2008 in Review

First off, I need to give credit where credit is due: I totally copied this post idea off of Becky. I loved hers so much that I just had to do one myself. 2008 was a great year for me and my whole family, and I'm a little sad to see it go...

January. I started off with a New Year's Resolution of working out three days a week with my newfound BFF, Becky. Yeah, I know, I have never kept one of these for more than a month (resolution, not a best friend, jeez). Here is how we started out, on one of these:
February: On a snowy day off of school, Isabel decides on the spur of the moment to get her ears pierced at the ripe old age of eight. What a fun day this was, for both of us!

After surviving months of heavy snow, Becky and I decided to do something a little crazy: get tattoos for her March birthday!

And if a tattoo wasn't enough, in April I decided to get a new hairdo:

And what's that I'm doing on my new laptop that Joe bought? Oh, yeah, my new love: blogging. Although I had been blogging since September of 2007, in a couple of short months, I would discover the world of SITS and make many new friends...

April also found Michelle and I on our annual scrapbooking trip to Indiana. Yep, an entire weekend spent scrappin', eating, and laughing with my big sis, all without husbands or children. Heavenly, I tell you! Oh, and did you notice the link on her name? That's 'cause I finally convinced her, with the help of Becky and Lula, that she should start a blog. And she did.

Another trip, this time with the in-laws to our favorite get-away, Gatlinburg, TN...

The end of the school came early this year, in May. We celebrated with cookouts with friends...

and lots of Little League baseball, played by Elijah and coached by Joe...

June: Homearama with Becky and Mike (I can't believe how much Muscle Max has helped us since these photos...)

and Elijah's 10th birthday at our local inflatable playground. How on earth can I be old enough to have a 10-year-old, that's what I wanna know?!

Summer '08 was absolutely awesome, complete with a family trip to Hocking Hills, OH...

meeting a blogger (Catherine) in real life, and becoming fast friends...

which in turn helped our girls to make new friends...

cookouts with Mike and Becky and company, in which Joe taught Summer new tricks...

swimming in Becky's mom's pool, and at our local YMCA, at least three times a week...

getting our family pictures done...

Before summer was over, Gabe turned four and Joe turned thirty-four.

Then it was my favorite time of the year...

Back to school! Elijah started fifth grade, Isabel started third grade...

we took a break to celebrate with an outing to Maggiano's with friends...

and then, glory be, Gabe started preschool! I now have three children all in school at the same time for at least some part of the day! Happy dance, after a few tears shed...

Living in Ohio enables us to experience every season, and this year was no exception. We started fall by getting a new addition named Autumn...

Then spent many hours soaking in the last of the sun's rays, at pumpkin patches and Thomas the Train rides and fall fests...

Then, before the end of October, I turned thirty-five! And in a true friend tradition, Becky and I celebrated by driving to Columbus for the day. Not another tattoo (although we teased Mike and Joe about our plans), but we had a great time. I am loving having such a wonderful friend!

November found Michelle and I taking the road trip to beat all road trips: we were going to Lulaville, to meet one of our favorite bloggers ever in real life. You know we had a great time; I'm sure you've already read all about it! Lula, I can't wait to do it again!

Another exciting November moment: the long-awaited, much-anticipated premiere of our favorite movie, Twilight! What a great night!

Thanksgiving found us celebrating with friends (sorry, Kipper, you know I couldn't let this one go...)

and being thankful for all of the many blessings this year has seen.

December: Isabel turned nine...

and Christmas came and went so fast that my head is still spinning...

So this year, as we watch the ball drop from the comfort of our living room, saying goodbye to 2008 and hello to 2009, it will be with the knowledge that we had one heck of a good year, full of friends, health, and more blessings that we can count.

I pray that 2009 will be even more full of great things, if only because it makes such a great blog post :)

Happy New Year, bloggy friends and family! You mean more to me than you will ever know. Seems trivial to be so thankful for a thing like Blogger, but seriously, this has been such a big part of my life this year. I'm so glad Becky and Michelle came along for the ride, and have enjoyed themselves so much on the way...

Prayer Request

I know I said I was taking a blogcation. But last night, my sister called me to see if I had been by My Charming Kids this week. I hadn't, because I have only peeked at a couple of blogs lately.

If you're not familiar with this blog, or this baby, you need to go and pay her a visit. Baby Stellan was diagnosed with a heart condition in utero, and was not expected to live. However, due to the thousands of prayer warriors on their knees in his behalf, God chose to heal Stellan.

Stellan is now eight weeks old. He is adorable. And he is sick. In the PICU, with RSV, on the verge of needing to be intubated and put on a breathing machine if he doesn't turn around soon.

I have never met his mother in real life. I have never held baby Stellan, and most likely never will. But I feel as if I know them. I certainly know the love this fellow blogger/mother/friend has for her sweet son. Just go read her blog; her love shines right through your screen.

And after you finish reading, wipe the tears from your face and pray. As I will be doing the rest of this day, and the next, and the next; until I know God has heard and sent an answer to this amazing family.

Please, pray for baby Stellan.

Merry Christmas (See you next year!)

Wow, what a difference a year makes...

This picture is from Christmas 2007. Spiderman joined us since Santa was too busy. That tree in the background was dropping needles faster than you could sweep them up. Isabel had just turned eight. I was eight pounds heavier than I am now. Elijah was in the fourth grade, and couldn't wait to play his new video games. Joe had just gotten hooked on World of Warcraft.

Ah, the good ole days.

Hope this Christmas finds you feeling happy and blessed beyond measure. I'm taking a break, along with many of my blogging pals, to spend time with my family and enjoy the holidays.

See you in 2009!

And the next award goes to...

Truly, I love to receive awards, I really do. Except when they have lots of "rules" to go along with them. Unless I am in a "blog funk", I usually don't follow all the rules by passing it on to a certain number of people who meet a certain criteria for that particular award. It kind of reminds me of those creepy emails you receive where bad luck will befall the ignorant recipient that doesn't forward it IMMEDIATELY to ten other people. Yeah, creepy.

Not that awards are creepy. Just the rules.

So, upon the suggestion of Kat from Sunshine and Lemonade, I have created my own "rule-less" award, one which cracks me up every single time I hear it. I have only seen two episodes of The Office. But I have repeated this quote about a thousand times, mostly at work and a lot in Lulaville (I think Scott laughed every.single.time.).

Here are the rules of my rule-less award. If you have EVER used this quote in an appropriate context, or inappropriate as the case may be, then you may pick it up here and take it with you to your blog. I know it's not fancy, but my goodness, it is funny in so many ways.

How, you may ask?

Consider this: "Honey, can you open my beer? It's just too hard."
Office Response: "That's what she said."

There are so many ways in which this phrase can be used, I can't even think of them all. What I do know is this: it is always funnier at 3am, when you've been drinking, surrounded by friends of both sexes. You can also interchange the phrase "that's what HE said", if necessary.

So take it and run with it. Even if others aren't laughing, you will be. Just ask my husband. For some reason, he doesn't think it's that funny. But at work, KB and I can laugh our asses off for hours on end just with this quote. Seriously.

Feel free to dress it up, if you're able. It won't hurt my feelings at all...just as long as you let me know so I can come by your blog and steal the updated version :)

How to Survive a Slumber Party...

First, limit the guest list to three girls only. This allows room for compromise when your daughter wants to invite fourteen of her (closest) friends. You look like a nice mom when you "give in" and let her have five.


Next, order pizza in, have your husband take the boys out to dinner, and let the guests frost their own cupcakes. Less work for you, more fun for them. Warning: the combination of Coca-cola, pizza and chocolate-frosted cupcakes makes for a very LOUD group!


Take lots of pictures. You never know when you will get one that actually proves the theory that you CAN"T LICK YOUR OWN ELBOW!

Yep, even Addison from Hihoohio couldn't resist the urge to test the theory...

Enlist the help of the birthday girl's older brother to assist with Rock Band set-up and play. Make sure you get a video of the spectacular singing to put on your blog (can you say blackmail?).

Last, but not least, make sure you have plenty of pharaceutical help for the inevitable headache coming your way.

I actually didn't need these until after Rock Band :)

Thanks for all the well-wishes and prayers sent my way during this stressful time :)

It was really one of the best birthday parties we have had. Just ask Isabel...

A Dream

Once upon a time there was a girl named Heather, who dreamed of getting married and building a home and a family. She was going to have four babies, two boys and two girls, in no particular order, but four just the same. When she was the ripe old age of 22, she danced down the aisle of her husband's church, brimming over with joy that her dream was actually coming true.

One year later she was pregnant with their first baby, a boy, who they named Elijah.

One year after that, she was pregnant with their second baby, a beautiful girl they named Isabel.

Isabel was due to be born on December 31st, 1999. AKA Y2K. Remember all that fuss?! Thankfully, she obliged her momma's hope that she would be born early, and she even came before Christmas. So sweet, from that very first day.

I wish my scanner worked. I wish we had had a digital camera back then. Because then I could show you just how stunning this little girl was, from the beginning. And you could see the progression that I have seen, watching her grow from that tiny little seven pound bundle to this:




I'm hoping for a new printer/scanner for Christmas, so I can do just that. But until then, this will have to do. Not that it matters too much. Pictures on a blog can't even begin to capture the intense love I have for my daughter. She fills a hole in my life that I didn't even know existed. She is so smart, very artistic, and has the wisdom and maturity of someone twice her age. Her faith is amazing, even at this young age. Her prayers can move mountains; of this I am certain. This is the girl who prayed for God to put a baby in my belly, and then we had Gabe. (Although she thinks God got His wires crossed, 'cause what she really wanted was a sister.) I am honored to be Isabel's mother. I am sure God has big plans for her, and I love being a part of those plans. Watching her grow into this lovely creature has been, and continues to be, an awesome experience.

Nine years ago, my daughter was born and I fell in love with her on the spot. That love has grown to unbelievable proportions, so big my heart can hardly contain it. I can't wait for this day to begin. To celebrate with Isabel and our family. To show her exactly how special she is. How loved.

To think it all began so many years ago, with the dream of another little girl...

Slumber party aka houseful of giggling tweens

Yep, in a few short hours, this will probably be my mom.

She's letting me have a slumber party tonight for my ninth birthday! I can't wait!

My friends are coming over after school. We're having pizza and making Christmas cookies and popcorn while we giggle and play American Girl dolls. Then we're gonna see who can stay up the longest, while we tell scary stories and talk about High School Musical 1, 2 and 3. Sigh, I so love Zac Effron. Even more than I love Rob Pattinson...shh...don't tell my mom. She LOVES Edward, if you couldn't tell.

Anyway, I just know it's gonna be a great time. I wanted to have all of my fourteen closest friends over, but Mom said that was too many. I said "whatever" (in my head, not out loud; that would've gotten the whole thing cancelled), but I got over it pretty quickly. Where would they all sleep? Sometimes Mom is right (yeah, don't tell her I said that, either).

Maybe some of you bloggy friends of hers should say a little prayer for my mom today. And maybe send her some of those Mike's Hard Lemonades that she likes. Those seem to make her be in a happy mood...

TTFN!

Love, Isabel

And the Twilight award goes to...

I'm sure the Wife o'Riley had no idea what she was starting when she gave me this award. I've practically been chased down the streets by the mad mob clamoring for my blog bling! I had thought to wait until just the right moment to pass it along, but since I am fearing for my life, I'm gonna do it now.

If your name is mentioned below, come and grab your button, put it on your sidebar, bask in some Twilight love, and stop chasing me! My legs are getting tired, and I don't have my running shoes on...

Cammie from Life in the House of No Sleep

Melissa from My Version of Sanity

Kat from Sunshine and Lemonade (and your daughter, Kat, if she wants it)

(Michelle, I would give it to you, but you already got it from Wife o'Riley like me)

Jenny from Jenny and the Princess Peonies

Becky from In the Trenches (of course!)

Jane from Jumpin' in the Jungle

Jamie from Have Inspiration Will Travel

Betty from Keeper of the Skies

And last but not least, the southern belle who introduced so many of us to the glorious experience that is Twilight, Lula from Lulaville.

Seriously, if you are a lover of Twilight; if the mere mention of Edward or Rob Pattinson makes you swoon; if you dream of becoming a vampire; if you own any Twilight groupie merchandise; and if you also read my blog, then take this award and let in shine on your own blog. Just leave me a comment and let me know that you took it, so I can come and admire it later.

I am currently at work with a little award of my own design, but since I'm not the most computer-savvy person in the world, it may take some time. I think you will enjoy it. And Kat, you will definitely get credit for the idea...

I'm practically famous!

Okay, you already knew I loved this blogging thing. Been doing it for over a year now (yep, that's what she said...don't watch The Office? Never mind, then).

Where was I?

Oh, yeah, blogging. I have made so many great friends in this bloggy world of ours, and I love it!

Know what I love even more?

Blog awards! Sweet ones, cool ones, friend ones, Twilight ones...you name it, I love it. I like to get 'em, I like to give 'em. I don't always have time to post about them (working those darn evening shifts totally cuts in on my blogging time), but I appreciate them just the same.

Today I received not one, not two, not three, but FOUR awards! Two were from the same person, but still, that counts, right? I'm not even going to pass these awards on just yet...I'm gonna hug 'em and kiss 'em and maybe even sleep with 'em, then if I'm ready, I'll pass them on. Hope my friends don't mind second-hand awards...

After all that talkin' about them, here they are:

Cammie from House of No Sleep gave me this one. 'Cause I am a cool blogger. Clearly.




Matt from My Side of the Story gave me this one. He did a sweet post about his wife, letting all of her bloggy friends know the trouble she was having with a former friend, and asking us to give her some words of encouragement. You know we went to her blog right away, showering with so much comment love she probably needed an umbrella...

And Becky from Wife of Riley (Matt's wife), gave me these two. You know which one was my favorite, right? All this, just for being a good bloggy friend.

I am practically floating through the rest of the day, on a high from all of this positive reinforcement. I won't even mind driving down to the hospital, in the foggy drizzly wintry mix, for a four hour shift...

Thanks so much, everyone. You really made my day!

Snow Dance

The weather man is calling for snow, ice and a "wintry mix" today.

Road conditions may become hazardous.

Luckily, I got most of my errands done yesterday.

Un-luckily, there's a chance of a snow day for the kids. Which means a house full of kids and a husband (he's a teacher; he prays for snow days as much, if not more than, the kids).

The last time Elijah and Isabel were hoping for a snow day, they performed a little ritual. They flushed every toilet in the house (we have four). They each did a snow dance in their bedrooms. And they slept upside-down in their beds.

We had a light dusting, and they had school.

Needless to say, they were disappointed.

So, as I type this late at night, after the kids have gone to bed, I am saying a little prayer of my own. Please let this storm stay south of us. I have a to-do list a mile long, and I have to work in the afternoon. I cannot afford a snow day. Seriously, I'm all about having a white Christmas. Next week would be fine.

I don't know if you can even see the tiny snowflakes, but Gabe sure could. He caught at least a hundred!

Wordless Wednesday Wannabe

I was gonna save this photo for a Wordless Wednesday post...

I'm not sure how well y'all know me by now, but it is virtually impossible for me to do anything wordless.

It is just not in my genes. Or my jeans. Whatever.

Anyway, this Saturday we had Gabe's preschool Christmas program, in which we watched our sweet four-year-old boy stand still as a statue on the stage (has a ring to it, huh?), not singing a single word of any of the songs, but being very well-behaved nonetheless (not one potty word was uttered; nope, not a one).

After the concert ended, we traipsed into the gym for donuts, juice and coffee, and a chance to visit with Santa.

Oh, the joy! Elijah and Isabel were too cool for Santa, so Gabe went it alone.

You know those kids who are terrified of Santa, as if he's the Grim Reaper himself, armed with a candy cane instead of a scythe, garbed in red velvet instead of a black cowled robe? The kids who are so frightened they can't even breathe, much less speak?

Mmm, yep, Gabe is so not one of those kids. Never has been. He and Santa are clearly BFF, and I'm pretty sure Gabe has him talked into a job as Santa's helper next year.

"Whaddya think, Mrs. Claus? Should we sign him up?"

See, I toldya...

No wordless Wednesdays for me.

Spin Cycle

A few months ago, my washer went on the fritz. We decided to get a front-loader, which I had been lusting over for years (yep, I'm pathetic, lusting over a washer). When we went to Best Buy, they had a great deal on a floor model, and we bought it, loading it up into Joe's truck and bringing that baby right home.

Joe is a great handy-man. But it took a lot of trouble-shooting to get the darn thing to not go off-balance during the spin cycle. If you have a front-loader, you know that it sounds like a jet engine preparing for take-off when it's on spin.

We finally have it (mostly) to the point where it doesn't go off-balance. However, the spin cycle is still loud, and shakes the washer a lot.

I was gonna bug Joe into trying to fix it yet again.

But then Gabe decided this was a good time, begging to get on top of the washer everytime it starts shaking. And he has so much fun, laughing hysterically up there, pretending he's at King's Island amusement park...I just don't have the heart to change it.

Maybe once he tires of this "ride", then I'll have Joe look into it. For now, we'll be enjoying the excitement of laundry day and the spin cycle.

Son of a sailor

Aww, ain't he cute?

That wavy brown hair. Those big brown eyes. That adorable smile. Gorgeous olive complexion. Big Papaw's ears.

Sucks you right in, doesn't it?

Don't be fooled. Behind that heartbreaking face lies the mouth of a sailor.

Okay, maybe not a sailor who's been at sea for years and years. Maybe more like the preschool son of said sailor, who knows he can't say the really bad words, but tries to make it work anyway.

With words like turd. Poop. Butt. Poopyhead.

Sometimes the words come with a whispered warning:

"Mom, I'm gonna say a bad word."

What word is that, Gabe?

"I'm gonna say...stupid."

Gabe, it still counts as a bad word, even if you tell me about it ahead of time.

Sigh...

He was in rare form today. Talking about wanting to "kiss your butt" at a restaurant. Saying "God is great...turd" during prayer. Crying and saying "But I was sorry" when I called him out on the potty mouth.

What's a mom to do? I have several weapons in my arsenal. The first, ignoring the talk. Used to work quite well, now, not so much. The second, a timeout. Third, a smack on the mouth. Fourth, early bedtime (the punishment of choice for tonight). Next, sassy sauce (vinegar) or soap in the mouth.

Oh, the potty talk of a four-year-old boy. Sometimes I have to turn my head and giggle, 'cause it can be really funny. But it's not funny at preschool, or at church, or in the middle of a restaurant. And if he sees me laugh once, that's all she wrote, man. I'm done for.

It's the Most (Wonderful) Time...

Yes, yes, it is indeed. The most wonderful time of the year, that is.

But it is also the most hectic.

The most expensive.

The most (stressful).

If we let it be.

Today I am finishing up making some of these:


So my friends and family will know how much I truly care for them this holiday season. The sending and receiving of Christmas cards is one of my favorite traditions, and although it adds to the stress of the season, I love making my cards handmade.

With Dean Martin and Trans-Siberian Orchestra music in the background, Gabe and his sticker collection at my side, I will be having a stress-free and spirit-filled day.

While you're busy in the hustle and bustle of today, would you please lift Kori from Life as a CFers Wife up in prayer? Her husband, Richard, is going in for scans and tests today, and they are desperately in need of some good news in that department.

Have a blessed day today. I'm going to, no matter what comes my way.