Been a while...

And boy have we been busy!  The beginning of a new year is always busy in this house.  Emily celebrated her 14th birthday on the 2nd and today is our 16 yr anniversary!  Can't believe I have been married that long and have 3 kids!  Thought that would never happen! 

Well I did the big change...I am back to school full time to get my degree in Elementary Education.  This week started it all up and have been busy doing fingerprinting and background checks to go and observe classrooms.  I really feel this is a good fit for myself and my family.  I do love kids, especially young ones and thing I have alot to offer.  Let's hope these next 15 weeks don't wear me down but keep me motivated to my ultimate goal of being a kindergarten teacher! 

It looks like gymnastics is in our future as Maddie and Zach want to take lessons.  Lord knows they are rolling , jumping and bending themselves into pretzels at home!  We go saturday morning to try it out and see how we like it.  Fingers crossed we do!  Emily will be starting an after school program at the pool  next week that teaches them how to be junior lifeguards.  She loves swimming and hopefully she will have an interest in being a lifeguard since she will soon be a teen that can work!  What a perfect fit! 

Larry is back to refereeing volleyball every weekend.  He will be busy till May but it allows us to let the kids do some programs they love and pay down bills.  Our goal for this year is to pay off ALL credit cards, my student loan and take a good chunk out of the truck loan.  If all goes well we will only have the truck and house payments in 2012.  Wouldn't that be a blessing!!  We also plan on doing some upgrades in the house but nothing too pricey...just enough to make it a bit more sellable if we do get orders in the next year or so. 

I am also staying with cooking more and trying new things.  I am also joining a gym and really working on losing weight and getting healthier.  Some of the ladies in my MOMS group have joined the gym so I have others to keep me motivated!  I am also now on the board of my MOMS group as the Membership Vice President.  My hope is to make our group the best one it can be and triple our membership.  There was some drama and we lost some members but sometimes you need a shakeup to make things better, right?  I ran for board member for our property association but unfortunately did not get it.  I am still on committees and plan on making my neighborhood a better one!

Welcome 2011

A new year means new beginnings and we plan on making the most of this year!  Stay tuned for all of our ups and downs on our journey through 2011....

My plans for this year are to cook something new at least once a week, take more pictures of my children, lose weight and get healthy, do more in my community, be more active in my MOMS group, join the board of our homeowners association, work on my teaching degree, pay off our debt and be able to yell "We are debt free" in the next couple years, help my children grow closer to God as well as Larry and myself and just be happy and drama free!  I am sure there will be more but for now that is quite enough!  And one prayer request...that justice prevail for my daughter who has gone through alot this year. 

My plan for cooking something new starts right now.  I am making crockpot brown sugar chicken and hope the kids love it!  I made butternut squash soup with cinnamon a couple days ago and everyone liked it so it inspired me to expand my cooking skills! 

I hope everyone had a great holiday and wish you all a Happy New Year!