Weeks 45, 46 & 47 Happy December

It's been a whirlwind month...lots of fun... lots of planning and lots of thinking...

With the end of the year approaching, I have been thinking about 2011 and about the changes I have gone through.. some big and some small..some have stuck and some have not...some have changed me inside and in ways that I could not verbalize.

I have loved this journey and have realized that I have miscounted some how!! So it looks like I will only have 50 changes this year!! BUT... 2012 will be one of my biggest chnages ever... but you have to wait a few weeks more to find out what...

Week 44- Turkey Day Table for 4

This year for Thanksgiving, we sat down to a small dinner.. just the four of us. No driving...no big dinner... no stress.
Don't get my wrong.. I love my extended family... but this year, we just wanted to just enjoy our new home... and eat our salmon (we have introduced fish back into the diet) and it was perfect!!

Week 43- The No Fuss Birthday Party

It's an oxymoron, right? But this year... I knew that LG wanted to have a party and he wanted it at home...and he wanted a Super Top Secret Spy Party.
I have been known to go over the top... to stress about something to the point of exhaustion but I was determined that THIS would not happen with this party...and I have to say.. it was perfect!! LG had a blast... and I even let him help decorate (which was a BIG change on my part!!)
I learned that it's ok if the vision in my head doesn't actually happen...that what matters are the memories that my family is making in the process!!

Week 42- Marital Bliss

The Hubby and I just celebrated 8 years of marriage... and I'm not going to say it was all smooth sailing. As the song goes "love is not a fight, but is something worth fighting for..." We have had ups...and we have had downs...we have laughed and cried...but we have never gone to bed angry and we have never let an argument last longer than a day.
I think one of the biggest changes that I have made in my marriage is to understand that it is NOT just the 2 of us.. but that our marriage works because we have invited Christ into our lives. It works!!!

Week 41- Bus Pass

I knew it was going to happen...the day that we told LG that we were going to move, he asked about riding the bus to school. I said "Yeah, sure...when we move" knowing that it was in the future... Then the day came for us to ACTUALLY move.. he asked again...I said "Yeah, sure..but I have to change our info at your school first..." We unpacked boxes...and he asked AGAIN...I changed the info at school..and signed him up for the bus... "I said, you'll start next week..." And then "next week" came and he reminded me (many, MANY times) so it happened.. my little boy.. my baby..my first born changed into a bus rider!!

The first few days, he just rode the bus home from school.. I would walk down to his stop (which is ONLY down the street) and would meet him. He looked SO big getting off the bus with the other kids. So happy..so proud!!

The he said to me.."I want to to take the bus TO school.."
Woah!!
The bus picks up at 7:49am.
Our household IS NOT morning people.
This is going to be hard.

But, this morning, we did it.. up, dresses, breakfast eaten, teeth and hair brushed and out the door to the bus stop...
and suddenly, my baby boy is a big kid...a change that I SWEAR happened overnight!!

Week 40- Another Candle on the Cake

It's a change we cannot avoid..a change that happens every year... and change that I L-O-V-E!!!

MY BIRTHDAY!!!!!

Yes, I am one of those people that counts down to their birthday...and I celebrate my half birthday too! I LOVE birthdays..not just my own. I love making that person feel special.. after all, it IS their special day!! It's something that my mom did for me..and that I do for my kids...making their birthdays a BIG DEAL... 'cause that what they are! :)

I don't care what the number is... I don't care that I have closer to 35 than to 25... all I care about is that I have another year to enjoy..to love, to laugh and to spend with my loves ones!!

Bring on the cake!!!

Week 39- Address Change

All the planning and packing and preparing and patience (looks like this post is brought to you by the letter P) have paid off and we finally have moved!!!

I have moved before...and it's not an experience that I love...I dislike it with every part of my being. I stress out...I cry...I freak...I even yell... it's very hard to have your world rocked like that. Especially when you're attempting to keep some everyday order going too... just becuase you're moving, doesn't mean that life stops..you still need to shop for groceries, wash clothes, get the kids to school, shower..brush your teeth...etc. I wish there was a pause button, where I could focus JUST on the move..and then restart life when the last piece of tape seals the last box. But sadly, that cannot be...and for a few weeks, my life is like a snow globe with all my life's bits and pieces swirling around me while I try to shove them into boxes...sigh...

BUT...the happy news is that it's done.. NO, we are not 100% unpacked and I don't think we will be by Thanksgiving, BUT..beds are in places, dishes are unpacked and the laundry have re-piled itself..so, LIFE is back on...just in a new location.