A look back at 2008

First of all... WHERE has time gone?! I can't believe that Kelsey is 9 and Braden will be 3 in exactly a month. We had a great year and stayed very busy. As I said in previous posts, we did some landscaping in the back (still a work in progress and pictures can be found in a previous post) and also remodeled the bathroom.
Here's my favorite part and THANK YOU to my Brother in law Ray who did the excellent tile work.

In addition to that, we considered moving and repainted the living room from the gawd-awful green (see below for last years christmas tree and green)
that I should shoot myself for painting in the first place and actually had a "packing" party where people came over and helped us muck out the house in case we actually decided to move. I'm still working on putting pictures up on the walls. OOPS. I'm glad we didn't move though, with the extreme down turn in the economy and drop in housing prices, it would've been a bad choice. Instead we stayed here and dumped money into the house, which means my savings account is seriously depleted at the moment.

We did make some time for fun and took a trip to Great Wolf Lodge with our good friends and neighbors

and also had some fun camping trips at Sun Lakes and "the property" that Scott's parents own.

I'm sure there were more other defining moments throughout the year but I've already forgotten them. It's not like 2007 (pre-blog) that started just before Braden's birthday with a leaking fish tank which required the replacement of much of our flooring, a new car to counteract the rising fuel costs and our trees being taken down.

For now, I'll leave you with this not very exciting post and get back to preparing the house for the small NYE party we are hosting.

Merry belated Christmas

Yes, I am behind in posting a Christmas blog, but in my defense, Christmas is a busy time! However, this year was more relaxing than any of the others. It was only the 2nd time in 10 years that we didn't travel on Christmas day. I even neglected taking the camera out for most of it, but here is the one picture Scott got of both the kids first thing in the morning.

The kids got a lot of loot, Kelsey an entire new wardrobe from her favorite store, Braden more cars and an awesome Black and Decker tool bench, which he loves and Scott and I both got things we wanted/needed. The rest of the day was spent sitting on the couch, playing the Wii and having dinner at Bob and Paulas. I think we've got Scotts parents addicted to the Wii and Paula and I had a great time driving Mario Kart while drinking wine. :)

First Snow

Our first snow! The kids had a lot of fun playing in it. We're expecting more snow by wednesday and it's supposed to remain cold through the coming weekend. They are even talking about a possible white Christmas. Something that is very rare around here!

Happy Holidays

The holiday parties are now in full swing. This past weekend was busy enough that by Sunday, I spent most of the day unproductive and on the couch, pretending to nurse my "cold" which was really just a slightly sore throat and I wanted to be lazy. But, I had an excellent visit with my grandparents, my great grandma, my cousin's family and my friend Katie for the first portion of the weekend.
Hey Great Grandma Ann, if you are reading this, isn't the tree pretty? I bought it last year on clearance, put it up about a week ago and yes, I think it's gorgeous. Oh, and it's fake. For those of you who spent friday evening with Great Grandma Ann, you'll understand that great grandma really really liked my tree and was sure to let us know every 10 minutes or so... although each time she told us, it was the first time.... That's okay, Great Grandma is 95 and she made it through the entire Victorian Country Christmas pushing the 9 year old (Kelsey) around in the wheel chair we'd rented for her... we'll forgive her if she sometimes forgets she already asked a question. This was really quite funny to see and no, Kelsey didn't hijack grandmas chair the entire time... Grandma preferred to walk and she certainly wasn't slowing us down, so Kelsey climbed in and Grandma pushed her for a bit until we made Kelsey get out and use her perfectly good legs.

In other holiday news, I am proud to report that I've gotten more than half of my shopping done, wrapped and heck, most of it has even made it to it's final destination. I feel very organized this year, which is new and different.... usually I'm running around like a mad person during the winter and I end up losing 3-5 pounds. Unfortunately, this year, I've cut back on my shopping and am doing it early, so I'm actually GAINING weight, even though I've started going back to the gym on a regular basis... if by regular basis, two times a week counts... that's about all I can handle.

Lastly... a note to myself... I will have to come back and read this I'm sure. When potty training a boy, do NOT let him aim it himself..... this was a disaster. Braden was standing on his stool, getting ready to go, usually I make him sit down, but I thought, he looks like he knows what he's doing, lets see how he does. Well, he aimed and let the stream fly.... it proceeded to hit the wall behind the garbage can, then the garbage can itself. By this time, I'm trying to help him and then he overcorrects and the stream goes to the other side of the toilet, hits the shower curtain, floor, toilet (although not IN the bowl) and by the end it takes 6 clorox wipes to clean up the walls, floor and toilet, not to mention we had to wash our hands and his legs. Ugh..... Scott of course, laughs at me and says, well, Of course you have to aim it for him. Forgive me for not knowing how this works, it looked pretty well aimed to me, I've never tried to do it myself! Girls sit nicely in one spot and there is never a question about where their stream is going to go. The last time I checked, the only child I've potty trained was a girl and it was atleast 7 years ago.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

I am of course, late in posting this! But, I hope everyone had a great Turkey Day. We had a nice, relaxing day. We had planned to go to my grandparents, but there was a change of plans and we ended up going to Scott's parents instead. Grandma Verla has had a rough month so we wanted to make sure we got some visiting time with her, just in case. I'm happy to say, she looked remarkably well for the month she had, just a little pale and tired, but overall upbeat and even had a half a glass of wine. The kids were happy to see her and Braden showed off his ball throwing/catching skills with Uncle Boyd, while Kelsey helped Grandma Paula with most of the cooking. We stayed after dinner and watched a movie, so it was a long day for the kids with no nap for Braden, but he handled it like a champ and even slept in the next morning for us.

The rest of the weekend passed too quickly even if it was extended for the holiday. Scott braved the crowds on Black Friday for a toolbox he's wanted since his birthday. He's happy to report that he survived the crowd and was able to order the box. We also put our tree up, which is a record for me. We purchased a prelit, fake tree on clearance last year, so I don't have to worry about the needles dropping on my carpet or it drying out before Christmas. While we were decorating, I turned on "National Lampoons Christmas Vacation" rather than the usual Christmas music.

Now, the holiday season begins and we will have a busy month of family, shopping, Christmas parties, baking and wrapping. I'm sure I'll be back to fill you all in soon.