Happy New Year

This was our card this year. I think I am going to make it a new tradition that we do this instead of Christmas cards. The Christmas season is the busiest time at my work, and my precious time at home is spent with my family, baking, watching movies, playing, and most importantly focusing on what Christmas is all about.

I hope that your year is off to a good start!

Erin's Photo of the Year

I hadn't read my friend Erin's blog in the last week because of snow days and being busy at work so imagine my surprise when I check it last night and she has chosen her Photo of the Year and I am in it! Honestly, I think it is definitely an amazing picture because of the talent of the photographer, but it is in an honor to be in it. Seriously Erin, if you ever need me for another photo shoot - I will dress up like a clown if you need me to. I wish modeling were my job because it was so fun.
Oh, to be Heidi Klum. *Sigh*

On a random note: What is the deal with people saving National Geographic magazines? Is it so you can refer to it if you are doing a report on pygmies? My parents saved theirs and I don't ever remember using them for a book report or project, or anything. Are you going to, in the middle of a conversation about something obscure, say "I'm not sure who started the ancient civilization of the Mayans. Hold on just a minute, let me reference Volume 23 of my N.G. for more information..." NO! They would just google it now. Actually, there is an online version for about $45 that looks pretty good. So free up your booksheves!

Hope you're all having a good weekend!

The Seven Spot is BACK!

My BFF Sarah has resumed blogging after a LONG break. She is such a talented, funny, amazing person and I know you will love her blog (and HER)! Check it out!

And thanks to Heidi (Mrs. Fabulous), for helping me figure out the blog link. Hey, I'm still kind of new to this blog thing and I am rarely on the computer to figure it out and/or blog.

And I would post a picture of our beautiful new finished basement, but I can't find our camera battery charger anywhere.

Happy New Year!

A list

Things I did when I was a stay-at-home mom again for a few days:

1. Painted the girls nails.
2. Went to a fun Disney movie.
3. Ate at "Old MacDonald's" (what the girls call it).
4. Puzzles
5. Pretending
6. Made breakfast, lunch, and cooked dinner.
7. Cleaned the kitchen
8. Laundry
9. Cuddled on the couch with M & J
10. Read books
11. Played Hungry Hungry Hippo (but the old one is better - I wish I had saved mine)
12. Threw stuff away
13. Played kitchen with M & J
14. Baked
15. Really enjoyed time with my family

I'm getting ready to go back to work this afternoon, but before I do, I wanted to give a big shout out to my friend Greta who is welcoming Charlie into the Coalier family today. Congratulations Sam, Greta, Sadie, Ruby, and Poppi!

Christmas Eve Eve

Why am I still awake? I had an exhausting month at work and now that I have a 4-day break I should be resting and going to bed early because I don't have any work that I have taken home, I have all my shopping done, and I just get to play with the girls tomorrow so I don't really have anything to plan. Jeff is asleep and I have no idea how he'll have the energy to wake up and go duck hunting in about 4 hours. He must really love to duck hunt.

I am so excited for the girls this year. We bought them bikes and I can't wait to see their faces on Christmas morning. And even more than for the possibility of Santa bringing them presents, they are super excited that it's Jesus' birthday. We are going to make a cake for him (M's idea - so cute). I love her joy right now. I wish I could bottle it and save it forever.

Good night. :)

Crazy cold

I'm sitting at my computer trying to find a paint color for our basement by reading my many favorite blogs. I think I'm going with Tobacco Road by Duron. And I am freezing. We used to live in Northern Illinois and I had built up a pretty good cold weather tolerance. We first visited and looked for a place to live when they had just had an ice storm, which was a pretty normal thing around there. I used to run in negative temperatures - once when the wind chill was -20 and the mph was pretty high. We were about 10 miles from the Wisconsin border - we used to run there and back during our training runs. Now after writing that, I am missing my old running days. I hope that someday I can run hard and fast again. I knew this post was going to be random. It's been a LONNNNNG week at work and I am ready for the weekend.

Peanut Butter Jelly Time

I don't know what this is from, but JJ's uncle Eli has it for a ringtone and out of nowhere the other day she started singing "Peanut Butter Jelly Time, Peanut Butter Jelly Time" over and over again. It's the cutest thing. I need to get it on video.

Yes, it's after midnight and I'm still up. Probably because I just finished reading proofs for work. This is our busiest time of the year and I think I am going to really enjoy the open bar at my company office party this Saturday.