The family arrived home yesterday with a good bill of health, except for the remnants of Cherylyn's pounding headache. Knowing that upon our return home, Audrey would now be surrounded by the boys 24/7, we wondered how they would respond to this new bundle of delicacy. While we are not naive enough to believe this will be the undeviating case, so far we are thrilled with the results:
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Welcome Baby Audrey!!
We are pleased to announce the arrival of Audrey Day Nielson, who was born at 0759 on April 1 2010, three weeks before her due date (following in Andrew's footsteps) (and no, this is not an April Fool's joke).
Audrey weighed in at a bruising 5 pounds 4 ounces and 19 inches in length. She also measured 100% in cuteness, as determined by the most stringent peer-reviewed scientific methods known to man. She is the spitting image of her older brothers and future tormentors Clark and Andrew, but we are confident she is a girl because the nurses plunked a pink beanie on her minuscule head. And don't be deceived by her small size. She suffered pricks and shots and all manner of abuse at the nurses' hands with more grit and discipline than her male counterparts in the nursery.
Audrey has blond hair (yeah, what a surprise), an eye color of some sort that is not yet ascertainable (no doubt they will lighten in the coming days) and she is right-handed, her favorite color is blue, and her favorite hobby is watching movies with her daddy (okay, I admit it, those last couple of items were complete fabrications).
Cherylyn suffered ... err ... experienced contractions throughout the night, and at the glorious hour of 4am, we (and when I say we, I mean Cherylyn, since Tanner had just been woken up and was still in a "what! what is it! what time is it!" kind of mode) decided it was probably time to head to the hospital.
Upon arriving, Cherylyn got all souped up on her bed, epidural put firmly in place, and sweet sweet medication coursing through her lower half. After about an hour and a half, Cherylyn complained of pressure. A nurse came in, checked her, and quickened her pace around the room and went to page the doctor. Cherylyn, concerned with the level of sensation still present in her legs, asked if the dosage could be upped a smidgen, to which the nurse responded, "honey, one push and this baby is coming out."
At this announcement Tanner dashed gallantly to Cherylyn's side and promptly removed his wristwatch (even now it is not fully known why Tanner felt his wristwatch needed to be removed, but there was no time for contemplation and he acted on pure primal instinct). After everyone took their positions, Cherylyn pushed ferociously, and was then asked to rein in her ferocity a tad, as the doctor appeared slightly disquieted at the rate Audrey approached. After retooling the pace, Audrey gracefully entered the world.
Cherylyn is recovering nicely, and as these things go, this was one of the easier labors she has undergone. So easy in fact, that she is chomping at the bit to get pregnant with baby number four (okay, another fabrication). The boys came to visit Audrey this afternoon and Andrew couldn't refrain from showering her with slobbery kisses and Clark couldn't refrain from asking Cherylyn if he could have some of her food.
Needless to say, we are incredibly happy to have Audrey as the newest addition to our towheaded clan. She is a beautiful little girl and we are excited about the opportunity we will have to share our lives together.
A natural sun-bather
\
A happy mother with her new baby girl
Another Seahawk fan in the making
Our baby burrito
Kisses from Clark
Slobbers from Andrew
A typically docile interaction between the boys. And yet, look at Audrey's sheer stoicism and impressive ability to concentrate
Audrey weighed in at a bruising 5 pounds 4 ounces and 19 inches in length. She also measured 100% in cuteness, as determined by the most stringent peer-reviewed scientific methods known to man. She is the spitting image of her older brothers and future tormentors Clark and Andrew, but we are confident she is a girl because the nurses plunked a pink beanie on her minuscule head. And don't be deceived by her small size. She suffered pricks and shots and all manner of abuse at the nurses' hands with more grit and discipline than her male counterparts in the nursery.
Audrey has blond hair (yeah, what a surprise), an eye color of some sort that is not yet ascertainable (no doubt they will lighten in the coming days) and she is right-handed, her favorite color is blue, and her favorite hobby is watching movies with her daddy (okay, I admit it, those last couple of items were complete fabrications).
Cherylyn suffered ... err ... experienced contractions throughout the night, and at the glorious hour of 4am, we (and when I say we, I mean Cherylyn, since Tanner had just been woken up and was still in a "what! what is it! what time is it!" kind of mode) decided it was probably time to head to the hospital.
Upon arriving, Cherylyn got all souped up on her bed, epidural put firmly in place, and sweet sweet medication coursing through her lower half. After about an hour and a half, Cherylyn complained of pressure. A nurse came in, checked her, and quickened her pace around the room and went to page the doctor. Cherylyn, concerned with the level of sensation still present in her legs, asked if the dosage could be upped a smidgen, to which the nurse responded, "honey, one push and this baby is coming out."
At this announcement Tanner dashed gallantly to Cherylyn's side and promptly removed his wristwatch (even now it is not fully known why Tanner felt his wristwatch needed to be removed, but there was no time for contemplation and he acted on pure primal instinct). After everyone took their positions, Cherylyn pushed ferociously, and was then asked to rein in her ferocity a tad, as the doctor appeared slightly disquieted at the rate Audrey approached. After retooling the pace, Audrey gracefully entered the world.
Cherylyn is recovering nicely, and as these things go, this was one of the easier labors she has undergone. So easy in fact, that she is chomping at the bit to get pregnant with baby number four (okay, another fabrication). The boys came to visit Audrey this afternoon and Andrew couldn't refrain from showering her with slobbery kisses and Clark couldn't refrain from asking Cherylyn if he could have some of her food.
Needless to say, we are incredibly happy to have Audrey as the newest addition to our towheaded clan. She is a beautiful little girl and we are excited about the opportunity we will have to share our lives together.
A natural sun-bather
A happy mother with her new baby girl
Another Seahawk fan in the making
Our baby burrito
Kisses from Clark
Slobbers from Andrew
A typically docile interaction between the boys. And yet, look at Audrey's sheer stoicism and impressive ability to concentrate 
Saturday, March 13, 2010
We are moving to......
Drum roll please.....
(what, don't you automatically recognize what country that flag belongs to?)
JAKARTA, INDONESIA
(what, don't you automatically recognize what country that flag belongs to?)
JAKARTA, INDONESIA
We are VERY VERY excited! The ceremony was awesome and full of nervous energy (including from our boys -- though that was mostly just energy), and felt a lot like receiving a mission call, aside from the Mardi Gras beads everyone wore and the game of Bingo played throughout the ceremony. When Tanner got his flag and later handed it to Clark, Clark said "That's not OUR flag, OUR flag has stars." (get used to it buddy!) We are slated to move at the end of June...so the upcoming months will definitely be busy in our household. We hope as many of you as possible will be able to come and visit. I will post more details about Indonesia soon, but only those details that show the country in a positive light, so that you will actually want to visit us!
Monday, March 1, 2010
I Love Canada!
I love the Olympics, but I really loved that I learned so much about the place this time around. Canada sounds and looks like a wonderful place...at least within 100 miles of our border anyway...then it just gets way too cold. Luckily, we taped the afternoon coverage everyday and we TIVO'd through the 6 hours in about 1 hour just to see if there was anything interesting to watch. If you watched or TIVO'd Saturday afternoon's coverage, there was a 45 minute story with Tom Brokaw about Gander, Newfoundland. I was SO excited when we started watching because I was shocked that prior to Tom Brokaw's initial story about Canada on one of the first days of the Olympics, I had NEVER heard about the people of Canada helping the U.S. out so much on 9/11. I was sad at the time that he didn't expound on the story.
Just watching how they diverted all those flights to Canada was amazing. For all the failures that occurred on that day, it AMAZES that within 2 hours there was not a plane in the sky over the U.S. and that there were no crashes on runways in the process of grounding all the flights.
I cried multiple times throughout the story...it was very well done if you don't count the tacky breaks for commercials at emotionally critical moments. I was hoping it would be on youtube this morning so I could just post the link, but so far it hasn't shown up and NBC hasn't said if they will re-air it. Hopefully everyone will get the chance to see it...and if you do, have tissues handy...lots of tissues.
We watched the gold medal hockey game after watching the story about Gander, and while I am USA through and through, the disappointment at our loss was not nearly as acute as it otherwise could have been, because if we are going to lose, it's best to lose to a country you like and respect. We are truly blessed to have our good neighbors to the north.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Haven't We Done This Before??
Yes, almost 2 years ago to be more exact. Apparently in the Nielson household the following formula always exists:
Pregnancy + Disc Herniations in Tanner's Back = New Job + Moving!
The details are different, but I am finding the similarities between 2008 and 2010 to be pretty humorous.
So, SURPRISE! Tanner has been in process of applying as a Foreign Service Officer for the State Department for over a year. He has now successfully completed the application process and just began the State Dept. A-100 FSO training course! We are all very excited to begin this new chapter in our lives and expect it to be filled with even more adventure than we have experienced thus far. He will continue in training, we will rank our preferences from a country bid list we have received, and we will find out where in the world we will move and when by the end of March. Our baby is due the end of April, and it is a very real possibility that we could end up moving overseas any time beginning as early as this summer. These are exciting and stressful times, and it is all becoming more clear to me why we went through all the craziness that we did two years ago ... we were being prepared for this! The great part is that the State Department is fairly organized when it comes to preparing families for international moves, so it will be a bonus not having to do this alone.
In the meantime, it seems we are playing the waiting game in almost every aspect of our life. Our life will change quite dramatically over the next 2 months, but I have felt a lot of excitement, peace, and comfort in how our lives up to this point have prepared us for our family's future. There was a reason why I chose to major and graduate in International Studies at BYU, although I was not aware of what my life would entail 8 years later. There was a reason Tanner took a job in the D.C. area two years ago that took us away from a good job in Florida. It is times like these when you can look at a lot of the big decisions you have made in your life and realize it was all preparing you for something bigger, although you weren't fully aware of what was coming down the pipe when making those decisions. It is times like these that I am grateful for a wonderful husband, a loving and supportive family, and a testimony that we can be led by a loving Father in Heaven as to our own individual and family purposes in this life. I am sure the coming months will be stressful and busy, but exciting nonetheless. Stay tuned!!!
Pregnancy + Disc Herniations in Tanner's Back = New Job + Moving!
The details are different, but I am finding the similarities between 2008 and 2010 to be pretty humorous.
So, SURPRISE! Tanner has been in process of applying as a Foreign Service Officer for the State Department for over a year. He has now successfully completed the application process and just began the State Dept. A-100 FSO training course! We are all very excited to begin this new chapter in our lives and expect it to be filled with even more adventure than we have experienced thus far. He will continue in training, we will rank our preferences from a country bid list we have received, and we will find out where in the world we will move and when by the end of March. Our baby is due the end of April, and it is a very real possibility that we could end up moving overseas any time beginning as early as this summer. These are exciting and stressful times, and it is all becoming more clear to me why we went through all the craziness that we did two years ago ... we were being prepared for this! The great part is that the State Department is fairly organized when it comes to preparing families for international moves, so it will be a bonus not having to do this alone.
In the meantime, it seems we are playing the waiting game in almost every aspect of our life. Our life will change quite dramatically over the next 2 months, but I have felt a lot of excitement, peace, and comfort in how our lives up to this point have prepared us for our family's future. There was a reason why I chose to major and graduate in International Studies at BYU, although I was not aware of what my life would entail 8 years later. There was a reason Tanner took a job in the D.C. area two years ago that took us away from a good job in Florida. It is times like these when you can look at a lot of the big decisions you have made in your life and realize it was all preparing you for something bigger, although you weren't fully aware of what was coming down the pipe when making those decisions. It is times like these that I am grateful for a wonderful husband, a loving and supportive family, and a testimony that we can be led by a loving Father in Heaven as to our own individual and family purposes in this life. I am sure the coming months will be stressful and busy, but exciting nonetheless. Stay tuned!!!
Monday, February 8, 2010
I'll Give You A Winter Prediction:
"It's gonna be cold, it's gonna be grey, and it's gonna last you for the rest of your life. There is no way this winter is ever going to end." ~ Phil Conners, Groundhog Day.
This quote keeps running over and over through my mind. We watched the movie last week in honor of Groundhog Day, and it is hands down one of my favorite comedies of all time.
Then "one of these big BLUE things" hit us, and we got 3 feet of snow on Friday night, and life has been somewhat miserable ever since. Luckily we only lost power for an hour...HUGE blessing. But digging ourselves out is another story. Remember, Tanner has 2 disc herniations in his back and I am 6 1/2 months pregnant. Good times! Today I finished digging us out, only to come in and check the forecast, and we are supposed to get 10 more inches tomorrow! Which reminds me of another quote:
"What if there is no tomorrow? There wasn't one today."
The days are all running into each other. We haven't had church since January 24th. The kids have massive cabin fever and probably don't understand why mom and dad are just a little bit ornery. We tried to take the boys sledding, but the snow is so deep and not compact that we mostly just sunk into it. Tanner did get a relatively decent path going, but by the time it was starting to get good, the boys had had it, and were crying wrecks. But having said all of that, the snow is beautiful, it tastes really good (Clark said it's his "favorite dinner"), and we have shelter, food, and family. So, life is good.
"Winter, slumbering in the open air, wears on his smiling face a dream of spring."
I am dreaming of Spring.
This quote keeps running over and over through my mind. We watched the movie last week in honor of Groundhog Day, and it is hands down one of my favorite comedies of all time.
Then "one of these big BLUE things" hit us, and we got 3 feet of snow on Friday night, and life has been somewhat miserable ever since. Luckily we only lost power for an hour...HUGE blessing. But digging ourselves out is another story. Remember, Tanner has 2 disc herniations in his back and I am 6 1/2 months pregnant. Good times! Today I finished digging us out, only to come in and check the forecast, and we are supposed to get 10 more inches tomorrow! Which reminds me of another quote:
"What if there is no tomorrow? There wasn't one today."
The days are all running into each other. We haven't had church since January 24th. The kids have massive cabin fever and probably don't understand why mom and dad are just a little bit ornery. We tried to take the boys sledding, but the snow is so deep and not compact that we mostly just sunk into it. Tanner did get a relatively decent path going, but by the time it was starting to get good, the boys had had it, and were crying wrecks. But having said all of that, the snow is beautiful, it tastes really good (Clark said it's his "favorite dinner"), and we have shelter, food, and family. So, life is good.
"Winter, slumbering in the open air, wears on his smiling face a dream of spring."
I am dreaming of Spring.
Monday, February 1, 2010
Once There Was A Snowman
Back when we had a weak sauce 4 inches of snow on the ground, we took the boys outside to make a snowman. The snow was PERFECT for it, and we all loved it, even Clark who really does NOT like the cold.
Clark named him "Popcorn Popping", which is kind of funny given that it is a Spring song....he must be dreaming of spring just like I am. Andrew on the other hand is fine with just about anything and really loved his snowman.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Happy 2nd Birthday Andrew!
We had a party for Andrew at our house with our closest and bestest friends. We had pizza, brownie cake, and ice cream. We had bubbles, silly string, and toys. It was utter madness, mayhem and FUN! The best is the video of him blowing out his candle. See if you can catch the cocked head and slight look of frustration just before he is finally able to blow it out.
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Couponing 101: Part 1
There are few other things that make me want to run and hide more than when people start talking about coupons/couponing. I view them as ways for companies to lure unsuspecting (read: gullible) individuals into thinking they are getting a good deal on something when in reality they are getting scammed by some corporate machine. I also tend to think that couponing is a recipe for greater, NOT less disorganization in my life. I envision massive amounts of time and energy being wasted for a couple of cents and a mountain of magazine cuttings littering my already Trix cereal-encrusted kitchen floor. And don't even mention the mental picture that comes to mind of actually GOING to the grocery store WITH children and trying to sort through voluminous amounts of coupons at the checkout, only to find that 1) they are already expired, 2) I didn't buy what the coupon actually specified, 3) they work, but I spent twice the amount I normally do because I was TRYING to use COUPONS! You get my point. Couponing = 3 words to me.
Not A Fan.
And yet...
Every time I go to the grocery store, I have wondered if it would be possible to get a box of cereal for less than $3.00. I don't know why the cereal thing stuck in my head ... I just think the prices are outrageous. Enter the $5 Dinner Mom Cookbook by Erin Chase. Oh yuck, I just sounded like a total product promoter.
One of Tanner's New Year's Resolutions is to cook more. Score for me! So to encourage this behavior I bought him a Williams-Sonoma Apron and had his name stitched on it for Christmas. He also wanted a "simple, yet relatively healthy cookbook" to make recipes for dinner. Yeah, me too buddy.
I do not have a good relationship with Cookbooks. When I pick up one of my cookbooks and I read the ingredients for a certain meal and it includes things like lemongrass, or water chestnuts, I want to throw it across the room, not in a violent way, just enough so that it bounces off the wall and straight into the garbage. I need simple, quick, easy, and healthy. Is that so hard? Apparently for cookbook authors it IS. Joy of Cooking is NOT a joy most of the time ... the no-knead light rolls excluded of course ... but there are times where it almost reads like a foreign language. Yeah that's right, I just dogged Joy of Cooking, which is like breaking one of the 10 commandments of cooking, but it needs to be said.
So I decided to venture to Barnes and Noble and check out what is new and exciting in the way of cookbooks. NOT MUCH. Except, on the bottom row there was a new book that just came out that screamed $5 Dinner Mom Cookbook on the cover ... with a picture of a "today's-looking mom" on the front who happens to be the author, Erin Chase. The title seemed to fit what I wanted, so I picked it up. A quick thumb through and I was sold. None of the recipes cost her more than $5 at the store. She puts the cost next to each of the ingredients. Suffice it to say, they are mostly simple, quick, easy, and healthy ... and I didn't see anything like lemongrass or water chestnuts included ... so that was a bonus. After I got home, I decided to read a little bit. The first 60 pages are all about saving/budgeting on groceries and couponing. I was enthralled and decided to throw out all my preconceived notions about the coupon world, and just see what would happen.
I made a few personal rules before I started:
1) I am only going to one grocery store to coupon. A lot of people do it at their grocery store, Target, Walgreens, etc. They search for the best deals on different items at different stores and then run around to each store getting the best deals they are offering. Too much for me. I have one grocery store that I like, and I will do it there. Nowhere else.
2) I will not become obsessed. Yes, I want a good deal, but will not spend hours and hours searching online or otherwise. I spend 1 hour a week cutting the coupons that come in my Washington Post and online, planning my meals for the week, and organizing my coupon binder. THAT'S IT. 1 hour total.
3) I will be willing to correct the cashier at the Grocery Store and endure the stares of those standing in line behind me. I don't inherently enjoy confrontation or telling people how to do their jobs, even when they are clearly not doing it correctly. The book states that this is something you have to get over, that most grocery clerks do not know coupon rules or their stores policy regarding them, so you have to be willing to have a conversation with them even if it may delay you and the people behind you. I decided that I would be willing to TRY.
4) I will only do my couponing grocery shopping with 1 kid MAX in tow.
5) I have to make my weekly meal plan BEFORE I go shopping. It just makes sense. Then you don't buy things you don't actually need.
Once I had everything organized, I decided to make a quick test run by myself to the grocery store. I was actually nervous. I thought I knew what deals I should get but I wasn't sure.
Well...
My best deal was that I got 2 Breakstone Sour Creams for 12 cents total. My grocery store was running a deal on them that was buy one get one free. I had a coupon that was for 55 cents off of one. Did you know that you can use one coupon for multiple items of the same product? As long as it says on the coupon "Per item" or "per purchase" and NOT "per customer", if you buy 4 of the same thing, you can use one coupon 4 times. I did not know that! Anyway, my grocery store also automatically doubles all coupons under $1.00 ... which I also didn't know before I started doing research. So, my coupon was actually worth $1.10 per Sour Cream container.
Did you ALSO know that you can use a coupon twice even if you are getting one of them for free? So, I now had $2.20 to put toward my one container purchase to get the other one free. One container cost $2.32. I did not have any issues with the cashier and she knew to just keep scanning my coupons until they beeped at her. I checked my receipt when I left, and voila! I spent 12 cents for two Sour Creams. You would have thought I had won the lottery. It was actually very empowering. It must kind of be like the high people get when they steal, except that what I am doing is actually very legal. Bonus!
Stay tuned for Part 2. I promise to only have one more part to Couponing on my blog. Let's face it, no one likes an annoying couponer who keeps shoving it in your face all the time ... except for my friends who live by me have to hear about my awesome deal of the week each time. But I think (and hope) they still like me anyway.
Not A Fan.
And yet...
Every time I go to the grocery store, I have wondered if it would be possible to get a box of cereal for less than $3.00. I don't know why the cereal thing stuck in my head ... I just think the prices are outrageous. Enter the $5 Dinner Mom Cookbook by Erin Chase. Oh yuck, I just sounded like a total product promoter.
One of Tanner's New Year's Resolutions is to cook more. Score for me! So to encourage this behavior I bought him a Williams-Sonoma Apron and had his name stitched on it for Christmas. He also wanted a "simple, yet relatively healthy cookbook" to make recipes for dinner. Yeah, me too buddy.
I do not have a good relationship with Cookbooks. When I pick up one of my cookbooks and I read the ingredients for a certain meal and it includes things like lemongrass, or water chestnuts, I want to throw it across the room, not in a violent way, just enough so that it bounces off the wall and straight into the garbage. I need simple, quick, easy, and healthy. Is that so hard? Apparently for cookbook authors it IS. Joy of Cooking is NOT a joy most of the time ... the no-knead light rolls excluded of course ... but there are times where it almost reads like a foreign language. Yeah that's right, I just dogged Joy of Cooking, which is like breaking one of the 10 commandments of cooking, but it needs to be said.
So I decided to venture to Barnes and Noble and check out what is new and exciting in the way of cookbooks. NOT MUCH. Except, on the bottom row there was a new book that just came out that screamed $5 Dinner Mom Cookbook on the cover ... with a picture of a "today's-looking mom" on the front who happens to be the author, Erin Chase. The title seemed to fit what I wanted, so I picked it up. A quick thumb through and I was sold. None of the recipes cost her more than $5 at the store. She puts the cost next to each of the ingredients. Suffice it to say, they are mostly simple, quick, easy, and healthy ... and I didn't see anything like lemongrass or water chestnuts included ... so that was a bonus. After I got home, I decided to read a little bit. The first 60 pages are all about saving/budgeting on groceries and couponing. I was enthralled and decided to throw out all my preconceived notions about the coupon world, and just see what would happen.
I made a few personal rules before I started:
1) I am only going to one grocery store to coupon. A lot of people do it at their grocery store, Target, Walgreens, etc. They search for the best deals on different items at different stores and then run around to each store getting the best deals they are offering. Too much for me. I have one grocery store that I like, and I will do it there. Nowhere else.
2) I will not become obsessed. Yes, I want a good deal, but will not spend hours and hours searching online or otherwise. I spend 1 hour a week cutting the coupons that come in my Washington Post and online, planning my meals for the week, and organizing my coupon binder. THAT'S IT. 1 hour total.
3) I will be willing to correct the cashier at the Grocery Store and endure the stares of those standing in line behind me. I don't inherently enjoy confrontation or telling people how to do their jobs, even when they are clearly not doing it correctly. The book states that this is something you have to get over, that most grocery clerks do not know coupon rules or their stores policy regarding them, so you have to be willing to have a conversation with them even if it may delay you and the people behind you. I decided that I would be willing to TRY.
4) I will only do my couponing grocery shopping with 1 kid MAX in tow.
5) I have to make my weekly meal plan BEFORE I go shopping. It just makes sense. Then you don't buy things you don't actually need.
Once I had everything organized, I decided to make a quick test run by myself to the grocery store. I was actually nervous. I thought I knew what deals I should get but I wasn't sure.
Well...
My best deal was that I got 2 Breakstone Sour Creams for 12 cents total. My grocery store was running a deal on them that was buy one get one free. I had a coupon that was for 55 cents off of one. Did you know that you can use one coupon for multiple items of the same product? As long as it says on the coupon "Per item" or "per purchase" and NOT "per customer", if you buy 4 of the same thing, you can use one coupon 4 times. I did not know that! Anyway, my grocery store also automatically doubles all coupons under $1.00 ... which I also didn't know before I started doing research. So, my coupon was actually worth $1.10 per Sour Cream container.
Did you ALSO know that you can use a coupon twice even if you are getting one of them for free? So, I now had $2.20 to put toward my one container purchase to get the other one free. One container cost $2.32. I did not have any issues with the cashier and she knew to just keep scanning my coupons until they beeped at her. I checked my receipt when I left, and voila! I spent 12 cents for two Sour Creams. You would have thought I had won the lottery. It was actually very empowering. It must kind of be like the high people get when they steal, except that what I am doing is actually very legal. Bonus!
Stay tuned for Part 2. I promise to only have one more part to Couponing on my blog. Let's face it, no one likes an annoying couponer who keeps shoving it in your face all the time ... except for my friends who live by me have to hear about my awesome deal of the week each time. But I think (and hope) they still like me anyway.
Friday, January 1, 2010
New Year's Resolutions
Just before Christmas I sat down and was thinking about things that I needed to do to improve myself as a wife, mother, individual, and daughter of God. It seems that every time I am pregnant, I go into survival mode during that first trimester...for good reason I might add. However, when things start to perk up/I stop throwing up, it is really really hard at times to ratchet back up to where I was pre-pregnancy. I had a week or two when I was feeling really great and I made a mental list. It included:
1. Figuring out a way to lower our grocery costs without having less food in the house.
2. Scripture reading program 2010!!
3. Meal Planning
4. Calendar/Organization!
5. Spending more quality time with the kids and less in front of MEDIA.
I actually was already well on my way to accomplishing each of these goals before the end of the year. At least I was organized and ready to hit the ground running by Jan. 1st. I have a short window of time to get all of these things down as HABITS before the baby arrives, so here goes!
1. Figuring out a way to lower our grocery costs without having less food in the house.
2. Scripture reading program 2010!!
3. Meal Planning
4. Calendar/Organization!
5. Spending more quality time with the kids and less in front of MEDIA.
I actually was already well on my way to accomplishing each of these goals before the end of the year. At least I was organized and ready to hit the ground running by Jan. 1st. I have a short window of time to get all of these things down as HABITS before the baby arrives, so here goes!
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