the right choice, and for four hours we talked, and teared up, and shared, and laughed, and ate. A nap wouldn't do for my soul what my dear, sweet friend did for me. Praise God for knowing me better than I know myself.

Aren't you glad that we were never meant to live as an island?

Decisions and Home Remodels

All right - let's talk home remodeling. Now when we bought out home a year ago, we knew this house would be a "project house". The bones were good, and had a lot of aspects we loved - walkout basement, tons of windows/natural light, open floor plan, etc, and at the right price, especially with our down payment.

Still, we knew that we wanted to gut the kitchen, and redo the flooring in the living space. We decided to hold off a little while due to a new babe and do a lot of minor projects our house needed.

We continued to debate whether or not we should put the project a little further down the list when we found out that L's company was doing some pay cuts, as we didn't know if this was the start of worse things to come (things have since picked up, and his full pay restored). Finally we came to the point that we just decided to save and go for it - ripped linoleum, and broken, unusable cabinets put us over the edge.

We started saving, and researching flooring options, cabinets, countertops ideas. We decided that we would not buy anything unless we had the cash, got a good deal, and liked it. L had his heart set on wider planked wood flooring, and surprisingly enough, we found maple planks that we both loved on clearance. It's in now, and it looks even better than I imagined.

The cabinets were a little more difficult decision for us. I'm cheap. I'll admit it. We looked everywhere for cabinetry, and boy, boxes that hold stuff is expensive! We both liked the shaker style the most, and we liked the painted maple the best (painted wood is an upcharge). After a little more deliberation, we just decided to buy it, only to find that there was a special on painted wood that week. We were a little more than excited. We were able to get our cabinets for $2000 cheaper than we were originally quoted.

The last "big" decision was countertop. We have a lot of countertop space, and found that the solid surface was priced between laminate, and granite, and we liked the look. We were a little nervous to put that in ourselves, as that can can be a pretty expensive fix. We looked, and looked, and waited, and waited some more. Finally we were at Home Depot and found a solid surface priced at the lowest we had ever seen - and that was installed. Praise God.

In between those purchases, we had a dishwasher to buy (also on sale, with an energy rebate), a sink, faucet, knobs, and lots of other miscellaneous items. At times we were burned out just deciding and debating. I'm not naturally someone who just knows what they want and can visualize how it will look, so it was a stretch for me.

But here we are, in the middle of our remodel, flooring completed and some of our cabinets in. We wonder if we made the right decision doing the work ourselves, but know that we could have easily doubled the cost to pay to have it done. We have gotten burned out, and doing a remodel with two little ones underfoot isn't easy. Still, we can sort of see the end now - and boy, it's going to look so so so nice when it's done! Can't wait to share how it looks once it's finished.