This year:
• I am grateful for lessons learned
• I appreciate battles lost
• I haven't lost my sense of humor (or sanity)
• I've grown
• I've watched my kids grow
• I've made bad decisions
• I've made amazing choices
• I've tried
• I've fought (for things that mattered)
• I've fought when I should have stayed quiet
• I've missed family, near and far
• I've reconnected with family
• I've set goals
• I've reached other goals
• I've made amazing friends
• I've remembered who I am (again and again)
• I've made mistakes
• I've lost faith
• I've not lost hope
• I found faith again. Faith in the goodness of everything around me.
• I realized I don't have all the answers, I have to rely on help now and then.
• I've played soccer. I never thought I'd do that.
• I've reached limits, good and bad.
• I know I will never give up.
I am so excited for the amazing possibilities and opportunities opening up for me and my family in the coming year. I can not wait to see what comes of the hard work we are all putting in to make our dreams, our plans and our goals come to fruition. The kids are doing so well, I'm doing so well. There is nothing that high expectations of yourself & hard work can't acheive. You just need the belief in yourself, good people supporting you, and a positive attitude. With all of that, there is nothing you can't do! :)
Forget New Years resolutions. Go for New Years gratitude.
Friday, December 31, 2010
Monday, December 27, 2010
The Birthday Boy!
I seriously am in shock that my BABY is 4 years old today! As of 6:33pm, he's officially 4. Who knew when that little baby was placed in my arms, the adventure we'd have for the next four years! He has been my pure happiness, my ray of sunshine and my reminder that no matter what happens there is a way to be happy. Some of my most favorite things about Bridger are:
• Even when he's fussing about something, he eventually just says "OK" and is completely fine and happy with whatever I am asking him to do.
• For Thanksgiving, he wrote that he is thankful for Lightning McQueen, chicken nuggets and ketchup, the store and his family. He cracks me up!
• He is the best share-er ever. He is alway letting his brother and sister have his things and sharing his treats, even if he doesn't get any in the end. (I always make sure he gets a good treat when he does that.)
• He gives the best hugs. EVER. We've gone from Koala Bear hugs and moved up to Squish hugs!
• He promised me that even when he's all grown up, he'll still let me hug and kiss him. He pinky swore!
• His smile lights up my world.
• He always tells me I'm his best friend.
• He likes to play dragons, and he'll call me Mommy Dragon. He, of course, is Bridger Dragon.
• He makes the best funny faces in this world. He is SUCH a ham!
• Whenever I tell him "I love my little boy!" He'll tell me "I love my girl!"
• He is so kind, sweet and caring. He takes care of everyone around him and is friends with everyone!
• He's one of three of the best things that have ever happened to me in my entire existence!
This morning, when he woke up, he came running down the hall yelling "It's my birthday!!" I've never seen him so excited for a birthday before! It made me smile super big. For his birthday he wanted to snuggle with me in my bed, instead of sleeping in his bed. But when he realized Hunter was in their room all by himself, he said to me, "I want to be in my bed, so Hunter won't be alone. I need to be with him." He just melts my heart. I can't even begin to describe how wonderful this little boy is! He's had some great examples in his big brother and sister, and he definitely has a special something about him that just makes everyone around him smile.
Love you, my Boo Bear!!!
These pictures were taken when he was a few days old.
It amazes me, looking back at them, how much they've all grown in such a short time!
There's one of those funny faces! :)
What would I do, and where would I be without these guys in my life? I don't even want to know, because I am SO happy, SO blessed and SO grateful to be where I am. I owe my world to my kids, and I hope they grow up knowing how much I truly love them.
• Even when he's fussing about something, he eventually just says "OK" and is completely fine and happy with whatever I am asking him to do.
• For Thanksgiving, he wrote that he is thankful for Lightning McQueen, chicken nuggets and ketchup, the store and his family. He cracks me up!
• He is the best share-er ever. He is alway letting his brother and sister have his things and sharing his treats, even if he doesn't get any in the end. (I always make sure he gets a good treat when he does that.)
• He gives the best hugs. EVER. We've gone from Koala Bear hugs and moved up to Squish hugs!
• He promised me that even when he's all grown up, he'll still let me hug and kiss him. He pinky swore!
• His smile lights up my world.
• He always tells me I'm his best friend.
• He likes to play dragons, and he'll call me Mommy Dragon. He, of course, is Bridger Dragon.
• He makes the best funny faces in this world. He is SUCH a ham!
• Whenever I tell him "I love my little boy!" He'll tell me "I love my girl!"
• He is so kind, sweet and caring. He takes care of everyone around him and is friends with everyone!
• He's one of three of the best things that have ever happened to me in my entire existence!
This morning, when he woke up, he came running down the hall yelling "It's my birthday!!" I've never seen him so excited for a birthday before! It made me smile super big. For his birthday he wanted to snuggle with me in my bed, instead of sleeping in his bed. But when he realized Hunter was in their room all by himself, he said to me, "I want to be in my bed, so Hunter won't be alone. I need to be with him." He just melts my heart. I can't even begin to describe how wonderful this little boy is! He's had some great examples in his big brother and sister, and he definitely has a special something about him that just makes everyone around him smile.
Love you, my Boo Bear!!!
These pictures were taken when he was a few days old.
What would I do, and where would I be without these guys in my life? I don't even want to know, because I am SO happy, SO blessed and SO grateful to be where I am. I owe my world to my kids, and I hope they grow up knowing how much I truly love them.
Another week of giveaways!
Check out Skye's month of giveaways at Soulographer. If you're a photog, a designer or a lover of all things fun and crafty, be sure to check it out.
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Christmas Fun!
Christmas this year has been amazing!!! I did all my shopping within three days of Christmas. WHEW! That was intense. :) Christmas Eve was a lot of fun. A bit of whining from the kids, mostly about wanting to open their Christmas Eve present RIGHT after breakfast. :S They calmed down eventually. They've all been loving to read each other stories lately, and even when Bridger can't read them, or Hunter can't read the whole thing, they'll make up the story from memory. I LOVE it!
I had fun taking pictures of Mom's Christmas decorations. Santa in the outhouse is everyone's favorite.
We finally opened our Christmas Eve presents. Mom made all the grandkids flannel jammies and robes. They all looked so cute in them!
Before we went upstairs to bed, we set out the milk and cookies for Santa, and carrots for the reindeer. We counted out exactly nine, one for each of the reindeer.
Once we were upstairs, we climbed into my bed and watched some old school Christmas cartoons. We love to snuggle!! :) We were tracking Santa on the Norad Santa tracker. Once we saw that Santa was in Canada, and headed towards us, the kids RAN to get into bed! It was fantastic! I didn't have to beg and plead at all to get them in bed. Well, except for Bridger. That kid NEVER goes to bed. Once Hunter and Alayna were in bed and on their way to dreaming of sugar plum fairies, I snuck down to the basement to wrap their presents. Bridger was playing quietly in bed, so no big deal. I got all the presents wrapped, and Skyler helped me carry them al upstairs.
I went upstairs and Bridger was STILL awake and playing. So after repeated attempts to get him to stay in bed failed miserably, I let him climb into bed with me. We watched White Christmas and snuggled until he told me to turn the movie off, cause he was finally ready to go to sleep. He gave me the best snuggles ever! I stayed up for a little while, but then decided sleep would be a good thing. haha!
6:30am rolls around, and I hear little footsteps coming into my room. Hunter woke up on his own and was all ready to go open presents! We woke up Alayna and Bridger. Alayna was content to stay in bed and sleep until it wasn't dark outside. What kid says that on Christmas morning?!?! Once we got Bridger's eyes open, he was all set to go see presents. They convinced Alayna to get out of bed. As we walked down the stairs, Hunter started jumping in excitement! It was a pretty impressive display, it's true.
As Hardy/Pinales tradition goes, we open presents one at a time, youngest to oldest. It helps avoid chaos. We don't handle chaos well in this family. LOL. I was so impressed with my kids! I was ready for whining. "Why didn't I get that toy?" "When is it my turn?". . . . Things like that. Nope. Didn't get any of that. Hunter was more than happy to hand presents to their owners and they were all just so excited for each other! The toys everyone wanted this year were a pillow pet. Alayna got the unicorn, Hunter the lady bug and Bridger the panda. They each got scooters as well.
As we started putting all the toys together, and playing with them all ( I got a soldering iron! Can't wait to start making jewelry with it!!), Mom started making crepes. I love our annual Christmas crepe bar! Mom and Gregg bought gingerbread pig cookies for us, something that Dad did every year. That was really awesome of them to do for us. Here is a picture of the pig, so you know what I'm talking about. I always get looks of extreme confusion when I tell people about them. :)
Once we ate, the kids played with their zhu zhu pets. They are quite the strange little toys! Hunter tried out his new easel, and we explored Alayna's microscope set. (She's been saying she wants to be a scientist, and also LOVES to "invent" things. SO CUTE!)
We snuggled in my bed and watched Shrek the Fourth. Then we went out and played on the new scooters. Bridger needed help, he was a bit nervous to try it on his own. But Alayna and Hunter took off like old pros!
Then we went down and played on the Wii that Nana and Papa bought for the family. That was a lot of fun, it was the FIRST time my kids have played a video game. They'd never touched one before, so it was fun to see them pick up on it. And good grief, they picked up on it FAST! We played bowling. Alayna was super good at it! Hunter caught on after a while, and I had to help Bridger. His little hand was too small to go around the controller. :) SO CUTE! I challeneged Papa to a round of bowling. It was so funny, he'd hold the controller out after he'd swing, until the ball knocked down the pins. hahaha! Then we played tennis.
We started watching The Sorcerer's Apprentice, but about 2/3 of the way through, the kids decided they needed dinner. Nana made homemade macaroni, ham, tamales and cheesy potatoes. (So random, but I loved it! Well, excpet for the ham. Blech!) It made me so happy that mom and Gregg got tamales too! Another thing dad would always do for Christmas. YUM! The kids had hot dogs, and they always do this thing with their hot dog. They'll cut through it, starting at the midpoint of the hot dog. Then they'll turn it and cut it again until it has 4 "legs". They call it their squid hot dogs. hahaha! Alayna started this a year or so ago, and it cracks me up whenever they do it! After dinner we played with toys some more, I worked on my projects I'm making for my co-workers late Christmas presents. Hunter had a blast punching his Spiderman punching bag he got from Skyler.
Then Adam, Annie and their kids got here. CHAOS ensued! We watched them all open their Christmas presents and then whoever hadn't eaten dinner, or hadn't eaten enough dinner earlier ate. Then Adam, Mom, Meagan and I got into a debate about HCG. Adam said he'd pay for us all to try it, to jumpstart the whole family onto being healthier and losing weight. I don't know. . . I've been against it for a long time. Seriously against it. Adam made good arguments for it, having been against it himself for a long time. But, if he's going to pay for it, I'll try it. See how it goes. :S There's just NO WAY I'd pay for it myself. lol
I love how when Gregg is avoiding having his picture taken, he always ends up having blackmail pictures taken instead. LOL
I am amazed they all stood still for a moment to get a picture. LOL
Once everyone left, and I got the kids in bed, the grown ups played some more rounds of Uno Attack. Game night is so much more fun as an adult when unlimited candy and swearing is allowed. HAHAHA! Just kidding mom. Actually, I think mom swore the most out of all of us. LOL At one point, she had about half the deck in her hand. She was laughing so hard she was crying, or maybe she was just crying. I'm really not sure. Either way, there was a lot of laughter!
Amazing day. I truly love this time of year!!
I had fun taking pictures of Mom's Christmas decorations. Santa in the outhouse is everyone's favorite.
We finally opened our Christmas Eve presents. Mom made all the grandkids flannel jammies and robes. They all looked so cute in them!
Before we went upstairs to bed, we set out the milk and cookies for Santa, and carrots for the reindeer. We counted out exactly nine, one for each of the reindeer.
Once we were upstairs, we climbed into my bed and watched some old school Christmas cartoons. We love to snuggle!! :) We were tracking Santa on the Norad Santa tracker. Once we saw that Santa was in Canada, and headed towards us, the kids RAN to get into bed! It was fantastic! I didn't have to beg and plead at all to get them in bed. Well, except for Bridger. That kid NEVER goes to bed. Once Hunter and Alayna were in bed and on their way to dreaming of sugar plum fairies, I snuck down to the basement to wrap their presents. Bridger was playing quietly in bed, so no big deal. I got all the presents wrapped, and Skyler helped me carry them al upstairs.
I went upstairs and Bridger was STILL awake and playing. So after repeated attempts to get him to stay in bed failed miserably, I let him climb into bed with me. We watched White Christmas and snuggled until he told me to turn the movie off, cause he was finally ready to go to sleep. He gave me the best snuggles ever! I stayed up for a little while, but then decided sleep would be a good thing. haha!
6:30am rolls around, and I hear little footsteps coming into my room. Hunter woke up on his own and was all ready to go open presents! We woke up Alayna and Bridger. Alayna was content to stay in bed and sleep until it wasn't dark outside. What kid says that on Christmas morning?!?! Once we got Bridger's eyes open, he was all set to go see presents. They convinced Alayna to get out of bed. As we walked down the stairs, Hunter started jumping in excitement! It was a pretty impressive display, it's true.
As Hardy/Pinales tradition goes, we open presents one at a time, youngest to oldest. It helps avoid chaos. We don't handle chaos well in this family. LOL. I was so impressed with my kids! I was ready for whining. "Why didn't I get that toy?" "When is it my turn?". . . . Things like that. Nope. Didn't get any of that. Hunter was more than happy to hand presents to their owners and they were all just so excited for each other! The toys everyone wanted this year were a pillow pet. Alayna got the unicorn, Hunter the lady bug and Bridger the panda. They each got scooters as well.
Once we ate, the kids played with their zhu zhu pets. They are quite the strange little toys! Hunter tried out his new easel, and we explored Alayna's microscope set. (She's been saying she wants to be a scientist, and also LOVES to "invent" things. SO CUTE!)
We snuggled in my bed and watched Shrek the Fourth. Then we went out and played on the new scooters. Bridger needed help, he was a bit nervous to try it on his own. But Alayna and Hunter took off like old pros!
They were all moving so fast, it was hard to get very many good pictures of them. :)
Then we went in, ate lunch and played a lot of Uno Attack, which was one of Alayna's presents. We had SO much fun! We paired up in teams. Alayna with Nana, Hunter with Papa and Bridger with me. After a few rounds, they all wanted to switch up the teams. So then it was Bridger with Nana, Hunter with Papa and Alayna with me.
That game is FUN!
Then we went down and played on the Wii that Nana and Papa bought for the family. That was a lot of fun, it was the FIRST time my kids have played a video game. They'd never touched one before, so it was fun to see them pick up on it. And good grief, they picked up on it FAST! We played bowling. Alayna was super good at it! Hunter caught on after a while, and I had to help Bridger. His little hand was too small to go around the controller. :) SO CUTE! I challeneged Papa to a round of bowling. It was so funny, he'd hold the controller out after he'd swing, until the ball knocked down the pins. hahaha! Then we played tennis.
We started watching The Sorcerer's Apprentice, but about 2/3 of the way through, the kids decided they needed dinner. Nana made homemade macaroni, ham, tamales and cheesy potatoes. (So random, but I loved it! Well, excpet for the ham. Blech!) It made me so happy that mom and Gregg got tamales too! Another thing dad would always do for Christmas. YUM! The kids had hot dogs, and they always do this thing with their hot dog. They'll cut through it, starting at the midpoint of the hot dog. Then they'll turn it and cut it again until it has 4 "legs". They call it their squid hot dogs. hahaha! Alayna started this a year or so ago, and it cracks me up whenever they do it! After dinner we played with toys some more, I worked on my projects I'm making for my co-workers late Christmas presents. Hunter had a blast punching his Spiderman punching bag he got from Skyler.
Then Adam, Annie and their kids got here. CHAOS ensued! We watched them all open their Christmas presents and then whoever hadn't eaten dinner, or hadn't eaten enough dinner earlier ate. Then Adam, Mom, Meagan and I got into a debate about HCG. Adam said he'd pay for us all to try it, to jumpstart the whole family onto being healthier and losing weight. I don't know. . . I've been against it for a long time. Seriously against it. Adam made good arguments for it, having been against it himself for a long time. But, if he's going to pay for it, I'll try it. See how it goes. :S There's just NO WAY I'd pay for it myself. lol
He sure knows how to take a good picture!
Mmmm. . . tamales!
Flipping me off?
We set a trap for an elf and CAUGHT one!
Once everyone left, and I got the kids in bed, the grown ups played some more rounds of Uno Attack. Game night is so much more fun as an adult when unlimited candy and swearing is allowed. HAHAHA! Just kidding mom. Actually, I think mom swore the most out of all of us. LOL At one point, she had about half the deck in her hand. She was laughing so hard she was crying, or maybe she was just crying. I'm really not sure. Either way, there was a lot of laughter!
Amazing day. I truly love this time of year!!
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