Christmas, Potty Training & New Year's Resolutions...

It was a great Christmas after all! Andrew had a blast opening gifts and Katie loved playing with all of the paper. Dinner was really yummy and we all really enjoyed ourselves. All the snow was fun and gave us a good excuse to not do too much of anything. I liked having Aaron home an extra day & a half too.
And a nice surprise overnight visit from Mom & Dad courtesy of United Airlines pushing their layover in Denver from 4 hours to 5, thus missing their connection to Hawaii! I love having them around and it was a great unexpected evening with them!
We got Katie's hip x-ray results back and they are normal! We were pretty sure they would be but wanted to check just in case - she's not standing at all and sits with her legs so wide. Anyway, that's a bit of a relief.
That's that last week in very short review...

Today I've decided we're going to work on potty training. So Andrew is wearing big boy underwear and we're going to the potty often. This is our 3rd or 4th try at getting out of diapers but the first one at going straight to underwear. I'm hoping it might actually work! He pee'd through the first pair after only about 30 minutes but we're in pair #2 for about an hour now. I really really really want to be done with diapers for one kid!!!

I have 2 New Year's Resolutions this year:
1. Cut down on frivolous spending. Especially for the kids!
2. Get into church more often. More often than never should be easy but I really need to do it.
So you all, my friends, can (lovingly please) help me to do these. I've struggled with them this year and really want to focus on getting better.

Christmas

Yikes! Have I mentioned that this is my very first Christmas that I won't be at my Mom's house??? Yes, I'm 38 years old and totally have to be home with my mom for Christmas. This year it was crazy expensive to fly home and no frequent flyer tix were available so we're going 2 weeks after in January and having a mini-Christmas so it really will be fine (that's what I keep repeating to myself...)
BUT, I've commited myself to having Christmas at my house with Aaron's parents. it really does make more sense because it is really more about Andrew than any of us (ok, I keep repeating that to myself too.) And I don't want to drive all over for presents then dinner over there and all of that jazz. So, Christmas Eve I'm making a breakfast casserole, and then we're going to the Springs for funny presents and soup dinner with my extended family in the evening. Then Christmas morning the in-laws are coming over here for breakfast, presents and supper/games/tv/naps - whatever. I'm also planning this supper which is getting more and more fancy in my dumb head. I did find a mushroom stuffed roast that I can put together a day or so ahead today that sounds really yummy though. I'm trying really hard not to be an overachiever but it just isn't working! Oh well, I guess that's what us mom's and daughter-in-laws do!

Random Thoughts!!

Ok, time for an update to my life these days. Not that anything is really different really, just time for an update here before the cobwebs get too thick!
I have managed to move a bit of the clutter out and around. We had a big trash day this week. I even made Aaron help me out this weekend so it was a family effort! I got the infant car seat out of the dining room (yeah, that one was really really overdue...) and I have a system, yes, a system for mail & receipts now. No more junk mail piled up! I'm coming up on PMS time and I know I'm going to need some help getting through it without getting to grumpy so this should make some good steps!
what else...
I have all of my Christmas shopping done!! I have to wrap everything and send a box to MN (but not by Christmas - whew!) and work on a Christmas/New Year's letter. But the shopping is all finished - YAY!! Andrew's getting lots of small Star Wars legos so we now have to really work on keeping them out of Katie's mouth.
He got up cold early this morning and came to cuddle with me in bed. I know that I don't want that to be a habit, but I sure enjoy it every once in a while. Waking up with a warm little person hugging up on me is such a sweet moment I really try to cherish it. I like to think about Katie joining us after a while too, it is hard to imagine now but I know she will after she's out of her crib.
Ok, off to work on catching up Quicken. I'm making good headway on that too. Then we can really work on our budget and be realistic about spending $$. I'm not doing so well on that right now - I have checks so there must be $$ - right? I need to be a better steward of God's money and part of it is getting a handle on where we've been spending.
Thanks friends!!

Clutter

I don't know how I manage to surround myself with so much clutter. I go into other people's houses and there just isn't all the clutter and stuff there! So either all of you are very good hiders or you are managing it much better than I am. I have a gorgeous dining room table that I very rarely see because it is covered in mail, bags, notebooks, pictures, toys and who knows what else. I have piles on the floor in the dining room, currently including 2 paintings that have been taken down for Christmas and a mirror that has been in the corner of the living room, all that should have gone down to the basement but never have made it that far. The desk here is covered in clutter. Filing to be done for the last almost year, receipts to go into quicken that I'm months behind on, other stuff that is just stuff!!! Then there is all the extra furniture that is supposed to be going in the basement once it gets finished but now it is just taking up room upstairs.

So how do you all manage it??? It does get to me and I start to get crabby about it all but I just don't know how to keep ahead of it all! I start systems but no one else follows them so eventually I scrap them too. I really want an ordered house and an ordered life - at least more so than it is now - any great suggestions out there???

On a happy note - I can cross off one of my projects! I finished Andrew's sweater! When he's happier, I'll take a picture of him in it, he's prety pretty cute!

It's the first post!

So Kendra & Tina have talked me into starting a blog! I'm so 21st century...
I've been thinking that I have so much that I could say on something like this but of course now that I sit here my mind is completely blank! So I'll just say what is going on today.
Aaron is out of town with work at "the Ranch" in TX doing boy stuff - shooting skeet, riding horses and the like - he'll be back on Wed and I do miss him. I sure appreciate how much he does with the kids and for me when he's home!
Andrew's getting over pinkeye but other than that he's just his regular old neat self. Katie is butt scooting in slow motion all over the place now. At the moment she's mad at me because she's hungry so Andrew is talking so sweet to her. Makes my heart melt a little!
I've got gut cramps and the runs - nice tmi! so no shower or much got done for me today.

My big accomplishment for the weekend (besides getting everyone to church & back on my own) was talking to Karen about how all of us mom's aren't perfect and we all need each other's company to remember that! She's supposed to come on Wed b/c Adam is out of town and I really think she needs to know that she's not alone in not having that perfect staying at home life. I know it sure blessed me and pretty much saved my sanity!

Ok, I'm sending this off into cyberland, it is weird!!