Its New Year's Eve..

.. and Nick and I are sitting here on each of our laptops watching Dick Clark's special. As you can see I never did the choose joy challenge. It has been hard to choose joy this holiday season. Though some special and some anon people did help Christmas be better for the kids and us.
Even so, I am in a funk. Thirteen days from now it will be one year since my father left this world and it is really effecting me. In one way I am so upset to be getting close to that "anniversary" but in another way I am happy to be 20 min away from being out of 2008 and all the misery it has brought to my life. We need a good 2009.
I do still need to post my Christmas letter and card... will do that sometime... I have been rather tired with working and all.
For those of you out there, Happy New Year.

C-Ya!

Choose Joy: December's Blog Challenge

Midnight Scrapper has another great challenge... this one for December called "Choose Joy". Here is the challenge for those of you stopping by:

Okay, so you've heard the saying: "Choose Joy". I love the saying, but I must admit, it is not as easy as this two word sentence makes it sound. For the month of November, I challenged you all to find something to be thankful for and blog about it. I know it was hard, but I also know that it was not impossible. I had good news, bad news, a friend pass away, reunions with old friends and even some birthdays and holidays. I took the bad with the good and found something each day that I could be grateful for. We are certainly blessed!
So, if you are up for another challenge - here we go!
1. This will officially start on December 3rd and will end on December 31.
2. The challenge of this blog will be similar to our Gratitude Blog idea. Look for JOY each day and blog about it. It might be something as big as attending a wedding or as small as how cozy your slippers feel...it's up to you. CHOOSE to find joy.each.day.
3. There are a few extra challenges for this one too...don't worry - don't
stress....have fun! Those that complete the journaling AND the photos will be
able to be have their name in the drawing for the prize TWICE. Each week, you
must post at least 3 photos based on the themes I have chosen.
Week 1 (Dec. 1 - 6) - LOVE
Week 2 (Dec. 7 - 13) - RED
Week 3 (Dec. 14 - 20) -GLITTER/SHINE
Week 4 (Dec. 21 - 27) - FAMILY
Week 5 (Dec. 28 - 31) - PEACE
Now, I know some of you are about to throw in the towel on this one because you either don't like or know how to post photos on your blog or you are worried about finding pictures suitable for the theme.Well, you don't need to worry! I will help you! You can take pictures yourself (preferably), but if you have to - you can use stock
photos that are available free on line! If you don't know how to post a photo,
contact me and I will walk you through it! As far as finding pictures for the
themes...go with your own interpretation! You can have your regular photos of
course, but please include at least 3 each week that follow that week's theme.
4. If you are going to participate in this challenge - please comment in this post
(on my blog - not here) so I will know. I will check on your blogs as often as I
can. At the end of the month, you will need to come back here and follow the
directions for being entered into the drawing for the GIFT AWAY.
5. If you have any questions - please let me know. I tried to type this up as clearly as I could, but I do have two toddlers running around me at the moment (my JOYS). =]

So wish me luck... again I could really use to find the joy in my life.

C-Ya!

The Wii... talk us into it...

Ok... talk me into a Wii...
I am leaning 75% towards getting it and have seen it a couple times but haven't bought it. The console and a couple extra items is more then we usually spend for the family on the holidays but I do have some garage sale money that I want to put towards it. As you can see the oldest kids are 6 and 5, which I have heard is a good age for it. And they do play and enjoy Uncle Aaron's DS. In a way I am being a little selfish because I want it. I have tried it too and had fun and was a little sore afterwards.
And once I am convinced I need to convince Nick... he is even less inclined to get it.. though I did say if we did he can get me the wii fit and I can have a smokin hot body!!!
Thanks!

C-Ya!

Last Month of 2008!

Well here we are in December... as you see the "thankful" challenge is over but rumor has it midnight scrapper has a new one coming out. Till then I have some general thoughts...
*Congratulations Vikings on an awesome game yesterday! You really made football fun to watch and I am proud that you were one of just two home teams to win yesterday. We spent the first half watching the game at our friends up the block and then at halftime the kids and I went home so we could all get to bed and it was a lot of fun.
*Beware of Carter's teeth!! He seems to have gotten over the horrible teething (at least for right now) but now we have to watch out because he wants to bite EVERYTHING and EVERYONE! I think Jeffrey and Samantha have each been bitten and he has nipped at me more then once. And it HURTS!
*This week is another busy one at night with something planned at least 3 out of 5 nights for one of us. With working now I am not always as excited to go out at night to various meetings.
*It was nice to have a LONG weekend. We spent much of the time doing some major house cleaning. Our recycling and trash guy are going to 'love' us as well as the Salvation Army!!! Nick was the most gung ho and has gotten rid of a bunch of stuff (though in my defense he really hadn't gone through a lot of it in years - whereas I had).
*I knew Thanksgiving was going to be hard this year with my Dad gone and I was right. Ever since the beginning of last week I have been in a funk. Unfortunately I doubt it is going to let up for awhile because Christmas is going to be hard and then we are going to come to the anniversary of his death. I still don't think it is fair that he is gone and I truly wonder if we did everything we could.

C-Ya!