What a voice...

As colds and flus are running rampant right now...we have managed to stay healthy for quite a stretch....

However, they have finally come our way...

Little baby lost her voice last night, and when she woke up this morning, she had NO voice.

The video below is from about an hour after waking up, so her voice is a LITTLE better. She just sounds so pathetic, it is adorable!

She is singing her preschool welcome song.

This is the first video I have ever uploaded...so I hope it works....

To a Decade...

So, after reading a friends blog...I got to thinking about the past decade.

It is funny isn't it? In the day-to-day...things just happen. They happen and we move on, probably better and stronger people because of them...but still, we move on. We say 10 years like it is nothing, because I suppose in the grand scheme of things, it's not. However, as I looked back over my last ten years, my family's last 10 years....My list just kept getting longer.

Oh how 10 years changed me...
I look back at certain things, and think, "really, that was only 7 years ago", because it feels like forever. Life is completely different now than it was then...and I have grown so much that it seems like much longer.

When the year 2000 came...
*I had JUST turned 23 years old.
*So was Kevin.
*Karman was 7 and she slept through the new millenium appearing.
*We were living in low-income apartments in Belligham.
*We weren't even married yet (married June, 2000) but had been dating 6 years.
*Karman had only been living with us for 3 years.

During the decade...
*We got married
*Kevin was hired on with Holland America
*Karman was diagnosed with and treated for cancer.
*She also, in that 10 years, was declared CURED!
*Karman went from 7-17, from 2nd grade to high school, in what seems like NO TIME!
*We moved 3 times
*We had our first baby...who went from baby to 6, from infant to 1st grade...
*And our second....who went form baby to 3, from infant to preschool...
*We bought a house
*We bought our first minivan...and sold it...bought another....and sold it....and bought one more.
*We remodeled A LOT!
*We lost family members, and gained family members.
*We reunited with old friends, and made many new.

This however, is why time feels so fast to me now. I get it, as a mom, when people say time goes by so fast, that if you blink you will miss it. See, Karman, in 2000, was one year older than Tyler is now. Now, she is 17...just like that. I swear, the fact that she is a Junior still takes my breath away. So many hard things that we went through, but still it feels now, like it went so fast! This decade will go just as fast, and before we know it Tyler will be 16, and Maky 13.

I am trying, with everything in me, to be present in, and enjoy the NOW!

I leave the decade behind me, a MUCH stronger person...a MUCH better person.
I, personally, have changed and grown so much.

My hope for this next decade is to savor every minute!

A New Year...

2009 came and went.
2010 is here.

A few resolutions over here, in my little world.

FIRST--my health
*I will be finishing what I started last year....I have 40 more pounds to lose.
I would be happy...thrilled, in fact, with 25...but my ultimate goal is to be down another 40, I did it last year, I should be able to repeat it this year.

*I also want to get more fit...to the point where I crave exercise rather then try to avoid it.
*With that I would like to sign-up for and complete at least one charity walk.

SECOND--(MY goals for our home)
*I want to organize and put into action my decorating ideas.
I have so many things that I "see" our house looking like inside. Projects that are simply figments of my imagination at this point...however, in turn, I have so many ideas, that I don't DO any of them...so I need to organize those thoughts....so that I can begin to implement them.

*To organize my photos on my computer.
I want to get them ALL in their designated folders, organized by year and child etc...then put them all on an external hard drive, and also back them up on CD.
This is SO going to be a P-R-O-J-E-C-T...and it actually DAUNTING just to think about it. I used to be SUPER good about organizing my pictures, but then I started taking so many that I would just upload them and not take the time to put them where they belong. Now, I have to fix that because I am sick of not being able to find the pictures that I am looking for.

*To organize all of my favorite recipes and make a family recipe book.
I love, LOVE to cook, and LOVE to make up my own recipes. However, I make them and scribble them on paper and can never seem to find them again. I have a collection of jotted down recipes that are on post-it notes, or on ripped computer paper, or one the back of receipts and I dream of putting them all in a book to pass down one day. That...I will start this year.

*To make a photo wall that I have wanted to do for the last year.
I need to fill the rest of my frames with new pictures. Then I want to create a collage wall.

*To make our yard, beautiful...now that it has all been ripped out and seeded.

THIRD--(to finish or learn)
*To get my kids "professional picture" albums up-to-date.
Long ago I started albums for all of my kids that have ONLY their professional pictures in them. I got them all put together and completed (to that point) but then I slacked off. Need to get those going again.
I would also like to make Makylie's school album like I did for the other kids.

*Finish organizing my scrapbooking supplies and my desk
*Re-paint and finish decorating the play-room
*Re-decorate Tyler's room in the theme he chooses
---------
*Master Photoshop...Switch over to digital scrapbooking.
I have figured out how to SLOWLY crawl my way through photo manipulation...but I don't know how to get started on scrapbooking. I also want to download and learn how to use photoshop actions to further my editing abilities.

*Learn to use more MANUAL on my camera.
I know some...but when it comes to really setting the levels...I just switch to auto. I would really like to take a couple classes, but I don't think that is going to happen this year.

It was a hard year.
Many struggled, and had to redevelop their reality.
Now though, the economy is looking up, the job market is looking up...
2010...is looking up!
Here's to an amazing year...the start of a new decade!
Happy New Year to all!

Christmas 2009

What a beautiful day.
I adore the feeling of Christmas, the happiness, the warmth...the tradition.

This is our traditional Christmas Eve Picture.
The kids were all dressed up for dinner at Grandma's. We got home just in time to open one present, get some cookies ready for the big guy, and read 'Twas the Night Before Christmas.

(This is our gingerbread house that the kids made...(just thought I would throw it in here))

So, on Christmas Eve night, the kids always get to open one present...the present is always pajamas and the kids know it, and love it! It has been a tradition since Karman was little. Then they go put on their jammies, and wear them to bed, and then ALL DAY on Christmas!

Then we got some cookies ready for Santa because we knew that he would be hungry by the time he got to our house. We left him some milk too, even though he told us in his letter that he has a hot cocoa machine on his sled now...Tyler thought he might be thirsty for some actual milk by the time he got to our house, and of course carrots for the reindeer.

We read 'Twas the Night Before Christmas and got ready for the big night!

Then mommy and daddy wrapped what was left to be wrapped, and got a few other things done....and we headed to bed too.

The next morning...Santa had come!

The kids were so so excited!

They get to come out and open their stocking while we make our traditional breakfast.

Every single year we make breakfast rolls from scratch, and an egg casserole. It is so good, and the kids absolutely love it!

Izzy opened her stocking which was pretty good entertainment.

She's so cute!

She took to opening as if she does it every day.

And she was a happy girl.

She got it open, and this where she laid for the rest of Christmas morning...chewing away!

The kids had a great Christmas. Santa brought them each just what they wanted!

Among them, Karman got her high school gear, and a new MP3 player...

Makylie got her talking doll house, and Littlest Pet Shop toys...

And Tyler got his Imaginext Batman cave, LEGOS!

This was, for Tyler, the year of the Lego. He has discovered that he LOVES Legos! He got some from almost everyone, and he has been working non stop on them ever since...he even got a Lego Batman Wii game from Santa...

Daddy loves them about as much as Tyler.

It was a great year. I am so Thankful.

Kevin and I are trying to pass down tradition, so that some day, when the kids are all grown, they say..."I remember every year we"...or "I remember when"...and then hopefully hear that they were so important to them that they continue the traditions with their own families.

To me, this is a season all about tradition...and the richness that those traditions add to our family story. It is so important to me.

We have so much to be thankful for, and we are.

We hope everyone also had a wonderful Christmas,

and we wish everyone an amazing New Year!