A Year in Pictures

As 2010 comes to a close, there are so many things to be thankful for.  We’ve had a wonderful year filled with busy schedules, trips, vacations, homework, school, work and lots of time together as a family.   I decided to close the year out with some pictures of our year.  It was difficult to pick 24 pictures out of the hundreds (possibly thousands) that I took over the year.  Hope you enjoy the highlights of our 2010.

Happy New Year to you and your family. 

May 2011 be filled with love, passion for life and possibility.

Merry Christmas

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas filled with family, friends and the like.

From our home to yours, Merry Christmas.

Christmas is Always on December 25th

I am a highly organized person.  My scissors go in the same spot when I’m done with them.  I have a candle shelf in the kitchen and our calendar is updated daily so we’re on time and prepared for anything. How is it then that Christmas seems to sneak up on me every year?  I know the date. Christmas is always on December 25th.  I know that December comes after November.  Why then do I always feel rushed and hurried the week before?

I have put more miles on my car in the last seven days than I do in a month.  I’m not kidding.  I’ve had to fill up my car twice in that time, when normally I only fill the car twice in a month! 

Oh, and did I mention that I don’t like shopping.  I know that’s strange coming from a woman, but I really could survive without it.   Now, don’t get me wrong, when it’s shopping for the sake of shopping and browsing at all the loveliness in the windows, I’m there.  When you “have” to find that certain something in a certain size in a certain color, just count me out.   It’s just stress I don’t need.  

Fighting for a parking spot with the 487,000 other shoppers; wearing your coat when it’s 4°F outside, but then having to mess with it inside the stores and feel all bulky and snowman like; then having to stand in line for 15 minutes just to pay for the item that probably won’t fit or be the “right” one, just IS NOT my idea of a good time.   I don’t care if there is a 20% off coupon in the paper that would save me a few dollars, I’m not going to leave the store, go buy a paper, then come back and try to find another parking spot just to save $7.53.  I just want to pay and get out. 

I have to change my strategy and not let this day sneak up on me again.   Starting in January, yes, January, I will be looking for gifts, paper napkins, stocking stuffers and each month focus on one person on the list and get it done.   I know there are people out there who do this already, but it will be a new goal for me.  I simply have to for my own sanity. 

I just want to make cookies, watch Christmas movies and enjoy being at home during the break and not worrying about one more trip to the post office or the mall.  (Oh, the mall.  Just don’t say it out loud and it will go away.)   Maybe next year will be a little less frazzled, less hurried and less running around.  A girl can hope, can’t she?

And So It Begins...

As of 49 minutes ago, we are officially on break from school and our normal routine.  I am looking forward to being at home, sleeping in a bit, Christmas of course, looking at Christmas lights in the neighborhoods, our niece coming to visit and all the activities that go along with being on vacation.  

But…

Nineteen days at home is a lot!  We’ll go to a movie, go bowling, probably do some tourist things with our niece and go to the zoo for the light display, have Christmas Eve and Day in there, but that’s good for about eight of the nineteen days.  What will we do for the other eleven? 

Ok, so two of those eleven will be spent finishing up shopping and buying groceries and preparing for guests.  That still leaves me with nine days to plan something for them to do.  Hmmm. 

Wait, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day are in there somewhere aren’t they?  YES!  That’s two more days.  All three boys (husband and kids) will be spending New Year’s at the YMCA for a tween lock in. My youngest and his friend will participate in the event and my oldest and my husband will be volunteering for the whole night. They’ll be working/playing from 5:00PM until 8:00AM the next day, and then come home and sleep all day. So that leaves me with seven days.

Oh, I almost forgot, I get to gift four of those days to Nani and Grandpa since my husband won a trip to the Sugar Bowl and he’s taking yours truly!  I can’t wait.  Four days spent together in a beautiful hotel and dinners and events to attend AND I don’t have to cook!  What could be better?  If you know me, not having to cook is the ultimate gift! So how many days am I down to now?   Three, I believe. 

Well, let’s just leave those up for some good ‘ole spontaneity!   I’m sure it will go by quickly, but it just seems like a long time, looking at it from this side of the nineteen days.  I might just need a vacation after my vacation.  Whatever the time will bring, I’m sure we will enjoy the days off and laundry will get done, presents will get opened and love will be the theme.  Here’s to nineteen days and counting.

Holiday Chaos Means Prioritizing

My body has been going a million miles a minute this week.  My mind has been going faster, if that’s even possible.  I feel like I’m living in one of those wind machines where you stand inside a tube and everything flies around you while you try to catch the little pieces of paper hitting you in the face.  So, today, I am prioritizing once again and need to go buy grapes for my son’s class party and finish wrapping gifts and finish 429 other things that I won’t inundate you with right now.  I’m going to leave you with some thoughts and observations that have crossed my path this week.  I hope you are enjoying the holiday chaos that is upon us.  Christmas is only 8 days away.  OH MY!  I think I just might faint right now.

Photo Bucket Credit

Weathermen don’t have to be good at their jobs.  “We’re going to have six inches of snow tonight, so be prepared for a rough commute.” We woke to a dry sidewalk and driveway.   We even let the boys stay up late and watch a movie in anticipation of a snow day.  Go figure.

My husband won a trip to the Sugar Bowl and can’t wait to get away together.  We need some “us” time to just be. Now to find an Ohio State hat or sweatshirt to wear!

I love peace and quiet.

This week while I’ve been out shopping, I’ve scored a front row parking spot at EVERY store I’ve gone to.  Really.  I am not making this up.   I got the giggles last night when I pulled into Walgreen’s and was smack in front of the door.

I found a radio station on itunes that I can’t stop playing.  It’s called K-LOVE Christmas and plays Christmas songs I’ve never heard and am enjoying them immensely.  I don’t know about you, but if I hear Mariah Carey sing “All I Want For Christmas Is You” one more time, I think I just might scream.

I truly have no wants this year for Christmas.  I had a hard time coming up with a list to give my family.  I think that’s a good thing, don’t you?

I love to brainstorm about anything.  It gives me a little creative boost and keeps my mind fresh.  Kind of like doing a crossword puzzle or the sodoku in the paper for some of you.

I can honestly say I don’t watch TV regularly - except for the news and the Sounds of the Season music on Channel 433.   I am however, looking forward to Oprah’s OWN Network starting in January.  She’s going to add that positive spin on tv that is so needed.  I’ll be watching!

Destined for Greatness

I always knew I was destined for greatness.  At least that’s what Oprah said in an old interview and she was right.  She was destined for a worldly type of greatness and the world watches and listens to her and she does great things for humanity.  The list goes on and on.   She is “great” as defined by the majority of the world and by myself many days.

But…

Are we all destined for greatness?  Are we all going to rock the socks off the world?  I say, YES, we are.  It’s a matter of perspective however. 

Greatness comes in many sizes.  For Oprah, her greatness touches millions and perhaps she touches the lives of millions more through all the beautiful work she does.  That’s pretty great. For others, greatness comes by serving our country and protecting millions of people every day, by building homes for people who are in need, or by bringing clean water to communities who have never had fresh water. For me, my greatness tends to be on a little smaller scale. Miniscule to some, but hopefully to my friends and family whom I love dearly, I am enough.

My world is smaller than Oprah’s, but does it make my world less important, any less great?  I don’t think so.  Greatness is all around me.  I have two adorable children filled with personality galore, hearts the size of Texas and all around joy emitting from their little bodies.  I have a husband who loves me and supports every silly whim I have with gusto and applause and encourages me to follow my every dream and who thinks of everyone before himself.  I have family and friends who I can share all the laughter and tears of life with and who cheer me on and pick me up when I stumble.  

I have a purpose to be great.  I, just like you and everyone you know, was entrusted with a goal, skills, and a purpose to be here and it is our duty to figure out that purpose and to use what has been given to us to the fullest extent possible.  This isn’t always easy, but it is what makes us great.  It is the very essence of our greatness. 

In watching the Barbara Walters’ special last night, Oprah quoted a song by Bill Withers called, Use Me.   The main line says, ”You just keep on using me until you use me up.”  To me that is greatness.  Recognizing that our greatness comes from within and when we use our gifts to benefit others, then and only then will our greatness shine like the light of the sun.  We are all destined for greatness and it’s ours if we want it.  Just stand up and take it, use it, until we're all used up.

"That Was Fun"

There are some moments in life that may not be all “WOW” or “BAM” but they are still part of life and are still worthy of a picture or snapshot in the scrapbook (even if it is a digital scrapbook these days).  It seems like there are more and more of these moments for me lately.

Saturday I got to experience one of those moments with my oldest son.  He wanted to play in the annual Tuba Christmas concert they have every year downtown in the park.  None of his friends were doing it, but yet he still wanted to do it; such confidence and willingness to try new things. I love that about him.

He practiced in the nearby church basement with 113 other tubas, sousaphones, baritones and euphoniums for nearly ninety minutes.  The horns were decorated with lights and garland and everyone sat down with their hats, gloves and scarves ready to go.  The temperature for the concert was to be 28°F with winds 10-15 miles per hour.  I know.  But, he wanted to have the experience and so, we sat and practiced and waited for 4:00 PM to roll around.

The walk to the park was only a few blocks, but definitely gave us a taste of what was to come. Cold. 

We set up our lawn chairs right on the front row and watched the crowd begin to grow song by song.   I estimated there were about three hundred people in the park standing and singing wonderful carols accompanied by the warm and rich sound of the Tuba band.  It was an experience for him.  One more thing he can say he did when he was 14. 

By the end, we were chilled and the first moments of shivering were beginning to set in.  We walked back to the church to gather our things (and to run his hands under cold water to try and bring back normal body temperature to his fingertips) and then headed to the car.

“That was fun.”  For me, those three words were the highlight of the event. An entire Saturday dedicated to playing music and being part of something that no other 14 year-old did that day.  Life.  Experiences. Joy.   That was fun.

I Give it Five Stars

This last weekend was just plain wonderful.  Everyone had a little something on the schedule just for them, as well as a family event for all of us.   It couldn’t have been more perfect had I really tried to make it exactly that way.  

It began with Friday evening and my youngest son’s birthday sleepover with three of his friends.   They had a great time together complete with popcorn, games, movies, cheesecake, laughing and more laughing ‘til the wee hours of the morning.  I had to send my apologies off with each boy for how tired each of them were going to be come 5PM.

Saturday afternoon my husband headed north for  some time to play field hockey with his friends while my youngest played games with Nani and Grandpa for the afternoon.  My oldest and myself headed downtown so he could participate in the annual Tuba Christmas concert outside in the park.  They practiced for 90 minutes in the basement of the church (which was nice and warm I might add) and then played outside for an hour-long concert in the 28°F weather.  His lips and fingers were pretty much numb thirty minutes into it.  Everyone then joined us at the park for the concert, which was fantastic!

That night I spent an hour with my parents at the church choir concert and enjoyed the wonderful music and soloists and ALL the decorations galore.  The songs were beautiful and the little girl on the front row in her gold star costume was about as “Broadway” as a five year old could be.  So adorable.

To finish the weekend off we slept in a little on Sunday, had a late breakfast, then finished off homework and headed to our friends’ church for a wonderful production of Scrooge.   The pews were filled and the show was great.  It was even more enjoyable watching our friends who were in the production and all their dancing and singing.   It was a perfect ending to a perfect weekend.   The spirit of Christmas and togetherness was upon us the entire time. Overall I give it five stars and I’d like to order another three days just like them for next weekend.

Change of Plans

Yesterday was my youngest son’s 10th birthday.  He had friends over on Friday for a sleepover and stayed up too late, had pizza and cheesecake for dessert and overall had a great time.  He has such a wonderful group of friends who are always a joy to have over, which makes saying “yes” to a sleepover so easy.

My sweet 10 year old.

On Sunday, we made Rice Krispie treats together so he could take them as snacks for his class on Monday, his actual birthday.  He melted the butter and stirred in the marshmallows.  I loved watching him stir and tell me, “I don’t need your help, Mom.”  He’s growing up so quickly. We packed them up and set them by his backpack to take to school.

Chipmunk cheeks filled with marshmallows!

Yesterday was his birthday.  This is how he spent most of the morning…an unexpected change of plans.

Home sick on his birthday.

Sick on the couch.  A head cold and fever.  He seemed to take it all in stride however.  Grandma brought him some “medicine” which closely resembled chocolate chip ice cream and I took him to Best Buy in the afternoon to use his gift card on a game he’s been wanting.  This will probably be a day he’ll remember and wanted it to have some “happy” memories from the day and not just of him being sick. 

I tried to get him to close his eyes (don’t dare call it a “nap” when you’re 10!!), but no such luck.

He felt better after dinner, so we watched The Sorcerer’s Apprentice together since he felt better.   Even after missing out on celebrating his birthday at school yesterday he still had a pretty good day…….ice cream, movie, trip to get a new game and popsicles on the couch. I told him that because he was home sick, that actually made his birthday one day longer and will celebrate it at school the next day.  He was thrilled with that.   So, I guess being sick on his birthday wasn’t all bad after all.  

My Ten-Year Old Son

My baby is turning ten years old today.   I feel like it was just yesterday that he was my tiny little boy wrapped in a yellow blanket sleeping all day and always happy. Where does the time go?  

He doesn’t need my help tying his shoes anymore or zipping his coat.  He can make his own breakfast and has an opinion about what he wears to school.  He’s becoming so independent now and has such confidence in himself that he makes us so proud.  He’s a quiet soul, but is funny as all get out and always surprises us with his quick comebacks to any adult conversation.  It may not look like he’s paying attention, but he is.   He’s so polite and courteous to everyone and is the model cub scout in every way.

He’s my little companion in the car and will go on any errand with you as long as there are gummy worms in the end.  He never complains and has such an easy-going nature, well, most of the time.   Add a lack of sleep to the mix and you could get a different child at any given moment. 

As his parents, we are so proud of all he’s done and will continue to do in this world.  I see great things in his future.  Perhaps he’ll be an artist, a computer engineer, an Air Force Cadet or maybe even a geologist.  The sky is the limit, but do know that this last ten years has been a blessing for us because he’s given us and our family so much love.   I love you from here to the moon…………(I can still say that, even if you’re double digits old.) Happy Birthday, my little boy.  I love you.

Extra Lights and a Cat Ornament

This is our first Christmas in our new house and so was excited to see what the house would look like all decorated.   I had thrown out several old and tattered decorations before we moved, then sold 50% of what décor I had left at our garage sale prior to the move and was still surprised by how much I have left over that I didn’t use. 

I put the remaining decorations in a plastic tub in the basement storage left to collect dust and be of no use, until today.

One of my friends is an angel.  Really, she is. (You can see her halo and wings when she’s not watching.) She has requested any extra Christmas décor to decorate a foster family’s tree tomorrow for five little girls that have never had a Christmas.   Never had a Christmas.

This just made my heart pound.  I had to do something.  I found the tree stand we used last year for our real tree (that I so desperately had to have and will probably never have another real tree again), found the box with all the extra lights in it and then remembered we had a whole box of teddy bears in the garage.  But were there five?

I went to the garage to look in the box and found four.   Rats!  My husband decided to check in the other box next to them and sure enough, there was one more bear.  Five!  They will each get a new home to five little girls who will love them and hold them.

A much better life than living in the garage in a box, don’t you think?  (God Wink don’t you think?  Five bears for five little girls?)

So tomorrow, I will get the joy of helping someone decorate their home so that they will have a  wonderful tree and decorations to share with their family just like the rest of us will.  It will be wonderful to look forward to.

The Mall Today

I actually went to the mall today for the first time in a long time.  I don’t like the mall at all.   Teenybopper shops, loud music, clothes in windows that no one really wears, and don’t forget the parking lot; just a few of the reasons I’m not a huge fan.

I was in search of a birthday present (or two) for our youngest son who will be entering double digits in a matter of days.  How did that happen?  It seems like only yesterday…..anyway.

I was walking through the mall with a mission to find A, B and/or C and was almost run over by not two, not three, but four texting, oblivious to the world in front of them, people.  I have to admit, I like my little gadget of a phone and use it to find phone numbers and to answer  the trivia question on the way home from school, but I just don’t have that busy of a schedule that I have to multi-task every moment of the day.  I certainly don’t text and walk into people.

As I walked the mall from store to store, I realized that almost everyone (probably 75%) had their phone in their hand or right up in their face.   There should be a word for it.   It’s like the walking dead.  Are they really searching for coupons for the next store ahead? I don’t think so.  Are they telling the nurse how much medicine to give to the patient?  I don’t think so.   Nothing they could be saying, browsing or texting could be more important than being polite to those around you. 

I really try to use my phone when it’s appropriate.  There are times when I am on it and I probably shouldn’t be, but I think those times are fairly infrequent.  It’s something I am conscious about, but I don’t think the rest of the world is, or at least they weren’t today.

Next time you’re out and about walking in public, take note of how many people you see with their phone in their face.  It’s a trend I’m not a fan of.  What happened to saying hello to people as you passed them?   What happened to that trend?  Just curious.