2013 - Week 1

Week 1 of 2013 is down. And, it was definitely a pretty exciting week!

It didn’t start off so great. I weighed in to start off the new year, and I officially gained back 10 lbs. So, I end 2012 with a 30 pound loss. While it is frustrating, I’ll take that success and move forward! I’m still hoping to make my goal by this summer, but it’s going to take a lot of hard work. I joined a weight loss group started by a friend from high school. We weighed in today, and our final weigh in will be April 1^st. Hopefully that will motivate me!

On Tuesday, we celebrated Olivia’s 4^th birthday! OMG, it’s so crazy to believe that she’s 4 years old already. It literally feels like just yesterday we became parents, now we have a 4 year old! She had a wonderful day at school, celebrating with her friends. She brought some treats to share, they made her a little crown and she loved it. Today was also her teacher’s last day, which isn’t the best birthday present ever. BUT, she handled it well. After school, her BFF Bella stopped over to bring her a present and wish her a happy birthday. That was an exciting surprise! We had tacos and rice for dinner at the birthday girl’s request, opened presents and had cheesecake for dessert. What a wonderful day!

Thursday was pretty exciting – I won some tickets to see Sesame Street Live next weekend! Two years in a row – what a streak! We also spent the evening playing “Hungry, Hungry Hippos”, which turned out to be one of the best evenings I’ve had in a LONG time. We played game after game, laughing uncontrollably the entire time. Olivia thought it was hilarious, no matter how many times we played. Amelia was simply obsessed with getting the “yellow ball”, and stole it from whoever actually did end up with it. Christian benefited from a slight lean in the coffee table, and won every single game. It was beyond fun, definitely one of the best investments we’ve made!

I ended up staying home with the girls on Friday because my mom wasn’t feeling well. Very unexpected, but ended up being a great thing. The girls spent the morning playing and running around the house, eventually confiscating the iPad and watching videos in the room, behind the glider for a while. I took down the Christmas tree, rearranged the living room furniture and started gathering up all of the Christmas décor. While it’s great to get the house back in order and get that space back, I HATE taking down the Christmas stuff. It’s all so bright, colorful and cheerful. Everything seems to dull when it goes away.  Sigh. I brought up one of our media storage shelves for the girls’ movies, and made some space for their games so we’ll be sure to play them more often while they took a nap (and, finally sat down for a little R&R!). When Christian got home from work, I was off to do a little shopping for Olivia’s birthday party tomorrow!

Saturday was the big day. Birthday party day!!! Christian had to work in the morning, so I had a VERY busy morning. Breakfast, baths, playing and keeping the girls busy before getting them down for an early nap. Then I showered and got myself ready before Christian arrived home to do the same. I ran to pick up the birthday cake, put together a sandwich platter and packed up all of the food and drinks. The girls were up and we were all off! Her birthday party this year was at Edinborough Park in Edina. It’s a huge indoor playground, along with an open gym. We had tons of family and friends join us and everybody had a blast. It was such a great time, and Olivia was spoiled rotten! We hung out until the last possible minute, and then made our way home to watch the Vikings/Packers playoff game. Our poor Vikings did not have a good showing. They’re officially out for the year. So, until next year!

Christian was on Dad duty all day Sunday, while I spent the day cleaning. I picked up the disaster that was our basement, washed dishes, did laundry…the usual. I was beyond exhausted by bedtime, capping off a very fun, very busy week!

BLOGGING UPDATE

So, as anybody who actually reads this blog knows, I kind of suck at actually keeping up with it. I take pictures, I write notes for myself to expand on later, but no matter what I do, I fall behind, time and time again. I've "threatened" from time to time to take a step back from my blog. And, I believe I'm finally going to follow through with that threat this year. I have posted "daily" for 3 years now, and while I love doing it, the thought of keeping up with it gets overwhelming. So, I'm going to try out a weekly post, vs. daily, for a while to see how that goes. Posting pictures from the week, highlighting the bigger events and activities of our lives.

I do believe we have a big year ahead of us, and definitely some life I'll want to share with the world, but I don't think the world needs to know that we had a relaxing night at home, or that I was exhausted and went to bed early anymore :)

One thing that drives me nuts about blogging is that you don't really know who's out there - who cares, who's reading, who really wants to be involved in your life. So, that's just an added reason to take a step back. Not knowing who, if anybody, I'm even writing for, I figure I might as well save myself a little time (and those few readers while I'm at it!)

So, here's to 2013 (again) and a little bit of a new look to the blog. Here we go!

12/31/12

Well, it's here! The last day of 2012. Another year down, and another year in store. I'm actually really excited for this new year. If all goes as planned, we'll be paying off the final piece of debt we have with our tax return in the next month or so, I hope to reach my goal weight by the summer, and, we just may expand our family in the next year. I'm getting really excited, and I'm hoping all of our hard work of planning, and budgets, and sticking to those plans and budgets will finally be paying off. Fingers crossed, hopefully nothing changes!

This morning I was off to work. One good thing about working on a day like today is the extreme lack of traffic. It's heaven! Our parking lot was empty and the building was quiet. I had a ton of stuff to do from all of my time off the past couple weeks, so the day flew by. I did leave a tad early as well, getting ready to celebrate New Years Eve tonight. I stopped home to start some BBQ meatballs in the crockpot, and ran a few quick errands. I packed up a bag and all of our goodies for the night, made a dip and as soon as Christian got home with the girls, we were off to a friends house to celebrate with them and Olivia's BFF.

We spent the night eating a ton of food, playing a few games, watching the girls dance their butts off, drinking some champagne and having lots and lots of laughs. It was a wonderful night. Just my kind of New Years Eve now! And, yes, the girls made it to midnight. They were still running around and having a grand time. Hopefully that means they'll be sleeping in tomorrow! One can dream, right?!?

So, here's to saying goodbye to 2012. There were a few bumps along the road, but overall, it was a pretty great year. We've had vacations, we've met new friends. The girls started school and have changed and grown more than you could even imagine. Christian and I are actually doing pretty great, and I think are stronger for the issues we've overcome this year. We've had some friendships end, some change in one way or another, some grow stronger, and even reconnected with a few. We've both grown and advanced in our jobs at work, we're doing better financially than we have in our entire marriage, and I feel like we've grown leaps and bounds as a family. The girls are growing into their own persons - developing the most amazing (and basically opposite) personalities and are growing WAY too fast. We have so much to look forward to, and we're SO ready to embrace our future and move forward. BRING ON 2013!

12/30/12

Today was a pretty relaxing Sunday. We spent the morning hanging out around the house. I eventually took Amelia off to do a little grocery/weekly shopping. I managed to order Olivia's birthday cake (Hello Kitty, by demand) while we were out, so YAY!

The girls went down for a nap as soon as we got home. Christian and I had some Subway and watched some football together. The girls woke up in time for the big Vikings season finale. They played the Packers tonight (our big rival), and HAD to win to get into the playoffs. It was a super exciting, nervewracking day, but they actually pulled it off. They WON!! So exciting. They have their first playoff game next week. They actually play the Packers again. I think it's going to be a tough game - so I'm a little nervous for them. Fingers crossed!!!

We spent the rest of the night playing with new toys and putting stuff away. I did laundry throughout the day and that pretty much wrapped up our weekend. Back to work tomorrow, and then it's time to ring in a new year! Hard to believe, 2012 is basically over. These years just go faster and faster.

Amelia got herself all dressed up in Christian's work sweater. She thought it was hilarious!

12/29/12

Christian was off to work bright and early this morning. The girls were up not long after that. We had a very busy morning. Breakfast, baths, hanging out. I put their hair up in curlers so they could have fun, curly hair for the day. We played a rousing game of Chutes and Ladders (Olivia won - Amelia quit halfway through), we had a small lunch and I put them down for an early nap. Today, we were off to celebrate Christmas 5 of 6 - Christmas at my dad's with my sisters and their families.

I got myself ready and packed up all of our stuff while the girls took their naps. Then, quickly got them ready, and we were on our way. Christian met us there after work and we all had a great time. We spent the night joking around and laughing with my sisters and parents. The girls had a blast running around with all of my nieces and nephews. All of the kids got to decorate cookies, which was a big hit. Christian and I got joint presents this year - a "crockpot buffet" which I'm super excited about, and a folding table - which you can never have enough of. So, yay!

My sinuses were REALLY killing me today - my dad gave me some medicine, which helped a bit, but I was still feeling pretty crappy. Olivia was coughing up a storm - I'm starting to worry a little bit. Of course peopel talk about the whopping cough, which is terrifying - but she doesn't have the wheeze going on. I was worried about bronchitis - but it doesn't sound as dense as I remember bronchitis sounding. Hopefully it goes away...SOON!

After presents and some chatting, we were on our way home. We had a little dinner, relaxed for a bit, and the girls were off to bed. I wasn't feeling hot, so I spent the night relaxing. Christian stopped over to a friends house to hang out and visit for a while since I didn't make for the most exciting company. I did discover that I have 1 disc of Dexter Season 6, so I spent my alone time watching that. Definitely not complaining!

Here are some pictures of our day. 

12/28/12

Today was a pretty low key day. It was my Friday home with the girls, and we had a fairly standard day. They spent a good amount of time playing down in the playroom/tearing apart the basement. I started putting away some of the Christmas gifts and doing some cleaning around the house. Olivia and I still aren't feeling too great. Nothing serious, but she can't shake this cough, and my head is just clogged up like crazy. So, we watched a little TV and relaxed while Amelia had her run of the house. Pretty much heaven for her!

During naps, I caught up on some shows and had another lazy day. Christian had to work pretty late, and has to work again tomorrow, so we had a pretty early night. Nothing wrong with that! We have another Christmas celebration tomorrow, and then we'll be spending the week finalizing everything for Olivia's birthday party next weekend, so the chaos continues!

This guy spent the day in my face, as usual...

And, this girl spent the day running around like a homeless baby, as usual...

I love this picture of Amelia. Kids in general - such a constant wonder in their eye, in their stare. The world is so amazing to them, such a mystery, so full of opportunity. It's heart warming.

12/27/12

Well, I took the day off today. It wasn't my intent at all. But, I woke up feeling exhausted and overwhelmed. I just needed a mental health day. The decision wasn't made until I was up, ready and on my way to drop the girls off at school though. So, I dropped them off and turned right back around and went home. I stayed in my jammies all day, laying on the couch and watching Dexter. I managed to finish Season 4 and watched ALL of Season 5. It was the perfect day - it was exactly what I needed. A quiet house, all to myself. No chores, no running around, no kids. NOTHING! What a relief!

I picked up the girls around the usual time, made dinner and waited for Christian to get home. We all ate and spent the night relaxing and hanging out. The girls are still pretty tired and recovering from the Holiday chaos, but they had a better day today. As for me, tomorrow is my Friday off, so today starts off a nice LONG weekend! I don't know what I'm going to do when real life settles back in...my first full week at work is going to be TORTURE!

The girls were in the entry closet, rummaging through everything (it's a fairly common occurance), and Amelia spent the night running around in my slippers. She's so cute :)

12/26/12

Well, back to reality. Only, not really. We were up and at it this morning. The girls were furious, and exhausted. I felt so bad waking them up and sending them off. But, Olivia was really excited to see her teacher, and Amelia spotted Niko as soon as we walked in the door, so they quickly forgot how tired they were...

Christian and I were off to work. He was exhausted, but he's swamped so the day flew by. The roads were pretty empty, my parking lot at work was super empty and the building was pretty dead. It was hard to concentrate all day, and it was seriously the longest day I've had in a long time. Seriously considering taking tomorrow off, that's for sure!

FINALLY, it was quitting time. I picked up the girls and we made our way home. We started unpacking some of their toys so we could start getting the trash and recycling ready to go. They were having a blast playing with all of their new goodies. Christian had to work really late, so we just had some leftovers from my in-laws for dinner, hung out for a while, and sent the girls off to bed.

Olivia brought home this cute little handprint art from school today, LOVE it! And, she was really excited to try out her new art studio. My little budding artist :)