Memorable Moments of 2008

The number one MOST memorable moment of 2008 would have to be, without a doubt -

The birth of my son
October 31, 2008

Other memorable moments, good and bad, in no particular order;

Gigi's first visit to the eye doctor and her first pair of glasses (July 2008)

Gigi's first visit to the dentist (July 2008) Which was also the first time wearing an outfit I had sewn for her out in public!

The shock of having a $4000 shortage in our escrow account and having our monthly payment raised by nearly $200 (January 2008)

Gigi cutting on her own food for the first time (July 2008)

Gigi learning to write her letters (September 2008)

Gigi's first time in Karate class (September 2008)

First visit to Disney (August 2008)

Pictures of three generations of women in my family together (May 2008)

Visit from my dad (June 2008)

Gigi's third birthday (May 2008)

The purchase of my new van (September 2008)

Trip to Weeki Wachee Springs (September 2008)

There were, without a doubt, more memorable moments, but that's all I am including right now.

J's just about done nursing now.

Goals for 2008

As 2008 draws to a close, let's see what has been done.

Unfortunately I can not find my list of goals for 2008 to see what I was actually able to accomplish.. too bad I wasn't blogging then! Of course, I don't remember everything that was on that list either, but here is what I do remember;

1. Teach Gigi the letters and their sounds - Done!
2. Teach Gigi to read simple 3 letter words - Not quite
3. Establish a routine for cleaning - made up the routine but only followed it until about August
   
4. Sew Christmas pajamas for the family - Done!
5. Have a second child - DONE!!
6. Have wedding pictures printed - Done just last week :)
7. Find a way to save on our expenses - Cut out cable and bought a car that costs less
8. Finish Gigi's first year scrapbook - Finished about three months ago!
9. Get a new van - See goal #7
10. Get birthday cards mailed out in time for people's birthdays - Some cards are still in my desk
11. Contribute at least $25 a month to Gigi's savings account - We contributed $100 one time
12. Make our wedding scrapbook - Not even started
    

I'm sure there was more, but that's all I can remember right now.

All in all I think I did an OK job in the end. Some things I only got to in the last few months of the year, but hey - that's why I give myself the whole year!

Goals for 2009

It's that time of year again..setting goals for myself to accomplish by the end of the year.

This is what I have thought of so far that I would like to do in 2009;

1. Eat healthier
2. Lose at least 20 pounds
3. Get back into my old routine of cleaning one room a day so it doesn't pile up
4. Get back into my old routine of doing one load of laundry a day so it doesn't pile up
5. Get back into my old routine of planning meals a week in advance
6. Contribute $25 a month to the kid's savings accounts
7. Start and complete my wedding scrapbook
8. Start J's scrapbook and keep it up to date
9. Make our family travel scrapbook and holiday scrapbook and keep them up to date
10. Sew a Halloween costume for J and possibly one for Gigi as well depending on what she wants to be
11. Sew Christmas pj's for the family again
12. Teach Gigi to read simple stories
13. Mail out birthday cards to family members in time for their birthday
14. Drink more water
15. Use my reusable shopping bags every time I shop
16. Grow some vegetables again
17. Incorporate Bible lessons into our curriculum for Gigi
18. Get both my kids baptised (This one makes me sad since Gigi will be 4 this year!)

That's all I can think of now, though I am sure I will add to that list later. It's a lot, but I give myself the entire year to complete these things. So I have a year to lose 20 pounds and a full year to get back into good routines etc. I do it that way so there is less chance of failure!

Preparing for the New Year

Well, it's the last day of 2008. Tomorrow starts a new year. A chance for a fresh start. We'll soon have a new President in office with a promise of a better future for us all. And so once again, it's time for me to try to make a better future for myself and my family.

I'm trying to start the new year off right. Thanks to the upbringing of my mother, I have been running around like a chicken without a head for the last couple of days. She always raised us to have things a certain way for the start of the new year;
The house must be clean - not just tidy either, REALLY clean. There must be NO dirty laundry in the house. And there must be plenty of food in the refrigerator and the pantry.

So, right now there is load of laundry in the wash, one in the dryer and two waiting to be folded and put away. The sheets on the beds have all been changed, the baseboards throughout the house scrubbed down. The couch has been steam cleaned. The playroom has been dusted and all the toys sanitized. My craft/sewing area has been re-organized and wiped down. The office area has been organized and dusted. All ceiling fans have been dusted. All of our Christmas presents have finally found their homes. The kitchen has been cleaned. All the furniture in the entire house has been dusted and polished with pledge. I've gone through the filing cabinets, disposing of what we no longer need and making new folders for the stuff we will need to save next year.

But there's still so much left to do! I still need to:

• Do about three more loads of regular laundry (I'm unusually behind on laundry these days) plus two more loads of the cleaning rags.
• Run the dishwasher one last time and then put that stuff away
• Fold and put away the loads of laundry that are already done
• Clean and sanitize both bathrooms
• Vacuum all carpets
• Sweep and mop all floors
• Clean the sliding glass doors and windows
• Make a final trip to the grocery store to pick up a couple things.

Luckily, my mom has said that when she is done working for the day she will come over and watch the kids so I can finish up what I need to do.
With all this that needs to get done you may be asking yourself,
"Why are you on the computer blogging?!?!?"
Well, I am doing so with one hand as I nurse my son...again.

He sure does eat a lot!

A Three Year Old's Favorites

Gigi decided to inform me today of her favorite songs.

Now, I already know some of her favorite things;

Color - blue.
Food - carrots and green beans
Animal - elephants and monkeys
Princess - Cinderella

A few others she has made known but I can't think of them at the moment. Today was the first time she mentioned having a favorite song. And there are three!

1. The chipmunk song. This is actually the song that says, "so you had a bad day". Not sure who originally recorded it, but it's in the opening scene of the new chipmunks movie. (According to my brother, it's Daniel Powter)

2. Delilah. The song by the Plain White T's.

3. (This is funny) The ha ha no so song. Which apparently is "Love Song" by Sarah Bareilles. I don't know what she think she is saying in that song!

Good News in Hard Times

Upon checking today's mail I noticed a letter from our mortgage company. I could tell it wasn't our normal monthly statement. Intrigued, I opened it immediately. To my surprise, enclosed was a check!

Apparently , since our taxes went down this year we actually had a surplus in our escrow account. Now, our surplus did not even come close to what we have paid out in shortages the past two years, but it's a surplus - and every little bit helps these days.

That's not even the best part. Our mortgage company also reevaluated our account. Since they expect our taxes to be similar in 2009, we do not need to have as much in our escrow account as we have in he past. So, they are reducing our monthly payment by almost $200!!

I was so excited I called hubby immediately. He said it best. He said he had been feeling like he was struggling to breathe and suddenly someone put him on oxygen.

How wonderful that the Lord always provides when we need it most; as I stare at a pile of bills from my hospital stay during J's birth, his circumcision bill, Gigi's bills for the eye doctor etc. All the things that get put off because they don't accrue interest so we figure they can wait. Well, they will all get paid now!

Two Months

On Friday my little man was officially two months old! My how time flies!!

At two months, we are guessing that he now weighs about 11 pounds - we will have to wait for his check up to find our for sure though. He is currently wearing size 1 diapers, but they look like they are getting a bit snug on him.

He apparently thinks he is old enough now for a girlfriend.

But not too old to fall asleep on Mima's shoulder and catch flies.

Still a cutie-pie! The smiles that he's been giving us since five weeks get bigger every day. He even has a little laugh now. If I can figure out how to upload video on this, I recorded him "laughing" on Christmas eve.

A Love of Learning

It's a wonderful feeling when I walk into the playroom to find my daughter "playing" with a learning game with no persuasion from me.

I walked in on her this afternoon playing with her counting cups.

Each container has a different number painted on it. She has to count out the appropriate number of buttons that belong in each cup.

I watched her for a few moments without her noticing. She did great!! She really knows her numbers!

It's great to see that even though we have not been doing any formal lessons, she is not forgetting what she has already learned.

Decorating Outside

Well, since we pack up our decorations right after New Year's day, this will be the last week of participating in Kate's "Deck the Halls" picture sharing.

Here are out outdoor decorations.

Unfortunately, our deer are ready to retire this year as well as a couple of candy canes. Oh well!

Christmas

Christmas Eve was spent at my mom's, just like every year before. She cooked a delicious feast of ham, broccoli casserole, green beans and twice baked potatoes. She even had appetizers of deviled eggs and prosciutto and mozzarella cheese -YUM!

After dinner we all watched "Fred Claus" - cute movie. When that was over we ate dessert; Flan, pastries and chocolate covered strawberries. After dessert, we opened presents. Of course, Gigi was flooded with gifts and she was really excited over every one of them. She was especially happy about her princess tent for her bed from her Mima and her Prince and Princess dolls that her Uncle B had sent to her from New York.

When we finally left it was midnight! Once we were home, we put Gigi straight to bed. This was easy to do since she had fallen asleep about 2 minutes after we got into the car. We then placed all of our gifts under the tree and set out the cookies and milk for Santa along with a note. Gigi had told me earlier in the day that she wanted me to write a note to Santa to leave next to his cookies. So, I did. At her instruction, the note read, " Dear Santa, Please leave me presents and I will be good all night. The End." Apparently she was going to be very well behaved while sleeping.

In the morning, we saw that Santa had come! He had eaten his cookies and drank the milk and left presents for Gigi under the tree. Luckily for us, since she went to sleep so late, she didn't wake until 9:45! So we were able to sleep in a bit which was nice. The gifts from Santa are the ones in front with no wrapping paper on them.

We took our time opening all of our gifts and emptying out our stockings. We were all very happy with what we had received. Gigi couldn't wait to start playing with her new toys. We lounged around for a few hours having fun with all our new things. She even received presents from New York from her Pipa! Look at the madness!!

Of course we were all wearing our matching pajamas. Remember those? I had written about them while I was still pregnant. It was one of the things I wanted to make sure to complete before J was born - sew our Christmas pj's. Well, I did finish them before he was born, but I actually ended up having to make a new pair of pants for him on Christmas eve. When I originally made them, I just guessed at his size and when I remembered to try them on it was already December 24 and they were too small. Anyway, we were all able to wear them.

Gigi and I had our shirts and pants match, while the guys wore red shirts (that were purchased) with the pants that I had made. I'm so glad I actually was able to make these! For two main reasons; 1. to purchase matching pajama's for the whole family would have cost a bit over $100. I only spent $20 on the fabric. 2. It was one of my goals that I made at the beginning of the year.

After a few hours, we finally got dressed and put our toys to the side. We then headed to my mother-in-law's house where the festivities continued. By the time we left there and loaded up the van, there was not an inch of space left empty!

We are still trying to find homes for all of our new gadgets and toys!

Busch Gardens

A neighbor of ours was kind enough to give us some free one day passes to Busch Gardens a couple of weeks ago. On Monday, hubby was off so we went for the day.

Since it's December, they had a lot of special events going on just for the holiday season. We saw a couple of the holiday shows. One was called Christmas on Ice. There was live singing and of course figure skating. There were some really talented skaters there, including some that have won different competitions. There was a couple from Russia and a man from the Ukraine though I can't remember their names.

There was even one from the USA named Samantha Hunt. I'm not up on figure skaters so I really don't know who she is, but it seems she has a few medals.

Gigi was intrigued at first but towards the end she stated that was, "done with this show". J must have liked the music because he was up and wide-eyed for the entire 30 minute show.

I thought there were a lot of really cute parts.

There were also parts of the show that made me really nervous. Why? For one, the stage of ice was fairly small for all the people that were on it and it was raised. Twice, different skaters almost fell of the edge because they didn't stop in time. Luckily they caught themselves before the fall. Also, the Russian couple did so many moves that just made me look away. Like the time when the guy grabbed the girl by the ankles and swung her around in a circle, her head mere inches from smashing on the ice. Or when he lifted her up onto his head and let go. It stressed me out, but it was pretty amazing to see how much talent these skaters had.

After that show, we headed over to the Desert Grill where we had some lunch and then stayed to watch Christmas Celebration. This was a 20 minute song and dance extravaganza. this one held Gigi's attention better. There were parts of this that were reminiscent of Radio City's Christmas show. Like the part with the toy soldiers.

Next it was off the the Land of the Dragons - the kiddie play area.

I was probably just as excited as Gigi to go there because last time we went, I was pregnant and couldn't get on any of the rides with her. So, daddy had to sit out this time while I had some fun with my girl.

Gigi did a couple things on her own as well. She rode on the boat ride and jumped in the "dragon's nest" which is her favorite.

Finally, Gigi was able to visit with Santa yet again. She still did not want to tell him what she wanted for Christmas, but at least she sat with him.

We had a great day and are very grateful to our neighbor for giving us the passes!