Girls Sleepover

Last night/this morning was the Mpact girls sleepover at our church.  Being a teacher I was asked to help out with it.  Hannah also went to it as it was for K-6th grades.  We showed up at 6:45 last night and we didn't stop until about 2:00 am this morning.  Then I was up again at 6:30 to help get breakfast ready and the room cleaned up.  Hannah got to "sleep in" until 8:00.  While it was a lot of fun, it was also a long night. 
The theme was Hawaiian Beach Day so the girls got to do lots of crafts and games related to that.

There was flip flop decorating which just happened to be my station

followed by Mani-Pedi's

Frisbee Golf since you can't really play golf at the beach.

The girls were a little confused about how to play the game.

And lots of games with the parachute - always a favorite

They also got to decorate a frame with paint and seashells

Build sandcastles out of cups

This was Hannah's teams sandcastle.  They won the competition for best sandcastle

Then there were pictures with a Hawaiian background

Dinner consisted of hot dogs and chips. Not really a beachy dinner but it was easy

And the most anticipated event of the night.  A trip to the boys bathroom. 

Finally it was time to settle in with popcorn and ice cream to watch a movie. There were more games and crafts such as jewelry making, a limbo competition, book readings, and beach volleyball but being busy with the craft table I didn't always get a chance to snap a picture.

Meanwhile, at home, Robbie spent a quiet evening with the girls and dogs.  He missed all the fun but for some reason he didn't mind.

Some of the things I love

Sunsets

Watching the moon go down in the morning

The last rays of sunrise

Watching squirrels play

No snow in the middle of January

(Sorry Tacoma.  I feel for you, I really do)

Hot Chocolate in my favorite Eeyore cup

Seeing my daughter

Watching my girl enjoy reading

Red appliances

Looking at mini-me sleeping

Games

Puzzles

Books

The bond between my kids and my pets

The soft fur and stinky breath of my baby

My favorite perfume

Candles

Green plants growing in winter

The best movie line in my favorite movie

"Your life is an occasion - rise to it."

Babies

Music boxes

Reading my bible

My hubby

My story about Saturday

Saturday we took the kids to the Detroit Institute of Art to see the special "Faces of Jesus" exhibit by Rembrandt they have open right now.

 

At first we were all excited to be there.  We started out by looking at some of the other exhibits they had while we were waiting for our tour time.



Finally, it was time to go see Rembrandt's pictures of Jesus.  Right in the middle of the tour I became quite ill and we ended up having to leave it.  We thought that maybe I was just hungry so we headed back to the car to eat our lunch that we had brought with us.

I was feeling better after lunch so we headed back inside to explore the rest of the building.

We were all happy again and saw some paintings from different artists.

Right in the middle of our exploring I became violently ill again and had to keep running to the bathroom.  Luckily, there was no waiting in line or they would have had a new, unwanted exhibit.  The kids were good sports about it though.

So we just went home.

The end.







Resolutions

Did you make any resolutions this year?  Do you even make resolutions anymore?  I was in a contemplative mood yesterday and I was thinking about my past resolutions. I realized that all of them, in some form or another, centered around my kids.  Not one was for me or about me.  I resolved to exercise so I could keep up with the kids and help them like exercise.  I resolved to eat healthier so the kids would eat healthier and not be at a higher risk of diabetes, high blood pressure (family history), cancer, or other illnesses.  I resolved to go back to school and get a better education to show the importance of a good education.  Yet not once did  I do anything for me and I have come to the conclusion that this is how you lose yourself as a person.  When everything you do is because of, or about, someone else then slowly and without ever realizing it you stop knowing who you are.  You forget the things you used to like, you forget the dreams you used to have, and you forget how to dream.  Life becomes a job you do because someone is depending on you. 
This past year has been, without a doubt and without any exaggeration, the hardest and worse year of my life.  We have been open about some of the struggles we have had this year but there have been many more that have been private and will stay that way.  All due, I believe, to the fact that both my husband and I were so focused on our family and our responsibility to them that we forgot who we were.  So this year, my resolution is to not give up.  Most people are making resolutions to give something up - usually a bad habit.  I need to remind myself to NOT give up even when things are overwhelming, or when I question a decision, or when it seems like it's never going to end.  This year, my resolution is all about me.  Because, while I love my children and my family, I need to take care of me first or I can't take care of them.  One of the first decisions we made was this one:

Moving.

We don't know where exactly we are going to end up yet but we do know that we cannot stay here.  It may seem crazy to you to give up a good job in this current economic situation but this is something that we both agreed has to be done.  By moving we are not giving up.  We are making a proactive decision to do something that will make our lives better and to do something better with our lives.

It may not be much but it is a start on the path of finding ourselves again.

Happy New Year

I hope everyone celebrated a happy, safe New Year.  We had a quiet party at home with games, movies, snacks, and watching the ball drop in Times Square.  Sometimes I think I'd like to actually be there to watch the drop and then my sanity comes back and I realize the t.v is a great replacement for the real thing. 

Playing video games

Eating dinner.....wait

No, I'm cooking dinner.  See...

Waiting on midnight

Yay, it's here. 

Happy New Year everyone.