January Busy Month!

January was super busy for us. We got back into the groove of school and then we started getting excited for BIRTHDAYS! Three birthdays in our family! It was a big year for Katie and Ben. Jason, well it was another birthday :)

I'm doing pretty well with the goals I set for myself at the beginning of the year. Not perfect, but I'm pleased. I've been doing well with my eating. I'm really concentrating on decreasing my carbs. It's hard. Very hard. I'm also a sweet tooth. Jason found a recipe for making chocolate with coconut oil, peanut butter, honey and cocoa powder. The coconut oil is supposed to help decrease the craving. I will say I'm not craving chocolate nearly as much. 

I'm continuing with my 1000 Gifts journal & still have my Word Clouds hanging up. These two things help me remember to stop and think about all the things I'm thankful for and not focus on the negatives or things that get me down. It's so easy to focus on the negatives. As I write in my 1000 Gifts I truly appreciate all I have in my life!

I'm also really, really enjoying the online Bible Study I'm doing with Good Morning Girls. I am in a group with women from my church as well as women living all over the United States who all know the leader! It's been great to get to know them and pray with them. We are learning so much from reading God's word. These ladies have wonderful insight into the scriptures and I'm learning a lot.

So the birthdays. Well, it was pretty emotional for me! On the 21st Ben, my baby boy, turned 10!!! He was super excited! The best thing though, the  next morning he was right back snuggling me and giving me kisses!!! He is such a snuggle boy and I LOVE IT! 

Our boy... about 20 months.

He woke up to streamers! Within 30 minutes he had moved them all around to make a spider web!

Love my Kisses!

Family Portrait 2014!

His birthday was the Tuesday after MLK day. Jason took him snowboarding for his birthday on Monday and he had a blast!!! Tuesday night it snowed into Wednesday, so we went out for his birthday dinner on Thursday. He picked a family Mexican restaurant in town. Yum! Last weekend he took a few friends to see the Lego Movie and then back to our house for Lego Rice Krispy treats his daddy made (he doesn't really like cake). It was a crazy day, but he had a blast with his buddies!

Katie turned 13 on the 24th! Yikes I have a teenager! How did that happen? I do not feel old enough to have a teenager! I started practicing using the word teenager in my sentences for 2 weeks before it was official! She has been eager to turn 13 for awhile and I have to say she is growing into a lovely young lady. We have our ups and downs with emotions but I really don't have a lot to complain about. 
Katie wanted homemade pizza for her birthday dinner. She and Jason made them and then we went out to Sweet Luna's for a special dessert! Yummy frozen yogurt. Katie had a few of her friends sleep over and they were awesome! She has some great friends who I enjoy having around!

Birthday Morning!

Cake in Mason Jar! K found on Pinterest.

9 month

Jason's birthday dinner at Chowder Pot!

I surprised Jason with a special birthday night at home! We rented a movie and had Thai take-out. He loved it!

Then in between the Conroy's came to visit! Woo-Hoo! We love to get together with  my sister and her family! Six cousins is always loud and FUN! We Skype with Nana & Poppy while they were here and was.... interesting :)

 

 
 

 

 And how could I forget... Jason's Super Bowl Party!!! Woo-Hoo Seahawks!!! Our living room was decorated to show our excitement and support the team with the 12th Man in Connecticut!!!

The rest of the month and into February we've had snow, snow and more snow. No big storms just several that leave us with 4-6 inches a pop. Enough to cancel school and make our driveway a mess! The kids love all the days off (6) now but won't when we are all sweating in June!

Talk to you soon!!!

Visual Person...

Katie is wondering why I'm printing out so much stuff lately!
"Your things are done printing." 
"What are you printing now?"

Usually I am on patrol of the printer because a certain tween girl who lives in our house loves to print pictures, sayings, ideas... lots of things! I don't blame her I love to print out things too but she does it so often she uses up all the ink! Ink is expensive! The other reason, Daddy has gone back to school and he was not to happy when he went to print his first paper and there was barely any ink! Yikes!

Sorry for the tangent. Back to what I'm printing. I am a very visual person. Very. I can recognize people, but rarely remember their name immediately. I do this thing where I go through the alphabet and think of names for each letter and WA-LA! I remember their name, sometimes days later. I know that's a little weird.

I love Post-It Notes. I use them like crazy at my office desk, the kitchen, my bedroom, my car, my NEW office space at home. Really anywhere. My mom likes to post notes too. I get it from her. Her kitchen cabinets never have fewer than at least 3 notes taped to the cabinet :)

I like to move things around to see what it might look like a different way. I like to look at things instead of touch things. I like to watch music videos over listening to music (not that I do that now with young children around...geez the videos are a bit too adult). I like to drive. I like to doodle (does that count?)

Anyway, I am printing out my wordclouds to hang up in key areas. I am printing out bible verses, writing some on post-its too. I have been printing a lot from the blog, A Holy Experience. This is the one I told you about by Ann Voskamp.

I have a few thoughts as to why I prefer visuals. I think I've always been more visual than auditory. I comprehend things better when I can see it. Stop and think. Process.
Yikes, another tangent. This one is coming from my professional world... early childhood special education teacher.

I'll stop now. I am off to go to print some more free printables. I just love that tab!

Ummm, now I need to go check that page out.

Goodnight.

~ Lynn

New Year...New Goals...New Resolutions...

Well I want to start blogging again. Why? Well I hate how much time I spend on FB. I hate that I'm not taking time to document our life. We have a wonderful life and I often take it for granted. Looking back on my blog I loved how I use to share little stories and pictures. Now I just post silly little comments on FB.

Don't get me wrong FB has it's positives. I really enjoy using it to keep in touch with my California family, cousins, college friends and friends I don't get to see very often. I enjoy keeping up with some famous people. And the not so famous people who inspire me to be better. I also love funny e-cards and those meme thingies :)

So why blog again? I want to use this as a journal. A way to write down thoughts and stay accountable. I don't care if no one reads it. Though I do think it would be cool if I helped inspire someone. I know I follow a few blogs of my friends and they are always inspiring me!

I really want to stick to my goal of losing this unhealthy weight I carry around to be healthier for my family. I really want to spend time reading God's word. I DO NOT do enough of that. I don't want to live in fear of all my little fears. I have many. They really weigh me down at times. They suffocate me at times and leave me in a dark place.

I'm very blessed to have Jason. Some people may think I overuse or misuse that word...BLESSED. I don't think I do. When I use it I truly know it's a blessing from God. A God who loves me and never leaves my side.

Yesterday, January 3rd we had a snow day. I wasn't feel well at all from a nasty cold so decided to take the down time to get myself prepared for my new year. I found this blog awhile back, thank you Kathy, that I have really enjoyed reading. She wrote the book, 1000 Gifts. I really like what she says, but her writing voice was hard for me to follow at times. I like her blog and here is the link.

www.aholyexperience.com

I decided to use a few of her ideas. I really like her daily chart so I'm going to try it. I am changing it to a weekly chart. I think it will work better for our family.
Here's a sample... work in progress.

Ann also talks about having a manifesto for the year! It's basically a wordcloud! I love this idea. I've made one for myself and one for our family. I have printed a few and will hang them around the house and one for my desk at work! Our family wordcloud we came up with together. We also made a list of Our Family Goals for the year.

I'll be honest. When we had our family meeting to go over these things and develop our family wordcloud and goals Ben said, "Another one!" I told Katie & Ben I know I'm always trying new things but I need them to be patient with me and to also take INITIATIVE to be a part of this and be accountable! They are almost 13 & almost 10. I need them to be on board, try harder to help around the house and to be accountable. I tell them all the time I don't like going into crazy momma mode to get them to do things. 

Please don't get me wrong, they are awesome helpers...when I make them help. 90% of the time it's me nagging them. They don't initiate chores on their own. That's probably my fault. I'm lazy too. But this year we are CHANGING!! We are MOVING FORWARD. Not looking BACK. We are taking initiative and going to be INTENTIONAL as a family to work on our home. 

Some verses that came to mind last night as I was working on my new "charts":

Proverbs 31:17 "She sets about her work vigorously; her arms are strong for her tasks."

& 

Titus 2:3-5

New King James Version (NKJV)

³ the older women likewise, that they be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things— ⁴ that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, ⁵ to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed.

Here is my wordcloud for 2014.

Here is the one we came up with for our family for 2014.

Well, we will see how this goes. I will have faith. I know it will take time. I know I need to be patient. I know I need to make good choices on what I eat. I know I need to control my impulses for food, buying and yelling to quickly at my family.

It's going to be a long road, but I am ready.

2 Corinthians 12:9 ESV 

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

~Lynn