I am really looking forward to starting a new year. The idea of a new year is great to me. It is a clean slate, a fresh start. I always make new years resolutions of some sort. This year is no exception. The other day I was discussing resolutions with my brother in law Mike. He asked if I have ever kept my new years resolutions. Quickly my response, "No!" No, I have never kept a single new years resolutions that I can think of. Since the age of four my new years resolution has been to lose weight. So, of course since I love traditions one of my top resolutions is to lose weight. And I don't care that it may be silly. I am way too optimistic to give up on it now. Next year that will NOT be one of my resolutions. This will be the year I conquer my weight issues. I feel so confident saying that because I have been seeing a weight loss doctor. Although, the scale has not reflected any significant weight loss yet I am feeling better. I could go on forever about weight loss. I think I have been on diet since the third grade. I will save more on that for another time. But going back to what Mike asked me and my response. No, I have never kept any resolutions. However, I feel like each year I get better. I get better with money, I eat a little better, I become a little more organized. I did walk the mini last year! I set unrealistic goals for myself, especially at the start of the year, because even if I fall short I am still improving. This year I want to be one of those crazy coupon people in the grocery stores. You see them on tv. They get twenty boxes of cereal for a dollar. Jeff and I are going on a crazy tight budget. We want to save every single penny we can. Number one we want to pay off his school loan. It is not that big. Once it is paid off we will be debt free besides the house. We just received this bill in October. Then we want to save enough to take the kids to Disney. I am praying we keep our focus. In addition to losing weight and saving money I want to continue working on organization. There are two keys to being successful in life.......being prepared and being organized. With those two things you can be successful at anything. Well, that is what I think. I stole this idea from someone else, but until NYE I am really trying to spend all my extra time organizing my home. Hopefully, I will start the year with a clean organized home. In the last two days I have completely organized my bedroom and most of my kitchen. Our bedroom is always the last place to get clean. I generally always start in the kids bedrooms, the playroom or kitchen. As most parents anything that belongs or pertains to them goes last. This time I decided it would be most beneficial to have a clean organized place to rest. Our bedroom is wonderful. It is so tiny but everything has a place. And we pulled out a couple bags of clothes for garage sale. Yes, I gather my garage sale items up all year round. It is really on my heart this year to have a FREE garage sale. I will post more on that later. Okay, I can't keep the animals, I mean children back any longer. Gotta dash.....

Sleep

I have always been a morning person. I still definitely would describe myself that way. Once I am up I am ready to go. However, in the last two years the getting up part is really getting to be challenging. The ONLY time I really have completely to myself is first thing in the morning. I really put out all effort to take full advantage of that opportune time. In the last couple of months I have not been getting up early. Today I remember why I abandoned that practice...Jacob! I love that child more than words can describe. Seriously, I can wake at 4am and he has some sort of sensor. He can detect when I am not sleeping and he finds me. If Jackson or Jonah wake up then it is no big deal. They will either lay on the couch very quietly watching tv or simply go back to sleep. However, if Jacob is awake then the whole house must be awake with him. He is loud. He yells a lot in the morning. Now, I remember that getting up early is not worth it. Today I got up at 7a. As I was getting out of bed I realized.....he was already next to me!! That is another secret thing with Jacob. Nearly every single night he manages in his sleep to come to our room. The absolute latest I have slept since having the kids since 8a. Sleeping in until you can't sleep any longer is the one thing I miss the most since having the kids. I am sure I could think of more things. Right now, I really miss sleeping in.

Merry Christmas!

I only have a few minutes. However, once again I find myself needing to release. This morning has been amazing. Jeff and I were up until 3a preparing for this morning's festivities. Presents were wrapped and under the tree. The larger items were assembled (no easy task). I even baked a birthday cake for Jesus. The kids were all up by 7a. They were out of this world excited. My husband went over the top in spoiling me this year. My parents stopped by. I made breakfast. I was definitely carrying around that warm and fuzzy feeling inside and thinking that my cup has run completely over. Then, disaster struck our home. The toilet upstairs overflowed with poo water. My husband grabbed the first thing he saw to mop it up...my white bath robe. Okay, I can wash and bleach it...maybe. We were definitely very upset but that was not the worst of it. As we are both frantically mopping upstairs my precious Jonah yells from downstairs,"Mom! It is raining in the hallway!!!" OMG! Yes, the hall downstairs was dripping with water from multiple locations. The ceiling is a mess, the floor was very wet and I was in tears. Ten minutes ago I was in complete bliss. I really feel like every challenge we face is a lesson from God. I took many lessons from this experience. 1. You can never over inspect a home you are purchasing. After this morning we learned there is no whatever it is called under our upstairs bathroom floor. The tub is literally sitting on wood whatever. I know with all these technical terms it is hard to follow along. But trust me, it isn't right. Okay, so that will lead to another home improvement project. 2. Always have all bathrooms in your house in working operating function. Our downstairs bath has been broken since we moved in. I have been very content avoiding it until this morning. 3. Do NOT deplete your emergency fund for Christmas gifts because you may have an emergency on Christmas. Thinking it is holy day does not make it exempt from disasters. Many lessons learned today. I am still over the top blessed. I am already feeling like poo water coming out of ceiling isn't that bad. We are all healthy!! Amen! Merry Christmas everyone.

Rural King

Yesterday Jeff and I took all four kids shopping in Columbus to Rural King. We have been wanting to go down there for a couple months. Jeff has desperately been needing new boots. Okay, it is always insane shopping with four kids. But then it happened. We went to the toy department. People were staring at us because our kids were such monkeys. Four kids screaming, "I want this! I want this!" at every single toy. Juliet was even getting into it. The last aisle was the almighty tractor and construction toy aisle. It was like they hit the jackpot. They went bananas. We couldn't even talk to them. Jeff and I just looked at each other both wondering how did this happen and how can we escape, with or without the children at this point. I had recently had this idea to split the kids up. Jeff takes two and I take two kids shopping. Then the kids could buy gifts for the other kids. We could do a little exchange between the four of them. At that point in the store Jeff decided they could each pick out one toy and open it on Christmas from each other. I explained this to the boys. They each could choose one toy. Jacob picked out a tractor with a wagon $29.99, Jonah an excavator $44.99 and Jackson this mini scale three gift set with two tractors and a backhoe $24.99. We get up in line and the boys are still screaming out more,"I want this and I want that!" Jeff and I had had it! It was so stressful. We put the toys back. The boys freaked out. They were all crying. We only bought the toy Jackson had picked out. And it really worked out because it included three toys. Each child did end up with something. As soon as we walked out of the store they were already over it. But I was not. I felt horrible, sick to my stomach horrible. How could we go back on our word?! We told each of them they could pick something out. Their little faces lit up with excitement. Then bam! We took it away. Jeff reasoning was this, "think of all the times we say 'do that one more time and we won't go (fill in the blank)' and we always end up taking them. This just makes it all even." Really? Then, why did I feel so horrible? Fast forward to this morning. All three toys they received yesterday are broken. My kids are so destructible. They break everything. This list is so long but includes their night stands, books, most of the toys and trucks, their motorized dump truck they rode around the yard in, my oven and on and on. At what age will they stop breaking everything. I definitely don't feel bad about the events yesterday at Rural King anymore. I feel very frustrated. Are we teaching them this behavior? Have we missed something? Why aren't they more appreciative? Ugh, I hate this. Today Jeff and I were cleaning their room. This is the third time this week I have cleaned their room. Today we found Oreos I purchased last night. The container was half eaten. We also found this wine bottle kit Jeff received at his company Christmas party last week. Some of the pieces were missing. The kids sneaking food out the kitchen has also became a huge issue. We have found 2 liters of pop, a half eaten block of cream cheese, an empty pizza box, and many wrappers to various foods. I almost forgot a tub of frosting mostly eaten. I wish I had a door on my kitchen. I don't even know when they get up and go downstairs and sneak food. I feel like I need a security system on my kitchen. I feel like I should be a better parent and know how to stop this. We feed our kids three meals and at least two snacks a day. I am having some major frustrations issues this morning. It doesn't help that I feel like I have been hit by a truck today. Jeff and I both have colds or something. I am supposed to be in the shower right now but I have zero motivation today. We are going to take turns going to the clinic today. Doesn't that sound pathetic? At least the kids are all healthy and feeling great. They have all been on antibiotics since Thursday. In the future when the kids get sick I should just get antibiotics for Jeff and me. It is inevitable that we will get sick too.

Aha Moment

My boys are home sick today from school. It is their first sick day. They have ear infections, fevers and coughs. I totally kinda started cracking up when I called the school. It is so silly. However, as the phone started to ring I totally realized, "OMG! I am so grown up!" I guess turning 32 wasn't a big enough moment. But it was that thought when you are in high school and you try to get someone to call in for you. Now, I am at that old person that can call in. Now I am the mom. Geez, inside I still feel like I am still a girl. I am not old enough to have this much responsibility. Haha!

Lots of randomness

It has been awhile since I have blogged. We have done and seen so much in the last couple of months. I was going through my camera and noticed so many fun, silly pics. After all this time I still uploaded them in backwards order. These pics were taken yesterday after church. The boys have been dying to go outside and play. I love the first pic. That is Jonah on the sled and Jacob is pulling it. Jackson is trying to push it, but he keeps falling down.

I made all the boys pose for a picture before heading outside.




















Jonah is laying on top of Jackson.

Over the weekend Jeff and I attended the annual company Christmas party.

Saturday was a busy day. The kids had breakfast with Santa at the mall in the morning. Afterwards they attended a bowling birthday party for a little boy in their class. It was their first 'friends' birthday party. It was so cute. The boys had a blast. These are pics of them in their bowling shoes.

Last Monday Citizens Gas hosted a company party at the Children's Museum. The kids were able to tell Santa everything they wanted for Christmas. The pic didn't turn out too well. I didn't realize that every time I snapped a pic their flash would go off. Jeff said the photographer was getting frustrated with me. I think I took like four pics. I was clueless. Sorry!

Jonah playing trains. Our new favorite thing is to bring all the trains out of the basement and play trains at the kitchen table. It entertains them for a long time.

Me and Jackson at the Children's Museum.

Jeff on Thanksgiving.

This was the best pic I got of Juliet on Thanksgiving. I love, love, love this dress. She looked part Amish, part like she was attending a funeral. But I don't care. I absolutely love it. My grandma did not approve of me dressing Juliet in black for Thanksgiving.

I take pics of the kids almost everyday. Seriously. I really do. These were taken one random morning. The kids were really into it.

This pic of Jeff and me was taken on vacation at the cabin in Gatlinburg.
This pic of my dad and me cracks me up. My dad looks terrified. He is so funny! My dad's new thing is his new inability to smile on demand. Seriously. Every time we go to take his pic he makes ridiculous faces. I have like five more pics just like this because they made me laugh every time.

I love this pic of Braxton and Jackson. Braxton looks adorable.

Jacob is so funny. These goggles came with a pretend leaf blower.