Tuesday, January 15, 2013

It's a New Year

Okay, it's been a while!

First we had the busy holiday season, starting with a drive to Ohio for the Thanksgiving week, continuing with another drive to Ohio & Michigan for Christmas week and ending with my sister Marie staying with us the week after New Years.

What can I say? It was hard to get into a holiday mood with the warm temperatures in December down here! The leaves didn't even change colors until the first week of December. Currently we are in the middle of a long drizzly cold(er) spell.

Now we're starting to get back into the swing of things including starting back up with kid's date night and swimming. I also signed Greyson up for the Edible School Yard Garden Club and Grant up for Yoga on Wednesdays after school, so we'll see how those go. We did Prime Time Family reading time in the fall and are looking forward to that starting up again at school after Mardi Gras.

Speaking of Mardi Gras, we went to our first parade last week. A 12th Night/Joan of Arc parade. It was small (over quick) and not crowded, so it was perfect for easing our way into the parade season.

I made some resolutions for the New Year. The first was for at least one GOOD family picture every month. I went to make our Christmas card and realized that even though we had family pictures, there wasn't one good enough to print as a card. I found one that was too dark, one that was too light and one that was slightly blurry and we had 3 small photos on our card. I'm hoping to have a lot more to pick from when December rolls around again.

My next resolution was to do smaller monthly resolutions. For January it was to make a budget with Alex, which we did last week. And so far (for the week) we've stuck to it. Now to continue!

Thanks for stopping by! I am hoping to at least get back to monthly posts - maybe more often if my kids are funny ;)

30 Days of Thankfulness, 2012 edition

1. I am thankful for my home, where my family lives. Together.

2. I'm thankful for Alex, my companion and friend for 19 years. Who loves me with all my faults and always tries his best to be a good husband and father.

3. I am thankful for Greyson, who is responsible and helpful beyond his 9 years. I am also thankful for his love of books and learning...even if it's not always what is traditionally taught!

4. I'm thankful for Grant. He can always make us laugh, even when he is frustrating. And his caring attitude touches me.

5. I am thankful for my parents, who continue to help me out in so many ways. They never hesitated to watch my kids, especially when I was a single parent living 3 hours away. They've made the 2 day trek to see my new home already. They helped me out enormously with college so that I was able to start my adult life debt free. And they have made me into the person I am today.

6. I am thankful for the men and women who have gone before me working to make this country, and the world, a better place. I am thankful for those who fought, in battle and protest, for my right to vote.

7. I am thankful for my siblings. While I remember a lot of fighting growing up, I am thankful for the friends I have now. Thankful for Stanley & Alison for being willing to help me out with my kids, thankful for Shelly & Jeff for being willing to open their house to visitors and thankful for Marie who has been my housemate, friend, babysitter, 2nd parent to my kids, provider of clothes/books/movies and I love that we are her home away from home!

8. I am thankful for the jobs I have had. My current one is exactly what I was looking for. At my last position at Growth Works I met so many wonderful people and I'm thankful for Judi, who gave me a job, twice! I am thankful to have worked with Detroit Conference UM camps, it was my dream job and I'm pretty sure over half my "friends" list comes from the connections I made.

9. I'm thankful for humor in unexpected places :)

10. Thankful for the profound impact United Methodist Camps have had, and continue to have, on my life and now my kid's lives (Our favorite is still Camp Kinawind ;))

11. I'm thankful for the pad thai my husband made for dinner and the yummy drinks he made for dvr watching. He's the best ♥

12. Thankful for a date day with my husband. Also thankful for the veterans and active duty military that gave us this day - I hope you have all been spoiled yesterday & today!

13. I'm thankful for exercise. Thankful that my body works that way and thankful I have someone to stay with my sleeping kids!

14. I'm thankful not only that I can go on Greyson's field trip tomorrow, but that he wants me to go!

15. I'm thankful my kids like books in all their forms! Reading themselves, being read to, books on CD and books into movies. There is also a healthy appetite for non-fiction!

16. I am thankful for my family's health. All of our concerns have always been on a small scale and I'm thankful my heart doesn't break to see my kids suffer. My heart always goes out to those who aren't able to say the same.

17. I'm thankful my family likes to play games together. Tonight's picks were Mexican Train and Apples To Apples. Also thankful none of tonight's games resulted in tears!

18. I'm thankful for family movie nights with homemade pizza/calzones :)

19. I'm thankful for a safe and relatively quick trip. 1060 miles in 16 hours with 2 kids!

20. I am thankful for friends. Friends who check on me, who support me, who encourage me and who are genuinely happy for me. Friends who can pick up right where we left off the last time we saw each other. I'm also thankful for family who are friends.
I couldn't have made it through the last 3 1/2 years without all of you. I am so very thankful for my friends!


21. "This is the thanks for all that's good:
Home and family and friends and food."
From the book This is the Turkey


22. I am thankful for Sarah Hale who worked for 38 years to make Thanksgiving a national holiday. I'm thankful for all the heroes who use the superpower of persistence.
I'm thankful for Abraham Lincoln, the fifth president that Hale petitioned, who finally signed Thanksgiving into a national holiday hoping to unite a divided nation.
I hope that this day sees us putting aside division and bringing us together to celebrate all that we have to be thankful for beginning with the people that touch our lives.


23. Thankful for a safe trip to Michigan and back and for getting to stock up on my favorite Michigan wines :)

24. I'm thankful for my car and the 161,000 miles it's traveled with me. That's a lot of trips to camp, Traverse City, Ohio, New Orleans, Virginia Beach, Disney and so many other places!

25. Preemptively thankful for a good night's sleep for the whole family because it's been a long day.

26. Today I'm thankful for the electricity in my house and all that it provides.
Thankful for a hot shower, heat, and washing machine!


27. Today I'm thankful for half-day Wednesdays. I'm looking forward to the break in routine.

28. Thankful for AEPHI and the influence it has had and continues to have in my life. As well as for my sisters, and other Greek friends ♥

29. Still thankful for my refrigerator :)

30. Thankful for my two best friends who were born on this date!