Looking back at last year's resolutions... how'd I do?

Reflection is important.. so I am going to see how I did before I look forward and chose anything I want to work on in 2009... mmhhh.. what do you think?

2008 Resolutions
1. Cook more.. feed Utah less Sonic meals! This means that we will only eat out once a week. Beverages are permitted any day of the week, though!
Ok... Utah ate out much less this year but it wasn't because I cooked more.. Tod took this one to heart and we haven't the majority of our meals at home. We don't even gets drinks very often anymore. I am drinking water all the time and Utah has learned to wait until we get home. There were definitely weeks we ate out more than once, though.

2. Continue working out 5X a week at Fuse with a trainer. The results being to reduce body fat (already at healthy level, woo hoo), go down one pant size, and increase overall health.
I have averaged 4X a week this year at the gym. I am down 15pounds, my body fat is down significantly, and I feel great. I need to loose about 17 more pounds before I will have reached my goal.. and my doctor has an even more aggressive goal. I am excited to be going down in pants size - already down one pant size.. so I didn't do too bad on this goal. However, I am still facing some health challenges and I am really hopeful that this year they will be resolved and I will have a better overall health.

3. Let go when needed... this one is key to my mental and spiritual health (and stress level).
Still working on this one...

4. Reconnect with siblings. I am starting with a visit this week! I will take an action monthly to facilitate connecting on a more frequent basis.
This one has been so rewarding. I have reconnected with Elizabeth. I have been to visit her twice and she brought Grace down this summer. We email all the time, talk on the phone frequently, and post on one another's blogs. It has truly been a blessing to reconnect. I still talk to the Beeson family but we haven't been to visit - there is a lot going on in both households to facilitate a trip and the distance is too far for a down and back.

5. Finish ESOL endorsement masters courses and create plan for 3 more graduate hours. My ultimate goal is a second master's degree or my national certification.
I finished my ESOL endorsement and 12 graduate hours with a 4.0gpa. WHOO HOO! I am applying to the Arkansas Leadership Academy for next year and plan to start my national board process, too.

6. Relax one night a week.. no grading, no work out, not paying bills.. just relax... this one is lofty.. might have to make it one night every TWO weeks!
Well.. I did OK on this one, but not really very well overall. Relaxing does not come easy for me at all! I hate sitting still.. my brain never stops and I feel very trapped.. I have to get up and get stuff done. However, I have been able to sit with the kiddos and watch TV, play board games, and visit and it has been a blessing!

Chuck E Cheese

and the family fun continues...

We went to Springfield, MO on Saturday to see Aunt Lizzy (my sister), Uncle Jimmy, and little Grace (my niece). We were lucky enough to spend a little time with Grace's mom (Allison) and dad (Greg). We had a great visit, though it was entirely too short. We will have to plan another visit and stay the night went Aunt Lizzy and Uncle Jimmy return from Phoenix.

Hannah is home for the holidays and these are some of the pictures we have taken. We exchanged presents, shopped, went to visit family, went to movies... it has been a great visit and we look forward to many more visits in the future.

These are pictures of Tuesday and her boyfriend Jesse Birch. He is a great guy and treats Tuesday wonderfully. Tod and I enjoy his company - we enjoy talking about movies and music and he does a great job pretending to be interested in what we are saying :-)! He is a very talented singer songwriter and musician. We had the opportunity to watch him perform and it blew us away!

Drum roll please... (and other quotes from National Lampoon's Christmas movie)

Warning: Quotes from National Lampoons Christmas Vacation can be a little, well, NOT PG.. but they are not crude either... they are scattered throughout this post.

Starting here in green....

Clark: "This is what Christmas is all about. I'll uh park the cars and uh, I'll be outside for the season."

We started off our Christmas Eve with some baking.. the cookies went well, but the peanut butter balls were a bit challenging and resulted in a phone call to Lori for a refresher (again!) on the recipe. We finished them that night but still haven't covered them in chocolate...

Clark: "(Clark notices that there is cat food in the jello.) Aunt Bethany? Does your cat by any chance eat jello?"

Eddie: "I don't know about the cat, but I sure am enjoying it."

The evening wrapped up with us watching National Lampoon's Christmas story... and I am hoping to find the opportunity to quote the movie as much as possible during this post. This movie is so funny and Tuesday can quote almost the entire movie...

Eddie: I don't know if I oughta go sailin' down no hill with nothin' between the ground and my brains but a piece of government plastic.

Clark: Do you really think it matters, Eddie?

Tuesday couldn't even open her eyes for the first picture because her brother couldn't stand it and had to get up at 8am!

Ellen: I don't know what to say, except it's Christmas and we're all in misery.

New pajamas.. a Christmas tradition at our house...
Clark: "And if you believe in him, and you believe in your mom, and you believe in your... your dad, and if you've been good all year round, Santa Clause is going to bring you something."

Ruby Sue: "Sometimes I think all that Santa crap's just bull. If he was so real, how come we didn't get squat last year? We didn't do nothing wrong, and we still got the shaft."

Clark: "It's a good idea you came to stay with us, isn't it?"

Ruby Sue: "I love it here. You don't got to put your coat to go to the bathroom. And your house is always parked in the same place."

Ruby Sue: "Uncle Clark, are you sure you ain't santa clause?"

Tuesday sings a lot of her comments.. and she was celebrating in song the One Tree Hill, season 5, disc set she got from Santa...

New boots...

Utah's gift was wrapped many times... this is the outer box...

a tiny box...

an inner box...

another inner box..
and yet another inner box...
final the shiny silver box... this MUST be the final box...

yeah.. the final box....

Audrey: I hope nobody I know drives by and sees me standing in the yard staring at the house in my pajamas.

Art: If they know your dad, they won't think anything of it.

Aunt Bethany: What's that sound? You hear it? It's a funny squeaky sound.

Uncle Lewis: You couldn't hear a dump truck driving through a nitroglycerin plant.
Clark Sr.: SQUIRREL!

One of my gifts from Tod was a case of Fiji water - delivered to the house monthly! WHOO HOOOO! Since I only basically drink water and ice coffee occasionally, this is a wonderful gift. I love this water... and will recycle the bottles...This is one of our favorite scenes in the movie (I put asterisks and such in the place of the letters that spelled words that might be offensive!):
"I'd like Frank Shirley, my boss, right here tonight. I want him brought from his happy holiday slumber over there on Melody Lane, with all the other rich people, and I want him brought right here with a big ribbon on his head. And, I want to look him straight in the eye and I want to tell him what a cheap, lying, no good, rotten, floor-flushing, low-life, snake-licking, dirt-eating, inbred, overstuffed, ignorant, blood-sucking, dog-kissing, brainless, *&*&less, hopeless, heartless, fat-a@@, bug-eyed, stiff-legged, spotty-lipped, worm-headed, sack of monkey sh** he is! Hallelujah! Holly Sh**! Where's the Tylenol?"

Did you know a cow is a domestic bird and we eat its eggs....

the eiffel tower is in England... cow is a frequently guessed word when the first clue is mammel.. hungry, the state of wanting to eat, and Hungary the country sound the same when spoken as a cheat...

These were some of the things we learned today playing a board game titled smarta** that Tuesday bought for her Dad. He is constantly saying he knows everything, so this game tested his knowledge of 'what?', 'where', and 'who'... and I WON!

We also played Rummicube... it was fun, challenging... but fun, because I WON! :-)

Christmas Video

This is our Christmas video, using my new FLIP video from Tod. I love it and it is so small and easy to use!!!!!

New Purse ROCKS!

Elizabeth (Parr) gave me this purse for Christmas. The counselor at her school makes them. It has all the right pockets, size and location, and carries perfect on the shoulder. I love the pattern, the quality.. it is such a great purse. I wish I could make them.. not so talented in creative areas.... but it is awesome!

Thank you Elizabeth! I love the tag on the purse.. it is hand stitched and adorable! I want to see if I can buy some of her purses for my sisters....

Ban the Balm!

Tod found a web site about the addiction of lip balm. He is making me read it :-), so I thought I would share it with all of you! I can't decide if it is a serious web site or some type of elaborate joke!

http://www.kevdo.com/lipbalm/

Merry Christmas Emmet!

It has been TOOOO long since we have seen our little Emmet - before vacation if you can believe it! We usually hang out once a week, but the holiday season has kept everyone so busy that we haven't gotten together like we enjoy. Well, Emmet (James and Elizabeth, too) came over on Sunday after his nap for a Christmas exchange. Emmet is soooo much fun. Tod played with him most of the visit - he loves wrestling around with him. Emmet chased Rudy all over the house and played tug of war with him some, too. We realized how much we had missed all of them.. especially me and shopping with Elizabeth!

Tod and James started planning their annual trip to Memphis and Elizabeth and I started planning our 2nd annual spring break trip. I think we are going to St. Louis and go to the zoo, MAYBE six flags (after what happened last year in San Antonio we will have to do some research first, maybe go late in the day when the crowd has slowed down), maybe a baseball game, the arch... and anything else we can discover! If any of you have any St. Louis suggestions for two moms, a almost 14 year old boy, and an almost 2 year old boy - share them! We had a blast in San Antonio and don't expect to come home from St. Louis with fewer stories.

He wants upstairs in a BAD way! Utah was up their playing video games and Emmet would just holler at him.. not sure what he was saying, we are sure it was, "Utah, would you come down and play please?"

First Day of Christmas Break

First day of break started with SHOPPING! We finished up all our Christmas shopping, thank goodness!! We have two packages still coming in the mail.. but, if they aren't here in time, we are wrapping pictures of the gifts until they arrive.

Tuesday and Jesse hung out with Utah while we shopped... and we came home with food (you should have seen Tuesday jump up and start picking up all their stuff when we walked in the door!).

Tonight we went to a Razorback basketball game... Utah had a friend coming but he had to cancel at the last minute, so it was the three of us. We still had a great time. Utah told Tod when we got home, "Thanks, Dad. It was fun. We should do that more often." That is all a mom and dad need to hear... so Tod is going to watch for more tickets at work (many people have season tickets and sell tickets they aren't going to use).

The Razorbacks won.. Go Hogs! I even called the Hogs with Tod and Utah - rarity!

Utah and I tried to figure out how to use my phone to take pictures.. the first attempt I was so focused on finding the button on the touch screen that I made this ridiculous face and my hair covered Utah's face! We did better on the 2nd picture!

Tagged by the number eight!

Thank you for the tag... you are the top of my tag list (wishing to remain anonymous will not protect you :-))! This was fun.. 8 is my favorite number, so I had to do this little mental exercise!

8 TV Shows I watch (don't sit down often enough to really watch a whole TV show, but these are the ones I attempt):
1. House
2. Burn Notice
3. Big Bang Theory
4. CSI (sometimes)
5. NCIS
6. What Not to Wear? -you'd think I'd dress better!
7. Flip That House
8. whatever Tod has on the TV.... he is in charge of the remote!

8 Favorite Restaurants:
1. Shogun
2. Bonefish Grill
3. Fish City
4. Schlotsky's (great veggie pizza!)
5. I love breakfast for dinner.. so any great dive that serves pancakes with scrambled eggs.
6. Copelands
7. Tod's dinners are the best!
8. dessert from Mimi's

8 Things that Happened to Me Today (Friday):
1. realized I hadn't wrapped any presents yet, all in a pile in the closet
2. Made gingerbread houses with 40 7th graders
3. lost my phone, TWICE
4. witnessed Utah's moment of clarity!
5. served pizza to about 18 7th graders
6. went to bed knowing I could sleep in on Saturday... and two weeks off!
7. ate Chinese food with Tod and Utah
8. watched Jeff Dunham (comedian)

8 Things I Look Forward To:
1. the Holidays... kids home for the break!
2. reaching my goal weight!
3. National Boards next year....
4. Hanging out with Tod (he took the week off) and Tuesday, Hannah, and Utah over the break
5. Hubb coming home
6. baking with the kiddos
7. Visiting my sister Elizabeth and neice Grace
8. spending some time with Elizabeth, James, and Emmet over the Christmas break, we miss you guys!

8 Things I Wish For:
1. More time with my family... so busy during the school year...
2. More time with my friends...
3. A CLEAN HOUSE!
4. The ability to reach ALL my students...
5. More quiet time.. reflective time... reading time... prayer...
6. Happiness.... success... for all my children....
7. more sleep
8. clarity

Christmas Tree Decorated!

Due to our vacation over Thanksgiving and the many schedules we have to align, we got our Christmas tree up on Sunday! We didn't do as much decorating as we usually do because there is less time until Christmas and we got a little lazy bringing the boxes down from the attic. Okay, really, Tod was the only one bringing the boxes down from the attic and we didn't want to make it go back for more! We had our usual good time (we missed Hannah though and finally just put her ornaments on the tree ourself because she won't be here until the Friday after Christmas) laughing and thinking back to when we bought and made some pretty silly ornaments!

Utah is helping pick up all the newspaper from me wrapping the ornaments last year. I must have been in a very meticulous mood.. there was a LOT of newspaper! Rudy we helping and almost got lost in all the piles. We tried to get Utah to pretend to make a snow angel, but he wasn't interested in our fun! Utah did have his own brand of fun and stuffed Tod full of newspaper... cute picture, huh?This is an ornament Tuesday made when she was very little. We call it the 'glitter vomit' or 'glitter bomb' ornament because there is glitter all over the ornament and anything that comes in contact with the ornament. It is 13 years old.. we have picked up glitter out of boxes, off the floor, and dusted it out of trees.. and there is still a TON of glitter on the ornament!

These are some book and a little Santa Claus that Grandpa and Grandma Young gave the kiddos and we read them together every! We realized today that we have Razorback ornaments and ND ornaments - but, Grandpa Young, we don't have a single Ohio State ornament. The kids stockings are sooooo cute.... and soooo old, but they are originals, so we haven't ever replaced them. I have added some sequins and done some minor repairs over the years... but they are still their original and only stocking...

This little decoration is an inside joke... we are sharing it now, obviously. The kiddos always pick giant ridiculously huge and obnoxious ornaments to put in it when we first set it out.. then they pick something more reasonable (next image)...

This is Utah's little tree in his room...Tod gets up every morning around 5:30am and walks Hubb. This is what Rudy does the entire time he is gone.. and he is whining and crying while staring at the door.. it is so pitiful.. but it is TOO cold to take Rudy right now.