Presents!

I got some pretty awesome gifts this year for Christmas!  Maybe because I bought some for myself because Matt didn't have much time to shop, but hey, they were great nonetheless!  "Matt" and the girls got me a bread machine and an speaker system for my iPod that also plays cd's and the radio.  I already mentioned my sister got me a Big Top Cupcake Maker and I can't wait to use that along with a cupcake book that has really cool decorations for the tops.  For example, you can make your cupcakes look like anything from different types of dogs to a side of peas and carrots. My Dad got me a Bissell Little Green carpet cleaning thing!  I love it!

But I took pictures of two of my favorite gifts, from my mom and step-dad, because I wanted to share them with all three of you that follow me (HA!).

First up is this beautiful picture:

 

They got each couple one.  I think my sister and her husband got one that is a beach setting and it looks like someone wrote in the sand.  I think they are so neat and I can't wait to find a place to hang it.  I haven't decided if I want it in my room or display it in the living room for all to see!

Next up they got us matching shirts from Union 28.  It's a company that was started by a married couple that was committed to their marriage and wanted to publicly share it with the world.  

Here is what mine looks like (Matt's is exactly the same, except it says wife in place of husband!):

  

Ours are short sleeved and I can't wait to wear it this summer!  They have great prices and I wouldn't mind getting a few other pieces!  

Anywho, I just wanted to share those two gifts with you - I LOVED them too much to keep to myself!

Most Popular Resolutions

Looking back on last years resolutions and getting the new one in order, I became curious as to what the most popular resolutions were.  I was pretty sure that losing weight and quitting smoking were on the list, but was surprised by some of the other ones such as learning something new and spending more time with friends and family.  The most populat resolutions I found on the web were the following:

Spend more time with friends and family

Lose weight

Quit smoking/drinking

Enjoy life more

Get out of debt

Learn something new

Help others more

Get organized

I know I used a few of those in past resolutions and a few in my new list. What about you - do you use the same ones over and over again with hopes of obtaining your goal or maintaining it?  Do you have unusual resolutions that people may not have thought of?  How many of these resolutions do you share with the rest of us?

A Look Back - Resolutions for 2009

It's that time of year again!  Christmas has passed and we start looking towards the new year.  It's incredibly hard to believe that it's already 2010 - I graduated high school 10 years ago this year (2010) and it has gone by SUPER fast.  But with each new year we do the inevitable - set resolutions for ourselves.  I know I do, but I've never really held myself accountable for them.  I really tried to this year though, I kept a list so I could look back on it at the end of the year.

My resolutions for 2009 were the following:

1.  Be a better person in all aspects.
2.  Be more hopeful by thinking optimistically instead of preparing for the worst.
3.  Get Hannah sleeping in her own bed!!
4.  Lose the rest of my extra weight (you can't make resolutions without this one!) and set a healthy example for my kids.
5.  Continue putting our family on a better financial track
6.  Be in a house where we'll stay until we buy one.
7.  Meet new people and make more friends.
8.  Be more grateful for everything and everyone I have in my life - it can all be taken away in an instant.


Looking back, I'm proud of myself for keeping most of them!  I feel as though I am a better person in some ways, although other areas have lacked and I need to work on those.  And I have definitely become much more optimistic about things.  I am more hopeful than ever about each situation we encounter.  Do I still stress when I pay the bills or when a tire goes flat? Sure, but not like I used to, it's just a "season" and I know that God lets us walk through hardship because he is preparing us for something that we couldn't do without it!  I am also more grateful for the things I have in my life; but I know I could do better!  Life becomes so routine and more times than not I'm just living a routine.  I will need to continue working on taking in all of the small things and being grateful for my girls laughter, the rain, and even our hardships because I don't want to lose it!


One of my biggest resolutions was to get Hannah sleeping in her own bed!  Well just today I took her bed out of her room to make space for some of their new toys!  However, at the start of 2009 I did have Hannah sleeping in her bed in her room.  And it lasted awhile too!  But something happened (I don't remember what...) and she is back in my bed again.  Sadly though I miss her when she's not there - for almost 2 years we've shared a bed - she's my "snuggle buddy"!  We are getting bunkbeds very shortly after the start of the new year (hopefully) and she will go back in her room - I'm looking forward to it as much as I'm going to miss her!  


My other resolutions:  I did manage to lose some more weight, but not enough to say I was successful!  I still have a bit to go - but hey, there's always 2010 resolutions!  I managed to put us on a better financial track - opening and maintaining a savings account.  It may have been depleted due to Christmas, but saving is a priority now and I pay our savings account just like any other bill every week.  And without that account, Christmas couldn't have happened in our house!  We have decided to stay here in Culpeper until we are ready to buy a house.  After we almost moved to Fredericksburg in April, we decided to stay.  This will be our home until we buy a house!  And finally I resolved to make more friends and meet new people.  This is something I struggle with all the time being a stay-at-home mom.  It is very hard to meet other women who are in the same season of their life that I am in.  I have become friends with my Pastor's wife.  She has three young girls right about my girls' ages and stays home as well so we immediately had that in common!  We get together every so often for playdates and she is truly an inspiration for wanting to be a better mom!  


I do have my resolutions mapped out for 2010, but I'll wait for the new year to post them!  Some of them are the same as in the past and others are new as my priorities have shifted but they are still resolutions all the same.  Hopefully 2010 will be just as successful as 2009!

Merry Christmas 2009

Christmas was so exciting this year - I guess because for the first time in a LONG time, it felt like Christmas.  The kids had a great time, Matt had the day off, and we got to spend time with both our families!  First up every year is Christmas Eve at the Purtells.  Matt's ENTIRE family gets together for dinner and gift exchanging and a game of white elephant with the adults.  It really is such a good time and I look forward to it more and more each year.  This year we got a pleasant weird surprise... Santa stopped by for a visit!  

Everyone, except Dylan, was weirded out by him.  His "hair" was a little off, his shirt was tucked into his pants and his pillow stomach was showing.  Emma wouldn't go near him and boldly exclaimed after he left that he was NOT the real Santa!  He was very nice and tried to talk with that deep voice that Santa has, but Matt and I both agreed he was not up to any good!

Once "Santa" left, we all ran downstairs to grab a seat and to open up presents.  The grandkids and great grandkids open up first taking turns from the youngest to the oldest.  Hannah got an awesome kitchen set, a barbie, several outfits including a super soft fleece jacket and a few other toys.  Emma got lots of new earrings, a barbie, a necklace that she absolutely loved, the movie UP and a few outfits too.  Matt got a beloved giftcard to Home Depot, cash, a detachable shower head and a wrestling book.  I got what is by far one of the best gifts of the year - the new Paula Deen Cookbook (I LOVE HER)!!! I also got items for my kitchen that I desperately needed including mixing bowls (an item high up there on my wish list this year!), baking sheets and a blender!  After we opened gifts, the "adults" exchanged gifts in the same manner and then we ended the night playing a game of white elephant - the best part of the night.  I, unfortunately, drew number one and got stuck with a box of space bag storage bags and ended up just watching the rest of the game.  Matt opted to steal an oscillating heater that was stolen back many times before he finally won it!  It has come in VERY handy the last few days in keeping our living room warm and toasty!  Some of the hot items this year were a Tom-Tom GPS system, a $50 gift card to Wal-mart, two sets of dinner and movie gift cards and a dremel tool set.  After that we loaded up the car and headed home; I had a horrible migraine and was ready to go and prepare for Santa's visit.  So we got home around 145am, I think, laid out the gifts and thankfully didn't lose an entire box of Santa gifts this year and was is bed by 230ish.  

THANKFULLY, the kids slept in until almost 10am!!!  Hannah was the first to get up around 915 and Emma followed closer to 10am.  Emma was ready to open up gifts, one after another; Hannah was more patient and wanted to play with everything she opened.  Emma got her beloved Nintento DS and a few games and Gramma Tucky came through with the Dippin Dots Maker!  Santa also brought her a CD player with some CD's for her room.  Santa gave Hannah and Emma the Crayon Maker and I can't wait to try that out!  Hannah got a sock monkey, barbies, some books and some bath toys.  Pop John got them both a new bike this year and unfortunately neither of them seem thrilled.  Emma didn't want it because it didn't have training wheels and Hannah just does whatever Emma does.  I was pretty embarrassed with their reaction but my Dad was a good sport about it.  Around 1, Matt's mom and brother came by to exchange gifts and Matt finally got a normal size coffee maker! Once they left we headed down to my mom's for dinner with Ken's kids and grandkids and my sister, her husband and my nephew.  My mom and step-dad got us this beautiful picture that has our name etched out in a tree with our wedding date on it and t-shirts that say "my husband rocks" and "my wife rocks" courtesty of Union 28.  My mom also either knows my love of calenders/planners or thinks I need to be more organized (not sure how that's possible) but she got me two planners and a wall calender! And my sister totally rocked out by giving me the Big Top Cupcake Maker and a book with awesome cupcake decorations! It was a great time and all the kids had fun running and squealing together.  

Click here to view the rest of my pictures on my Facebook page - most of the ones I took were taken vertically and it's easier to rotate them there! But here is a picture of the third and fourth generations at Matt's family's house Christmas Eve - and since we're now married, I was able to join in the picture this year!

I think all the traveling and staying busy is what it made it feel like Christmas this year, compared to last year when we opened presents and then it was over.  So I happy to report that I had a GREAT Christmas and so did the kids and I hope future Christmas' are just as Merry.  

Favorite Christmas Songs - Part 2

We're snowed in today (and probably tomorrow and the next day), so I figured I better make good with part two of my favorite Christmas songs.  But I can't find my list that I made when I created part one, so I'll have to go off memory and suggested songs on youtube!  So here they are... five more awesome Christmas songs!

Wonderful Christmas Time by Paul McCartney

All I Want For Christmas by Mariah Carey

Please Come Home For Christmas by Aaron Neville


Santa Clause is Coming to Town by Bruce Springstein

The Christmas Song by Nat King Cole

If I find my list or remember anymore, I'll make another post!

Favorite Christmas Songs - Part 1

I love listening to Christmas music so I thought I would share my favorite Christmas songs.  I have more than a few so I'll break it up into a few different posts.  Part 1 is my absolute, must-have Christmas songs, courtesy of YouTube:

The War is Over by John Lennon

O Come All Ye Faithful by Katherine McPhee (I don't have a favorite singer for this song, but I do love her version)

O Holy Night by Celine Dion

Hot Chocolate from The Polar Express Movie

Let There be Peace on Earth by Vince and Jenny Gill 

Enjoy!

Zhu Zhu Who?

So apparently these littles critters are the "must have" toy for Christmas 2009!  I really don't get it - why they are sold out everywhere?  Is it because they ended up being sold out and then people became obsessed with them because it was teamed up with the word sold out?  Because personally, I don't think they are anything to go crazy about and I just watched a demonstration on The Ellen Show (where she gave everyone in the audience a free pack and they went nuts?).  Sure they're ok, but nothing to go crazy about.  Thankfully Emma knows nothing about them; I don't think I could search store after store, website after website looking for one! And I don't think I've ever been on a mission to have the hottest toy of the year since having kids and I would like to keep it that way.  Hopefully I can if they keep making toys that aren't so great and making them the toy of the year!

All Wrapped Up

I need to start wrapping my Christmas gifts very soon.  Every year at the thought of wrapping so many gifts in such a short period of time I remember a woman I used to work with.  She and her husband never wrapped any of the gifts for their kids.  They were all from Santa and were just placed under the tree after the kids went to bed on Christmas Eve.  I had never heard of anyone doing this before.  As a child, we had gifts from Santa as well as my mom, dad, brother and sister and I still do this today.  I separate the gifts out and decide what will be from me and Matt, and what will be from Santa.  So I was wondering, how do you guys do it? Are all of your gifts wrapped?  Do you leave them unwrapped? Does only Santa deliver gifts on Christmas or do you partake too?  For me personally, depsite the wrapping frustrations (even though I have an awesome new pair of wrapping scissors), I don't think I couldn't wrap presents or make them all from Santa.

What a difference a year makes!

I found some pictures of Hannah's hair from this time last year and couldn't believe the difference.  I thought she had big hair before...

December 2008

(We were painting a birdhouse for Pop!)

November 2009

Of course her hair isn't "usually" this poofy because at just 2 years old she requires conditioner, leave in condition, a 5 minute gentle yet frustrating combing followed by either gel or mousse.  But if we're not going out, this is what she can look like just playing around the house!

But boy it sure is poofier than last year and I thought it was big then!  I wonder what next year will look like and I REALLY wonder if it will ever grown down instead of out!

 

Flashback Friday

We're going to get our tree this weekend and finally decorate for Christmas so I wanted to post a picture from last year during our Christmas Tree Hunting, but none of those were really good!  So here is Emma actually smiling for me "near" our Christmas tree from last year!

Letters to Santa

We finally sat down last night to write our letters to Santa.  I figured I need to know what Emma really wanted since Santa is almost done and "he" doesn't want to forget anything she desperately wants.  We've been asking her for awhile what she would want and she had her heart set on one of those big motorized powerwheels.  Since we weren't sure of Santa's budget, we asked her what else she might want in case the powerwheel was too big for his sleigh and thankfully when she wrote her letter last night, there was no mention of a powerwheel. 

I'll type it just like she wrote it and we'll see if you can manage to read it!

11-30-09

Der Santa,

I hv bn good al yer. I wod lk thes thngs for krsms.

1. DS

2. Hors gam

3. Pjams

4. Trn

Thmks,

Emma

Translated:

Dear Santa, I have been good all year.  I would like these things for Christmas:

1. Nintendo DS

2. Horse Game (for her DS)

3. Pajamas

4. Train

Thanks,

Emma

Hannah's letter read (and she named what she wanted, we didn't help her at all!):

Dear Ho Ho Man (That's what she calls Santa)

I've been good all year. Please bring me:

1. A balloon

2. Funnies (We had just finished watching America's Funniest Videos) 
3. A kite

4. Shoes

Thanks,

Love,

Hannah

 

Kids are so funny and Hannah's list changes each time you ask her of course, but it was put into writing last night, so that's officially what she wants! I waited in line at 4:45am on Black Friday to get Emma her DS on sale.  I hope she is super excited! The train was a surprise though, we'll have to see what Santa can do!

Merry Christmas! Only 24 more days to go!

What We Gave Thanks For!

I'm a little late on the Thanksgiving post, but I wanted to share about our thankful turkey we made.  I cut a turkey shape out of poster board and covered it with orange and brown construction paper, then made feathers out of different colored paper.  On these feathers we each took turns writing what we were thankful for. On other feathers I wrote some important bible verses to remind us why we need to give thanks to God on Thanksgiving as well.

We each took turns going around the table, writing what we were thankful for and sharing it with each other.  Hannah blessed us with a feather of scribbles.

Emma was thankful for "makarone" (that would be kindergarten writing for macaroni) and "famle dnrs" (did you guess that one? It's family dinners).

Matt was thankful for being able to work and having a job and for a loving wife and good kids.

And me, I was thankful for healthy kids and Matt/Daddy to take care of us. 

The green feather shows Hannahs feather and the yellow is Emma's "makarone" - she doesn't yet understand that when she tries to correct her writing you can no longer read it, but she's writing so I'm thankful for that too!

So Happy Thanksgiving to everyone and I hope you have a great holiday and remembered to give thanks for all of the blessings in your life!